Scenario in progress: Mesopotamia Wars 4
For a while i have been working on a new scenario named Mesopotamia Wars 4.
Based on my old maps in AoM and AoM:EE with similar names.
As some know the game referes to an old scenario called Peloponessian Wars.
It’s a (sort of) geographical scenario, played in supremacy style with a bit more speed (like lightning but less fast as).
Every player is a different faction, in this case in the region Mesopotamia.
This time with the new triggers i’m writing an overhaul of the civilizations of the players. Because minor gods can be changed (you can pick another one, change name, description etc). And you can add and remove technologies, units, rename all of them and change their costs, descriptions and icons.
The game will mainly focus on several Mesopotamian factions: Sumer, Babylon, Elam and Assyria.
Adding to that there will also be Hittites and Persians.
Pantheons
As of now i have written the pantheons for the Mesopotamians: Sumer, Babylon and Elam will have the same Pantheon.
Assyria will have its own pantheon, even though its also a Mesopotamian pantheon it walked its own path.
The Hittites have their own pantheon which is a mix of indo-european, hatti and mesopotamian and all their influences.
Then last are the Persian who have their own pre-zoroaster pantheon which is an indo-european vedic. But the Persian pantheon is a mirror to the Indian vedic pantheon. Where the Indians worship the Devas opposing the Asuras who are the demons. The Persians took a different turn and worship the Asuras while the Devas are the demons.
In general i’ve tried to make each Pantheon based on history. The Mesopotamian pantheon evolves from earlier gods into more foreign influences. The Assyrians are very based on Asur and evolve further into other deities. And the Persians have a different path with each god, the ancient gods, the new path onto Azura Mazda and the path of demons.
Military
I’ve also done some reading on the composition of each military in their timeframe.
They were mostly focused on archer battles, with spearmen and macemen. And evolved into chariots and chariot archers with siege rams. That is what the Mesopotamian armies looked like. With here and there a few unique units.
A great example of that is the Assyrian army with royal cohort who were heavy infantry with a halberd. And pavise composite bowmen. Which really standout for their time.
On the other end we have the Persians who came fielding infantry and Darius and Cyrus reformed their military into cavalry based, which totally changed the field.
Gameplay
For those who don’t know, the gameplay is supremacy-like with a slight more speed for gathering, researching and training. Thus feeling a bit more like playing a lightning game. Besides that the map is kind of geographical. And each player is a different faction or citystate. Each with their own bonusses. And now also unique units. Their own pantheon, with unique techs, units and godpowers.
In other words this will still take a while. But it will be a great case to show off the new triggers that are implemented in Age of Mythology Retold.
I’ve finished adding the basic civilizations through triggers, now i’m working on the actual map design. And i will start working on adding the triggers of the pantheons concerning the minor gods.
Another new experiment is one faction having a chariot that may garrison units. Testing example:
Civilizations
The general siege units are rams and a firethrower.
As adding the Wonder Age for most civilizations also adds new bonusses or unlocks new techs. Mostly concerning reforming the army or conscription.
The Babylonians are a civilization mostly focused on economy and fortifications. They have access to archers, infantry, medium cavalry and chariot archers.
The Elam are a civilization mostly focused on economy and warfare. They have access to archers, infantry and chariot archers.
The Sumerians are a civilization mostly focused on priests and economy. They have access to archers, a variety of infantry and chariots (melee).
The Assyrians are also a Mesopotamian civilization but their focus is warfare and can advance their military further. They have a vast roster of late game heavy units besides the regular Mesopotamian soldiers. Archers, infantry, heavy infantry, chariot (melee), cavalry archers and cavalry.
And as their invention the siege tower and iron weapons.
Also they have access to a few heroes.
The Hittites, a proto-indo-european faction. A foreign power that rivals Egypt. Still in their early days and might rise to power in the late game.
They have access to a roster of foot units, and a chariot (melee) that develops through the game. This chariot can be garrisoned.
The Hittites have a Royal Acropolis where the Pankus family rules. They have a Prince hero and can train one extra with every age. In the Royal Acropolis you get to choose your politics with every age giving you upgrades or even an extra hero. Choose between the shared continuation of the family-parliament or choose your own path as a sole lord.
Their unit roster is very different from what you are used to and will ask new strategies. Meanwhile you can build a foundation on a strong economy with the family, or gain military bonusses through sole rulership.
A special from the Hittites in the Wonder Age is an in the field buildable ram.
The Persians, another proto-indo-european faction. A powerhouse still in it’s infantshoes. Ready to climb the stairs to the stage. Ruled by a king who becomes a king of kings. The Persians will have access to a Royal Court and an Engineering Complex.
In the Royal Court you the ruler can pick policies and reforms based on historical choices of Darius and Cyrus.
The Engineering Complex will give you general upgrades for your civilization (probably around 10 to 15 technologies) thus it will act as a university as in AoE2. This will be expensive but beneficial.
The Persian unitroster will consist of a few native persian units but mostly of mercenary units. The focus in the late game will lay on reforming to actual cavalry warfare.
I’m currently working on Tech Trees for the civilizations. For now here is the Babylonian Tech Tree:
This is one of the more basic Mesopotamian Civilizations and therefor a good example to show you.
The Babylonian Classical Age army:
- The Kisri Light Archer is your ‘go-to’ soldier for every army.
- The Kisri Spearmen are to defend your archers against any cavalry and to take down buildings.
- The Shaknu is your archer hero, the captain of a squad. He will help you out with LOS and damage against myth units.
The Babylonian Heroic Age army
- To deal with enemy archers or horse archers you can train the Pethallu, a medium cavalry unit for chases and raids.
- The Kisjr Sarruti (Kings Contingent) is a heavy infantry unit to deal with ranged units. But it can also deal well with raids and sieges. It has a high pierce armor and a bonus against buildings.
- Portable ram, to take on Strongholds you will need a ram.
- Flamethrower. When diverting the arrows of a stronghold you can train cheap flamethrowers to max out your damage against buidings from a distance.
- Chariot archer, almost as a replacement for the light archer, you will have access to the swift chariot archer as an evolution to your army. From now on you can focus on mobility and raids and still fight with a bow and arrow.
After i’ve triggered the Pantheons then i will add the Mythological Pantheons with Minor gods to the techtrees.
I’m going to this extent to show it should be possible to make more civilizations like the Mesopotamians, Hittites and Persians.
Sadly we cannot add modpacks like new units to the game yet. Thus i’m putting my passion into a single scenario. To show you what is possible with the new triggers of the new scenario editor in AoM Retold.
Update 13-02. The Hittite Tech Tree
The Hittite wield thoughened mountaineer foot soldiers. They have speed and endurance. Also with a melee chariot to their availability to transport several units.
And with the War chariot upgrade it becomes a stronger unit and its carry capacity increases.
With every age you get an extra ‘ajax-like’ hero available to train, the Pankus (a servant/commander of the royal family/the king).
Besides that in the techtree you can see the icon for the ‘Citadel Center’ this is the Royal Court. From the Classical Age to the Heroic and Mythic age you can research politics, this will give you each age a “two options choice” to pick a policy. And in the Mythic age one of the policies grants you a powerful new hero.
(added 25-02-2025)
The Mesopotamian Pantheon
The Mesopotamian Pantheon include the Babylonian, Sumerian and Elamite civilizations. They share the same Pantheon in this scenario. The classical, heroic and mythic age each have unique heroes with their own bonus or specialness. Thus making the playstyles more diverse. Like a hero who can gather resources, or a hero who can repair to a hero who is a senior king with his own special attack.
To gather favor the Mesopotamians build monuments and can worship their temple.
The Major Gods are:
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Dumuzid the shepherd and agrarian.
Dumuzid was the primal major god and his minor gods are mostly gods from the early centuries of Sumeria.
His bonus improves your farming and his technology partly returns gold when your soldiers have fallen.
And he also allows you to build cattle from the granary and unlocks more cattle through the ages.
Some of his minor gods:
Ningeshtinanna, scribe of the underworld and lady of the vine. And her shades of the underworld.
Ninazu: warrior god of the netherworld. And Mushussu the snakedragon.
Shamash: the allseeing god. Who gives you access to Humbaba the ogre. -
Nintur, the mother of the mountains. The mother of humankind, who asked the nomadic humans to start building cities and become civilized people.
Nintur and her minor gods are a combination of Sumerian, Akkadian and Hurrian gods who were merged together from these neighbours taking over the sumerians and thus the pantheon melted together.
She grants you a Ziggurat and makes your villagers and buildings cheaper. She’s a very economic major god.
One of her heroes is Lugalbanda who is a beastmaster that can train lions.
Some of her minor gods are: Enlil the stormgod. Ningal the Oathbreaker, and her mythic unit Zirru the bird. Or pick Tishpak in the mythic age and summon a demonking. -
Marduk, originally the god of death but became the sun who rose to power.
Which is the story of Marduk as the main god of Babylon. The minor gods under him are his family and associates as the other major gods have their own. Here again you see a major god with minor gods of light and ends with darker major gods with more terrifying powers and summons.
Some of his minor gods are: Nabu the son of Marduk. Zarpanitu the lady of the Heptads. Or end your game with Uttu and her spiders. Or pick Ninti and her demons.
The story to this pantheon is renewal. The major gods replacing eachother by subduing the old major gods. And the minor gods through the ages who progress from light to dark.
19-02-2025 Update: i’ve triggered all the 6 civilizations. And i’ve designed the map. What is left now is setting up the Pantheons per civilization in the triggers and then copying them to all players for each civ. After that i will do some more esthetics on the map, and as last touch add custom relics.
Status: (update 08-03-'25)
Map design is finished.
Triggering the Pantheons:
Mesopotamians: 3/3 major gods done, including minor gods. Now doing bugfixes on the first pantheon.
Assyrians: 0/3 major gods.
Hittites: 0/3 major gods.
Persians: 0/3 major gods.