Hannibal at the Gates All Factions Mod

[Tehulotl]

Spoiler for Quintus Fabius 30 Stack Army: 

DOWNLOAD:

https://www.twcenter.net/forums/down...o=file&id=4427





Hi folks!

I did my startpos Mods by Assembly Kit newest version of January 2019, and the two dudes DAVE and BOB. My HATG MOD well worked with my up to date Total War Rome 2 version and includes the Desert Kingdom Pack and its units. Hopefully it might work for you all. Have fun!



Intro

I always was one of those Total War Rome 2 totally addicted guys greedy waiting for an "all factions mod" cause I just played/won with any available faction already. Now I am able to unlock all factions of all DLCs by myself and modify some stuff, that is great! I once bought Total War Rome 2 to play a good game with the Carthaginians > Youtube > Letsplay > Hannibal at the Gates > bought the game > years of fun!

One major problem of that amazing game is, that all factions are well balanced - so, if you play Carthage or the Sasanids to face Rome one day, and Rome just suffers around or even goes extinct that is a pity and a shame and unbearable! If you play Hannibal at the Gates or Augustus, or ANY OTHER DLC, you surely want to face the huge enemy one day, as a HUGE enemy - and not a lacking fool, or never, cause he died long before.

So, I became a huge fan of my so-called "Mini Mods". I prefer in Augustus to play Mark Antony, and I surely dont want to see Augustus suffer in weakness! I want to face the Parthians and Augustus in full strength! No! I want to face the Parthians and Augustus as THE Badass Powers! If you play the Empire Divided DLC as Aurelian, you know how HARD that is in the beginning to survive! The AI just cannot bear that at all and goes down completely as Aurelian. If you want to face a STRONG Aurelian, you have to boost the AI Aurelian - or he just wont stand nothing at all.

So, to boost enemy factions, that is not cheating! A game with balanced factions will ALWAYS suffer, that the AI factions lack. I dont cheat up the enemies, I just... give them well balanced boosts, what they need to stand their ground and attack.



HATG - Hannibal at the Gates

One criticism in Hannibal at the Gates is, that the map seems too huge, but that isnt the fact at all! The problem of well balanced faction powers is, that for example Carthage and Rome might seem to be mighty factions - but surrounded and divided by over thirty smaller ones! To gain force, you need a human player OR a boosted AI player to not get just sucked into that pity masses, but overwhelm them all, it is necessary to have superior powers - and not balanced powers! The Romans dont reach Spain or Africa, cause they are simply strong, but simply not strong enough, they stay strong WITHIN the balance of powers, strong, but not strong enough.

If you play Carthage and you give the Romans a boost in infantry strength plus army marching speed, they could conquer whole North Africa plus Spain, they just do it, and they, all in a sudden, seem like REAL deadly Romans! That is just great to watch them march on! That is just great to face them on battlefield! It is an honor to face a Roman Principes Army, HARD infantry, HARD to fight, fast marching Roman badasses!

Total War balances ALL factions - and so, a boost to boost special enemies seems all natural to me! It just works! These are my so-called "Mini Mods" - 2 kb "huge" Mods to boost special enemies. I dont do ONE great Mod, I do a bunch of Mini Mods for a DLC so that I can just check or uncheck Mod Manager Boxes to tweak my uprising game perfectly for my needs. So, my Hannibal at the Gates Mod is a bunch of 15 Mini Mods - sounds weired or complicated, but it isnt, it is just smooth, and works perfectly.



My HATG All Factions Mod contains the 15 Mini Mods:

a_HATG_1_neutral_stack.pack
> startpos Mod, unlocks ALL factions plus tweaks the starting armies/generals a bit - sry, it is just annoying to always get just the two "options" of generals and then you just always have to change the general unit first, these "Legatus" idiots or stuff! My Roman Army Generals get Praetorian Cav! My Carthaginian Hasdrubal Barca gets Numidian Noble Cav! Quite better!

a_HATG_2_scipio_stack.pack
> startpos Mod, same as neutral plus gives the Romans a 40 units stack for Scipio and another 30 units stack

a_HATG_3_hannibal_stack.pack
> startpos Mod, same as neutral plus gives the Carthaginians a 40 units stack for Hannibal and another 30 units stack

a_HATG_4_both_stack.pack
> startpos Mod, same as neutral plus gives BOTH, the Carthaginians AND the Romans a 40 and a 30 stack army - I found it nice to play for example the Boii or the Turdetani or any other minor faction and to know that both main factions are mighty - so you think at least twice to attack these guys! It is nice to think: Yeah I am the Boii/Turdetani but I just cannot risk to battle these stacks at that point - just NO WAY!

4 different startpos Mods, so the startpos are different to each other and not compatible! They exist to choose ONE of them to gain the best gaming experience

a_HATG_king.pack
> just WOW! includes the needed politics/parties/tables for the unlocked factions, desert kingdom units, better garrisons hopefully, 8 til 12 general units for free choose for ANY faction, includes all factions for custom battles including all of these generals, includes a sack liberate mod, includes just a bunch of stuff for HATG itself and is NEEDED to be CHECKED, cause any startpos Mod unlocks all factions and without the politics/parties/tables for all factions the Mod would just crash - you NEED the factions unlocked in startpos PLUS tables!

a_HATG_the_celts.pack
a_HATG_the_others.pack
> I didnt achieve to implement just ALL factions in main menu so I had to split them in two groups - either you check the celts to play one of their factions or you check the others to play one of the other factions - you could even check both without crash, they are no startpos Mods, just main menu icon Mods, if you dont implement faction icons they just wont appear main menu, no reason for a crash, if you check both some factions just would appear beyond the edge and not to reach, so just check ONE of them to reach all factions - but none, just one, or both, no crash, never, it just changes the factions to appear in main menu - they just include the faction icons tables!

a_king.pack
> I split that data into another pack, cause that tweaks imperial level stuff, stances stuff, and is good for ANY game to use! I could just, simply, use that in any other game, it is not HATG only

a_strong_africans.pack
a_strong_celts.pack
a_strong_greeks.pack
a_strong_hannibal.pack
a_strong_scipio.pack
> as I told - I split ANY possible stuff into all of these 15 Mini Mods, so that I just could check ANY needed stuff, and other stuff just NOT! If I need strong african factions, celtic factions, greek factions, strong Carthaginians, strong Romans, I just check the available boxes in Mod Manager to tweak my game just as I will need it! These boosts are not over the top, they are balanced and historically accurate - the africans and celts get harder cavalry, Hannibal gets cheaper mercenaries, Scipio gets cheaper and harder and faster infantry - that is all well balanced boosting of what you think to need to let your enemies gain more powers - for example, ALL of these strong men packs, boost the general unit! It is WELL balanced! And nothing over the top! You just can make sure to get just well working, GREAT enemies, with GREAT generals!

a_mighty_carthage.pack
a_mighty_rome.pack
> the faction owning Rome or Carthage gets benefits out of it! These two towns are heavy prizes to own or to conquer and deliver more wealth and strength to the faction owning or conquering it - these two towns are THE two major targets in game! And to conquer them means some benefits for a real EMPIRE! They are major prizes! You can choose if you want to give these benefits to none, to one, or to both of these great major cities.



Outro

My Hannibal at the Gates Mod is in fact a bunch out of 15 Mini Mods, which I just split into 15, so that I could check or uncheck any possible in game strength or boost I could need or would like to prevent. It is a most modular mod, a 15 Mini Mods Mod, so that you could check or uncheck WHATEVER NEEDED in game!

To play my Mod, it is minimum needed to check a_HATG_king.pack so that all factions are unlocked in the tables! You NEED a_HATG_king.pack CHECKED! You NEED ONE of the four startpos mods a_HATG_1 til 4, ONE of them, you NEED definitely, ONE of them! And if you want to play any other of the 35 factions than the main five factions Rome, Carthage, Syracuse, Arevaci, Lusitani, (they ALWAYS appear main menu!), you NEED either the celts.pack or the others.pack CHECKED definitely, so that these factions appear main menu. All others are just optional available to gain a most balanced badass fun game!

It seems a bit confusing I guess, a bit complicated, but it isnt. If you read so far, and understood - just download the whole bunch, unpack, put the folder into your DATA folder Rome 2, use the batch files to delete or load what you need automatically, check the three NEEDED ones by Mod Manager or Steam Launch, and then just check what you want! (I made sure by batch file that just ONE startpos Mod appears into DATA folder!) Thats all. Thats it! Just 45 MB divided into 15 Mini Mods to batch load and to check or uncheck WHATEVER NEEDED in game! Have fun!

O, yes! All of these Mini Mods worked perfectly Total War Rome 2 all DLCs including the Desert Kingdoms Pack! That dk pack makes much sense in HATG! It shall work all inclusive newest version! Have fun!



Batch Files

Wow! That was fun now! IF I should marry one day, then banana milk or batch files. I just LOVE, I just ADORE batch files! I packed all my 15 Mini Mods into the folder HATG MOD which is to place right into the Rome 2 Data Folder. Within my HATG MOD Folder are 15 little batch files now plus the subfolder PACKS. I really LOVE that, if you just have to choose by double clic and the batch file just copies/deletes the stuff into/out of the right folder. Clic clic clic done. The batch file use will automatically load while choosing one of the four startpos Mods, that startpos Mod plus the HATG King, plus will automatically delete all other perhaps existing three startpos Mods out of the Data Folder, so I ensured that no compatibility issues or crashes will appear hopefully. Same with the Celts and the Others - once ONE factions group is loaded, the other is automatically deleted, vice versa.

So I just have to put my HATG MOD Folder into the Rome 2 Data Folder, then open it, then choosing by clic clic clic the batch files I want, the batch files automatically load and delete the required or non required stuff preventing issues, a "DELETE ALL" batch file is included, so that I could easily clean up my Data Folder, and may the game begin! Did I mention already that I just LOVE Batch Files and once will marry a most beautiful one?



To give credit and to say THANK YOU! guys:

Ermanarich > The 3 Playable Factions Mods for HATG
> I was super thankful to finally find at least these three Mods by Ermanarich on Steam, so that I could play some more factions HATG - still, they are three split startpos Mods, each just including SOME, and still some missing at all - I was super thankful! BUT: Just basic unlocked stuff - nothing more! Just the raw unlocked factions and nothing else, that was my initial position/situation of beginning to mod by myself - my HATG Mod unlocks just ALL 35 factions, plus comforts them all for a better faction experience

rafswi7 > Custom Battles Mod for HATG
> I just took his Custom Battle Unit Table and just tweaked it to hopefully perfection, some errors out, and all of these additional general units in, that stuff

Dresden > Sack Liberate Mod
> I just took his Sack Liberate Mod and just tweaked it slightly, that is a Mod just most useful for ANY Total War Game! Easy going and just most useful

Litharion > Better AI Recruitment Mod
> I think I took his Better AI Recruitment Mod, dont know exactly anymore. I just grabbed my stuff and implemented it, but if it is HIS Mod - THANK YOU! I fought a Roman Principes Army somewhere Numidia and that is just FUN! There is much useful stuff out there! Hopefully my Mod will work for all guys out there and be fun!



I just took ALL I could find and handle (as a bloody beginner) to create an easy to go but most complete HATG Mod! To see Scipio or Hannibal with a 40 stack army is JUST GREAT! But I am a jerk! The attached screen shot is just the Roman 30 stack of Quintus Fabius! lol

Spoiler for Quintus Fabius 30 Stack Army: 

DOWNLOAD:

https://www.twcenter.net/forums/down...o=file&id=4427

[Jake Armitage]

Seems cool!

[Tehulotl]

Managed to edit my post, managed to upload these about ~ 25 mb .rar now!

(thnx to the admin lolIsuck)

Hopefully it is supercool! I am not a Rome 2 Modding Genius, my experience in that stuff was a bit PFM, and is about some months in 2019 Assembly Kit, DAVE and BOB. Just a little basic stuff. Dont know if it might work for all guys out there - for me, my up to date Rome 2 version gets it, no crashes yet.

Hopefully it is a HATG dream, just working! I put into that thing all I could for a great experience!



O, yes, fun fact:

I wasnt able to implement civil war for the other 30 factions. But since these spies, champions, and, eeem... patrician guys, these guys are able to bribe generals! So I just look to pimp up my patricians being able to bribe generals and then I just look for potential great general units to bribe so... I always have more than enough generals in my own party by bribing and then convincing. Civil war in "Rise of the Republic" was just aweful and just is annoying anyway - it is just crap in my opinion! Since I have enough own generals that is just no threat, just annoying over and over again.

My concept is to make the empire more fragile, the huger it gets the MORE unrest! The more loyal the other parties get, the MORE unrest! The rich become richer, the empire becomes huger, and the unrest becomes really nasty - if you check the Mini Mod "a_king.pack".



Necessary Shout Out for Testplayers and Reports:

Hi guys! I did that whole Mod with the newest version of the Assembly Kit Beta/DAVE/BOB from January 2019 and so with the latest data base version and so with all DLCs and packs and all data implemented > my version of the latest Total War Rome 2 including ALL DLCs and ALL packs, most important, the Desert Kingdoms Pack to implement more desert units (grreat!), WORKS with my Mod! So that I am able finally to play the Turdetani and the Libyans, yeah!

But: A man can never be sure how/if it will work for other dudes out there! I had hoped for a guy/dude/testplayer to tell me stuff - if it doesnt work, if it is great, if it sucks, feedback would be welcome! Since I bought Total War Rome 2 I always wanted to play Hannibal at the Gates fully loaded and so I tried to fully load my Mod to gain the most out of it! I want a HATG MOD out there WORKING for ALL dudes to have fun, just, that it exists and works, for all guys wanting to play that! I want to make sure that it just works, for any guy, wanting to play that!

[Leonardo]

Nice work!

+rep

[Tehulotl]

~~~

Hey folks! Did some dudes play my mod?

~~~



PLAY TEST, Libyans, October 2019:

WOW!

Since I bought my Total War Rome 2 caused by a search for a worthy Carthaginian game and by a Lets play on Youtube, I played that game to death, and I always wanted to play the Libyans in "Hannibal at the Gates". Now I did.

I had the problem occured, that it is an All Factions Mod, so that I tried to give all factions the option of a secession. But since I just failed and I just HATE that secession thing, where you just own all of your armies by own general and then have to roll up again and again your own territory again, and where you have little chance to prevent that annoying from occuring.

I made it, that a rising empire or a rising ruling party just reap a rising civil disorder - it is unlogical to me, that in original game you just can STOP disorder, while your empire grows, the next empire level just gives more corruption. My next empire level gives much more civil disorder, corruption, dislike of other nations, all troops more expensive, so that you ALWAYS will get your punch in the face and you will ALWAYS have to struggle down your people again and decide whether or not, another conquest would be. To stabilize your provinces FIRST, to THINK FIRST, and then perhaps to conquer along is wise.

And, yes, I am a fanatic Total War Rome 2 player, so I didnt do that stuff impossible to solve!

I did stances.

If your army or navy are in town, they are more expensive, they heal faster, eat and drink more, and secure highly the raging population. Fast march > they heal less fast, eat and drink more, the most stances make army and navy more expensive except raiding, that gives credit. I am super proud of my stances! Raiding creates unrest, eats more food, steals money, army or navy, and you HAVE TO react. Besieging or blockading is even worse. I always liked the thing where you could incite unrest. Now you incite unrest and starvation perhaps, if you raid enough. You bleed provinces out. And if some enemy army or navy do the same to you, YOU WILL REACT, cause you just get the point from the beginning.

~~~

I think I did an awesome job here, and closed the cycle. My own HATG MOD, to play "Hannibal at the Gates" quite perfectly! All factions are nicely done! Not ruins! I dont want to blame all of these good guys at least giving the option of other factions, BUT!

Would it be REALLY an effort for Creative Assembly or whoever, to create All Factions Playable for all DLCs? The factions ARE MADE ALREADY!!! These factions are already completely DONE!!! The only difference is a 0 or a 1 in startpos, that is INSANE. I dont even need that adventurous money giving story telling for a faction > just playable factions, cause they are already there. See that: A Modder does not have to CREATE chains or whatever! That is ALL THERE ALREADY, cause all factions have to work as an enemy faction. You just tweak a 0 to a 1 in startpos!

Yes, and you have to link and to write stuff into the db to get them to work actually, yes. And there, I gave ANY faction the feeling, that it is complete, not a ruin, a complete, working faction.

I am really proud of that Mod!




~~~



PLAY TEST, Gaetuli, October 2019:

WOW!

The faction of the Gaetuli shocked me much now! I always wanted to play in "Hannibal at the Gates", after playing the playable five > the Libyans, CHECK, WOW game! > the Turdetani, not played yet, but superb possible now > one interesting Numidian or North African tribe, Gaetuli, Mauri, Masaesyli, Massyli, Garamantes, CHECK, WOW!

Today I played the Gaetuli and thanks to the Desert Kingdoms pack, this faction is just awesome to play! I created Numidian and North African tribes, just by linking some units to the building chains, and they are just super fun to play! I tell the whole story:

1) The Gaetuli are a weak spot southwest, nowhere. The Mauri where friend to Carthage so to attack them to get out of that spot was a NO GO, so I intended to raid the Mauri to war. Half the way to Carthage territory of Tingis, the Mauri declared war and sent their Half Stack to die. Volubilis mine.

2) The Masaesyli I guess, I attacked and got Siga. Then peace again.

3) Tingis was no problem, cause the Turdetani and the Carthaginians changed towns > the Turdetani conquered Gades, then Tingis, and lost Gades to Celtiberian uprise, Carthage got Kartuba.

4) I lured the Turdetani stack into my capital of Rutubis, and sneaked my stack west from Siga to Tingis and just took it empty.

5) Kartuba was conquered by the Asturi, they travelled far south. While I got Sitifi from the Massyli, and later Iol from the Carthaginians by diplomacy, Gades vs a Rebel Full Stack, and just preparing my struggling realm.

6) While the Asturi captured Ilici and besieged Carthago Nova, I captured Kartuba and followed them down. Took Ilici from rebels and smashed Carthago Nova right after I killed the Asturi general and his exhausted army. Whatever!

Shocking was, that Carthage lost nearly everything and while the Libyans besieged Carthago, just Hippo and Carthago left, I offered them war vs the Illercavones to get their Carthage conquered Saguntum and later Ibossim, which is now taken by rebels. I just checked "Satrapy" and Carthage did it. Now I have a really nice Gaetuli Empire and Carthage as my satrapy and Hippo as a diplomacy gift. I still can afford just one full stack, but I have a really nice Gaetuli Empire and full stack with just awesome troops! And Carthage as my satrapy.

One of the nicest games EVER!

After I conquered the Oretani and their town, I had the following thought: I want to get out of town my full stack soon as possible! These guys are too expensive in town. Best is to use just one cheap general unit to supress disorders, BUT: At least one or two turns to heal them faster and to supress harder, then OUT and go raiding! That thought was REALLY GOOD!

My stances work!!!

[leonardusius]

Super mod indeed ! Not played yet but some question I'm concerned about are:
- do resolve the Etruscan League or the Samnites not promoting italian culture ?
- do family tree work with ALL factions ?
Also you wrote: ''See that: A Modder does not have to CREATE chains or whatever! That is ALL THERE ALREADY, cause all factions have to work as an enemy faction. You just tweak a 0 to a 1 in startpos!''. You really make me interested and very curious. Always want to edit startpos to change/input some stuff really needed and never found a good clear tutorial. Some are very good but too complicated and others are very clear but unfortunately too 'hollowed'. Something to suggest for me, please ?
Very awaited work, and many thanks for your dedication.

[Tehulotl]

Oh. My beloved Hannibal at the Gates Mod, HATG Mod, is on my list to pimp further, after my beloved Rise of the Republic Mod, RISE Mod. HATG does provide Family Trees, therefor I used an older Startpos. HATG provides really much fun, sadly not included yet some Army Spawns, but really a great Mod. I dont know anymore if Etruscans and Samnites provide that, if not, it would be a lack I would have to pimp out. Just download and play, it is worth your while.

If I would have to give an advice regarding Startpos Tweaks. Or some.

FIRST. Try to solve your problems PFM (PackFileManager) and tables. Better: RPFM (Rusted PackFileManager) which includes Troy.

SECOND. Therefor, take some already existing small mods for small problems and adapt them.

THIRD. Startpos changes via PFM/RPFM are hilarious. You definitely should own Total War Rome 2 on Steam, own all the necessary Packs on Steam, and work via the infamous Assembly Kit. It still is a pain in the a****s, but that is the only solution to really change stuff for good.

(Always buy Steam Stuff on sale. Not just some Game plus Pack prices are hilarious, but the difference between price and sale price too.)

FOURTH. As long as you dont really want to create a BRANDNEW scenario in detail, stick to the latest patched version of all of your beloved Rome 2 games and mods and try to avoid Startpos, and just try to tweak the tables via PFM.

But if you WANT to create a brandnew scenario in detail - that is hard work, and you should own the power and patience to just do what all of the Modders did: Download PFM, try to work it out. Download Steam Mods, try to work it out. Download Assembly Kit, try to work it out.

There is no long Historia in Detail to take you by the hand. Plus, there is no single Modder taking you by the hand from Zero. If you ask some REALLY GOOD dudes, like me or GyrosMeister or some others - bring in some experience ABOVE ZERO. Lastly, it is YOUR duty to do your job.

There is not really a super easy way to do your dreams in two seconds.
Kahaha. Except for a weak stamina on Youporn.

FIFTH. FIRST, search for some Mods on Steam. Some of your dreams are existing already, you just have to find them.