Interesting. But what weapons and special features will we be seeing in this mod? I can see that from your factions, there is one Asian one - the flag looks like a cross between the Japanese flag and the old KMT flag - and what appears to be a German/East European faction. What do these guys do? and how do they do it?

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-17-2011 @ 01:07 AM).]

Well, we have quite a lot to say about every single faction, so we'll unveil them one by one, from today on ; starting right now, with the first of our playable civs : the Atlantic Federation.



You can listen to their national anthem here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUbi3QUML4

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 05:39 AM).]

Looks very nice!

But can u elaborate on "mobile infantry" and the "nuclear aircraft carrier" (do the aircraft actually drop a working nuke)?

Hem, no, "nuclear aircraft carrier" is to be understood as "nuclear-powered aircraft carrier". Basically, it's a cheaper and tougher aircraft carrier ; but at this point, we're open to any suggestion to give it cooler abilities. Basically, however, the main theme of the Federation's unique units is the "cheaper-tougher" aspect of their units : this is also what makes Mobile Infantry, Abrams and F16 different, and in a general way, what makes the Federation such a dangerous opponent : they can overwhelm their foes with waves of cheap and good-quality warmachines.
Then again, cool ideas are always welcome, since "coolness" is what we're trying to achieve here.

Finally, we're also working on a detailed guide of all the different units, that we will elaborate this week. It will feature every unique unit of our mod, along with its various skins, stats, and a few background elements.

Tomorrow, we'll be introducing our second faction : the Caliphate of Djihadia. Run, infidels !




National Anthem is avaiable here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLqLp1fHJkA

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 05:40 AM).]

Cool! So what is tomorrow? And did you get the suicide bomber to work?

Some hints:

- Your Mujahideen are too "clean-cut", you should base them on our Rise of Kings units.
- Suicide bombers don't have weapon pods. Or am I missing something?
- You need to fix the angle of that big picture of Hassan Nasrullah, it looks odd.

Lastly,

i know it may not be possible, but can I borrow some bits and bobs for Rise of the Moderns? I like the Jihadian barracks, it should do well for the Indians and Turks as a modern Quonset hut.

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-20-2011 @ 02:02 AM).]

Thanks for the feedback !
We'll give another shot at the mudjahideen, currently they are just basic assault infantry, but we plan to make them look more "dirty" and add another skin to the unit, so that they don't all look the same. Suicide bombers indeed don't have weapons pod, but since we cannot edit models, we weren't able to remove them. This said, it's one of our very first units, so we weren't very advanced, coding-wise. Maybe we can do that by looking deeper into unit_graphics... Anyway, the suicide bomber is definitely still WIP, since it doesn't work the way we intended it too... yet, but we find the concept far too cool to be dumped.
Hassan Nasrallah will be re-aligned too. Darn, that is really the toughest part with making new buildings from scratch ! By the way, this was one of our new wonders.
VelvetClaw, of course you can, just give me your adress and I'll e-mail it to you right away, along with more detailed screenshots of our other arabic buildings, so that you may choose between them.

Today evening, we'll cross the atlantic ocean again, but this time, we'll go south, and visit the Bolivarian Republic. By the way, somebody please answer something until then, so I can post back ;-)

Could you send me some more detailed screenshots of some of the buildings too? My email is on my profile. Also, what sort of wonders and new buildings will there be?

Hello,

SOME CORRECTIONS:

I have been writing some content for Rise of Kings' CtW and as a publications technician, I suggest the following:

"Peace is a rare exception that lasts only so long" (no comma)

"Resources are running out" (in lieu of rarifying)

NASRULLAH

It is not difficult to change that wonder. All you need to is the following:

- first, use a graphics editor to reduce the width of the image, so that its width is now equal to 50% of the base of your building.
- next, shear its right-hand top corner to the angle you need.

Once you are done, it is complete!

The Jihadia buildings look good! I would like to book them for India and Turkey (and maybe also the Far Eastern factions) too!
Here is the link to Rise of the Moderns! I have put forward quite a number of concepts, you might want to look at them!

http://ron.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=10,6127,,10

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-20-2011 @ 07:41 AM).]

Hi !

So, it's time for our third contester : the Bolivarian Republic.

Anthem here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZImwIYDxXs&feature=fvsr
To anyone speaking spanish : I know the lyrics definitely don't match with the title, but we picked the song for the music rather that the lyrics, since we don't understand them anyway. However, as usual, cooler suggestions are welcome !

Thanks for the corrections, VelvetClaw I will apply them tomorrow. I'll also reposition our bearded friend, it should indeed take only a few seconds. I would email you our buildings, but I don't have your adress, so it might prove difficult... super7700, I'll write that mail to you right away.
Regarding our wonders and buildings system, we haven't really altered their gameplay, but have given them unique skins for every building and every civ. The wonders, in particular, have been delt with with special care : we'll present the system once we're done with all the factions.

Next update will have us going back far to the east ... or continuing westwards, if you adhere to a spherical understanding of the world. Anyway, it's soon going to be short and yellow around here !

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 05:40 AM).]

Hehe, Tapioca. Looks like you're a Tintin fan too!

ALSO: Might want to fix the NYWTC, it looks a bit cartoonish.
It is not difficult to patch up Sheikh Nasrullah. All you need is love. The love of geometry, that is. When you do it right, geometry can work wonders.

Lastly, seeing that the capital of Jihadia is Baghdad, what happens if I attack them and flag Hejaz? I already put in several "Jihad" scenarios for Rise of Kings, whereby you will be facing near-to-dismal odds, and flagging Hejaz basically makes every other Muslim pissed off at you if you are a Christian.

@CMolotov: Il y a une notice chez ton email.

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-21-2011 @ 08:38 AM).]

Time for a new update ! Meet today's candidate :



As usual, you can listen to their national anthem here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS7HLctYtNY

We are keeping the hard work about our other civs as well, taking into account all that has already been told about the civs that we have unveiled so far. Nasrallah and the mujahideens are being dealt with, as well as a few last-minute bugs that we found with the Bolivarian. By the way, yes Tapioca comes from Tintin... If you look carefully, you'll find out that most of our factions are very inspired by either movies, comics, books, other video games... this is especially true for the Federation.
So far, we have not included any comportment-altering event, since we don't know how to script, but we really getting into it, since it might happen to be the only way to get units like transport helos and suicide bombers to work, not to mention other ideas like minefields or chemical weapons that we were forced to abandon due to coding limitations. Scripting would really enlarge our pen... possibilities, and help us include even more awesome stuff !
As usual, if you see anything you like in the screenshots, feel free to ask for them.

VelvetClaw, what specifically were you refering to when you talked about material we could pick up in Rise of Kings and Rise of the Moderns for the mujahideen ? I've looked through the topics, but it's hard to figure out what is what without screenshots.

Up next : cold and red...

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 05:41 AM).]

These:





Rise of Kings was to feature many of these seemingly "burka"ed (the correct word is burnus) soldiers. Your current troops look seemingly too Indian, if you ask me.

What I meant for that remark on Hejaz was that in super7700's CtW, several scripted events were suggested: for instance, taking Mecca, Islam's holiest city, will have different implications - Muslims will discover they have a source of income, Asians will discover that the Muslims are more willing to negotiate, while the Christians that occupy Hejaz will realise that the Muslims will be antagonistic until their beloved Mecca is under the control of someone else who deeply cares for them....
(strange it may be for the Chinese to have Muslim friends by controlling Mecca, but by 800AD Muslims were in high places in Tang-controlled China.)

Well, for your CtW:

- in your CtW you mentioned the effects of resources running out (perhaps due to war and environmental damage). We could suggest the following:

- as in the Cold War, you can gain tribute solely from the total level of all your provinces. So, for instance, if I were playing as the Empire of the Rising Sun, and controlled the cantonments of Tokyo, Hokkaido and the Kurils, and all of them were set at level 3 each, I would receive tribute.

- I suggest also that at some point, you will start suffering from diminishing returns. If your CtW campaign lasts for 24 turns, the amount of resources you get will be reduced via the following formula:

Tribute earned = y/t, where

y = total level of all your cantonments
t = number of turns elapsed.

This will simulate the effect of an environment being pushed to its limits.

Also:
- For the Atlantic Federation, unrest in your cities will begin the moment your tribute score is zero. Cantonments below a certain level will start rebelling, so you will be forced to place troops to control the riots.
- For Bolivaria and Jihadia: If your starting tribute is less than 1, you will face a coup d'etat at home, something like a Waterloo scenario in Napoleon. You will have to survive the coup, or else you will lose the game.

I can also suggest the following CtW resources:

Natural gas (+20 oil production)
Unobtainum (not sure what this'd do)

And for more CtW fun, rebel states:

- for the Atlantic Federation, the main battle received from attacking rebel states are the "re-integration of communes and hippies" of environmentally concerned citizens back into your civilisation. You start off with some cities, but as time goes by, your peasants will start revolting. You must stop them from destroying your oil refineries and derricks; if they destroy all of them you lose the game.

- for the Bolivarian republic, the main battle received from attacking rebel states involves putting down your rival, General Alcatraz. Alcatraz has captured several cantonments and you must use force to recapture them.

- for Jihadia, the main battles received from attacking rebels involves negotiations. You will be fighting against several tribal leaders and groups who have seceded, and you will have to persuade them to return back to the fold.

These are just some of the ideas I can provide for the CtW. I know we haven't gotten that far enough to think of a CtW but I think that's a good starting point.

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-21-2011 @ 07:41 PM).]

Actually, he have gotten far enough to start developping a CtW campaign simultaneously with the finition of the game, since most of the coding work is done already. Plus, your ideas are great, although I don't fully understand the technical terms, since I never played CtW... for exemple, what do "rebel states", "income" and "tribute" represent in game ?

Maybe losing the game after a coup is a little harsh, especially for the Bolivarian, who are really used to this "prolongation of politics by other means". Plus, I think it would be good be make the player feel that he is impersonating a country, not a leader. So maybe, the penalty for losing this mission could be a few turns of global unrest, until situation calms down.
Unobtainium IS a cool idea ! Maybe it could spawn on a random spot of the world map, a different one everytime, and give bonuses to mechanized units, such as a huge armor buff ?

For the mujahideens, we'll try to simulate a full head-wrap by skinning, but I not sure it will look good. To be done, though.

Thanks for all your feedback !

super7700 is in the process of slowly skinning Rise of Kings, so you might want to consult him once he commences skinning the Almoravids or the ubiquitous hashishin (the favoured assassin/agent provo' preferred by all Muslim factions, as well as some opportunistic Christian factions).

Back to CtWs...

TRIBUTE is the main currency of the game that will allow you to purchase territories and cards, and so on. One way of winning a CtW is by obtaining sufficient tribute to buy alliances with others.

INCOME is tribute received by you. Normally, you will receive tribute from the start of each turn, but in some special CtWs like Napoleon this ability is blocked. For Rise of Kings, we suggest this, and allowing tribute to be collected only from controlling holy sites and colonies (such as Nouvelle-France).

BARBARIAN states are unoccupied states. In vanilla CtWs these normally are populated by barbarian tribes, but we have seen others whereby sub-factions were introduced based on other factions such as those in the Alexander campaign.

Since we can't really call them barbarians for A Wrong Turn, and having the factions of your mod fight off analogues of Atilla or Geiseric seems strange, I decided that we should call them rebels instead. And maybe you are right there, my idea of coups is too imbalanced.

Lastly, we should not have regions (the name for all the separate segments of continents for Rise of Kings) - but cantonments named after the main city located there instead. For instance, we could separate parts of the map, so each faction of your CtW begins with ~10 cantonments, like for Jihadia: Mecca, Mosul, Mashhad, Cairo, Alexandria, Baitulmuqqadis, Beirut, and Damascus.

Before anyone wonders where the name of tonight's nation comes from, it's based on my family name, and yes, I'm megalomaniac, that's why I got into modding. It was either that, or politics. ;-)



Listen to the infamous Vidalyanka ! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIWeaOg9Ps

We are currently working really hard to complete our last set of buildings, but has soon as this is done, we'll review the old skins and buildings ; hopefully Super7700 will be skinning the muslims by then, and we can work together.

About CtW : is it possible to have a barbarian-free campaign, where the entire world would be under control of the eight powers ? Or would it be gameplay-breaking ? Or would it be possible to have "barbarians" appear during the game, as countries begin to collapse ?
Again, I don't know anything about CtW, so I'm just throwing ideas in all directions.


Another new civ tonight, after that, there will be a short break until the end of the week, I think :


And as usual, the anthem is here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEtSwP8_ygQ

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 05:43 AM).]

Hi,

Band news — Super7700 caught a snag while working on Rise of Kings, he might not get back to you so soon.

It might be interesting to have most of the planet covered, except for a few "recalcitrant rebels", because

I figured out the diplomacy for all factions:

1 North Atlantic - alliée à 1,2
2 Salvatia - alliée à to 1,6
3 Rising Sun - alliée à to 1,5
4 Jihadia - alliée à to 5,8
5 Trans-Sahelia - alliée à to 3,4
6 Bolivaria - alliée à to 2,7
7 Vidalia - alliée à to 6,8
8 Shiné Altan Ordu (en mongolien: Nouvealle Horde d'Or) - alliée à to 4,7

Not sure how many "commanderies" or "cantonments" you want, but I have the following for, say, Australia and some parts of Asia:

Brisbane
Hobart
Perth
Borneo & Manila
Jakarta
Acheh
Bangkok
Phnom Penh
Naypydaw
Nullarbor (rebel area devastated by environmental collapse, with only one rare resource)
Hong Kong
Saigon
Aotoarea
Beiping (we assume it never changed its name to Beijing)
Shanghai
Chengdu
Manchuria
Pyonggyang
Busan
Tokyo
Nagoya
Xi'an
Mongolia
Lop Nor

(at this point Russia and India begin....)

I also notice from your map at http://img11.imageshack.us/i/cartedumondevarianteeng.jpg/ that Trans-Sahelia is surrounded by several striped regions. Are those supposed to be rebel areas?

Also, some really nasty news:
This is the view I have of your last post -




Your email to me of 80MB also got blocked. What was in it, anyway?

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-27-2011 @ 08:51 PM).]

Some good news:

Zoomshare has implemented a new mail client! I have been able to read your email, but I cando little about its contents. I can work on a CtW for you, but only insofar as data and flavour text are concerned.

Hi !

I think my mail included our set of arabic buildings, since many people asked for it, I just keep sending them around.
Returning to CtW : What do these diplomatic numbers mean ?
Your cantonments seem good, I'd say the more the best, to make the campaing as realistic and deep as possible.
Striped regions around the Transsahelian Kingdom are colonial, contested areas. Every nation has a foothold in Africa, but their borders fluctuate a lot, and state authority is low : they are dangerous, chaotic zones, but rich in raw materials, the world's main international battlefield. We actually decided to implement them in order to explain why, for example, would Vidalia fight the Bolivarians, or Salviatia the Rising Sun.

Do you want me to send you our mod (it's not complete of course, but it's operational), so that you can start working concretely on CtW ? Or is it too soon, and we should keep conceptualizing so far ?

About the image hosting issue : We just created a blog, that should do it to store our pictures. I just re-routed the links, if it still doesn't work let me know and I'll try something else.

One last thing : how do you double-post ? I just can't, the forum won't allow me and forces me to edit my previous message instead, which doesn't suit me at all, because the topic remains at the bottom of the forum. For exemple, tonight I'd like to post info about the Transsahelian, and I won't be able to if nobody has answered this post by then !

Yeah, just realised:

1 Atlantic Fed (AF) - alliée à 2,3
2 Salvatia - alliée à to 1,6
3 Rising Sun (ESL, I use the Fr initials) - alliée à to 1,5
4 Jihadia - alliée à to 5,8
5 Trans-Sahelia - alliée à to 3,4
6 Bolivaria (RB) - alliée à to 2,7
7 Vidalia - alliée à to 6,8
8 Shiné Altan Ordu (en mongolien: Nouvealle Horde d'Or) - alliée à to 4,7

Basically the numbers refer to the factions they're allied with. Originally I thought of different factions, being allied to 2 different factions to spite 3 or more bigger ones. So, I was thinkinking that Vidalia would be allied to the SAO and the Republica Bolivariana. Why? because being communist, it'd annoy the crap out of the AF (which is a free-wheeling quasi-religious business oligarchy (bien comme mon pays lui même)). Logically it wants to curry favour with the RB. Next, why the SAO? because the SAO, I reckon, acts as a buffer zone against the potentially aggressive Rising Sun Empire and maybe against Jihadia.

Next, Jihadia. Trans-Sahelia would only be too happy to have Jihadia as an ally, and possibly the ESL as a foil to closer powers. It's international relations (aka intergovernmental backstabbing), mon ami.

You need to wait for a while after you posted your first post. Meanwhile,what kind of map do you want?

I propose two different designs:

A digital-looking one which is in black and pale green, with an abstract, neo-cubist design for the main continents, ...

(see this: http://www.jupiterimages.com/Image/royaltyFree/92849956)

...or

A more imperialist-style map, which will be cheap to create - because it looks like those old Napoleonic/WW2 maps with block gouache colours and maybe a burned-out feel to it splotched with mildew:



This is the thread for super7700's Rise of Kings, and it deals with plans for the CtW. You might want to look at it for an idea of what your map will NOT look like. http://ron.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=10,6133,,10

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 02-28-2011 @ 07:50 AM).]

Time for a new civ :

and their usual anthem, which might recall something to Civ fans :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I186MgWygcM

Including alliances is a good idea, but I don't think they should be permanent, so maybe the alliances you suggested could just be the possible ones. Additionnaly, hate is so strong between all the countries, that there should be a lot of instability between allies. Maybe some random events could break alliances, for exemple, or they could just be limited in time. Additionnaly we should make sure that eventually, only one faction could win.
I just doubt that Vidalia would ally with the Horde, with such a long common frontier... but the Horde is quite apart anyway, not having a true state structure, so maybe it deserves a special treatment... to be discussed.

As for the map, digital-looking is by far our favorite, especially since black and green are our team's dedicated colours.

Thanks for the feedback !

[This message has been edited by ColonelMolotov (edited 02-28-2011 @ 03:45 PM).]

This is a wonderful project. I have owned RON for two years now, and it is a very interesting game. It contains many features such as borders that have not been copied in any other RTS.
Because Ensemble studios no longer exists, projects such as this will define the future of the game. The devotion I see here amazes me, and I wish that I had the time and the skill to do something like this. You are doing a great job, and I am eager to see what will happen in the future.

Well,

That strange brass building in your last shot looks interesting. Can I have it later on for Rise of the Moderns? my Asians need to graduate from their senate buildings to something more modern and westernised.

re alliances:

"...its armies are often equipped by foreign secret services, happy to arm the enemy of their enemy."

Yeah, you got it right there. In fact, one of the triggers leading to the breaking of an alliance could sometimes be the result of killing one's ally.

For instance:

1 Atlantic Fed (AF) - alliée à Salviatia, ESL
2 Salvatia - alliée à AF, RB
3 Rising Sun (ESL, I use the Fr initials) - alliée à to AF, Trans-Sahelia
...
5 Trans-Sahelia - alliée à to ESL, Jihadia


let's say there are currently 3 powers in Africa: the AF, Salviatia and the ESL. Now, the ESL is pretty expansionist, and relations with Salviatia are at an all-time low, so the ESL gathers its other ally in the region, Trans-Sahelia (who in fact instigated ESL to start the butt-kicking with a hefty sum of tribute and promises of military aid), and gives Salviatia's overseas holdings a good kicking.

Would the AF stand by? no, it wouldn't. It'd be damn unhappy that the ESL damaged the only other power in Africa (in fact, this was why the ESL was invited to Africa by Trans-Sahelia in the first place) and then it declares war, declaring the ESL to be a jerk and its soldiers as criminals for having stabbed it greatly in the back. As expected, a war ensues...

Also more fun: in some parts of Europe and Asia, there are plenty of separatist movements. For instance, the AF attacking a Vidalian-held stronghold near Brussels may discover the existence of Vlaams Blok, now a regional resistance cell, who will demand tribute the moment you defeat all Communist forces in the region. Failure to pay this tribute will cause them to revolt, and unless you place an army there they will immediately overthrow your rule and revert to being independent

We working on Rise of Kings have not thought about this, although I have lobbied for the Political Dissidents card to function in that manner.

Also, some cards to think about:


Environmental degradation - replaces the Partisans card.
Saboteurs - water contamination - Disables your opponent's ability to build a barracks.
Saboteurs - mining - Disables your opponent's ability to build a naval yard.
Saboteurs - industrial sabotage - Disables your opponent's ability to build factories or auto plants.
Scavenged weaponry - start the game with 2 LV-19s and 5 child soldiers.
Mercenaries - instead of dropping in an extra army, this drops in some European mercenaries, just like how J Bananius has 'em in Africa.
Radio silence - fog of war is impenetrable to enemy forces, unless they use commandos to lift it.
Nuclear arms - raises your nuclear missile count by 1. Nukes work just like in the Cold War but are now created only via bonus cards. Once you buy the card, you can either play it on your capital or an ally (to raise their missile count by 1), or deploy it during a CtW scenario, to allow the construction of nuke missiles at your missile silos.
Quantitative easing - just another fancy name for the wealth boom card
Strip mining - just another fancy name for the metal boom card.
Deforestation - just another fancy name for the timber boom card.
Labour exploitation - just another fancy name for the food boom card.
Military-industrial complex - replaces the Great Thinker. Again, it's all just flavour.

Lastly:
Victory conditions - kill everyone before the timer is up. By the end of the campaign timer, all players will LOSE, so destroying your opponent is of the essence.

Since many nations are covered over and industrial output could be rather high, I think I will proceed cautiously with just how many territories cover the map. In fact, I think I will try to re-use the old Cold War map format, with some adjustments.

By the way, where is everybody's capital city IRL?

[This message has been edited by VelvetClaw (edited 03-01-2011 @ 11:33 AM).]

Did you two come to a conclusion for the map?