A Giant Passes Into the Night

DarthVader is no more. The tremendously popular DarthMod modification for the Total War series, having now been present in Medieval II, Empire, Napoleon and Shogun 2 will not be returning for future iterations. A tremendous figure in the modding community, he has once again gone into retirement, this time seemingly for good.

I appreciate DarthMod like ballet and opera. I didn't always get it, or even enjoy it for that matter but I was glad it existed. It felt like it added something to the world, and others took immense pleasure from it. He was doing something nobody else seemingly could - complex AI scripting, unit rebalancing, and campaign AI that was not built from bricks and dog droppings.

Now, after a not so subtle slight from a Creative Assembly official he is calling it quits again.

"There are some mods out there that claim to do things that are impossible to do within the limitations that exist at the moment, for example."

Not exactly subtle. But I've long been under the impression that Darth is a one man band - likely this is why he was passed over during a previous interview for a programming position within the company.

But I can't help but feel Darth's passing also marks the end of an era in TotalWar games. Empire began the trend of DLC over mod support and Shogun 2 has again shown the company's intentions of continuing to downplay the community's role in the development of the games. I can only surmise Rome 2  will follow this trend, insisting on the purchase of company made content over player creativity. One need only to look at the success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to see how a lively and energetic community can add value to existing works and attract new audiencs.


Source:
http://www.pcgamesn.com/totalwar/total-war-mod-darthmod-empire-v80-platinum-released-developer-retires-total-war-modding

And for popular press release:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/09/21/darthmod-creator-retires/

Roman Pools were Better than Yours

They just don't make them like they used to. This is the deluxe edition obviously, found in present day Turkey. Apparently a farmer was tilling along and hit this with his plow. A whole pool. With nearly perfect intact intricately laid tile work.

The Romans were the masters of a number of things, the most important being engineering. Just look at all the present day highways laid over existing Roman roads - some cities even still get their water via ancient aqueducts.

When I was looking to post this article, I actually came across a reference to it on History.com. Which apparently is owned by the History Channel. Imagine my surprise to find actual history there - and not ancient aliens who build pools on the ice while trading in the pawned logs.

Source:
http://www.history.com/news/giant-roman-mosaic-unearthed-in-turkey