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Topics - SubRosa

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Stories and AARs / The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« on: March 28, 2009, 09:41:28 PM »
I decided to take a break from mod work, and once more actually play what I have been working on. Since the largest changes to Amazon:Total War have been to the Valkyrja (formerly New Amazonia), I decided to do an AAR with them. To find out more about ATW look here, and here. This will be a little different from my past AARs, as I will be posting it on multiple forums. I never did that before. I hope it will work out.

So here we go. This will be a Valkyrja AAR, using Amazon: Total War version 2.4.


Difficulty: Very Hard/Very Hard
Scale: Huge
Battle Time Limit: On
Morale: On
Limited Ammo: On
Player Manages All Settlements: On


Here are my starting territories. As you can see, I am deep in the forests of what will one day be known as Russia, with lots of dark areas surrounding my three settlements.


There is one Rebel settlement in view from the start of the campaign. Androphagia. I send my slovenly spy in to investigate, and find it has a small, but potentially dangerous garrison. Naked Fanatics (which in ATW are nothing to sneeze at) and Archers.


I raise taxes in all my settlements, recruit Peasants, and build Roads. Then start sending my troops out to the borders building watchtowers along the way and seeking out neighboring settlements. I start with Antimache in the north, who marches east from Neo Themiskyra.


Polemusa marches west from Careotae.


Finally Makanyane heads south and lays siege to Androphagia.


Next turn Polemusa sights the Rebel settlement of Vicus Aesti.


To the south, Makanyane has built her siege equipment, and assaults Androphagia. I make it a night attack to reduce the range of the Rebel Archers.


My Agema Archers have the range advantage against the Rebel Archers.


We give them an Amazon welcome.


Once the defenders were slaughtered, I sent the infantry forward to batter a way through the walls.


Then I sent my women and men in through multiple entry points.


Advancing upon the town square, I have my Agema Archers open up on the Naked Fanatics there. I array my Spearwomen directly in front of them in a shield wall, with a Warband directly behind them to lend the weight of their numbers. A unit of Militia Axewomen waits on one flank, with Makanyane on the other.


The Fanatics are lured from the square and charge my spearwomen.


Then Makanyane and the Axewomen close the trap behind them.


Their Captain is cut down by a lowly spearman.


The Rebel Warband was finished off in similar fashion, and the city was mine. Losses were high though. Those Naked Fanatics took a real toll, even upon my Spearwomen in their shield wall. In retrospect I should have placed the Warband in front of the Spearwomen to soak up the brunt of the Fanatic's charge. They are much more expendable.


As it is a tiny settlement, I Occupy.

2
Total War Mods - The Engineer's Shed / Thrace: The Serpent Reborn
« on: February 14, 2009, 12:52:44 AM »
Like playing Thrace? Tired of their lousy unit roster and even poorer temple selection? Well, this mod is for you then.

Thrace: The Serpent Reborn gives Thrace a much needed makeover. It adds several new units: Thracian Peltasts, Thracian Infantry, and Thracian Noble Cavalry. It also dramatically changes the old Bastarnae, and has new skins for both the early and late General's Bodyguards. It also removes the Falxmen to give Thrace and Dacia more unique feels.

So Thrace's new military tree is this:

Infantry
Tier 1 - Militia Hoplites
Tier 2 - Thracian Infantry
Tier 3 - Phalanx Pikemen
Tier 4 - Bastarnae

Missiles
Tier 2 - Thracian Peltasts
Tier 3 - Archers
Tier 4 - Onagers

Cavalry
Tier 2 - Militia Cavalry
Tier 3 - Greek Cavalry
Tier 4 - Thracian Noble Cavalry

In addition, the Early General's Bodygyard is now a lance-armed version of the Noble Cavalry, while the Late General's Bodyguard is a version of the Companion model/skin. Also included are mercenary and rebel versions of the Thracian Peltasts, Thracian Infantry, and Bastarnae (the latter being merc only).

Furthermore, Thrace now has a total of four temples:

TtSR also changes the Thracian temple lineup, removing the Ares Temple, and adding ones of Kotys (War), Bendis (Hunting), and Sabazios (Law). It also increases the happiness bonus granted by the Dionysos (Fun) temples.

There are new priest and priestess ancillaries to go along with these new temples. Likewise, there is a special legendary artifact included as well, which only Thracian Generals may possess.

A few other factions have received changes as well. Dacia has had its temple of Bendis changed into one of hunting to match that of Thrace. Also the early and late general skins of the other Greek factions have been changed.

Thrace: The Serpent Reborn is for RTW version 1.5, and uses mod:switch, so it will not alter any of your original game files.

Thrace: The Serpent Reborn can be downloaded here on Filefront, or here at Mod Realms.

TtSR is actually a very small part of Amazon: Total War, which can be downloaded here
ATW also has a dedicated forum here.
So if you like The Serpent Reborn, check out ATW as well.

Now here are some pictures to look at while you wait for the download:

Thracian Infantry


Bastarnae


Thracian Peltasts


Late General's Bodyguard


Noble Cavalry




::::::::::::::::::::Installation Instructions::::::::::::::::::::

 Unzip the file you download to your base Rome Total War folder (i.e. the one with RomeTW.exe in it). When you are done you should see the folder "thrace" alongside your data, logs, Miles, preferences, saves, and other folders. Like so:

RTW
:-bi
:-custom
:-data
:-logs
:-Miles
:-preferences
:-thrace

Now create a new shortcut for Thrace: The Serpent Reborn.

For more information on editing the Command Line of Rome Total War look here: http://rtw.heavengames.com/rtw/mods/tutorials/command_line/index.shtml

Go to your RomeTW.exe file and right-click on it.

An options box will pop up.

Move your mouse down to "Send To". Another box will pop up along side the first one.

Move your mouse over to "Desktop (Create Shortcut)", and click on it with your left mouse button.

Now go to your Desktop and you will see the new shortcut there, named "Shortcut to RomeTW.exe"

Right-click on the new shortcut, and a box will pop up.

Click on Properties in this box.

A new window will open up, with three tabs across the top. If the Shortcut tab was not already selected, click on it.

Click in very right end of the box named Target.

Now add in a space and then the following text: -mod:thrace -show_err

So your Target box should look something like: "C:\Program Files\Rome Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:thrace -show_err

Now click on Apply.

To rename it something more descriptive click on the General tab.

There will be a field at the very top of the window. Type in: Thrace The Serpent Reborn.

Now click on Ok. You are done.


Optional: I have included a desktop shortcut which you may wish to use. While you still have the Shortcut Properties window open, click on the Shortcut tab, then click on the Change Icon button at the bottom of that window. A Change Icon window will appear. Click on the browse button to navigate to your RTW\Thrace folder. You will find a file there called thrace.ico. Select that by double-clicking on it. Then back at the Change Icon window click on Ok. Then finally click on OK again to close the Shortcut Properties window.



Version History

Version 1.3 - Changed Thracian Strat Map Captain to the Thracian Infantry model/skin. Changed Thracian Late General's Bodyguard to the Companion model/skin.

Version 1.2 - Fixed bug of unrest in many starting cities.

Version 1.1 - Misc bug fixes.

Version 1.0 - Initial Release


3
Total War Mods - The Engineer's Shed / Amazon:Total War
« on: February 06, 2009, 03:24:17 AM »
I thought I would create a new topic, since this way I can update the OP, which makes things a lot easier.

Overview

Amazon Total War is a partial conversion for Rome Total war version 1.5 or Barbarian Invasion version 1.6. There are separate versions of the game for each executable. It uses the mod:switch option, so it will not interfere with any of your original game files. Be sure you apply it to a clean install of RTW, as you may experience ctd's when entering battles if not.

ATW adds three new Amazon factions to the game: Amazonia, the Valkyrja, and the Gorgons. These belong to a new culture, that of the Amazons, with new units, generals, retinue members, and traits just for them. My inspiration for this was the Amazons of legend, and I have tried to keep everything in the mod in the spirit of those legends. So just as legend has it, the Amazons are outstanding archers and horsewomen. They also fight in the standard greek hoplite style, as well as having some troops using the sagaris, an axe that was a signature weapon of the Amazons (and where calling a woman an "old battle-axe" comes from). As the Amazons were not known to be sailors of any repute, I have limited them to recruiting biremes and triremes.

As the Amazons were reputed to be the progenitors of the Sarmatian people, I have also created a new Sarmatian faction, occupying their ancestral homelands between the Don and Volga rivers. I have tried to emulate their close ties by making Amazonia and Scythia begin the game as Allies. While the Valkyrja and the Sarmatians begin as allies as well. I have also made Sarmatian mercenaries recruitable in Amazonia, as well as Amazon mercs recruitable across the steppes.

While all Generals are female, the spies, assassins, and diplomats remain male by design. These men would be specially recruited from the Amazons courtesan class of men, or from men in foreign lands. The reason being that in the world outside of Amazonia men can move far more easily through society than women can. Due to the constraints of the game's hard coding, they will all have female names however.

But Amazons and are not all that is different in ATW. The original game map has been modified by the inclusion of 31 new territories. Most of them are located in North Africa, the Steppe, and the mountains of Armenia. Scythia has been moved to its more historically accurate starting position in the Crimea and lower Ukraine. It has also undergone a large change in its unit roster, now having many more infantry units of better quality than before. This reflects the effects of their having become partially sedentary at the time the game begins.

Every Barbarian faction now has a 4th tier of development. There are many new units, including Onagers for all Barbarians. Maiden Axes have been added to Britannia and Gaul. Chosen Slingers added to Britannia, Carthage, and Iberia. Dacia and Thrace now have Chosen Falxmen. Gaul and Germania have regular Archer Warbands. Mercenary Cretan Archers and Rhodian Slingers are now recruitable by the Hellenic factions from their home islands. Scutarii are now recruitable by Carthage. Elephants and Noble Cavalry have been added to Numidia, Noble Cavalry to Iberia, and Heavy Cavalry have been added to the Greek Cities.

In addition I have tweaked the stats of many units, such as increasing the range and damage of all Slingers, reducing the attack of Warhounds, and increasing the attack and defense of Iberian Infantry and Equites, and increased the defense of Naked Fanatics. Many factions have had their unit recruitment trees altered, with most temple units now being recruitable from a regular barracks instead.

The game's corruption triggers have been changed so as not to kick in until your treasury reaches 100,000 and 150,000 denarii respectively. So you do not have to worry as much about making too much money.

Every faction has a Legendary Artifact associated with it. Each is unique, and had can only be possessed by a member of its parent faction. These artifacts are represented in the game as retinue members, and give their holders very significant bonuses. If lost through character death there is a random chance they will reappear later in the game.

As this is an early release there is still work to be done. The general portraits are also only placeholders. Permanent ones will come in a future release. I have disabled the pre-battle speeches of the Amazons, and will also create new ones in a later release, and possibly add strategic map sound effects for Amazon units.


Download Options

There are two separate copies of Amazon Total War. One for use with the Rome Total War executable, and the other for use with the Barbarian Invasion executable.  

Amazon: Total War 2.5c For BI - Full Version

Amazon: Total War 2.5 for BI to 2.5c Patch

Amazon: Total War 2.5c For Rome Total War - Full Version

Amazon: Total War for RTW 2.5 to 2.5c Patch

Saves from 2.4 or earlier are not compatible with 2.5. Savegames from 2.5 are compatible with 2.5c.

Installation Instructions

Unzip the file you download to your base Rome Total War folder (i.e. the one with RomeTW.exe in it). When you are done you should see the folder "amazon" alongside your data, logs, Miles, preferences, saves, and other folders. Like so:

RTW
:-amazon
:-bi
:-custom
:-data
:-logs
:-Miles
:-preferences

Now create a new shortcut for Amazon Total War.

For more information on editing the Command Line of Rome Total War look here.

If you have downloaded the RTW version, then go to your RomeTW.exe file and right-click on it.

If you have downloaded the Barbarian Invasion version, then go to your RomeTW-BI.exe file and right click on it.

An options box will pop up.

Move your mouse down to "Send To". Another box will pop up along side the first one.

Move your mouse over to "Desktop (Create Shortcut)", and click on it with your left mouse button.

Now go to your Desktop and you will see the new shortcut there, named "Shortcut to RomeTW.exe"

Right-click on the new shortcut, and a box will pop up.

Click on Properties in this box.

A new window will open up, with three tabs across the top. If the Shortcut tab was not already selected, click on it.

Click in very right end of the box named Target.

Now add in a space and then the following text: -mod:amazon -show_err

So your Target box should look something like: "C:\Program Files\Rome Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:amazon -show_err

Now click on Apply.

To rename it something more descriptive click on the General tab.

There will be a field at the very top of the window. Type in: Amazon Total War.

Now click on Ok. You are done.

Optional: I have included several  desktop shortcuts which you may wish to use. While you still have the Shortcut Properties window open, click on the Shortcut tab, then click on the Change Icon button at the bottom of that window. A Change Icon window will appear. Click on the browse button to navigate to your RTW\amazon folder. You will find several.ico files there. Select the you would like by double-clicking on it. Then back at the Change Icon window click on Ok. Then finally click on OK again to close the Shortcut Properties window.


Some Screenshots

Amazonian Agema Axweoman fighting a Macedonian Hypaspist.


Amazonian Militia Hoplites vs. Thracian Infantrymen.


Amazon Cavalry ready their bows.


Amazonian Hoplites hold the line against a Thracian General's charge.


Amazonian Axewomen on the move.


An Amazonian Captain.


Amazonian Agema Archers lay in the weeds.


Amazonian Chariots in action.


The Sacred Band of Carthage stands against the Gorgon Horde


Gorgon Armoured Elephants charge.


Gorgon Agema Axewomen taunt their foes.


Thracian Bastarnae.


Thracian Noble Cavalry skirmish with the enemy.


Thracian Peltasts hurl their deadly javelins.


The Maiden Axes of Gaul wait patiently for their chance to decapitate an unwary foe.


The Chosen Slingers of Briton in action.


Carthaginian Scutarii prepare for a volley.


Poeni Slingers under heavy fire.


The Chosen Falxmen of Dacia attack.


Spartans Charge!


Numidian Noble Cavalry.


Numidian Elephants on the move.


Spartans brace for a Gorgon Elephant charge.


Sarmatian Noble Cavalry deliver a devastating charge.


Sarmatian Virgin Cavalry desperately battle the Bosporan Infantry of Scythia.

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