O.m.g they went all out on the modelling. The new custom-cities look amazing.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthre ... st10725844
Minas Tirith, Mina Morgul, and Edoras just looks painful to siege now...
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... FMlV8icF-g
and something for Edoras, the Hornburg, and the Black Gate in previews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TwcYDK9 ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKuGlKu8 ... re=related
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:31 pm
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Gandalf the Grey turns to Gandalf the White (much stronger stats) when dying once...
All factions have a specialization that increases trade (stables for Rohan, smiths for Dwarves, cultural buildings for Sylvan, etc etc)
better alliances between Gondor/Rohan and Dale/Dwarves (if one side loses a settlement, the other gains a mission to help reclaim it)
Dwarven infantry weakened vs. cavalry
All archer/crossbows nerfed by decreasing their ammunition --- cause there's a lot of complaints that massed archers is too broken
More recruitment slots + larger unit pools for evil factions = even more orc spam.
etc etc etc.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=259833
also something amusing:
Immortal Nazgul mod: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=260218
(they revive back in Mordor lands whenever they get killed... xD)
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:09 pm
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My VH/VH Haradrim campaign is suddenly not really worth mentioning, since I killed Boromir in a rather minor skirmish and suddenly destroyed Gondor, and with every other evil faction winning in their theater, rest of game is cakewalk...
There's a belief amongst the TATW gamers that Boromir is cursed even in this game and will always die in some hopeless battle against overwhelming odds...
I'm trying to figure out what campaign to play next now, this time with a screencapped journal of events~
EDIT: I also started reading up on the submods available to Third Age Total War. Most of them are just minor units/mercs/graphics modifications. But the one that caught my eye is Supermoler's Faction Conversion mod... which allows good/evil factions to *change sides*
List of mods: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=263135
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:23 pm
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And sometimes, I appreciate a good epic battle myself. I recall a few highlights:
-Arnor: laying siege to Carn Dum, Orcs of Gundabad sent twice my numbers to relieve it. Despite the loss of a third of my army, the Knights of Annuminas held the line and killed off their leader and heir, winning the battle for me and eliminating the faction. This one was pretty nerve-wracking at times, especially when their catapults locked onto Aragorn.
-Isengard: Somehow, Rohan managed to get four thousand troops to relieve the siege of Edoras. My troops varied between tier 2 (archers) and tier 3 and 4 for the rest. There were just too many, and surrounded me. I lost, but except for one unit of cowardly archers my two thousand troops stood fast and died to the last orc. Inspiring.
-Silvan elves: Smaller engagement, between us and Isengard. Celeborn's archer bodyguard and two or three other units laid waste to half of Isengard's garrison before they even got into melee range. Damn near killed Saruman himself; eventually he decided to withdraw. This is the battle that gave me an appreciation for Third Age's archer corps.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:37 pm
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The magic reinforcements certainly *are* extremely frustrating, but at the same time I'm starting to enjoy the challenge it offers. I've been forced to fight several extremely lopsided battles against them already and--- heroic victories make intense battles.
For example, 4 major ones I fought recently:
-- A 3/4 tier-1 stack of mine, heavy in archers, defending a bridge against two 3/4 stacks of superior gondor troops; both attacking one after another on the same turn. Managed to win both, albeit barely since I lost all melee+half archers.
-- 1200 gondor infantry, including 400 of their top-tiered dismounted swan knights, against a 380-strong "all generals army" (9 generals, including both faction leader/heir). I managed to completely route their army with only 100 losses xD Once again defended a bridgehead and charged at them from three sides when they vanguard came through
-- the same generals army ambushing another 1k+ mixed gondor troops. They routed after a single charge from both sides...
-- a full-stack vs full-stack siege battle with me defending, except their stack was full of Tier3/T4 elite units (mine was T1/T2) and popped into my territory magically (no idea where it came from, probably scripted, since they didn't even have any cities capable of making that high level units as I took Minas Tiris from them). They virtually annihilated my wooden-castle garrison with their far better troops; I managed to scrap a win however when their general pushed through the gateway fighting with only 6 bodyguard remaining, and I charged him with my general and killed them. I had kept all of my archers off the walls to shoot at their troops when they climbed up, and sent them into melee after killing the general, and at the same time 4 units of my cavalry reinforcements arrived and began chasing down all their routing troops... never played a siege battle that close and intense
Also, an 'all generals army' works even better than I thought. Low numbers and costly, but all heavy cavalry, great strategic/tactical mobility, and replenishes its own losses every round! Take advantage of flanking and repeated charges and it can easily rout armies x2-x3 its size, especially with an ambush. Combine it with several spies to open gates and it'll even take lightly defended cities with ease (all-cavalry armies get around hostile armies too easily). I'm going to try supplementing it with only cavalry archers next--- use skirmishing to draw out isolated units from heavy stacks and then focus cavalry charges on them...
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:05 pm
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I have to say, of all the factions I've tried so far, the Dwarves remain my favorite. Their troops are almost exclusively heavy infantry, with two missile units and some available cavalry mercs, but those infantry are uniformly superb, with good battle skills and morale. Plus, their higher-end units, such as the Axemen of Erebor, Iron Guard, and Guards of Khazad-Dum, are capalbe of not only dealing some of the highest melee damage in the game, but (especially those last two) pack on such heavy armor that the majority will still be standing despite the bad guys throwing six and seven hundred orcs into their meat grinder. This coupled with their good economy (they have advanced markets (some factions don't), banks, and the mining complex, which I think is a dwarven exclusive) and relatively secure location make them ideal, at least for my play style. Plus, they have good music.
Anyway, yeah, I noticed that with the Ents as well. They're quite nice, aren't they?
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:43 am
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It's actually darn hard, since Gondor soldiers outclass Haradim ones in every angle (except cavalry archers). Had to manipulate some allies to bring the pain on them (made Alliance with the Sylvan Elves to get Morder to stop warring them, then called an Invasion on Dol Amroth to flood Gondor's area with Mordor stacks xD). Just waiting for my Mumakil, which I'll need eventually to defeat superior Arnor and HighElven troops I guess.
I learned at end of my high elves campaign that you can recruit Ents as long as you're playing an elven faction and sends a general to Fangorn area. Don't even have to own the area.
Also, from what I've seen on the TATW forums, 3.0 release should come with custom designed cities... meaning it really WILL be fighting in the Hornburg's Deeping Walls, or Isengard, or Minas Morgul, etc etc.
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:11 pm
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Also, I discovered that the orcs of the Misty Mts. can do something interesting that the Dwarves can't. If somehow they build Moria up to Citadel level (good luck ha-ha-ha) and establish a mining network, they can then build "mithril mines" which are separate from the normal mine tree. This does two things, if I read the text right. One, it provides a huge amount of mining income (mithril's valuable stuff). Second, that's how the dwarves woke up the Balrog the first time, soooo...
Anyway, Dale beat Rhun? Seriously? O_o First time I've heard of that war going that way. When I played as the Dwarves, I took the bandit province of North Rhun fairly early in the game, which largely kept them apart. When they finally got around to going around the lake the long way, Rhun conquered half of Dale in five turns. Had to march troops down from Erebor to rescue them.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:20 pm
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Isengard fell first since I last waste to their economy and Rohan overpowered them.
Then Orcs of the Misty Mountains with Rohan's help on the final assault...
Then Orcs of Gundabad up north, with help from the dwarves and Eriador... (poor Eriador/Arnor didn't get anything out of that war, they even lost Amon Su and Hobbiton which I took over)
Now me (High Elves) + Gondor (after I restabilized their economy by giving them a lot of cash) + Rohan + Silvan Elves (who was losing the war before we joined) are beating the crap out of Mordor. Dale already finished off Rhun's easterlings and Gondor is winning on the front against Harad. I sent in a full stack and took Black Gate, cut apart Mordor's domains, then took Minas Morgul, and now starting to rampaging inside Mordor's home territory while the others take apart their otherside territories. Endgame is here =)
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Sun Mar 13, 2011 6:06 pm
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Ugh, I had Rohan to back me up when we sieged Moria, and even then... 2 units of Rohan spears + 2 units of Eldar lancers + 6 units of Elven Light Archers... managed to only take down 1 out of the 10 balrogs in that unit. Managed to win only cause I sent 4 units around them and captured their town square >.< Rest of Rohan's forces got routed off the field by Moria's orcs and I barely held on long enough to win.
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:51 pm
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Anyway, yeah, poor Rohan. By the end of the campaign, Rohan was reduced to Fangorn. That's it. The whole rest of the map of Rohan was painted black. Edoras fell to a Mordor invasion force, and the rest was steamrollered by Isengard.
Also, those important abilities you speak of are mainly to be found (I think) under the "biography" trait, which is unique in both description and effects for each individual.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:44 am
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http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=254440
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=255647
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:43 pm
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Otherwise there are so stuff I'd want to share. Was fighting a bridge battle defending Rivendel against an orc army x3 mine. The front line was completely destroyed (the elven swordsmen never routed, died to the last man, impressive as hell) and Elrond was separated from his 6 remaining bodyguards and surrounded by orcs. So much blood on him... had to send in an archer company into melee to get him back out. Eventually won the battle since they never reached my light archer units who just kept down pouring arrows down--- made a bridge full of dead orcs.
Currently have the orcs of the misty mountains down to just Moria (and 1 random town up north, dwarves can take care of that). Edoras fell against an invasion already, but Rohan's field armies are intact and I smashed into Isengard's surrounding towns with an almost full stack and are just chewing through the reinforcement columns they're sending my way... hopefully Eriador and the dwarves can take the other orcs up north so I can start assembling forces to help Rohan and Sylvan elves against Mordor. Gondor is holding against Harad pretty decently at the moment, and somehow the Dale is actually managing against Rhun which is surprising... must because Sauron's invasion call against Edoras drew off all of their armies. Poor Rohan.
Personally I like the higher upkeep. I'm no longer rolling in so much gold I don't know what to do with it xD
Scott which side are you playing as? supposedly a lot of the importance characters have special abilities...
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:21 am
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Anyway, now that I know that all those villages can be upgraded and no longer have three or four settlements supporting my whole army, things have gotten a great deal easier to deal with. Bump the review score up a point or two.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:06 am
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first of all, settlements can be upgraded when you reach certain population gaps as normal. I've already upgraded one settlement in this game which unlocked a lot of buildings so I know it works. The game apparently also has scripted Barracks events that unlocks certain advanced level units a certain number of turns into the game. There's apparently a lot of scripted unlocking in this game. Some by population as usual, some by turns as story events, and some by region. For example the dwarves can recruit their strongest unit (Royal Guard of Kaza-Dum or something like that) only if they take back Moria and rebuild that to a Lvl4 settlement.
Second of all, the upkeep isn't that bad. The issue is that the starting map is made based on the books, so your capital is often is a very awkward place which sends your corruption skyrocketing due to game mechanics (for example, Minas Tirith is on the edge of Gondor's domains, and you always want capital in the center). The first thing you want to do when playing is switch your capital to where it benefits you the most. I played as High Elves and switching my capital to Mithrond on the first round changed the ~2500 corruption penalty to budget down to below 400, that's a lot of money. Take advantage of free unit garrisons like normal medieval 2 and you can go pretty far; I'm not sure but I think they have more options for "free upkeep garrisons" than normal medieval 2 as well, so you can pretty much create defensive armies just by merging several towns' garrisons. For me, High Elves have some of the highest upkeep cost for units and I can still field 3 armies fairly early in game.
The biggest con is the lack of peasants makes transfering populations between towns an issue...
Given they have full bios for every general (many I've never even heard of), completed factions like Rhun and Dale that wasn't really mentioned in the movies much, and that their fellowship campaign, based on some videos I've seen, is based on the book--- well yeah, these guys REALLY did their homework.
Found a cool trailer for those not playing, made COMPLETELY pretty much with ingame graphics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CU2dja1EsI
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:34 pm
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THE GOOD
-Epic cast: The game features a wide variety of actual characters from the books, each with a "biography" entry under their traits list that gives them unique bonuses.
-Who are these guys?: I freely confess I'm not as well read on the history and peoples of Middle-Earth as some. As testament to this, a number of the playable factions are totally new to me. Also, the variety of playable factions is quite astounding (I mean really, you can play as the Orcs of the Misty Mountains. Who knew they were organized?). Each faction has strengths and weaknesses that set it apart from all the others, meaning a great deal of replay value.
-As far as the eye can see: Huge map. HUGE. No skipping half the book on these guys, no sir.
THE BAD
-I can't build what?: I have found that for some reason you cannot upgrade settlements. I know not the reason for this. Perhaps the right event has yet to occur, perhaps it's a bug, or perhaps it's deliberate, emphasizing which settlements were and were not historically important in that Age. Whatever the case, it means that roughly half to 2/3 of the settlements on the map are useless drains on your military (in the form of order-keeping garrisons), contributing few troops and almost no money. Also, you can't build ports, and must make do with the ones in place at the start.
-Guns and butter: Even more so than Medieval II, of which this is a mod, Third Age suffers from crippling unit upkeep costs (I didn't think it possible, but here we are). If you build an army capable of defending your own lands, never mind invading someone else's, your faction will be hemorrhaging money, out of every orifice, in perpetuity. And (apart from cheating) there's NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT except disbanding your entire military and watching the bad (or good) guys curb stomp you.
*Ahem*
All told, I thus far give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:44 pm
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Third Age: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=374565
Fourth Age: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=365719
enjoy~
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:08 pm
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If you have someplace I could download these, I'd appreciate a link. I've looked myself, but had little luck.
Statistics: Posted by littleangryman — Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:17 pm
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- mod for Medieval 2: Total War
- mod for Rome: Total War + BI
The hyperlinks in the Third Age mod's factional information goes to screencaps section, and they've really done a ridiculous job at it... complete overhaul of all units, graphics, animations, maps, etc etc. they even have their own sounds and animation teams.
for an example:
Gondor infantry attacking Dragon Claw Regiments of the Lôke Rim
Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:54 pm
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