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Orb and Crown is available to play in Strategic Command: War in Europe

Orb & Crown mod and campaign files are linked here

Orb and Crown is a fantasy warfare mod with a completely new custom map, unit counters (2D style only) and scripts. Dragons, giants and other fantastical creatures join the knights, praetorians, and keshig of the world's armies to battle for supremacy and to find the Orb and Crown of the Emerald Imperium.

A full AI has been scripted for both the Allies and the Adversaries.

An optional Strategy Advisor has been included for single-player games in version 0.8 and later (link to YouTube)

INSTALLATION
Download the ZIP files and extract them into your [User]\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command - War In Europe\campaigns and ...\Mods folders. Do not install to the main Strategic Command game folders (under the Steam installation, for example). Activate the Orb & Crown Mod before playing the campaign and ensure that 3D units are turned off, as the mod only uses modified 2D-style symbols.

Please try the campaign and leave any comments, questions, or criticisms here so that it can continue to be developed and improved.

Versions:
0.8 - Strategy Advisor
0.9 - Random (3rd) Victory Condition
0.92 - Full overhaul and testing of the Adversary AI

For an excellent AAR that also introduces the context of the wars, see here.

Orb & Crown YouTube
Discord

Pretty neat!

I been thinking of doing something like this but TRP World War 2 keeps taking all of my time.

Was thinking of doing War of the Lance (Dungeons & Dragons).

Watching your videos, very cool

Thanks, Lothos. I considered making a map of the Forgotten Realms but the one for Orb & Crown took ages and the FR map has a lot of coastline, so I thought better of it! The YT vids are my first and it probably shows. Cheers.

El_Condoro wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 9:54 pm Thanks, Lothos. I considered making a map of the Forgotten Realms but the one for Orb & Crown took ages and the FR map has a lot of coastline, so I thought better of it! The YT vids are my first and it probably shows. Cheers.

I do not play D&D anymore, is this map one you made up or some reference to an existing game?

The Orb & Crown map is my own except for 2 islands - Tal'Dorei and Chult, both of which are based on D&D source books.

El_Condoro wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 11:03 pm The Orb & Crown map is my own except for 2 islands - Tal'Dorei and Chult, both of which are based on D&D source books.

You give it an AI?

No, it is only PBEM and Hotseat. I designed it that way from the start, rather than trying to design an AI with so many 'moving parts' and options. That's why the solo options are hidden on the main screen.

El_Condoro wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 12:39 am No, it is only PBEM and Hotseat. I designed it that way from the start, rather than trying to design an AI with so many 'moving parts' and options. That's why the solo options are hidden on the main screen.

This is pretty cool. The map is excellent
I've got a AD&D campaign based on the Greyhawk World (Oerth) mostly in the. western sections of the continent.
It's been going since 1981.
The map editor is perfect for this. It reminds me of Darlene's iconic giant hex map for the Greyhawk Campaign.
I'm going to share your YT links to some of my group.
Very nice job.

Thanks, OldCrowBalthazor. Wow, 1981. I was introduced to D&D the year before. Keep on the Borderlands and my character fell in a pit and died within the first 5 minutes! I kept playing and Dming, anyway, and still remember how great AD&D was. I'm glad you like the mod.

El_Condoro wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 3:42 am Thanks, OldCrowBalthazor. Wow, 1981. I was introduced to D&D the year before. Keep on the Borderlands and my character fell in a pit and died within the first 5 minutes! I kept playing and Dming, anyway, and still remember how great AD&D was. I'm glad you like the mod.

I do recomend you create some sort of an AI for it. Figure out a strategy for each side you would like it to follow and the make it happen.

I would love to play the mod but I play in Single Player 99% of the time.

I intend to get my hands dirty with some AI coding but it won't be for a while. In the meantime, I play it Hotseat if I want to play it alone and don't run the turn replays - it's amazing how many things I forget I did a minute ago!

I just found out about this an hour ago, and I must say it looks really impressive on first viewing. Outstanding piece of work.

I put the campaign files in the campaign folder and the mod files in the mod folder (both in the the "user documents etc" path).
When I go to settings and click on mods, I see the mod, but when I go to single player, I don't see the campaign showing up. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Darrell999.

There is no AI in Orb & Crown and so no single-player option. Both have been hidden on the main screen. The only way to play the campaign alone is Hotseat. I have done that many times in testing and, although you know what you're opponent is up to (of course!) it is still fun, especially for learning the game. The campaign is intended more for PBEM games.

[Edit]: Although the Single Player options have been hidden, they are still there to click on. The campaign should still show up there.

Oops, guess I missed that. Thanks for letting me know.

Anyone fancy a game?

El_Condoro wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 6:19 am I would like to introduce a fantasy warfare campaign for Strategic Command called Orb & Crown.

It is a complete fantasy world setting with 5 Allies and 5 Adversaries, plus their minor allegiants. Custom units, diplomacy and research have a medieval fantasy feel. Monsters, humanoids, flying creatures, vast armies, and various ships vie for dominance as their rulers seek the symbols of dominance, the orb and the crown.

Orb & Crown does not have an AI programmed for it and so it can only be played as a Hotseat or PBEM game.

The installation files are linked here. Download the ZIP files and extract them into your [User]\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command - WWII War in Europe\campaigns and ...\Mods folders. Do not install to the main Strategic Command game folders (under the Steam installation, for example). Activate the Orb & Crown Mod before playing the campaign and ensure that 3D units are turned off, as the mod only uses modified symbols.

The Orb & Crown Discord server can be used to leave messages, find opponents or just hang out.

A YouTube channel with some introductory videos and play throughs is also available.

I hope you enjoy the campaign, and if you have any comments, questions, or find any problems, please let me know here or on the Discord server.

Updates:

• May 30: Version 0.3 of the Campaigns files available

Woah very nice I can tell you have put a lot of work into this! I've always wondered how fantasy would work in the SC series! I take it the series is meant to be played with counters? Are you planning on doing sprites? Great job!

Thanks, Tanaka.

At the moment, I am trying to program an AI for the Adversaries/Axis side and that will take me a while as I have not done any AI work before. So far, it's working but I have only tested it on a small subset of all offensives.

As for the 3D units, I would love to, given the time. It would take a while to find the best, most appropriate images and then create them. Time is the problem for now. There is also any issue with what to use as an image on some of them. For example, the humanoid units (small, medium and large) each represent sometimes kobolds or goblins, orcs or hobgoblins, hill giants or fire giants etc. There is only one unit for them, though, so the question is what to use as an image.

Discord invite is dead. Mind posting another?

WideEyes wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 11:50 pm Discord invite is dead. Mind posting another?

The link has been changed to not expire, now. Thanks for letting me know.