Rome arises once more with the release of ‘Roma Surrectum’ v1.6, and it does so with better and more varied battlefields. This new version of the mod is focused on giving us the best battle map experience the ‘Rome: Total War’ engine can provide, and the RS team have worked hard on improving the often bland and uninspiring terrain found in the original game. To achieve this they have added new ground textures, trees, & grasses, and they have also delved into the secrets of battle map creation to produce a more interesting topography. Other features include a new provincial campaign where you can play as the Senate, a re-working of the campaign balance, Greek generals made by Spirit of Rob and new victory conditions. Everything can be read about it more detail in the release thread.
«Over two hundred years have passed since the Viking Age of Britain portrayed in Viking Invasion II, and the Dark Ages are coming to an end. Norman Invasion starts in the year AD 1066. William, Duke of Normandy, has landed his troops at Pevensey bay and King Harold II of England has just arrived at Hastings, fresh from victory at Stamford Bridge, to hurl the Normans back into the English Channel.»
If you’ve always wanted to kick the Normans back into the English Channel, or extend the Harrowing of the North to be an island-wide event, then ‘Norman Invasion’ is the mod you have been waiting for! Play as the invading Normans or the defending Anglo-Saxons and decide the future of England. Three minor factions are also playable: the Norse, the Welsh, & the Scots. Download here!
‘Norman Invasion’ is a modification for ‘Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion’.
«Also known as Rio’s IBFD. Featuring two campaigns: 463AD on the decline and the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire in the West; and 432 AD with the Huns on the outskirts of the Empire, and about to conquer the world. Also includes RESTITUTIO IUSTINIANI (Justinian Campaign) as an add-on provincial campaign, with Justinian attempting to reconquer the west.»
‘Invasio Barbarorvm: Flagellvm Dei – Beyond Roman Glory III’ has been released! Go here to download and read about all the new additions in this latest version of the mod, which includes a new building recruitment system and many changes to the economic system. Visit the RIO IBFD forum for more information about the mod.
‘Invasio Barbarorvm: Flagellvm Dei – Beyond Roman Glory III’ is a modification for
‘Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion’.
So I was thinking about what to write this month, and like all good writers I tried to analyze what demographics of my readers and prospective readers I had yet to alienate. Rome got paltry representation in my Modding Front articles, check that off the list, and Empire constantly gets shtick from this columnist, check and double-check, so it’s about time to stick it to the other games. And what better way to stick it to the other games than to do a segment on videos. Well the videos aren’t actually all that bad, but my first idea for a segment about Norman and Milanese inbreeding was turned down by Calvin. A right stickler that one.
In this segment I take a look back at the videos in the series and rank the games and their expansions by the quality of their videographic representation. I know, I know, videographic isn’t a word, but in keeping with the terms of my ES contract I’m obligated to make up at least three words per issue. We all try to do our part as citizens of the internet in the ongoing pursuit of butchering the English language. Of note, the two games which will not be represented in the Top 10 are Viking Invasion and Rome Alexander, since they don’t really have any intro videos. Plus I’m lazy and I don’t like Nordics or Greeks. There goes another reader demographic, on a freaking roll here.
I’ll be rating them based on three factors: Imagery, Sound, and Immersion. Each is worth between 1 and 10 points, and each game also gets an added 0.5 points for every year it is old, to reflect the increase in graphical capabilities. The videos being rated are the trailer/intro videos, not in-game videos. Anyone who thinks my rating system is unfair is welcome to not be right. Did I just alienate opinionated people? Oh yeah!
So sit back, relax, get inebriated, and enjoy.
10. Shogun: Total War – The Mongol Invasion
I might be being a little bit generous here. The images in the Mongol intro, which is the same for both the main campaign and the historical Kublai Khan campaign, are lacking. It goes something like… angry dude, more angry dude, ooh shiny weapons, more angry dude, hey look horses, more angry dude, Drew Barrymore no wait just more angry dude, hey look boats! And it seems like the stampeding horses and the large fleet of boats should have evoked something, but it just didn’t.
Imagery: 4/10
Ugh, the sound on this thing has to be the worst sound in the series, bar none. There was a couple bits of throat singing in the background, which was decent, but the narrative by Kublai Khan makes him sound like a caveman. Me.. mongol.. me.. smash.. japan.. big.. stick.. wood.. sea.. horse.. urgh.. RAWR! If that had been the dialogue it might have gotten a higher rating in this category.
Sound: 1/10
Well what’s to expect here, considering the above I’d have rather there been no video at all. The video just made me feel bad for trying to steal those nice Samurais land. Me.. mongol.. me.. misunderstood.. me.. just.. need.. hug.. sadface.
‘Chivalry: Total War’ is a medieval total conversion for ‘Rome: Total War’ (and is also playable with ‘Barbarian Invasion’). Version 1.051 has now been released with a brand new full installer complete with intro movie. Read and download here!
Some beautiful renders and screenshots have been posted by florin80 from the ‘The Fall of Rome’ mod for ‘Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion’, showing Alanian, Sassanian and Romano-British units, as well as a few shots of the campaign map. The two renders below show a Sassanian Horse Archer and an Alanian Heavy Lancer:
The final render is of a Romano-British Bodyguard. For screenshots showing all these units in battle in-game go to the preview thread, which can be found here. More information about the mod, and download links to FoR v1.1, is available here.
«Hegemonia City States is a complete modification of Rome: Total War based on Barbarian Invasion. The mod is dedicated to Hellenic history and the wars of the Hellenic people from late 6th century to the Peloponnesian wars.»
More updates from the ‘Hegemonia City States’ team: they are previewing 11 new hoplite units, which you can have a look at here! These include the Leontinioi Hoplitai (Lentinian Hoplite), from the city of Lentini in Sicily, and the Kymioi Hoplitai (Kymian Hoplite) from the town of Kymi in Euboea, both of which you can view below:
«INVASIO BARBARORVM is a series of Mods for BI focusing on the LATE ROMAN EMPIRE: from Aurelian to Justinian, from 270 AD to 527 AD, through 250 years of chaos, and the Fall of Rome, bringing about a Dark Age in the west. Currently features RESTITVTOR ORBIS (Third Century Crisis and Constantine the Great – under development), SOMNIUM APOSTATAE JULIANI (originally Goth’s IMPERIUM JULIANORUM), RUINA ROMAE (original IBFD set in 410 AD), FLAGELLUM DEI (originally Rio’s IBFD), and RESTITUTIO IUSTINIANI (Justinian Campaign for Rio’s IBFD).»
A new ‘Invasio Barbarorvm’ video has been posted on YouTube showing what is said to be «an IB-style battle»:
«Hegemonia City States is a complete modification of Rome: Total War based on Barbarian Invasion. The mod is dedicated to Hellenic history and the wars of the Hellenic people from late 6th century to the Peloponnesian wars.»
Spartan General
Looks like the guys from the ‘Hegemonia City States’ team have been busy lately as they’ve released no less than four or five previews in the past week or so. Let’s get the music preview out of the way first so you can listen to that while you read about the rest. The song they’ve released is the Hegemonia main theme, which you can download here or stream below:
Click to Play!
Hegemonia City States – Main Theme
Next up are the units they’ve been showcasing for factions such as Athens, Macedon and Thebes. Two examples of these units are the Athenaioi Somatophylakes (Athenian Bodyguards) and the Makedones Hippeis Somatophylakes (Macedonian Cavalry Bodyguards) we have shown below. Go here to see all the units they’ve previewed so far (there’s a handy index to guide you included in the first post of the thread).
The last couple of previews deal with strategy map agents, namely the diplomats for six factions, such as Corinth and Argos (see below), and some new family member avatars which look absolutely awesome. Visit the ‘Hegemonia City States’forum for more info regarding the mod.
‘Sparta: Total War III’ is a mod for ‘Rome: Total War’ (plus a version for ‘Barbarian Invasion’), and they recently released a preview of their all new Roman faction. You can read more about the mod (and download it) here, or just jump straight to loads of screenshots of Romans prancing about!
