The Campaigns Addon (for LotRTW v3.0+)

[Nerazim]

CapnDan, can you make bowstrings? It would make the mod better, been waiting years . Wlesmana is the one who made tutorials about bowstrings but I just can't understand because I am not a modder.

Also, Age of Men should include Numenor because Aragorn rebuilted Arnor.

[CapnDan]

CapnDan, can you make bowstrings? It would make the mod better, been waiting years . Wlesmana is the one who made tutorials about bowstrings but I just can't understand because I am not a modder.

Also, Age of Men should include Numenor because Aragorn rebuilted Arnor.

Bowstrings: The mod does have bowstrings, they're just not animated bowstrings!

-I'm not exactly sure why they were never included but I'd guess there's a good reason. As far as I understand it they would possibly be quite a bit of work for not much result (which may in fact be the reason in of itself). I also have little experience with doing skeletons and models so really and truly I'd have no special advantage over you in trying to implement these. Why don't you just give it a try Nerazim?!

As for the Age of Men campaign, if you want it to include a reforged Arnor, then it totally does! That campaign is set basically right after the Return of the King, if you want Arnor, play as Gondor and go get it! The campaign is actually set up this way for you!

[Nerazim]

I can try about it but not now.


I don't understand. In moddb, Wlesmana made a video about The Rangers(or Master Rangers) with uniqye animations(with bowstring). Why would they not release animated bowstrings?! They showed us but they didn't released it?! I really don't understand.

[CapnDan]

I don't understand. In moddb, Wlesmana made a video about The Rangers(or Master Rangers) with uniqye animations(with bowstring). Why would they not release animated bowstrings?! They showed us but they didn't released it?! I really don't understand.

There were actually a couple of things like that that went on between LotR-TW 2.x and 3.x - I could probably hazard a few guesses as to reasons why but probably just as useful to leave it as being the ongoing mysteries of the modding universe.

[Halvar von Flake]

Hey CapnDan, I think I am going to have some spare time left to start the Numenor campaign during the next days! Looking awesome! I really like the choice of Militia units for Numenor! Nice you left Gimli and Legolas alive seriously injured south of Mirkwood! Unfortunately, Eowyn didn't make it! Her injuries were too deadly, weren't they?! I hope she will return seriously injured horseback in V2.8 to evoke some jeanne d'arc effects! By the way, did you make any changes in the ancilliaries.texts from V2.2 to V2.6? I have changed a couple of things in V2.2 and I am wondering if I can copy my V2.2 ancillaries.texts into V2.6...hmm.
Moreover, I am really interested in your Numenor faction description. Can you post it in this thread?!? That would be nice! Thanks a lot for V2.6 again!!!

[CapnDan]

Hey Halvar:
Hope you enjoy the campaign! I've recently started my first 'just for fun' playthrough and that after having been away for long enough that I'd forgotten about some of the little easter eggs strewn throughout the campaign which has made for some pretty fun surprises.

I've also just recently (and because of the playthrough) done a couple of more pretty minor tweaks and some to the unit stats so I've attached the current EDU I'm using in case you'd like to use it too. Small changes mostly to help make the militia units for Numenor a little more useful. I'm finding the campaign to be quite unique and really good so far, I'll be interested to know what you think.

For Eowyn I'd actually kind of figured she'd be chilling with Faramir in Gondor. Honestly I'd only put a minute's thought into it one time, removed her character and never looked back. Now that you bring it up I'm thinking it might be interesting maybe to add her back in with a small bodyguard in Gondor. Well, next version maybe.

Ancillaries, were edited slightly in getting to 2.6 - so real answer is: I'm not really sure and there is a chance using modified 2.2 Ancs may lead to unforseen bugs or instability. But, no bugs that I can think of off the top of my head, so... maybe. What kind of changes did you make?

Aand the Numenor Campaign description. Vexing that I can't figure out why it's not displaying correctly. Anyway, pasted below:

Reformed Kingdom of Numenor
The desperate gambit by Elessar, returned King of Gondor, to assault the Black Gates and give the Ringbearer time enough to complete his mission, has failed. The united force of Gondor and Rohan was encircled and annihilated almost to the last while the King, badly wounded and barely conscious, was carried from the battle by a small body of Dunedain who had hidden themselves among the army.

From the very beginning there had been doubts among the Dunedain regarding the Fellowship more generally and the chances of a lone hobbit succeeding where the entire might of ancient Numenor had failed. A Council of Rangers was assembled and a decision reached that, with ultimate defeat now fast approaching, a final rally around the ancient banner of Numenor would be the last best hope for Middle-Earth.

Difficulty: DIFFICULT
The Numenorean faction can draw on a wide range of very strong units representing the many different peoples of Middle-Earth. However, finding and convincing members of those various factions to join forces with this unproven army is costly in both time and treasure. The Numenorean faction faces an uphill battle and a race against time as Sauron will only become stronger and stronger until his defeat really is impossible.

[Halvar von Flake]

Looking forward to finding some of the easter eggs! I found one in Carn Dum and I bet you were thinking about Carn Dum as a starting position for Mordor but you decided to make it rebel faction for balancing reasons...

Thanks for EDU! I am going to test it on another occasion as I always play on VH/VH half unit upkeep and I have changed it already...

Well, I think I will switch to V2.6 ancillaries then...I had only little changes for Vilya, Nenya, Anduril, Ring of Barahir and some other items.

In the case of Eowyn you forgot that no chilling is possible as the one ring was not destroyed! Theoden told her to lead the Rohirrim after his death. And Eowyn would not go and chill with Faramir in Gondor when her peoples are in danger. She should be faction leader horseback in the new scenario and Eomer heir if you asked me.

And a question...are rangers of the north recruitable for Numenor faction or will they be available by 5% random chance in Nenuial and Fornost?

[CapnDan]

Looking forward to finding some of the easter eggs! I found one in Carn Dum and I bet you were thinking about Carn Dum as a starting position for Mordor but you decided to make it rebel faction for balancing reasons...

Yup. There's even a little bit of a story there too if you spy on and investigate the general there.

In the case of Eowyn you forgot that no chilling is possible as the one ring was not destroyed! Theoden told her to lead the Rohirrim after his death. And Eowyn would not go and chill with Faramir in Gondor when her peoples are in danger. She should be faction leader horseback in the new scenario and Eomer heir if you asked me.

Well perhaps instead of 'chill' I ought to have said 'decided to stay and fight to the last, or whatever may come, with Faramir, now Steward of Gondor, ally of her people, and sexy time love of her life' After all, her finding a partner is kind of major part of the plot of both books and the films and we all know how good she is at following the directions of Theoden (stay behind, lead the people, ect)


As for Rangers of the North - one of the starting generals has the sole available unit of rangers. In this mod/story all the available dunedain are taking up the arms and banner of ancient numenor and so they would form companies of numenor archers rather than dunedain rangers.

[Halvar von Flake]

My spies have visited Carn Dum already...!!! Unfortunately, orc rabbles took the city very quickly now invading Arthedain from the north, south and west! Although your explanation is very lore like some special forces by 5%chance (rangers) would be quite useful in this emergency situation...!!!


"One minor bug I know of - when choosing the Numenor faction campaign no description shows up for some reason, this problem has been rather vexing for me so if anyone knows what up and how to fix it I'd love to know the answer."

-> Idea: Maybe there is a correlation between the description not showing and no marked area showing for Numenor on the strat map...?!?

some more Suggestions:
- the old stone fortress of Fornost rebuildable or right from the beginning (one of the gondorian city models)
- Nenuial renamed Annuminas
- Frodo and Sam still alive somewhere on the map

[CapnDan]

-> Idea: Maybe there is a correlation between the description not showing and no marked area showing for Numenor on the strat map...?!?

some more Suggestions:
- the old stone fortress of Fornost rebuildable or right from the beginning (one of the gondorian city models)
- Nenuial renamed Annuminas
- Frodo and Sam still alive somewhere on the map

Good thoughts, thanks.
Frodo and Sam I think need to be gone, it's kind of a critical part of the new story.
Don't think I'll rename any of the settlements just for simplicity and can't see any good gameplay reason to want to to that. I have added in the ability to build stone walls at a few more Numenor settlements in the currently unreleased next version though.

The lack of a visual area for numenor in the campaign selection screen is just because I copied over the stock map file without coloring in an area.. I guess I could update that too next version..

[Halvar von Flake]

Ah, nice the walls are going to come!!
And what about Gandalf the White? He could have made with Aragorn to the north...to complete his mission!

Some more thinking:
- I had the idea that there a "new" Numenoreans coming over the sea to support Elessar like the return of the noldor (as there are lore like to few Dunedain rangers left to send a large army into field). The "new" Numenoreans could sail up the Baranduin river from south west to lake Nenuial where they would be recruitable. So rangers of the north recruitable in Fornost and new Numenoreans in Nenuial.
- And it would be worth a try for the free peoples campaign to make the Numenoreans available in Nenuial by 5%chance random unit. That would be great either!!!

[Nerazim]

CapnDan, can you make new models? The Silvan Elves from the Battle of the five armies extended edition were cool. Its really absurd that the team made the Silvan Elves savage.

The Galadhrim and the Silvan Spearmen do not use shields which is really boring to look at. Although many think using shields will hinder their movements it just don't matter because they're elves and they need more defense to survive.

[CapnDan]

CapnDan, can you make new models? The Silvan Elves from the Battle of the five armies extended edition were cool. Its really absurd that the team made the Silvan Elves savage.

The Galadhrim and the Silvan Spearmen do not use shields which is really boring to look at. Although many think using shields will hinder their movements it just don't matter because they're elves and they need more defense to survive.

I'm afraid that I have neither the technical nor the artistic skills required to make new unit models and textures. What do you mean when you say the elves are savage?

[Nerazim]

What I mean is that the Silvan Elves look primitive. Altough I think the lotrtw team visualize that they look like primitive elves but it just doesn't fit. I find the movie silvan elves more civilized than in the mod.

[CapnDan]

What I mean is that the Silvan Elves look primitive. Altough I think the lotrtw team visualize that they look like primitive elves but it just doesn't fit. I find the movie silvan elves more civilized than in the mod.

I think that's mainly because the LotR-TW mod started waaay back well before The Hobbit movies were even on the drawing board. So, there's a lot in there that's based on either the books, or just plain old individual creativity. The Silvan elves, I'm pretty sure, are based on what they're alluded to being like by the books and the first three movies. Specifically that they're not exactly civilized in the traditional sense of being city dwellers - they are 'forest elves' after all..

[Halvar von Flake]

Found some easter eggs! Dunlending Uruk spears, Uruk swords, Rohan spears! Very nice! Campaign is very tough! I guess I have to reduce recruiting times for Numenoreans in Fornost...otherwise we are all doomed...!

[CapnDan]

Found some easter eggs! Dunlending Uruk spears, Uruk swords, Rohan spears! Very nice! Campaign is very tough! I guess I have to reduce recruiting times for Numenoreans in Fornost...otherwise we are all doomed...!

The special Dunlending units are actually one of the very many bits of impressive attention to detail in the stock mod. They just didn't tend to turn up very often (all the more impressive that they had been made and added in the first place!),

The Numenor Capaign is challenging for sure. One of the themes I was really going for there was very limited numbers of strong units vs basically impossible odds. The single player Numenor units are kind of OP if you are able to build them quickly, their disadvantage is that they only come from one place and are slow to train. I fully intended that having an army of numenoran units is something you'd not see until the very late campaign (if at all) and by then what you'd be more likely to have is a mixed force consisting of some units from pretty well all the different 'good' peoples of Middle Earth, which fits the story of the heroic final last stand for those people's pretty well too.

I've played a couple of games through to the point of being ready to take on Mordor (takes me about 100 turns or so without cheats) and the fairly severe limits on recruitment tend to force you into needing to rely more on mercs and militias (which is why I buffed slightly num militia units in that new EDU I'd attached earlier). It also means that the units from other factions (elves and dwarves especially) become particularly valuable to the point of being almost essential.

I've also found, for the first time ever in any TW game I've played, a sense of really needing to think on and manage my limited military forces. Collecting and sending off on campaign your limited stronger units (especially at the start), is both very much a do-or-die sort of situation AND one that necessary depletes your homelands of strong defenses (which then requires a bit of care in diplomacy and the strategic side of things) and contributes to the 'race against time' thing that I'd also been aiming for.

So far I'm actually really happy with how it's all turned out. All I really need now is find someone with the skills and software to give the settlements issues a quick (well, hopefully it's quick) once-over and I'd say it's likely the true and final final version will be done.

[Halvar von Flake]

Wow, you are a strong player, CapnDan!!! I dont' know if I will take on Mordor by turn 100...
My VH/VH Numenorean campaign is very, very, very hard. Turn 53: Gondor destroyed, Rohan and Free peoples only one region left and myriades of Orc rabbles, Trolls and Dunlending hordes roaming the lost realm of Arnor...!
The only ray of hope is Elessar, Elladan and Elrohir marching for Rivendell...!


EDIT: I had a couple of crashes when loading for battle map. I am using the original V2.6 ancillaries.texts (only Anduril and Ring of Barahir modified) wondering if the Numenorean campaign is not so stable running as War of the Ring V2.2...hmm...

EDIT2: Very nice trolls can attack stone walls gates directly!! Carn Dum was taken back by orc rabbles this way...

[CapnDan]

Wow, you are a strong player, CapnDan!!! I dont' know if I will take on Mordor by turn 100...

Well to be fair I have spent what is likely an unholy amount of hours with the game. And to be even more fair, the most I ever play on is H/H - plenty tough enough for old softies like me.

Speaking of taking on Mordor though, it makes for almost a completely different campaign in later game, which I'm also pretty happy with.

My VH/VH Numenorean campaign is very, very, very hard. Turn 53: Gondor destroyed, Rohan and Free peoples only one region left and myriades of Orc rabbles, Trolls and Dunlending hordes roaming the lost realm of Arnor...!

Yup, that happens even on M/M.

EDIT: I had a couple of crashes when loading for battle map. I am using the original V2.6 ancillaries.texts (only Anduril and Ring of Barahir modified) wondering if the Numenorean campaign is not so stable running as War of the Ring V2.2...hmm...

EDIT2: Very nice trolls can attack stone walls gates directly!! Carn Dum was taken back by orc rabbles this way...

As for the crashes, the campaigns sub-mod has been very much a cumulative bit of work that should also be an improvement in stability over all previous versions as well as over the stock LotR-TW mod. It is possible that your edited Anduril may be the source of crashes as there are actually several scripts in the mod based on the anc and who holds it.

[Halvar von Flake]

Well to be fair I have spent what is likely an unholy amount of hours with the game. And to be even more fair, the most I ever play on is H/H - plenty tough enough for old softies like me.

Speaking of taking on Mordor though, it makes for almost a completely different campaign in later game, which I'm also pretty happy with.

I guess you deserve to be pretty happy!! Your modifications made LotR-TW even more thrilling and exciting!!

Yup, that happens even on M/M.

I think I have to fight for Gondor in one of my next campaigns watching the AI Numenoreans with spies...

Idea: The surviving forces of Gondor might go north to fight under Elessar's banner after Gondor's defeat...! This could result in lower recruiting times for Numenorean units or Gondorian militia units could be available in Fornost or something like that...

As for the crashes, the campaigns sub-mod has been very much a cumulative bit of work that should also be an improvement in stability over all previous versions as well as over the stock LotR-TW mod. It is possible that your edited Anduril may be the source of crashes as there are actually several scripts in the mod based on the anc and who holds it.

Do more ancillary scripts exist than "export_ancillaries1.txt", "export_ancillaries.txt", "export_descr_ancillaries.txt"??

REPORT: Legendary death of Elessar!!! Elessar was killed by an orcish arrow 5 seconds before victory at Rivendell!!!!! "History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the flame of the west passed out of all knowledge..."


(Only Elladan and Elrohir badly wounded at the Battle of Rivendell knew about...)