This thread isn't an announcement for a new mod, I'm just considering the possibility of a large mod that could potentially be made. As I showed in my earlier threads, I'm working on a small mod to remake the flat, 2D designs from AoE2 into units for the game. It started out as a simple unit pack, and it may stay that way, but I've been playing with the idea of making a total conversion mod that recreates the AoK experience in miraculous 3D, and I bet it'd be nice to see how that would look on the new engine from AoMEE. Now that modding for the updated engine has been made more or less possible through recent updates, it could be the first major mod on the steam workshop. There are also plenty of unfinished mods for this game floating around so I figured they could be used for a larger mod.
It would be nice to see the remaining community pull together and make this a collaborative possibility like it has for previous mods in the earlier years, perhaps old members like myself could return to give their support. But given the current state of the AoMH community, that's most likely not possible anymore and there's little chance a mod of this scope would ever be finished. Regardless, I'd like to give it a try on my own, although right now I'm still not sure if I'm going to go beyond an assorted collection of new units for this mod. Below is a basic outline of what I imagine an AoK total conversion mod would look like, I'd like to see what the other modders here think of this so feel free to let me know.
- 12 new civilizations
- Campaign
- Redone UI
- Original units and objects remade for AoM
- Original random maps
- Stone resource (replacing favor)
- New sounds and music
- Remade terrain and embellishment items
- Historical figures replace minor gods
- 'Interventions' instead of god powers
West European: Britons - Celts - Franks
Central European: Goths - Teutons - Vikings
Middle Eastern: Byzantines - Persians - Turks
East Asian: Chinese - Japanese - Koreans
These are a new feature that would make up for the loss of god powers in the mod. These would function almost the same as the AoM god powers, but they would be less 'godly' and more as typical things that would occur in medieval times. There would be 36 of them to create, to replace the original 36.
1. Corruption - Resources are lost from the enemy
2. Highwaymen - Less resources received by enemies
3. Fire arrows - Ranged units cause more damage
4. Famine - Enemy farms die
5. Caltrops - Enemies who run over selected area will be killed
6. Thievery - Selected units become invisible for a short time
7. Bandit raid - Cast on area to be raided by neutral bandits with bonus against villagers
8. Merriment - Increased attack for infantry
9. Boulders - Increased attack for siege
10. Guilds - Increased building construction speed
11. Alchemy - Armored units become temporarily stronger
12. Medicine - Dead units in range become revived with half health
13. Knighthood - Selected unit becomes hero
14. Lord’s Blessing - More Resources are received
15. Razing - Summons torch throwers with bonus against buildings
16. Scorched Earth - Sets a forest on fire
17. Assassination - Kills a selected unit
18. Prayer - Interventions take less time to recharge
19. Desertion - Selected units become neutral
20. Treaty - Fighting is temporarily stopped
21. Plague - Buildings in range stop functioning and become derelict
22. Catacombs - Creates a passage to get across the map
23. Messenger Spies - Reveals an area of the map
24. Stone fortress- Turns a tower into a powerful defense building
25. Sappers - Selected walls and towers are destroyed
26. Rich harvest - 1000 food is given
27. Free Company - Summons a group of mercenaries
28. Hunting dogs - Summons a group of fast but weak hounds for hunting and scouting
29. Boiling Oil - Walls and towers have excellent downward attack for a limited period of time
30. Husbandry - Creates huntable animals in selected area
31. Moneylending - Cast on a town center, an enemy’s gold supply dwindles for a period of time
32. Great Wall - Large, strong wall is created
33. Town guard - Small building produces weak town guards intermittedly
34. Mantra - Units are healed for a period of time
35. Well - Placeable item slowly heals units in area, can be controlled by others
36. Quarry - Cast on a gold or stone mine to give more resources
These are 30 RMs from the original game that I think would fit in the game, and a few of the original RM maps would probably be kept on the selection as well. I'm not sure how to properly create RM scripts so I may have to find someone to help me here.
1. Arabia
2. Archipelago
3. Arena
4. Baltic
5. Black Forest
6. Coastal
7. Continental
8. Fortress
9. Ghost Lake
10. Gold Rush
11. Highland
12. Islands
13. Mediterranean
14. Migration
15. Mongolia
16. Nomad
17. Oasis
18. Rivers
19. Salt Marsh
20. Scandinavia
21. Team Islands
22. Acropolis
23. City of Lakes
24. Golden Pit
25. Hideout
26. Hill Fort
27. Lombardia
28. Steppe
29. Valley
30. Budapest
Given my inability to use modeling programs competently, I would probably need a few modelers to create the units that couldn't be made with existing models. There are roughly 100 units to be made, and I'm a tenth of the way there. I'm also wondering if it's worth it or not to create culture-specific unit textures or have the same shared design for every civilization like in the original game. Some people experienced with code might be needed as well, but really any assistance to get the word out and try to make this possible would be appreciated.
Here is what I've completed so far:
Here's the rest of the images I released in earlier threads.