Third Age: Total War
Third Age: Total War
Third Age: Total War is a Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms total conversion about the conflicts in Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age.
It lets the player take part in a war of Good against Evil, with them being able to join either side. The faction list includes Gondor and the Dwarves on the side of Good, and Mordor on the side of Evil.
The mod features an accurate map of Middle-earth as it was in the Third Age, including 114 settlements taken straight from Middle-earth lore and completed with several fictional locations as well as famous places like the Black Gate, Minas Tirith and many more. The units have been created based on the lore of Middle-earth, with visual cues taken from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
A new campaign, battle AI and unit recruitment based on culture, as well as regional recruitment, serve to increase the difficulty of the campaign. The faction list includes Gondor, Rohan, the High and Silvan Elves, the Dwarves, Eriador, Dale, Isengard, Mordor, Rhun, Harad, the Orcs of Gundabad, and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, each faction with its own strengths and weaknesses.
The mod's appearance has been altered in almost every way compared to MIITW Vanilla, featuring an almost complete rework of the 2D and 3D design and many new sounds and music tracks, including the Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack.
This modification comes with an installer and is completely mod-foldered.
One can view some screenshots of the mod here and download it here.
The Map
Play on an extensive historically accurate map of Middle-earth as it was in the Third Age, including 114 settlements taken straight from Middle-earth lore and completed with several fictional locations. Visit the wonders of Middle-earth, like the Three Towers, the Argonath or Durin's tower and see all the unique locations of Middle-earth like Minas Tirith, the Black Gate or Isengard. See the hills of Rohan, the huge forest of the Mirkwood and the dark ash of Mordor.
The Factions
Play with all important factions of the Third Age, including Gondor, Rohan, High and Silvan Elves, Dwarves, Eriador, Dale, Isengard, Mordor, Rhun, Harad and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains. Every faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, benefits and disadvantages on the battle as well as the campaign map. Decide if you want to face your enemy with a small, but trained and heavily armored army or if you count on masses of units to overrun your foes. The unit design is based on visual references of the Lord of the rings movie trilogy, completed with fictional units and artwork, all based on the lore of Middle-earth.
Gondor
Fields of strong defensive units with good armor, has few but powerful knights from minas tirith and dol amroth, but they lack too much flexibility in battle. They are initially surrounded by both Harad and Mordor, with many battles raging across Osgiliath, Cair Andros,Minas tirith,pellenor fields and Ithilien.
Rohan
Supports a large variety of cavalry useful for covering the flat plains of the Riddermark, but lacks good infantry. The lands of the Rohirrim run up against the southern tip of the Misty Mountains, the land of Isengard.
Silvan Elves
The Silvan elves in Lorien and Mirwood has a diverse army but is lacking good Cavalry. The archers are the best in all of Middle Earth, and they use a lot of them. Due to their position they have enemies in nearly all sides, and Lorien is often under a great pressure by Orcs of the misty mounatins and Mordor.
High Elves
The High elves field a diverse roster with archers as the best units, they are second only to the Silvan Elves in power. Their starting position is as a very divided nation, with the capital far away from any other city. Their capital is right next to both Orcs of Gundabad and Orcs of the misty mountains and should be guarded tightly. The rest of the settlements are far from any harm and unless the player choose to expand they will be untouched for a greater part of the game.
Dwarves
The Dwarves are split across two mountain ranges, the Blue Mountains on the far west side of Middle Earth, and the Iron Hills due east of the Misty Mountains near the eastern edge of the known world. Dwarven soldiers are known for their heavy armor and armor piercing weapons, making them the most powerful infantry of all Middle Earth. However, they are sorely lacking in ranged power and efficient cavalry (although Dwarves can train crossbowmen and hire Dale cavalry from their allies to the south). Their position split across both maps and their goal, the Mines of Moria, located in the center of the map create a unique campaign with varied strategies far removed from the qualms of men to the south in the lands the Gondor...
Dale
Dale is a nation in the northeast corner of the map with few starting settlements. They field a good variety of units and are recommended for begnners. Their main, and nearly only enemy is Rhun to the southwest, as the other sides are covered by allies.
Isengard
Although initially pumping out weak but numerous units similar to other Orc-centered factions (such as the Snaga), Isengard differs in that it's highest tier of units are the feared, heavily armored, and disciplined Uruk-hai, encased in steel plate armor and wield ferocious pikes, swords, and crossbows to counter their southern enemy, the riders of Rohan.
Eriador
Starting with numerous provincial units, as of 2.0 Eriador can be renewed as the kingdom of Arnor. This event changes the faction banner and strat models, as well as replacing the unit list with a new federalized Arnorian list.
Harad
Harad is a desert faction similar to Egypt in Vanilla but with some mighty units like the Mumakil, and the troll men. They have a variety of light infantry, archers and Cavalry but lack heavy units. Theur navy is very good. They also has one of the best economys in the game due to them being sorrounded by allies. Harads main (and only) enemy is Gondor.
Rhun
Rhun is similar to the turks in vanilla, and field a variety of light units, but also some heavy ones, as the supreme Cataphrachts. They have allies on most sides and only has two main enemies Dale and Erebor.
Orcs of the misty mountains
Orcs of the misty mountiains fields a variety of units including the mighty trolls. But else than the Wargs they field no cavalry which is a big minus, they are also sorrounded by enemies and moderate players must expect to lose some land.
Orcs of Gundabad
Orcs of Gundabad field very similar unit types as Orcs of the Misty Mountains, but also has some men as mercs, including a cavalry unit, their trolls are also stronger. They are also sorrounded but have a good defensive position. Their main enemies is Dwarves, Eriador and High elves.
The Gameplay
The end of the Third Age is a time where good and evil wage a decisive war for the final domination of Middle-earth. Both ways, freeing the good people of Middle earth as well as bringing the world under the shadow will not be an easy task for the player. A new campaign and battle AI will make the player's life much harder and a unit recruitment based on a cultural level and a regional recruitment requires strategically decisions and will slow down your expansion if not properly planned. The AI will also receive certain bonuses like extra money or additional armies if they get in serious trouble to compensate the lack of human intelligence and the lack of income through missions.
The fellowship campaign
With Third age total war King Kong and team introduced a new custom campaign, making the player control the fellowship of the ring on the quest towards Mount doom. They follow the timeline of the movie, but introduces Side quests which can be tried at any time. The campaign allows the player to play in many of the great battles of middle earth such as the battle of Helms deep and againist the Balrog. The quest are based around an agent used as a mission marker and varios scripts throuhout the game. City building and planning is nearly removed from the campaign.
The Design
In order to reflect the world of Middle-earth as good as possible, there is an almost complete rework of the 2D and 3D design, including the menu, the interface, the symbols and pictures and much more. To create an even deeper atmosphere, all cultures have a unique set of music and unit sounds and voices were completely changed for many factions. Lastly there is a huge amount of new videos, including the intro, the faction intros and many in-game events.
