Trying to Make Lord of the Rings mod

[Grymme]

The two towers square of

Have implemented "pirates of umbar event" and "path of the dead" event. Have spent a huge amount of work on the graphic counters. They still look half amateurich, but i am working on them

[tweber]

One idea for the ring would be to use slots.  You could start a slot in a hex and then 'move' it through action cards.  You might give the ring a certain probability to be found it enemy troops are present in the hex. 

[Grymme]

Sounds like a good idea. I am a little short on modding ability when it comes to slots and variants though (dont know how to make them). Maybe when i am ready with the rest of the scenario someone could help me.
 
My progress so far
 
Map                            100 % done
SFT:s                          80 % done
Graphics                      60 % done
Events                        10 % done
Starting positions etc     5 % done
Rules, research etc        50 % done
Testing & Balance         not started yet

[Jeffrey H.]

I like your counter graphics. Can you share a few secrets about how you go about creating them ? I'm not prying about the source, I'm curious about the methods you use. 

[Grymme]

PM sent to Jeffrey

Work is progressing on the counters, although it really is a lot of work.
Decided to put som heroes in for flavour. So far i have Eomer, Eowyn, Erkenbrand & Theoden (for Rohan), Denethor II, Boromir, Faramir and Imrahil (for Gondor.

Suggestions for 3-7 heroes for Lothlorien, Isengaard, Orks of Misty Mountains & Mordor is always welcome. Mordor will of course get the 9 Nazguhls.

Screenshot shows some of the Rohan setup.

[Grymme]

I uploaded an early version of my War of the Ring scenario to the scenariobank. Its far from finished. But should still be playable. All suggestions/critique is welcome.

Here is the current scenariodescription




This scenario simulates the war of of Middle Earth at the end of the third age.

Six playable regimes.
Gondor
Rohirrim
Lorien
Mordor
Isengaard
Orks of the Misty Mountains


Range of HQ-power is reduced to 1
Cost of HQ is 4.

No research,

New units & Unit changes

Officers replace staff. They have twice the staff points (20) but cost 200pp
Light Cavalry. Move like horse. Slightly stronger.
Ents. Like light tanks but have bonus in forest and move by foot. Only 2000hps
Troll. Like light tank but doesnt have minus in forrest. Move by foot. Only 2000hps
Uruk hai. Sligthly stronger infantry
Rangers. Like SMGs but can carry more supply & have some AA value.
Longbowmen Like mortars but have decent AA value
Siege artillery. Like normal artillery, but weighs 50 and moves by the speed of 1 hex/turn.
Scouts can carry 7 turns of supply.
Winged beasts & Eagles (like fighters but with 20% longer range & can carry 1 wgtpoint)


Each regime has heroes & special units. Rohan has Erkenbrand, Eomer, Eowyn & Theoden. Orks of the Misty Mountain has Glorfimbel and Balrog of Moria. Mordor has Witchking of Angmar, Mouth of Sauron, Sauron, Grond & 8 more Nazguhls. Gondor has Faramir, Boromir, Imrahil & Denethor II.


Victory conditions

The following cities are worth 5 VP:s
- Minas Tirith, Pelalrgir, Dol Amroth
- Barad Dur, Minas Morgul, Dol Guldur
- Helms Deep, Edoras
- Isengaard
- Moria
- Telain

Mordor wins by controlling 6 Locations
Gondor wins by controlling 5 Locations
Rohan wins by controlling 4 locations
Isengaard, Orcs of the Misty Mountains or Lothlorien win by controlling 3 locations.

If a player on one side wins then the other players on that side is considered part in that victory.


Special events

There is a 20 % chanche each turn that the Pirates of Umbar joins the Mordor regime.

On the fifth turn 2 regiments of Dwarven engineers join Lorien.

[Grymme]

The counters in the game put together.

What i am looking most for is a counter for ents. If someone know where ther is one please let me know.

[Bombur]

Congratulations for you great work, Grymme.
I would like, however, to point to two minor troubles
1-A few png symbols are lacking (3 of them, actually)
2-Isengard still have axis minor graphics. I will fix it and send back to you.

[Bombur]

Actually there are just a few units with wrong graphics. I did minor changes and sent them back to Grymme.

[Grymme]

Thanks for your help Bombur.

Uploaded new version of the scenario today (v 76).

Among things added.
- Research system implemented.
- 40+ heroes.
-Redrew some roads, locations etc.
- Added some new & special locations. Harad, Barad Dur, Helms Deep, Entmote, ports, Nests etc.
- More units added. Great Eagles & Dragons, Younglings (young ents), Heavy Cavalry and more.
- Completed setups of 6 major powers.
- Redrew a lot of the countergraphics to make them look nicer.
- Special terrain Impassable mountain.


Scenario is playable. But there might be missing pics, sft symbols, flavour text etc. Events not added and will need test for balance. But i think it looks really nice.

Below is screenshot of most of the map on t 1. (kingdom of harad & umbar pirates are to much south to be shown in screenshot).



- If people whish to contribute i would very much appreciate suggestions for strategic events (other than dealing with the ring).
- Also if someone knows which strategic unit is used for each power. Right now i use Eored (Rohan), Regiment (Gondor), Legion (Mordor, Isengaard & Orks of the Misty Mountain) and Kohort (Lorien). But it would be much nicer to have the historic unitdesignation.
- Have some idea about implementing Palantirs, but cant separate moving ability from recon. Or can i?
- Other suggestions & feedback also welcome

[Grymme]

Forces of Isengaard & Rohan square of. Lorien up to the right.

[Grymme]

The teeths of Mordor are well guarded.

As can be seen a lot of locations are named even if they dont have any special locations. here you can see Dagorland, Dead Marches and Udûn.

[Grymme]

Minas Tirith & Minas Morgul square of.

Notice the Impassable mountains to the back of Minas Tirith. Gondor has a cargoship to the north.

[Grymme]

Decided to include a scale for the scenario in the scenariobriefing.
 
 
Each point of infantry, wagon, horse or cavalry represents a group of around 10-20 men/horse/vehicles. (officers maybe 10, common inf 20)
Each Beast or War machine represents 1-3 War machines or Beasts.
Each Eagle or Winged reptile represents around five individuals. Each Great Eagle or Dragon one beast.
Each ship represents a squadron of 3-5 ships.
 
Using these calculations South Ithilia would be defended by aproximatly 100 officers, 200 cavalry and 1500-1900 infantry. Seemes about right.

[Grymme]

Upploaded a new version of the scenario. Research should be included now. Version 86b.

Borrowed picture of Orthanc from Neuromancer guy. Dont remember his name.

Still looking for interesting strategic events to implement.

Also i should maybe comment on the inability to produce roads & bridges in the scenario. A reviewer of the scenario aparently lowered his grade with 3 points because of thís. The reason is that i dont want the original map of Middle Earth changed to much. Also i want the roads to be strategic points that players try to control. If it turns out not to work this could be changed though. Ill keep things open.

Will see if i can start an PBEM test game.

[Lunaticus_matrixforum]

You are of course welcome to use the Orthanc sprite.

I have one potential issue/bug with the new scenario: When in a unit description I click on "vs SFTypes" (the left one) the game crashes. I tried with several different units and always got the same result. Is this just my downloaded copy or do you also have this?
Best Regards

[Grymme]

Thanks
 
Got the bug also. I dont know why. Could actually be a gamebug. But for now we could just leave this button alone since its not nescessary for gameplay. I will look into it as soon as possible.

[Lunaticus_matrixforum]

After I found out that the newest version of my scenario has the same behaviour (and the old ones dont) I did some research on this. The error in your (and actually my scenario also) can be corrected as follows (I am not sure if all of the steps are necessary but all together help):
1. Give 1 Powerpoint (or more) to the items without Powerpoints (Supply, Political Point)
2. Give some defense higher than zero (I tried with "1") for all terrains for Supply, Powerpoint, Palanthir
3. Give some hitpoint higher than zero to Supply, Powerpoint
It seemed to work then.
I obviously in my last version also edited in some SFT for supply and powerpoint and got the same behaviour.
By the way: Does any fellow modder have any idea how it is possible to change the production graphics for supply and political points? I would like to get some picture in corresponding to a fantasy setting but it keeps showing oil dump and the 20th-century statesmen.

And I have to upload my scenario again.....
Best Regards
Lunaticus

[Erik Rutins]

This is looking great, keep up the excellent work. Like your "Freedom in the Galaxy" avatar too. Planning on adapting that next? [;)]

As a minor side note, "Dagorland" should be "Dagorlad", IIRC.

[Grymme]

Hmmm... Eric. I am not sure if you are adressing me or Lunaticus (an which scenario). I designed the War of the Ring scenario. Lunaticus made the Neuromancer scenario.
 
Will change Dagorland to Dagorlad on next upload,  if i remember it
 
Btw. There is an AAR starting that could be an interesting read. (hopefully)