Total War: Shogun 2 Windows, RTX game

This is full version, you don't need previous version to play, but you don't have to remove previous version (e.g. if you want finish your started campaign). Don't run files from different version together!

If you have problems with mod, check firstly Installation Guide, Known bugs list and FAQ, links below.

Mod should be stable, but sometimes isn't. So I suggest to saving game often (and don't replace saves of course).

After a period of silence, here comes a Storm from the East. In a new Update, we introduce the Easterlings - some of the most famous of Sauron's servants. Despite their fame, we have quite little information about them in the books. Particularly in the Second Age, where we only know that the Easterlings fought wars with the Northmen and that Khamûl, the Shadow of the East, who received one of the Rings of Power, originated from among them.

For this reason, based on this scant information, we had to write our own lore for the Easterlings. We tried to make them fit the atmosphere of Middle-earth and our mod, as they are not the first culture we had to prepare a lore for. I hope you like how we portrayed the Easterlings in the mod ❤️

As always thanks to Luiza Aris and Jawor with whom I'm creating this mod ❤️ Also additional thanks to Ellan for his help with technologies and some minor things ❤️ If you like the update and want to support the project check out Patreon and my Ko-fi profile ^^ - Any donation, even small, is appreciated ❤️

We began writing the story with Khamûl, his relationship with Annatar and how he got the Ring, and his tribe, which we called the Luuriag, who lived on the eastern coast of the Sea of Rhûn. The Luuriags, under Khamûl's leadership, in time dominated the other Tenüüriag tribes (which is what we called the Easterlings in their language) on the Sea of Rhûn and the Great Steppe. After the War of the Elves and Sauron, in which they took part, they set out to conquer Middle-earth. Khamûl, with the power of the Ring, along with two other chieftains, terrorised Middle-earth from the Vale of Anduin to the Orocarni Mountains and the Deserts of Harad.

Hundreds of years have passed since then, the Khamûlid Empire he created, though powerful for a long time, has declined. Influence in the Far East and the South was lost and the Northmen in Rhovanion, who had never laid down their arms during that time, finally liberated themselves. Now, after a disastrous attempt to regain Rhovanion, Khamûl II has ascended to the dark throne in Khamûl Khuaran. A self-proclaimed restorer of the Empire, ready to drown Middle-earth in blood at any cost.

As the Luuriag inhabit the Great Steppe, it was obvious that their army would be based mainly on cavalry. In addition to the tribal units, which despite their disorganised nature are able to harass the enemy effectively, the Khamûlid Empire also boasts a professional army. The Mirza and Noyon, Luuriag lords, field their own retinues, while directly answering to the Great Khan are Tamma and Nokor, who are the main force of the Empire.

The third force in the Empire is the Itgel, religious orders who fight fanatically in the name of Annatar and Khamûl. They exterminate any disobedience to the Dark Lord of Mordor and join war expeditions to spread his will in Middle-earth.

Although virtually the entire Luuriag army is made up of cavalry, the Luuriag army has units that are meant to perform infantry tasks on the battlefield. They are more numerous than other troops, so they can perform well during sieges, for example. This allows the Luuriag armies to quickly cross large distances to attack unsuspecting enemies.

Alongside an extensive roster, the Khamûlid Empire also received its own technology tree. As with Krákaland, their technologies focus on sowing terror in Middle-earth and reforming their decaying dominion. So all supporters of the Lord of Gifts should have a good time here.

Additionally, we have expanded the commanders' skill tree. This is, of course, a change that applies to all factions. Now upgrades for the general guards are granted through the tree, so the previous problem of upgrading the guards through the blacksmith has been solved. The tactical and administrative skills of the generals have also been expanded and the number of available skill points has been significantly increased.

Furthermore, generals now receive passive experience while staying in settlements, and all factions have access to recruit them (previously only Númenor and Mordor could do so).

A new siege map has also been added. Admittedly, it is just a quickly prepared placeholder still using vanilla assets, but it should perform much better than the vanilla siege maps. We noticed that in vanilla maps, due to their structure lacking buildings inside walls, archer focused factions get too much of an advantage. So the new siege map, filled with buildings, should solve this problem.

The map was made quite quickly (and it's actually my first siege map), so it's a bit unpolished and has some problems, but it's only a temporary solution.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the other available Luuriag faction - the Aytacid Khanate. Aytac is a Luuriag commander who, after another defeat of the Empire, decided to disobey Sauron and, with the support of the northern clans, broke away from the Khamûlids to form his own Khanate. This is an alternative, harder start for those wishing to play Luuriag not necessarily on the side of the Lord of Gifts. His faction isn't fully finished though, as they lack even their own technology tree (so they use the Khamûlid tree as a substitute), but these are things we'll probably add in future updates.

Apart from that, as always, a number of different improvements have been made to the mod. The most significant ones are reworked unit movement stats, improved crossbowmen and reduced unit costs for Eryn Galen. In addition, some factions, such as the Northmen and Khazad-dûm, which previously had AI aggressiveness set to ‘low’ or ‘low to medium’, now have it set to ‘medium’ due to the appearance of Luuriag on the map. As always, a detailed list of changes can be found in the Changelog ^^

We also received a model of a ballista prepared by bigwavek (one of the devs of the Morning Sun mod), which was to be used on heavy Númenorean and Elven ships, as well as a land siege machine. However, due to my focus on working on Luuriag, I didn't have a spare moment to prepare all the stuff for this ballista, so it will be introduced in the next update, gomene >.<

I hope you will enjoy the new update ^^ Have fun! If you want to chat about the mod or give feedback then you can join the Discord mod server. Meanwhile we'll be getting ready to work on the next update, which we hope to be able to show soon ^^