[Napoleon: Total War] The Lordz - NTW3

[Plätzchendachs]

The Lordz Modding Collectie hat schon seit Rome total war nicht mehr viel von sich hören lassen. Umso überraschender kam der Release der ersten Beta für Napoleon total war.


Wer die Herren noch nicht kennt: Seit MTW I bemüht sich das Moddingkollektiv um einen hohen Realismusgrad was Karten und Einheitenwerte/aussehen angeht.

Also tut mir den Gefallen und werft mal ein Auge auf die Beta

[der assassine]

Das ist nur für denn Multiplayer, oder?

[Plätzchendachs]

Jup, vollkommen korrekt, wer sich wundert das die Kampagne abstürzt wirds schon rausgefunden haben das nur MP, historische und Einzelschlachten funktionieren

[der assassine]

hää bei waterloo französisch kackts bei mir immer ab ( historisch)

[Deyz]

das doch .... würde das zu gern in der kamp nutezn können finds so geil machen die vielleicht das noch für die kamp nutzbar? weil so wie die einheiten sind und eingestellt sind von werten usw find ich es hammer geil

[Deutscher Kaiser]

Die Kampagne kommt später. Aber ich hörte, dass man die Italien und Ägypten Kampagne spielen kann.

[turkishman92]

wird morgen gesaugt

[der assassine]

Was wird morgen gesaugt?

[Primergy]

Wie wär es mit der neuen Version?

Neue Maps sind Waterloo, Austerlitz und Eylau.

Weitere Infos im TWC Thread:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=460693

[BOH prutenia]

Wer Lust auf Multiplayer hat kann mich bei steam mal einladen!
Bei BOH spielen die Mod gerade einige, evtl haben auch hier einige Lust darauf!? Ts3 ist natürlich vorhanden und wird erwünscht. Ist aber kein Muss, nur wegen der Fairness, denn bei uns sind alle im ts


ps. Steamname lautet wie der Forumsname hier!!

[BourbonKid]

Ich wäre auch dabei, wir können ja einige kleine Events auf die Beine stellen...

[Liberalis]

Hey, wie geht's allen ?

Ich bin ein Mitglied der Lordz und würde euch gerne mitteilen dass NTW3 seit dem 18. Juni (Waterloo Tag) zum downloaden verfügbar ist.

Hier ist die komplette Präsentation unserer Arbeit. Ich entschuldige mich dass wir keine deutsche Umsetzung gemacht haben.

Wir hoffen euch bald im MP room zu sehen und wünschen euch viel Spaß.





The Lordz Modding Collective (LMC) is proud to present to you Napoleonic Total War 3 (NTW3).

NTW3 is the latest of our Napoleonic mods, based on Napoleon Total War by the Creative Assembly (CA). You will find download links at the end of this presentation.

Whereas Napoleonic Total War1 (mod for Medieval 1 Total War) and Napoleonic Total War 2 (mod for Rome Total War) were complete reinventions of two popular games, NTW3 is more of a makeover of the latest Total War title by CA. This however was still a major undertaking as we strived to provide the most historically accurate multiplayer experience we could given the limitations of the tools/engine available to us. Some compromises of course were needed for the sake of good gameplay as we wanted the experience to remain fun.
Since it would be dull to enumerate all changes made, I will highlight the main features of the mod.



What is new:

I- Playable Factions

NTW3 will include 18 nations that partook in the Napoleonic wars. A complete order of battle was developed for each of them to allow varied armies on the field. Nations will vary, as they did historically, in unit sizes, morale, firepower and close combat capabilities, making for different national strengths and weaknesses. This practically translates into using different strategies and tactics to achieve victory based on the nation used.

For example; Historically Russia had massive armies on the field, good selection of cavalry, and large numbers of guns. It's poor saltpeter made for poor gunpowder with more missfires which lead to the Russian preference for charging and bayonet use compared to prolonged musket fights. This is represented in game by larger unit sizes, low musket accuracy and better melee stats. Their batteries are larger than other nations with slightly lower stats to simulate the historical limitations of their artillery (poorly commanded at first and bad saltpeter). Despite the lower accuracy of the Russian artillery, a Russian commander in NTW3 will quickly realize the effectiveness of its bigger size and will use it to soften the enemy. He will prefer not to stay in long firefights but to charge for victory when the setting is right.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, England had more of an elite but smaller army. It's men were experienced, and were good shots (The British also deployed mainly in 2 line deep formations bringing more guns to bear on their enemies) . Many lower quality Dutch and Brunswickian troops supplemented its low numbers on the continent. It's cavalry was decent but not the best in Europe. It's commanders almost never used their cannons in large batteries but mainly in half batteries throughout the line. This is represented in game by smaller infantry unit sizes that deliver a deadly punch. Their high cost will make a British commander in NTW3 consider the ground as his best ally, using reverse slope when possible, to minimize casualties and supplementing his army with a few less expensive (and dare I say, more expendable), Dutch and Brunswickian troops. He will definitely prefer a protracted firefight to a charge.

Here is a complete list of all playable factions:

France
Britain
Russia
Austria
Prussia
Spain
Ottoman
Bavaria
Denmark
Hesse-Darmstadt & Baden
Northern Italy
Poland
Portugal
Saxony
Sweden
United Netherlands
Westphalia
Württemberg



II- Gameplay Mechanics:

1/Unit Sizes

Infantry units represent battalions or regiments. Because of the ‘slot limit’ in game some compromises were needed. The larger units are either strong battalions, (British Foot Guard, Hungarian Line) or 2-3 small battalions (most Russian, and some militia units). Historically unit strength was variable so the sizes are one interpretation only (based on the 1808-1815 period).

The small skirmisher units represent 1-3 companies of ‘specialist troops’ (most armies used their skirmishers this way). A scale of 1 in-game figure to 6 actual soldiers was adopted.

The cavalry is not as easy to define. Cavalry regiments often operated in squadrons, or groups of squadrons, like the battalions of an infantry regiment, the cavalry units in game represent these groups. The 1:6 unit scale was also used.

The cannon units are batteries of ‘average’ size for the armies. 1 in-game gun represents 2 actual cannons. The crew per gun, as well as number of guns per battery varies by nation.

Within the constraints of the 20 unit slots we tried to allow players to create scale armies of 15 – 30 battalions with artillery and specialist support. There is room also for a brigade of cavalry, more if you make sacrifices elsewhere. At the scale of real Napoleonic battles this would represent a small Corps of maybe 2 infantry Divisions and cavalry support.

2/Unit Ratings

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Wargaming rules were used as a base for unit stats. Multiple sources were used to compare the different value or strength of a unit compared to its counterpart in other nations. A formula was used to calculate the cost of the unit based on its stats. Each number in the stats was given a relative importance compared to the other numbers. This was used as a coefficient to adjust the price for example of better shooting stats compared to better melee stats. We applied this formula consistently to all branches of the army for each nation. Finally, minor nations were divided into 3 categories based on their historical importance and the size of their armies during the Napoleonic wars between 1808-1815. Each category received a different extra penalty to unit costs to represent the fact that these nations could not historically field as large or as good armies as the 5 major factions.
Of course there is some degree of subjectivity that was used when no clear historical data was found for some units in certain aspects, but mostly we relied on published sources and expert opinion.

3/Weapon Effects

Using a scaling factor of 1 in-game distance unit equaling 3 metres the ranges and effects of weapons have been realistically portrayed. Musketry causes only moderate casualties beyond 100m, becoming virtually useless beyond 200m. Cannons were based on effective range, with varying fire rates for sustained, long range bombardment and desperate ‘defend-the-battery’ close range canister.

4/Balance

Much work has been done to get the balance of Infantry/Cavalry/Cannon right. This is the essence of Napoleonic warfare, and the equal importance of each is one reason why this is probably the most popular period for Wargames. This balance can only be achieved through testing, and our dedicated team of more than 30 has been providing feedback for many months now.
Also we used unit limits and adjusted costs to prevent spamming.


5/Realistic fatigue & Morale effects

Cavalry starts very powerful, but become useless after a couple of charges until rested again.
Units under heavy fire and weakened may break if something ‘bad happens’.
Cannons cannot fire flat out all day, reserving their ammo and energy for important tasks. As the crewmen become fatigued, the battery loses reload and accuracy. Past winded, they become very inefficient. Exposure to musket and especially cannon fire will break down a unit's ‘will to fight’ making a rout much more likely when the enemy closes.

6/Fog of War

This means you will have no idea what you opponent is up to until you are close to his army.
Scouting, generally using light cavalry, is required to locate the enemy. Consequently, tactical and strategic ambushes are possible. I think this will be a very appealing and distinctive aspect of this mod.



7/Unit Disruption for Infantry/Cavalry Interpenetration.

Units cannot pass through each other like ‘ghosts through walls’. Friendly infantry will be considerably slowed and scattered if they attempt it.
Your cavalry can NOT leap forward from behind a line of infantry to attack the enemy. You must have gaps for cavalry operations. This seemingly small feature will have a big impact on how armies are maneuvered on the field.



III- Historical scenarios


Napoleon's Eagles deals with the historical engagements of the Napoleonic era. It represents the true ‘grognard’ companion to the NTW3 classic mod. The battles are carefully researched and recreated with detailed OOBs, uniforms, and historical behavior.
Maps were created from 1:25000 scale topographical data, villages represented with their correct layout and stronghold positions. Realistic terrain effects impact heavily on the unit movement and behavior. Historical battles play in a more realistic fashion, they are slower and fatigue settings are harder.
It would be best to familiarize yourselves with the historical battles prior to playing them. In the final release, the orders of battles, the map analysis and other features (victory conditions, starting positions, delays etc...) will be published to allow an offline study of these battles.

These battles are meant to be played in MP, playing them on LAN with AI will cause significant lag on some PCs while the AI tries to manage a huge number of units.

Version 1 offers:

Battles from Napoleon’s 2nd Italian campaign: Marengo and Montebello.
Here the numerous Austrian army of FM Melas will face the more mobile divisions of the Reserve Army of Napoleon.

The first volume of the 1806 campaign: Auerstädt
The epic struggle between Prussia and the French "decima legio" of marshal Davout's III Corps. Recreated with a wonderful autumn map, the Prussian player(s) field more than 90 units in the full scenario.



The Battle of Austerlitz, or the battle of the THREE EMPERORS.
Here you will try to recreate Napoleon's most impressive military victory or try to restore virtual dignity to the Austro-Russian coalition. Who knows, if you do well Prussia might throw her lot with you and declare war on the French empire.



The battle of Waterloo.
Probably the most famous of the Napoleonic battles. You will get to recreate the fight for Hougoumont, the attack of D'Erlon's corps, the charge of the Middle Guard...Will you change history and beat Wellington before Blucher arrives? Or will you still be driven to abdicate?

Other included battles: Aspern-Essling, Hohenlinden and Eylau.




Unique to Napoleon’s Eagles is the ability to control an entire army.
This would mean, playing Marengo on a 1vs1 basis will offer each player the challenge to manage more than 80 units, playing the same battle on 2vs2 will give players 40 units each on so on.

To access these wonderful engagements please use the scenario battles instead of land battles when hosting. You will have the opportunity to pick how many players will be on each side from there. Please note that sometimes the players will see very few units available to them in the pre-loading screen but in fact they will have an appropriate army in game.




IV- New Multiplayer Maps

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NTW3 includes a complete rework of all vanilla maps as well as more than 40 new maps made from scratch. These new maps were designed in different styles. Some of them are objective maps with multiple victory locations assigned different victory points. These should be played with time limits, the side with the more points at the end is the victor.
It is our firm belief that without good maps the multiplayer experience will remain lacking, so we are committed to keeping the community interested with a steady stream of new maps.



V- Compatible SP Campaign

Single Player Campaigns (alpha version)

After having been submerged by our dear fans requests for SP compatibility of NTW3, we are quite happy to announce it's release in an alpha state.
For now, only the European Campaign has been modded, the Italian and Egyptian Campaigns are untouched, but playable. Some bugs with roasters, towns and the maritime section of SP have been fixed. We are working hard on bringing you an extraordinary SP version, so don't take this as anything final, it is quite far from what we envision. Stay tuned for more info.
We also hope you will help us, as you did in the past, to report bugs and incoherences encountered in your Single Plater Campaigns. The strength of NTW3, lies within the involvement of its community.
So please, don't hesitate to post your thoughts and critics.


VI- Other Changes at a Glance

1/ A score of gorgeous 2D artwork including an original work commissioned specifically for NTW3 by artist Mehmet Sait Sener (used as the banner and as the main screen in NTW3).
Artist Mehmet is, in his own words, "A philologist(Spanish/English) and a self taught artist, with a passion for languages, history and art. I like depictions of history through art and literature; be it movies, games, or books. Currently a freelance concept artist/illustrator".
You can find him here: http://woodyend.carbonmade.com/

Some of the many loading screens made by Lord Legless Lannes

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2/ New units with new uniforms for some older units (adjusted for historical correctness when possible)

3/ Music and sound changes

4/ Changes to the radar map and unit icons on the radar map (now using conventional wargaming icons)

5/Unicorns with the ability to fire canister, explosive shells and round shot to be faithful to their historic versatility. An unfortunate compromise was to remove their barrage capability. This was partly compensated by slightly higher reload.

6/ Removed crouching when hidden. Now units will walk upright, the hidden attribute was essential to fog of war and so it was annoying to see men crouching until seen by the enemy.

7/ Added maps previews to show starting positions when loading

8/ Removed upgrading units and replaced that feature with custom made conscript/regular and crack units to model these differences in a historical way rather than just a generic % increase in stats for all. In game, it will be easy for the player to know his upgraded units as they have chevrons on the unit cards.



9/ General cannot charge, this was made to avoid people using their generals to charge in the back of a melee, getting the high rear attack malus.

10/ Localization files will show the names of the units in their native language except for the ottoman army.

These were some among many more minor adjustments.



Credits:

The Lordz Team

1/ Lord Von Clausewitz: Mod leader, worked on unicorns, removed crouching while hidden, participated in developing the overall gameplay in the classic mod under the guidance of Lord Avon_Ulysses.

2/ Lord Desaix: Lead designer, worked extensively on all aspects of the historical scenarios, map making tutorial, reworking all vanilla maps, making installers, developing the fog of war concept and multiple fixes here and there

3/ Lord Fullin: More than 40 maps made from scratch, making new units and countless uniforms

4/ Lord The Fenix: Historical scenarios maps made from scratch, worked with Lord Desaix on the historical scenarios

5/ Lord Avon_Ulysses: Determined unit abilities / Statistics, the overall gameplay mechanics and the Faction's Order of Battle . Created Cavalry / infantry interpenetration penalties system.

6/ Lord Legless Lannes: made all the beautiful 2D artwork, the loading screens, the unit cards, the screenshots, promotional art and the map preview screens

7/ Lord Liberalis: helping to promote the mod in non English speaking forums by doing the necessary translations and working on public relations. He also renamed every unit in it's native language.

8/ Lord Sean Cappone: For making the open beta installer, and his work in making a compatible SP campaign.

9/ Lord L'Aigle: For his work on the textures and atlases.



A special thank you:

1/ Honourary Lord Dumonceau: for all his help and hard work in the nick of time, helped with making units, on the sounds and music as well as multiple other fixes

2/Honourary Lordz BDC and JC for their contribution to the mod in its infancy. Lordz Badger and Hokomoko for their work on map making in ETW. The knowledge acquired from them helped us make the new maps for NTW3.

3/Gen Thielmann AKA Cyn for all the historical research he has undertaken for us

4/Jakob for his research on the Scandinavian armies

5/ Jutland for allowing us to use some of his models

6/ Scorpionet for allowing us to use some of his models for spain

7/ Cornwallis for his Prussian pack used in the historical battles

8/ JFC for allowing us to use his NTF mod

9/ LtRowland for allowing us to use his BettersoundFx

10/ PDGuru for allowing us to use a few of his models

11/ Last but not least, to our beta testing team of more than 30 people that tested the mod relentlessly over months

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(LCR) junot, [Grognard]_Christ2burd , [grognard]_kettch, [Grognard]_Raistlin, [N]Clinch, Achilleslastand, AggonyDuke, AggonySpartan, Alpertunga®PASHA, andferpa ,Antoine, apocguy, Capitaine Gourgaud LCR, CeltiberoFrog, CeltíberoPablo, CeltíberoSoldurio,
conq, DougieJ, druid, Ducrot, D|need, evulclown, Falkonfive, Feldmarshal, FilipVonZIetek, G. G. Byron, Gamer1805, Gen. Theilmann, GoldSabre, Grog, Grognard_JP, HannibalLT, HM DunkFunk, Irish Rifles, Jakob, LaMarseillaise, Lancier, Legio_IV_Flav, LittleSoldier, Lord Gunner24, mafala,
Marshal Beale, NapLrd, Sinister, Liberalis, pbem34 , Pints of Guinness, RedIvan, roundie, SiD, SirWolly, Sloop, Strudog, Tac, TLechi , Totola, Turan Oguzhan, turcoman, VonJaeger, WoC_Sancaktar®PASHA, Ziethen, Zimbo, {LCR}Coignet, and {{SK}}Niesmiertelnik. Sorry if i forgot anyone.

Installation and Other Importnat Issues:

NTW3 comes with its own manager that will allow you to pick to play the classic mod or the historical scenario. It also has a "delete script" button. It is recommended to press it if you had been playing other mods so as to not have any bugs/incompatibility issues . Other buttons you will find are "save preferences" and "load preferences" that will allow you to save multiple graphics and other settings to load at your discretion prior to launching the game so as to not have to do that each time.



The Mod was extensively tested in Medium Funds (10K) and medium sized armies. Ultra sized games will allow double the men, except for artillery where only the crewmen double but not the number of canons (CA bug). The Ultra sized armies are only recommended in 1vs1 and 2vs2 to avoid lag. the experience in this setting will probably be different than in medium sized armies, and since it has not been beta tested extensively, we cannot guarantee the results. Artillery might be underpowered in this setting, we might in the future make a separate version of the mod with double the men and improved canons (either will double the size or improve the damage) to be launched from the mod manager. This is something still being discussed.



Before installing, a few suggestions:

1) DELETE (or move to another dir) ANY REPLAY SAVED WITH OTHER MOD OR VANILLA, this can cause crashes when saving/loading replays like unfortunately with every other mod

2) DELETE (or move to another dir) ANY SAVED ARMY WITH ANOTHER MOD VERSION or VANILLA, this can cause crashes when loading armies or maps

3) Please SAVE the vanilla LOCALIZATION file to another folder in case you have problems playing vanilla so you can restore it. This is an extra precaution.

Download links:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NENSTA9J

http://www.fileserve.com/file/EEqjwmy



Please join the Lordz steam groups to easily find and arrange games in NTW3.
You can find us here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/NTW3

[Kunrt]

Hi,

ich den MOD vor ein paar Tagen mal angespielt! Leider hatte ich wenig Zeit und in der Zeit hat mich der Mod noch nicht so überzeugt, vor allem weil ich nur eine SP Map gespielt hatte und die mir zu groß für die kurze Zeit war. Im Prinzip hört sich des ja alles gut an was ich gelesen hab. Ich hab aber nur grob überflogen und da ich nicht so gut Englisch kann hab ich eine Frage ob ich dass jetzt richtig verstanden hab, dass der Mod in der MP Kampagne funktioniert??

Und ich hab noch eine Frage. Ich spiele mit dem BSM smoke Mod. Kann man den irgendwie integrieren?

mfg

[Liberalis]

Nach eineinhalb Jahren modding ist NTW3 100% fertig für MP. Wir werden aber in der Zukunft ein paar Korrekturen hinzufügen.
Das SP ist aber leider noch lang nicht fertig. Wir haben ungefähr 15% des SP modding hinter uns.
NTW3 ist zu derzeit bestens für MP benutzt. Und kann euch mitteilen das jeden Abend ein Dutzend MP Spiele gehostet werden.

Ich Spiele NTW2 und NTW3 nun seit 5 Jahren, und die zwei Modifizierungen sind die besten die es für Napoleonische Kriege gibt, zumindest für die Total War Spiele.


Ich möchte eine Wette zunehmen, wenn du unzufrieden mit dem mod nach einem MP-Spiel bist, schreib ich dir einen Scheck für 10 €.

[Kunrt]

Meinst du grad MP Kampagne oder MP Gefecht?
Und ich gehe schon davon aus dass der Mod gut ist, was anderes hab ich nie gesagt! Aber man muss sich natürlich auch erst mal umgewöhnen. Denn ich hab jetzt die ganze Zeit den LME Mod gespielt den ich persönlich überragend finde, nur leider geht der nicht in der Multiplayer Kampagne. Deshalb sind wir auf der Suche nach vergleichbaren Alternativen.

Wegen deiner Wette wenn du nur 10€ wettest scheinst du nicht sonderlich überzeugt zu sein von der Mod!! (ne Scherz)

So ich verspreche dir wenn meine Klausuren um sind werde ich den Mod noch mal ausführlich testen und dir dann sagen was ich davon halte!!