[S] Dawn of Man - BETA Released.

[Gothic Knight]

wow this mod looks great hoping to play soon and is there gonna be like hunting animals but like a feature where its dinasours instead or something like that?

im pretty shure dinos were extinct long before 7000-8000 BC lol 

By 7000-8000B.C,I'm sure the first permanant cities were starting to form since the first ruins of a city was found to be around 4000-3000B.C

[Zarthas]

@Kolba:  http://www.crystalinks.com/otzi.html The infamous 'Iceman' was said to be carrying a woven grass cloak.  He's dated around 3300 b.c. by most accounts, and that's a pretty sophisticated cloak.  Honestly, it would seem to me that the cloak would have been invented when a cave man was cold and draped an animal skin around him.

I'm sure you also know that the shield is an unused native one   Its a filler.  There's going to be a lot of whicker and Hide shields.

About the use of metals.  The earliest known use of metals to my knowledge is 5500 b.c., in a copper headed axe found in Serbia.  There's some evidence to suggest they may have been used prior to this.  I'm thinking Copper weapons will appear in the game, as the highest tier of weaponry, and non-existent in most places.

About the woad That's kinda nit-picky.  Cultural trends are hard to track when we barely have any evidence that these cultures existed.  In this world, there is Woad, and these guys do paint themselves with it.

On your items list:

My weapon list is actually shaping up pretty similar.

I'm actually doing alot of research into Maori, Samoan, Native American, African, and Aztec traditional weaponry, and coming up with some interesting stuff.

The Men of the Mountains always wear shoes, because its @#$ing cold where they live.  Mountain Men who don't wear shoes don't have feet.

Everything I can find claims that leather was invented during the Paleolithic, so it'll be a mix of Furs and Leathers for clothing.  Some factions just won't wear any.

Thanks for your interest, I've got it under control though.

@Gothic Knight: I've been reading alot about a temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated to 10,000 BC.  Apparently there were no permanent homes in the area, but it does mean that people were coming together at this time in at least one way.  According to a few more sites, the first permanent town is called Jericho, in Levant, around 9600 B.C.  And I've often read that agriculture-based societies cropped up in Europe around 7000 B.C., which requires  permanent settlement.

[mightywolve]

I know expanded gameplay III the bear clan uses exclusivly stone and wooden weapons

So?

So, some of them might be useful here, if he can get permission to use them.

if

[ImpSmash]

oh ok thx for the info Zarthas.

[Zarthas]

Missed your posts I own Kansas and Maeglin Dubh.  No harm in asking right?  I'm prepared to make my own though, so no biggie.  Made a wooden spear last night w00t.

[TheNarrator]

Cannibalism: You can choose to slaughter and eat your prisoners.

I wish I could in native to eat all these cowardly khergits

[ConteD.Albafiorita]

Cool mod, keep up the good work... I'll keep an eye on this 

[Tuckles]

if

Your point being?

Just make sure not to use leather jerkins or whatnot. They look too medieval. 

[mightywolve]

if

Your point being?

Just make sure not to use leather jerkins or whatnot. They look too medieval. 

nvm.

[Zarthas]

Yeah, I'm kinda playing around with the leather vest and leather jerkin at the moment.  I was thinking maybe I could retexture them, but we'll see.  Otherwise I'll need to learn how to rig 

Expect some new screens up soon! There's a handful of new weapons and items, I want to show them off a bit.

[mightywolve]

Yeah, I'm kinda playing around with the leather vest and leather jerkin at the moment.  I was thinking maybe I could retexture them, but we'll see.  Otherwise I'll need to learn how to rig 

Expect some new screens up soon! There's a handful of new weapons and items, I want to show them off a bit.

Nice, keep going.

[Arnach]

Sounds awesome ive been looking for a mod like this. i love the idea of eating your prisoners and improvised weapons. cant wait for release!

[Zarthas]

Still trucking away at this one.  Been doing alot of retexturing of native armors and clothing to make them acceptable for the time period, and some to just make new items.

Got a fair handful of custom weapons now;
Flint Knife
Sharpened Stick
War Club
Bone-Spiked Club
Tree Limb , two handed club
Sharp Rock
Wooden Spear
Stone Hatchet
Rabbit Stick
Throwing Stakes
Boomerang
Tomahawks
Darts
Macana, a meso-american wooden 'sword'

I think the taking of prisoners will be much more useful than in the original mount and blade.  There'll be places to sacrifice them to the local Gods, which can improve your relationship with the local populace and improve morale, sell them into slavery, or of course, cannibalize them.  If you're feeling charitable, you may just try to convince them to join you.

Raiding villages is much more difficult this time around, as average villagers are still pretty dangerous.  They don't have shields or weapons or war of course, but they do have tools like logging axes and wooden pitchforks, and bows and spears for hunting.

General population of the game world is being decreased at the moment, to reflect that there just aren't that many humans.  Also means that the power gap between you and Lords(now called Chiefs) is a bit smaller.

Recruitment is the main issue I'm looking at right now.  I think one of the main methods is going to be capturing prisoners and drafting them, but I'm not sure about other methods.  I was thinking perhaps the wandering groups of Scavengers could also be convinced to join you if you have a decent sized party and some persuasion and leadership.

Another cool idea I'm looking at right now is having animals as a kind of 'resource'.  Its touched upon in Native, but I aim to really expand it and make it a gameplay mechanic.  Hunting is in the game at the moment, but I was thinking about having the ability to raise your own herds of cattle, and slaughter them as necessary for food.  If you do become chief of a village, you can expect to go on cattle raids of neighboring villages if times get tough.

Also playing with semi-permanent settlements.  That is, villages that function as they do now, but if they become horribly poor, they'll be able to pack up shop and move elsewhere.  As Chief of a village, you'd be able to order them to move.  If you manage to catch a village as its migrating, you can expect a very nice haul of goods.  I think this mechanic will replace Caravans.  When a village moves, it'll lose all of its improvements.

[Arnach]

cool to see some progress ive been wondering if this was dead.

[Zarthas]

(click to show/hide)

Been doing some retexturing of a few items, its going great thus far.  I'm at something of an arrest in development, due to some obscure compile error, if you're good with the module system, take a look maybe?:
http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/topic,69311.0.html

In other news, Nomads are in game!  They're actually really awesome at the moment.  They're just wandering parties on the map, who have a decent relationship with all factions.  If they come across animal herds, they'll attack them, and they sometimes will clash with outcasts, the savages, and other Nomads.
If you approach a Nomad tribe, you can choose to trade with them, and they'll have a completely random assortment of items.  You can ask them about war parties in the area, and you can attempt to get some of them to join your party.  Or, you can slaughter them.
Currently, Nomad tribes grow 2 men per day, meaning if they go unmolested, they can have a 100-man force in about two months or so.  Large Nomad tribes will raid villages, attack you, and pretty much be bastardy.