Expanding on every feature found in The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II as well as boasting entirely new content. The all new single player campaign’s innovative new units will help to tell the story of the evil Witch-King’s rise to power, domination of Angmar, and invasion of the great kingdom of Arnor, home to Aragorn’s ancestors. To fully experience the evil side of Middle-earth, gamers can now play as the all new Angmar faction in skirmish, multiplayer, and War of the Ring modes.

Experience a whole new depth of strategy with upgraded War of the Ring and Create-A-Hero features. Create-A-Hero’s entirely new Troll class boasts additional weapons and armour that will allow players to have even more freedom in customizing their game play. War of the Ring, the risk-style meta-game, offers upgraded army persistence, a new siege dynamic on the Living World Map, and unified territories that serve as major control points.

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Greetings, Companions of the Edain!


First things first: Yes, Part I was somewhat of an April's Fool, not meant to outright lie to you, but to mislead you with outrageous statements to hide the truth. But what is truth, and what is lies? Well, you can now go back to the article where we've added additional context to some parts to help clarify the intentionally ambiguous statements.

So what are we really doing with the build style? The truth is simple. We are indeed planning to re-introduce free build in Edain, but nothing as drastic as making it the new build style for the whole of Edain as the previous article was trying to get you to conclude. Fixed build plots remain our favorite and will remain Edain's main build style, instead freebuild will be introduced as a new gamemode in Edain 4.8.



Selecting this gamemode will indeed do all the things we discussed in the previous article and we did make all the changes we listed there. However, those generic changes were not always enough to make a faction feel good in freebuild. In this article, we will be taking a dive into some of the more specific changes we made to each faction in this new gamemode.

Rohan
The main issue we ran into with Rohan was that there were several duplicate buildings. While they make sense in the fixed build plot setting, they do not make as much sense in free build. As such, the following buildings were removed:

  • Rohan Farm
  • Stud Farm (external)
  • Well


The removed economy buildings already have equivalents, and the well is replaced by the assembly point.

Isengard
Similarly, Isengard has had its external mineshaft removed, since it was just a duplicate of the internal one. Apart from that, no major changes were made to the faction. It is not overly dependent on the location of plots and as such did not need many changes to adapt to the freebuild mode.

Gondor/Arnor/Belfalas
Gondor has always been seen as the simple, beginner-friendly faction, their mechanics are relatively uncomplicated, and their play style allows a diverse array of strategies. In the freebuild gamemode this faction remains relatively untouched. Nonetheless, on top of the generic changes, we also had to rework the Stonemaker.

This building previously provided upgrades for your camp or castle. Now, with neither camps nor castles left, it instead provides upgrades to battle towers, repairs nearby buildings and strengthens the citadel and its extensions.

No buildplots, no camps, no castles, just people living in the moment


Mordor
One of the changes the original game developers made from BFME1 to BFME2 was making the orcs cost a small amount of resources. One of the reasons for this were balance concerns, as spamming orc pits in free build does not have the same opportunity cost as with the fixed build system: You can just keep building more and more until you run out of space. For now, we have decided to keep the orc warriors free, but we will be listening to feedback to see if this is a major balance problem.

Apart from that, we've also made some tweaks to Sauron's Influence of Sauron. Since it functioned as Mordor's economy upgrade, we had to rework parts of it. When cast on an economy building in the FreeBuild gamemode, Influence of Sauron will grant all current economy buildings of that type a level. This is essentially a one time experience boost and will only apply to current buildings and not future ones.

Dwarves
Dwarves faced a similar problem as Gondor, the Stonemason was not designed for free build and as such required a minor rework. The Stonemason already functions as an economy building and provides a powerful stacking buff, so we simply gave it the ability to also buff battle towers through an upgrade.

Imladris
Imladris did require several changes, mainly in relation to Erestor and their economy upgrades. For Erestor, we simply made him a recruitable mini-hero, just like with Erestor on Fortress Maps. He is cheap and quick to build, recruitable once a Library has been constructed. Be careful though, as he can be targetted by the enemy - we suggest not to send him on scouting missions.

The economy upgrades posed another problem. In the fixed build mode, they provide levels to economy structures on top of their other effects, but this is no longer the case in this gamemode.



Dark have been my dreams of late...



Angmar
Angmar was another faction where we had to make a balance choice. In fixed build Edain, one of Angmar's weaknesses is that they need to have external plots in order to level up their buildings. With the ability to construct those external building through the builder, one of Angmar's weakness became muted. However, Angmar also loses access to the impressive walls that protected their levelled up buildings so potentially this could even out the problems. We will be keeping an eye on the faction and the feedback we get.

Misty Mountains
Misty Mountains was an interesting faction to adapt. In the fixed build system, they are the closest to what could be considered free build. It seemed only normal that this would inverse in fixed build. We kept most of the tunnel mechanics when it comes to Gundabad and Goblin-town, which means that in the Freebuild mode Misty Mountains is actually the faction that comes closest to being fixed build, as they are limited by their tunnels in how much they can build.

We are also exploring different ways of making the construction of wild lairs feel organic. We haven't reached a consensus on the solution yet, but we agree that wild lairs being constructed by the Moria builder seems illogical.

Lothlorien
Lothlorien was the most complex of the factions to adapt. In fixed build, they make full use of the castle/camp system, so we had to make quite a few changes. In the end we decided to go back to the 3.8.1 system of Seed of the Golden Wood.

At the core the faction remains the same, buildings you construct will unlock units at your citadel. However, you do not construct these building using your builder, instead you must use the citadel's ability "Seed of the Golden Wood" to summon buildplots on which you can construct buildings that unlock those units. You still have access to a builder that construct external buildings, resources buildings and defenses.

That's all we have to say for this article. There are still a few unknowns but we are hard at work designing new concepts to resolve them. What did you think of these changes? What other changes would you like to see made to factions specifically in an effort to adapt them? We look forward to your feedback.

Your Edain team

Edain 4.8: A Return to Form Pt. I

Edain 4.8: A Return to Form Pt. I

Edain Mod 11 comments

Join us as we detail some of the bold and exciting changes we have decided to make in the next version of Edain

Edain 4.7.2 Released!

Edain 4.7.2 Released!

Edain Mod 15 comments

A new patch has been released, focusing on bugfixes, ringhero tweaks, balance changes, and adding a new concept for the Three Trolls.

Wars of the Firstborn: Year Three

Wars of the Firstborn: Year Three

Wars of the Firstborn based on The Ridder Clan Mod 4 comments

Today, Wars of the Firstborn mod celebrates 3 years since it's announcement. We will discuss a bit things that were, things that are and some things that...

Edain Unchained 3.1 – Release announcement

Edain Unchained 3.1 – Release announcement

Edain Unchained 1 comment

This article introduces some featured changes and the release date for Unchained 3.1.

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Ennorath 1.9.7.1 Full version Evaluation version, I am not the author!

AOTR 8.3.1 BEST NEW RESHADE (no fps drop)

AOTR 8.3.1 BEST NEW RESHADE (no fps drop)

Ultimate Reshade for Age of the Ring mod Graphics Tool

Udpate for 8.3.1 Adjust your Brightness if needed for best results.

AOTR 8.3.1 BEST NEW RESHADE (no fps drop)

AOTR 8.3.1 BEST NEW RESHADE (no fps drop)

AOTR 8.1 new Insane modern Reshade Graphics Tool

ENjoy this new beautiful and lighter version for the game. Also work real nice with The Realm of exile mod. activate in game only for better results (not...

Age of the Rings: Realms in Exile - Alpha 0.6

Age of the Rings: Realms in Exile - Alpha 0.6

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Age of the Ring: Realms in Exile 0.6 has been released!

Edain Unchained 3.2 - Installer

Edain Unchained 3.2 - Installer

Edain Unchained Patch 4 comments

With this Installer you can install Edain Unchained 3.2. Edain Mod 4.7.2 is required for Edain Unchained 3.2.

Endgame Mod Demo

Endgame Mod Demo

Demo 4 comments

There is demo of mod. Installation: Drag and drop files from archive to ROTWK installation folder start game with Launcher.bat

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 170)
Guest
Guest - - 693,790 comments

im clueless how to down load this but really want to play

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Council_THOA
Council_THOA - - 218 comments

The liars from AOTR are forcing us to recreate our own pages, as if this should change anything. In turn, we announce the creation of SUBMOD on AOTR!)

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Council_THOA
Council_THOA - - 218 comments

Однако многие российские мододелы и фанаты серии STALKER усматривают в удалении модификации проявление цензуры и ограничения творческой свободы. Они считают, что ModDB применяет двойные стандарты в отношении российских мододелов и неясно определяет границы разрешенного контента. Такое решение может негативно сказаться на мотивации и энтузиазме российских мододелов, их желании делиться своими творческими проектами и вкладывать усилия в развитие сообщества.

Playground.ru

However, many Russian modders and fans of the STALKER series see the removal of the modification as a manifestation of censorship and restriction of creative freedom. They believe that ModDB applies double standards to Russian modders and is unclear about the boundaries of permitted content. Such a decision could negatively affect the motivation and enthusiasm of Russian modders, their desire to share their creative projects and invest efforts in the development of the community.

MODDB has double standards and they are aimed at removing original projects from Russian developers!

The MODDB site administration does not respond to messages and counterclaims.
Pikabu.ru
They may lie to you and you will not be able to prove anything, because no one from the support team will answer you.
Moreover, I will tell you that they probably ban you because of your nationality. There is no place for Russians here unless you are under a foreign boss.

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SavvyZOR
SavvyZOR - - 6 comments

русский военный корабль видел? следуй за ним.

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Council_THOA
Council_THOA - - 218 comments

I made my own models!
My co-authors made their models themselves!
We have proven the low-polygonity of our models; we did everything ourselves!
Don’t believe it, don’t believe it, I mean, people should suffer from slander, from discrimination, from the lies of others? I believe that AOTR does not have the right to tell which projects to be and which are not on the MODDB website. I have a weak laptop for recording videos and streams, I’m not going to curry favor and lick anyone’s ***. I appeal in anger to those who accuse us, you are wrong, all these many things were done BEFORE YOU and YOUR PROJECT!

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Vidrick
Vidrick - - 6 comments

Hello, have a question to map makers using Worldbuilder for BFME2. Is there a way to rotate the starting fortresses in a skirmish map? In short, I want to make the fortress face another way rather than southeast everytime I start a normal skirmish game. I tried rotating the player_positions waypoints in Worldbuilder but it doesn't work. Any other methods or is it just hard-coded into the game?

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officialNecro
officialNecro - - 1,386 comments

You need to edit the .bse files in the game files. They should be stored in the maps.big file. I would also recommend one of the many discord servers available. People don't really check her often.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,790 comments

what am i missing here? all i want to do is playe BMFE 2. not even lookin for the ROTWK xpac... like what do I download? ive downloaded the age of the ring and the switcher. i apply the 2.02 V9.0 on the switcher and when i try to run the extracted age of the ring 8.0 im given an error prompt telling me i dont have 2.02 V9.0 enabled... this is like any other guide to anythin else on the planet. wanna learn to knit? go find a guide and and its filled with things like " start with a cross stitch, then a knit stitch". like what are these things? so tired of finding "STEP BY STEP" guides that are so unbelievably far from that, its laughable. maybe im old. im inept with technology. but thats probly most the player base for this dead as bones game. can i get some help???

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Guest
Guest - - 693,790 comments

dont want to play online. dont want an xpac. literally just want to play the base game and as per the instructions here. doesnt work. i can not comprehend all the prositive reviews and comments. seems like just one more trash link in a giant pile of them for this game

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Council_THOA
Council_THOA - - 218 comments

That’s right, AOTR is a parasite on everything, presenting itself in a pure light and gobbling up other projects in denunciations.
For example, we are preparing a repack of the remaster of BFME 2 for 2024.
We will also have a remaster of ROTWK.
I recommend that you enable version 9 in the launcher in patch 2.02 and disable the delay fix.
Then AOTR will start.

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