More Arenas

Adds 10 new arena maps into the game, currently:
3 Empire
1 Sturgia
2 Aserai
1 Battania
2 Vlandia
1 Khuzait
And distributes them throughout the map

I don’t know about you, but I usually start the game off by going from town to town fighting in tournaments to get renown and equipment in the early game. I pretty quickly realized that each culture only has a single faction that all of its towns use. So, I decided to make some new arenas for all the factions to give a bit more variety. I also tried to make the arenas a little bit more complex and interesting than the base game arenas, which are usually very open, flat, and in my opinion, kind of boring.

List of new maps and their locations:

Empire

Flooded Arena: Diathma, Zeonica, Ortysia, Vostrum
Based off a legend about how the Coliseum was filled with water to allow for mock naval battles, I had the idea to make an arena that was (partially) filled with water, with a central island of land and wooden plank bridges and platforms built across the arena.

Sand Pit: Saneopa, Argoron, Amitatys, Lycaron
Based a little bit off the arena from TES Oblivion, this map has a pillar by each of the 4 corners and a central pit, accessible from 4 sides, quite similar to the base game empire arena, but gives a little bit more cover from all those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ arrows and javelins.

Empire Alley: Phycaon, Rhotae, Danustica, Amprela
Not really "lore-friendly" even compared to other maps in this mod, this one doesn’t actually take place in a proper arena, instead it’s basically a street fight in the middle of an alley (more of a courtyard, really) in an empire city. Try not to think about why lords would be fighting there in tournaments as well.

Sturgia

Cliff Arena: Varcheg, Tyal, Revyl
An arena flanked on one side by a large cliff face, with rock outcroppings in the center and edges. Hopefully this map is a bit more interesting than the lovely mud pit called arena_sturgia_a (the base game sturgia arena)

Aserai

Sand Ruins: Quyaz, Hubyar, Sanala
A Sand filled pit that slopes down to a raised platform in the center, assessable from 2 side. The regular Aserai arena is a big circle of sand, so I thought I would make a big circle of sand with half a house plopped in the center. Aserai’s tournaments tend to be very cavalry based, so having a structure in the center makes the fights flow in a interesting circular motion, around the ruin. I think its neat, at least.

Oasis Arena: Qasira, Husn Fulq
What better way to show off your wealth and flex on your less wealthy rival tribes in the desert than by having people fight in a big pool of water.

Battania

Forest Arena: Marunath, Car Banseth, Pen Cannoc
For a faction that supposedly remembers the time when forests stretched across the now-empire, they certainly seem to have no issues clearing those forests away from where ever they live. So I did them a favor and made an arena that is not completely deforested. Considering that Battania tournaments usually result in the player getting sniped from across the map or one shot by a lord with a big sword/axe, the trees also provide some cover from at least one of those two eventualities.

Vlandia

Jousting Arena: Sargot, Pravend, Galend
It’s Vlandia, there’s nothing more Vlandian than a jousting style arena

Rock Pond: Ocs Hall, Jaculan
A square(ish) map that features a central pond and rock formation that can be used as high ground. Provides some defense against horsemen in Vlandian tournament and a vantage for shooting (or for me, missing with) a crossbow. It also looks cool, which is important for me at least.

Khuzait

Khuzait Cliffs: Makeb, Baltakhand , Odokh
A relatively simple map thats kind of similar to the base game Khuzait map, but a little bigger.

Compatibility:
I think the mod is compatible with other mods, including ones that add/edit towns and edit tournaments, since this mod is only changing the scenes, not the tournament system. If you find any compatibility issues with other mods, also please post them as well
This mod works for 1.7.0, it should work for 1.7.1/beta 1.7.2 as well, I’m not sure about prior versions. I cannot guarantee that it will work for prior versions, but if you do use it on a version that isn’t 1.7.0 or 1.7.1, please post if it does or doesn’t work.

If you have any suggestions for any more arena types, feel free to post them in the comments, I’ll try to make more and include them in the mod at some point, hopefully… probably… maybe.

Changelog:
2/26 – Added Rock Pond Arena for Vlandia
3/16 – Added Khuzait Rock Cliffs arena for Khuzaits
7/18 – Added Empire Alley and Aserai Oasis arenas, fixed issues with spikes on some of the maps, edited the flooded arena to make the water less intrusive.
7/22 – Fixed issue with grass not appearing
8/1 – Fixed no flooded arena version
10/14 – Uploaded mod to Steam Workshop