No one person shares your vision, that is a fact. You may have people that think like you and desire to make something very similar to you, but when it comes down to the small details everyone has their own personal vision. I guess that is why I am not keen on team modding and have no real wish to join any, I am too independent, I only want to be part of something I have full control over it, right down to the fine details. Yes, you can be the mod leader, but even they have to bend to the whim of their team, otherwise they find themselves lacking members.
Why am I thinking about this? Well, as I mentioned before I am making my own small Medieval 2 Total War modification (which is coming along excellently by the way) and I really do appreciate the freedom I have to implement or restrict any features I desire. This is not to say one should not be open to ideas, everyone should be open to it, after all a good idea is a good idea. But remember to always retain your own vision, otherwise eventually you will not be making the modification you first wanted.
Scale, that is another huge factor, people often bite off more than they can chew. Even with a large team you should start small and work up to the final product using instalments. I can not name the countless mods that have failed to be completed because they have started off too large. Modders are quickly overwhelmed by how difficult it is to complete only a small part of their plan that they give up.
This can be easily avoided by cutting your big plan up into parts. First start on inportant features, and must have essentials, when that is complete and in a fuctional state, then move on to step two. Let your mod evolve and move onto further steps add those extra units/models or work on those additional maps/levels. Each step you feel the accomplishment of your completed work and will never feel overwhelmed by how epic a scale your modification may be. Doing it this way can give you more time to work out problems that may arrise, it shortens release time and keeps fan interest longer as they can get their hands on your modification sooner. That is if fan interest is something that drives you.
What makes me an expert on this? I can not claim to be an expert, I see this happen often and my view is reinforced by the discussions I have had with successful mod leaders. Many fall into this large scale trap, hiding their work with a desire to wow all their fans in one fell swoop with a complete first release. But releasing large complicated mods can take a very long time, just remember, after a year of work and no release, fans will loose interest, any longer and they may not even care you release at all. Soon after you might find upon release the only one interested is you.
That may not be a bad thing if you are only modding for your own sake, but some do it for the fans and are driven by fans. As I stated before, I find this the worst reason to mod, modding should come to a genuine interest and love in what you are doing.
Yet another wall of text and no real conclusion, I should learn to focus more when I write this journal. Or maybe not, I kind of like rambling on, I would say I hope it does not put anyone off reading, but who on earth would read this anyway?
Stay Frosty!
