Middle Earth Mod: Ideas

Okay... (The following is just some intro crap that I somehow feel a need to include... if you don't feel like sitting through this scroll down to the second post. )

With the large number of Middle-Earth themed units coming out lately, in addition to some leaderheads and other graphics, it seems likely that a Middle-Earth mod can't be far behind. This is something that I have been thinking about on and off for the past year or so, but since I have no idea how to make any sort of graphics I never thought anything would come of it.

Then I discovered CFC back in February and I began to think once again of a Middle-Earth Mod (henceforth MEM). I can see that alot of people would like one, so this post is to be for ideas about how this should be handled.

For the record, I haven't tried any existing MEM, since my dial-up connection is too slow to even think of downloading something bigger than 10 megabytes. But I do know that there are a few out there.

Let me begin by saying that I have read The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished tales. I have also seen the movies released so far. Although I am impressed by the movies, I think that any MEM should be based solely off the books, with the movies only providing graphical ideas.

I also think that although a fair amount of any MEM will have to be freestyle and not based from a book, anything never in any of Tolkien's writings should not be included. So no Skeleton Warriors, Ogres, or Giants.

I'll begin with the sixteen civ's I've come up with so far (following post):

(Hmm... my posts tend to run on the long side, don't they? )

Why sixteen? I don't know, but it's a good number. There were 16 civs in original Civ3. So why not here? Besides, in my opinion these are the only ones that work.

Here are what I've come up with:

The Shire
Leader: Mayor Frodo Baggins
Capitol: Hobbiton
UU: Bullroarer
Bonuses: Scientific, Industrious

The Khazad
Leader: King Thorin (or Durin or Dain- See below)
Capitol: Erebor
UU: Axe wielder
Bonuses: Industrious, Commerical

Gondor
Leader: Steward Denethor (or King Elendur or Anarion- See below)
Capitol: Minas Tirith
UU: Citadel Guard
Bonuses: ?

Arnor
Leader: Chieftain Aragorn
Capitol: Annuminas
UU: Northern Ranger
Bonuses: ?

Dale
Leader: King Bard
Capitol: Dale
UU: Bowman
Bonuses: Commercial, ?

Rohan
Leader: King Theoden (or Helm or Eorl)
Capitol: Edoras
UU: Rider
Bonuses: ?

Numenor
Leader: King Elros (or Aldarion)
Capitol: Armenelos
UU: <Ar-Pharazoan's Ship>
Turophanto
Bonuses: Expansionist, ?

Umbar
Leader: Captain Castamir
Capitol: City of the Corsairs
UU: Dromund
Bonuses: ?

Harad
Leader: Chieftain ??
Capitol: ?
UU: Mumak
Bonuses:

Rhun
Leader: Chieftain Khamul?
Capitol: ?
UU: War Chariot
Bonuses: ?

Isengard
Leader: Lord Saruman
Capitol: Orthanc
UU: Uruk-hai (or Uruks of the White Hand)
Bonuses: Scientific, Industrious

Angmar
Leader: The Witch-King (or Witch-King Morgul?)
Capitol: Cairn Dum
UU: White Wolf
Bonuses: Militaristic, Expansionist

Mordor
Leader: Sauron
Capitol: Barad-dur
UU: Winged Nazgul (?)
Bonuses: Militaristic, Expansionist

Lothlorien
Leader: Lady Galadriel
Capitol: Caras Galadhon
UU: Mallorn Archer
Bonuses: Religious, ?

Mirkwood
Leader: King Thranduil
Capitol: ? (Elven-King's Halls?)
UU: Archer
Bonuses: ?

Eregion
Leader: High King Gil-Galad
Capitol: Imladris
UU: Spear Weilder
Bonuses: ?

Okay, a few notes about these. Any ones with ?'s for capitols or leaders are because I cannot find any name in the books that I have read. Any with several other leader names in parenthases are because I can't decide which leader is the most important and best to use.

I have not, as Sir John notes below () included any civs from The Silmarillion. This is because I think that, although the game should of course start in the First Age, the civs in the Silmarillion were too powerful or not described well enough to be used. For example, Utumno (Morgoth's civ) was incredibly powerful, and was only defeated by "divine intervention." Morgoth's favorite shock troops and captains, the Balrogs and Dragons, would certainly unbalance the game if used realistically. Of the two Balrogs defeated in The Silmarillion, both were by powerful Elves and in single combat. Therefore it would be unrealistic to see a Balrog killed by a unit of spearmen or whatnot.

I have also not included some less powerful civs because, well, they're not powerful enough. This is why there are no Woses, Ents, or others.

Please, if anyone thinks another civ should be included or the civs I have included are bad, or would like to ask me about any of my choices, ask below! I would type a detailed explenation of why each civ should be included, but this would take awhile.

I think that unit lines in an MEM should be simple, and based off of the original Firaxis lines (at least up until Middle ages... who knows how advanced they should get).

Each culture group could have its own flavor units (I would say FUs, but that wouldn't be polite ). The five culture groups are Hobbits, Dwarves, Men, Elves, and Orcs. This determines how the architechture and citizens look as in vanilla Civ3, and also what flavor units they have. For example, hobbits would have a pony rider, dwarves some sort of equivalent foot infantry, Elves and Men horse riders, and Orcs would have wolfriders.

UUs should probably follow a formula similar to the one in Civ3, with only one or two per civ. I'm not sure if they should replace units, as in Civ3, or be additional units.

The following are descriptions of UUs posted above for each civ. This is in case a unit designer is looking for something to do and would like a description.

Bullroarer
Hobbits have really no martial history, so this is a made-up unit. Its name is based on the famous Bandobras "Bullroarer" Brandybuck who defeated Orcs invading the Shire. He was four foot six and could ride a horse.
This unit, as I imagine it, should be small and riding on a pony. The hobbit could wear boots, since it is recorded that hobbits wore boots when travelling or fighting. Its weapon should be either a bow or a club or both.

Axe Wielder
The Dwarve's weapon of choice was the axe, and so it is natural that this would be the UU. This should be a shorter unit with a helm and a large, double bladed axe. Actually, the PTW berserker would work very well in this role. If someone really wanted to be detailed, this unit could also have a face mask like the dwarves wore in the Silmarillion.

To be continued... this will grow, beleive me...

Before anyone tells me, yes, several of these units have already been made. I will note this when I continue to add descriptions.

RESERVED 2

RESERVED 3

Good ideas, but I cant see Melkor..
BTW: Eclipse made a big MEM and its very good. Balrog is making a LOTR and there is a war on arda mod so I think its enough mods right now..

See above about Melkor.

Yes, but as I said I have not tried these out. And these ideas are really meant for Balrog's mod, but I decided to start a new thread since his seemed to have died off. I didn't want to hijack his or anyone elses. Also I've had these ideas for awhile and I wanted to post them, see what others thought and if they could be used in Balrog's or anyone else's mod.