Posted 20 August 2005 - 04:16 PM
What is Taranto?
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For all of you who don't know (which would be all of you other than us), Taranto is just a story three friends came up with that got a little out of hand. We wrote a lot of stuff about it over the last few years and decided that a forum would be the best way to view it whenever we wanted, since we live quite far apart and don't see each other often, sometimes certain chapters can get lost in the shuffle. This is also a good way to get feedback, and a good outlet for any other writers to share their stuff.
anyway. . .
Taranto itself is a world with giant bugs, crazy evil guys, and three friends destined to save it all from complete destruction.
The giant bugs consist of giant sentient mosquitoes, spiders in place of horses, and heavily armored ants, among other things.
The crazy evil guys consist of Kal'trace and his various minions, of which the mad scientist is the most prominent. Their goal is to find six crystals of power that the Divine Cosmic Ruler made, and sent here out of his reach. Kal'trace found them, but someone locked him away in another dimension using the crystals. So now he controls his minions from there.
The three friends are modeled after the three friends who wrote the books. Our job is to find the crystals before Kal'trace, while dodging all of his insanely powerful creatures he sends to kill us.
It is really much more complex than it sounds. We only actually have one crystal, and it took us three or four books to do that.
Sometimes I think we're all crazy. Other times I KNOW we're crazy. But mostly I think it's just a lot of fun to write this stuff.
Also, it's very good practice.
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Why is it good as a mod for bfme 2?:
Well, for starters, I came into the modding business of bfme 1, thinking Taranto would be a great mod for it. However, I was a complete n00b then and didn’t have any knowledge nor any friends in the community with whom shared my vision.
Second of all, the things in bfme 1 just weren’t capable of holding everything that Taranto held. Then bfme 2 was announced, and I knew that with the new features, this could become a mod. Naval combat, enhanced spell abilities and a better
base building way all just seemed to spell out a Taranto mod.
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What sides will there be and what are they like?:
The main cast of sides I have chosen for the time being consists of 6. If I get a big enough team, I will consider making 2 others.
The Kingdom of the Dran:
A race of beast-like people. They have horns on their heads that relatively resembles that of a balrog's horns, yet they are mostly like Uruk-hai in game.
The races of Dran live mostly underground and build great cities. One of our books takes place in one of these cities. If you read it, you will see just how the Dran will play like in game.
The Vegetarian Alliance:
4 related races of vegetable-beings. These creatures are quite small, and are weak compared to other races in brute strength. Where these guys’s strength lies is in Technology.
The Walump(pumpkin-esc creatures) build airships and own the skies of Taranto, but also, they have built primitive guns which operate using explosive seeds.
The Melnar(melon-like creatures) build vast and powerful ships using the tall blue wood trees where they live.
The Turnave(the biggest of the 4, turnip-esc creatures) are the brute force of the Alliance and focus on melee combat.
The Fungil(mushroom-esc creatures) operate mostly underground, and cultivate most of the food of the people. Also, they wield biological weaponry in combat.
Nature Union(Need better name :s):
An alliance of 3 races united for the cause of defending Taranto from evil.
The Galalos, are a race of cloud-beings. They live high above Taranto and watch over it. The Galalos are some of the greatest archers known in Taranto, and their wind-archery techniques are some of the most deadly.
The Aquais, are a race of aquatic living creatures, which defend the oceans from harm. They have great beasts of the waters called Tortoises that they use as both water and land transport.
The Tri-phante, are of the race of man-beings(our name for humans), but have spider's blood infused in them. They are great programmers(wizards) and use their nature programming to fight and keep Taranto safe.
The Nations of Goliath Continent(need better name :s):
One of the wealthiest of the man-being nations on Taranto, South and North Goliath are a lot like Gondor and Rohan in game play.
South Goliath has an abundant supply of farmland and a great naval and aerial force, while North focuses on land combat, using its mighty trade mark Goliath spiders and legendary battle skills to slay their foes.
The Shadows of Kal'trace:
The only real evil side of the whole game. The shadows of Kal'trace rely upon their arsenal of powerhouse units and heroes to defeat their foes. One factor that makes them different from the game's evil factions, is the fact that they focus on their powerful side, rather then outnumbering the enemy. However, with the fact that the night/day addition to the mod, when it's nighttime on field, the shadows get an immense bonus of power.
Insects of Taranto:
This faction is composed of 4 different types of insects.
The Ants, supply the ant worker to the base, which builds buildings from the ground. Other ants, such as foragers, go out and gather food from nearby sources and bring it back to the colony, therefore supplying an amount of money.
The Termites, supply the termite worker, who builds defenses and walls. The termites are powerful attack units, and the termite harvester gathers wood resources from trees.
The Bees, supply the bee worker, who flies around the base repairing structures. The hornet horde is a powerful aerial unit who can strike fear into the hearts of any foe, though they are weak to arrow fire.
The Mosquite are the main units of the faction. Mosquite hover just above the ground and are very powerful in swarms. One type of Mosquite sucks the blood(hp) from opponents, in order to regain health.
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The other 2 factions will remain disclosed for the time being, as we may change them around.
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Basic game play changes:
The mod will make it so the game is no longer focused the elements of who owns land wins. The emphasis on aerial and naval combat will make for interesting game play, as when you cannot charge the opponent, why not go over him, or sail around him.
The 'race for upgrades' will not be needed, as each race plays very differently from the others, and most upgrades wont be as significantly changing in direct ways, as they will offer more special ways of effecting game play.
Example: Bfme had it so who ever got fire arrows won the fight.
In Taranto: Poison arrows would deal heavy damage to units over time, while a fire lit arrow would light an airship on fire, instead of taking a massive chunk of hp.
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and so far thats what i have.
