looking for modern combat eras

[Shinobody]

Atari, yer doin it rong. (Yarrrr...)
There are placeholders.
Placeholders are temporary art. They can be taken from other eras, or be [acronym=unit images made using parts from other units. Great_Mage_Atari's avatar is part-lich, part skeleton, and a good example of this.]"frankensprited"[/acronym].
So, Modern Combat add-on is good choice for ready placeholders unit images.
People will not create original art for you (at least, good original art) if you won't have working (playable) add-on that they'll like.
Do not ask people who are good at art (like Art Contributors) to make you a new one.
Good idea is to read this.
Powershot and GMAtari have agreed to help, that's cool. But this usually would not happen.

You've been saying something about villages and towns, and the like.
Terrain will not change in different eras.*
So called "Era" is type of add-on with set of units to use in the same maps default Wesnoth uses. If you need futuristic/modern terrain... I think [acronym=Big science-fiction total conversion mod; currently dead, but it's art is used often]Spacenoth[/acronym] had some futuristic bases/cities, but frankly, I've got no freaking idea where to get this art from (seems still to be circulating around). Modern Combat is not an era, but has no new terrain, either. Ah, and installing a mod won't change the looks of terrain you've already got.
So I think easiest way for now is to don't care about soldiers being recruited inside castles instead of bases, and capturing villages instead of cities. That can be changed in later versions.
Attempting to do everything by yourself is ambitious. Attempting to do everything by yourself at once is unreal.
Terrain is least of your worries, for now. So is art. Making working and balanced (therefore, fun to play) add-on with just "placeholder" (will-be-done-later) art first is better idea.
* - Of course, there are add-ons which have new era AND new terrain, like e.g Galactic Empires...
(Which sadly has just spaceships and space-based terrain. Sorry, no modern cities.)

[powershot]

Ok, Frankens for Placeholders, now what is the request and I'll get right to it tommorow.

[Great_Mage_Atari]

I mean not to do the work for the OP, only aide him. I do have other stuff I need to get done.

[Rahabib]

after going through all the documentation (still have some to learn), I guess I need to make a new mod with new terrain and new units. Its a bit ambitious but I thin it will be worth it. I am still going through some ideas to make sure what I want can be accomplished. So far my idea is to utilize the basic game play principles from Westnoth. The game will not be a compaign or scenario driven, but focus on multiplayer only.

Also, I am a web designer so I have some experience with graphic design, but I am not really skilled in sprite art and definitely not in animation. However, I can easily make quick and dirty placeholder stuff myself.

So first of all, let me see if I understand everything correctly: an era contains two custom factions that can contain custom units, am I correct? What do you call it when you have an era with some new terrain? is that a mod? I was of the understanding that an era can also have custom terrain, but I guess not.

As far as placeholders, I would not create a bunch of new terrain. All I would really need is new castle/keep and city overlays. Maybe one or two others. Again, I am still putting my ideas down and testing them out before I start putting my plan out to everyone. Also, I am not planning on going too ambitious, even the units I start with will be few to start.

Here is what I am thinking.

The mod? is called Fortress America. Its based on the now sadly out of print boardgame from the 80's. The story is that the Chinesse and Soviets (this was made in the 80's - story will be updated however), Europeans, and South Americans all gang up on the United States after the United States launches the "Star Wars" program secretly (again 80's). So the game is 3 teams against one (US). Its going to have a board game feel, so few units (but can be expanded) and its basically the US has to hold out for a number of rounds to win (the time it takes to retaliate with the "Star Wars" satellite to become operational).

I am creating this game to get my friends more into Westnoth. We grew up playing this board game a lot. The board game is obviously going to be very different from this mod, but the overall story and premise of the game will remain the same, which is easily done with the Westnoth core game. There wont be any range attacks or diplomacy and such, just standard rules for Westnoth with recruiting and capturing villages etc.

The story also takes place around the year 2000 (again made in the 80's), but I am going to adapt it to 2025. Even in the original game, there were hover tanks, but everything else were mainly stuff we have now (stealth bombers, etc.) So I could Frankenstein some stuff to test, but eventually I want original stuff. Also, the problem with Frankensteining is that your stuff doesnt look cohesive, and I want my friends (not just my core friends) to think this is cool, not cobbled together. If this works out, I have a lot of other ideas that will work well for this style of game.

terrain, all that needs to be done is new villages which will be cities that have skyscrapers to represent the large cities like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc. Also the keeps need to be changed to military bases, the castle squares could just be invisible overlays really.

units are the same for all sides (with the exception of one). Again, this can be expanded or changed.
-infantry (only one type for now)
-hover tanks
-attack choppers
-stealth bombers
-partisans (only US - these are rag tag versions of infantry that are set to "loyal")

no medics but cities/bases will heal completely.

thats it (for now).

So if there are people interested, you can post up or PM me or whatever you want.

[powershot]

An era can have more than two, in fact, an era can have one(for example: My era:Era of three worlds, and Zeroviruses one: Steelhive era), or many, like Ageless or era of two suns.

Also, an era can have new terrain.

And it's not "Westnoth"(Westnorth) it's Wesnoth.

[Rahabib]

oh one quick question, and I am sorry if this is a dumb question.

If I create a map, can I load it up in a new mod with tilesets and replace the ones I need easily, or is it easier to just start over?

[Rahabib]

And it's not "Westnoth"(Westnorth) it's Wesnoth.

you can tell how new I am to this game. lol

[powershot]

oh one quick question, and I am sorry if this is a dumb question.

If I create a map, can I load it up in a new mod with tilesets and replace the ones I need easily, or is it easier to just start over?

Matters how much needs to be replaced.

[Great_Mage_Atari]

The way your planning on doing this, youll need to start almost entirely from scratch

[powershot]

Oh, if that is what you mean, then you have to start over. Big time.

Atari:QFT!

[Great_Mage_Atari]

? Well Rahabib, I won't make a ton for you, but I can aid you on your way there.

[powershot]

Count me in

No more posting unless it's constructive.

[MattDakka]

What about creating a suitable map like the Fortress America's one, to be used with Modern Combat Era?
I mean a Modern Combat map for 4 players, the American, with the 30 cities and the 3 invaders on the borders, with the nice benefit of using all the various Modern Combat units (more variety, more strategy, more fun).
That would be awesome!

[Shinobody]

Actually MattDakka has great idea. Instead of making just another mod from scratch, you could improve and enlarge diversity and popularity of Modern Combat, making scenario (that's how single map, with specific rules is called) based on it.
Therefore, you start not from basic Wesnoth, you have good start of Modern Combat rules, images, units, updates and popularity (you already have decided on making it on existing rules).
And if different sides are supposed to use similar forces, then it fits even more.
Modern Combat has/will have (future updates) everything you talk about, and more (but this can be limited, if needed). There are planned e.g. sniper units, missile silos (along with nuclear weapons...)
This means less work, more diversity, and higher chances of actually finishing it.

[MattDakka]

Yes, and the Fortress America map/scenario could have victory conditions related to the original game (for example the invaders need to capture 18 american cities in order to win).
I know it would be different from the boardgame, but the mod would nonetheless differ from the tabletop game due to the different Wesnoth game mechanics.