[RTW] Favourite Strategic Gameplay

**Ishan** · November 09, 2013, 12:42 PM

For the year 2012, there are 5 RTW mods nominated as favourite strategic gameplay mods. Mods that enhances the strategic gameplay on the strat map. How the AI behaves by modification of its CAI or any other strat map related mechanics & balancing. Vote for the one you like the most:

Rome Medieval: Kingdoms

Description: Rome Medieval is a modification for RTW 1.5, it is a full conversion for RTW,focusing on the rise of the Medieval Kingdoms, through the rise and the fall of the Crusades, continues to the last days of the Medieval age. You will lead any of 18 medieval factions to conquer a new historical Medieval map,leading your great medieval armies to glory.
Rome Medieval: Kingdoms aims at improving the original mod (RM3) in a number of ways. High quality graphics and new sound effects are the main part of this new immersive environment. Playability in the battlefield gets to new levels with a wider variety of more balanced units, as well as with the introduction of gunpowder weapons. Also, strategy will play a more relevant role when fighting your way in the medieval world. Development is slower, so you will have to learn how to manage your resources: should you build a temple to convert local population or would you prefer the way of the arms by building barracks? Bear in mind that The Vatican is paying attention to the actions of all those who call themselves Christians.

Video Presentation

There are plenty of things done and incorporated in this updated version that enhances your strategic gameplay:

Strategic Gameplay Features

Roma Surrectum 2.5

Description: RS v2.5 once again mesmerizes the RTW fans with a massive update. It enhances the whole strategic gameplay experience by adding several new features which can be felt and experienced on the campaign map.

Strategic Gameplay related features

1) Addition of new factions, which includes:

a) Syracuse:

b) Capua:

c) Massalia:

d) Galatia:

e) Bithynia:

2) A complete overhaul of traits and ancillaries, in the most complex and advanced way. Read full details here.
3) Introduction of Specific Leadership Systems and additions to RS2. Read full details here.

Flowchart Representation

4) Roman Leadership Complete:

Please Expand for more info

ROMAN LEADERSHIP COMPLETE:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

ROMAN GRAPHICS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

MORE ROMAN TRAITS, ANCILLARIES AND OTHER ADDITIONS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Tone

Career progression will be speeded up by gaining military decorations (equestrians will only move up a level on the tres militae every 5 years, though this would be speeded up by gaining a decoration - generally through winning battles and being actively involved in the fighting).

You will see that once equestrians (or plebeians who have gained equestrian status) have reached the higher careers they can transfer between the military and civilian ladders depending on whether they are inside or outside a settlement.

Praefectus praetorio is only available to an equestrian who has reached the higher careers and is commanding a Praetorian legion.

Adlection to the senate becomes increasingly likely with advancement as a procurator and opens up senatorial positions. There are therefore two ways for an equestrian to reach a senatorial position:

1) Through his civilian career (judicial or publicani), by rising to the top and gaining wealth and prestige

2) Through the military career in post-Marian times by rising through the tres militae (Praefectus cohortis, Tribunus, Praefectus alae) and then taking a procuratorship, rather than staying in the military - in the game this would be by becoming the governor of a city

Originally Posted by Tone

Basically the military decorations are traits that Roman generals can acquire...the number he can get is unlimited, and we'd expect that centurions would hopefully acquire a good spread of armillae, torques and so on before pogressing. There's no real progression of decorations -

The effects, other than those shown, will be to speed up progression for Plebeians and Equestrians up the ladder of promotion (each decoration will add a point or two to their points on the military progression ladder) and ultimately social advancement (see the previous diagram a few posts up for the post-Marian Plebeian and Equestrian military career ladder) - faster promotion means quicker progression for a Plebeian to the point of Equo Publico Exornatus (being given Equestrian status), at which he can move up the ladder of higher Equestrian careers and possibly eventually gain Senatorial status.

So for example an equestrian will normally spend 5 years in each of the Tres Militae posts, so 15 years or 30 turns before the possibility of gaining a procuratorship and the chance of senatorial adlection - with a few military decorations under his belt that time will be reduced. At the moment we're just doing some tweaking to detemine the speed at which the traits should allow that to happen.

These traits are generally gained through winning battles against the odds - the greater the odds against you, the greater chance of winning a decoration as long as you win the battle. Again this is something that still needs some tweaking as we wait to get feedback from some beta testers (we've just been doing some refining of the triggers). The exceptions to this are the Corona Triumphalis and Ornamenta Triumphalia traits which are given as a result of the triumph triggers (Ornamenta Triumphalia is given after the Imperator trait appears as historically the emperors stopped triumphs from happening for generals other than themselves and the Ornamenta Triumphalia - ornaments of a triumph - were given instead).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

5) Addition of several new buildings on both campaign and battle map.
6) And several other improvements and changes. Some of them mentioned here.

More information can be read here: Official Preview Thread and Information.

Ran no Jidai v2.0

Description: This project is designed to be the definitive full conversion historical modification project for the global RTW community to bring back to origins that made great the TW series , SHOGUN total war.
Version 2.0 was released in Jan 28th, 2012.

Features affecting Strategic Gameplay

1) The Japanese warring clans have all been significantly reworked, each faction now has a much clearer identity with their own historical prologue, strengths and weaknesses, victory storylines and videos. A brand new clan, the Ikko-Ikki rebels (a hording faction), is now included in RNJ 2.0 and immediately begin their siege of Kyoto marking the beginning of the Sengoku period in the game. From this starting point each clan must strive to dominate Japan by any means necessary.

2) A vast number of new units, mercenaries and gunpowder weapons have been added to the game. Some units may only be recruited by specific factions, for example new Katana (ashigaru sword) units for the Urakami clan, as these people were historically expert metalworkers and sword smiths. Other new units are recruited based on religion, such as Buddhist warrior monks which are only available to Buddhist factions. Particular regions in the map give access to unique mercenaries and wandering Ronin who can join your armies for a price.

3) The AI has been improved and provides greater challenge in the campaign map and battles. In the campaign map, the AI is likely to recruit large enemy armies and attempt surprise invasions by both land and sea. As the difficulty level increases, you should expect to encounter more aggressive opponents and natural disasters which can scupper your best laid plans.

4) In the game, every single faction has been reworked, to give more character to the clans and give more strengths and weaknesses as based on historical records.

5) The economy, settlements, governors and generals have all been updated and improved. New buildings can be constructed and settlements have been balanced in unrest and growth. The progression of settlements is more gradual and now governors can no longer be recruited at lower-end settlements. The generals themselves have been developed, with the traits system, ancillaries and army supplies all enriched with numerous new traits and ancillaries added to the game. Also, agents have been upgraded and diplomats and assassins can be used as semi-spies to get tracking traits.

6) Giving the game more of a Japanese feel and atmosphere has been an important aim in RNJ 2.0. All traces of the Western Romanised atmosphere from Barbarian Invasion (BI) have been removed and replaced with Japanese graphics and sounds. The background music is now authentic and is appropriate to the situation in the game, all the in-game voices are a mixture of actual Japanese and English spoken with a Japanese accent. Other sound effects such as battle SFX have been added which help give the game more of an immersive Japanese atmosphere.

7) Some factions have certain historical characteristics which increase their generals and agents traits, to name a few; expert diplomats for Matsudaira, great and corrupt generals for Hojo, trade bonuses for Imagawa and Ouchi, farming bonus to Miyoshi, great sailors for Mori, leadership bonus for Oda, good Cavalry Generals for Satomi, famous generals for Uesugi and aristocratic family & influence for Chosokabe. In the game, every single faction has been reworked, to give more character to the clans and give more strengths and weaknesses as based on historical records.

7) The map of Japan and environments in the game has been visually improved and the climactic regions of Japan are now based on real-life climate maps. These climates and environments help some factions in their food harvests, while other factions are hindered by harsh weather and freezing conditions, which provides more variety and geographical challenges in gameplay. The battle map is visually improved by the new environments and battlefields have climate and terrain variations enabling for a more diversified series of battles.

8) The artwork and graphics are now totally Japanese-stylized, with 2D artwork and graphics created to represent events in the game, with updated galleries of generals & agents portraits, and new unit cards and building cards featuring in RNJ 2.0. The artwork has been created in the spirit of exemplifying actual historical events and customs, such as the practice of crucifying enemy spies when a spy is captured.

9) Whenever possible, the historical accuracy of the period has been included and maintained in RNJ 2.0, for example the starting locations and diplomacy of the various clans as well as their family trees and historical leaders. The effects of competing religions at that time in Japan have been included in the game, as many clans sought to not only increase their own power, but also spread faiths throughout Japan. Another historical element is the introduction of Western technologies and weapons, which pits the ancient samurai form of warfare of bows, sword and spears against new regimented gunpowder armies, which method of warfare will be triumphant?

10) Other extra features of RNJ 2.0 include the option of force diplomacy when you want to customize your experience or create scenarios.

Further details here.

Iberia Total War: Platinum

Description: This mod is dedicated to recreating the conquest of Hispania by the powers of the Mediterranean sea and his fights against the natives of Iberia in the period between the 270 B.C and 16 B.C. Total conversion, with new factions, new units, new campaign.

The platinum version provides a lot of new features on the campaign map like history advisor, new 2D art, ship models etc.

Fortuna Orbis 0.6

Description: Fortuna Orbis is a mod based on RTR which aims to provide a game to the standard of RTR-VII on a full map, stretching from Britain to India, with high quality units, a fully-fledged Indian faction, and other innovations.

v0.6 patch was released in 2012 which fixed many bugs and added several new units. v0.5 was released at the end of 2011 as Beta so this is the first time they're entering this competition.
- Preview: Governments
- New Factions, Mauryan Preview
- New Music
-Map Preview