PikeStance

PikeStance Wikipedia Page TWC Profile Page HISTORIAN - EDUCATOR – PHILOSOPHER – MODDER TABLE OF CONTENTS PERSONAL MY TWC HISTORY MODDING PROJECTS RELEASED SUBMODS VANILLA MODS GENEALOGY PROJECT PERSONAL I am a native of New_Orleans, Louisiana (USA). I am currently living and working in Shenzhen, China. I was previously lived in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Dubai, UAE, Berlin, Germany, Jakarta, Indonesia, and numerous cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Jilin, and Changchun. I am a licensed and experienced secondary social studies teacher. I teach in international schools or in Foreign national schools with an international curriculum. I have over 18 years of teaching experience with 14 of those years spent overseas. I previously taught in Beijing, Shanghai, Changchun, Dubai and Abidjan. I have taught World History (AP and IB), American History, Geography (including IB), Political Science (Comparative Governments & American Government/civics), Sociology, and Cultural Anthropology. I am currently married to my second wife. My wife is from Jilin, Jilin Province in the People's Republic of China. On August 27, 2018, my wife and I had a son named, Roman Xu. "Xu" is my wife's family name. I was divorced from my ex-wife in 2015. She was from Detroit, Michigan, United States. We met while I was living in Chicago in 2001. We were married in 2007 while living in Abidjan. My hobbies include; strategy games, genealogy, history, and sports. The New Orleans Saints is my favorite (American) Football Team. Football (soccer) is my favorite sport; however, and Arsenal is my favorite team. The primary reason is at the time I started watching the EPL, I was into American Civil War Re-enacting. The unit I was in (the same my ancestor) was in) was the Washington Artillery. When I noticed the cannon in the logo, I picked it immediately. I pull for other teams, but not as big of a fan as I am of Arsenal (Italy Fiorentina | France Stade Brest 29) Baseball, I support the White Sox. I lived in Chicago for 5 years. I do not support basketball (namely the Pelicans, because the Pelicans were acquired after I left New Orleans. I was a Jazz fan as a kid. I prefer college ball anyway. I also enjoy playing Both Total War and Paradox games, in addition to Front Office Football Simulation. Additionally, I am a board game enthusiast. Some of the games I enjoyed playing; Risk, Settlers of Catan, Diplomacy, Axis and Allies, Conquest of the Empire, and the Game of Go. I am an active player on the KGS server as Pike. Miniature war-gaming is something I also enjoy playing in the past. What's in a name? Why PikeStance? Pike is man's first weapon. It is still technically used today if you place a knife on the end of a rifle. It is also still used as a ceremonial weapon. The Pike represents both my love of history and military history. As a primary weapon of the battlefield he had both useful defensive and attacking capabilities. Stance refers to taking a stand for your beliefs in the same way pike wielding soldiers of the battlefield did countless times in history. Together the terms represent my disposition to keep my ground and defend myself against all. This is true personally and in any debate. MY TIME ON TWC FORUM I joined TWC in May of 2011 to share my passion for Total War games. Apart from Total War games, I also enjoy playing Paradox games and Front Office Football Simulation. Additionally, I am a board game enthusiast. Some of the games I enjoyed playing; Risk, Settlers of Catan, Diplomacy, Axis and Allies, Conquest of the Empire, and the Game of Go. I am an active player on the KGS server as Pike. Miniature war-gaming is something I also enjoy playing in the past. In the Beginning - The Tale of two Applications The reason I came to TWC is I wanted to share my experiences with playing the different titles. Since I was currently playing Empire: Total War, I stuck primarily in that area of the Forum. I showed very little interest in modding when I first joining, content with playing vanilla and sharing my experiences. Gradually, I noticed had "badges." I was curious to what they were, so I visited the wiki to learn more about them. I was intrigued about citizenship and felt like I was pretty active in the ETW Forum. I read that if no one notices you, then you can ask if anyone would be interested in patronizing you. So that is what I did. (Citizenship Request) Unfortunately, I gave the wrong impression and many people thought that was "arrogant." Tragically, this label has followed me throughout my time on TWC. Ironically, I was approached by several people regarding patronages that night, including imb39 (Ian). Ian wanted to put forth my application immediately, but I felt, given the negativity, I received from the post I had made, that it would be prudent to wait a little longer. Unfortunately, Ian "disappeared." I was a focus on contributing to the site when out of the blue, Raglan offered to be my patron for citizenship. At first, I rebuked him and advise him to read my first thread on the matter. He was insistent. In a few weeks, we prepared my application and submitted it to the CdeC for review. Unfortunately, it failed. The "arrogant" label manifested itself in the process and I failed on that account. Raglan would gradually become inactive on the site. Again, I was approached, this time, by Omnipotent- Q. After a series of personal issues on both sides, we eventually submitted my application for citizenship. This time it was to the entire Curia and my application was approved. Since becoming a Citizen, I have patronized more than 30 members in which 26 successfully becoming citizens. One citizen had their citizenship revoked and one has resigned. Most of the members I have patronized have been modders. They have modded every game, except Warhammer, Thrones of Britannia. and Three Kingdoms. There are a variety of activities that I am doing on Total War Center. My primary purpose of being on TWC my development of Imperial Splendour as a Lead Modder, text editor, and Project Manager. I also maintain a blog called, the PikeStance Experience. This is where some of my experiences. I also created a Visual Arts Studio. The primary purpose is to share edited photos I took while testing the various changes during modding. Recently, I combined my love of genealogy with TWC and started the genealogy Project to trace every patronage on TWC. Some time ago, I started the "Archivum." The goal was to have a single place where people can share their research material to aid other modders and AARs writers. It is currently voluntary. It is still active, though it receives very little attention. I included in a proposal to bring all Historical content into one "Community." The Achivum has ben indefinitely abandoned. Despite having a lot of support and volunteers to get the project started, the administration of the site did not see value in it. Given the state the site is in now, I do not see a future where such a repository of information would be needed or used. If implemented, it would have been a great source for modders. Modding Staff This was a great idea that I developed. The idea was to create staff who would give "personalized" care to Modders which in turn would promote TWC has the place for all Modders would "meet up" and collaborate their ideas and coordinate projects. Unfortunately, the project turned in the wrong direction and many modders want nothing to do with TWC which, in their words, failed to support the modding" community. It was a shame that an idea developed through communication with other modders were not embraced by the administration. TWC will now have to move "back" to being a "discussion forum" as modding has moved on from the site. I would like to thank all of the modders who shared their ideas and hopes and apologize for not doing more to make TWC the home you hoped it would be. Please keep in touch. UNDER DEVELOPMENT My Total War Games I currently own the following Total War games; Medieval II, Empire, Napoleon, Shogun II, Rome II, and Attila, Thrones of Britannia. Games I have previously owned are; Shogun and Medieval. These games were lost as the result of constantly moving from one location to the other. The only Total War games I do not own is Rome and Warhammer. My Paradox Games He also owns the following Paradox game; Victoria 2, Europa Universalis IV, City Skylines, Stellaris, Crusader Kings II, and Hearts of Iron IV Personal Projects History Live Laboratory A Modding Projects for Imperial Splendour (Mods for Vanilla and Imperial Splendour) TWC Genealogy Project A Project of TWC Rich History Historical Society and Repository Project PikeStance Experience A Personal Blog Project Live Action Gallery A visual Arts Project] Wiki Project	BIO Joined the site in May 2011 RANK Citizen PATRON Omnipotent-Q MEMBER OF The Great House of Wild Bill Kelso PATRON OF 26 MEMBERS _Tataros_ :(Profile) (Artifex) Magister Militum Flavius Aetius (Profile)(Citizen) Alwyn (Profile) (Citizen) Lord Oda Nobunaga (Profile) (Citizen) Massive_attack (Profile) (Citizen) Hayabusa Sushi (Profile) (Artifex) Darios (Profile) (Civitate) Destin Faroda (Profile) (Artifex) z3n (Profile) (Aetifex/Opifex ) Tenerife Boy (Profile) (Artifex) Bran Mac Born (Profile) (Artifex) M@x1mus (Profile) (Artifex) Zipzopdippidybopbop (Profile) (Citizen) Blastoise Groudon (Profile) (Citizen) izzi (Profile) (Artifex) VadAntS (Profile) (Artifex) Goutlard (Profile) (Artifex) Commissar Caligula_ (Profile) (Artifex) QuintusSertorius (Profile) (Artifex) HighOnTea (Profile) (Artifex) ♔Greek Strategos♔ (Profile) (Citizen) Jurand of Cracow (Profile) (Civtate) Slyk (Profile) (Artifex) Daruwind (Profile) (Civitate) zoner16 (Profile) (Civitate) 20ninescene (Profile) (Artifex) STAFF & COMMITTEE POSITIONS Modding Staff: October 2018- Present Wiki Content Staff: Spring - Autumn 2017 Modding Awards Committee: 2014- 2017 Vault Staff: 2013- 2017 (In Hiatus) Librarian: 2012- 2013 ELECTED POSITIONS Magistrate: 2 Terms Sept. 2016 - Dec. 2016 Nov. 2017 - Jan. 2018 Censor: 3 Terms Jan. 2015 - Apr 2015 Nov. 2015 - Feb. 2016 May 2016 - Aug. 2016 Curator: 1 Term June 2015 - Aug. 2015 AWARDS Scribe's Quill (Bronze) For Service to the Scriptorium as a Librarian (Content Staff) Technician's Screwdriver (Silver) For service to the Modding Vault (Vault Staff) 2016 Modding Award Winner Runner-up in the Most Popular Modder category. African Slave Trade: Best Audio and Visual Mod Sea Power: Best Game-play Mod 2017 Site Awards Winner Awarded for winning Best Curialist in the 2017 Site Awards. 2017 Curia Service Award Awarded for serving the Curia with distinction for a period exceeding six months, as voted upon by the Curia.
MODDING PROJECTS HISTORY LIVE LABORATORY I am primarily interested in modding Campaign and Battle AI behavior. In addition I also mod economic factors as well as making changes that are more historically accurate. My primary modding is in the DB tables with some minor modification with the startpos. It is my personal goal to learn to mod scripting Lua as well. Through my modding activities connected with the Imperial Splendour mod, I will occasionally develop aspects of the game for the community at large to use. This page is design to allow easy access to all of the mods have released. Member of the MODDB Community IMPERIAL SPLENDOUR Imperial Splendour- Mod for Empire Total War Mod Leader | Project Leader | DB Editor | Historian Imperial Splendour attempts to create the best Empire: Total War experience possible without destroying the essence of the game, with an eye towards expanding and enriching the experience, while adding to the game's realism whenever possible. Our main work has been to complete the former IS 2.1.4 release so as to update it and enable you to get the best Empire Total War experience. We are currently on version IS 2.2.1b. The greatest innovation in that release of Imperial Splendour is the evolution of the uniforms, separating the Grand Campaign into three periods (Early, Middle, Late). Each period allows you a different roster so as to be the most historically accurate. The uniform changes by stages and by revolution, so as to be consistent to correspond with major conflicts of the 18th century. A second aspect of Imperial Splendour is to offer a unique gameplay experience with each faction. Are you interested in modding or joining Imperial Splendour Development team; then visit here! OR, contact wangrin (Mod Leader) or PikeStance (Mod Manager)
RELEASE SUBMODS Pike's Tactical Commander Tactical Commander is a battle realism submod for Imperial Splendour. The Current Version is 2.0 The Tactical Commander is a trial Battle Mechanic adjustment submod with the purpose of providing a more historically accurate portrayal of 18th-century combat while creating a more challenging game-play. There are, however, a number of challenges. We are limited to what we can and cannot modify and the A.I. is limited to what it can handle. The following is the result of countless hours of testing and adjustment and it is a work in progress. Imperial Splendour is committed to producing the most historically accurate modification possible without sacrificing challenging gameplay. The goal of this mod is to create a more realistic feel to battles. It is also meant to be MORE challenging. In some cases, sacrifices of realism was made to create a more challenging outcome. Visual: The men in units stand too far apart. In this mod, units stand in tighter formation reflecting historical accuracy of the time. Morale: Units are more sensitive to casualties than in the actual mod and in vanilla. Inland battles, units are more sensitive to casualties, so units will no longer continue to fight losing 40% or 75% of their men. Units are also more sensitive to being attacked in the flanks, so it is advisable to retreat if the possibility of being flank exist. (The rear has not bee reduce in order to promote retreats). Units will also recover from being routed. They will generally retreat a safe distance, but too far from the battle. Cavalry are also very sensitive. Three things happen in a charge [1] You win the initial contact / the other 'bounce" [2] Your unit 'bounce' and the other side wins the contact OR [3] Both units 'bounce' In this case, 'bounce' means route. While cavalry units will recover, in some cases, they do route off the map. This is historically accurate. It is important to use your mounted units carefully. However, there is still never a bad time for a cavalry charge! Fatigue: The mod does not use 'fatigue' Instead I use 'cohesion'. That is how effective can units stay under the command and follow orders. Shooting, running, fighting all reduce cohesion. AS a unit loses cohesion, there effectiveness and accuracy are reduced. Also Cavalry units will lose cohesion when charging and attacking units. You will not longer be able to charge about the battlefield. Weapons: Artillery, Naval, and land units have had their effectiveness or accuracy reduced to be more accurate. Artillery reduces morale of units it is shooting at. CAI Overhaul Beta Testing Our goal at Imperial Splendour isn't just to create a unique gameplay experience for the player, but to create a unique gameplay behavior for the AI as well PRIMARY: We are working on creating unique modification for AI behavior. This entails significant modification of AI behavior and personality. SECONDARY: To improve the economic realism of the game as well as creating more realistic large scale battles. Rise of the Republic Battle Enhancement for v2.2.1b This is an enhancement of the effects that is seen in the Rise of the Republic. Better smoke and firing effects and no tracers. No Projectile Trails Submod This is for Both 2.2.1b and Rise of the Republic. All of the "annoying white streaks are gone. Your only clue of a bad shot is when the bullets hit the ground! No Rain Mod It removes rain from the battle map VANILLA MODS Orange Crush Are you tired of the Orange Horde destroying your game with unhistorical behavior? Do you wish it would act as it did in the 18th century? I believe I have a solution for you. From the trial lab of Imperial Splendour, I give you the Orange Crush! This mod changes the way Maratha behavior based on historical facts. The Vanilla game did very little to differentiate one faction from another. As a result, Maratha would behave like a European colonial faction. Its focus as been restored to recapturing "India" from the Mughal Empire. My purpose was not to prevent the possibility of the Maratha from capturing most of "India," but to inhibit its growth to allow European powers to arrive. Also, it prevents Maratha from "exploring" outside of "India" and prevents Maratha from sending predatory armies outside their historical interest. This is the Beta version of the mod, so they may still be some issues. Please report any problems in this thread. African Slave trade Mod First, The Imperial Splendour Development team would like to thank argonian68 for his tutorial for adding the slave trade. You can see his tutorial here. My goal is to create the best Empire: Total War experience possible without destroying the essence of the game, with an eye towards expanding and enriching the experience, while adding to the game's realism and historical accuracy whenever possible. (Imperial Splendour) Historical Context There was a huge demand in Europe for sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Initially, Native Americans and indentured servants were used. However, Native Americans either became ill or ran away easily. Most indentured servants didn’t survive their indentured contract and it didn’t take long for the harsh conditions to reach Europe. A new labor source needed to be found. It was. Africa! The Slave Trade from 16th to the mid- 19th century, about 12.5 million slaves had been shipped from Africa, and 10.7 million had arrived in the Americas. The volume of slaves carried off from Africa reached 30,000 per year in the 1690s and 85,000 per year in the 18th century. The main destinations were the Caribbean colonies and Brazil, as European nations built up economically slave-dependent colonies in the New World. Slightly more than 3% of the enslaved people exported from Africa were traded between 1450 and 1600, and 16% in the 17th century. It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the British, Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted from Africa. Geographical Context As you can note from the two maps (Slave trade map & ETW trade Nodes) there is a clear correlation between the location of the nodes and the location the slaves were acquired. Mod Content The Mod changes the image of ivory tusks to the choice of three slavery images. It also changes the text from "ivory" to "Slaves," "Ship(s) of Slaves" when you mouse over the images. THERE WILL BE THREE CHOICES AVAILABLE TO CHOOSE FROM; Sea Power Mod OBJECTIVE The objective is to create more authentic and historical gameplay. HISTORICAL CONTEXT European powers already had 1st rated ships (Ships of the Line) at the start of the 18th century. MOD CONTENT It allows for the construction of Ship of the Line ships at game start. In order to allow balance the Naval technology will be change to allow more advantages in firepower, accuracy, speed, and maneuverability. There will also be a limit set for the number of ships that can be built consistent with historical records. The cost of the Ship of the Line vessels will be increased to had a premium for protecting them. Ship of the Line's vessels is restricted to European powers & the United States. No More Winters Mod MOD CONTENT The MOD visually removes the season of winter. Consequently, the battle will also not have any snow on the ground. The "season of winter" still exists in the game files. The mod loads the summer world image instead of the winter image. Since the game still recognizes the season of winter, you still will have the probability of snow during battles. If you like rain or snow, this mod will not change that. In fact, the mod does not alter that specific game file. So, if you currently have a climate mod, this mod will not conflict at all. It is also possible to change the text from Winter to whatever you want. Personally I would switch Summer to Fall or Autumn and Winter to Spring. However, this would be imperfect if you do more than 2 turns per year. Whatever you choose it will be imperfect unless you come up with something out of the box. For this reason I am no rush to create a "text" file alteration. IMPLICATIONS You are now free to implement as many turns per season as you would like without dealing with the "zebra effect" of the seasons. Up until now, the best solution had been to have three turns per year to have two summers and then one winter. However, this means each turn is 4 months long. If you do not like the fact it takes you 8 months to go from Madrid to Lisbon, then this may be the MOD for you. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The vast majority of battles were not fought in Winter. The weapons were not conducive to winter campaigns. Moreover, the game does not have climate attrition. You will lose little historical significance by removing winters in the gameplay.
GENEALOGY PROJECT WHAT IS THIS One of my earliest interest/hobbies was and still is genealogy. I enjoyed the mystery and the discovery of new information that shed some light on my families background. So taking my passion for that hobby, I set out for fun to do the same for "TWC Houses." As some, you may know that many of the "Houses" are not an absolute listing of who "beget" who but are politically pieced together. An extreme example is the "House of Caesar." Many citizens would often change their "patron" for political motives and to this day many people still list themselves in their signatures, not under the patron that patronized them, but the one they chose out of these political concerns of the time. This project restores the original connection to show where citizens "come from." WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED Most members originate out of 7 Founding members of the forum. These are the "First Citizens." This means the admin selective chose them to be citizens. They are; GodEmperor Nicholas | Manji | Rububula | Siblesz | the Black Prince | Wild Bill Kelso | Wilpuri There are three "Original citizens" who did patronize citizens, but they do not have any active members. Lord Tomyris | Frood | Trobalov There are an additional 14 possible first citizens. There are some members who descend from the following of unknown origin, but most likely original citizens as well. bgreman | smoke The following are citizens of unknown origin with patronages who no longer active. Richard the Lionheart | Lord Mountbatten (unknown person) Finally, the original "owner" of the site; Paul AREAS OF HELP Issues: I did this some months ago. There is significant information missing. The site lost about two and half years worth of information concerning patronization of citizen. The PDF would indicate any inconsistencies in the records, as well as, any "gaps" in the records. The "gap" years are dates prior to December of 2003 and much of 2004 and 2005. They might be some missing applications in 2006. There is also one person who has to patronize. I kept them in each group but highlighted in yellow. For more information, please visit the forum page
HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY Creator and member of the Historical Research Society. In the process of creating a comprehensive resource repository called the ARCHIVUM Archivum The Archivum is for the storing of historical resources which includes web- links, nooks, journals, documentaries, etc... The Archivum is intended to be use by historical researchers, modders and writers of AARs. If you are interested, please join