MOS the new vanilla?

[seanbg]

I've yet to make the conversion over to MOS. I am loathe to make the switch and lose all my saved games yet again.

Typically I don't install sub mods because I like to go with the official line. I hate it when my files get all corrupted and I need to re download a clean file.

I was wondering what King Kong thinks of MOS and it's developments. Will he incorporate it into his next version? I think the artworks looks great for MOS!

Should I install MOS? Is it to be the future of TATW? Is it that much better than TATW vanilla V 3.2?

[Dutch-Balrog]

Submods are not "the new vanilla". MOS is a massive and great submod to play with, it totally renews your experience of the game!
But it is not the only submod that does that. Other large submods are Forgotten Realms of Gathered Submods (FRoGS), Perillicious Complication Pack (PCP), and my personal favourite: Divide and Conquer which is not out yet but looks almost perfect so far. They even have a totally new Campaign map in testing phase now and will add at least 20 new factions and hundreds of new units.

But about MOS: Yes it is that much better then vanilla because it is vanilla in its base, but greatly expanded in content.

[Krieglord]

Sean

I dont know how much hard drive space your working with but why not just copy and paste the tatw folder into another folder you made then install MOS into that second game installation so then you have 1 tatw vanilla and one with mos, or you could even do this multiple times and get frogs too.

Divide and conquer will be awesome cant wait for its future release, probably more excited about it then rtw2

[SandraDevilGirl]

FRoGS can be compared to Baron Samedi which belongs to the past, have some awesome features but they are dead. (now Im gonna hear it)

MOS has been the best submod for TA the past year but as Balrog says, PcP also looks very awesome but I have never found the time to test it, mainly due to "complicated" installation and that I feel the updates have stopped.

Divide and conquered looks very promising but we don't know so much about what features/improvement they are gonna include other then the new amazing campaign map which firefreak did a so excellent job on that is impossible to describe it.

We cant forget about DCI but aslo this submod is still alittle quiet.

The MOS team is also working on MOS 1.5 which can be cool as the features they have in 1.41 really makes TA a very good game and now they are including even more stuff! If they would manage to include the new DaC map, that would also be....legen.... wait for it....dary.




But, my wish would be if they all could just go togehter and make one BIG submod instead og 5-6 different ones.....

[Krieglord]

Sandra what do you consider AOR 2.3 to be?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...bmod-for-FRoGS

[SandraDevilGirl]

Never read that thread...

[Ngugi]

First: Here is a link on how to have multiple installations at the same time, as Krieglord suggested http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ferent-submods

Second: KK will not answer you, he's not active on the forum at the moment, have not been for soon a year, and even when he was he did not survey the general forum threads

Third: KK is very clear on what he want with his game. Sometimes he add a submod he consider fulfill his vision for TATW, the rest is left to submods - as submods are created because folk have different visions on what is a good game.
Thus, if somebody want the content of MOS (which KK is familiar with and he has been suggested to add times over in most cases already to no avail) then they should play MOS

[seanbg]

Thanks all of you for your responses!

I take it that the general opinion is that MOS is a definitely must try...
I think I shall take Krieglord's advice and just make a backup file.

Time to replay Eriador!!!

[Curufin]

Its all about personal taste, the other big submods out are FROGS and PCP, all of them change vanilla in different ways, it really depends on what you want changed.

[LuckyPistol]

I haven't installed MOS yet either, but could someone tell me the pros and cons of MOS compared to vanilla?

[Wizad]

pro:
Gondor made way more fun with way more units.
Mordor gets all Nazguls at the start.
Immortal Nazguls.
Dunland is interesting to play.
Strong Mordor script, Strong Isengard script, Strong OoG script.
Tol Acharns (or w/e they're called).
In general a better sort of balance in unit stats. It takes some time getting used to it though.

con:
The Silvans en Lorien split up. This means that you have to compete with another Elven faction for the good settlements in the neighborhood.
Isengard loses Dunland, and thus an interesting part of its roster.
Doesn't completely solve the lacking rosters of the northern Orcs.

That's it I think. Feel free to ask any questions.

Also, I agree that MOS is the new vanilla.

[LuckyPistol]

Does Isengard get any new units since it lost dunland?

And how would Rohan, Dunland, and Isengard really work out? a three way fight within an already limit space? I always see Dunland fans say how awesome it is having Dunland as its own faction, but does it really help or hinder Isengard?

[ThaDoews]

Does Isengard get any new units since it lost dunland?

Yes and no. I have seen SOME Isengard armies with some Dunland spearmen in it. Haven't tested it yet

And how would Rohan, Dunland, and Isengard really work out? a three way fight within an already limit space? I always see Dunland fans say how awesome it is having Dunland as its own faction, but does it really help or hinder Isengard?

Isengard now only fight on 1½ front. The half depends on how it reach Lothlorien. Dunland only seems to expand northwards into Eriador/Arnor and never south though Isengard coul really use some of Dunlands massive armies.

A little trick for Eriador/Arnor is that in the very first turns you can easily make an alliance with Dunland and therefore secure your southern borders But by doing that Dunland builds massive stacks and keeps them around their capital. If you later on tends to wage war against Dunland with e.g. Arnor you still need 3-4 full stacks to beat Dunland!

[jthewonder]

IMO the only bad thing about MOS is the added dunland faction, in my experience dunland tends to end up putting isengard in its shadow. In my last 2 campaigns as Eriador/Arnor and the High Elves i think i've had 2-3 battles versus isengard and about 20-30 battles with dunland at around turn 80. + Isengard doesnt expand northwards and will never reach the shire. Other than that, imo MOS improves every aspect of the game.

[DaSwede97]

Well with Isengard and Dunland split it becomes really easy for Rohan. I played as Rohan on vh/vh and by turn 9 or 10 Isengard was completely destroyed. Not much of a challenge.

[LuckyPistol]

Seems to me Dunland takes away potential land from Isengard to support their already poor economy :/

I know the elves are separated into mirkwood and silvans, but what about the dwarves?

[Duke of Metz]

Personally, I really like the Silvan/Lorien split since there is so much room to fight over and plenty of enemies to keep it interesting on multiple fronts. I'm not sure I'm sold on the Isengard/Dunland split tho. Dunland is a fun faction because you can go into Eriador or attack Enedwaith/West Rohan and even West Gondor.

As Isengard you are basically forced to blitz Rohan since you start with only 1 settlement. This is fine and actually pretty lore accurate, I'm just not sure if I like it from a gameplay perspective. By turn 40 or so its pretty apparent which one (Isengard/Rohan) will win. This is mostly due to the narrow space between the two factions.

[Wolfeson]

The dwarves are still one faction, with their same 4 starting territories (2 in the west, 2 in the east).

Losing Dunland does make life a lot harder for Isengard, since they only start with the town of Isengard itself now. I think they get some additional orc unit types to compensate somewhat, but they essentially HAVE to expand quickly into Rohan or they get surrounded and smothered.

IMO the Silvan/Lorien split doesn't hurt the Silvans all that much, but it does change their focus to be mostly on Rhun and Mordor, rather than dividing their attention between those 2 and the OotMM/OoG. It does leave Lorien as a small and challenging faction, though, since they have limited expansion opportunities, and really only 1 evil faction nearby to fight.