CATW 01: 12 Years (2007)

The first Classical Age: Total War (CATW) overhauled.


Before there was even "catw"
Before catw 03 there has been in 2007 two earlier version of the mod, catw01 and catw2.
In short, catw 01 is the mod nobody played but a very small bunch of guys, modding RTW on limited objectives (improving units graphics) on custom battle only back in... 2007. When the name "classical age" did not even existed. Now retreived, the mod has been completely reworked and completed, using as much elements of catw 05 as possible, including a playable campaign ! It is starting in 264 BC, at the start of the first Punic War. Roster are completely new to all players of CATW mods since they had never publicly released and therefore are totally fresh. There are in addition two new factions, the Galatians and Pergamon. Its 01.3, meaning it's still a beta, but totally playable on Alex, BI and regular RTW, however there will be an update. At that time a bunch of graphists on a French forum (now long gone) discussed about video games, and dicovered a common interest for RTW. This was the start of a friendship and work on a little mod which was only aimed at improving graphic aspects, including the look of the units, all of them. One provided photos of realistic leathers, metal textures, armor and fabrics, another made a bit of historical research, and you servant, Arminius (cocobongoclub-DJ at TWC), photoshopped the vast majority of the new skins, adding lots of new units in the process.

It looked good as it was, and we tested it by just adding the new files to our current data folder, and playing vanilla with these units. That worked fine for us. However to modern RTW modding standards, unmodded stuff is not cool. So apart the few guys who played this early catw (the name did not even existed at that time!), interest soon run out. I dragged on adding more units just for the fun to see them fighting, but the team ultimately separated. My next move was catw02 in 2008, a never-published basis (like catw01 by the way), and catw03 which saw overhaul at all steps, using vanilla Alex and BI 3d models plus many from other mods. This was the first modfoldered too, although the campaign did not worked. It had been recently overhauled and published this summer.

Meanwhile, catw01 slept deeply, forgotten by all, in a corner of an USB key i found laying on the ground under tons of dust and spiders, when moving furnitures around, moving to my new home. True story ! So the old, prehistoric mod nobody know about was recovered intact in October 2018, so almost 12 years after since it was first drafted in 2006 and the definitive version was completed in 2007. It was a big one, including all vanilla files too as it was designed to be placed alongside "data", the latter and the second renamed to be swapped. But the campaign crashed. It was even before BI 1.6 or Alex were out. And the texts were all in French.

I played it, and enjoyed as it was, rediscovering all these long forgotten units, with a few skins and ideas that were recycled into modern mods like catw04 and catw05, or catw1.0 for that matter. Of course strict histoircal accuracy was not the order of the day. All the 3d models were the ones already existing in vanilla TW, reskinned and reused in many different ways. Overall it's colorful, fun, but it's still more accurate that Vanilla. And very light. There were however three point missing, and that's what i worked on, with the knowledge i accumulated over the years on RTW modding:

-Modfoldered. The old mod called "beta2a" was designed to be pasted over a clean "data". Now it its called restrospectively "catw01" and is properly modfoldered.
-Texts in English. The old French texts were scrapped, however it's still a work in progress as there as a few missing.
-Working campaigns. This reboot is playable on RTW, BI and Alex.
In addition to standard factions, catw01 is replacing the three non-Julii Romans by the Illyrians, Galatians and Pergamon and the starting date is 264 BC.

Campaign screenshots showing the new settlements

Logs 01.4-1.5

-New strat campaign settlements, garrison towns and colonies
-New strat campaign map textures
-Added 2x more mercenaries
-Modified units prices, morale and stamina
-Modified campaign morale/squalor/piracy/rebellion/alliances and more
-Corrected many names/rosters/skin/models issues
-Fully working campaign for all factions playable (including Pergamum, the Illyrians and Galatians and slave)
-Tons of changes to the campaign
-New strat models, culture mods
-New icons, banners
-New strat characters
-New Names (illyrians)
-RS2 Vegetation
-Better water
-Prometheus/Suppanut strat cities

How to install

1-Unzip the catw03 folder, by using 7zip: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html or winRAR
2-Move you catw03 folder in your current destination: Alexander or RTW-BI
Ex: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rome Total War Alexander
Or: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rome Total War Gold
3-Then just use directly the shortcuts inside catw03, make a copies to the desktop, drop them on the desktop.
They are all tailored for Vista/Seven/Win 10 types of installations and works with steam.
4-Enjoy. They are all tailored for Vista/Seven/Win 10 types of installations and works with steam.

---

Download

---

New Factions

Illyria

Replacing the Brutii. You are roleplayng King Pleuratus II which is holding a sizeable kingdom (largest in Illyria) for the Ardiaei. Pleuratus was the founder of the Ardiaean Kingdom and the Ardiaean dynasty which controlled much of the Adriatic for the next one hundred years. Many historians believe that there was no interruption between the dynasty founded by Bardyllis and that of Pleuratus. Pleuratus's name is strikingly similar to that of Pleuratus I who in 344 BC clashed with Philip II. For this reason he may belong to the dynastic line of Glaucias. However Pleuratus was an Illyrian dynastic name borne by a number of Illyrian monarchs and nobles and nothing is known for sure. The most accepted theory is that Pleuratus did indeed create his own dynasty. Pleuratus was succeeded by his son Agron of Illyria in 250 BC. By the coming of Pleuratus to the throne and particularly Agron, the most spectacular of Illyrian history begins.

Galatoi

17 years had passed since a group of Gauls from various tribes invaded the Balkans, and eventually split up forced. Some settled in Thrace and will rule the Kingdom of Tylis for another 80 years. Others arrived near byzantium, a tempting prize, rich Greek city-state controlling the access of the Black sea. The city was assieged in 278-277 BC. However the city was "saved" at the last moment by the intervention of King Nicomedes I of Bithynia in Asia minor (now NW Turkey), which granted his kingdom independance. He promised them wages if they helped him warring his neighbours, in particular the Seleucid Empire. He concluded a pact with Celtic chiefs Leonnorius and Lutarius, bringing them boats to cross the Hellespont with families and herds. Soon, the freshly installed Gauls were used to beat his own brother Zipoetes II, which threated his authority, and he managed to reunite the kingdom under his banner. Afterwards, the Gauls assisted Nicomedes against Antiochus. The Gauls then moved on and eventually settled in the center of Asia minor, in Anatolia, a rather barren, rough, dry place. From there, they nevertheless started creating oppida, villages, cultivating and tending herds and built their own political entity. The Tectosages settled in the centre (Ancyra, which became the capital), the Tolistobogii west, at Pessinus dedicated to Cybele and the Trocmi east, at Tavium. Known later as the "galatoi", Greek for Gauls and the Kelto-Hellenoi they started rampaging the countries around, until being recruited en masse as mercenaries.

Pergamum

The famous city-state, one of the jewels of the ancient Hellenistic civilization, was funded by King Philetaerus in 281 BC. In 260 BC, Eumenes I ruled (263-241). On paper the city was under Seleucid control, but like Armenia or the ancient satraps, Pergamon (now Bergama in Western Turkey), Pergamon benefited from a considerable autonomy. The city-state enriched by its position ideally suited for trade between the black sea and the mediterranean, plus the hinterland, domonated other local kingdoms head and shoulders. A year before, Eumenes proved his worth by beating the Seleucid king Antiochus I near Sardis (Lydia). Now, Pergamon is not only totally independant, but also hold large territories formerly under Seleucid control. From then on, Eumenes would fight, and probably pay tributes to the Galatians that regularly raided his eastern borders. With an Hellenistic warfare tradition related to the Diadochi, and many eastern auxiliaries, plus trade routes and good alliances, the kingdom has everything nedeed to create an Empire in Asia minor and beyond.

Development notes

catw01.0: Old original mod. Playable custom battle only
catw01.1: Many modifications to the rosters, playable through campaign starters, translations
catw01.2: Tons of modifications, rough vanilla campaign playable
catw01.3: Addition of catw05 features (RS2, banners, strat models and cities, rosters, factions...)
To come: catw01.4: New mods to the campaign, Really Bad AI script, proper factions symbols, etc.

Battle Screen