In the works...

[hexagonian]

It's been hinted at...A full-blown Lord of the Rings Mod. Not a scenario.

It uses Cradle as the jumping off point, but will also go in new (and atmospheric) directions. Timeframe: Late Second age (Creation of the Rings of Power) and the Third Age.

Finished
1. Civs (and all cities)
- Gondor
- Sindar Elves
- Rohan
- Mordor
- Isengard
- Harad
- Easterlings
- Angmar
- Arnor
- Northmen
- Hobbits
- Dwarves

(civ-specific advances, buildings, units, wonders, wonder units)

2. Advance Tree
3. Units
4. Buildings
5. Wonders
6. Intro video
7. Various Art


To Do
1. Governments
2. Wonder Units
3. Tile Improvements
4. Various Art
5. SLIC incorporation
6. Make sure it doesn't crash when it is done.

Back to work now...

[Maquiladora]

Sounds great hex

If you need some slic help I can try to help with odds and ends, but don't have much time for writing whole new scripts at the moment.

[hexagonian]

There is one that I will need, the others I will be picking up.

I need a slic that will fire when the following victory conditions are met. It needs to trigger a victory movie, nothing more

(Civs) Gondor, Rohan, Arnor, Dwarves, Hobbits, Northmen or Sindar kill the (unit) Sauron and Sauruman
or
(Civs) Gondor, Rohan, Arnor, Dwarves, Hobbits, Northmen or Sindar destroy (civ) Mordor

Mordor, Easterling, Harad, Angmar, Isengard kill (civ) Gondor, Sindar AND Dwarves
or
Mordor, Easterling, Harad, Angmar, Isengard kill (units) Isuldir, Elrond AND Durin

I can work on the variations from what you give me.

Not a rush because I still have a lot of groundwork to do.

[BureauBert]

Well, the first two seem to be fairly easy:

// Gondor kills Sauron:

HandleEvent(KillUnit) 'GondorKillsSauron' {
	int_t theKillerCiv;
	unit_t theUnit;
	unit_t SauronUnit;
	
	theKiller = player[0].owner;
	theUnit = unit[0];

	if(UnitType(theUnit) == UnitDB("UNIT_SAURON")
	&& PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("GONDOR")) {
		GameOver(theKiller, 1);
	}
}

// Civ kills Mordor:

HandleEvent(KillPlayer) 'CivKillsMordor' {
	int_t theKilledPlayer;
	int_t theKiller;

	theKilledPlayer = player[0].owner;
	theKiller = player[1].owner;

	if(PlayerCivilization(theKilledPlayer) == CivilizationIndex("MORDOR") &&
	(PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("GONDOR")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("ROHAN")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("ARNOR")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("DWARVES")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("HOBBITS")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("NORTHMEN")
	|| PlayerCivilization(theKiller) == CivilizationIndex("SINDAR"))) {
			GameOver(theKiller, 1);
	}
}

The last two are a bit more complex and I will probably need some time to come up with something useful -- but maybe someone beats me to it

[hexagonian]

UPDATE
- 85% of all non-slic elements have been data-entried, with the exception of the Great Library. My plan for the GL is going to be to provide basic information only, and the full release of the Great Library might come after an official release.
- Wonder units are close to completed...I still need to do uniticon data entry and do the artwork for those units.
- Wonder movie placeholder art. I am not going to do individualized movies for all of the wonders, because there are about 100 Wonders...but there is a movie for each one and I do plan on specific movies for some of the Wonders, perhaps after the official release.
- Conceptual for the Victory setup.

STILL TO DO
Tweaking the Numbers
SLIC incorporation
Playtest


The goal is a late November release. I am actually toying with a limited release to start with (limited to no more than 5-10 people...first come, first serve), to gauge actual interest.

So if you are truly interested, lets get some feedback going.

COMPLETION STATUS

[EPW]

It looks great.

[hexagonian]

For me, Cradle is a complete Mod...there is little that I would like to add to it. I think Cradle strikes the right balance between good gameplay and micromanagement, and adding more elements to the mix threatens to move it into the latter. There are some minor balance issues, but for all intents and purposes, it's time to move on to something else...or at least take a break from Cradle.

This Mod is going to have a different focus than Cradle. I've always wanted to do a full-blown LOTR Mod, and when I did the WOTR Scenario, I was a little disappointed that it got so little play. So rather than focus on a tightly scripted Scenario, I decided to focus on a more open-ended Mod, using the tricks I learned in this last revision of Cradle.

One other thing...I have never played the civ3 and civ4 LOTR Mods. I do not want them to influence how I want this Mod to go. That may come later...

There is going to be more emphasis of the individual civs. I'm starting off with the basic tech tree, but there are going to be specific civ branches on that tree, which will unlock civ-specific wonders, buildings and units.

In fact, most of the civ wonders and wonder-units are civ-specific.

The setup promises to give me the ability to further expand some of the concepts I have in mind. For the first release, the governments will follow the normal CTP2/Cradle format, but because of the unique civ formatting, I am thinking about civ-specific governments.

Some other details...
- The Northmen are the default base civ...they have no special units, only one civ wonder, and the latest occuring civ boost in the game. They are this way, so I have an AI measuring stick, but they will offer the player the hardest civ to play and win.
- The evil factions will have the ability to enslave, but will have very little in the way of Farm Tile Improvements.
- There will be some parallels with the books. Sauron will lose his ring and there will a period of time when Mordor will lose much of it's ability to produce items...and the good-alignment civs like Gondor and the Elves will go into a slow steady overall decline throughout the game.
- Players will win the game by recovering the One Ring.

One of the reasons why I'm considering keeping the Great Library barebones for the early release, is to create a mystery for the player. I would like the player to go into this Mod somewhat blind, and to play it without a definite plan.

After all, no-one knows what the the future holds.

[hexagonian]

STATUS
- All Wonder units done
- Wonder unit and unit upgrade SLICs has been activated, as well as most of the minor SLICS that were features of Cradle


STILL TO DO
Endgame Victory SLICs
Elite units SLIC
Training SLIC
Events SLICs
Minor ingame art cleanup

[hexagonian]

STATUS UPDATE...DONE
- Units (67 Hero, 88 normal/civ-specific)
- Tech Tree (211 techs total, many techs are civ-specific)
- Wonders (64 Wonders total, many are civ-specific) Edited: 122 down to 64, since CTP2 can only support that amount

- Wonder unit and unit upgrade SLICs has been activated
- Endgame Victory (1 of 2 activated)
- Elite units SLIC
- Leadership Training SLIC
- Events SLICs (65% done)

[hexagonian]

STATUS UPDATE
- All foundation txtfiles and SLICs are done!!! Some tweaking and rehashing of the numbers to do, as well as some renaming in gl.str.txt and the various other str.txt files, but the hard work is finished.
- 90% of the graphics are done - Actually, I have graphics for everything in place, but I may refine some of them for the release.

TO DO...
40% of the Great Library.


NEEDED
One or two playtesters before I go public. The goal is to have the playtest ready to send by the weekend (11/7 or 11/8) or next week.

Volunteers????

[EPW]

I'll do it.

[hexagonian]

Getting closer...the Great Library is just about done

Here is the official Readme

LOTR MOD - v1.0

History
I always wanted to do a full-blown LOTR Mod...

Back in 2003, I created a LOTR scenario, which did nor get too much fan play, but this did not detract me from expanding the ideas I had for a full Mod. I created this Mod mainly for my own enjoyment, but I am releasing it to the general public because if there is someone out there who loves Middle-Earth, then this is for them too.

What to watch for...
Ingame Features
- There are many new units, buildings, wonders, tile improvements and governments, with the goal to make each Realm different from the others...each Realm will have a different focus. You will have to play the game to unlock what those features are...and I'm not going to give specifics here.

When I revisited Cradle this past year, I immediately saw that the foundation was there to convert Cradle into LOTR. There are a lot of features that are in LOTR that are a part of Cradle. For instance, the basic tech tree of LOTR is a mirror of Cradle's tree. However, the LOTR tech tree adds a great deal of Realm-specific advances, which open the doors for unique realm units, buildings, wonders and wonder units, tile improvements and governments. There are also some in-game events that are geared towards each realm, and the plan is to expand on some of these event in future releases.

What this does is give each realm a distinction that has deeper than any other CTP2 Mod, even over Cradle III which I felt was the pinnacle of all CTP2 Mods in this particular area of gameplay. And to top it off, these advances are hidden to some degree because the Great Library does not give specifics for these advances...the player cannot simply map out a path to victory because he is left in the dark as to what these advances will lead to. This enhances replayability, IMO...

- New intro and new wonder videos to fit the atmosphere of Middle-Earth. Make sure to watch the intro at least once.

- I made an effort to follow the timeline spelled out in the Appendixes of 'Lord of the Rings.', from the middle of the Second Age when Numenor was sunk, through the Third Age, although this is impossible to match. Realms become powerful and suffer decline based on the timeline though.



Victory...
There are 2 main Victory options. Fans of Cradle will recognize the template I'm using. The information is also spelled out in the Great Library.

Option 1. Control the One Ring through Knowledge
To win the game, you must have at least 3,000 Knowledge Points, which will give you knowledge of the location of the One Ring.
===================================
Points are gathered by:
1. Researching Ringlore and Council Lore before any other realm
2. Gathering Palantir Wonders, and holding the Council of Elrond Wonder
3. Creating ALL of the realm-specific Ring Wonders for your Realm (Angmar, Mordor, Haradrim, Easterling, Dwarves, Elves)
4. Constructing Courts (5 pts/5 = +1 per turn), Forges (10 pts/8 = +2 per turn), Great Halls (15 pts/10 = +3 per turn), Libraries (20 pts/15 = +4 per turn), Markets (25 pts/15 = +5 per turn), Trade Centers (30 pts/15 = +6 per turn).
5. Finish the One Ring Wonder (Knowledge) before your rivals.

Once you have the Ring in your possession for 3 Turns, you (or the Ring through you...) will rule Middle Earth.
(Access Knowledge Points by clicking on the Happiness icon at the top right of your mainmap screen.)


Option 2. Search for the One Ring
To win the game, you must have the following...
===================================
- 10 Palaces (Each Palace requires 1Court and 1 Castle)
- 5-25 Beacons (Each Beacon requires 1 Ballista Tower)
- Send out at least 10 Search Parties that have searched 50% of Middle-Earth. Search Parties can be created within your Realm's borders with the Search Party Tile Improvement, outside of your borders if you build a Fort to extend your borders and then build a Search Party Tile Improvement in the Fort's radius, or the Explorer unit can be disbanded anywhere outside your Realm's borders. Depending on the size of the map, you may need more than 10 Search Parties to complete the job.
- Finish the One Ring Wonder (Search) before your rivals.

Tips...
- The initial Realm Wonder for each civ is great in that it is cheap, it give a nice happiness bonus and it give you an incredibly strong (non-movement) garrison unit. Each Realm has one of these Wonders to build, and also has 3-5 other Wonders that are unique to that realm
- When building a Wonder, reference the Great Library to see if the Wonder will give you Wonder units. Make sure you have room in your city garrison to accommodate the creation of these units too, when the Wonder is complete. One in particular gives 6 units in addition to a regular Wonder bonus.
- Realm-specific units are better than the default units (they are often cheaper and a little more powerful), so if you have access to them, use them. But build a few default units if for no other reason that they have a chance to become Heroes and Great Commanders.
- The same holds true with Realm Governments...but since you do not know which Realms have them and when, you may want to hold off on a government switch. Usually they will be available to research once you research the default Governments though.
- If your alignment is Good, you cannot slave or enslave after a battle. Too bad...
- The most powerful Realm (on paper, at least IMO) is Mordor, so if you want an easy time of it, play them. The fact that you cannot enslave if you are a good Realm also means that the Evil Realms are generally more powerful in the player's hands too. And the Good realms also lose production over time, so that will make a difference. The goal here was to mirror the books.
- The weakest civs militarily are the Hobbits (no Realm units, other than 3 Wonder units) and the Northmen. Actually, the Northmen have no bonuses at all other than than their Realm Wonder.

[hexagonian]

I ran a 200-turn test with Mordor to make sure all the Realms were accessing their Royal Houses and their civ wonders. It's probably the most important test because a great deal of the atmosphere of the game depends on the Wonders.

I also cleaned up some (graphic and GL) glitches...overall it looks ready for release. Nothing was crashing in several short playtests I ran, so it appears that the main issue will be regarding gameplay balancing.

If anyone plays it, please note any unit inbalances...if something is overpowering, let me know. Or you can also access LOTR.units.txt to change the numbers yourself...