Andau - 2000 years of history

[djvandrake]

Quite nice.  I'm looking forward to more.  Would love to see a closeup of the hilltop fortress.

[Earth quake]

Really nice update.
The village is look beautiful.

[warconstruct]

wow very beautiful MD 

[Nardo69]

Nice teaser. First I was going to ask you where the famous Roman Roads were but as we are in time before Caesar came ... Nice idea with the refuge, in my home country I do know some of them!


Take care


Bernhard 

[kwakelaar]

Replies

Adroman, thanks a lot, well I enjoy reading history and this is kind of making your own version of what happend. 

Tomas Neto, that is too kind of you.

Debussyman, well at least widely anticipated by me, nice of you to stop by here. And I will of course make good use of your bat's in later stages.

WC_EEND, almost only close up's in this update.

Bobbi, thanks for your comment.

Fabian, I am of course going for the fantastic in the future . Abandoning Andau, no, not at all, it just slipped through my fingers while I was busy with RL.

Battlecat, Hello nice to see you here. I have been looking through Adara quite a few times by now, and you have really inspired me to do something more with the rural areas.  :thumbsup:There are just so many great ideas to see in your MD. Still this is a lot of trial and error, and with the 60BC to 2000 AD I can go back and change as I develop this further.

Graesloel, hello and thanks for your comment

Djvandra, hilltop fortress in close-up at your command.

Earthquake, thanks a lot for your comment, hope to see you more often here.

Warconstruct, nice of you to leave a comment.

Hello Bernhard, aah Roman roads, yes I have not quite decided yet how to do those. As far as I have understood, in these parts of the Empire not of the same quality as further south. But it would mean making another set of textures for roads, and it is something I am not terribly good at  . So far I have been using jeronij and cp textures. Maybe there is something within the SAM that can be used?
The idea of the refuge is from Germany although I do know them from Scandinavia as well.

Update 3
We are going to take a closer look at Hira just a few years before the Romans start making their presence known in this area. Caesar with his armies is still busy further south in Gaul, but even in a time with very little communication and travel outside the village, the Andicans know something is happening. There have been a Roman reconnaissance all the way to the area of the Batavi where the Rhine split into three branches and the delta of the Netherlands begins. Rumours of the Romans and their dealings with the natives of Gaul has spread from the Batavi to the different tribes further east and north.

We start out in the centre of Hira with the route running from south to north along the Selter river, which is also the main street of Hira. The village is not actually on the riverbank but is set back a little with the fields extending almost to the waters edge.


This is zooming in on the CBD of Hira with the local fish monger doing good business with fish caught in the river. Scenes from Asterix come to mind with complaints about the quality and fish flying.


Houses from the edge of the village. The low houses are dug into the ground and have only the roofs above street level. You could just imagine how it would be cleaning out the water and mud after some heavy rain. But the construction of these houses is very simple.


This is a bigger house with a workshop in the backyard and as you can see everyone is growing their own veggies close to home.


This is a larger farm that I am quite happy with how it turned out. The stable is probably pushing historical accuracy a little too far. But an artist should be allowed some liberties.
This is the only farm not situated in the village itself. Most farmers live in the village and walk from there to work on their fields. Farming in this period is small scale and is mainly (only) to feed the own family.


Few villages in this period would be of such a permanent nature as is suggested here in Hira. Because fertilizers and crop rotation was not known, villages would have to move after a certain time when the yield would drop. There was also so much free space, finding a new space for your home and fields was not a problem. Villages where lost in a sea of forest.

The main reason for people to settle in Hira to start with was the hilly plateau overlooking the river and the river plain to the west. This is quite an unique feature for this area and this spot is probably the first to be fortified by the Celt's in Andau.
This is an overview of the fortress with the village in the background below the hill.


The walls facing the plateau are earth ramparts with a ditch in front and a wooden palisade on top. The palisade runs all the way around the hill with a few towers and a gate. This is the main- and only entrance to the fortress.


Within the palisade are warehouses for grain and hay and there is a large paddock for the live-stock in case the village comes under threat. As you can see they are busy at the moment to prepare for what might come. 


This is the Hira temple with an altar outside and a holy spring. She is a River Goddess and protector of all life, at least if she is kept in good spirit with offerings.


This last picture is of the small river harbour just outside the village. The river is the easiest way to travel. There are no real roads outside the villages only paths through the often dense forest.
I had quite some difficulty to make this harbour, never done any harbour lots before. The whole thing kept sinking under water. For now it is just a non-functional lot, but when things get a little busier in Andau I will change that.


Hope you enjoyed this little tour of Hira 60 BC. We will certainly come back here later in this MD.

Kwakelaar/Gjermund

[turtle]

Excellent update 

I like your MD so far, it seems like a massive project  Are you bat'ing all those houses yourself?

If you would like to have more variety, maybe Manchous french village houses would fit in with you theme: French village

I will look forward to more 

edit: fixed the link

[joelyboy911]

Errr, wow. Scenes from Asterix certainly do come to mind, looking at your pictures. I especially liked the fortifications and the fishing dock, that coastal (riverine?) area was very well done.

I'll be back. 

[KoV Liberty]

Very very cool! But, next time turn off the grid . Whoops! Had no idea about a second page.

[kimcar]

  Very very cool. Very nice house and great palissade (wall) Do you made yourself ?

[petjuh]

Looks very 'Asterix' . Love to see your developments into Roman and Medieval times.

[Bobbi]

Beautiful!

[Earth quake]

Stunning update.
The 1st picture is just fantastic, this small village is splendid. These buildings are beautiful.
The rural aera is really pretty and the forterress is amazing.
It's Age of Empire in Sim city 4.

[Fabian93]

 
As I have already said: This is definitively going to become one of my favorite MDs on this site.
That little village with the fortress is looking fantastic and I can not wait to see what you've got for us next time.
I really enjoy looking at each picture for quite some time and I suppose that you batted a few/(or all??) buildings for that Update.

Keep up the great work with Andau,
Fabian

[strucka]

 

great work here, seems it will take a long time, but will be a very detailed thingy..

[Battlecat]

Superb update!  Everything looks excellent!  You've got a great diversity of custom materials and you've put them to great use! 

One thing that particularly stands out for me is the size of your farms, since you're currently simulating a medieval town, the individual plots would be about the size that one family could manage without any mechanized equipment! 

[Tomas Neto]

Awesome!!! 

[calibanX]

Awesome. Very creative. Where to start... I love the wall. Your custom content is very well done too. The detail is phenomenal at even the closest zooms. Nice job. I'm anxious to see more.

Geoff

[djvandrake]

Wow!    Bravo. 

Thanks for the closeup look at the fortress. 

You have some of the best looking farms I've seen anywhere, and the buildings are perfect in the context you're creating.

[kwakelaar]

Replies teaser update 4

Turtle. It is a massive project, but one that I do enjoy. So far all the buildings you have seen, I batted myself. Manchou's French village houses are good, they are not quite right yet for the period, but I will certainly make use of them later.

Joelyboy911, thanks a lot. The fortifications are really simple bats, but I think they serve their purpose well.

Driftmaster07, well I changed the pictures, thanks a lot for pointing it out to me. I had completly overlooked the fact that the grid was on.

Kimcar, the walls and houses are all batted by me. Later I will be able to use buildings by other batter's as well. There is just not that much to choose from for this period of history.

Petjuh, well we are just before the Roman conquest, Medieval times that will take a lot longer.

Bobbi, thanks for stopping by.

Earthquake, thanks for your comment, and I am glad you like the village

Fabian, thank you. The buildings are all made by myself, but they are really not very complicated to make. For now there is just a small teaser, hopefully next weekend I will be able to finish the next update.

Strucka, you are certainly correct about taking a long time. But I am not really in a hurry.

Battlecat, thanks a lot. How good of you to notice the size of the farms, indeed the idea is not to make any large farms. As you already said, the farms are run by one family and there are no mechanized equipment around. Also the economy is not developed enough for farmers to sell of any off their extra produce. They will only grow what they need to eat themselves.

Tomas Neto, thanks.

CalibanX, the walls are quite simple, at least batting them, getting the earth ramps the way I wanted them was a bit more difficult....I was plagued by jagged edges.

Djvandrake, thanks for your comment, and no problem with the closeup, it was on my list to be included in the update.

For now I will just give you all a small teaser for the next update.

The Romans are on their way north. Here they are just passing through the first village of the Tungeri. The villagers of Vernia which this place is called, just got their fright of a lifetime seeing the massive and well organized legions marching through.



Gjermund/Kwakelaar

[BarbarossaS]

Lovely teaser. Can't wait to see what those Romans are up to 

-Stijn-