[Mod Proposal] Third Age of Europe: Total War

[Ziame]

I know that the name is idiotic but the proposal is not about the name.

Hi.

Prologue
Since my first days in the halls of Medieval 2 Modding, I have longed for things... less focused. In the recent days I have found that Call of Warhammer fulfills that niche in a small part, containing a bit of everything (but that's Warhammer for you, isn't it?).

Back to the point. While playing Stainless Steel, I couldn't help but notice that some of the factions are close to each other, in terms of gameplay, like
Aragon - Portugal - Castille
Norway - Denmark
Poland - Lithuania - Kiev - Novgorod
Turkey - Mamluks - Kwarezm

I like Stainless Steel's map. It's Europe, it's detailed, it's fun.

The Proposal
Factions
A number of factions from Stainless Steel is to be replaced by factions from Third Age Total War or other of acclaimed community works (proposal is based on Third Age, because I am familiar with it)

Aragon becomes Dale
Dale, an infantry-focused faction would be a good challenge in the middle of Spanish and French cavalries. It would also be quite interesting to pit Dale forces against Moors.

Norway becomes Dwarves
In the cold mountains of the North, the Dwarves made their home. Just imagine Dwarven invasions of England, Novgorod and Poland! Heavy dwarven infantries against heavy Polish Cavalry, crossbows against longbows. Either CoW or TATW Dwarves would be great in this role.

Mongol Horde becomes Mordor Orcs
Instead of cavalry spam, Europe and Asia Minor faces throngs of orc infantry and Warg riders, all led by invincible Nazguls, with a few Balrogs thrown in for good measure.

Byzantium becomes Gondor
Gondorian balanced army would successfully face both Turks and Hungarians on the battlefield, in my opinion.

Scotland becomes Elves
Scotland is a pikemen heavy faction, while Elves are spearmen/archer heavy. Basically a palette swap, but with elves!

Sicily becomes Rohan
With 5 "Italian" factions already present, one less won't make much of a difference. Changing Sicily to Rohan does not even alter the balance that much.

Kwarezm becomes Isengard
With Saruman on the head of this glorious people, Orcs of Kwarezm may not fail

Additional changes

+ England inherits coolest Scot units, Castile does so with Aragon and so on.
+ Balance across the board
+ Porting the units, obviously
+ Porting the graphics, again, obviously

Optional changes
Sylvania from CoW squeezed in somewhere as token undead faction


Disclaimer
I would very much ask that this thread does not divulge into debate if Aragon and Castile is similar or not, or whether Denmark should be Dwarves instead of Norway. This is just a general concept that I want to see if people like.

Discuss!

[BarnicleBill1]

You could always use a mod like EB2, imagine Baktria holding up hordes of orcs.

[AntonisTheGreek]

So you actually want a Stainless Steel vs Third Age TW mod,right?In my opinion,that could be a SS submod...

[Ziame]

You could always use a mod like EB2, imagine Baktria holding up hordes of orcs.

Yes, that is a good idea as well. I have not played EB2 yet, though.

So you actually want a Stainless Steel vs Third Age TW mod,right?In my opinion,that could be a SS submod...

Pretty much, yea. Not necessarily Stainless Steel, as Bill said, and not necessarily Third Age. I am mostly curious if there's people interested in such a mashup.

[BarnicleBill1]

If you so desired you could combine more than just SS and TATW. It would be more work but an "all-stars" mod would be interesting. Thera is a good example of that.

[Hellvard]

That's right BarnicleBill, combining more mods is definitelly a good idea Think about ancient Romans and Gauls fighting XVIIIth century British Empire, Hussites, Chaos armies from Warhammer, Lannisters from Westeros and Haradrims from Third age, possibilities are endless (almost )!

[BarnicleBill1]

Haha, the main issue is what map to use. You could use SS, EB2, TATW, or any number of others. Also the question of not yet released mods, such as The Great Conflicts and Tsardoms.

[Ziame]

I think Europe from Stainless Steel is the best map for such endeavour -- it's vast, it's detailed; more importantly - everyone is familiar with that map.

"all-stars" mod

That sounds great, but bear in mind that we have a finite number of units/factions, that can be put in a single mod.

If the idea was to expand, then

Venice+Genoa become Roman Empire
Personally I'd prefer to see units from De Bello Mundi here, as they look better than EB's (even if less correct historically). It would be even more awesome to include Roman Musketmen :O I would die from happiness after seeing THAT

Poland+Lithuania+KievanRus becomes The Commonwealth of Three Nations (Rzeczpospolita Trojga Narodów)
It would be awesome to field winged hussars, dragoons, and cossack infantry against Roman Legionnaries (it also would free up 2 faction slots and lots of units slots) There is even a mod that has those - With Fire And Sword 2

Hungary is split into Hungary and Sylvania (token undead faction)

Denmark becomes Vikingland (including some badass Chaos/Norsca warriors)

France could inherit some Gaul and Breton units.

I have no idea for Germany and Muslim factions, sadly.



I would actually dig that very much!

[BarnicleBill1]

The Muslim factions would be best using Broken Crescent or possibly waiting for TGC. Germany could have Tuetons or something else. Possibly from Tsardoms?



P.S. Don't forget Hellenics!

[Hellvard]

I agree with Bill, switching HRE to Teutonic Order is good idea. What do you guys think about this:

change Abbasid Egypt to ancient Egypt or even better, to Tomb Kings from Warhammer
change Moors to Haradrims
Turks can become Persian Empire or Rhun from Third Age
Byzantium changed to Sparta or Alexanders the Great Empire
Mongols or Timurids changed to Orks from Warhammer
Papal States changed to Mordor?

[BarnicleBill1]

I think most of the "dark factions" should be on the edges, or at least most isolated areas to give the "good" guys a chance.
I think using EB2 selucids to replace Byzantium would be good,
possibly having Gondor as the Papal State,
Mongols as either type of orc/dark faction suggested,
Egypt to tombkings,
Seljuk/turks to Rhun or maybe parthia (just for kicks),
Genoa and Venice to Imperial Rome,
Sicily to Rohan,
Aragon to Dale,
France to Guals,
and after that I'm fresh out of released usable mods.

Edit: If possible look at the faction of Umbar in the Divide and Conquer mod, they are awesome.