Hello TWCenter!
Barbarian Empires: Downfall is the new project of Barbarian Series, this time based on Late Roman Empire Times. This mod is for Total War: Rome Remastered.
The mod is being developed in the Rome Total War Discord Community: RTW Discord (ENG)
Since the patch 2.0.4 for Rome Remastered was released and the faction limit had been lifted, an idea of a dream mod based on BI Remaster came to my mind, a definitive BI experience featuring many tribes and kingdoms of the era, as it was in history, where new kingdoms emerged and fell and thousands of people fought for their future, and sometimes for their very survival. We hear their names echoing in the history books, like mourning ghosts lurking in the empty halls of their past glory, and today they are just meaningless names for us: Rugii, Heruli, Taifals, Burgundii, Picts, Thervingi, Greuthungi, Blemmye, Garamantes... - all just a list of names but it was the time in history when these names sounded loudly like a lion's roar, and were both feared by enemies and respected by friends. These epic times, filled with smoke and blood, have seen the fall of the great Roman Empire and start of a new page in history...
Initially my goals for the mod were pretty humble, and I started with a small steps. I didn't have any team, nor did I have a tons of free time, so I quickly discarded the idea to try to replicate original RR assets which have a very complex setup and require advanced technologies or a very big team. They are great, no doubt, but it's just too time-consuming to make such a complex models alone, and in the end, some of the limitations of this path didn't fit well with my artistic goals. So to build some base for future editing I started with completely replacing all of the BI RR units with enhanced original BI units, featuring upscaled textures and new 3D elements, like better attachments, scabbards, 3D shields etc. At this stage, the codename of the mod was BINOM - BI Nostalgia Overhaul Mod. I planned to incorporate all the smaller BI mods into it, like Siege of the West, BI Expanded etc., including the "Lost factions" - Marcomanni, Quaddi, Iazyges, Moors, White Huns - and see what the game will look like. It took me some time and my first steps in RR weren't very successful. I was alone, with pretty few people I could ask some advice, and a few first bugs I faced delayed me for weeks, if not months. Still, I slowly built up the base for the mod: polished the upscaled textures, introduced the new units, merged some unit slots, added new loading screens, music, sounds, faction symbols. Up until the point I realized that original BI assets just limit me too much. So since I had a full permission from Skynet bunker, the creator of Scorched Ground mod to use the content of scorched_ground mod, including many unreleased models and textures, I made a choice to change the visual style of the mod, and to build it up using Scorched Ground as a base, adding new ideas, units and factions on top of it. The new course worked pretty nicely, and I'm very happy with the completely new faction for BI constructed from elements of SG Celto-Picts, some Barbarian Empires: Hellenistic Legacy assets, and a bunch of new models and textures added using Rome Remastered unit variation feature. Meet the first faction preview - the Picts faction!
The brief preview of the Pictish unit roster:
A detailed unit-by-unit preview of the faction:
1) Pictish Skirmishers, the basic missile unit. Has some variation in look, a famous "H-shaped" shield and other types with the Pictish symbols on it
2) Pictish Slingers, basic long range unit. Doesn't have variation just yet, WIP
3) Pictish Female Archers - wild tribal maidens obsessed with war trophies. Advanced missile unit
4) Pictish Witches - bloodthirsty maniacs, wild and cruel beasts of the wild following the dark cults of Morrigan. Have a few shield variants covered with Pictish symbols, and some variations in look too, including feather decorations, bracelets, cloaks, medallions etc.
5) Pictish Berserkers - Nasty and crazy shock infantry unit which has quite a low chance to survive till the end of the battle, but the enemies probably won't be relieved that much with this fact
6) Pictish Light Spearmen - wild tribal basic infantry with a warpaint, you can see some basic officers, including the extravagant raven worshipper standard bearer and a pictish infantry officer
7) Pictish Light Swordsmen - wild tribal warriors having 5 model variants and separate set of officers shared with the other faction (TBA)
8) Pictish Oathsworn - Foot nobles armoured with chainmail and armed with axes or swords with some of them wearing helmets. The best infantry available.
9) Pictish Crossbowmen - advanced armour piercing missile unit. Has the most variations at the moment, 5 different soldier models
10) Pictish Warhounds - the handlers of wild wolfhounds, a special shock unit
11) Pictish Skirmisher Cavalry - light javelin/spear armed horsemen who fill the role of cavalry of the faction for the most of early campaign
12) Pictish Noble Cavalry - noble clansmen, the best equipped mounted warriors of the faction
13) Pictish Chieftain Cavalry - warlord's bodyguard
That's all for the first preview! See you later in the channel.
Barbarian Empires: Downfall
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