http://homepages.nyu.edu/~gf15/Legends_Title.JPGLEGENDS OF ANCIENT ARABIA
Designed by Gordon Farrell

Prepare to experience a time and a culture seldom explored in games.

A part of ancient history few Westerners are familiar with.

2500 years before the arrival of Islam, the Arab world was full of adventure, exotic weaponry, pagan cults, and aggressive tribes. They went to war, wrote poetry, spun fantastical stories and built merchant empires in the shadow of the great powers of the east and west. Assyria, Egypt, Rome and Persia all vied for domination of these passionately independent Arab tribes.

But no one conquered them.

In “Legends of Ancient Arabia,” you take command of an obscure but fierce desert tribe. They have begun to grow from their nomadic origins into a complex, settled coalition of Bedouins, merchants, warriors, and poets.

Can you lead them to military victory over their equally tenacious neighbors, as well as the great powers of Europe, Asia and Africa? Or can you grab control of the economic lifeblood of the ancient world to secure an Arabian Merchant Empire victory?

Exotic new units like Bedouin scouts, muharib warriors and noble faris horsemen will be at your beck and call as you struggle to emerge from the shadow of Arabia’s mythical past to become, in your own right, a legend of ancient Arabia.


INSTALLATION

1. Unzip “Legends of Ancient Arabia.”
2. Open the folder and locate the folder “Ancient Arabia.”
3. Open the Civilization 4: Warlords folder on your harddrive. If you used the default installation it will be on your C Drive at Program Files/Firaxis/Civilzation 4/Warlords.
4. In the Warlords folder, open Mods.
5. Drop the “Ancient Arabia” folder into Mods.
6. Start Warlords. Go to Single Player/Play a Scenario. Choose “Ancient Arabia.”
7. The Legends of Ancient Arabia mod will load automatically.

Download here:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/file.php?id=65261

To learn more about the designer:
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,51568/

DESIGNER’S NOTES FOR “LEGENDS OF ANCIENT ARABIA”

Two years ago I was hired by BreakAway Games to research Middle Eastern culture and history. This was in preparation for a major design project BreakAway had been contracted to build, a game exploring Arabian history intended for distribution in the Middle East. The game they ultimately created dealt with the rise of Islam in the medieval period. However, through my studies I became equally fascinated with earlier, ancient Arab culture – the pagan warriors of the great desert, the rock-carving masters of Petra, the dam-building engineers of Sabaea, the power brokers of the Lakhmid and Ghassanid north.

After my work with BreakAway was completed, I found myself haunted by these exotic, pre-Islamic Arabian cultures and I decided to try to bring them into the world of strategy games. The first problem I faced is that these desert kingdoms were poorly documented. Many of them flourished in pre-literate times. Ancient Greek and Persian historians often ignored them. Modern archeologists and scholars in recent years have made great strides in reconstructing and extrapolating the historic conditions and accomplishments of the ancient Arabian kingdoms, but many gaps remain.


In my design choices I have tried to adhere to strict historical accuracy, to the extent that a reliable record exists. But in many areas I had to be inventive. Several of the individual military units, for example, are reasonable speculations of what might have been available to desert sheiks. Some buildings, like the wonders of Petra or the Great Dam of Marib, are strictly accurate. Others, like the Palace of the Arabian Princes, are inspired more by Arabian mythos.

My hope was to capture in part the actual history and in part the mythical spirit of the ancient Arabian people.

TECHNICAL NOTES

MUSIC
The download file is 135 MB. This is due to the new music score I assembled, using MP3s from other games with Arabian-themed components. I know that designers often make the music an optional, separate download, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that this time. I mean, there's no way you can play pre-Islamic Arabian tribes while listening to medieval Christian hymns!

*** more tech notes to follow ***

We need the download . I would like to try this very much

Hi, mice! I'm working on this even as we speak!! I'll be providing the dl link in the next few minutes!

First of all, this is really a great mod. The idea is unique, the implementation shows that quite a big effort was exerted, and finally the game play is engaging.

Being an Egyptian myself (i.e. an Arab) I must say that your knowledge of the obscure ancient arabia is amazing.

I will be back with some remarks later if this is okey with you. For now I am really enjoying the mod.

Kalimakus - Thanks for the early, encouraging response! I sort of assumed the most demanding audience for "Legends of Ancient Arabia" would be Arabs and other people of Middle Eastern origin :)... so the fact that my research and implementation meets with your early approval has really, really made my day! Again, thanks!

I look forward to your future comments, suggestions, and any criticisms you have to offer.

(PS - Have you gotten a "List of Greatest Civilizations" message yet?)
:)

I would place this scenario/mod in the very good to very VERY good category.

Engaging as Kalimakhus said.

I'm playing Amir Julanda. There is a lot of desert out there. wow.

Just getting culture up in my cities and setting up a trade route or two.

I noticed in the settings that it's on Agressive AI and raging barbs. Are they your recommended settings?

I really like that there is an economic victory condition. It's something I've been wanting in the game or mods for ages.

Will be keep you posted with my progress.

mice - Glad you're enjoying it! Yeah, I found that the other civs don't attack very often so I set the defaults on Aggressive AI and Raging Barbarians. Otherwise, you don't get much of a military challenge until late in the game... unless of course you do the attacking!

Let me know how playing Oman goes! (Remember, you can go east across the Persian Gulf and mix it up with the classical civs over there if you want.)

And keep an eye on that Arabian merchant Empire victory... the other players will beat you to it if they get the chance.

Will this ever be released for Beyond the Swords, and what verion of warlords is it for? I tried playing it with the latest warlords update patch but it crashed when loading the map.

In my Oman game I attacked King Yada'il and then built up that green land. Before that it was hard to get anything going. Next time if i play Oman i'll get in a boat and go over to that land in the east.

Questin. The bazzar. I built them on two plains tiles but got a different result.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/mice2_photo/cottage.jpg

A "cottage" here, giving commerce...

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/mice2_photo/bazzar.jpg

A "workshop" her, giving a hammer. Same improvement, same kind of tile.

Other than that it's very interesting to try to figure out how to get some commerce coming in.

I like the blend of need for culture commerce, military. I think you got it right.

Major gripe, turn times. They are very long, especially for a BTS player.

Perhaps Kael's speed mod could help. It's what sped up BTS so much. Something to do with unnessecary python checks being eliminated.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217981 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217981)

Failing that I echo the call for it to be ported to BTS for no reason other than to speed it up.

Having said that I cant mod so I can't assist in any way .

As it stands now, I don't think I'll be porting it to BTS. I'm taking a break from Civ4 now!

But I thought I had run this ok with the latest patch. Don't know what to do about that... mice, is your version patched up to date?

About the turn speed question... yeah, it's been a problem for awhile. I actually spent three weeks or so trying to optimize it. I got rid of 2 players and drastically reduced the Build % rate for the Romans and Persians. I'm not sure which player is hogging all the cpu power now!! Might be Elam. On my last playthru, they were seriously out of control...

Once other civs start getting eliminated, though, turns should speed up...

Oh, about the bazaars... the second, non-producing bazaar looks like it's not on either a path or a road? They only produce $ if they're on desert paths or stone roads.

i just want to thank you Mr Farrel for this extraordinary work i found you'v gone deep inside arabian ( Jahileete ) or préislamic culture and its really my favourit mod excellent scenario and i really hope you still work on it to make it better
i would like to sugest you some enhansment you can add
maybe you can add the arabian units created by Sepamu92 Danrell and mChugginater
better icons
maybe you can add gods buildings like shrine of Hubel (the war god) and Üqadh souk (the poesy market)
very good work mr Farrel and thank you for your huge efforts :goodjob:

hi sahr!

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions. I'm really glad you're enjoying this mod. Part of what I wanted to do was just give gamers in the West a chance to learn more about Arabian culture. I think knowing more about a peoples' history can be fascinating and can really help individuals develop an understanding and a sense of appreciation that transcends the propaganda and hostilities so many of our leaders seem eager to fuel.

I'm thinking more and more that I will do a v2 of this mod, or even port it into BtS as others have suggested, so I'd be very interested in getting more feedback from you!

i would like to sugest you some enhansment you can add maybe you can add the arabian units created by Sepamu92 Danrell and mChugginater

I'm not familiar with their work. I'll check on it right away!

better icons

Which ones don't you like?

maybe you can add gods buildings like shrine of Hubel (the war god) and Üqadh souk (the poesy market)
very good work mr Farrel and thank you for your huge efforts :goodjob:

Poesy Market sounds perfect! Part of what I wanted to communicate was the Arab love of poetry, and it's importance in the formation of Arabian civilization. Can you think of any others I missed?

Hubel the war god... is this a pagan god? Did he have his own cult? Is he a jiin? Please tell me more!

Im really honored mr Farrel you reply my post and im really happy that you are interested of making a v 2 of Legends of Ancient Arabia,

the poesy market did existed in mecca it was called Ôqath suq it show how the poesy was important in building the arabian culture,
Hubell - pagan war god of preislamic arabia and master of mecca gods also you have : Al-ozza - Al-lattee ferlity and love godness considerd as the official godness of mecca, Statues of them inside and outside Caâba attired pilgrims from all arabia. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubal- -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzza- -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allat-
-the ("Hana" in arabian) a kind of bar where beer and prostitute was the favorite pass time of poeples and poets
-the sheikh place or sitt (sheikh majles) was the central place of the town, and where only important people nobles and poets are allowed to discuss wars and commerce or to listen best poesy,usually on open air

-the map could be better
-bedouin scout can be upgade to (rahhala) or traveler as a spy
-the spearmen can be changed by the spearmen created by Danrell for arabia utits
-the sharif-faris can be swordsmen created by Danrell but mounted
-the faris can be spearmen created by Danrell but mounted
-the Muhareeb can be upgrade to armored
-the Nabateans can be added to the scenario as playable
-the icons are ok
-the emir tent must be fixed
- a good scenario will include only arabian peninsula + the nabateans and to win it you must conquer all the other kingdoms it will give better speed if the other factions removed
finally excuse me please for my poor english Legends of ancient arabia is a great mod im really enjoying it.
im waiting your reply
with all my respect

Here are the units you can have a look also there is petra wonder

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=47&page=2&sort=date

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71866

Hey sakhr! Thanks again for your great feedback. You made a lot of terrific suggestions and I'm afraid I'm still in the process of, well, processing them! But I wanted to give you a quick reply of appreciation!

Also, the Nabataeans were in fact a civilization that I created. I removed them and the Rub' al Khali tribe, the Kindites, in order to get the game to play faster. But all the files for Nabataea, including leaderhead art, are still in the version you have. If you have any adeptness with XML, you could activate them easily!

So, yeah, I agree they deserve their own place in the sun. However, removing them gave the Hijazi and the Palmyraeans more room to expand. I'm not really sure which way to go right now, though.

EDIT: Holy cow, that Petra wonder looks awesome! Thanks for the link! I'll definitely use it!!

Hi Mr Farrel im glad you have apprecieated my suggetions
im really waiting the new version,
i dont know if you have already see this petra
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=5890

This is I think the most interesting mod I've seen :)
Visited Jordan this summer. It is a fascinating region.
I'm d/l this tonight and hope to try it over the weekend.

Hey AmazonQueen!

Thanks for trying my mod! I'll be looking forward to hearing any comments or suggestions you have. Feel free to let me know what you think!

Hello.
I just downloaded the mod today, and it is very good. I am playing as the dark blue people that start near Emam. I only have 2 complaints:
1. Some units need to be reskinned, the white needs to be more beige-y(Is that a word?)
2. Some more civilopedia enteries, especially for the Arab civs and Leaders. I would like to know who I am.

I have one bug to report that may or may not be the games fault. Occasionally my mouse cursor will freeze up and stay there. I have to use keyboard shortcuts to save, exit, and reboot to get my mouse working again.
Great mod though!

Hey AmazonQueen!

Thanks for trying my mod! I'll be looking forward to hearing any comments or suggestions you have. Feel free to let me know what you think!

Didn't get time to play a full game but what I played look very impressive :)
I think I saw the game you mentioned working on in Amman Airport, almost bought it but I wasn't sure what language it would run in and my Arabic is lousy, enough for greetings and ordering a meal.

Looks interesting, downloading now. :)
I actually know the period quite well and may or may not get to working on a Medieval Islamic mod. Whats the game you are working, in more detail?

Hey, thanks for checking out my work, everyone! I've been tied up with end-of-semester stuff so I haven't been able to get back here to respond to your comments, but hopefully I can catch up a little now...

ohcrapitsnico - If you're asking about the game I worked on for BreakAway, it';s called "Arabian Lords" and it's a low-res city builder. You vie for controlling influence over an Arabian city by constructing important buildings, establishing trade relations, and driving off your opponents' thugs.

amazon queen - Does that sound like the game you saw in Jordan?

ajidica - I'm wondering why the white robes on the Arabian units bothers you? Also, I have to agree about the Civilopedia entries for the Arabian leaders... I definitely need to provide those in v2! I just got burned out doing all the entries for the techs, buildings, and units!

It it just something I noticed, I occasionaly get annoyed at things like that. Also, what is up with Imperial Horse Archers? Typically, 'civilized' horse archers were worse than their nomad counterparts. They shouldn't be that strong. It is a great mod though. Unfortunitly I have spent more time playing Total War.

I just discovered this while looking for historical mods, and really impressed with the work you put into this. This is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy, learning about a uncovered part of history. THX, I will let you know who I tried and how it went.:goodjob:

I found a map inside the mod CROSSROAD OF THE WORLD BTS its really beutiful
i hope you can use it for Ancient arabia v2 the only think you have to do is to replace ressources cause all hills rivers are perfect
Also Makeda is the ethiopian name of queen of sheba the yemenite name is Balkis pls change it for less confusion
still waiting:sad:

Great mod, but it takes forever to run turns. A BTS port would be AWESOME!

Well it looks like the call to port LoAA to BtS is growing louder! I'm going to try to find some time to start working on this in January. Thanks everyone for your encouragement!

sakhr: I'm really glad you've returned with more of your excellent notes and suggestions. I have some questions about earlier suggestions you made.

the poesy market did existed in mecca it was called Ôqath suq it show how the poesy was important in building the arabian culture

I'm thinking the Oqath Suq should be a unique building, maybe even a wonder? Was there only the one in Mecca?

Hubell - pagan war god of preislamic arabia and master of mecca gods also you have : Al-ozza - Al-lattee ferlity and love godness considerd as the official godness of mecca, Statues of them inside and outside Caâba attired pilgrims from all arabia.

By "Caaba" you mean the sacred enclosure in Mecca, destination of the Haj, yes? I usually see that transliterated into English as Ka'aba. I thought I would include the Ka'aba as a wonder, but would it be weird to have it built somewhere other than Mecca?

More importantly, I need to know if there is any potential for offending Muslims by including the Ka'aba in a game.

the sheikh place or sitt (sheikh majles) was the central place of the town, and where only important people nobles and poets are allowed to discuss wars and commerce or to listen best poesy,usually on open air

You said before you don't like the emir tent -- is this the same structure as the sitt? I'm wondering why you don't like it -- does it need to be more magnificent?

Re: Queen of Sheba, I couldn't decide whether to use Bilqis/Balkis or Makeda! I didn't know Makeda was the Ethipopian name. I'll definitely switch these.

I'm thinking the Oqath Suq should be a unique building, maybe even a wonder? Was there only the one in Mecca?

I thought I would include the Ka'aba as a wonder, but would it be weird to have it built somewhere other than Mecca?

More importantly, I need to know if there any potential for offending Muslims by including the Ka'aba in a game.

...the emir tent -- is this the same structure as the sitt? I'm wondering why you don't like it -- does it need to be more magnificent?

Suq is, as far as I know, the equivalent of market or bazaar (which, I thought, was the Persian, or rather Centralasian, version), so it's not that special - you might make it a National Wonder.

The Ka'aba is more of a World Wonder. Since there are already multiple muslim buildings in the standard game (or religious buildings/Wonders in general), I don't quite see how that would be offending. Islam only forbids the portraying of living beings - which, notably in Persian and Turkish art, seems to have been abandoned in practice. (Also, there is plenty use of cartoons - or caricatures - in the modern Muslim world.)

Finally, a tent is not really a structure or building - which is by nature more permanent (although an emir tent would be something more grand, I suppose).

:newyear:

Hi mr Farrell,
first, we cant compare ancient south arabia to the northern part its much more older and was much more civilized
so all begun south, archeology shows how writing bronze and collosal buildings begun south as the dam of marib shows ( it wasnt the only one but the biggest)
in ancient Yemen it was no question of tents, bricks for houses and buildings, and stones for temples and castles but it was the case of other minor kingdoms caravan towns and bedouins settlements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-I posted before about the Emir tent because it didnt appear theres a problem in xml or somthing i didnt say i dont like it
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheikh majles look like this 166795


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Ancient poetry gatherings existed in ancient times developed late in markets but the one in mecca was called Ukadh it can be unique building for Hejaz
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Yes when i say Caaba i mean Ka'aba and there is no offense in putting it as wonder its a game after all
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-also there is the temple that still exist in marib it can be a wonder
(Temple of Ilmaqah the sun god ) (Ilmaqah was the dominant god in marib) also called Arsh Bilqis
as other temples built by the Mukarribs (priest kings)
-the moon was really important in ancient arabia as you know the arab calander is moon one.
-A thech (moon observasion) can replace Astrology for example
the 'Ethnic artstyle' middle east cities look perfect for a future mod
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-paragraph about okadh souk : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souk
-ancinet kings list : http://starnarcosis.net/obsidian/arabia.html
- history link :http://nabataea.net/nab6.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wish you a happy new year

Thanks again for your notes, sakhr!

Hmm... the idea of making south Arabia a unique tech tree is slowly growing on me...

What I'm thinking of doing is creating (as you suggested) a map for just Arabia, no Persians or Europeans. That would make the port to BtS a lot easier. But I could also have the Yemeni tribes get their own technologies. I am familiar with the differences between them and the Bedouin-originating northern tribes...

You could make contact or Trade Routes with Europe and Persia as World Wonders.

For example: "Contact with Persia" tech would allow the building of "Persian Trade Route" which provides 3 Silk. Or something like that...

You could make contact or Trade Routes with Europe and Persia as World Wonders.

For example: "Contact with Persia" tech would allow the building of "Persian Trade Route" which provides 3 Silk. Or something like that...

You can already build trade routes in city: Balcan trade route , persia trade route ..but it take at least 20 tours to build and also you can train a trader to do trade missions, you know there is a economic victory condition for the scenario

Thanks again for your notes, sakhr!

Hmm... the idea of making south Arabia a unique tech tree is slowly growing on me...

What I'm thinking of doing is creating (as you suggested) a map for just Arabia, no Persians or Europeans. That would make the port to BtS a lot easier. But I could also have the Yemeni tribes get their own technologies. I am familiar with the differences between them and the Bedouin-originating northern tribes...

It will be better i think
Well digging and cave dewelling techs for the north , the yemen part is fertile as you know so dam construction techa can be availeble only there.
and for oman you can concentrate on sailing cause you know they traded with india very early also oman always remember us Sinbad the sailer and the city of Ubar (the city of pillar) as we call it where the camel have been breeded for the first time

I have see the sheikh majlis in a syrian tv serie treating mecca in jahilya times 500-600 AD qureish masters tested insence and maked bizness in a central sitt open air and elevated from the ground to have an eye on the town

You can already build trade routes in city: Balcan trade route , persia trade route ..but it take at least 20 tours to build and also you can train a trader to do trade missions, you know there is a economic victory condition for the scenario

I know, but I prefer to conquer!

The difference in what I was proposing was that they would provide resources that are not available in a shrunken world. That would make them valuable and something worth building or taking.

Finished my first game and won a merchant victory with Empress Zenobia on warlord level (thought I was on prince). I really liked this mod and thought the map was great. I really like the tech tree and how it stops at a certain point, more mods need to have a natural limit to how far the techs advance.

I had about 30 turns left and was about 200 pts score wise behind Constantine who from nowhere suddenly scored alot of points last 100 turns or so (picked up some vassals).

The mod ran fine for me, the later turns went to about a 15-20 sec. wait, not that bad, imo. Great job on this terrific mod, you did a Super job!:goodjob:

Thanks a million for your warm words, dreadknought! I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I'm reeeeally pleased you had such reasonable turn resolution times. I'd be curious to know what your system specs are... I'm guessing you have a high end video card?


jefmart1:
"For example: "Contact with Persia" tech would allow the building of "Persian Trade Route" which provides 3 Silk. Or something like that..."

Something along this line could be done as National Wonders, actually...


sakhr:
sheikh majlis would be a good addition... thanks! And I'll be sure to look into the Emir's tent... I think maybe that's your starting "palace"? (I haven't actually loaded the game up in awhile!)

Yes, Im running civ 4 on gateway NX860 series laptop from last year which came with a nvidia geForce 6800 video card and it has always run the game well, I think the newest one has a geForce 7900 and is 2k on their site. Ive had good luck with gateway so far.

I was thinking it should be World Wonders so the resource would be traded and be of value since it would be available only from you. Its done like that in the EE3 mod by ArbitraryGuy.

Maybe it can be set to allow 2 or 3 overall rather then one for each civ. I think I have seen that in the Middle Ages Mod for their Hansaeatic League memberships.

The civs that controlled the various trade routes got rich of off that in real life and it would give incentive to conquer those cities.

Now that I think about it, maybe you could restrict the building of them by gegraphic area. I know you restrict building by latitude (space elevator), can you restrict by longitude as well?

Hey guys... thanks for the great rating! That's definitely encouraging, and it gives me a good idea of the degrtee to which people are enjoying my mod. 4 stars! Awesome!

jefmart1: Yeah that could be done by using the xml from a wonder that creates resources, like Rock and Roll. The Middle Ages Mod used Spaceship projects for their Hanseatic League but those don't generate a resource. Also I'm using Spaceship for my Arabian Merchant Victory.

Here's a question I'd like to get a response to, if anyone gets the chance:

Do you like having the interaction with classical civs who possess technologies that aren't available to you? Or would you prefer to have Arabian Kingdoms only?

I would prefer Arabian civs only (obviously) with access to the classical civs through Wonders like I suggested.

I think contact with them as civs detracts from the feel somehow...

for financial victory condition i dont think having a contact with the classical civ is needed

I have created some units maybe they can be used in the coming mod and im actually working on more units
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260079
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260551

I´ve downloaded this mod and must say it´s a great pleasure to have an unspent scenario like this. :goodjob:

So, now I´ve to return to the Arabian Peninsula. ;)

Wow! Those are beautiful units, sakhr!! I will definitely use them!! My work on doing a new version of LOAA has been slowed down due to a couple of other projects I have to complete, but I'm doing what I can with the little bit of time I can spend on it... slowly but surely!

Blackbeard: Hey, I'm glad you're enjoying LOAA. Please check and back and let me know how your game plays out!

Hello Gordon Farell, this is by far the best scenario-mod i've played for Civ 4 :king: The attention to detail is amazing and very well researched too - honestly i wasn't really aware of the pre-Islamic Arabian desert cultures, so this was very entertaining and educational to play. The atmosphere is really immersing; apart from the music, i also liked the manuscript-style LHs which fit in seamlessly within the scenario's context.

Thank you for spending time and effort for this excellent mod, and i'll be looking forward to more updates :goodjob:

Hey Gordon, first I want to say thank you for putting time and effort in doing this mod and sharing it with us.

Second, I must say I'm impressed. Been a huge fan of historical scenarios, specially ancient ones, and also a huge admirer of the arabic culture, so when I saw this one yesterday, I couldn't resist ;)

I played a bit last night just to get a feel of the game and today I've spent most of the day enjoying your fine work! I loved every second. I played the Palmyraeans and was a bit afraid in the first time i saw the starting location... desert all around, desert all the way to the south, Alexander, the Great to the west, and the assyrians everywhere... Must say it was very chalenging figuring out how to make my civ survive on the desert, and how the heck I would be able to make some income, but it was also very fun! :)

The geographical and historical accuracy impressed me.

About the wait times, yes they were a bit longer them usual, but nothing annoying, specially for those used to warlords multiplayer. Although I have a nice vga, dunno if it helped.

To finish, one thing that let me curious... some time in the middle of the game I noted that it seemed only my civ was evolving... most, or all, of them seemed to be using the same early units they had at the beginning, except for the persians from which I saw some strong cavalry late in the game. Also most of them - that I could note - were not improving the land, I mean... no farm, no resource e also no roads for the most of them, except for a fellow arab south of me I didn't see improvements at all. Is it alright?

besides that, awesome mod! Thanks!

pazize, what difficulty level are you playing on? In modded scenarios, the normal difficulty settings don't function as well as they do in normal random maps. The result is that your opponents have fewer resources and build much more slowly than they otherwise would.

Modded scenarios should always be played on Noble or higher.

Gordon, I was playing on Noble. I usually play on Noble, so I rised one notch as soon as I was given de option to.

Maybe if I try it on prince or higher?!

Thanks in advance!

I'm wondering...

Did anyone besides pazize have this problem.... ?

"some time in the middle of the game I noted that it seemed only my civ was evolving... most, or all, of them seemed to be using the same early units they had at the beginning, except for the persians from which I saw some strong cavalry late in the game. Also most of them - that I could note - were not improving the land, I mean... no farm, no resource e also no roads for the most of them"

i dont have this problems and i played as noble mostly as Sabaeans but the other factions too the other civs exploited all their ressource and are hard to conquer

Never had that problem...Usually the other civs were tough to conquer and well developed.

Well that's good! I wonder what could have caused this to happen to pazize... oh well, guess we might not ever know...

Hey Gordon! As a scholar of the Middle East, I have to say this mod is FANTASTIC - I really appreciate your work and research.

Salam Aleykum!

Thanks, Gordon for a truly entertaining mod! It´s great that someone has put so much effort to a very little known niche of time/space. I wonder if you could add some encylopaedic info on the civilizations? I´m playing as the Palmyrans, and I surely can place the ancient city of Palmyra on the map, but I´m afraid that´s the end of my knowledge.:goodjob:

VetMichael - Thank you for the good words! It's especially gratifying to me when folks who have studied Middle Eastern culture and history enjoy LoAA! Feel free to make any comments you like, to ask questions, or provide me with additional material you think should be included in the next version of the mod.

srimmius - Glad you're enjoying it! I'd really appreciate it if you can keep me posted on your progress as you play through your map. As far as the civilopedia goes, yeah, that's one area I haven't completed yet, specifically for the leaders, the civilizations, the religions, and the civics. If you do some research on your own and would like to contribute entries, I would be DELIGHTED to include your work in the next version.

Thanks again!

Ustaz Gordon: I was happily surprised (though I suppose I should not have been) that al-Tabari was one of the chroniclers of Civilizations in the game - excellent detail!

A couple of points I'd like to bring up:
1) the game is incredibly awesome, very detailed, and wonderfully executed. Thank you.
2) With Early Machinery (I think that's what it's called), one is supposed to be able to construct windmills, but I have not been able to do that on ANY hillside, whether desert or grassland hills. I thought you should know.
3) I played around with the speed of the game (I tend to like long, drawn out games) and on Marathon speed on the Warlord (default) difficulty, I noticed the barbarian attackers had Eastern Roman Imperial Horsebowmen (strength 10)fairly early on (about 500 BCE) BUT on Quick speed, the barbarians remained Desert Warriors with the occasional Desert Horseman. I surmise this is unintentional, but thought you and others would like to know about the quirk. Is the scenario intended to be played on a certain setting/speed other than the default?
4) this is the sixth time I've played through; the scenario demands different responses depending on your location and neighbors - A most wonderful surprise, thanks!

Ustaz Gordon: I was happily surprised (though I suppose I should not have been) that al-Tabari was one of the chroniclers of Civilizations in the game - excellent detail!

Hey VM, I'm glad you caught that! I'm particularly proud of the fact that I use Arab historians to report the Greatest Lists! You're the first person to comment on it. Thanks!

A couple of points I'd like to bring up:
1) the game is incredibly awesome, very detailed, and wonderfully executed. Thank you.

My pleasure. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

2) With Early Machinery (I think that's what it's called), one is supposed to be able to construct windmills, but I have not been able to do that on ANY hillside, whether desert or grassland hills. I thought you should know.

I need to check this out. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

3) I played around with the speed of the game (I tend to like long, drawn out games) and on Marathon speed on the Warlord (default) difficulty, I noticed the barbarian attackers had Eastern Roman Imperial Horsebowmen (strength 10)fairly early on (about 500 BCE) BUT on Quick speed, the barbarians remained Desert Warriors with the occasional Desert Horseman. I surmise this is unintentional, but thought you and others would like to know about the quirk. Is the scenario intended to be played on a certain setting/speed other than the default?

Well I totally did NOT balance for different speeds. I ran it on normal and quick myself. As far as difficulty, in my experience it plays best on Noble.

4) this is the sixth time I've played through;

Wow!!

the scenario demands different responses depending on your location and neighbors - A most wonderful surprise, thanks!

Yeah, I put a lot of thought into that. I'm glad you picked up on it!! And I'm delighted you're getting so much fun out of it.

Much thanks for all your input, VetMichael, it is deeply appreciated!

One more thing;

Distance seems to have little affect on the reward for Arab Merchant missions. I have played every tribe and it seems that 200 - 250 is the limit of the reward for caravan missions. As a result, it is far more efficient to send quick missions to nearby neighbors than to organize long-distance to, say, the Eastern Roman Empire.


Still, excellent job - I'm still enjoying it!

Yeah, I fooled around with that, VM, but I couldn't get any better results. Of course, the Arab Merchant units are also good for exploring enemy territory.

Hello I am arab too!

Love themod!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!! :goodjob:

I gave it a try last night
very good surprise
congratulations

Yeah, I fooled around with that, VM, but I couldn't get any better results. Of course, the Arab Merchant units are also good for exploring enemy territory.

No problem, I'm not having any financial difficulty in the least - well, as long as I have Camel Grazing ;) - and have financially dominated the game several times. My new goal is conquest. It's slow going, but the Beduin Horsemen are PERFECT for countering those pesky Imperial Horse Archers :goodjob:

That's odd. It isn't working for me. I followed your instructions and dropped the folder into the Warlords Mods folder, but once I go to the 'PLAY A SCENARIO' screen it's not even appearing. What should I do?

Crazy Civ: I don't know what to tell you. Make sure you're using the Warlords CD (:P), and make sure you've updated to the latest patch.

alireza and Opuhara: Welcome aboard! I'd love to hear how your playthroughs go -- what civs you play, and how your interaction with the other groups plays out! Keep me posted!

how to describe this mod... simply incredible! I am out of words to explain how well done this mod was. Just from playing you can tell that the research and dedication you put into the time period is simply amazing. Through this, i too have acquired quite an interest in the pre-islam Arabia. A masterpiece of a mod, good job.:)

Hey ewu.7waker -- Thanks for your warm words! Keep me posted on your progress as you plat the game... I'd love to hear how it's going for you!

A bit of related news:

I just discovered that the Arabian-themed game I worked on for BreakAway Games was finally released in the Middle East. I've got this link for those of you who might want to check it out:

http://www.arabianlords.com/Public/main_public_master.aspx

Pretty cool looking, huh?