Which LOTR mod is best?

[carlc]

I'm new to Medieval 2, and love Lord of the Rings. That there is a strong modding community that have focused on LOTR is probably why I got this TW when the sale was on. Now that I am close to playing, I'm not sure which mod to get. I've seen or read about Third Age and also Divide & Conquer. Advice?

And, to perhaps complicate it a bit, I am a Mac-user, so I realize that may make implementing the mod harder. If either is better or easier, or I guess not available for Mac gamers, please keep that in mind.

Thank you.

[Gunther von Rittersburg]

There is between 1 and 2 million posts here about those mods. one is exclusively for multiplayer and the other has a single player campaign. I think Divide and conquer is the multiplayer mod, but its been a long time so i probably got it backwards.

[Dazooe]

Divide and Conquer is the single player one and my favourite

[carlc]

Thank you both. I did search it, Gunther, and as you noted, there are many, many posts about LOTR generally. Since I only play Single Player, then I suppose D&C is it! :)

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by Gunther von Rittersburg:

There is between 1 and 2 million posts here about those mods. one is exclusively for multiplayer and the other has a single player campaign. I think Divide and conquer is the multiplayer mod, but its been a long time so i probably got it backwards.

Reforged is the MP one

[EnemigoDeLaMafia]

I'd suggest you try both to get the one more akin to your liking. The base mod is third age 3.2. Then divide and conquer is a submod to that one.

I got no experience with divide and conquer, but have played third age. It's a fun experience at least the first times, although it gets a bit grindy and repetitive. The AI gets a LOT of cheats and you pretty much have to expertly fight most battles to win. Along with design choices that make it very grindy.

Case in point.. I was playing as Dale. I got my main city which can only upgrade to wooden walls, and a city that can upgrade fully but with pathetic population and miserable income. I got to make my way south and push as agressively as possible before rhun gets to be an economical power and just stomps everything with top tier units. However all I have currently Is those two cities, and another 2 pathetic villages that will quite literally will not grow until turn 120 or so.

There is a little castle down there that must be taken so I proceed to do that. And then slowly and methodically beat rhun in a huge campaign.

What is not said is that rhun actually starts with quite a few cities with income on the thousands each.
Unlike me, they can actually recruit everything at every time. So they do. Every turn I'm fighting the little 3 to 5 units stacks, sometimes multiple, before they join a main army and cause trouble.

The recruitment is one thing that really bothers me along with the populations and the cheats the AI gets. (Free units out of nowhere, can't go broke, etc)

The population is made so that it you do not build every single population building, it will never advance to the next tiers. Those buildings are very expensive. And even then since the growth is so slow, I was not upgrading to wooden walls until turn 150 or so for most of the area. I needed such upgrades to get my tier 2 infantry going. Otherwise I was severely limited to tier 1 and even with tier 1 the replenishment was something like 7 to 10 turns. The AI doesn't need to worry because they just get added population every few turns.

Now DESPITE all of this, It's still a good experience specially the first times I'd say. I think D & C fixes some of that, but I don't know and I'm yet to try it myself. It's probably good to try to original just to get a feel for it.

Some factions Don't really have many of the same issues ad Dale, but playing as the good guys seems definitely harder.

Edit: both third age 3.2 vanilla and DAC are single player experiences. The multiplayer one is "reforged"

What divide and conquer does is add more units and factions to the game as well as expand the map. It probably helps with the late game because since they are different factions there is not one AI That goes on rampage, although this is theoretical.

[carlc]

Thanks Disciple. I think, or am pondering, that I should just play Medieval 2 vanilla to make sure I understand the game. Having started with Warhammer, I realize that the TW games were far more deep previously. I did play, and enjoy, Shogun 2 in this past year, and could see the greater depth or complexity, certainly to city development as compared to the WH series.

[EnemigoDeLaMafia]

If you started with WH, probably vanilla is the way to go. Things are notoriously different. Specially the building, the morale system and the replenishment.

You are not limited at all on buildings. All you gotta check is whether a settlement is a castle or a city. You can build as many things as you like on them given you have time.

There is no supply line mechanics and you can train generals to be governors, although this requires some understanding of the trait system.

Also the morale is completely different. I like it much more in this game.

The diplomacy is also absolutely not reliable on vanilla. On kingdoms is better, but be prepared for everyone to betray you on vanilla.

Finally, third age total war is brutally hard compared to vanilla, so at least understanding how medieval 2 works is necessary I'd say.

[carlc]

Thank you so much Disciple. Shogun 2 was certainly different. I did my research for sure, and will here. After all the accolades I’ve read and heard about, I can’t wait to try. I do love WH2, but I also love history and am ready to give it a go. I’ll certainly keep asking questions. So many here are great with advice and guidance.

[lazycat1984]

Where do you get mods of any kind?

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by lazycat1984:

Where do you get mods of any kind?

On the mod market, its like a black market, for mods.

[Tebok]

hey, Im also wondering about this, and in particular I'm wondering whether to play v. 3.2 or jump into 4.0.
(anyone know the main difference between the versions, like a proper change/dev log of 4.0? I couldn't find much on the mod db webssite)

[Inardesco]

4.0 is an unofficial mod that has stolen assets without permission.

So if you want to play Third Age vanilla, pick 3.2.

[Tebok]

so is 3.2 vanilla and not divide and conquer? what's the difference

also how is reforged different? cheers

[Inardesco]

Third Age 3.2 is the "standard" LotR mod on which other mods build further, like Divide and Conquer (DaC) and Massive Overhaul Submod (MOS).

Third Age 3.2 hasn't been updated since 2009. Divide and Conquer had an update last year (4.5) and primarily focusses on singleplayer campaigns with a large variety in factions and player choices.

Third Age Reforged is a mod build around the multiplayer communities and features a lot in Pixelated Apollo's Third Age videos.

[Tebok]

great, thanks for the info. I guess 4.5 is the one for me then