Dev blog - Harad news

Three months after the release of the first version of the modification, I want to briefly present to you what you will find in the future update, as well as what future plans for modification I have.

Campaign map design:

However, I'll start with the campaign map. As you know (or not) in the Last Alliance War campaign, I want to give you Middle-Earth from the west coast to the Orocarni Mountains in the far east. And in the case of the War of the Last Alliance I can make such a large map on the scale used for Númenor without any problems (I hope). However, in the case of the Akallabêth campaign, where Númenor is also on the campaign map, one Shogun 2 bug becomes a problem. This is not displaying settlement models and basic information about it, if it is outside the coordinate range of about (-350, 350).

This is the WIP campaign map design for modification. If I place a settlement a little outside of the red line (which determines the coordinate range (-320, 320), then this settlement will most likely look on the campaign map as it does in the Morning Sun screenshot (except that it is invisible, it is fully playable):

So, we have three options here to work around this bug (if I will not fix it, or I will not find someone to fix it):
- The Akallabêth campaign will not have provinces in the east and you will only see them in the Last Alliance campaign.
- The Akallabêth campaign will have provinces in the east, but they will simply be invisible.
- I will move Numenor very close to Middle-earth, thanks to which I should be able to fit most of the provinces in the east within the visibility of settlements, at the cost of recreating Middle-earth map lore friendly.

Let me know what you think about each of these three solutions ;)

Contents of the next update:

Initially, I planned in the next version of the modification only to add a few elven and haradrim units as auxiliary troops for the Númenoreans. However, I thought it would be much better if I immediately prepare new territories for you on the campaign map. That's why I started working on part of the Lindon campaign map, but I realized that playing with Elves without any other faction nearby, and with the necessity of a long journey to Numenor, would probably not be too cool. That's why I decided to prepare haradrim first, which will be able to drive off the colonists from their lands (or subjugate other clans with them).

Short list with content:
- 24 new provinces (21 in Harad and 3 in Gondor)
- New culture: haradrim and 8 haradrim clans (however, in the future I will prepare unique characters, units, etc. for the haradrim, I will focus on two for now: the Black Snake Clan and the Golden Lion Clan)
- Basic roster for haradrim (preview soon) - without battle beasts - at the moment I could not add them.
- Several elven units that will be available as support units for Elendili
- Númenor will be able to recruit local Harad units
- Pharazon will receive the territory in Umbar and I will probably take his port in Romenna
- An additional faction of Númenoreans will appear in Pelargir
- Númenor will receive several new units (and some will be taken from him - cavalry)
- Some minor improvements to the statistics of Numenor units
- Agent addition - spy
- Some visual corrections for the Númenoreans
- New terrain types on the campaign map (desert)
- New resources (spices)

At the moment, the new part of the campaign is already playable, but requires polishing before releasing (adding start buildings, etc.). There are also a few things I don't know if I will make it before the patch is published - e.g. new campaign battle maps (not a siege!) and configuring new climate zones.

There are also a few changes I am still thinking about whether to make them:
- Combining the Miriel and Andunie factions into one (now if AI plays them, both factions are usually destroyed in the first turns) or / and strengthening them by assigning them part of the territories of other Númenor factions.
- Add Edhellond port along with the non-playable elven faction.
- Removal of a few minor Númenor factions.

After this update, apart from the further development of Númenor and Harad, I will focus on completing Lindon, so then you will have the opportunity to see Noldor and unplayable wildmen tribes with a very basic roster. Together with them will be new provinces on west part of Middle-Earth, from Lindon to Gondor. Wildmen will probably remain a non-playable culture for a long time, because after the introduction of Lindon, I will most likely start working on dwarves and Mordor.

And this is all at the moment, look forward to more news ^^

Other place where you find this mod:
- If you want suport this project, check Patreon: Patreon.com
- If you want discuss about mod, here is mod server: Discord.gg
- Mod forum on TWCenter: Twcenter.net
- Mod forum on Total RTS: Totalrtsmods.com