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[ahowl11's VE Mod v19 -New Map, New Factions & Unified Rome]

ahowl11's VE Mod v19 -New Map, New Factions & Unified Rome

In July of 2011, I  was in between high school and college. I had just got a brand new  laptop and I decided to install my favorite pc game, Rome Total War. It  wasn't long before I became bored with the same old campaigns and play  styles. I wanted something different, something more historical. I knew  of mods, playing RTRPE and EB before, but I wanted to make my own little  mod. This prompted me to join twcenter.net and I started posting my  modding ideas with no idea of how to actually mod. About a month later I  had a vision, and an entire team working with me on a new mod called:  Historical Rome Total War (HRTW). The mod focused on keeping the vanilla  feel but making it as historically accurate as possible. The initial  version was to have a unified Rome, with 3 new factions: Illyria,  Nabataea & The Bosporan Kingdom. Unfortunately, I was young, lazy  and arrogant. The team fell apart, and the mod was never made.

Spoiler

Finally, the Romans are as they should be

Fast forward to 2020 and here I am, still modding RTW. Nowadays I  work alone, but others help me when they want to, or sometimes I might  need to outsource some work to make my life a bit easier. However, even  though VE mod is made by me, I kind of consider it a community project  that you all get to be a part of. v19 is a version to be celebrated, as  it marks a checkpoint or half way mark in the mods progress. Essentially  this mod is completed, but I can't stop now. Anyways, enough of the  sentimental ranting, it's time to talk about the new version!

Spoiler

Remaking a scene from the original CA dev promotional shots, thanks Lom1138

As I finished v18 I realized the map just wasn't cutting it. I love  maps, and am a huge nerd when it comes to atlas' and historical accuracy, so I decided it was time to make a big change. That change was present with the Roma Surrectum 2 map, a map for one of the most played  and iconic mods ever made. It encompassed the same area, expanded the  scale, and had much more detail.. it was perfect!! However, it was a ton  of work. First stripping away all RS2 work, then one by one adding  settlements from the VE map. I made many changes, some cities are new,  some are still there but in much more accurate places. Every city was  carefully researched, and I focused on including every major region,  tribe and nation that were relevant from the time of 270BC-117AD. Some  areas like Greece aren't as region heavy to give a better balance along  the entirety of the map. Also, every trade resource was also ported over  to keep that aspect in play. Last, we as a community decided after  testing that certain factions should start off with one region, as the  Gauls, Germans, and other factions were never unified kingdoms. So:  Gauls will represent the Arverni, Germans the Suebi, Dacia the Getae,  Thrace the Odrysian Kingdom, Britons the Iceni, Iberians the  Celtiberians, and Scythia the Siraces Sarmatians. Also, the Greek Cities  have been condensed to represent the Chremonidean League, a league that  opposed Macedon and allied with the Ptolemies at this time. Rhodes was  thrown in for balance purposes.

Spoiler

Argos & Megalopolis were removed for balance purposes

Next was unifying Rome. This was a fun process because I am a Roman  player usually, so I am excited to get my own campaign going! The Romans  will have all of the land that the former 3 families and senate owned.  Their cities were repurposed to give more balance, as well as their  starting armies. However I was able to merge all 4 family trees into  one! So your favorite characters will still exist, and you can still  simulate the rivalry between Patrician families. We also worked hard in  monitoring their strength and expansion, and we believe Rome will be one  of the most powerful in the game.

Spoiler

It's one huge & happy Roman family now!

With the 3 remaining faction slots, it wasn't hard to choose the new  factions after 9 years of doing nothing about it. In actuality these 3  factions are the best candidates to the mod because they not only will  occupy dead spaces of the map where no other faction existed, but they  all provide an interesting element for units, temples, names and  cultures. None of these are copies of the original factions, they are  unique in their own right.
The first faction was Nabataea, a nomadic group of Arabs near the Sinai that developed themselves into a wealthy kingdom centered on the incense trade at their capital of Petra. Based off of the Berber faction from Barbarian Invasion, they will have light desert units, camel units  and some cavalry, and will face a huge test going up against the juggernauts of the Ptolemaic & Seleucid Kingdoms. Diplomacy and shrewd planning will need to be had to win this campaign, and when played by the AI they serve as a small buffer zone between the two powerhouses in the east.

Spoiler

The Nabataean Roster

The next faction implemented was Illyria. This faction will be  focused around the Ardiaei Kingdom that provoked the first Illyrian wars  against Rome in between the Punic Wars. They were based off of the  Illyrian faction from RTR6, which is a mod I have already implemented so  the units were already in as rebel units. They have a very nice  starting position, able to expand in all directions. In the north they  will have access to some more barbarian Pannonian units. Their other  units are hoplite style infantry, light infantry and skirmishers. This  should be a fun campaign that will get difficult as you begin to fight  Macedon and even Rome!

Spoiler

The Illyrian Unit Roster

Last but not least, and probably the most interesting faction added,  is the Bosporan Kingdom. This was a mysterious Hellenistic Kingdom in  modern day Crimea. They blended Greek culture with Thracian, Scythian  and Sarmatian, and they lasted well into the Roman Empire as an  independent Kingdom and Client state of Pontus or Rome. They fought many  battles against the Nomads, and gameplay it adds a lot more intrigue to  that area of the map! Their units are a solid blend of Scythian &  Greek, with their own unique infantry unit: Bosporan Infantry.

Spoiler

The Bosporan Unit Roster

After the new factions some more work had to be done. The Post Marian  campaign was severely lacking for the Roman factions, and now unified  needed to be changed. So I re-added the post Marian units that made most  sense, using the Ferres models to stay consistent with the current  style. This should make the later game a lot more interesting when  playing as or against Rome.

Spoiler

The New Post Marian Units

Lastly, I wanted to improve the immersion of the rebels in barbarian  lands. All of the units were very generic, so I made a ton of internal  fixes to make it so that you will fight Gauls in Gaul, Germans in  Germania etc instead of 'Barbarian' units. With this, the Dacian unit  roster also received a small makeover. They now showcase the units from  the Dahae faction of the Alexander expansion game.

Spoiler

More Diverse Rebel units for Barbarian Regions, and Some new Arab Rebel units

Spoiler

A fresh look for some of the base Dacian units

A few other features to mention:
- Movement points for ships increased, also Brigands & Pirates will appear but not as often
- Leeroy has edited the unit descriptions so missile units show range and ammunition
- Robbe has updated the vegetation, climates and geography to continue his veggie mod

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION


  - If you have an old HRTW version, you MUST delete it as this will  not work with it. This version is completely different and won't work  with v18 at all.

- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.


  1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a.  (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe  file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line  after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
CREDITS
- Leeroy9000 for continually updating stats with new units, and helping balance out factions on the campaign map
- El Santo Padre for cutting the map so the north wasn't so expansive and buggy
- Robbe for helping with the new map, giving climates to it and editing some issues, also for new splash screen and loading screens
- Solon de Atenas for help with fixing a huge CTD involving Geography and battlemap files
- jirysis, El Santo Padre, Mausolos, Drtad & Suppanut for Map expertise on the regions
- Igorche81, Lom1138, Kaiser, ghostbuster, mart br, overlord, Kotjan Khan, Necroticwill, Roman, Berber-Polak, SPQR, SexTv, Paul308, Milkerman, MinorityWesterner, Black Knight, and others in the VE community on discord for testing, helping and assisting make this version!
-Igorche81 for the new symbols, banners and other artwork entailing the new factions, as well as new faction selection maps
- Korsafoff for 2D & UI help with banners and unit cards
- DTW for the Roman faction symbol
- ferres for the post marian units
- XGM for Nabataean and Illyrian (previously never used) temples and descriptions
- Lanjane for some UI and textures
- comrade_general for some UI and textures
- A special thank you to the old HRTW team and everything they did to help inspire me and teach me. I made many mistakes with you all, and I am very grateful for the lessons I learned in working with you. Thank you: Asgaroth, hameleona, El Santo Padre, twoknives, korsakoff, primo, skull, and all the others who were part of that team, 9 years ago.

Change log!
https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?807389-v18-Change-Log-amp-Leeroys-Work

A small hotfix! Includes a few changes I had forgotten to add:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/ahowl11s-...ads/v18-hotfix

[ahowl11's VE Mod v18 -Updates, Changes, Fixes & Additions]

ahowl11's VE Mod v18 -Updates, Changes, Fixes & Additions

A lot has changed in the past 5 months, but one thing that stayed  with me after a long summer is my passion to make this mod. In this  version, it will be a bit different. There are zero new units, and only a  couple were re-worked and the changes were so minuscule, that only the  most detail oriented players will notice! Instead I focused on balance,  game play, historical accuracy, and general updating and fixing from all  of the excellent reports I have been given since April. Let's get to  it!

Spoiler

A new recruitment system, streamlined for both player and AI!

The first major change is recruitment and how it is intertwined with culture and colonies. In the older versions, you had to build a colony, then build a recruitment center and then build your military infrastructure. That frankly, was a lot of waiting and building.. too much if I am being honest with you. So instead I got rid of the recruitment centers, replacing them with nothing. Now all you need to do is build the colony of your factions' culture and the rest is vanilla from there. All infantry are now tied to the barracks, all cavalry to the stables, and most missiles (excluding some light skirmishers) to the ranges.
On top of this, thanks to the genius of my friend BHL_20 the Colonies have been vastly expanded. You still will have a base native culture in every region (eastern, western and barbarian) but every faction has a separate colony that needs to be built. They are: Roman, Greek, Punic, Numidian, Pontic, Armenian, Parthian, Scythian, Thracian, Germanic, Celtic, and Iberian. Building a Celtic colony on top of Barbarian Natives will be harmless and even helpful, but building it anywhere there is western or eastern will cause the same unrest as before.
Keep in mind that this feature is in a very early alpha stage.. completely game ready and not a drawback from the last versions, but very raw and ready to be molded into something very unique and crucial to this mod. For now, it's a simple feature that will get the job done.

Spoiler

Dacia is just one of many areas of the map to receive a facelift!

The next big thing in this version is the map, and the many changes made to it. There were a lot of inconsistencies and historical inaccuracies that bugged me for a long time, so I finally made things more accurate. I focused on trying to make every region useful as far as balance and game play. Overloading in the middle for historical accuracy or spreading regions into weird areas just for game play was avoided. Instead I took the middle ground, achieving the best of both. There is a full, in-depth synopsis in the change log, but the major areas that were affected are: Germania, Dacia, Scythia, Parthia, Armenia, Numidia, and Gaul.
On top of this, I added a few land bridges that should help game  play. The Britons will no longer be destined to be stuck on their  island, they can hop off and anyone else can hop on! Also, Corsica and  Sardinia are connected.. I always see one island taken over, only for  the other to be forgotten about. On top of this I added a few crucial  river crossings that severely changed factions' movement strategies.

Spoiler

Britannia now is accessible from Land for the AI

Finally there was a ton of help from an unexpected source! Leeroy9000 from TWcenter appeared on the forums with many suggestions. After talking to him further I invited him to apply his ideas. He tweaked many stats for units and made some adjustments to population growth and income for many factions. A few key things for you all to know:
1) Generals will no longer be OP, they aren't heroic bodyguards anymore.. keep them alive!
2) Phalangite & Hoplite warfare redone
3) Missiles redone
4) Romans are not the OP machines they were before
5) In the campaign, expect a better army composition from your enemies.. the AI will also advance quicker with their settlements instead of being stuck with 400 pop and being in the red.
A full change log of all of his work will be in a text file, included in the download!

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION



 

- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.

- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.


  1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a.  (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe  file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line  after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
CREDITS
- Leeroy9000 for all of the work you did to make the game a better experience, I will be eager to hear your thoughts on this version!
- BHL_20 for chatting with me almost daily with ideas, you inspire a lot in this mod
- Suppanut for always willing to help when I have an error or question, you are a very good friend. Also for XC4 and the colony system
- Lanjane for always challenging me to do better and managing the discord.. you are a huge reason for it's growth and success!
- BlackKnight, Kaiser, Ariaces, milkerman, and all the other players who follow along in the Discord.. whether it's giving feedback, advice or praise, I really owe a lot to you all!
-Drtad (GudeaTW) for giving historical advice as well as  collaborating to do some Youtube show casing of the mod! You have helped  a lot!
-Mausolos of Caria for always putting up with me, correcting me and being a great friend
-El Santo Padre for map advice when I need it in a pinch
-Solon de Atenas for all of your ideas and wisdom regarding tw modding
-Everyone else at the discord for making this community something wonderful to be a part of!

I released a patch that should fix the annoying CTD when loading into battles. A ton of sprites were missing, but no longer! Also, in case you have not hear already, this mod is being put on a  hiatus as I am working on a new mod for Rome Total Realism. However this  mod is not finished and I will be back to work on it again! To install:
Overwrite your current HRTW folder with this folder. Should be save game compatible!

https://www.moddb.com/mods/ahowl11s-...#downloadsform

[ahowl11's VE Mod v17 - RTR6, Unit Extravaganza, & Spartans]

ahowl11's VE Mod v17 - RTR6, Unit Extravaganza, & Spartans

Well, I must say that these have been some crazy times on our planet. Everyone is home, in isolation and we have no idea what will happen in the future. Trying times for sure. Thankfully for all of you that follow this, that means I have more time to focus on the mod. Yes, until things get better here in our world, I will be treating this as a job of sorts (to keep me sane) and I hope to really speed up the progression during this free time.

Spoiler

Spartans... I saw the requests, and I came through. I hope you like them!

Now, onto v17! This has been one of the most exciting, yet one of the most tedious and frustrating versions to work on. In this version, you'll find that I have integrated RTR 6 into the fold. RTR6 came out in the summer of 2005 (not even a year after RTW released!) and it offered the player a brand new game almost. Complete new unit rosters, two new factions, realistic looking units, a new soundtrack and longer battles. It went down as a classic, being one of the most memorable mods out there. Since then it has taken a back seat but it's still a gem. I have included just about everything unique about it into v17, adapted to fit the style of this mod. This means a ton of work reskinning and coding in units was done. This also means that recruitment needed to be revised. On top of that the RTR6 soundtrack from Vlad Kuryluk is included as well as Sinuhet's 7.0 battle ai formations. I have also fixed some bugs and balanced out the battles a bit. This will be a lengthy article so buckle up and enjoy!
First we will get the main event out of the way.. the units! A few factions weren't really touched due to them either not being in RTR6 or RTR6 giving them generic rosters that didn't add anything special. Other factions on the other hand will get a complete overhaul, even if just in appearance!
Carthage got a few new units and a few new reskins. The main things are the new elephants.. they have a better 'African' look and they lose their huge Cataphract elephant and have the War Elephant replaced with a smaller version. This is more accurate, and still lethal! They also have a better cavalry representation. With this being said, Carthage now has two areas of recruitment: Africa and Iberia. Basically, you won't get Iberian troops in Africa and vice versa. Finally, the starting units have been changed to make it more accurate for Carthage as well as making them more of a force in Sicily.

Spoiler

The New Carthaginian Units

Staying in the same area, Numidia got a brand new look to their skins. They now look Numidian instead of Iberian. They also gain the Cataphract Tower Elephant which should serve them well in the long run.

Spoiler

The new look Numidians

Moving north across the Strait of Gibralter, the Iberians have had a bit of a boost. They gain a few new units, two noteworthy ones being the Edetani Devotio and Lancers. These are two Elite units only available in Arse. They receive a Heavier Skirmisher as well.
The Gauls will get a new Heavy Spearmen unit, the Romans will get an elite cavalry unit in Extraordinarii Cavalry. Finally Thrace gets a Warband, and can only recruit Militia Hoplites in Greek regions now.

Spoiler

Iberian, Gallic, Roman and Thracian Units

Further north are the Germans, and they will end up getting a major upgrade, including many AoR units that will represent some of the major Tribes. The Chatti, Batavi and Semnones are just some of the few tribes that you will see being represented.

Spoiler

The New German Units

Now, going southeast, we encounter the Antigonids of Macedon and the Greek Cities. Both factions will get considerable upgrades. Macedon now has it's own line of phalangites as well as some awesome cavalry. The Greeks finally get their Spartan upgrade as well as a few other upgrades.

Spoiler

The new Greek & Antigonid Units

Staying in the Hellenistic realm, the Seleucids will receive one of the biggest updates. Not only are their Elephants amazing, but they also get a Phalangite line of their own, new cavalry and even new skirmishers and a camel unit!

Spoiler

The New Seleucid Units

Finishing up the Diadochi is Egypt, and they finally have a truly unique roster now instead of a copy of Macedon. They get their own phalangite line, extensive Elephants, and some great cavalry!

Spoiler

The New Ptolemaic Units

Now heading east and north, we will get small updates to Pontus, Parthia and Scythia. For Parthia and Scythia, they now have a small AoR system where you can train your units based off of what regions you occupy.

Spoiler

The New Pontic, Scythian and Parthian units

Now, the most immersive addition in my opinion are the mercenaries. There are a ton of mercenaries and they cover every part of the map. I won't list them out here but maybe you can guess who's who?

Spoiler

The many new mercenaries available for hire!

Finally, what would this game or mod be without the Rebels? I have included many rebel units, especially in the Balkans area to make it more interesting!

Spoiler

The New Rebel Units

Now, moving on from the units, there are a few other things that I want to showcase. First is the music, composed by Vlad Kuryluk. This is one of my favorite soundtracks and it was for the RTR6 mod. I hope you all enjoy the new music!
Also, recruitment has been broken up again. Iberian, Balkan, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern, Carthaginian, Numidian, and Nomad are the different recruitment centers now and so it should definitely offer a better sense of realism in that regard. Also, each faction has it's units spaced out better in the 5 tiers, so things won't seem so off balanced.
Thrace got a minor rework for it's culture. It now is predominantly Tribal and can build Taverns and Bardic Circles. However, they are a major WIP and they will be a fun faction to tackle.
Battles should also be a bit different. First, Roman infantry won't have the AP ability and massacre anything they face. Second, Greek and Eastern Psiloi won't be lethal against cavalry anymore. Third, cavalry won't have super long charge distances which means YES, they finally lower their spears when charging! Finally, I have yet again included a new formations file. This one is Sinuhet's AI formations 7.0 which was the one used by RTR for years, so hopefully it works well while the main file is being worked on.
Last but certainly not least, I have updated diplomacy and core attitudes. Some factions will start off as allies and some as enemies. Will this make a big difference in how the AI operates? I hope so!

Spoiler

The Seleucids will have a more interesting Start

To finish this lengthy post off, I always would be highly appreciative of feedback from the game. Every time some posts about an error, bug or weird occurrence it helps this mod get better and better. So please don't hesitate to comment! Also, for this version I'd really like it if I could hear from you all on how your campaigns are going. It always excites me to read your stories and see your screen shots!


Before I get into the credits, just know that Historical Battles and Quick Battles HAVE NOT been updated to v17. This is because until my unit rosters are final, I don't want to have to commit to doing those battles time and time again. I hope you can understand, and just know that you can always create your own custom battles!

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION



 

- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.

- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.


  1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a. (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander

CREDITS
- The RTR 6 team lead by Caius, after taking it over from a scandalous Tyr.. Quite the story. Anyways, this mod is one of the best and mine wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for you guys, wherever you may be!
- Vlad Kuryluk for his amazing RTR6 soundtrack
- webbird and warspite for many of the skins and details
- Sinuhet for his formations
- EB for their Spartan Hoplite Model
- Kaiser for his patience

- Ariaces for his good heart and attitude (and constant praise on every little update haha)

- Lanjane for some of the units and teaching me many valuable lessons on 3dsmax
- Suppanut for coding assistance
- BHL for assisting in the Recruitment Centers

- Mausolos for his nagging.. I mean for his historical knowledge and wonderful descriptions! You are a great friend.

- jorellaf for his historical knowledge
- Everyone on the discord, moddb and twc for testing and feedback!

So good to see the RTW mods getting love on this site, thanks for the well written post on my mod too it is 100% on point, and expect a new release today for your next article!

[ahowl11's VE Mod v16 - The Forgotten RTR & Mercenary Pools]

ahowl11's VE Mod v16 - The Forgotten RTR & Mercenary Pools

This will probably be one of the smaller releases that you see me put out. This release is necessary though in a few ways.

First, a lot of time was taken figuring out an Area of Recruitment (AoR) system for the mod so that you could recruit local units in your foreign settlements. All of my efforts ended with me being unhappy, or with the game having limits that would make things look and feel very strange. The quality of the mod would have definitely taken a big hit if I were to have given in.

Every major or even decent mod has some sort of AoR system where you can conquer a foreign land and recruit the local Warbands, Horse Archers or Hoplites. I personally like the concept, but I do not like the results: Armies full of random warriors from various locations. As a player when you face a Diadochi army, you want to face Phalangites, but when you get a horde of Celts and Thracians, it is disappointing. Same if you were to face the mighty Roman Legion, only to face a mob of Gauls, Iberians and Greeks.
So, I dared to be different. There will be no AoR and the standard recruitment remains. However, I decided to take advantage of a rare feature in the Alexander engine, and that was to customize and restrict the mercenary pools based off factions.
If you are playing as the Ptolemaic Kingdom and your general is outside of Alexandria he will find an assembly of Greeks that are only able to be hired by Diadochi. Meaning, when Rome comes, these Greeks will not be available to them. This is in alpha stages so if you notice anything weird please let me know. However, if you are the Gauls, don't expect to be able to hire Gallic mercenaries!

Spoiler

Only the Diadochi can hire these troops here

The next important thing that I wanted to focus on was Martial Law.  This has been a thorn in my side for 3 releases now, but thanks to  BHL_20 and Suppanut, it has finally been tamed to where the AI will not  build it and the player can't take advantage of it. First you cannot  build it if a recruitment center is present. Once built, you can then  build your colonies and recruitment centers. However I would not keep  the building for long as it will cripple your economy!
I then started focusing on RTR 5.4.1 and it's mysteries. I have  wanted to implement this forgotten mod for a very long time, but I had  to be patient. The features of this mod were relatively small, but I  made due and integrated them in. The most important feature from RTR  5.4.1 was it's new Egyptian roster, based off of Egyptian Locals and  Greek Elites. I have integrated this by reintroducing some vanilla  Egyptian units: Peasants, Bowmen, Skirmishers and Slingers. I have also  added a new Egyptian Militia unit and the Rebels will have Mounted  Skirmishers.
However, the Ptolemies still keep their basic Greek troops, the recruitment has just changed. If you are in Egypt or anywhere else, you can recruit Egyptian Auxiliaries (this represents the lower Machimoi who  served in the Ptolemaic armies as auxiliaries and garrison duty troops.. this was before Raphia where the Machimoi were trained to be professional soldiers). In Greece though, you can only train Greek local troops such as Militia Hoplites, Peltasts, etc.
Militia Cavalry - now renamed to Prodromoi - can be recruited  anywhere as they represent the Thracian and Galatian cavalry that the  Ptolemies used.

Spoiler

The New Units of v16

The rest of the features in this version are smaller, but still significant. Here they are in detail:
- Changes to General's Bodyguard Units: Each faction no longer has a bodyguard upgrade, as I wasn't seeing a good use for it. All early bodyguards have been removed and replaced with the later bodyguards to add a bit of flavor. Also just about every faction has a unique bodyguard except for a few
- New Historical Battles by NinjaCool: Bibracte, Camelodunum, Pydna, Pharsalus, Silarus River, Ilipa, Zama, Mons Graupius, and Watling Street. These battles should offer some fun game play, but don't expect them to be narrated or anything.
- Italic Units: one small feature from RTR6 that I added before I  work on it, is the Italic units for the Romans and Rebels. Italy was desperately lacking units for the Rebels so I figured I'd get them in sooner. I've added Italic Swordsmen, Skirmishers, Spearmen and Cavalry.
OTHER NEW UNITS FROM RTR 5.4.1
-Ubii Cavalry, a unit specific to the Germans available in Treveri. An upgrade from Barbarian Cavalry
-Veneti Raiders, a unit specific to the Gauls available in Condate. Similar to vanilla Night Raiders
- German Spear Band - a unit specific to the Germans. Upgrade Spear Warband
- Iberian Tribesmen - a unit specific to the Iberians. Militia unit
- Gallic Light Cavalry - a unit specific to the Gauls. Skirmisher Cavalry
- Cantabrian Cavalry - mercenary unit in northern Iberia. 'Cantabrian Circle' came from them
- Arab Infantry - mercenary unit in Arab regions.
- Gallic Cavalry - mercenary unit in Gaul. Widely used by Carthage and Rome in history
- Indian Elephants - for Seleucids only, replacing the African Elephants
OTHER FEATURES FROM RTR 5.4.1
- Boats and Large Boats renamed Warships & Large Warships
- Barbarian unit names changed to Gallic, Germanic etc
- Imperial Palace now requires a Great Forum to be built
- Germanic Skirmishers renamed to Germanic Frameamen
- Carthage & Numidia start allied with very good relations. Hopefully it keeps Numidia alive longer
- New Blood Soaked and Tattered Routing banners
- Militia Cavalry renamed to Prodromoi
- Irrigation and Latifundia now require and Academy and Scriptorium to be built
- Army Barracks and Royal Barracks now give a Law Bonus
OTHER FEATURES
- New Forts from the SPQR mod for Romans, Easterners and Barbarians
- Germans have access to 3 new temples
- A few new ancillaries from the GAFH mod (Genetics, Aging, Family, Health)
- Vanilla Historical and Quick Battles updated to be playable
- Bug Fixes: sprite issues, texture issues and Armoured Elephants aren't immortal
- Vegetation update by Robbe: Grain fields shouldn't be so large now

Spoiler

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION


- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.

- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a.  (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe  file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line  after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
CREDITS
- The RTR 5.4.1 team lead by Gaius Julius through 4.0 and then the infamous Tyr the rest of the way
- tommh for many of the ideas in RTR 5.4.1
- Lt_1947 for his Roman Fort mod
- NinjaCool for his Historical Battles pack
- RTR6 for Italic units and Sacred Band Cavalry
- BHL_20 for all the help with Martial Law
- Suppanut for coding assistance
- XGM for Egyptian Militia
- Lanjane for Indian Elephant UI
- Everyone on the discord, moddb and twc for testing and feedback!

[ahowl11's VE Mod v15 - Rise of Empire, Medusa0, Balance & Fixes]

ahowl11's VE Mod v15 - Rise of Empire, Medusa0, Balance & Fixes

Well, in case any of you were wondering.. yes, this mod is still alive. I simply was burnt out after v14 and wanted to take a few months off to enjoy other things in life. However, about midway through January, the itch to mod came back and I decided to kick off 2020 with a bridge release for the VE mod. In this mod, you will find about 30 amazing units between 3 different creators. Also, many if not all of the bugs and issues from the last issue have been addressed. With that, the AI have been balanced a bit better on the campaign, and units are a bit better in battle. Finally, (and we will see how this goes) units are going to be a bit cheaper (take vanilla prices and add $1k) with less upkeep and Mercs won't be as easy to hire! Before I get into everything with more detail, I just want to thank everyone who posted issues, questions and suggestions in the comments here, twc or in discord! I am very lucky to have you all following and assisting in development!

Spoiler

Samnite Infantry are just one of many units who had price and upkeep adjusted!

I will start off with the main topic: prices and upkeep! I actually had a few reports that many liked it, however I think I went a bit too extreme and it made for the following: small garrisons that would lead to revolt, tiny ai armies, ai sitting back, a somewhat boring campaign. Now it's fun to micromanage your campaign, but when the enemy is stumbling aimlessly with small armies of skirmishers and militia, it becomes frustrating! So I heard your cries, and I witnessed the issues myself. Upkeeps are doubled from vanilla, and unit prices are vanilla but with $1k denarii added to keep it difficult. I experimented with peasants, putting them back to normal pricing, and the map was crawling with them! So they are back to 30 turns and 34k denarii to recruit!
Another thing that was noticed and alarming, was 1) The amount of mercenaries available for hire and 2) how cheap they really were in comparison to factional units. They were basically equal in price, could be used immediately and sometimes were better units! Both player and AI had full stacks of mercs, so something needed to be done. What I did, was take out any 'generic' mercenary unit, that could be recruited by a faction. So only unique and powerful units remain. Also, they have been raised in price by 1k denarii, so none of them are equal to or cheaper than factional units!
A small breakdown:

Cheapest Factional unit: 1150; Most Expensive Factional unit: 2250; Lowest Merc: 2400; Highest Merc: 4000; Elephants: 1300-3900 (based on size of Elephant)

Spoiler

There now will be some thought before purchasing these Italic Mercenaries

Next was the AI. There is a building, Martial Law, that caused many issues. Martial Law and Pacification are buildings that you can build that will basically take away any unrest in a newly conquered settlement, but at a steep economic cost to your nations economy. The AI isn't smart enough and just sees that it makes the local populace happy. So they build it everywhere, but it puts them in debt. The player then conquers their settlements and realizes he isn't economically gaining, but lacking. Even trade grinds to a halt! This has been fixed. You can still build Martial Law, but the initial building now takes 4 turns, costs 10k denarii, and won't yield the results it used to.. Pacification however still yields amazing results if its needed so it's worth getting to. The AI should be totally turned off from it, but if you happen to see it in your campaign 1) delete it as when it's present, you can't build temples and 2) report it to me, as my goal is for the AI to never build it!

Spoiler

Carthage won't be stuck in Africa anymore

There were two factions who struggled in most campaigns, and they shouldn't as they were main players historically. First is Carthage. They will always handle Numidia, but get kicked out of Iberia and Sicily very qucikly and then just sit in Africa doing nothing until the Scipii start invading them. I made two small changes: 1) a landbridge is now present in the Gibralter so Carthage can effectively reinforce their Iberian settlements (AI resorts to naval transportation almost never). Also, Punic Thureophoroi join Town Militia in Tier1 Barracks recruitment. I was so sick and tired of fighting or seeing full stacks of Town Militia! My only concern now is Numidia, and if they can hold out. I basically let them have Desert Infantry at Tier 1 Barracks, and from T2-T5 give them and Numidian Javelinmen +1 exp. Let me know if they can resist, or if they still need help! Carthage hopefully will do much better.
Second were the Gauls. Yes they are majorly spread out, but I want them this way as they really represent all of the Celtic nations. For them, I simply gave them 3 more settlements in Gaul to hopefully wake them up (before they would sit and do nothing) Bibracte, Avaricum, and Cenabum. Please give feedback on how they do!

Spoiler

This version, should hopefully see the aggressive Gauls of vanilla, instead of the passive Gauls of VE

Battles have also been altered and adjusted. First, Hoplites no longer are cannon fodder, they instead pack a punch and aren't easily beaten. There were some stat issues that made them incredibly weak against swords. Second, most skirmishers won't destroy cavalry units, they had some bonuses that they shouldn't have had. Third no more weird charges from forever away. Vanilla charges are back in place for all infantry and missile units. Cavalry still charge from a long ways out. Cavalry should also lower spears, but I need feedback! Last, I have re-added the AI formations from Suppanut. These formations are Darth+Sinuhet, two innovators from back in the day. There shouldn't be any bugs, and I've heard great things about this AI!

Spoiler

Units Added from Rise of Empire

Now for the units! I have been a fan of a small and relatively unknown mod since 2011, and I have never been able to officially release any of its content until now! The mod is Rise of Empire, and it was made by HK_Mars, a modder from China. It's in chinese and very buggy, but it has awesome looking units. I was able to go through it and pair it's units with historical units. Mausolos was very helpful in writing some descriptions. Here's a list of the new units! (In order in image above)

- Thracian Kleruchoi; Numidian Legionaries; Numidian Noble Cavalry; Cretan Archers; Thracian Noble Cavalry; Persian Archer-Spearmen; Persian Axemen; Falxmen; Chosen Falxmen; Dacian Champions; Britannic Champions; Dacian Bodyguard; Gallic Bodyguard; Dacian Spearmen; Roman Deserters; Agrianian Javelinmen; Allied Phalangites; Hoplites; Illyrian Cavalry; Companion Cavalry; Syracusan Cavalry; Thracian Infantry; Trallian Guard

Spoiler

Units added from Medusa0 and Lanjane

[/center] These next units are done by a very well respected member in the RTW community who released a cumulative patch of his works in January. His name is Medusa0 and I have always liked his works. Most of his works are unit enhancements, which have also been added. Also, some of these units you might recognize from the early days of VE. They are original VE units made by Lanjane that I have brought back. Slowly but surely they are all coming back! Here are the units:
Agrianian Archers (uses old Cretan Archer model); Pikemen; Scythian Chosen Archers; Sword Masters; Gaesatae Mercenaries; Celtic Axemen; Scythian Cavalry; Night Raiders
Unit enhancements by Medusa0 (pictures included in image gallery):
- Cilician Pirates wield Dual Axes and throw Harpoons
- Cataphracts have updated look, longer lances (that aren't blue!) and maces
- Chosen Archers (Dacian) have longer bows and longer swords
- Scythian Nobles have a longer Kontos lance
FIXES AND CHANGES
Finally, here is a list of all the fixes. Thanks to Nicosar and Kaiser from the discord for their amazing and detailed feedback, as well as everyone else in the comments from twc and here at moddb!
- Sprite issues checked, confirmed and or fixed (no more random ctds with Gauls)
- Roman General confirmed to be recruitable
- Martial Law fixed and tamed (hopefully)
- Upkeeps all fixed and made new
- Britons Temples confirmed to be working
- No errors when facing Parthia or Pontus, playing as Armenia
- Landbridge added between Spain and Africa
- Greek Pikemen for Egypt have texture now, no more CTD
- Spear units (mainly hoplite style) fixed and made to be as they should
- Marian infantry can now be recruited
- Illyrian Cavalry given proper texture
- Halicarnassus, Corduba, Atuatuca and Orestia shouldn't have a missing port anymore (Orestia landlocked now)
- Romans now are not severely OP in auto resolve
- Gauls given Bibracte, Avaricum and Cenabum to last longer and be more aggressive
- River Crossing added between Vienna and Massilia
- Peltasts tier1 for Greek Cities, Heavy Peltasts tier2
- Heptere/Decere have stats that make their recruitment more reasonable and accurate
- Paeonian Cavalry now have proper unit size
- Environment fixes and enhancements from Robbe

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION


- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.

- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a. (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander

CREDITS
- HK_Mars of Rise of Empire for the units and unit cards
- Medusa0 for his units and unit cards
- Lanjane for his units and unit cards

- Mausolos for unit descriptions

- Suppanut for coding advice and his ai formations
- Robbe for continual work on the environments to make sure there aren't bugs and crashes
- Nicosar, Kaiser and everyone else who follows this mod for the bug reports, suggestions and questions!
- Discord Community for continually growing and showing us that RTW is still alive and well!

[ahowl11's VE Mod v14 - XGM Final]

ahowl11's VE Mod v14 - XGM Final

It took almost two  months this time, but v14 is here! I worked really hard to incorporate  everything I possibly could from Extended Greek Mod (XGM). Also, I  worked a lot on the starting positions of every faction. Many were  almost impossible to play as, but this has been fixed. Does this mean  it's going to be super easy? No. However you're not going to be -30K in  debt (unless you are very foolish in your spending!) I am not opposed to  changing things based off of accurate feedback, so don't hesitate to  let me know about issues, difficulty or inaccuracy and we can discuss a  solution.

Spoiler

The Seleucids now have the lands in the East to represent their expansive empire

Now to the fun parts. XGM is a very light mod, but is also very complex. It's main priority was to give Greek factions the same unique immersion as Roman factions. However over time it expanded upon that and  touched on other factions as well, creating a balanced game. The mod  ended up having a lot of new units, new buildings and a much more immersive trait and ancillary system. It also had many new factions and extended east to India. I have included most everything that doesn't deal with the following: Garrison Scripts, Area of Recruitment (AoR), Sabaea, Bactria, India, Ethiopia, Caesars Campaign, Specific Greek campaigns. What I did include were: most new units, new trait and ancillary system by Suppanut, new buildings, a few minor helpful scripts as well as my own balance work.

Spoiler

Athens was a very important city to the Greeks, and the Acropolis will help any Greek Ruler!

First the Buildings. There are very specific monuments, schools, and  temples or sites scattered throughout the map. When you conquer a region, look at your buildings to see if you have any of them! These buildings not only provide small bonuses, but they also are triggers for new traits and ancillaries for your Generals and Governors. Here is what the XGM readme had to say:

There are now significant virtues associated with all temples, and  the vices associated with some temples have been toned down. So, if you have a governor in a settlement it is safe to build any temple type, and it is a good idea to build at least a second level temple to take advantage of the positive effects that this will have on your governor.
All temple types can now be upgraded by all factions, and all of the Olympian gods are now represented. In vanilla RTW it was usually a good idea to demolish existing temples in captured settlements, and to start building your own. In XGM you should always consider whether upgrading might be a better option.
Schools also have a strong positive effect on governors, so it is a good idea to build them anywhere that you expect to have a governor for long periods of time.

Spoiler

Send your Governors to Academies and Libraries to become well Educated

Next is the expansive trait and ancillary system that Suppanut of  Extended Cultures (XC) incorporated into XGM. The most important feature  is the Ethnic traits. Your characters ethnicity will determine cultural  conversion and if he is of a tribe, he will have a specific bonus based  on the tribe in which he comes from. Here is the main feature list from  Suppanut himself:

- 27 Ethnicities featured to enhance game play
- Many subgroups of clans, tribes, and city-states to give a more in-depth experience
- New imperial titles for faction leaders who are accomplished in power and glory
- Every temples' priest available to all factions
- New traits and ancillaries which give more depth to Barbarian and Eastern Factions
- Health system, now family members can fall ill.
- Supply system, now fighting in enemy territory will be harder than before
- Mentor system, now ancillaries will influence what traits your character gains in the same way as academies do
-  Ancillaries weight system, Now characters will have a limited amount of  space for ancillaries and could prevent characters from gaining new ancillaries once retinues are full
- New governing system which make the same action give different outcomes based factions and cultures
- Vice from becoming an empire, outcomes differ via cultures
- Leadership bonus from faction leader to effect overall faction's generals
-->Management will have an affect on family members tendency on corruption
-->Influence will have an affect on family members tendency to be bribed
- Harder to gain Main 3 attributes, Command, Management, Influence. Now characters will become specialized in their roles.

Spoiler

An Example of how Ethnic Traits Work

And of course, units have been added. This version will probably add  the most units. Many came from XGM itself, but I went ahead and made  most of these. The main feature here is the new look for Roman units.  They are from Ferres' Modding Legions Pack 1.3b, and I simply recolored  them to fit the vanilla look. Also, except for the Marian Legionary  units, I removed all post-marian units because they are representing the  Imperial Roman era, which I am not representing in this mod. Enjoy!

Spoiler

New Look for the Romans, from Ferres' Modding Legions Pack 1.3b

Next are the Barbarians. Thrace and Iberia got the most love here as  they had some weak and small unit rosters when it came to unique units.  Thrace in the game is Greek, but they are close to barbarian as well.

Spoiler

Scythian Cataphracts, Ambakaro, Heavy Spearmen, Heavy Scutarii,  Iberian Lancers, Spear Warband, Thracian Thorakitai, Heavy Swordsmen,  Skirmisher Warband (Gallic/Germanic), Thracian Noble Falxmen, Falxmen  (Thrace)

Carthage also received a slight overhaul, but not completely. They should look less Iberian now!

Spoiler

African Infantry, Numidian Archers, Liby-Phoenician Infantry,  Libyan Skirmishers, Libyan Infantry, Sacred Band, Punic Thureophoroi

Next the Eastern factions. Over the last few versions I have been  trying to separate Parthia from Pontus and Armenia. Parthia still retains the Persian looking units, while Pontus and Armenia have a new set depicting a more hellenized culture from Anatolia and the Caucasus. With this version, that transformation is complete.

Spoiler

Kardakes Swordsmen, Archers, Cataphract Archers, Kinsmen, Heavy Spearmen, Horse Archers, Hillmen, Kardakes Spearmen

The Greeks have had a lot of unique units added to bring immersion  (what you'd expect from a mod focusing on the Greeks) Phalangites are  now a unit for the Greek Cities, but they are a reform unit, so you can  experience the shift from Hoplite to Phalangite.

Spoiler

Machimoi Cavalry, Xystophoroi, Basilikon Guard, Machimoi Pikemen,  Epilektoi Phalangites, Argyraspid Legionaries, Phalangites, Kestros  Slingers, Agema of The Peltasts, The Peltasts, Syracusan Hoplites,  Perioikoi Hoplites, Athenian Epilektoi

Many new mercenaries have also been added!

Spoiler

Gallic Swordsmen, Caucasian Cavalry, Caucasian Infantry, Illyrian Infantry, Italic Infantry, Italic Skirmishers, Nubian Cavalry, Peloponnesian Hoplites, Nuragic Warriors, Italic Spearmen, Asturian Axemen, Nuragic Skirmishers, Tarentine Cavalry, Hillmen, Caledonian Highlanders, Caledonian Skirmishers, Numidian Archers

Last but not least, some rebel units to give you some issues in your campaign!

Spoiler

Horse Archers, Heavy Spearmen, Phalangites, Numidian Archers,  Libyan Skirmishers, Hillmen, Libyan Infantry, Heavy Scutarii, Archers

Finally, I have been working on a small homeland feature. It is not  finished, but it works. Basically, you and the ai factions will all get a  small monument at the start of the game. This will provide significant  bonuses to keep your faction alive and prosperous (especially early on!)  if you lose your capital, you will be in severe trouble. However,  taking AI capitals will also deal a crippling blow. Also, recruitment is  much more expansive in your homelands. You will be able to field a  professional army early on if you can manage your resources properly!

Spoiler

You can train every part of your army from your homelands

Force Diplomacy Script This allows you to force any faction to accept any diplomatic offer you make to them. You can access this by clicking on the help button on the diplomacy scroll (the question mark in the top right corner) and then clicking on the "show me how" button when the advisor comes up.
This option is included so that you can correct for certain  weaknesses in the AI. Here are some suggestions for how this option can  be used to make the game more realistic and more interesting:
(1) The AI doesn't know when it's beaten. You can use this option to force a faction to accept a ceasefire or protectorate status when they have been beaten down to the point where you could crush them easily. My own house rule is that I can use this option when a faction has been reduced to three regions, I have their capital under siege, and I have enough forces available to crush them easily within a few turns.
(2) The AI often doesn't know a good deal when it sees one. You can use this option to force the AI to accept an offer that is clearly to their advantage.
(3) The AI won't keep an alliance, even with a reliable ally, and  even when breaking the alliance would be foolish. If you want to role  play a lasting alliance, you can use this option to keep the AI from  staring wars that don't make any sense.
If you do use this option it is a good idea to come up with sensible house rules, at the start of your campaign, that govern how and when you can use it. Your game will be a lot less fun if you use this option as a  cheat to make the game easier.
Peace with the Dead Script A faction will not form an alliance with you if you are at war with one of its allies. Unfortunately, due to a bug in RTW, this is true even if the ally has been destroyed. This script allows you to make peace with the dead, so that you can form alliances with the living.
To activate this script (1) open the overview scroll, (2) go to the diplomacy tab, (3) click on the help button, and then when the advisor pops up (4) click on the show me how button.

Other Features and Fixes
Robbe fixed the radar map to look cleaner as well as some bugs in his vegetation.
New Greek Standard Bearers
Barbarians & Nomads now have recruitment up to level 4
Forest Elephants only recruitable in African regions
Night Raiders throw an Axe before charging
New Cognomen traits for Roman Generals
Naked Fanatics renamed to Gaesatae
Iberian Infantry renamed to Caetrati
Armored Hoplites renamed to Epilektoi
Hillmen throw Javelins before charge
Martial Law Building - helps improve public order, but at an economic cost
Grain Imports and Exports - Boosts income, Exports can't be built and are in only settlements with the Grain resource
All slingers are Ap
Hepteres given to Carthage
Gauls have a unique officer
General Units have 0 upkeep
Scythian Horse Archers fight with an axe instead of a knife now
New General model for Scythia
Updated Pontic General Skin
Imitation Legionaries removed from Pontus and Armenia

New Iberian barbarian standard
Eastern Officers redone to look better
Parthian Cataphracts have a better animation
Legionary First Cohort now is better than Legionary Cohort

Spoiler

One of the new buildings, Grain Exports are rare and can't be built, but they do wonders for your economy!

A lot has been put into this version so I would really appreciate it  if I could get some detailed feedback on how the game plays. I will be  testing and playing a lot over this next month, so the next release will  contain many balances and adjustments.. as well as, New units!
Thank you all who have been following this mod up until this point. It's been a lot of fun creating this!

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be  safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save  compatible.
- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a.  (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe  file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line  after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
CREDITS
Dimebagho - for the XGM mod, you not only enhanced the RTW game, you created a new one, developed a fun community and had fun doing so.. thank you!
Suppanut - for your Ethnic Traits mod, it is so immersive and there are so many little details that enrich the game
Robbe - for your constant support on your veggie mod
BHL_20 - for your help with adjusting the traits to fit factions that weren't in XGM
Korsakoff - for recoloring some really tough shields!
RTRPE - for some amazing unit models

Barbarians Revenge - for unit models
Extended Cultures - unit model for Asturian Axemen
AqD - for Hillmen model
Europa Barbarorum - for inspiration on the Caledonian units
Ferres - for the Modding Legions 1.3b pack (originally included in XGM)
Paeninsula Italica - for the Punic Thureophoroi model
unDa - Thracian Falxmen UI
Lanjane - for some models, skins and UI (Iberian Spear Warband, Noble Falxmen, Thracian Thorakitai)
Crazyroman - for feedback and testing

Saul_Tyre - for feedback and testing
Mausolos - for advice, historical research
The Discord Community - for constant support

Thanks Jubal! More will come in time.
For anyone who had a CTD at game launch, this should fix it!
Here is the patch so everyone can play now. For some reason non steam exe's need these files to process correctly.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/ahowl11s-vanilla-enhancement-mod/downloads/v13-patch#downloadsform

Keep up the good work!

[ahowl11's VE Mod v13 - Costs and XGM Part 1]

ahowl11's VE Mod v13 - Costs and XGM Part 1

Okay, after the last release I thought to myself "Wow, the basics and  base of this mod are almost finished. This is the period where this mod  evolves from a small enhancement mod to it's own unique entity." Even  with that being said, I have no plans on straying from my mod name, or  the overall mission.. which is to simply make the game better without  getting rid of the vanilla feel. When I speak of 'vanilla feel' I speak  of the looks. Unit design and uniformity, environments, campaign map  aesthetics etc.. As far as the ai, the difficulty and the complexity of  the game itself, I would say this is a mod that will be historically  accurate and also a very hard game to play. Finally, my aim is for this  mod to delve deep into immersion, not just for the campaign but for the  battle and overall feel for the game.

With that all out of the way here is what v13 has to offer! One thing  I didn't think was necessary for v12 but found out after release that  it was, was costs. Units, buildings and mercenaries were still vanilla and even though it was a bit harder to make money, you could still rake in cash pretty easily. So, I went back and edited the costs of all units, mercenaries and made sure the buildings were also in line.

Spoiler

Units won't be super cheap anymore, so learn some money skills!

The model for costs is pretty simple, and this isn't something that  totally wrecks the ai from what I saw in testing. However, you should  see less death stacks roaming around, and instead some balanced armies.  For the player, going into the red at game start won't be rare, but a  smart player will be able to do just fine.
Here is the model:
Skirmishers, Slingers, Archers: 1000-1400
Basic Line Infantry: 1500-2000
Cavalry: 1400-2000
Elite Infantry: 2000-2300
Elite Cavalry: 2000-2500
Siege: 2000-2500
Elephants: 2000-2700
Generals: 3000
Ships: 1800-3200
Basic Mercenaries: 1400-1600
Professional Mercenaries: 1700-2300
Elite Mercenaries: 2400-3000
Okay, some may be wondering "But ahowl, why? This totally ruins the game for me!" Does it? I am sorry. Unfortunately, I don't think it is fair to the majority for the game to be super easy. I am making this mod based on what I like and what I want first, and for me, having a ton of  money and just training elite units and building all buildings everywhere without having to do much management is a waste of time and frankly extremely boring. So, in the future I might make a super easy version, but for now it will be based on trying to make the game hard and realistic. I hope most of you can enjoy it like I have in testing!

Spoiler

Finally! The Greeks have better bodyguards instead the men with hats!

Some of you might have been around 2005-2009 when a mod called  Extended Greek Mod or XGM for sort was in development. Others might have  come across it later and played it. If you don't know what it is, it's a  mod that focuses on giving the Greeks just as much immersion as the  Romans. From there it expanded and became for a long time, the 'go-to  mod' for vanilla fans. I did some digging and found old versions of the  mod and then dove deep into it's history, features and everything about  it. There are a lot of things that I will be adding from it. In this  version, you'll come across features from it's inception until the final  version of XGM3 which was released in 2007. Below is a list of  features, as well as units inspired or taken directly from it.
- New General's Bodyguards for Greek Factions: Macedonian Cavalry for Early and Companion Cavalry for Late
- Removed Heavy Onagers, Scorpions and Repeating Ballistas from mod
- Gave all Greek factions Ballistas
- Gave Biremes and Triremes exp if recruited by Greek factions
- Added 2 new Naval units: Syracusan Quinquireme and Heptere
- Greeks can stage races and hold games
- GCS has highest stables
- Greek Ports now show Greek Walls
- Moved all Naval recruitment from temples to Ports
- Greeks have different Sub factions instead of all being 'of Sparta'
- Recruitable Generals.. for civilized accessed at Academies.. for barbarian, accessed at Taverns
- Royal Barracks for Carthage, Egypt, and GCS
- Caravans limited to Eastern Regions
- Caravans can be built by all civilized factions
- Silk road requires silk, and can be built by all civilized factions
- Civilized factions can build Highways once Silk road is built
- Blacksmith buildings require Iron to be built
- Eastern factions can build Sewers and Baths
- Carthage can build Aqueducts
- Some Javelin units now fight with spears (Iberian, Greek, Eastern, Numidian)
- Restricted Recruitment of Elite Phalangite units to Greek or Hellenistic settlements only (Royal Pikemen, Silver Shield Pikemen, Basilikon Agema)

NEW TRAITS (FROM XGM)

Spartan: The ancient Spartan way of life required constant and rigorous military  training. Those who keep up the ancient ways are much harder to kill,  and armies led by Spartans have much higher morale. Limited to members of the Spartan sub-faction.

Rhetorical Skill:  The Greeks invented the arts of rhetoric and logic. Those who master  them gain added influence. Acquired from schools and in various other  ways.

Political Skill: Increases influence and reduces unrest. Acquired by engaging in political activity.

Demagogue: Increases influence and increases unrest. Acquired by not taxing enough or allowing riots and rebellions.

Kleptocrat: Increases tax income and risk of assassination. Acquired by taxing too much.

Stoicism:  Stoicism is a school of philosophy that teaches strict control of the  emotions. Mastery of this school of philosophy will improve bribe  resistance and law bonus, and protect against a variety of vices.  Acquired from schools.

Epicureanism:  Epicureanism is a school of philosophy that teaches the rational  pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. Mastery of this school of  philosophy improves management and squalor bonuses. Acquired from  schools.

Legendary Conqueror: This is a special set of traits. If a Greek general achieves great victories on three continents then he gets the Legendary Conqueror trait, and "the Great" added after his name. For "Victor in Europe" you must win a great victory against a Roman faction, or a Barbarian faction, or against the Greek Cities, Macedon, Thrace, or Spain. For "Victor in Africa" you must win a great victory against Carthage, Numidia, or the Ptolemaic Empire. For "Victor in Asia" any Eastern faction, or the Seleucid Empire will do. A win counts as a great victory if the odds are worse than 3:2 and the result is a clear victory or better.

[/QUOTE] 

Spoiler

New Units in v13 based on XGM

What would a release be without units right?
Here are the units added:
Thureophoroi: Greeks, Macedon, Egypt, Seleucid, Slave
Mercenary Thureophoroi
Thorakitai: Greeks, Macedon, Egypt, Seleucid
Spartan Phalangites: Greeks (only available in Sparta)
Athenian Marines: Greeks (only available in Athens, needs dockyard and Archery Range)
Thracian Peltasts: Thrace, Slave, Merc
Galatian Mercenaries
Italic Infantry (Mercenary)
Civic Levies: Carthage (only available in Carthage)
Slingers: Armenia, Pontus, Slave
Funditores: Romans
Ballistas: All Greek factions
Also some units had a makeover: Neo-Cretan Archers, Armoured Hoplites, Greek Cavalry
OTHER FEATURES & FIXES
- Replaced formations files with ones from v10. Suppanuts' hasn't  been fully tested and has some game breaking bugs. Will add his back in once tested and bug free.
- Fixed Pontic Recruitment so they could train their phalangite units
- Removed bp and area attributes from units, as it would make battles weird (men floating in air bug)
- Moved Heavy Peltasts to tier1 recruitment for the Greek Cities

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
DOWNLOAD HERE

- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be  safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save  compatible.
- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

1. Download the mod
2a. (Steam) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Alexander directory
2b. (Disc) Extract the files to your Rome Total War Directory
3a.  (Steam) go to your library.. right click RTW Alexander.. select properties.. select launch options.. put in this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
3b. (Disc)Create a shortcut of your RTW Alexander exe  file.. right click the shortcut.. select properties.. in the target line  after everything insert this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander
CREDITS
- Quinn_Inuit for ExRM and the costs for buildings, units and mercenaries
- DimeBagHo for XGM (literally he did just about everything I added)
- Zarax for XGM ideas
- Barbarians Revenge for the Athenian Marine, Thracian Peltast and Neo-Cretan Archer files
- webbird for the model that made the Spartan Phalangite
- RTR6 for the models used for Thorakitai, Italic Infantry and Galatian Mercenaries
- comrade_general for some UI
- Lanajane for some UI and textures
- Everyone in the Discord Community that gives feedback and tests!

[ahowl11's VE Mod v12 - Economy, Resources & Population Growth]

ahowl11's VE Mod v12 - Economy, Resources & Population Growth

Well, as you can see  it didn't take me long to follow up on my last release! Things are  really picking up steam now as the grand scheme to this mod is starting  to come together. Starting with this version, my mod will become  increasingly more diverse, immersive and fun! I have always intended to  keep the vanilla looks and feel, but make the game harder, more complex  and in the end more realistic and historically accurate. In the last  version, you received a pretty map, but with an easy economy that was  over inflated. After a few turns you could purchase a huge mercenary  army and then have some left over. To me, this makes the game way too  easy and eventually boring.

Spoiler

Like this captain in Carthage, I too wanted economic peace

So, In the footsteps of my friend Quinn_Unit from TWC, I decided to use the economy he made for Extended Realism Mod (ExRM). This economy focuses on farming for income. Here, I will let him explain it:

Farming and Growth:
Income  from farms was historically the major source of income for most states,  yet the RTW engine heavily privileges trade (especially sea trade). As a  result of this, in a well-balanced mod, you won't be able to recruit  and sustain a major army from inland regions. If you could, then you'd  have to be able to recruit huge armies from the coastal regions.

We've  fixed this by leveraging the game's "tax income" feature into a  farm-based income system. Regions are given tax income multipliers based  on both their base fertility and the level of farming improvements  there. Many improvements also give minor income tax penalties to  represent maintenance and/or pollution costs, but they always make up  for it in other ways. This forces players to be careful to build  infrastructure only where they actually need it.

This ensures that farming (in most regions) is a more important source of wealth than trade, but that trade remains important to your overall income stream. This system allows inland regions to support troops just as well as coastal ones, or at least nearly as well. (A new "river ports" system that increases trade bonuses in regions with great rivers also helps.)

Spoiler

You now generate income from farming

Now that farms are at the heart of the economy, what about the crazy population boom that comes next? All veteran RTW players know what building too many farms can do! Don't worry, Quinn explains:

As you can imagine, this system  required us to tackle growth, as well. Astute players will have noticed  that growth in most RTW mods (to say nothing of the unmodded game) is  heavily weighted toward the early game, since a base fertility level of 6  is equivalent to L2 farms + L2 sewers + L2 trader. We thought this made  games too quick while simultaneously deprecating the importance of  proper region management. So we set up a system of slow, balanced growth  that relies more on buildings and less on base fertility.

This allows for the measured growth of regions, and rewards careful management by players. It should also reduce the occurrence of population-growth-induced rioting, since such growth cannot get out of control now. Your people may still have reasons to riot, but displeasure at ahistoric population growth rates will no longer be one of them.

We've also added a Herding building tree  for nomadic cultures that they can choose instead of the agricultural  tree. This allows them to develop their populations in a more realistic  fashion.

Spoiler

Herds can be built by factions who historically were nomadic and lived around poor farmland

Okay, farming income - check. Population Growth - check. Trade?? - Check!

You'll see a few new trade  resources in the game, such as salt and fish. We thought these were more  important than some of the existing ones, and allowed us to more  accurately portray the strategic significance of some cities.

Much  more has changed "under the hood" with the trading system. Fewer  buildings provide trade bonuses now, and many of those that do provide  such bonuses only boost land trade. This allows us to keep trade income  from become the main source of income for almost all factions, like it  is in the unmodified game, and it also prevents the income from sea  trade from completely overshadowing land trade income. Trade is still  very important, of course, but it's now just one part of a balanced  budget.

We also went through and carefully documented the major trade routes and centers of the time, then added them to the game with an eye to making in-game trading behaviors map as closely as possible to real-life ones. For instance, the amber resource is placed in-game such that the Amber Road will replicate itself as you  play.

Here are the rest of the changes:
- Grain is a powerful resource, and thus has been strategically  placed in the world based on historical accuracy. Every region that  borders a region with grain, gets a grain import boost to the economy.
- Not every city with a port generated lucrative trade.. Now only major historical ports will be able to have trade fleets
- River ports have been added to generate more trade income for regions that were on the large navigable rivers and that had no access to the sea.
- A new Vineyard building has been added to generate income based off of Viticulture and the Wine resource.
- Last but not least, sea trade has been cut back by 60% or so. This means that you won't generate enormous amounts of denarii just because you built a few ports. It's going to take a lot more than that to get your finances to where you want them to be.
The last feature from ExRM is not only a trade resource, but a new wrinkle into recruitment by limiting the amount of regions that can recruit heavy cavalry. Quinn explains in detail:

Heavy shock cavalry are well-known  to us now, but at the time this game takes place they were still a  relative novelty in the world. These men and their trained mounts were a  valuable resource, warriors more grown than made. A key factor in the  decline of the Seleucid Empire's dominance was its access to the great  cavalrymen of Media, Bactria, Cappadocia, and Syria, and its gradual  loss of those possessions rapidly accelerated the decline in its  military fortunes. However, the basic game gives us no way to replicate  the strategic significance of such major sources of cavalrymen.

As a result, we've added a "horses" resource to the map. Wherever this resource is visible, you'll be able to train heavy cavalry. Elsewhere, you'll only have access to your generals' bodyguards, to represent the relatively few nobles in these regions that could be called upon to act as heavy cavalry.

Spoiler

If a Horse is present, you'll get minimal trade but be able to recruit heavy cavalry

Once all of ExRMs economic features were added, I looked at the  Mundus Magnus mod made by ngr. Luckily enough, he also had Fish, Salt,  Horses and Ivory that tied in well with the ExRM economy.
The other cool feature that I had never really paid attention to, was the fact that he added other models to the settlement viewer. I decided to add Generals, Captains, officers and militia to each settlement view to give it a more lively look. Little things can make a difference!
The main thing I wanted (and many of you have been asking for, for months now) were the faction symbols. I took them all, and they really do spruce up the game! Gurrerro Sabino is responsible for the Macedonian symbol.

Spoiler

New Faction Symbols from Mundus Magnus

Mundus Magnus also had a few units, but after some snooping around I  found that the units came from a little known mod called Ptolemaic Egypt  Mod. This mod was made by Titus Andronicus and sleighr back in 2005 and  had some amazing units. I added most of them, as well as a unit made by  Tulius Hostilius.

Spoiler

Syrian Archers, Bowmen, Neo-Cretan Archers, Auxiliary Pikemen,  Skirmishers, Greek Lancers, Machimoi Pikemen, Ptolemaic Cavalry, Judean  Zealots, Aetolian Cavalry, Mauri Archers, Nubian Archers, Nubian  Infantry

Finally, I went through each settlement and region and gave as accurate as cultural ownerships as possible. When playing as the Seleucids and Ptolemies some of your cities won't start as Greek, but instead eastern or something else. This better replicates the difficulties these Kingdoms had with the local populace.
Oh, last but not least, Spain has finally been renamed to Iberia! Yay!

Full Features list:
- New Economic System from ExRM - new farming buildings, port bonuses, river ports, accurate resources, herds, and vineyards.
- Grain distributed strategically and historically to provide population boosts
- Sea Trade Reduced by 60% and no more pirates! (For now)
- Heavy Cavalry recruitment dictated by Horse resource
- Ivory now tradeable
- New faction symbols from Mundus Magnus
- More enhanced Settlement View with more models being shown
- New units from Ptolemaic Egypt mod and Tulius Hostilius
- Cultures of regions and settlement updated to reflect accuracy and the difficulty of managing multiple cultures across a Kingdom.
Also, a few CTD's were fixed!
- Fixed CTD fighting rebels in Italy by adding a rebel version of a Centurion and Signifier
- Fixed CTD when besieging Olbia and Tyras, it was a vegetation issue, fixed by Robbe.


To finish, I am very excited for this release. I think it's kind of like pandoras box in how it will open up this mod to be multi-dimensional going forward. Please give feedback, it is much appreciated!


DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION:



DOWNLOAD HERE



- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.
- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

- To Install, simply extract HRTW into your Rome Total War  Directory, or if you use steam, your Rome Total War Alexander Directory.  when making a shortcut, use the Alexander.exe or in steam go to Launch options and include this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander


IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS, NOTHING WILL WORK!




CREDITS:
- Quinn_Inuit for his entire economy that he worked hard on. You  truly set an amazing standard for RTW research and modding, and I am  happy to call you a friend.


- ngr for his Mundus Magnus mod. It's features are now fully utilized, and the symbols are a perfect upgrade.


- Titus Andronicus and sleighr for their Ptolemaic Egypt mod.


- Robbe for fixing the CTD around Olbia and Tyras


- Tulius Hostilius for the Judean Zealots model


- Gurrerro Sabino for Macedonian Symbol

[ahowl11's VE Mod v11 - Map Overhaul, BI/ALX Units, Formations]

ahowl11's VE Mod v11 - Map Overhaul, BI/ALX Units, Formations

Well, looks like I am  following a three month trend when it comes to releases! In May I  focused on some inner mechanics to the game that would make the campaign  a bit more complex and harder. This time around my focus has been on  two things: Adding regions to the map to make it more historically  accurate and fun, as well as getting all BI and ALX units in that fit  the time frame. The map is largely untested, and you will notice some  cookie-cutter garrisons and settlements. This will all be updated to be  more unique in time, but I really need to have testing done to see what  is working well, and what isn't. The economy has not been touched, and  neither has population growth, so I expect some wacky test results  coming up! The good news is the campaign should not CTD hardly at all.  Multiple tests have gone deep into the game without issue. Also, battle  CTD's should be taken care of since I have fixed the few sprite and DMB  issues that were occurring from the last version. Finally, a few small  but quite significant changes have been added. First is a revolutionary  formations system, crafted by Suppanut. Him and I went through every mod  and combined all unique formations that were applicable to this mod. So  now players will be able to play with unique formations from Darth  Vader, Sinhuet, Marcus Camillus, RedFox and more! Second is Robbe's  continued work on the environments and map. In this mod you will find  better looking farmland on the battlefield, new noises in the battle  map, as well as better coastlines and features on the campaign map.

Spoiler

The Roman Manipular Formation

The first order of business in this mod was the map, and it took  about two months to finish as I went area by area, carefully adding in regions and garrisons. Over the 8 years of modding and reading books as well as having conversations online I have a pretty good grasp of what cities were prevalent at the time of Rome Total War. So I whipped up a list, and went from there. Mapping actually is something I have learned recently, at least the basics. It is quite fun if you know your way around the files. Anyways, the map is pretty evened out at first glance, but as I said, I really need a lot of testing and feedback to see how it really works and what adjustments need to be made.

Spoiler

Antigonos sits on his throne in Pella, planning on making Greece his own

A few things you will notice in the mini-map above are the fact that the Gauls and Greeks have been altered the most. Both of these factions were 'super-factions' in RTW and my intent here was to stay with that theme. The Greeks portray the Chremonidean League as well as Syracuse and Massilia in the west. The Gauls now are severely split to prevent a Gallic Kingdom from forming. They represent the Arverni, Insubres, Boii,  Tylis and Galatians now. I also moved the Germans a bit east to Maetonium to represent the Bastarnae. The reasoning for some of these moves were to keep Dacia in check, which seems overpowered in early testing. The Romans still expand, but they aren't the unstoppable force we are used to seeing in vanilla. I will continue to work on balance in the next release. For now, please give me as much detailed feedback on the map as possible!

Spoiler

The Roman Families are poised to strike in every direction!

The second part of this release is all focusing on units. This took  me about a month, and a lot of work was put in to get to the point of  release today. Basically, I wanted to include every single unit from  Barbarian Invasion and Alexander that made sense for the RTW timeframe.  Most units were added with appropriate reskins, but a lot of the  'Steppe' units in BI I had to look elsewhere, or make to have them fit  in with the other units. Many thanks goes to the Barbarians Revenge Mod,  that was made by Dick and Alexander. It's a Russian mod, but it has  many good looking units. Also, as you'll see, a few units from previous  versions when Lanjane was helping have made it back in!

Spoiler

Factional Units

From Top Left to Bottom Right:
Hounds of Culann, Kardakes (Pontus), Britannic Light Chariots (stats based off Scotti Chariots), Hypaspists, Kardakes (Armenia)
Parthian Cataphracts, Thracian Cavalry, Scythian Mounted Archers, Steppe Warriors, Steppe Horse Archers
Herdsmen, Steppe Lancers, Steppe Nobles, Steppe Raiders, Steppe Spearmen

Spoiler

Rebel Units

From Top Left to Bottom Right:
Arab Raiders, Arab Axemen, Desert Archers, Arab Hillmen, Arab Lancers/Desert Chieftain
Desert Cavalry, Peasants, Tribal Slingers, Barbarian Spearmen, Javelin Skirmishers
Thracian Cavalry, Barbarian Archers, Barbarian Cavalry, Barbarian Horse Archers, Barbarian Sicklemen
Barbarian Swordsmen, Steppe Horse Archers, Steppe Lancers, Runaway Slave Spearmen, Steppe Raiders
Steppe Spearmen, Steppe Warlord, Herdsmen

Spoiler

Mercenary Units

From Top Left to Bottom Right:
Cretan Archers, Greek Cavalry, Agrianian Javelinmen, Paeonian Cavalry, Phrygian Infantry
Bosporan Infantry, Thessalian Cavalry, Thracian Cavalry, Illyrian Skirmishers, Thracian Infantry
Sarmatian Noble Cavalry, Dahae Mounted Archers, Barcanian Cavalry, Scythian Mounted Archers, Mardian Archers
Cyrtian Javelinmen, Hyrcanian Cavalry, Median Cavalry, Median Infantry, Median Skirmishers,
Mountain Men, Mountain Slingers, Persian Archer Spearmen, Persian Cavalry, Sarmatian Armoured Archers

Spoiler

More Senate offices to reflect the Roman Senate more accurately

As the map and units were being worked on a few miscellaneous changes  were also made. Some by me, and some from the help of the community.
- Since many units were added to Scythia, they have an almost completely different roster. Most of the old units have been removed
- Robbe made a better farm look on the battlefield
- Robbe updated his veggie mod to include sounds from M2TW
- Robbe made parts of the map more geographically accurate
- crazyroman added in an Eastern Officer from Barbarian Invasion
- suppanut added in his brand new formations system which combines every formation system in existence into one large immersive one
- After reading a small article from a blogger, I increased the amount of Senate Offices to best reflect the amount of Senators.
- I also gave been toying around with the Senate as a whole, there is not much to change.
- All BI/ALX units have their stats taken from Darth's BI and ALX mods, to go in line with the Darth Stats of Vanilla
- All Roman units have more secondary HP's than other factions as it makes them more powerful on auto-resolve. The goal is to make the Romans that terrifying force that you will inevitably fight, just like in vanilla.
- Made Pirate Ships very weak
- Gave Officers to All Roman units and made them all very_hardy
What I'd like from anyone downloading this and playing is to give me as detailed as reviews as possible when it comes to the AI on the campaign map and battle map.
I need to know about how the formations are working, how much population growth is, how easy is it to make money, and how quickly does the AI expand, particularly the Romans.
DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION:
DOWNLOAD HERE
- If you have an old HRTW version, you can try overwriting, but to be safe, delete it as this will not work with it. This version isn't save compatible.
- One thing that I need to be clear on, is this mod runs on the Alexander.exe not the regular Rome Total War exe. Please make sure you use an Alexander Install.

- To Install, simply extract HRTW into your Rome Total War  Directory, or if you use steam, your Rome Total War Alexander Directory.  when making a shortcut, use the Alexander.exe or in steam go to Launch options and include this: -show_err -mod:HRTW -noalexander

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS, NOTHING WILL WORK!
Want to follow this mod more closely and be more involved? Then join the Rome Total War Community server on discord here! Discord.gg
CREDITS:
- Suppanut for his formations
- AqD for Bosporan Infantry model
- Barbarians Revenge for Scythian/Steppe models and textures
- Lanjane for Hounds of Culann, Britannic Light Chariots and Barbarian Sicklmen Sica fix
- Michael333 for some recolored unit cards
- comrade_general for some reskins and recolored unit cards
- Robbe for the farms, M2TW sounds and map changes
- crazyroman for his BI officers
- The New Discord community for testing and giving feedback (crazyroman, BHL_20, foxcon, PJW6, Crysix, Lanjane, Suppanut, Robbe, Saul_Tyre, Mausolos, Kazan)
All of you - For Helping, testing and playing this mod, thank you!