Demise of Nations: Tips and Tricks for Modding

What is modding you may ask? Well, here is a basic summary on it.

In Demise of Nations, modding allows players to create their own maps as well as test/play them. Modded maps on both Demise of Nations and Age of Conquest IV are an essential part of the community, as it allows more maps, ideas, and content to be made, thus making the games more fun!

In both Demise of Nations and Age of Conquest, my username is ZambieCo. I’m saying that now because I have a good bit of experience when it comes to modding. I think it’s fun, and when you get the hang of it, It can be fun for you as well!

There are 2 key features for every map, these are the Terrain and the Scenery.

The Terrain is the essential for modded maps, as it is what makes up the land for scenery and other things that you can add. There are 4 types of terrain, along with 1 special, but not very used terrain. They are:

Water – Oceans, seas and large/small lakes are made by this. When you first get into a bundle, this terrain is the first you will see.
Earth – Mainly a desert type terrain, used in dry areas to make it seem more realistic.
Grass – Basic grassland area. Mostly used for forest areas and wet climate.
Grass (sparse) – Sparse grass, I usually use it for snow, or just areas where it is colder/more north.

Special terrain, Snow – Frozen climate. Only available when the temperature is cold enough, but it is rarely used.

Scenery allows more detail of the map/landmass, therefore making it look nicer. Here are the types of scenery you can add:

Forests – Forest are the essential scenery, used in almost every map. Forest and Forest+ are the 2 you can use.
Palms – Palms are used for dry areas and beaches. Not as common as forests, these trees should mainly be used in more dry-ish climates. Palms and Palms+ are the 2 you can use.
Rivers – These are similar to Water terrain. The difference is that bridges can be used here, therefore allowing land unit movement towards the other side. Rivers make the map look nicer and more realistic.
Hills and Mountains – Hills and Mountains allow you to have remote areas, or places where you need to go a certain way. Stone, Iron, and Gold are resources that can be mined/collected here.
Volcanoes – Volcanoes are rare, but allow the player to see an awesome volcano!

Scenarios allow players to choose what time/place to play at. At least 2 or more scenarios should be good, as it allows players to have a choice!

The Details
The details consist of the scenarios name and description. This allows the player to know what it’s about, and gives a basic setting right off the bat.

The Actual Settings
For a more in-depth setting, this section consists of the Datum, Content, and most importantly, the Story. The datum/date is simple, as it allows the player to know when the scenario takes place. Content allows for a balanced scenario, Teams, and the Parameters. Parameters gives you custom settings for the temp. as well as rain and droughts. The story (which is required) is the part where you explain to the player on what is happening. This gives a more in-depth view on the scenario.

Mother Nature
Nature gives you the option to add animals, resources, and building sites. Animals give you a source of food (fish) and a nice little scenery. Resources are essential to empire building, for ancient as well as modern. Finally, building sites give the player the option to make different cities, ports, etc. However, this doesn’t need to be required, as you can conquer the realm!

Objects?
Objects consist of the actual buildings, resource collectors, and troop units. These three allow you to fight and gain money for funding your empire. In the ancient setting, you can have different nations be different cultures. Consisting of Romans, Persians, Greeks, Germanic, and more!

Players
The players section lets you add nations that you can make within the ‘Common Template’ section. Whether ancient or modern, nations allow players to ‘play’ the game. It’s what makes the map fun!

Coming up with a map might seem easy, but there are so many options. What do you choose? Well, here are some tips that can help you on that! The 2 types of maps are Realistic and Fantasy:

Realistic Maps
If you want to make a realistic map, it is best ideal to have some sort of template to base it off of. That is unless you have excellent memory, of course. Here are 2 types of realistic maps:

Large Scale – Large scale maps are those that contain a small area, but have a lot of detail. The Official: Greek Wars bundle has that effect, consisting of the southern Balkans area as well as the western Anatolian coast.

Small Scale – Small scale maps are those which show a massive land area (i.e a world map or a continent map) but don’t have as much detail as a large scale map. The Official: Ancient Europe bundle is a good example, showing off the majority of Europe, but there isn’t as much detail as the Official: Greek Wars bundle.

Of course, there are some maps that are very big and have a lot of detail, but I’m just giving out the basic info.

Fantasy Maps
Fantasy maps are maps which have aren’t related to the real world. Anyone can create a fantasy map, and it just depends on what you – the modder decides.