New great mods for strategy games (November 2014)
We check out some of the hottest mods released for strategy games in a last few months. It's great time to reinstall titles like Medieval: Total War 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War-Soulstorm back to your hard drive.
In our last list we brought You a comparison of the most interesting mods that came out last summer. This time we proudly bring You a rundown of the best new mods for strategy games.
Europa Barbarorum 2 for Medieval II: Total War - Kingdoms
Probably the most important mod of the last few weeks was Europa Barbarorum 2 for Medieval II: Total War – Kingdoms. The project takes us back to ancient times, in practice reconstructing the realities known from Rome: Total War on the superior engine of the next game in the series. In spite of the name, the mod doesn’t focus on barbaric tribes alone and lets us take control of all of the powers of that time, including the Roman Empire.
The makers of the mod have changed all of the maps, units, factions and technologies. At the same time, the entirety is much more realistic than in Rome: Total War. Historical inaccuracies have been fixed, the gameplay became more balanced and the AI has been improved. The first release of the mod has rightfully gained the legendary status, and it seems that the successor is destined to follow in its’ footsteps.
Westeros: Age of Petty Kings for Medieval II: Total War – Kingdoms
Medieval II: Total War – Kingdoms players who are fond of the fantasy genre, should take notice of the project called Westeros: Age of Petty Kings. The modification sets the game in the realm known from the television show Game of Thrones based on the sublime A Song of Ice and Fire saga. The campaign begins centuries before the events known from the books and the show, allowing us to take part in the events that have shaped the Westeros history.
The authors have changed basically everything – from maps, factions, units to technology. The mod is exceptionally done and greatly emulates the feeling of the saga set in the land of the Seven Kingdoms.
Colonialism 1600AD for Empire: Total War
Colonialism 1600AD is a mod for Empire: Total War, which takes the game back in time to the 17th century, while focusing on recreating the political and military realities of the colonial period. All of the factions were thoroughly redone, and new ones have been added. The mod also features a healthy dose of new units and technology.
The new historic period has also greatly influenced almost every aspect of the game. For instance, the mod features the dawn of the armor era and foreshadows the militaristic dominance of firearms on the battlefield.
Roma Acta est Fabula for Medieval II: Total War - Kingdoms
Fans of Medieval II: Total War should look out for the Roma Acta est Fabula mod. The Project recreates the dawn of the Roman Empire, with the campaign spanning years from 438 to 506. We can control the Roman Empire itself, and prevent the destruction, or hasten the fall of the Empire leading one of the six playable factions, amongst which the barbarian tribes are obviously present.
The author has put much effort into perfecting the artificial intelligence, pushing the SI modules to their limits. The computer-led opponents are more competent and don’t make idiotic mistakes, and actually act the way their historical counterparts did back in the day.
SPQR for Rome: Total War
The SPQR: Total War project that has been expanded upon for nine years, and has recently been graced with the awaited version 9.0. The modification treats Rome: Total War players to a much more historically realistic version of the beloved game. In order to achieve this goal, new units have been added, and numerous changes were implemented in order to balance the gameplay.
Lowering the costs of managing a single village decrease greatly in this mod, resulting in much bigger armies taking part in battles. Apart from that, experienced soldiers panic less and some of them (like Spartans for example) prefer death to fleeing. The tactical aspect of battles has also been strengthened and is more rewarding to those using clever tactics, like, let’s say, flanking.
Upgrading Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
Many fans of the cult series from Ensemble, were severely disappointed by the announcement of Age of Empires: Castle Siege, which has little to do with the previous entries in the series, and was destined for the mobile games market as a Clash of Clans clone. Luckily, three mods were released, that should make the historical RTS fans happy once more.
The first one being UPatch HD for Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. The project fulfils the role of an unofficial update, fixing the game and adjusting it to modern platforms. The team behind the mod has provided wide-screen support (resolution up to 1920x1200), eliminated over 150 mistakes, enlarged the scope of multiplayer battles, and improved the balance and the overall look of the graphics.
It all results in a game being enjoyable even today, and giving the newcomers a taste of what made the original Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome the cult classic it is. What is worth mentioning is the fact Microsoft has somehow ‘lost’ the source code and the graphic assets for the game, so the chances for a HD version are close to none.
Mods for Crusader Kings II
Crisis of the Confederation
The fans of Crusader Kings II weren’t exactly idle, with the first big release being the playable version of Crisis of the Confederation. This project lets us travel in time and space from the medieval era, to a 31st century of a grim futuristic universe inspired by the likes of table-top war games Fading Suns and Warhammer 40.000, or novels such as Dune and Foundation. In this brutal environment, we can take the roles of an army officer, a politician, a crime lord, or try to balance and combine those all at once. The story background features the rebellion of a charismatic Juan Lebedev against the titular Confederation governed by president Morgan Afolatan.
Ruthenia
By contrast, the Ruthenia project strives to make the setting of Russia and its neighbors much more compelling to visit. In order to achieve that, all of the eastern Slavic tribes were given a unique cultural identity. A cultural conversion system has been added, alongside a greatly remodeled campaign, introducing new regions, characters and various historical events.
Orbital Wars : Reborn for Supreme Commander
Planetary Annihilation didn’t fulfill all of the expectations, so many players might want to go back to the RTS game Supreme Commander. The interested party should consider trying out the Orbital War: Reborn project, which adds a new tactical layer to the gameplay. In the basic version, we take control of naval, ground, and air units. Meanwhile, the mod adds a fourth option, which takes battles to space. Entire spaceship armadas can battle on the orbit, or support us on the planet surface.
Klingon Academy II: Empire at War for Star Trek: Armada II
The RTS Star Trek: Armada II is still being supported and has just witnessed a new version of a famous mod – Klingon Academy II: Empire at War. The release expands upon the previous project KA2: The General War and takes from it the enhanced tactical elements, offering more options, technology, units and abilities. It also enhances the strategic module, which results in slowing down the production of galactic fleets. From now on it requires vast resources, good planning and carrying out complicated research.
For all the trekies out there, one of the biggest attractions of the mod is witnessing the history of the development of all the races’ spaceships and under which conditions did the most famous units emerge.
Enhancement Mod for Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Another noteworthy project is the Enhancement Mod for Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, which also plays the role of a massive unofficial update. The authors behind this one have focused on perfecting the core gameplay, rather than implementing drastic changes. The graphics have been improved, issues caused by the developers were fixed and the gameplay balance has been taken care of. The game’s factions have also received a vast set of new units.
The project is aimed at those yearning for an experience close to the original, but much more refined.
Reversal Mod for Ground Control 2
One should also take notice of the Reversal Mod for Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. The project tackles the issue of the gameplay balance that the fan community was craving for. Apart from that, the modders let us play all of the three sides of the conflict.
Upgrading Empire Earth II
The last mod we would like to recommend to fans of the historic RTS genre is the Unofficial Patch for Empire Earth II. This mod improves the graphics and adds support of high resolution wide-screen (even up to 4096x2304) while providing compatibility with modern configurations and operating system.
The modders have also fixed bugs, optimized the code, added a ton of new effects and greatly revamped the interface. New buildings and tech were not left out. It’s a necessity for all the fans, and a great opportunity to get started with Empire Earth II, one of the best RTS releases of its’ kind.
Firestorm over Kaurava for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War-Soulstorm
Firestorm over Kaurava is one of the best and most popular mods for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. At long last, the project has a version adjusted to the Soulstorm expansion. The mod introduces two splendidly crafted factions of the Inquistion and Dark Eldar, and gives the remaining armies a handful of new units.
The core balance and gameplay mechanics have been redone, as to be more logics – no more can You destroy a building solely depending on guns. Additionally, the interface has experienced a makeover.All of that, to faithfully recreate the feeling of the table-top original.
Galaxy in Fire Reloaded for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War-Soulstorm
Another intriguing mod for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm which has received a newer version is the famous Galaxy in Fire Reloaded. This project rehashes the factions, unit balance and gameplay mechanics as to expand upon tactical aspects focusing mainly on map control and resources management.
The modders have modified the factions in such a fashion, that every single one would require a different play style, and the arms system forces us to change our approach for particular enemies. Above all else however, from now on the strongest units cost incomparably more, which resulted in weaker units gaining importance – one simply can’t win a battle without the cannon fodder. The authors have also endowed us with new units, models, textures and sounds.
Act of War
Few days before gamescom, Eugene studio has revealed Act of Aggression, a RTS supposed to be the soul successor to their debut game – Act of War. The latter, despite being almost a decade-old, is still a masterpiece strategy game worth coming back to. Obviously, mods make that comeback much more enjoyable. The best of them being Proper Windows 7 Fix, which guarantees the game to run smoothly on the Windows 7 system.
Another significant mod is the recent Resolution Patch, which implements high-res compatibility, thanks to which the black lines that were an eyesore on newer monitors are no longer present.
The game itself never managed to gather a significant modding community. Nevertheless, a few quite original mods were released. One them is the Battle of the Alamo mod which introduces a new mission, in which we must survive against powerful waves of enemies. Victory isn’t an option as we are forced to merely postpone the inevitable.
The other one worth remembering is Navy Invaders which adds a new mission concentrating only on naval units, in which we must survive against increasingly powerful waves of enemies. Similarly to Battle of Alamo, this mod puts us at odds with increasingly powerful waves of enemies whom we cannot eventually surpass.
Mods for the Men of War: Assault Squad series
In the recent weeks we have also seen a wave of releases from the enthusiasts of the Men of War: Assault Squad. The best recent mods for the game include:
- Bataille de Peleliu - a mini-campaign consisting of three missions in which we relive the titular Battle of Peleliu that took place from 15th September to 25th November of 1944 between the American and Japanese armies.
- Factory Assault – a massive singleplayer mission in which, while controlling soviet forces, we must take over a factory and a nearby town.
- SS Radio Station – a new singleplayer map set in northern France in 1944. We take control of a small unit of the american army, and are tasked with gaining control of a german broadcasting station.
Amongst the mods for Men of War: Assault Squad 2 those that stand out are:
- Bilawal Talpur's AS:2 Missions – a set of five large singleplayer missions that are remastered versions of successful missions from the first game in the series.
- Fastlegs British Campaign – a new singleplayer mission set near the town of Authie in France where we can play as both the British, as well as the German side of the conflict. The mod features an interesting addition of a base that we can set up and from which we can summon reinforcements.
- Miggies Infantrie – a pack of three missions for the skirmish mode set in a town stricken with severe winter, concentrating on missions involving ground units.
- Miggies Skirmish Missions – a pack of two skirmish mode maps. One takes place at a snowy town, while the other has us battling over control of a British airport.
- The End SP Mission – a new defensive mission for singleplayer. Here we either play as the Germans or the soviets and defend a train from enemy offensive.
Star Trek: The Picard Era for Distant Worlds: Universe
Star Trek: The Picard Era is a mod for Distant Worlds: Universe, which, as the title suggests, lets us relive the events from the famous Star Trek: The Next Generation. Practically every element of the virtual universe has been changed, be it the factions, maps, spaceships or tech. Gameplay mechanics have also been greatly modified, as to closely resemble the Star Trek universe.
Ultimate Mod for Knights of Honor
We have finally received a new version of the anticipated Ultimate Mod for Knights of Honor. The mod expands upon the ideas of the previous mod called Dusk of Glory. The mod mostly expands the game and enriches its’ content. A few dozen new buildings have been added alongside with structure improvements and cities. The gameplay itself has also been modified, increasing the realism of the battles and fixing the errors made by the original’s creators.
Prothean Cycle for Distant Worlds
After more than a year of keeping it quiet, the modder behind Prothean Cycle for Distant Worlds strikes back. This particular mod takes us to the universe of the beloved sci-fi RPG from BioWare. Interestingly enough, the mod focuses entirely on the period 50 000 years before the saga featuring Commandor Shepard. In this era, the fabled Protheans have created an enormous empire stretching across countless systems. The player’s task is to unite the intelligent races and together stop the rebellion of the synthetics, thereafter rebut the Reapers invasion.
