Topics

1

Rome - Total Realism / Regarding african elephants

« on: November 10, 2016, 07:44:57 PM »

Hi guys,

I did some research on elephants and I was suprised about some facts about african elephants:

I found some info on this site: http://www.upali.ch/differences_en.html

Is keeping African elephants more difficult?

The rumour is wrong that Asian elephants would be easier to keep in zoos or circuses than African elephants.
Both elephant species live in various circuses and zoos. The only thing that rendered the Asian elephants better known as working, zoo and circus elephants is the Asian tradition of catching and taming wild elephants.
So the most famous zoo and circus elephant "Jumbo" was a african bull.

When the Belgians in colonial times intended to stub the jungle of Belgian Congo, they employed Indian mahouts, who successfully caught and trained the African elephants according to the Asian method. Nowadays safaris on the backs of African riding elephants become more and more popular in Africa.

here is some info regarding Ptolemaic elephants: (according to all four links Europa Barbarorum got it wrong)
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/after-2000-years-ptolemy%E2%80%99s-war-elephants-are-revealed

http://www.archaeology.org/news/1750-140121-africa-asia

http://www.livescience.com/42672-elephant-mystery-solved-at-ancient-syrian-battle.html

http://blog.oup.com/2014/02/proving-polybius-wrong-about-elephants/

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/war-elephants


And here you can find info about hannibal's elephants:
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/unsolved-mystery-where-did-hannibal-get-his-war-elephants-002447

http://www.thehistoryherald.com/Articles/Ancient-History-Civilisation/Hannibal-and-the-Punic-Wars/hannibal-s-elephants-myth-and-reality

2

Rome - Total Realism / Indian elephant skins

« on: November 09, 2016, 09:05:03 PM »

Most of our indian elephant's skins look like african elephants. However there's a huge difference:

Indian elephant:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

African elephant skin:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Comparison:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

3

Rome - Total Realism / Sprite generation tool (please read)

« on: November 06, 2016, 08:10:06 PM »

Hi I wonder if someone still has this ancient tool on his pc:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?57990-New-utility-Sprite-generator
If so it would make sprite generation a lot easier and less time consuming

4

Rome - Total Realism / Zama

« on: November 05, 2016, 09:22:52 PM »

The battle of zama might never have happened and might have been roman propaganda, well at least according some historians.
http://www.thehistoryherald.com/Articles/Ancient-History-Civilisation/Hannibal-and-the-Punic-Wars/the-trouble-with-zama-paradox-smoke-and-mirrors-in-an-ancient-battlefield

5

Rome - Total Realism / Player formations

« on: November 02, 2016, 11:02:17 AM »

Hi guys,

I don't think most player formations in rtw are that useful so I'm thinking of replacing them with more useful ones.
I already had these in mind:
-Single Line
-Right Echelon (useful to perform the Oblique order tactic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go3SY7jGG7c )
-Left Echelon (idem dito)
-phalanx with intervals - more flexible units are placed in the intervals (especially useful when playing as the seleucid empire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfFNNLyAWGE&feature=youtu.be&list=LLgwiRfyr4DDLo1lv3_5hkYA&t=107 )
-Column

There are 3 more slots for player so tell me what you think would be useful

6

Rome - Total Realism / Nomad Buildings

« on: October 29, 2016, 02:22:30 PM »

Hi guys,

I'm working on a settling trait system for the nomads. Nomads can now settle and convert to eastern- or western civilized, this would require a building system which makes them able to convert the population to another culture.

7

Rome - Total Realism / Tax 'building' with options & policy options

« on: October 27, 2016, 07:48:31 PM »

Hi I've two ideas:
1) To use the missile building as a tax building with several options with each 2 levels: (similar to the tax system in RSII but with different options)
level 1: Base level
level 2 options:
option 1 silver taxes; requires resource silver and precious metal mines. level 3 requires level 2 mines
effects: very high tax income, reduces population health (since mines aren't good for population health)
option 2 silver taxes; requires resource gold and precious metal mines. level 3 requires level 2 mines
effects: highest tax income, reduces population health (since mines aren't good for population health)
option 3 Land taxes; requires resource grain and level 2 farms. level 2 requires level 4 farms
effects: medium tax income, reduces population growth and happiness
option 4 Trade taxes; requires trading port or level 2 market level 3 requires level 2 port and level 4 market
low: low tax income, small reduction in population growth

2) to add a path choice/policy 'building'
level 1: path choice
level 2 options: To be decided, for example: Economic City, Fortified City OR Administrative, financial, military, open

8

Rome - Total Realism / Limiting settlements in regions with extremely infertile climates

« on: October 27, 2016, 04:46:17 PM »

Hi guys

I had two ideas:
1. to limit the settlement level to minor city (or large city in transition zones) in climates that are very infertile for example extreme deserts,
2. to give the nomadic factions semi-eastern buildings once a town reaches the minor city and full eastern buildings when it reaches the large city level (Parthia will be made a nomadic faction)

9

Rome - Total Realism / Nomad culture conversion

« on: October 27, 2016, 04:26:02 PM »

Hi guys,

Would it be a good idea to create trait system that makes it possible for nomadic factions (including Parthia) to settle and convert to another culture (from barbarian to western or eastern civilized).
Things that we use could trigger this:
Settlement level
building levels
region
culture of faction leader
other traits
[insert your idea here]

It would also have effects: (for parthia, saka and sarmatia only)
nomad:
movement bonus on the campaign map (except in summer)
cavalry command bonus (except in summer)
infantry command penalty
attack command bonus
bonus to cash gained from looting
trade penalty
farming penalty
tax penalty
discount on animal unit training costs
defend command penalty
other traits
[insert your idea here]

eastern civilized
small infantry command bonus
defend command bonus
trade bonus
farming bonus
tax bonus
attack command penalty
other traits
[insert your idea here]

western civilized
large infantry command bonus
cavalry command penalty
defend command bonus
trade bonus
farming bonus
tax bonus
attack command penalty
other traits
[insert your idea here]

10

Rome - Total Realism / Hoplites holding their spears wrongly and phalanx spear size

« on: October 24, 2016, 06:47:42 PM »

Hi guys,

I noticed hoplites are holding their spears at butt spike. Could someone add an extra invisible bone that connects their hands with their spears to hoplite skeletons, animations and models to make them hold their spears closer to the center of the spear? I would also increase the spear to the same length as medium pikes (otherwise their spears look shorter when standing on walls. The latter could be also done for phalangites.

11

Rome - Total Realism / Unit state information bars

« on: October 18, 2016, 09:24:54 PM »

Hi guys,

I invented a new feature which gives a quicker overview of the state of units when you hover the unit (card) with you cursor:

What do you think? Your opinion matters

12

Rome - Total Realism / Climates for new map

« on: October 17, 2016, 05:52:29 PM »

Hi guys,

I've got plans to reassign climate slots. I will merge the 3 temperate deciduous forest climates into one which opens up 2 climate slots. I will split the rocky desert climate in two climates: Temperate desert (with snow in winter) and volcanic desert (for the large volcanic areas in the Sahara and Arabian deserts. I will also use it for parts of the Anatolian plateau and Ethiopia (well I will actually use it for all arid or semi arid areas that are volcanic). The other freed slot will be used for a tropical climate with palm trees (not rainforest, but can have a wet season) which will be used for parts of the indus valley, Ethiopia, small parts of arabia, the nile valley, the Tigris and Euphrates. I will also redo the grass textures for all climates.

13

Rome - Total Realism / Skyboxes

« on: October 17, 2016, 05:32:08 PM »

Hi guys,

After the release of our beta I'm going to overhaul the skyboxes again since my last attempt failed because I was working too quickly. I will make a backup when I finished and add numbers in all skies (those are only temporary to help me tweaking the skies). So once I finished the skyboxes I ask all modders and beta-testers to take 10 seconds to look up in the air each time you start a battle or view a city. Please take a screenshot if you notice anything that looks weird/bugged/vanilla/unrealistic write down the number that is visible in the sky and post the screenshot of the part of the sky that has the problem + the number in the bug report trait.

Thanks

14

Rome - Total Realism / Unit prices

« on: October 16, 2016, 01:51:23 PM »

Hi guys,

I've noticed that our unit prices have become unbalanced because of our modifications to the units stats and size. Maybe we need to redo all unit prices. I would like to calculate recruitment costs, upkeep and armour & weapon upgrades seperately. Is there anyone in our team who has a lot of experience with unit prices? If not, then I will work on it.

15

Rome - Total Realism / Bug report thread

« on: October 15, 2016, 03:27:35 PM »

Hi guys,

I noticed a few bugs and I noticed there isn't a bug thread yet so I made one.
The following bugs happened to me recently:
-Armoured hoplites have bugged shields (there's probably something wrong with the texture)
-Getae steppe archers have bugged textures
-Random CTD's that happen sometimes when loading both custom battles and campaign battles
-Loading CTD's that happen when certain units are present, including: mardian archers and persian archer-spearmen

If you notice any bugs/glitches/ctd's/etc. post them here