Exilian

Game Design and Project Resources: The Workshops Quarter => Total War Mods - The Engineer's Shed => Mods, Maps & Game Add-Ons - The Bazaar => Total War: Battle for Antares IV => Topic started by: Jubal on March 18, 2014, 04:53:14 PM

Title: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 18, 2014, 04:53:14 PM: Jubal Barca presents a sci-fi total conversion mod...

The Battle For
ANTARES IV

(http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/25/24817/thumb_620x2000/lizards.png)

FAQs & INFO

Okay, so what the heck?
The Battle for Antares IV is (so far as I know) the only attempt to use the Rome TW 1.5 engine to simulate a sci-fi battle for another planet somewhere far into the future. It involves a muddle of figures from different famous sci-fi universes having bitter turf wars over a mostly uninhabited planet. The two main factions are the human colonists and the Lizardmen.

How does your brain come up with this insanity?
This very much span off from A Game of Colleges, where the Lizardmen may well also make an appearance - they're the only species banned from being members of the Cambridge University Science Fiction Society. As to how it developed, I tried to keep the parody feel of A Game of Colleges, and the result ended up looking progressively more like the classic sierra Space Quest series as I went along; as such various Space Quest monsters found their way in as well as a number of other classic fantasy tropes (most of which you'll be able to tell; a glance at the redshirt infantry or the Space Knights shows where their inspirations might have partly come from).

What sorts of units will there be?
The colonies have a roster that's a mix of human factions from other games/settings; their basic unit is a line infantry body of redshirts, with tanks, heavy super-soldiers, and the ability to call down orbital strikes later in the game. The Lizardmen have massed combat and bow-armed infantry, but they're certainly no primitives; their higher end units include the fast and powerful hoverchariot, as well as being able to unleash powerful and unpredictable Teravores. There are quite a few rebel groups as well; in human-centric regions a mix of rebel colonists and browncoat infantry will pop up and fight your forces, there are plenty of rebel Lizardman tribes, and primitive clans of Trogs also hold many settlements. Finally, there are mercenaries, which so far include the Sarien space-pirates and Destructonator(tm) robots (Impress your friends! Destructonate(tm) your enemies!).

Do you have a ModDB page?
We do! It's here:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/total-war-the-battle-for-antares-iv

Can I like you on Facebook?
Why yes, yes you certainly can! We're found here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Total-War-Battle-for-Antares-IV/1384381071838762
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: comrade_general on March 18, 2014, 09:37:43 PM: Great job Jubal! :o

Now I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of a sneaky ninja mod. :P
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 18, 2014, 10:22:05 PM: This looks cool, does it need testing?
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 18, 2014, 11:05:05 PM: A wild mod appears!
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Clockwork on March 18, 2014, 11:44:26 PM: Nice! Looks great Jub :D
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Cuddly Khan on March 19, 2014, 06:50:14 AM: A sci-fi? Interesting...
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 19, 2014, 03:24:31 PM: Yes, do go download and test and give feedback :)

There will eventually be a version 2, but not for a while I suspect.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 19, 2014, 04:03:11 PM: Sounds good, I'll try my best :)
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 21, 2014, 11:05:22 PM: Updated with our ModDB and FB links :)
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 23, 2014, 12:30:52 PM: Okay, I've given this a brief run through and it's looking very good so far. I have so far only played the colonists on medium/medium and it's intimidating at first being surrounded by so many rebel towns with very large garrisons compared to your total army count of 0. However, you can quickly train up some redcoats and hire mercenaries in the different provinces to build up a large army which is great as it makes it feel as if you are actually a colonist having to establish a military/defensive force. On medium/medium the campaign is not overly challenging as I just stampeded around my section of the map subjugating the rebel settlements and building an empire. Battles are not that difficult but with just redcoats it devolves in to firing lines and if a single infantry unit were to attack you you're pretty much portugaled. Bearing this in mind I'd advise hiring mercenary trogs (I think they're called that) which admirably act as a berserk buffer against enemy close quarters infantry. I haven't yet come up against the lizard people but I'm now producing tanks and space knights at my capital so it will be interesting to see how they fare in battle. Nice model for the tanks btw :P No bugs atm but we'll see. Overall, a very fun mod with lots of potential.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 23, 2014, 02:39:56 PM: When there are actually factions nearby in future versions it should get a lot tougher. :) The addition of a few more enemy units will also help, I hope, particularly a couple more fast attack elements. Have you used the destructonators or the Sariens yet, and what were your thoughts on those?

And yes, Trogs are excellent :D
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 23, 2014, 08:27:23 PM: I've used the Sariens (space pirates) and they're ultra powerful once they've lobbed their grenades however, they're liable to get mobbed by infantry as they have to get so close to use their weapons which is a shame as they are awesome. I haven't used destructonators yet, haven't run in to them for hire :( I should be able to carry on my campaign tomorrow.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 23, 2014, 08:36:31 PM: I think them being liable to getting mobbed is probably fair, the idea was heavy power at closeish range but needing to get close enough to do damage.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 23, 2014, 08:40:54 PM: Yeah but it's not nice spending 850 on them + upkeep then losing half the unit in the first battle. If they were made with a bit of a longer range perhaps as atm their arc of fire is very high and if they were really chucking nades (which I think they are) then surely they could have more like a 25 metre range? Give them a bit of a chance to run away from impending death. I agree with you that they can't be too overpowered at close range though.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 12:59:50 AM: Longer range may well be a good shout, oui. I'll do some testing at some point.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: TTG4 on March 24, 2014, 04:10:32 AM: The space pirates do work wonders against Trogs though, and the explosions are pretty.

I may have missed something, but with all these indepent nations and deadly creatures, shouldn't the lizardmen have some starting units? Or is the idea that everyone quickly militrised when the humans rocked up?

As for the North Continent, I feel like it could be more than it is, at the moment it's a bit of a schlep to reach, but once the lizardmen have it, it's pretty secure.

I've not seen any mercs crop up on the islands, is that intentional?

I'm not entirely sure why, but River Town revolted against the colonists and came under my control, despite me never holding it. I suspect this a weird quirk of the RTW engine, as I've seen it do this in vanilla, but is there something controlling whether a city reverts to rebel or defects to another faction upon revolting?

Does anyone else find the rebel forces build massive navies? This makes it quite difficult to expand quickly as the Lizardmen as your fleets keep sinking (then again I've never been good at RTW naval warfare).

All in all though I'm enjoying it!
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 24, 2014, 09:25:59 AM: The rebels build loads of military and although i havent been to sea yet I have seen very large fleets of rebels. I agree with you that the lizardmen should have some starting armies if they are supposedly the original inhabitants of this world. Maybe they should be very basic/primeval and then when the humans arrive (when the campaign starts) they start receiving tech and advancing a little? I agree with you though, its a lot of fun to play :)
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 11:08:26 AM: Don't worry, I have plans for the NC, it's just a placeholder landmass at the moment.

Both Lizardmen and Humans will get better ships eventually, too, and both will get some small starting garrison forces.

Currently there are no mercs on the islands - Trogs don't do much sailing so they won't be recruitable out in the archipelago areas and it's too far from any spaceports for most of the alien mercs.

River Town's revolt is indeed a quirk of the engine, I have to put in one of the factions as the base faction for that purpose. When I add more factions this will get a bit less illogical.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 24, 2014, 11:59:12 AM: Sounds like you've got everything under control :) now to subjugate those pesky rebels :P
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: TTG4 on March 24, 2014, 01:57:02 PM: Quote from: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 11:08:26 AM
Don't worry, I have plans for the NC, it's just a placeholder landmass at the moment.

Both Lizardmen and Humans will get better ships eventually, too, and both will get some small starting garrison forces.

Currently there are no mercs on the islands - Trogs don't do much sailing so they won't be recruitable out in the archipelago areas and it's too far from any spaceports for most of the alien mercs.

River Town's revolt is indeed a quirk of the engine, I have to put in one of the factions as the base faction for that purpose. When I add more factions this will get a bit less illogical.

I thought that all might be the case, thanks for getting back so quick!
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 06:29:32 PM: Done the browncoat UI and generals so they're now in as a full-fledged faction :)
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 24, 2014, 09:49:54 PM: Playable? Yay or nay?
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 09:57:24 PM: Yeah, I'll make all the factions playable, though some will be extremely tough to play as.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 24, 2014, 09:59:52 PM: That stands to reason tbh, the basic lizard people should be weaker than the colonists for example, based on their tech alone.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on March 24, 2014, 10:08:25 PM: The lizardfolk aren't particularly low-tech - their issue is more that they haven't weaponised their high-end technology more than that they don't have any.

The Trogs, on the other hand, are more or less a chalcolithic/bronze age level culture who've just had a ton of human colonists with sci-fi blasters land on their planet... (poor things :( )
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Tom on March 24, 2014, 10:13:26 PM: That's a pretty cool situation though and given that they're a different species they have some characteristics such as their strength and size that mean they're still pretty useful.
Title: Re: The Battle for Antares IV: Main Thread, FAQs & Discussion
Post by: Jubal on April 04, 2014, 10:26:08 PM: I've now mapped the northern continent properly.

As an update on other aspects, I'm plugging on to get the UI for all the factions, and their general models etc, complete - and then the fun bit (making new units) will just be all the rest of the modding that's needed.

I've got about 1 and a half factions left to go for UI provision. :)