History VideoGame / ThirdAgeTotalWar

* RisingEmpire: Mordor, Harad, Rhun, and, especially [[MagicarpPower Arnor]], which goes from being a faction of wandering woodsmen and rangers to being a kingdom equal to Gondor in strength, wealth, and prestige, as it was before the kingdom fell.

* MagikarpPower: The Free People of Eriador start out rather weak and uninspiring, but work hard on them and they can form the Kingdom of Arnor, one of the most powerful factions in the game.

** Even further, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the AI will receive multiple stacks of units for free whenever you attack important settlements]], as well as an army of elite units if you try to seize a capital city [[SequenceBreaking too early]]. This is obstinately to help the AI compensate for player mission rewards and to foil ZergRush tactics.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Sauron can be immediately defeated after regaining possession of the Ring.

* RisingEmpire: Mordor, Harad, Rhun, and, especially Arnor, which goes from being a faction of wandering woodsmen and rangers to being a kingdom equal to Gondor in strength, wealth, and prestige, as it was before the kingdom fell.

* TimedMission: Restoring Arnor must be done within Aragorn's lifetime. You could fulfill all the requirements, but unless Aragorn is king, you will not be able to rebuild the kingdom because he is the only character who possesses the Elendilmir. This means that, if you want Arnor, generally speaking, you have to garrison Aragorn in Annuminas to quickly the grow that settlement into a large city capable of building the House of Kings.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: You can lead one in the Fellowship mode of the game.

* TimedMission: Restoring Arnor must be done within Aragorn's lifetime. You could fulfill all the requirements, but unless Aragorn is king, you will not be able to rebuild the kingdom because he is the only character who possesses the Elendilmir. This means that, if you want Arnor, generally speaking, you have to garrison Aragorn in Annuminas, to quickly the grow that settlement into a large city capable of building the House of Kings.

* TimedMission: Restoring Arnor must be done within Aragorn's lifetime. You could fulfill all the requirements, but unless Aragorn is king, you will not be able to rebuild the kingdom because he is the only character who possesses the Elendilmir.

** Free Peoples Of Eriador - Guerilla/Ranger: Many units are cheap but comparatively weak in straight-up fights, with emphasis on light infantry, militia and rangers.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The forces of good, of many cultures, but many who are neighbors start the game allied, aligned against the forces of evil, who all have the culture ''followers of Melkor''.
* DefogOfWar: The use of the Palantír allows seeing certain small portions of the map around the settlement it’s in. There are a total of four in the game.

* MagikarpPower: The Free People of Eriador start out rather weak and uninspiring, but work hard on them, and they can form Arnor, one of the most powerful factions in the game.
* NintendoHard: The game was developed to give even great players of the vanilla game a real challenge. With poor economy to contend with, vast spaces to traverse, overall lower replenish rates of troops, not to mention various AI bonuses, it worked.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: If the AI controls certain settlements when the player decides to siege them, then a script will be activated giving the AI several units to help it withstand your siege or sally out and dislodge you if you didn't bring enough troops. This includes: Mordor AI if it controls Minas Morgul, Gondor AI if it controls Minas Tirith, Rohan AI if it controls the Hornburg, amongst many others. Note, this applies both if the player attacks the AI, and if AI attacks other AI.

!!Third Age Total War provides examples of:

* ACommanderIsYou:
** Gondor - Balanced/Generalist : Has a wide variety of heavy infantry, spearmen, cavalry, and archers, with no real roster weaknesses
** Rohan - Balanced/Specialist : As a human faction, has a similar unit production rate to Gondor, but focuses heavily on cavalry units
** High Elves - Elitist/Generalist : Has a wide variety of extremely high quality and versatile units, which can only be produced in small amounts
** Silvan Elves - Ranger/Specialist : The Silvan Elves have the same slow unit production as the high elves, but with almost no cavalry, a focus on spear infantry, and the best archers in the game
** Dwarves - Elitist/Brute Force : The Dwarves have the best heavy infantry in the game bar none, with no cavalry and few archers. Elitist due to the effectiveness and costliness of their high-tier units. Their early access to and focus on securing mineral-rich mountain territories gives them shades of the Economist as well.
** the Free People Of Eriador - Guerilla/Ranger early on, turning into Generalist when Eriador becomes Arnor, giving them access to strong melee infantry and heavy cavalry units while retaining their slight specialization towards archers.

** Dominion of Isengard - Balanced/Technician : Has access to a wider variety of troops relative to Orc factions and even Mordor. A relatively weak roster early on, but later-game development gives them access to viciously effective Uruk-Hai units, including the specialized pike units that will give them a huge advantage over Rohan.
** Mordor - Spammer/Brute Force : As you would expect, Mordor can field massive numbers of Orc units. Mordor has no cavalry and mediocre starting units, but makes up for it with the late game access to Olog-Hai, heavily armored troll units that can smash through almost anything in their way, as well as stronger Uruk infantry units. Also traces of Industrialist; their late-game economy can be quite powerful, and their most profitable starting territories are out of the reach of enemy attack, making protecting them while building them up rapidly easy. Mordor can eventually overrun most opponents with a combination of numbers and sheer power.
** Easterlings of Rhun - Ranger early on, Generalist/Economist later : The Easterlings begin as a Ranger faction, focusing on skirmishers, archers, and fast missile cavalry, and later gaining access to some of the most effective heavy infantry, spearmen, and heavy cavalry in the entire game with the Loke-Khan units, rounding out their roster. They also have the wealthiest starting territories in the game, and a starting position that pits them against Dale, one of the weaker good factions, and the Dwarves, who are ill-equipped to fight the Easterlings outside of sieges. Easy Game Breaker potential.
** Harad - Specialist : Harad features strong cavalry and light troops who are at their strongest in the desert, but their main trump card are the mighty Mumakil elephants, which are hugely expensive but very powerful
** Orcs of Gundabad - Spammer/Brute Force : Like other factions with mainly Orc troops, they rely on numbers, and compared to the other primary Orc faction, the Orcs of Gundabad focus on heavy infantry and troll units.
** Orcs of the Misty Mountains - Spammer/Economist: With the wealth of Moria and the Misty Mountains, this Orc faction can pump out vast numbers, but lacks much to distinguish its unit roster aside from a focus on cheap goblin soldiers
** Arnor - See Eriador
** In general, Orc factions and Mordor are the spammers, human factions are balanced, and Elves/Dwarves are Elitist

* DefogOfWar: The use of the Palantir allows seeing certain small portions of the map around the settlement it’s in. There are a total of four in the game.

''Third Age: Total War'' is [[GameMod full-conversion modification]] of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''. It is a faithful rendition of JRR Tolkien's world. The main campaign lasts from the year 2980 TA until the end of the third Age. The game is currently on version 3.0 and is one of the most popular mods of Medieval II: Total War. There are over 125 settlements, including more than 25 custom settlements based on Tolkien’s descriptions. So, not only do they look distinct on the campaign map, they offer interesting environments and present unique challenges when engaging in battle in them.

** Silvan Elves - Elitist/Ranger : The Silvan Elves have the same slow unit production as the high elves, but with almost no cavalry and the best archers in the game

** Harad -
** Orcs of Gundabad
** Orcs of the Misty Mountains
** Arnor

** the Free People Of Eriador - Balanced throughout. Guerilla/Ranger early on, turning into Generalist when Eriador becomes Arnor, giving them access to strong melee infantry and heavy cavalry units while retaining their slight specialization towards archers.
** Dale - Balanced throughout. Ranger early on, with no real ability to produce strong melee troops, and a corresponding reliance on archers and skirmishers. Evolves to more of Generalist faction later on, with access to strong swordsmen and spearmen units, as well as fast cavalry.
** Dominion of Isengard - Balanced/Technician : Has access to a wider variety of troops relative to Orc factios and even Mordor. A relatively weak roster early on, but later-game development gives them access to viciously effective Uruk-Hai units, including the specialized pike units that will give them a huge advantage over Rohan.
** Mordor - Spammer/Brute Force : As you would expect, Mordor can field massive numbers of Orc units. Mordor has no cavalry and mediocre starting units, but makes up for it with the late game access to Olog-Hai, heavily armored troll units that can smash through almost anything in their way, as well as stronger Uruk infantry units. Also traces of Economist; their late-game economy can be quite powerful, and their most profitable starting territories are out of the reach of enemy attack, making protecting them easy. Left to their own devices, Mordor can eventually overrun most opponents with a combination of numbers and sheer power.
** Easterlings of Rhun
** Harad

** Silvan Elves - Elitist/Ranger: The Silvan Elves have the same slow unit production as the high elves, but with almost no cavalry and the best archers in the game
** Dwarves - Elitist/Brute Force: The Dwarves have the best heavy infantry in the game bar none, with no cavalry and few archers. Elitist due to the effectiveness and costliness of their high-tier units.
** the Free People Of Eriador
** Dale
** Dominion of Isengard
** Mordor

** Gondor
** Rohan
** High Elves
** Silvan Elves
** Dwarves

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: If the AI controls certain settlements when the player decides to siege them, then a script will be activated giving the AI several units to help it withstand your siege or sally out and dislodge you if you didn't bring enough troops. This includes: Mordor AI if it controls Minas Morgul, Gondor AI if it controls Minas Tirith, Rohan AI if it controls the Hornburg, amongst many others. Note this, of course, only applies if the player attacks the AI, not if AI attacks other AI.

* ACommanderisYou:

''Third Age: Total War'' is [[GameMod full-conversion modification]] of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''. It is a faithful rendition of JRR Tolkien's world. The main campaign lasts from the year 2980 TA until the end of the third Age. The game is currently on version 3.0 and is one of the most popular mods of Medieval II: Total War.

* FunctionalMagic: The use of the Palantir allows seeing certain small portions of the map around the settlement it’s in. There are a total of four in the game.

* AllThereintheManual: The manual being the Middle-earth legendarium itself, of course.

* BlackandWhiteMorality: The forces of good, of many cultures, but many who are neighbors start the game allied, aligned against the forces of evil, who all have the culture ''followers of Melkor''.

* RagtagBunchofMisfits: You can lead one in the Fellowship mode of the game.
* TheComputerIsaCheatingBastard: If the AI controls certain settlements when the player decides to siege them, then a script will be activated giving the AI several units to help it withstand your siege or sally out and dislodge you if you didn't bring enough troops. This includes: Mordor AI if it controls Minas Morgul, Gondor AI if it controls Minas Tirith, Rohan AI if it controls the Hornburg, amongst many others. Note this, of course, only applies if the player attacks the AI, not if AI attacks other AI.
* TheDevTeamThinksofEverything: There are more than 25 custom settlements based on Tolkien’s descriptions. So, not only do they look distinct on the campaign map, they offer interesting environments and present unique challenges when engaging in battle in them.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Averted. The player can play as any faction, including Mordor.

* TheComputerIsaCheatingBastard: If the AI controls certain settlements when the player decides to siege them, then a script will be activated giving the AI several units to help it withstand your siege or sally out and dislodge you if you didn't bring enough troops. This includes: Mordor AI if it controls Minas Morgul, Gondor AI if it controls Minas Tirith, Rohan AI if it controls the Hornburg, amongst many others. Note this, of course, only applies if the player attacks the AI, not if AI attacks other AI.
* ElvesVersusDwarves: Can be played straight. As this is a Total War game, you can have them go to war in the main campaign. However, it would be very costly and might cost you the campaign as two good factions wailing on each other wouldn’t make you look good for the others, and Sauron’s followers will inevitably take advantage.
* RagtagBunchofMisfits: You can lead one in the Fellowship mode of the game.
* TheDevTeamThinksofEverything: There are more than 25 custom settlements based on Tolkien’s descriptions. So, not only do they look distinct on the campaign map, they offer interesting environments and present unique challenges when engaging in battle in them.
* FunctionalMagic: The use of the Palantir allows seeing certain small portions of the map around the settlement it’s in. There are a total of four in the game.

* BigBad: Sauron can show up towards the end of the game with disastrous or magnificent results depending on the faction you’re playing at the time.

''Third Age: Total War'' is [[GameMod full-conversion modification]] of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''. It is a faithful rendition of JRR Tolkien's world prior to the War of the Ring. The game is currently on version 3.0 and is one of the most popular mods of Medieval II: Total War.