Taron Quintus
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Posts posted by Taron Quintus
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Hello, just needed to add my two-cents as a history major:
Yes, ancient Romans, Greeks, and even some "Barbarians" had superior agricultural and husbrandry skills than later, Dark Age peoples, at least until the 14th-15th centuries.
Second, Medieval suits of armor on display were built at about 7/8th scale or there abouts to better show the intaglio, fluting, and gilding on the various pieces of the armor. The few pieces of actual combat armor are less ornate, but seem to fit 6'+ men, since knights and other soldiers would have been better fed than the average peasant.
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In both Unfinished Tales and one of the History of Middle-earth books Tolkien states that Elves may take a long time to mature, but are very wise early in their life, and that they age according to their weariness of the world. So Cirdan, who had seen all three ages of the Sun and even some ages before that, who had seen all the wars and deaths of perhaps 10,000 years of history, would be quite weary indeed, much as Gwindor had been aged by his thraldom in Thangorodrim.
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Like they said, Morgoth's army might be impressive, but the economy that supports it seems very weak and inefficient. So creating that "better-than-everybody-else's" army will be tough.
Besides, evil may seem cool to some people, but the best part of the books are when the Good guys show their courage and heroism, even in defeat; slaughtering 70 trolls singlehandedly, the march of the Gondolindrim, the massive slaughtering of Orcs during several of the first battles in Middle-earth, great stuff.
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A lot like Stronghold in that respect, but that aspect always seemed inappropriate for a RTS like AOK and especially for TLA. Catapaults requiring operators is good for making them "capturable" and a prize for the other guy.
Collecting resources from destroyed buildings? Don't buildings catch on fire, or is that only when they are attacked by fire (Morgoth ram, Fire Arrows, Fire catapault stuff)? So wouldn't the wood and everything be destroyed. Or are we talking about the player themselves deleting one of their own buildings? Not a bad idea in that case.
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Some resources should be used in non-player controllable way, rather than building and training; feeding populace-Food, maintaining buildings-Wood, etc.
I like the prospect of starving enemies out. Maybe just a basic food-usage rate for every unit, or for just military units, ( 1 unit = x units of food per y unit of time), regardless of the unit. Its being eaten, not rotting away. What about of of the other "things" in the games: Knowledgem Darkness, etc. Would they be depleted/lost, or are they permanent and simply a measure of that aspect of the player?
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Come on, it's Orome the Hunter. Tolkien always talks about the good guys "ride like Orome" or inspire fear like Orome, and all that stuff that makes the Bad Guys run in terror.
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Yeah, that's all I was asking about. I wasn't saying that adding a shield should give any increased ability. Rather, that the shield only represented that the unit had better armor, not that it gave it some blocking ability.
Heavy Archer and Axeman both have light armor, or something, right? So the fact that the Axeman might have better anti-arrow armor would be shown be his having a shield? Or are the shields just for show?
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Well, that answers that. Thank you.
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Surrendering wouldn't really fit. But Crazy Thumbs does mention how Bilbo was captured, and all throughout the Silmarillion you see the Good guys getting captured by treachery or by sheer weight of numbers. So is capturing a hero/lord/captain possible? Maybe the FoD could then torture him and create a negative impact on morale for that prisoner's troops, either in a certain area or in general.
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That makes sense, so would an Archer be good against a stationary, lightly armored guy? Hate to nag, though, but would a shield make a difference, or is it just for show? What I mean is does the Sindarin Axeman's shield mean that he has better anti-arrow armor than an Archer?
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Well, although you can't play as one of the Minor Civs, its still important to know what kind of units they have, the abilities those units have, and what techs the civs might have that could cause you trouble or that could help you out. But, that can all wait till the game is done, even as just a Help or Information section where you learn about them when you encounter them in the game.
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What about the Numenoreans? Shouldn't they be able to "ration" their timber gathering as well?
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The showcases on the civs are great, and the units, techs, and buildings are all well thought-out. Not much variety in units, but the simplicity will definitely make for better gameplay, not to mention all the researches and upgrades help out.
But all this new data on the civs had me wondering: How are player colors used? If this has been talked about somewhere else, just point me in the right direction, but will the Noldor always be one color, or one shade of color, (i.e. Finwe: navy blue, Turgon: light blue)? And will Morgoth/Sauron always be black or gray? Or will the colors be unrelated to the civs/players?
Not a big deal, but I was just wondering.
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First of all, it has been a few days, so forgive my back log of comments.
Gamiling- What I meant was that the way Jackson portrayed the Last Alliance Numenoreans was very good, as compared to the movie Gondorian soldiers.
Ring-mail vs. Chain mail, basically the exact distinctions presented so far. Ring-mail is sown onto a backing, using smaller, finer gauge rings; while chain mail is just that: "chains" of linked rings. (not actual chains, mind you, but the various patterns and techniques for making chain mail are extravagant and mindnumbingly complex, personally I use the simple four-link staggered pattern. Fun stuff when you've got nothing else to do.
And what about all the armor styles? I mean, do you think that the combination of plate and chain-mail is appropriate. Tolkien always referred to chainmail, except for ____??____, (darn, drawing a blank: he's a Dark Elf, from the Silmarillion) anyway, he made a thin, light metal that was strong, turned it into armor for himself. Otherwise everyting is mail. Then again, over the course of 6,000+ years you'd think they'd at least develop simple breastplates like in the Prologue.
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Rohirrim were described by Tolkien as looking like the Norman knights at Hastings, I remember reading that. The movies did a good job overall with that, but took creative license, I like the horse motif though. But what about the Gondorians, movie: inaccurate as heck, but cool from a non-purist stance. "Disaster at Gladden Fields" describes the men with Isildur as being Saxon-like, (as was Tolkien's field of expertise) with the shield-wall types and such. But other descriptions make them seem more like the soldiers from the prologue of FotR.
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Fingolfin was a great and mighty warrior, and his crazed decision to go and challenge Morgoth was just that: crazed. But the way Tolkien describes the struggle gives it more emotional impact than Boromir's death, which was only portrayed in the movie, and referred to in the beginning of TTT book.
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Ar-Pharazon- what a pompous, manipulated fool he was. His pride overcame his good judgement, and his fear of death contributed to this as well. Numenore was destroyed, his army thrown down, and Sauron returned to Middle-earth, (after a long time as a spirit-type thingy) but still, Men were rarely as blundering as the last king of Numenore.
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I hate to agree with evryone else (I'm that kind of person) but the part in the movie about "there is a union now between the two towers" does seem reasonable. And Tolkien never really did settle on a pair of towers which the title spoke of, but I am also inclined to believe that the towers are Orthanc and Cirith Ungol, two main locations, but also Orthanc and the Hornburg...all to heck with it, they're just a pair of bloody, pointy piles of rock.
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You name it, I've read it. I have read everything that is available. I read constantly, I like to imagine and consider all these amazing places, and Tolkien is perfect for that. I have even read that short piece about the Fourth Age after Elessar death, (God forgive me for not remembering the name of it) and everything else has been read at least 4 or 5 times.
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I hated the Army of the Dead. Wait, hate is too strong a word. 1. Too green, Tolkien explicitedly stated "grey" in several passages. Maybe a glowing, almost bluish grey if the grey wouldn't have shown up on screen that well. 2. They should not have come to Minas Tirith. Aragorn's landing at the Harlond seemed very comical, while in the book it seems noble and like the cavalry coming to the rescue as he unfurls his banner from the ship's bow, then unloads scors of men onto the queys and docks, not thousands of intertwined green-noncorporeal beings.
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I thought the crown was fitting. The entire movie was altered, but even though I am a staunch purist, I realize the logistics and concerns of movie-making. One thing that made up for the differences in the crowning ceremony was the sheer pageantry of it all: the armor, clothes, ranks of soldiers, flower pedals fluttering down, and Aragorn singing the words of Elendil. I thought they had been spoken, but singing them made them so much more amazing.
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This has been nagging me in the back of my head for awhile. Did Tolkien ever mention any kind of coinage or solid currency in his writings? I know he talked about treasures of gold in the Hobbit and about Dwarves being paid for services with pearls in the Silmarillion, but what about other forms of monetary wealth and barter?
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It really is quite good, but what do I know? I couldn't model a spear if I tried. I work on a farm in America, and I use stuff more deadly lookin' than that thing everyday. The model is great, the mistakes can be corrected. It's good to have first hand knowledge of weapons and armor making, but having forumers with even more experience is even better.
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"Guthwine, Guthwine for the Mark" Eomer just seems like a king, and his sword is part of him.
By the way: what was Theoden's sword, sorry if its already there on the list, but I get stupid-moments, you know.
Silmarillion Movie. . .
in The Silmarillion/Unfinished Tales
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Bakshi's animated LoTR movies and Jackson's trilogy failed to capture the LoTR feeling, so it seems hopeless that any reasonable medium beyond literature will ever convey the "epic"ness of any of Tolkien's work