SP Antiquity [WB] Shadows in the Desert - An Ancient Middle East Mod

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1. Splinted greave from Nymphaeum (Crimean peninsula), Ukraine.

Date: 5th c. BC.

Find: Assigned to ‘Tomb VI’ of an uncontrolled excavation of Scythian tumuli.

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Only one of the pair excavated still survives. Total length 20.4 cm, the narrower end is shaped (to fit over the foot?). It is made of thirteen tapered bronze splints joined to each other with bronze wire ‘staples’ through paired holes in a staggered arrangement, this also serves to hold them to a leather backing (sheep/goatskin). The splints look like they overlap and their exposed edges appear to be turned under slightly. All edges were bound with a strip of calfskin, for which closely spaced holes were punched through the metal, though the leather is well preserved whatever lacing was used appears to have perished. In use the greave probably was slipped inside a boot or legging. According to Vickers’ description, there are no traces of straps for attaching it to the leg, but he does not account for large holes at each corner at the narrow end which clearly show in the photograph
 
FALX said:
Sahran said:
Written on my phone so apologies if poor spelling. Regarding sicle swords - we will have them. Mainly egyptians and caaanotes or israelites. Regarding religious cults - my focus is more on the martial field and i think our focus is more on the military and buildings and such. I am not sure how the cults could function beyond building one at your settlement to get honor or prestige or whTever the term is.
This is good. :grin:

Do you plan to add:
1. Sound and screams orders in the ancient languages ​​(you can find the files on the network in Hebrew, Persian, Greek ...)
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,8652.msg1417460.html#msg1417460
2. Scripts amputation of limbs, head .. decapitation and amputation
3. Religious system may be directly affected the morale of the troops, the resistance of the cities, the accession of new units and partners, the creation of new quests, create a script sacrifices to improve morale or improve other characteristics ..
4. Do you plan to add siege engines (catapults) .. and scenes of destruction of walls, gates, fences, fire ...
5. Do you plan to add to the game Thracian tribes as unplayable factions
6. Can you show us the banners and flags of all factions
  ???    :grin:

Unfortunately as negative as it will sound to list off a litany of nopes:

1) Nope. We don't really know how the heck to pronounce ancient Egyptian and it would be more trouble than it's worth to me. Unless people want to do the voice work (and do so with good quality).

2) Not out of the question for the future but not our focus right now.

3) Not out of the question in the future but not our focus right now.

4) Not out of the question in the future but not our focus right now.

5) We are interested in the idea of decreasing the number of settlements per faction and thereby increasing the number of smaller factions, but we are focused right now on getting the mod done. Too many mods (and especially a bad habit of mine) is to 'think with the stomache, not with the brain".

6) Banners and flags are still WIP.


And just to make this more than just a bunch of negative answers, just 2 of the countless shields I've been toiling on, with kuauik's helmets and tunic on the right (docm's cuirass on the left) and Tomas' scenework in the background.

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The specular/gloss effects are WIP, since I have to tweak around with that.
 
Beautiful view.  :grin:
The depth of the historical rendering is amazing. I wonder, will there be elephants and camels in the game  ?
And also want to know whether to use horse-bearers ?

Indeed, if you consider that you only need two - three shouting "Victory!" or a dozen reviews in order for combat arms, (Egyptian sounds and words in science already decrypted), it is not the most difficult. But you're right, even this may seem redundant.
 
Sahran said:

Jolly good job comrade! The spear, however... isn't it a little bit.... thin? You can see a void between the spear and spearman's grip.  :lol:

Sahran said:
Regarding religious cults - my focus is more on the martial field and i think our focus is more on the military and buildings and such.

Please don't. You are my last hope for a good, ancient-themed mod, explore the culture and beliefs to the maximum!  :smile:

Good luck with your further work.
 
FALX said:
Beautiful view.  :grin:
The depth of the historical rendering is amazing. I wonder, will there be elephants and camels in the game  ?
And also want to know whether to use horse-bearers ?

Indeed, if you consider that you only need two - three shouting "Victory!" or a dozen reviews in order for combat arms, (Egyptian sounds and words in science already decrypted), it is not the most difficult. But you're right, even this may seem redundant.


Camels yes, among bandits and mercenaries from Aramaean/Arab stock.

Horse bearers I'm not quite sure what you mean. We'll have horsemen and chariotry. You have a point but for us right now it's more of a luxury if someone wants to do the voices we could consider it, but not something we'll focus on for now.

FinnishKnight: Kuauik has done a lot of really awesome beards and hairstyles. Some helmets will guarantee a beard and (mainly hittite hairstyles) will cover up any beard the player/NPC might have. Others will not include a beard like that. Unfortunately because of so many of our helmets having spots that need hair, the majority of helmets with hair attachments will be of black hair (variously a curly Semitic or wavy Greek or straight hittite style). There will be some helmets that don't require hair attachments due to their shape/design (mainly if it covers up the back of the head/neck), and I think a few Scythian 'headwear' (may be a bandana more than a helmet) which will have red or blonde hair. But we really can't go and have a helmet variation for every hair color possibility or even the four basics (brown, black, red, blonde). Post release I can explain to people how they can edit it themselves if they want a certain helmet to have a different hair color. Thankfully in this period it seems like most of the peoples were of dark/black hair with the exception of the Scythians and some of the Iranians. Homer mentions red or blonde for the heroes, but all the Mycenaean art is distinctly dark haired and it may be a literary devise - same way Zal is given white hair in Shahnameh or in a modern sense you've got the whole rainbow of colors for hair in japanese stuff.

Hofiko: The spear is Gothic Knight's from his OSP work. You're right about the gap but one thing I've noticed/felt is that the proportions on some vanilla stuff are far too big and beefy - I think both round shields are vanilla ones I thinned out to be more like the girth of Dejawolf's viking OSP shields. We are likely to have to do some adjustments for weapon size or length. And appreciate the
 
Sahran said:
Horse bearers I'm not quite sure what you mean. We'll have horsemen and chariotry. You have a point but for us right now it's more of a luxury if someone wants to do the voices we could consider it, but not something we'll focus on for now.

Sorry for my weird translation .. :oops: :roll: I meant horse-bearer with animation banner carrier who rides on horseback .. , -bearer for a  new animation-rider . Horseman carrier banner in his hand (in a chariot or on horseback, but without animation spears). :grin:

Sahran said:
5) We are interested in the idea of decreasing the number of settlements per faction and thereby increasing the number of smaller factions, but we are focused right now on getting the mod done. Too many mods (and especially a bad habit of mine) is to 'think with the stomache, not with the brain".

That the if in addition to the wild Thracian tribes the north of the Greece (with the designation of a late the future Odrissian kingdom) to introduce into the game more and Phoenician city? Based on the fact that the historical facts about the continued existence of the Phoenician cities and culture, it is possible to gather information about the clothing, weapons, and rulers Phoenicians. This will allow a little more to divide fractions in North Africa.

...<***>"Fernand Braudel remarked in The Perspective of the World that Phoenicia was an early example of a "world-economy" surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed c. 1200–800 BC.

Assyrian warship (probably built by Phoenicians) with two rows of oars, relief from Nineveh, c. 700 BC

Many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Simyra, Arwad, and Berytus, all appear in the Amarna tablets. Archeology has identified cultural elements of the Phoenician zenith as early as the 3rd millennium BC.

The league of independent city-state ports, with others on the islands and along other coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, was ideally suited for trade between the Levant area, rich in natural resources, and the rest of the ancient world. During the early Iron Age, in around 1200 BC an unknown event occurred, historically associated with the appearance of the Sea Peoples from the north. They weakened and destroyed the Egyptians and the Hittites respectively. In the resulting power vacuum, a number of Phoenician cities rose as significant maritime powers.

The societies rested on three power-bases: the king; the temple and its priests; and councils of elders. Byblos first became the predominant center from where the Phoenicians dominated the Mediterranean and Erythraean (Red) Sea routes. It was here that the first inscription in the Phoenician alphabet was found, on the sarcophagus of Ahiram (c. 1200 BC). Later, Tyre gained in power. One of its kings, the priest Ithobaal (887–856 BC) ruled Phoenicia as far north as Beirut, and part of Cyprus. Carthage was founded in 814 BC under Pygmalion of Tyre (820–774 BC). The collection of city-states constituting Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders and the Phoenicians as Sidonia or Tyria. Phoenicians and Canaanites alike were called Sidonians or Tyrians, as one Phoenician city came to prominence after another"".

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...To add more options to factions can offer you: Frigya  kingdom,  Mycenae,  Thebes,    Dorians  (illirian tribes),  Libyans  as the regional factions. :grin: 

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A few paintings on the theme of Ancient Egypt, Libya, and the Achaean Mycenaean culture
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Awesome screenshots. Also nice to see the two spear animations in use. I've used your OSP script in Vanilla (I couldn't make it work in any other mods, but that's due to my own incompetence), and it was wicked. I only wish more mods used it; makes spears a much more viable weapon. You don't feel so vulnerable when you get swarmed by enemies now, and all they do is block down with their swords or clubs.
 
General question for anyone that pays attention to this thread;

I've been anticipating this mod for quite some time now (I absolutely love the time periods involved), but I know that mods work at their own pace and it will be done when it's done. That being said, would anyone perhaps know of another mod in a similar time period (mid/late Bronze Age) for M&B (even older versions than 1.153) that they could recommend? I've been itching to play this one, and I was wondering if there was something out there that could at least somewhat alleviate that Bronze Age itch until Shadows in the Desert is released.

[Edit on June 13, 2013 so as not to double post]

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^^^  I had the same question myself and as far as I know...no.  There is a Trojan war mod for Mount and Blade, sortve based more off of the movie Troy tho, so its not that great.  The mod I play the most is The 'Peloponnesian War' for Warband.  It is close enough to this time period that I make do with it....but seriously I am fiending to get my hands on Shadows in The Desert.....every day I check this thread just in case! :mrgreen:  This is my favorite time period.  The only other mods i wish for are a really well done Hyborian Age mod and maybe a Neolithic mod.  There actually is a pretty cool beta called 'Dawn of Man' that is in the neolithic but sadly it is incomplete.
 
I guess I'll give that Peloponnesian War mod a try. I'm not as keen on the Classical Greek era as this time period, but something to kill time is better than nothing.

And I too have a similar desire in seeing a Hyborian Age mod. I'd honestly try my hand at modding, though most of my skill would likely lay in texturing rather than scripting or modelling, and unfortunately what little time I do have free to myself from work is done spent doing other things. Maybe one day though...
 
The Developers want to add a new faction. I can not understand whether to be compatible in this historic period of the Phoenician cities (progenitors the Carthaginians).
 
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