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The Dawnless Days - Ships Pack Submod (UNOFFICIAL)

Ladies, Gentlemen,


PLEASE read the 'Counter Idiocy Act 2015', available publicly on my profile which sets out some basic agreements on using my mods. Upon subscription to this mod you agree to be bound to its terms.


SUMMARY –


• 5 years ago, I (also known as snowyussr) previously made the 'LOTR Units Pack' mod for Rome 2 and Attila. I have learnt a lot about quality since and thus have been reluctant to continue publishing my mods unless I had time to polish them. I am now the naval developer on 'The Dawnless Days' (previously 'Rise of Mordor') mod and am working with the team to include ships in the first campaign release. But before it comes around, I share with you my personal version of the naval progress as a submod.

• This mod aims to:
○ update the models, gameplay, and general quality of the naval combat element of my previous mod, 'LOTR Units Pack', and
○ make it a submod of the now released and popular 'The Dawnless Days' mod, v0.6 ALPHA.

• As such, this mod will now provide a naval combat experience for The Dawnless Days by adding custom-made ships for Gondor and Harad. Future updates will introduce ships for all navy-appropriate factions in Middle Earth. Current features include:
○ New ships with custom models and textures.
○ New unit icons and descriptions for all ships.
○ New marine units to provide a variety of combat roles.
○ Overhauled combat mechanics, while including the maximum of vanilla features such as rams, greek fire, grappling hooks, firepots, and firebombs.
○ New in-game advice and quotes explaining the new combat mechanics.


REQUIREMENTS –


• For this mod to work, you MUST subscribe to the The Dawnless Days mod available on moddb.
○ Please place this mod BEFORE rise_of_mordor_alpha_pack1_main_0.6.0.pack in your load order: ie, if the main pack has a load order of 5, this mod must be 4.
○ Further, please enable outdated modes on your Attila launcher.


COMPATIBILITY –


• No guarantee is made for this mod to work with other The Dawnless Days submods. They may work with this, or they may not.

• This mod may conflict with other mods editing ships. I have tried to use unique file naming wherever possible, but this is not possible to do with the models_naval_tables file at this stage. Very few naval mods will edit this, but if they do, you may experience ships that look graphically weird and are missing components (such as lacking fighting towers, or soldiers standing in mid-air above your ship). Just do not activate both mods if you are unsure.

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THE MOD IN DETAIL –

• The mod adds brand new, high quality assets to create naval rosters for factions in The Dawnless Days. There are, however, inherent limitations as to how far 'authentic' graphics can be introduced to the game engine, as ship layouts (where the crew stands, the animations for ships getting hit, sails and rigging) are hardcoded (though in the main team we are working to circumvent this: progress, however, will not be soon forthcoming). I have tried my best to create a 'Middle Earth aesthetic' by tweaking colours, redesigning vanilla textures, and adding props where appropriate to Rome 2 and Attila ships.

• As for gameplay, I have overhauled Attila's vanilla naval combat mechanics to make battles more engaging and last longer (less of a micro-fest). Each ship class in this mod has its own function in a broader rock-paper-scissors game.
○ Melee ships are used to intercept and tie down high-value enemy ships. Their crew have better melee stats than other ship variants, making even a medium ship useful in chasing down dangerous enemy units.
○ Missile (bow and ballista) ships have a supporting role to the main fight. They can deal high amounts of damage if left alone, but are not enough to sink an enemy ship by themselves.
○ Artillery ships are slow-firing, high-damage dealing units. Their rocks can crush enemy ships, but fire slowly and inaccurately. Over time, they can rack up their value.
○ Then we have close-range, high dps ships, such as ramming ships for Gondor, and fireships for Umbar. Use your melee ships to tie down the enemy and intercept their rams/fireships, and these can sink the enemy fleet by themselves.
○ There are also light ships: fast and nimble, and usually equipped with a respectable damage-dealing weapon to harrass the enemy, buut they are very fragile.

○ Ship crews have more men than standard land units. This makes landings more impactful but still balanced, as marines have lower morale and combat stats (due to their lack of training for land engagements).
○ Under this system, naval battles should last longer than vanilla and play out in a more fluid, controllable manner. However, it is still prone to the buggy framework of the vanilla naval mechanics. As such, I recommend PORT or LANDING ASSAULTS as the best way to enjoy this mod's experience.


FUTURE PLANS –

• Naval rosters for Dale and Rhûn. This will be done in the near future.

• As Rise of Mordor develops, naval rosters for the Elves and Mordor (such as the rafts seen in the Osgiliath assault).

• I am trying to find a way to include more morale criteria in naval battles to create a more dynamic battle experience.


KNOWN ISSUES –

• The trebuchet on the Gondor ships are disproportionately large. Unless the original creator of the RoM trebuchet makes a specific, smaller version of the model to be used on ships, the cost-reward ratio does not favour me doing it myself.

• Some port maps such as Dol Amroth from The Dawnless Days have not been optimised for naval combat. You will witness weird pathfinding issues by ships such as getting trapped in the jetties and doing fast spins. This issue is not mine: it is the mapmakers'.

• The crew spacing on the light Gondor and Umbar ships is slightly off. This is especially noticeable during boarding, where a few soldiers will stand in the air in front of the ship. I used a larger metadata model (the bireme) in order to fit the artilley pieces onto them; I judged this a necessary sacrifice to Ulmo as the bireme models are too 'iconically from classical history' to be included in the mod, yet I wanted those artillery slots.

• Unit icons is my worst skill. I do not believe the edited icons for the marines are in the same quality as the ones used by Rise of Mordor.

• Because this mod relies on vanilla ships to an extent, some ships may not look like they work from a 'realism' factor. Attila ships are flat-bottomed because they are built for the Mediterranean (dromons and especially liburnians). Gondor and Umbar, however, border the Belegaer (ocean) – it is unfortunate that their ships must look like they could capsize on the high seas.

Thank you Valued Customers.