Shapur II Custom Campaign

[Tyranno13]

Hello!

I’m announcing something that I have had in the works for a while…a Sassanid Persian custom campaign!

Inspired by Jaqueline’s fantastic Apranik, and the addition of new scenario editor models, I have begun work on creating a custom campaign for the Persian Shahenshah Shapur II.

Shapur II ruled from 309-379, which sets this campaign 50 years before Alaric’s. To represent this time period, several civs will have changes to them to match the time period. Most obvious of which is no gunpowder, but there is plenty more within. The Persians will have some changes in this as well, namely to their architecture and some additional units to represent the period better and compensate for the lack of gunpowder ones.

To learn more about Shapur II, here’s a link:

Shapur II

But why keep yapping, when I can simply show you all what is in the works…

As you can see, quite the variety of environments so far. And this is just the first two levels.

There are 6 planned for this campaign, and I aim to combine interesting gameplay with visuals from across the Sassanid Empire’s territory. I’ve also taken into account complaints and positive comments about pre-existing campaigns. I do aim to play-test this, and make sure that none are too long, nor is any too complicated or diverge from the basic AoE2 framework. At the end of the day, we want to play AoE2 for AoE2. So don’t worry, despite the changes, Persians will still play like Persians.

I hope some of you are looking forward to this, and I should be working steadily on this over the holidays. I can’t give an exact date, as levels grow progressively larger and longer to finish. But hopefully nothing takes as long as decorating the Armenian landscape has taken me…

I know I have been a bit light on details of the civ changes, but that’s to avoid spoiling things for people that want to remain a bit in the dark.

And yes, I am working on another bunch of campaigns as well, but working on the same region over and over gave me a bit of burnout, so this was to take a bit of a break from level design (am still working on other elements of it however).

Let me know what you think so far, and if you have any questions!

[Darkillermon]

Will TMR and/or BfG be required to play this campaign?

[Tyranno13]

No. You can play against Armenians online, and they are an opponent in Tamerlane’s campaign, so there’s no issues here with their appearance in the campaign.

As for BfG, the stuff that this uses are mostly a few unit skins and scenario editor items, purely visual. The Achaemenids, Athenians and Spartans do not appear as opponents or playable at any point. Everyone is from the base game or TMR.

[SamePorpoise303]

I like the setting since the 4th century is almost never taken into account: too early for aoe2, too late for aoe1, but I think it totally fits aoe2.
Coincidentally this year I’ve been working on a campaign that is set during the same period and it will probably be finished in a few months.
So the two largest empires of late antiquity will have two campaigns to complement each others!

[Tyranno13]

@SamePorpoise303

I like the setting since the 4th century is almost never taken into account: too early for aoe2, too late for aoe1, but I think it totally fits aoe2.

Yeah. Taking a bit out of AoE2 and using some of the BfG stuff is easier than adding to AoE1.

@SamePorpoise303

Coincidentally this year I’ve been working on a campaign that is set during the same period and it will probably be finished in a few months.
So the two largest empires of late antiquity will have two campaigns to complement each others!

Yeah!

Who is yours about?

[SamePorpoise303]

Julian the apostate, one kind of a guy ahah.

I may have to add AI voices, although I don’t really like them it’s a matter of functionality since there’s a lot to read, it’s very plot driven. But let’s see.
I may also release a “manual” of sorts with a preview since there’s some quirks that may need to be explained (mostly certain units additions, instead of having to explain it in every scenario’s hints) and to give a context to someone who’s interested in the history thing (presenting the characters, settings, the gameplay etc which is something I’ve always liked in those old games).

I must say there are only a couple of (kinda) build and destroy missions but for the most part the campaign tries to push for something different so it may not be for everyone. It’s still definitely aoe2 though.
Although this time I’m trying to make it easier overall since players had too many issues with my older ones and it was too stressful to enjoy throughout. Only the hard difficulty will retain the same level of challenge.

[Tyranno13]

@SamePorpoise303

Julian the apostate, one kind of a guy ahah.

Ha! He’s actually going to make an appearance in my campaign.

I plan to use Hadrian’s icon for him, but haven’t thought of a unit model yet.

[SamePorpoise303]

I use three models for him: an heavy swordsman with hero aura when on foot, Belisarius on horse and Tsar konstantine on parade.
I guess Belisarius would be the only one to make sense in your case or even Alaric.

[Tyranno13]

Yeah I think Belisarius’ model is probably the best. As I already have his predecessor Constantius II as a hero Cataphract.

While on the hero model topic. Shapur II will use Artaphernes’ model, and Khosrow’s icon.