Submod or no submod, that's the question

[TW-fanboy]

Hi, although being a TW fan since Rome I and a longtime fan of LOTR, I never realley got to play Third Age (I played LOTRTW, though).
There seem to be a lot of submods with interesting features.
Do you advise me to try vanilla Third Age first or is there a submod that is just needed for the true third age experience?

[Ngugi]

Welcome to TATW then, TW-fanboy

Yes, it is the general consensus - among at least us modders - that people should begin to play TATW.
It is a great game in itself, it teaches you the characteristic mechanics and features of TATW that you will find in its submods, and after playing it a while you will have experience to know what you want more or less of from the game (so we may help you with the best recommendations for submods, based on your experiences and desire).

Edit: if any, as it shall be said not all prefere what submods bring to the table, hehe.

[pangthaiplay]

try all

[Vifarc]

There are so much TA submods, they evolve, may mix, changeform or being agonizing.
Some submods are more total war, others are more lore
some are in other eras, past or future
some are best to play with some faction
some want to just keep in line with vanilia TA

At first I was a purist of TA, I was blind to submods, until I was seduced by works more in my taste, in my view of a ThirdAge war game.
With all those evolutions of this still living game, I must have land to my 6th adopted complete submod, leaving others behind.

[Roma_Victrix]

I'd suggest playing at least one campaign for vanilla Third Age and then move on to either MOS or DAC (preferably the former, since the latter is still in the beta phase).

[Vifarc]

Or to expand TA in the more respectfull way, the 4.8 mod:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-FAQ-PLEASE%29

[Dutch-Balrog]

I'd recommend DaC personally, it's in beta but its just as stable as the other submods. The only thing that's not finished yet is the Khazad-dûm campaign.

[inge]

I have started playing DaC and generally find it much much better. I dislike that archers are nerfed, but everything else is top notch. The AI seems to handle the smaller factions better (for the most part).

[Darrowmere]

Try the vanilla Third Age first that way you'll know whats different when you play the submods. Personally i love Divide and Conquer the more factions the better in my opinion plus having Dol amroth hold off Harad for a little while means you can play Gondor and actually win for once. There are ways to have multiple mod/submod instillations and i think a thread says how to so you can have as many submods as you wish.

Heres the multiple instillation thread

[k/t]

Definitely get the RR/RC submods by Darth_Revan or Nemesis_GR. Something like that. The balance in Vanilla is utter crap.