Thanks guys! Right now I'm gathering material, and deciding on what kind of palette of sounds I plan on working with.
First thing is to create an overall theme for the main menu. I'd like it to be something that can be easily repeated through other musical pieces/cues for other factions. This way, just by listening to the music of certain songs you know it came from a RTR game.
The music planner I'm building is very similar to the score setup I had with RTR:VII, that the campaign map music will not have any percussion, except for maybe a few smaller percussion items, and will consist of a variety of stringed and woodwind instruments befitting the region the music is written for. Like, no Pharoah Dumbek's in Roman pieces, or Irish Low Whistle in an Eastern factions music for example. In regards to the percussion, I'm sticking with the way I wrote for VII and that is no snares for any factions other than the Romans. I feel that the snares add a newness to the new rising power of the Med., one that cuts through the other music pieces to give the impression that the Romans are coming to make change, their way!
My main focus at first is as stated previously, the main menu/theme. Then after I have that established and finished, I'll start off with the Roman faction and then move onto the Greeks.
Hopefully in the coming week(s) I'll have something for you guys to listen to.