1:13 mod returns! news

A year after its inception, 1:13 are returning to the fray to revitalise the mod project which promised to be the darkest and most chilling strategic war game around. Project leader Ross Downing says: "Currently we are discussing what format to release the project on- Medieval II TW is up for discussion which would allow us a full campaign."
This is an interesting turn of events, since previously 1:13 was announced as an Empire: Total War mod. "This is kind of true", Ross explains "although to be honest we actually conceived the project prior to E:TW, when E:TW came along a year ago we were really inspired and thought that would be the best thing in the world..."
Right, so...what happened? Why haven't we seen a mod yet?
"Good point, well anyone who knows anything about the Total War series will know that Empire: Total War has been notoriously impossible to mod. No one has actually produced a full mod that isn't a mild version of vanilla, nor has anyone gotten new unit models into a playable mod yet."
So basically you've given up on Empire?
"No not really, we expect that the next TW game - Shogun II will have an engine very similar to Empire. As the community starts being able to mod Empire that should continue to follow into Shogun II. So basically there will be more modders, more tools, more knowledge about what we can do."
Veteran mod leader Ross Downing is also the main man behind Dominion of the Sword for M2TW and Nations at War for ETW which has recently undergone the namechange of ‘Advance to Contact'. You are clearly a man of vision but what about 1:13- the original dream hasn't died then?
"Well the original dream was in fact for Medieval 2, everything we want to do we know we can achieve in that format. There are also far more modders around for M2TW and they have a lot of experience, there are some big names in modding such as Third Age: Total War that are proof of this."
Does that mean you'll be working with TATW? Can you tell us who the new team members are?
"I can't confirm anyone yet, I certainly don't want to start any rumours, but there are definitely some big names involved, but we are still in discussions about where we want to go from here."
Where will you go from here?
"You can expect a lot of promotion from us first, we need to gather our team and re-establish our fan-base. But like I say, M2TW is definitely on the table."
Ok, but just why is that, you've said it makes things more attainable but can you give us some examples?
"It would allow us a full tech tree representing the RPG element we always wanted. We can make units that are actually higher poly quality than Empire Total War -this is something people often forget about M2TW. We can also totally modify the battlefield into something dark and forbidding- which is what the fans really want. On top of that we can also guarantee all new gritty music, sounds, 2D, portraits, user interfaces- in fact every aspect of the game. This is why M2TW is such an appealing idea for us."
So if this goes ahead, what will the campaign look like? So far the mythology of 1:13 has always been half under wraps for some preview that never happened.
"Yeah that's right, we always thought we'd drop a bombshell and unveil some amazing fresh idea to the fans. As for bombshells, I guess that time has come. I can now confirm the campaign map was always envisaged as having the north pole in the centre and all the main factions' lands whirling around this. Don't forget though that it won't be the north pole or the continents as we know them since the sea level has risen- but it makes for a kind of circular map rather than a square boxy linear map where you know where the continents and islands and factions are all lying in wait in the fog of war. This map will be a real voyage of discovery for the player."
When you say discovery, it sounds like an RPG?
"Definitely, that is big foundation for us. You see whether we work with M2TW, ETW or Shogun II the 1:13 mythology allows us to produce a series working with our own chronology. We can work with basically any format and join the story at any point we chose. We could even move to modding a totally different game say, something like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and play in the mythology as an individual."
So where is the first installment likely to take us then?
"We will probably just start at the beginning, 'Man version 2 (Homo Radiensis)' emerges from the subterranean bunkers to form civilisations and nations using different political models which the player can role-play and experiment with. You must steer your faction to survive against the other factions using different technologies and social controls, scrambling for resources and trying to develop your military."
So if this is a series, what is part one going to be called?
"Zonewar."
There you go, you heard it here first... be sure to check out their teaser movie which has just arrived to ModDB. As well as an exclusive downloadable theme tune.