Ionith?

[Shiver-Tail]

Maybe we could replace the Island mod with Ionith?
I think that would be interesting: The Empire trying to reclaim Ionith... cannons firing and banners in honor of Uriel V raised.
Wouldn't be to hard to make... plus we could experiment witht he different interior/exterior cells... some scripts (soldiers pushing cannons), etc.

Suggestions? (Oh yeah, I've already made a basic version of Ionith a few weeks ago =) )

[exilehunter]

ooo... soldiers pushing cannons are a finicky thing. just off he top of my head i cant see it as being possible. you'll need shank to answer whether or not an animation can be made to have an npc push a cannon and sill have the cannon present should that npc be interrupted as such...

but as for ionith, it could do. nothing is more fun than playing a war campaign mr siika has a few weapons of war made and i'm sure traps could be figured out along the way. only issue would be controlling FPs in battles, especially in detailed areas or with too many detailed models in the same area. i could make a few fun scripts along the way like shooting arrows at targets to trigger traps and such. if the group agrees, setup a full brief of the plan.

sorry if i misunderstood but did you mean use the island as ionith? or merely scrap the whole island for it?

[Lady Nerevar]

hm, ionith is in mainland akavir, which makes establishing borders for the release more difficult. maybe Esroniet instead? close enough to akavir and still an island, and could support a sort of military campaign storyline.

one major flaw with the story in my eyes: the empire knows that an invasion of akavir is costly and likely to fail. "the Commission unanimously concludes that given what we now know, any attempt to invade Akavir is folly, at least in the present state of the Empire." - and that is in 3E 290, a time of relative peace and plenty in the empire. 3E434 is plagued by the Oblivion gates, there is no way that the empire would send out an army to invade a land that is so far away when they need all their troops defending the homeland.

The technical side also presents a problem, as EH stated cannons would need all new animations, which are notoriously difficult to make. furthermore, oblivion cannot handle largescale battles such as those associated with an invasion. the battle of bruma is about as large as it gets, and even that did not run smoothly.

[Shiver-Tail]

Something completely new, but not scrap the Island out entirely, just... we need to attract people and I think most will find bombarding a city and its population to dust more fun than exploring an island and helping some monkeys kill the big bad demon. We can use it later on.

Can you create a cannon drawn by oxen if you don't define the oxen as an npc but as a moving object? Would the cannons be able to detach?

@Lady N:
1) Borders --> mountains. But Esroniet could do... but then we'll cut off part of the "Revenge for Reman V" story...
2) the mod could take place long after that was written (That was my "big idea" the moment before I left...gunpowder?)
the gates are closed and it's about 500 years later.

3) I don't think that would be easy... but hell, cannons don't even have to move an inch if that doesn't work out.
Speaking about the battle vs. framerate: I was thinking more of seeing an invasion force prepare for attack, while you lead a group of commandos trough the sewer system, with large battle-sounds in the distance. When you appear aboveground, you're in a city-cell and the empire has used siege towers (just an object: you don't see em moving) to get over the walls. The city is under attack but there aren't much soldiers because:
1) It was a scouting group of Tsaesci that was stationed there
2) The walls are tricky to besiege thus only one tower can be used...

[Lady Nerevar]

unless akavir is now a total conversion (meaning no cyrodiil present, have to start a new game) a 500 year time leap wont make sense at all. "oh yea, now that youre on this island its 4E500, but when you go back to cyrodiil its 4E1 again" doesnt make any sense and breaks immersion imo. furthermore, we do not know (and quite frankly cant know, since tamriel's progression is nothing like earth's) what the empire will look like in 500 years, or if there will be an empire at all. in 500 years it could be the 5th era.

[Shiver-Tail]

That had something to do with the story I had in mind. But theres' a solution... instead of going on an expedition with the decendant of Baurus that uses Baurus' journal to guide you, you go together with Baurus, let's say 10 years after Martins death? That opens op some new interesting quests...

[exilehunter]

well for the lore side of things, how about an invasion of the akavir upon the imperials? the battle against the daedra are sure to divert the empire's attention into defense against mehrunes and possibly, weaken its defense against other nations? thus the akavir see the time as an opportunity to expand their territory?

the oxen as a moving model instead of a creature isnt likely to be a better solution. a new creature that is an oxen with cannon attached acting as a creature in a whole might be better, but again, still quite weird imo.

[Shiver-Tail]

Then what is the point in creating Akavir if Akavir comes to the Empire instead of Vice versa?

[Lady Nerevar]

Originally posted by Shiver-Tail
That had something to do with the story I had in mind. But theres' a solution... instead of going on an expedition with the decendant of Baurus that uses Baurus' journal to guide you, you go together with Baurus, let's say 10 years after Martins death? That opens op some new interesting quests...

again, how will you explain the time gap? oblivion does not change to reflect 10 years after martin's death, the game remains as if it happened yesterday for the entire time of play. unless the mod is scripted to not kick in until that time has passed it is strange to have someone tell you that its 4E10, when the game says and feels differently. also, baurus could have died during the MQ, which would make the mod unplayable.

the most plausible way to execute this, imo, is to say that the expedition force landed before the start of the oblivion invasion. don't know why the player would go there after however, maybe retrieve some important person or to deliver the news of the invasion? that however still leave the possibility of someone doing the quest after the invasion.

[Shiver-Tail]

Hmmm interesting. Yes, the empire dispatched an expedition to akavir but Okato has not heard from it and thus sends the "hero of Kvatch" along with some other people (legion? blades?). Not much soldiers died due to the Daedric invasion, so they would still be able to send a small invasion force...