Project Altirus (Mod)

Altirus (formerly Project Altirus) is a mod project for Ravenfield, a single-player first person shooter. Although named after the continent, the mod was intended to also include content set elsewhere on Erita.

The original, discontinued mod focused primarily on the events of the Second Leersog War, and although some content based on the Kartasian Sea Campaign, the Buffer Islands Campaign, and the Syrvanian Incursion was planned, only a small amount of content for the Kartasian Sea Campaign was released as part of the *Empires of the Sea* sub-project. Sub-projects based on the Syrvanian Civil War, the First Leersog War, and various campaigns and belligerents during the Westenlands Wars period were also considered.

The original mod's main sub-project, Project Altirus: The Second Leersog War was set during the Syrvanian invasion of Hetland, and was intended to follow the campaign from the breakthrough near Kitter Moer in 526 up until the Siege of Lingaen in 527. A series of narrative-focused maps based on the Hettic Free Legion were also considered.

A remake of the mod, simply titled Altirus, and focusing once again on the Second Leersog War, would be released on the Steam Workshop in November of 2022. The remake would feature improved visual fidelity, a broader variety of infantry weapons, implemented revisions of canon, and some new gameplay features such as locational armor damage on tanks.

## Gameplay

Ravenfield is a singleplayer game, placing the player on a team which otherwise consists of computer controlled bots, in opposition to a team consisting entirely of bots. A multiplayer mod, RavenM, allows players to join matches on either team, allowing for both co-op PvE games, or PvP games with human players and bots. Teams are represented by blue (referred to as Eagle) and red (referred to as Raven). Gameplay typically revolves around teams fighting for control of locations on the map, or capture points, represented by flags, control of which grant a team advantages such as respawn areas, vehicles or emplaced weapons, and points required to win the match.

While Ravenfield in its default state has a vaguely modern theme, the Altirus mod is set during the 520s, and thus, focused on technology similar to the real-world 1930s. This alters Ravenfield's gameplay in a number of ways, including reduced amount of automatic weapons, with bolt-action or semi-automatic rifles with a low time-to-kill being more widespread. It also introduces different ammunition types for tanks and certain types of artillery. Tanks and other armored vehicles are typically slower and more vulnerable, though infantry have fewer purpose-made anti-tank tools, with most, such as bottle-bombs or anti-tank grenades, requiring significant risk to get close enough to use them effectively, and even anti-tank rifles often requiring players to position themselves to the side or rear of the target vehicle. Maps made for the project often focus on asymmetry, representing Hetland's more static doctrine with fortifications and more emplaced weapons, versus Syrvania's emphasis on maneuver warfare with greater availability of fast vehicles.

## Content

Content for Altirus: The Second Leersog War are made available for subscription via the Steam Workshop, consisting of a pack containing character models (or "skins"), infantry weapons and equipment, vehicles, and gameplay-altering scripts called mutators, such as one which replaces default blue and red flags for capture points with Syrvanian and Hettic flags.

While some maps, a skin pack, and a pack containing naval ships and aircraft was made for the Empires of the Sea subproject, all items save for a Beirunese Royal Marines skin were themed around the Bressian and Elandric navy. No small arms related content was made for any faction aside from Syrvania and Hetland.

## Discontinuation and Remake

The original Project Altirus mod project was discontinued in July of 2019 due to time constraints, waning interest, and difficulties in development. Small amounts of content would be made for personal use, before work began on a complete remake in July of 2022. It would release as Altirus: The Second Leersog War, with a basic variety of assets for both Syrvania and Hetland, and a single map - based on the Battle of Praegan - in November of that year.