Mythology Total War - An RTS concept Thread

Title is the TL:DR - basically this idea is an RTS that functions similarly to games like Total War, though slightly less complex. A more accurate representation would probably be "Battle for Middle Earth II: Age of Mythology," because it's more of a merging of those games rather than the Total War titles.

So one thing that I loved about Age of Mythology growing up was that it allowed me to get a peek into the various mythologies of the real world. I got to have battles where I commanded various Greek heroes of legend, fight alongside the Pharaohs of Egypt, and do battle with the monstrous beasts of Viking myth and legend. It was rather fun, all things considered. However, there was one thing that I really didn't like, and still don't like, about the game; specifically that while it does a great job at letting you play a power fantasy as a powerful God or Goddess commanding armies across countless realms, it isn't as good with a lot of other stuff, such as a more accurate portrayal of the civilizations in question or, indeed, providing more variety to said civilizations (for those who haven't played, you are literally only given three civs at the start of the game; Greek, Egyptian, and Vikings; and then a fourth in Atlanteans who worship the Titans from Greek myth. We aren't counting the 'fifth' introduced with the HD remake, because the Chinese basically play like Greeks from what I hear and are incredibly buggy and not fun to play). For guys like me who are used to the complexity and fun from the original Age of Empires but still want to play a more modern game (but without the funds...or patience...to play Rome II or Attila: Total War) it leaves us with few choices, and while I like to dwell in nostalgia-land it seems a shame that the only thing I can do is play a broken remake of an old classic. So, my solution, as ever, is to fill the void with something new. I'm hoping to make this idea more than just an idea, but for now I will leave it out there for people to check out if they so desire, because who knows; maybe somebody will want to give it a try.

The concept for this game is simple - An RTS that takes place in Antiquity with both real-world and mythological sources to draw from. It will take place in Ancient Greece to start with, and the different 'civilizations' will all be based on the Greek City-States and their nearest neighbors/colonies throughout the Aegean Sea. It will take place during the Greek Heroic Age during the time of the Mycenaean civilization, and will feature various cultures and city states such as Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Sparta, Arcadia, and so on. It will also feature some 'minor players' in the initial eras of the Greek Heroic and Bronze Ages such as the Minoans of Crete, the Macedonians, the Thracians, Phrygians and so forth. It will also feature various aspects and creatures from ancient Greek myth that can be used as units in battle, such as Cyclopes, Satyrs, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Gorgons, Lamias, Drakons, and so forth. Some of these creatures will be active units you can summon while others can be bought as mercenaries or otherwise be interactible with the rest of the world (similar to the beast system found in Battle for Middle Earth II, where they act as aggressive neutral spawns).

The Grand Strategy 'Total War' component of the game will feature in its grand campaigns or war map gamemodes, whereby two or more players (or one player vs AI) take turns fighting each other over a large map. In this part of the game, myth units are summonable based on what gods you are worshiping at the time (the AoM component), and certain civilizations are given a select pool of three to start with out of the main pantheon. These deities may or may not also provide certain 'god powers' that are at the user's disposal, either in the form of a sort of tech tree that uses points which build up based on your kills or your resource management or what have you, though the game does not use this as its crutch. In the game's Skirmish Mode things go by much quicker and some of these special units are already unlocked on the get-go, but still require certain buildings or 'offerings' in order to summon them. The game may or may not include heroes, but I'm still debating about whether or not that will work.

Each civ (or group of civs) in the game will feature a primary campaign that focuses on either a legendary battle of Greek myth or otherwise an actual battle of historic antiquity, such as the Peloponnisian War and the Trojan War; with the Trojan War/Illiad being the primary and central campaign in the story.

Let me know what you guys think. This is a VERY big project, and i'm not under the illusion that I could get it made completely by myself (in fact, only featuring the one civilization was in my mind an easy way to skirt around some of the massive problems regarding such ambitious game design). My hope is that, at some point in the future, I could make this project a reality with a team of people, though I'm aware that's a long way off yet.

-Kerian