FATW Overhaul Submod, v1.98 released and live on ModDB!

**DontHeckWithSnek** · July 23, 2022, 09:28 PM

Description:
This has been a personal project of mine which started off how modding usually does: with minor tweaks, which have since snowballed into a near-total overhaul of the mod. I've been working on and updating it for a while, mainly on the FATW Discord, under the title of Majestic Steerve's Submod. The submod has a massive amount of content but a good word to summarize it might be "loud". It's geared towards a slightly more lenient economy and bigger (huge-sized) battles, tonnes of new units and faction options, and every faction being at least somewhat competitive if you can survive long enough to recruit endgame units. One might consider it a halfway point between base Rome Total War and FATW 3.4. That said, I'd like to think it's stuck to the tone and spirit of the original mod fairly closely. Changes to the submod going forward are increasingly few, though I have a few ideas of fun things to do with Wainriders assets when that eventually comes out.

Features:
-More than 80 new units spread across almost all factions, a mix of reskins (some simple, some hard to spot) and new models
-A larger number of factions now are able to change alignment through cultural buildings, and alignment swapping now always entails unique recruit options. Factions affected include Rhovanion, Harondor, Tharbad, and Khand
-A completely new faction with a full-sized roster: the Freehold of Eriador, repurposed from the dormant Shire faction. This faction is comprised of middle-men (and a few Hobbit allies) who want Eriador as an autonomous nation. They begin allied with the Reunited Kingdom and on poor terms with Adunabar, but loyalties are bound to shift as the campaign marches on
-Castles: Any fort which lacks orc recruitment options can be upgraded by select factions, unlocking new construction options, expanded recruitment, and specialty buildings
-A much more robust mercenary system, including larger pools, several elite regional mercs, and more forts in which to retrain them
-Expanded build trees, including more readily available ports, new levels of farm and roads, and Specialty Buildings for all factions (Credit goes to Athanaric / Imrazor for the original framework)
-150 new ancillaries, which may be culture- or faction-unique, ranging from common to legendary (single-drop per campaign)
-Expansions to the campaign map: 10 new provinces including both forts and cities. Most notably, more land to fight over in Eriador
-A new mechanic in the form of "Ruins", provinces which are abandoned or non-functional at campaign start; human factions stationing an Energetic and Intelligent governor there will spur population growth and allow the city to be rebuilt. Orodengrin can uniquely be rebuilt by the Dwarves, and Gundabad can be restored if you bring a noble who's a member of Durin's line to govern the region
-A series of expansion rewards; numerous factions, mostly those considered "minor" in the base mod, have conditions listed in their faction info building, which will spawn a unique building in the capital, offering new recruit options and ancillaries, as well as faction-wide bonuses
-All cultures gain a fourth-tier cultural building, now only available in Chief Cities. Alliances with certain factions may lead to greater sway on the alignment of your faction's nobles, and less staunchly devoted lords can be converted at opposite cultural buildings
-Those who know where to look can recover lost Palantir, which can subsequently be taken back to their home cities (Minas Anor, for the Osgiliath Stone) to be enshrined, giving faction-wide bonuses, unique recruitment options in Eriador, and which allow the ancillary to drop more than once per campaign
-New loading screens and soundtrack

Previews:

New Elven Retainer riders