CAMPAIGN RELEASE

[Phoenixguard09]

Yep textures are still being worked upon.  And as far as modelling goes you should be able to use Gmax.  I think that's free, isn't it?

[Jubal]

You can't save the models using Gmax, I believe, only load them.

[Phoenixguard09]

I see.  That does suck.  Oh well disregard what I said.  Its a pity Wings3d can't do it.  

[Barbasol]

I'd be happy to get into scripting. I have some experience doing stuff like that. I don't know RTW's system, but I'm sure I could learn it.

Specifically, I'd be very willing to get into the nitty gritty of the Campaign mode.

[Phoenixguard09]

Well I don't have all that much experience in RTW modding but from what I saw its pretty much all done in .txt files. Looked pretty straightforward.  But then again I barely fiddled with the Campaign so I don't really know.  I'm gonna go head back to my section where I actually know what I'm talking about.

[Jubal]

Hm, I haven't done much with campaign scripts but I'm sure there's tons we can look into.

My first advice is to take a look at tutorials on Total War Center and see how campaign/trait scripting works. Used creatively it could add some really nifty stuff - and really what that stuff is, due to the scope of it, can be fairly open-ended in terms of what you find you want to do.

Some basic things that definitely want doing are working with the traits - I'd ideally like some "magic item" ancillaries and traits that make the generals into seriously kickass heroes - which is to say decent extra boosts to HP and attack among any other fun effects you can find to add in (presume these can be variable according to faction). Things like that could really make the campaign play experience much more fun.

So yeah; without you knowing what you can do there's little value in me giving you much of a wishlist, so my advice is to start learning, see where the code takes you, and come back with ideas for things it could allow us to add.

Many thanks - it's always really exciting to have fresh blood on the team (and I mean that in the "bouncy team leader" sense, not the Von Carstein sense. Just to clarify. ).

[Barbasol]

That could probably work pretty easily if we were to say, swap out Academy ad Ludus Magna buildings for things like magic shrines. Then the items could be given to the local generals as Retinue.  

I played through campaign briefly but I did notice a few issues;
- Lizardmen should really be split Southlands and Lustria, otherwise the Capital Distance will put them at a serious disadvantage the entire game.
- I'll try to design some tech trees for overarching civilization families. What I came up with is grouping it to about six general families. These will share overall building culture but have specifics
Elf- Dark Elves, Wood Elves, High Elves
Chaos- Hordes of Chaos, Chaos Dwarfs, Skaven
Undead- Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts
Savage- Orcs & Goblins, Ogres, Beastmen
Lizardmen- Lizardmen, Southlands
Human- Imperial Factions, Bretonnia, Tilea, Kislev

Dwarf doesn't really fit though.
-I'll also try to work on getting starting buildings for factions to prevent rebel territories being auto-conquered.

[Barbasol]

Oh and could you send me what all units are planned to be in?

Then I can get to work on planning all this out.

[Phoenixguard09]

Hey mate, you are right about the Lizards being at a severe disadvantage but there are no faction slots to split them.  Not unless, Rebel are renamed to Orcs and Goblins (Cause thats what they basically are at the moment) and then the Orcs and Goblins faction can be called something else.  But I'd personally prefer Estalia to another lIzardmen factions.

[Barbasol]

I worked up a faction token for Chaos Dwarfs, seeing as they were missing one. I used the Rune of Hashut for their symbol, seems to be their most recognizable one.



I'm not sure what kind of work has gone into the previous factions, but I'd gladly redo them all for a sense of completeness.
-----

Hmm... a good point.

I'm wondering about this Dragon Isles faction though. I'd personally recommend axing them. Considering their entire reason for being was to add another faction to contest the south? Well, if we have a Southlands faction, there is that sense of contest in the region. It would really balance out Lizardmen, not to mention making things easier as they can be a simple reskin rather than entirely new models.

The biggest balance issue I'm seeing though, is the vast amount of Rebel territories. By having these, it is giving a huge advantage to factions that are close to them. If I were to humbly make a couple suggestions, the Chaos Wastes should A) Fewer territories that are much larger, after all, this isn't a rich region, they are wastes. or B) Move the Warriors of Chaos up there and also make some regions bigger. For example, the Chaos Wastes in this case could outproduce the Empire and Bretonnia.

Oh, and I'd also recommend a Norsca faction. That's a lot of regions in the area to leave rebel.

Anyhow, thats just from a campaign design perspective.

EDIT- Hmm... not sure why the pic isn't showing... Here's a link;
Chaos Dwarf

[Phoenixguard09]

Yeah well I'd also say DI could go if I hadn't spent about a month doing textures for them.    :-/  

I'd personally say something along the lines of just combining the Empire simply because at the moment at least they are all nice to each other.  That and it is a little irritating seeing the Emperor of the Northern Empire running around near the Emperor of the Southern Empire.    

But you are right about the Southlands Lizards simply being a reskin of the normal Lizards so it would indeed be less work.  But I say lets wait for Jubal.  It is his mod and lets face it, it really doesn't matter what we say, the decision is of course his.  

Oh and your image isn't showing up. Just thought I'd let you know although it could be my computer's fault.  

[Barbasol]

Oh, absolutely, these are just balancing suggestions.

Added a link to the bottom of the post.

I think that pinkness on the campaign map is a texture problem. I'll look into it tomorrow.

[Phoenixguard09]

No its ok Comrade fixed it already.  First page of this thread mate.

EDIT* Very nice icon mate,

[Barbasol]

Just tried out the Dragon isles and I gotta say, they're one of the better looking armies in the game. GJ champ.

Should I go about working on all the logos? Or are the ones already present just ripped or 'homemade'?

[Jubal]

The reason for not splitting the Lizards is simple; they have only three unit types. It would make the game much less interesting having two very similar and comparatively boring factions. The Islanders have become a fairly interesting faction, anyhow.

We do need to sort the capital distance thing, I suspect for Lizardmen we could just make it so all Lizard-specific buildings give huge happiness bonuses (after all, they're the children of the Old Ones, they're hardly going to get discontent doing the will of the Slann).

As it happens, the chaos wastes cannot by any means outproduce the Empire; the game has set farming rates, and those in the Empire tend to be 4-5 times those out in the wastes, they're productively useless. Nevertheless I'm planning to give O&G +1 and Chaos +2 or 3 settlements for the next release to give them a better starting boost.

I'd love to have Estalia, Norsca, Hobgobs, another Tilean faction, etc, but the slots just don't add up really. Also the "families" of factions are hardcoded numbers-wise and I've set them up as follows:
1 (Egyptian) (Lizards)
2 (Carthaginian) (Araby & TK)
3 (Eastern) (Elves)
4 (Greek) (Dwarfs, CDs, Tilea, Vampies)
4 (Roman) (Brets, Kislev, Empire Midd & Alt)
6 (Barbarian) (Chaos, Rats, O&G, Beastmen, DIs, Ogres)

Anyhow, that's my rationale for it all.