DCI: Last Alliance - Open Beta released, NEW: 10 October 2020 new patch released, contains Ents - Wolves - Spiders crashes fix! (and more)

[Earl of Memory]

New Belfalas bannermen and officers look great, thanks for sharing Araval!

I just posted some screenshots of my High Elves of Lindon campaign, which lasted over 400 turns. I regret not playing this mod earlier, but I'm very satisfied with it and glad that I decided to give it a try.

My favorite aspects of it would have to be the gorgeous units like those of Rhun, especially their bodyguards, but also those of the Numenoreans and High Elves. Great looking stuff all around. I love the settlement models for each culture but was disappointed that Harad never built anything beyond the city and fortress level, so I never got to play a battle with their large city model (obviously saw the huge city of Umbar, though). I disliked how brutal the starting economy was and then the obvious scripted economic handicaps whenever I became too successful or when Mordor was revived or busy trying to slam me with a crusade and multiple attacks at once. In terms of technical issues the game crashed only a few times, namely during spider battles until I kicked the graphics down just to fight them, kick the graphics back up and move on. Barad-dur did crash once, but there were two large Numenorean reinforcing armies and lots of werewolves on Mordor's side. It was rather glorious seeing both Elven and Numenorean armies fighting side by side!

I disliked how small the bodyguard units were for characters like Gildor and Glorfindel, especially since cavalry is limited for the High Elves in general. Therefore I manually edited the export_descr_unit file to make their units the same size as regular cavalry. Aside from that I played the game as intended, no unorthodox addition of gunners and cannons like I introduced into my personal version of MOS. I might add those for Numenoreans if I play a campaign with them, though. I had a hard enough time taking down Hill Trolls and werewolves with my most elite Elven units (expensive and slow to recruit), so I fail to see how the Numenorean Kingdom is going to survive against such an implacable foe. That's especially the case with Harad nipping at your heels to the south. In my war against Harad, I literally fought against their Mumakil in every other battle. It was quite a nightmare considering how Mumakil dead bodies also cause a huge roadblock for your own army which gets stuck on them if they come into contact.

EDIT: also shoutout to whoever made the battle map settlement for Second Age era Erebor. It was magnificent looking, that giant throne hall!

I am quite glad that you enjoyed the mod and the campaign and appreciate your kind comments regarding the Rhun units.
Many thanks!

[Roma_Victrix]

I know I've said it before, but I just have to congratulate you guys for putting together such a brilliant musical score from various sources. That "Rise of Mordor" soundtrack is amazing. Can't believe that guy made it simply for an Attila mod.

Actually, what you are probably referring to with this one in MOS, is from Leo's submod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age.../images/erebor
And this one is Erebor in vanilla: https://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age...the-kings-hall

I haven't played Vanilla in so long I didn't even realize this or recognize the settlement! I might not have ever actually fought at Erebor in Vanilla TATW, but I fought there frequently in MOS and Leo's submod, which indeed has the first example. Thanks for clarifying. Regardless, a brilliant settlement model. You guys (+ Leo) did a great job on those in general.

I am quite glad that you enjoyed the mod and the campaign and appreciate your kind comments regarding the Rhun units.
Many thanks!

You're very welcome, +1 rep!

[denkard]

does rhun have the "blue wizards" script or is that exclusive for DAC ?

[Louis Lux]

I don't think there is anything substantial related to the blue wizards.

[Roma_Victrix]

If anyone's interested, some screenshots from my Numenorean Kingdoms campaign: https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...1#post16055756

[Earl of Memory]

Glad to see that someone is still playing! Thanks!
I love how you brought some Belfalas warriors to fight in far away Rhun, and they even got gold chevrons now!

[King Athelstan]

Daamn, interesting stuff dude!

[Roma_Victrix]

Thanks guys! Yeah, I like to bring units from far away on missions and in this case it was easy since they were crusading Tol Acharn armies. I used the Umbar Magyr heavy infantry recruited from Umbar in a town siege all the way in Khand to the east.

[sarpedon21]

hello, im trying to make a second third age folder in order to install the last alliance in it but when i try to rename the bat file i get a bunch of nosense

@echo off
cd ..\..
IF EXIST kingdoms.exe (start /affinity 1 /high kingdoms.exe @%0\..\Configuration.cfg) ELSE (
IF EXIST medieval2.exe (
start /affinity 1 /high medieval2.exe @%0\..\Configuration.cfg) ELSE (
echo ERROR: Cannot find the M2TW or Kingdoms executable.
echo You probably installed Third Age Total War into the wrong folder.
pause
)
)

im using the gigantus steam download of third age.

[Gigantus]

You don't change the (universal) BAT file - it's not required. Instead you edit the CFG file where it states the path\name of the mod and change the folder name:

mod = mods/Bare_Geomod                # path to mod folder

[sarpedon21]

i always changed the name in the bat file as per the instructions here
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?528275-How-to-have-multiple-installations-of-TATW-(with-different-submods)

[Gigantus]

The opening post has now been amended (note added) to take care of this issue.

The BAT file is fundamentally different as it does not reference the mod folder but rather uses relative reference, hence there is no need to change the BAT file, only the CFG file as the opening post describes.

start kingdoms.exe @mods\Third_Age_3\TATW.cfg

versus

start /affinity 1 /high kingdoms.exe @%0\..\Configuration.cfg

The BAT file is also Steam compatible and gives the game priority for the use of the first processor (game uses only one processor).

[Revan The Great]

Hey guys, I just wanted to inquire and see if this mod is still in development and if there are any active communities (Discord groups, etc.) I could join?

[MIKE GOLF]

I will pm a couple of the team to see if they can't give you an answer.

[Araval]

Hey guys, I just wanted to inquire and see if this mod is still in development and if there are any active communities (Discord groups, etc.) I could join?

I'm occasionally doing some work on the mod when I have time.
There are no active communities.

[LuckyPistol]

Just wanted to say again you guys did a fantastic job! I'm wrapping up a roller coaster of a campaign of the Hill-men of the North. At first I was feeling you guys gave them the short end of the stick because they seemed to never expand or do as well as Enedwaith or other evil factions, but once you start armoring up your basic units and unlock the White Wolves they become an extremely competent force against Dwarves and higher-tier Numenorian stacks.

When you first start out, you're really relying on your sorcerers to edge the enemy to an early route so your scouts can scoop the fleeing units. I tried the tried and true "spears and javelins" approach I've adapted from years playing as skirmisher factions like the original Orcs of the Misty Mountains and such, but the Numenorian Kingdoms can counter that very easily given their heavily armored and mobile units. Also, careful use of the starting generals and their special abilities.

But boy, those wolves have saved me more than I care to admit. They eat light units akin to a buffet! I'd say they're more useful than the Snow Trolls even (depending on the circumstance). Once you get some good armor on those spears and Angmar Axemen, you can do some real damage and hold the line for the wolves and Rhudaur Bowmen to circle round and decimate the trapped enemy. And those Housecarls and Raiders are deadly icing on the cake: I've been trying to see if you've sped up the animation on those two-handed axes because they are racking up kills way more than a unit like that should in my experience (maybe I've just been using them against the right enemies).

Rhovanion is still my favorite faction due to personal reasons (I love the lore behind the region), but Hill-men of the North have surpassed the Men of the Mountain and even the Orcs of the Misty Mountains - which is a real compliment from a seasoned Orc-faction player like me. Playing the HotN felt like I was going back to Stainless Steel and their highly detailed submods where the look of your army changes as you advanced; not so much in unit makeup, but in how the armor evolves with each upgrade. Getting a bunch of ragtag hill-folk into a professional, standardized army makes me feel like I've earned the eventual M2TW snowball effect.

Although, since I have yet to face Lindon, I may be speaking too soon on the whole snowballing....

[Veteraan]

Always nice seeing someone having a Ball whilst playing DCI:LA, Lucky!

[Earl of Memory]

Lindon elves are though! But no match for your... large shields?

[LuckyPistol]

They wiped the floor with me. Just barely survived my first offensive with my Boldogs intact. The orc archers seem more effective given there's around 80 more men in the unit compared to the Tier 2 bowmen (despite the minor difference in attack power). Looks like I gotta spam fodder and wolves. I have no other answer since Lindon has stacks of javelins and pikes. To be fair, though, I haven't done any experimentation in Custom Battles yet.

The elves defy my snowballing with vigor, and I still am just barely staying in the green with finances despite the vast territory I've taken (but hopefully my recent acquisition of Khazad-dum with change that). I have a couple invasion-only units that have been performing great, so it will be sad to see them eventually grinded down against the elves. I love it when I acquire an odd-out/misfit unit.

As a side note, I've noticed East Osgiliath is the hotspot this campaign: there's been multiple invasions and counter-invasions that the city eventually went rebel until the process started over again.

[Araval]

I'm glad to hear you enjoy the visual armour upgrades for them! The two-handed axemen animation is not something we've changed. I think you're lucky you didn't fight Lindon earlier!