Medieval Total War mod

[shogun1234]

I am newbie to springta; then I read the thread http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6015 and check the page at http://springrts.com/wiki/Mods. But seems not find mod I am looking for.

My question : is there any currently developed mod similar to Medieval Total war?

I am interested in playing such kind of game, but can not find any.

Or is there any resource related to this (to develope such a mod on spring)?

I appreciate any suggestion.

Many thanks.

[Saktoth]

Its just 'Spring'.

There is nothing like Total War in spring, and it would not be an ideal engine to implement that kind of game either.

There are a few efforts to make fantasy and historical RTS's but nothing yet.

[Otherside]

as an avid Total War Fan.

Played a ton of medieval online. The best place to get a medieval mod would be the MTW2 engine and there already a ton of good ones.

Not worth making the effort here as the engine isnt optimized or made for that type of game.

[shogun1234]

When it is mentioned that `it is not an ideal engine to implment that kind of game', does it mean spring is not an ideal engine to implment something like two troops on the battlefield?

What I want to do is to (if possible) create e.g two troops (cavelry, archer, etc.) on a terrain and make use of military formation to fight against each other.

The number of the troops may not be huge (because as I understand that it seems still have problem to render lots of unit even on TW engine.); and the strategy part (turned based playing using map) may not be included as well. Just want to focus on the battle. Is this still not achievable? I watch the demo; and seems like spring is good at dealing with such stuff (handling lots of units, etc.), but am not familiar with these issue. So would like to gather more information.

Sorry if this question is too newbie.

Thanks for replying my question.

I really appreciate your help.

Its just 'Spring'.

There is nothing like Total War in spring, and it would not be an ideal engine to implement that kind of game either.

There are a few efforts to make fantasy and historical RTS's but nothing yet.

[Saktoth]

Play a game, its the best way to get familiar with the engine and you've no hope of actually making a mod (which is what you seem to be talking about) unless you play a game on the engine.

make use of military formation to fight against each other.

Is where it falls down. Spring uses complex individual unit pathing over a range of obstacles and an in-depth physics engine to create an intense, 3d, physically modelled battlefield: but it barely even handles melee properly, let alone formation movement and fighting without completely re-doing that aspect of the game in lua.

If you want something more like Age of Empires, but with more physics and 3d terrain, this is a very good engine for that.

[SpliFF]

I can buy M2:TW for AUD$20. Spending years trying to rewrite it for another engine is absurd, except for Linux play. Also TW is just TOO GOOD; No free mod is ever going to match the quality of its models, sounds and special effects without ripping them wholesale from the game (in which case you might as well pirate it).

Frankly, except for Empire TW, which is a bugfest, the TW series of games are actually some of the last PC games worth buying.

I am working on a Spring mod with formations and squads. I'll probably end up doing most of the formation / squad control in lua - though I was under the impression the engine supported a formation move order. Is that correct?

[wilbefast]

It depends if you want more the gameplay or the setting (eg - medieval warfare). When it comes to setting I'm afraid there are no "historical only" medieval mods, but there are a couple of fantasy ones:

• If you just want medieval combat then maackey is you guy, and Meridian is your mod. Meridian will feature a lot of historical stuff though there will also be some mythological creatures and sorcerers (druids, alchemists, etc) from the appropriate folklores.
• CarRepairer is heading a project called Complete Annihilation: Kingdoms at the moment. CA:K will tend a lot more toward "high fantasy" than "mythological fantasy" (maackey). I don't know how much you just want swords and bows and how much you want authentic historic battles - this is definitely fantasy fare though.
• Red XIII was(/is?) working on Total Annhiliation: Kingdoms - Spring, which aims to port TA:Kingdoms content to Spring (you'd never have guessed ). Copyright law has been proving problematic, but Azaremoth has donated his Kingdoms mod faction (the original "Cursed") so things should be able to advance.
  That said, there's been no activity there since late September 2009...
• I'm currently working on a project dubbed Doomed RTS which will focus on slightly more unconventional fantasy. I'd recommend you check out the comments on that thread as a lot of people offered tutorials and advice that has proved exceedingly useful for bootstrapping the project.

As far as the gameplay goes - and I assume you're talking about the real-time portion of Total War (the Turn-based strategy segment would run more efficiently off a TBS engine) - you're out of luck:

There are a lot of things that Spring can do very well, like large numbers of units, large maps and a great deal of ballistics simulations, all things that Total War uses.
But Total War focuses on close combat engagements between formations, while Spring is made for independent ranged units: the AI doesn't work so well for massed combat units as these need to "path" around each-other to get to their target. Also there is nothing in the way of formation AI (moving, charging, engaging an enemy formation and retreating as one cohesive mass - AND in rank and file: complicated stuff!).

TW also has a lot of complexity when it comes to morale and fatigue, the spread of panic and so on. Finally the formations work because variable damage is dealt depending on angle of attack, units push eachother around when fighting, don't like having enemies behind them or being separated or surrounded, etc, etc, etc.
All told it's a very different game from Spring - it's not just a matter of making some new units but rather writing, and possible rewriting, a whole heck of a lot of code

So my advice to you is:

• If you just want swords and shields rather than tanks and robots, offer to help maackey or CarRepairer (they're both really nice guys and will be happy to help you help them).
• If what you really want is a "pure medieval history" setting you'll have to start your own project, but again I'm certain maackey and CarRepairer will be happy to share their non-fantasy assets with you, so you'll already have plenty of resources from the get-go.
• If you want to recreate the gameplay of Total War...
  It really depends how keen you are, because it's likely to be a lot of work. It might even be a better idea to scratch-build the engine than to try to force a round peg into a square hole, so to speak.
  In this case I'd reccomend you get in touch with the folks over at Dark Ages: Conquest. This project keeps dying and being resurrected, but if you want an Open Source TW they're your best bet: worst case scenario - nobody's working on it at the moment, but you'll be able to build on the work that's been done so far.

Hope this helps,


William

[maackey]

SpliFF: yes, it is ctrl+move iirc.

hehe, the only thing i could possibly add to wilby's thorough and articulate post is that once i've finished the basic game and models, i'd definitely be interested in making a no-magic mutator mode for it. It still would be completely different than the total war games, but as was suggested before, those are really good games that are worth buying.

[Google_Frog]

I don't think a total war tactics battle style game sounds too hard to make with Spring. There are many examples of squad handling a formations in KDR games which could be changed to suit your needs. The combat mechanics and squad mechanics would not be identical to total war but I think they would be similar enough to at least re-create some total war style gameplay.

If you end up with a good medieval tactics game you could use planet wars to create a strategic map to move armies around. The last total war game(MTW2) I played lacked multiplayer strategic play so you would have an advantage over total war.

[wilbefast]

Rome: Total War was the best of the series - full stop.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

Rome: Total War was the best of the series - full stop.

preferred first Medieval's strategic map

Rome-and barbarian invasion- definitely had the most interesting unit variety and balance in the battles.

[Gota]

Shogun with latest gfx and the more convenient army control of the later titles and its gold.

[wilbefast]

Beserkers, war dogs, flaming pigs!

[==Troy==]

I would agree totally, (TW) Shogun was THE best TW game, RTW is the second best

[bestfighter]

Rome: Total War was the best of the series - full stop.

I'd like to see the whole series of it..



____________
combat knives

[Gota]

Shogun TW 2 is under dev.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32qFX3Qo4AE

[Sabutai]

...

Hey if he's to backlink, so will I!

[Otherside]

Rome total war is probably the worst of the series TBH. Along with Empire Total War.

For a good Single Player experience MTW2 modded to the teeth is the dogs bollox.

[Das Bruce]

Why do you prefer MTW2 over RTW/ETW? For me it was the other way around.

[Gota]

Shogun always had the advantage of having an awesome strategic map,it also has the best musical score and the best cut scenes.