Factions

[Maroni]

Our plan is to recreate the six original factions:

• Men

• Elves

• Dwarves

• Isengard

• Mordor

• Goblins

There is a big chance that if we ever complete the six core factions, a faction of the evil realm of Angmar will appear in the game, yet we all have to see the six factions complete before. We are always open to healthy and constructive criticism and we'd love to know, if you believe that breaking factions into smaller ones and widening their arsenal can be really achieved. Can you propose anything?

[Logosarche]

Hi,
It looks very good so far but I have been wondering about the place of the hobbit heroes like Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. Because, if you plan on adding them into the Men just like in the first game, it would increase a faction already overflowing with heroes, but in the same time not adding them like did the second one would be sad. Have you got any informations on this subject? Is a Hobbit faction conceivable?

[Smeagol]

You could try and do something similar to the original BFME where Men are split into Gondor and Rohan, that would also allow for colour schemes and textures to match each other more fittingly. The only other faction which has enough heroes to realistically split would be Elves, but beyond splitting it into Lorien and Rivendell there's not too much else that's easily available.

For evil factions there's not a great deal of additional stuff purely from the films (except maybe Azog/Bolg/Great Goblin), though if you want to add some video game lore you can add Agandaur from War in the North to Angmar if it is eventually created?

[Tshabi]

Would it be possible to make Gondor and Rohan separatly like in the first one?

[Mobbelkotze]

I'd also really consider breaking Men up in Rohan and Gondor. You could easily establish two factions of their own with distinctive looking units and buildings AND especially get rid of the overboarding hero roster of Men.

[cElebrimbor96]

First off I just want to say that I am a huge fan of what you all are doing here! I have played battle for middle earth for as long as I can remember and it is finally nice to see it being remade. The artwork and the images you have shown so far are STUNNING, but I would like to address some thoughts about the factions. I also believe that men should be split to Rohan and Gondor as seperate factions. In battle for middle earth 1 it was nice to be able to switch between Rohan and Gondor both had their own different playing styles, unique buildings, separate heroes, and different powers. It was great to play but in battle for middle earth 2 they combined them and even though there was a few Rohan units it still felt as if you were playing only as Gondor. I was not a fan of that at ALL and the way you guys are remaking this game I would love to see how you remodel Gondor and Rohan buildings. I believe that also elves should be separated into multiple factions as well, after all there was 3 different elven kingdoms in middle earth: Rivendell, Lorien, and Mirkwood. And all three have different unique powers, buildings, units and more, I do not believe that they should be crunched together into one like they were in battle for middle earth 2. If you guys aren't trying to stray away from the original ideas of battle for middle earth I would re think that, battle for middle earth 1 was a great game and so were the other two after that, however, its not a bad idea to do things differently. I think many would agree with me that there were some flaws to the old games, every game has flaws, but with what you guys have to offer I feel like it is the best time for new ideas and new design to be introduced in battle for middle earth. I know you guys are very busy right now and factions are probably not even on your minds just yet but please consider this. Thank you for everything you all are doing again!

[stormbringer]

Hi!,
First at all, massive thanks for this impressive project, a dream becoming for me!.
About the factions I think would amazing to split some of the original six ones.
Here my suggestions:
* Imlandris
* Lorien
* Mirkwood
* Gondor
* Rohan
* Isengard
* Mordor
* Misty Mountains (would goblins, but I think this name would be more accurate)
* Erebor
* Iron Hills
The guys from the Age of the Ring team managed to make many of them for their great mod.
If this means a lot of work, maybe the Elven and Dwarven factions do not need to be so different, some unique structures, heroes and units would do.
I assume this will not happen but I just wanted to post my wishes .

Thanks for all your efforts.
Best regards.

[Abner67]

I have the idea of making the factions as fractions and individual, for example : Men (all men kind together) but you can choose : Gondor (Specific faction with deep details about Gondor) and Rohan (Specific faction with deep details about Rohan)
In this way you can fight Rohan against men !
This would be cool because would be much more rich that is today, and in the Lord of the rings books we have a lot of details, that can be used in each of this factions !
Could bee plenty of factions and full of details !
Could do a Gondor campaign, Rohan, Men kind, Mordor, Isengar, Dwarves they are a lot of factions between themselves, and the same thing g with elves, etc...

Att.
Abner Pereira Dancuart.

[ThaneWulfgharn]

Hmm, I'd go for:
-Gondor (+fiefdoms)
-Rohan
-Imladris (+Grey Company/Dunedain, Breeland & Hobbits)
-Lorien
-Mirkwood
-Erebor
-Mordor (Orcs + Rhun + Umbar)
-Isengard (Orcs + Uruk-Hai + Dunland)
-Misty Mountains (Completely redesigned, Moria Goblins + Gundabad Orcs + some of the beasts we saw at the Hobbit series)
-Harad (Haradrim + Variags of Khand + Half Trolls of Far Harad which are removed from the Misty Mountains faction).

The main reasons for dividing the following are:
-Rohan is mainly a Cavalry faction with strategies and tactics very different from Gondor which is mostly infantry focused.

-Cultural distinctions are huge between the elves of Lorien, Mirkwood and Rivendell. Plus the necessity to include the Dunedain.

-Making the Evil factions more book-friendly and include more "The Hobbit" content. Haradrim are removed from Mordor and have their own faction, as the book states that they're mainly a Cavalry army (different strategy). Mordor has more units from Rhun and Umbar though (Wainriders and Black Numenoreans). Also remove Mumaks from Mordor, because Mordor is a zerg-ish strategy faction relying on numerical superiority (again from the books). Mumaks are a little off that track I guess.

-Put some orc unit Isengard (as a very weak and basic infantry) and some elite Dunlending one - in books Isengard also used Orcs + Dunlendings were its strongest troops.

-Misty Mountains is completely redesigned. Most of its units didn't fit with neither books nor series. Moria Orcs are low-tier spammable. They are followed by Gundabad & Dol Guldur Orcs which are stronger. Beasts of War include: Cave Trolls, Gundabad War Trolls, Northern Wargs and Mirkwood Spiders(Desing like in the Hobbit). (I really don't know about dragons, but I'd suggest replace Drogoth the Dragon Lord with Smaug). I'd remove Half-Trolls, Spider Riders and Mountain Giants. Maybe those Troll Catapults as Siege Weapons.

-No Angmar faction. As much as I love it, it's completely wrong in terms of lore. Black Numenoreans are men from Umbar (not from the North), making up elite warriors / generals of Mordor's armies. In fact, I'd suggest to make the Black Numenorians as the Mordor's Hero unit (limited to 3), and the Black Uruks of Barad Dur replacing the "Black Orcs" as elite units.

VISUAL SUGGESTIONS:
Elite Dunlendings - look like elite Celtic warriors with large shields, chaimails and bronze helmets.

Haradrim - Un-upgraded have turbans and wicker armors. Upgrade replaces wicker armors with brass scales and adds brass helmets to the turban (book description).

Variags of Khand: Since Khand supplies Mordor with the best horses I imagined them as Arabs(of the Arabian Penisula) but maybe even a little like mongols - in contrast with the Haradrims which are mostly North African(I guess Variags wore masks). But Arab elements prevailing. The colors of their clothes
could be white and black (contrast with the haradrim red). Maybe even some Mughal inspiration.

Mordor Uruks: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/eda ... 0823153326

[Elrohir]

I think it's better to stay on the base factions.

For balancing because balancing already 6 factions is already complicate.