"War of the Ring" thread

[Keir Maxwell]

Hi all,

I started work on a LotR mod a couple of nights back and the issues involved are huge.

My intention at present (open to change) is to basically hack the existing races to make the mod as compatibility with other mods is fairly irrelevent.

At present I'm working on Morder as it is the most difficult. The first key design question is how to represent orcs/uruks and the best idea I have had so far is to see if its possible to hack the Desert Tomb Ctis so that instead of summoning undead you breed orcs.

I am not planning on including the quest to destroy the ring in the initial mod as, while probably do-able, the added game balence question are somewhat overwhelming and likely to produce a poor product unless given the consideration necessary. Basically Gandalf will have taken Frodo and the Ring to Rivendell rather than going to see Saruman. Elrond hides the ring with enchantments and they prepare for the upcoming war. The full mod with quest can follow.

In terms of magic I'm primarily looking at priestly/unholy powers plus extra starting spells as appropriate - mainly strategic like the ability to summon an orc raiding party in a distant province. The rest of the magic system (research, site searching etc) will be left out as much as is possible.

Sauron will have an income of death gems to represent the "Will of Sauron" which he will have to choose how to spend providing alot of the strategic options for Mordor.

I'm fairly comfortable doing graphical changes, creating new images (like an eye banner) etc but I'm not strong on scripting/programming so I will be needing alot of help from those eager. Working out unit equipment and stats is something I am very well placed to having done the same for Middle Earth in a number of different formats.

A couple of people have offered to help so far - Liga and MStavros and this is a great start.

I have a few nice maps including one that arrived in the mail the other day from as an ad from NZ post (the advantage of being NZ right now re LotR). However most of the maps I have will require a reasonable amount of work editing so if anyone has a particularily appropriate map let me know.

I would like to stress that this is a big project and one I cannot guareentee to complete or do justice to alone. I am happy to make all my work available to everyone and hope that one way or another we end up with a good mod regardless of who actually pulls it all together - I would like to but I'm conscious of real life pressures and don't want to build false expectations.

Mordor troop stats to follow.

Cheers

Keir

[st.patrik]

For a map I suggest you look here

Great looking map - only issue is that it has quite a bit of text. But I suspect that the map-maker, Chris Guerette, might be able/willing to work with you on getting a clean copy.

There's also a B&W Version which the map above is based on which has no names here

[UNIVAC]

I think this one is better

nice big map

I have also a suggestion for races.When i was planning to implement a full game based on LOTR, I was inspired in pen&paper pbm game.It had the following races:

# Woodmen
# Northmen
# Éothraim
# Arthedain
# Cardolan
# North Gondor
# South Gondor
# Dwarves
# Sindar Elves
# Noldor Elves
# WitchKing
# Dragon Lord (2nd Nazgul)
# Dog Lord (3rd Nazgul)
# Cloud Lord (4th Nazgul)
# Blind Sorcerer (5th Nazgul)
# Ice Lord (6th Nazgul)
# Quiet Avenger (7th Nazgul)
# Fire Lord (8th Nazgul)
# Long Rider (9th Nazgul)
# Dark Liutenants
# Corsairs
# Haradwaith
# Dunlendings
# Rhudaur
# Easterlings

Maybe you can avoid using the Nazguls as factions, and substitue them for Sauron and Saruman...but maybe you need some good/evil balance.Its hard to imagine Noldors fighting Gondor :-)
Anyway this list can be useful.

[Keir Maxwell]

Gotta love dom players - you guys are great.

Thanks

Keir

[Saber Cherry]

Ooooh... this looks like fun! I can't wait=)

[Teraswaerto]

Just make sure the Arthedain faction has Hobbit archers.

Keir! What do you need?! I can't code or help with anything of actual use, but LoTR gave us our modern fantasay; it deserves a Mod.

I can't wait until you try to figure out a strategic answer of how to get Frodo to 'sneak' into Mount Doom with 20,000 Patrolling units.

[UNIVAC]

Originally posted by Zen:
Keir! What do you need?! I can't code or help with anything of actual use, but LoTR gave us our modern fantasay; it deserves a Mod.

I can't wait until you try to figure out a strategic answer of how to get Frodo to 'sneak' into Mount Doom with 20,000 Patrolling units.

Come on, you only have to read the book to know how

Originally posted by Keir Maxwell:

I am not planning on including the quest to destroy the ring in the initial mod

But strategically how are you going to accomplish it?

It has to be a vital strategy eventually (Yes not in the beginning)

Maybe a better Idea would be to not let you control any of the plotline heroes or notable figures but instead have them as events.

So your pretender is "Joe the Second-in-Command of Sauron" who actually handles the militaristic strategy. Creation, formation, behavior and day-to-day fighting of the "War of the Ring"

Give some props to the underappreciated blue collar slobs of the War.

Edit; I reread my above statement and thought I'd clarity, since it sounds like good idea for a mod even if it's not used here.

Have scripted events that have impacts on certain nations on certain turn paramaters (Don't be specific or people will play countdown exactly, which would lose some of the 'feel').

Easy Example: The "Fords of Isen Event" put up a nice block of text in the event (because it never gets old) and have the event fire between turn 20-30 (or whatever, don't announce it though during that event Player of Nation: Hobbit gets a Morale Boost (or Decrease) of +1 within their Dominion, Nation: Elves of Rivendale have an uprising of Lesser (or maybe "Mortal") Ringwraiths in a random Province on the River of Isen (So you don't know where it's coming from and make it like 4 or 6 provinces or something). Nation Sauron: Owns the ringwraiths (maybe you can script them but you can't equip them or something so you can add your strategy to the battle; but can't 'win' based on some uber hero stats) and Nation: Elves of Rivendale has some random commanders placed there along with the NPCs. Have the battle Last a certain number of turns (Set a limit) then have the "Flood". In that time Elves try to kill as many Ringwraiths as possible and the Ringwraiths try to kill as many elves as possible (and maybe some hobbits) and the ones that survive return to the hunt while the dead ones return to Sauron and he gets some sort of prize or detriment, the same with the Elves (Gems or a hero or whatever).

Now that was a complex event; but it had all of the elements of a "Pivotal" or "Nation Enhancing/Storytelling/Change of Multiple Nations" type of effects, which most of the plot line portions will have.

Imagine the type of event that is the Strider arriving in Gondor with the Dead and all it's complexities?

I know it wouldn't be easy, but it would be fun.

[ December 14, 2003, 12:23: Message edited by: Zen ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Well Shelobs Lair can be done as a seperate piece of map. A string of provinces not visually connected to the main map but with a #neighbor connection at certain points (just each end?). And of course Frodo, Sam and Gollum all have sneak.

I keep thinking... Im sure its been thought out but I dont understand why Ctis instead of Ermor. Changing a few of the Ermor units into Mordor units would seem easier. Of course Im not sure if some of the undead arent used elsewhere that undead pop up. Wouldnt want some nation using death gems and getting Orcs. I guess that would need testing

[ December 14, 2003, 14:08: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]