History VideoGame / DivideAndConquer

''Divide and Conquer'' (or [=DaC=] for short) is an extensive sub-mod of ''VideoGame/ThirdAgeTotalWar'' (a ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''-based mod of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''). This entirely campaign-focused sub-mod not only adds a massive amount of new content (such as units, factions, scripts, maps, etc.), but substantially overhauls pretty much everything inherited from the original ''Third Age''. Currently, ''Divide and Conquer'' is on Version 5.

** For every horse-focused faction, like Khand and Rohan, siege battles are the absolute bane of their existence. The defenders can place cavalry spike on every gate leading to the city, making it possible for cavalry units to suffer 90% casualties just getting inside. Then, they will have to deal with tight winding corridors, which make it impossible to gain enough momentum for charging. Even if they manage to get to the city's center, they may find the passages to it defended by multiple pike units supported by multiple archers behind them.
** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused factions on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back. This can be averted in the campaign, as Mordor can construct tribute camps in three specific settlements, which allow them to recruit a small number of cavalry from Sauron's human servants (however, that is contigent on these servants staying loyal to him, which may not always be the case as Khand has a scripted chance to defect).

** The Dunlending invasion of Rohan under Wulf is not given much attention in the book, whilst the same event has far reaching consequences in the game. Namely, the brief blending of Dunland and Rohan is said to have changed Dunlending culture forever, with modern Dunland adopting several aspects from Rohan like their love of horses. In gameplay terms, this is reflected in the faction's dual troop trees, which is split between traditionalist who stay true to their infantry-based way of fighting and the reformists who want to focus on cavalry like Rohan. It's also said that the current rulers of Dunland are descended from Wulf's line and consider themselves the king of both Dunland and Rohan.

* AmazonBrigade: A handful of units comprise of all females, namely Dunland and Enedwaith's Warchanters, Khand's Uushixià Stormriders, Harad's Hasharii Shadows, Lothlórien's Yavanna's Chosen, and (of course) the Shieldmaidens of Rohan.

* EnemyExchangeProgram: The Northern Dúnedain's Beacon of Hope mechanic allows them to recruit units from other Mannish factions (except Gondor and Dol Amroth) as mercenaries in these factions' heartlands. Enedwaith and Dunlending units are always available; good non-Númenórean units requires the Northern Dúnedain to be allied with the corresponding faction; Númenóreans and evil Men require a barracks built in their lands. If the Northern Dúnedain reform into the Reunited Kingdom, they lose the Beacon of Hope mechanic and unlock the Ancillary Barracks that trains human troops from the region's local populace.

* GrayingMorality: While all the factions in vanilla ''Third Age'' were basically grouped into "Good" or "Evil", [=DaC=] adds a few wrinkles to this setup:
** Enedwaith starts off with no allies or enemies, and generally has an equal chance of warring against both good and evil factions.

* LuckBasedMission: The southern front (i.e. between Gondor and Mordor) can vary wildly in difficulty for Evil factions depending depending on whether or not Khand defects to the Free Peoples. If they do, Mordor instantly get flanked by two hostile factions, making it unable to focus on Gondor while Gondor can do the same to it. Meanwhile, down in the land of Harad, without Khand helping out the Haradrims and Ar-Adunaim, Dol Amroth has a much easier time expanding there, potentially collapsing the entire southern flank for the forces of evil. When playing as Mordor, having Khand defecting to the other side is an absolute nightmare scenario, as Mordor's infantry-based roster gets absolutely demolished by their horse archers. The eastern part of Mordor bordering Khand also lacks any chokepoint, unlike in the west where they have Minas Morgul, so the Khandish army can and does simply walk into Mordor.

** The Northern Dúnedain are shown to have a starting army in the hundreds just like every other faction, whereas Aragorn's personal army in the books is likely no more than a hundred, given that only 30 can be mustered at a moment's notice to come to his aid.

* LuckBasedMission: The southern front (i.e. between Gondor and Mordor) can vary wildly in difficulty for Evil factions depending depending on whether or not Khand defects to the Free Peoples. If they do, Mordor instantly get flanked by two hostile factions, making it unable to focus on Gondor while Gondor can do the same to it. Meanwhile, down in the land of Harad, without Khand helping out the Haradrims and Ar-Adunaim, Dol Amroth has a much easier time expanding there, potentially collapsing the entire southern flank for the forces of evil. When playing as Mordor, having Khand defecting to the other side is an absolute nightmare scenario, as Mordor's infantry-based roster gets absolutely demolished by their horse archers. The eastern part of Mordor bordering Khand also lacks any chokepoint, unlike in the west where they have Minas Morgul, so the Khandish army do in fact simply walk into Mordor.

** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused factions on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back. This can be averted in the campaign, as Mordor can construct tribute camps in three specific settlements, which allow them to recruit a small number of cavalry from Sauron's human servants.

** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused factions on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back. This can be averted in the campaign, as Mordor can construct tribute camps in three specific settlements, which allow them to recruit a small number of mid-tier cavalry from Sauron's human servants.

** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused factions on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back. This can be averted in the campaign, as Mordor can construct tribute camps, which allow them to recruit a small number of cavalry from Sauron's human servants.

** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused factions on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back.

** Conversely, factions with limited access to cavalry, like Mordor, fare badly against cavalry or archery-focused faction on the open-field. Without good archers of their own to counterfire and cavalry to flank, a Mordor player will be hard-pressed to bring their army to the enemy line without losing a quarter of it to arrow fire. Even once their army manages to make contact, there is little stopping the enemy cavalry from maneuvering to their rear and charging their exposed back.

* AchillesHeel: For every horse-focused faction, like Khand and Rohan, siege battles are the absolute bane of their existence. The defenders can place cavalry spike on every gate leading to the city, making it possible for cavalry units to suffer 90% casualties just getting inside. Then, they will have to deal with tight winding corridors, which make it impossible to gain enough momentum for charging. Even if they manage to get tk the city's center, they may find the passages to it defended by multiple pike units supported by multiple archers behind them.

** The Numenorean colonies south of Umbar, which receive only passing mentions in the books (with their biggest impact being where Queen Beruthiel hailed from), are turned into a full-fledged playable faction in the form of Ar-Adûnâim. In addition, while their culture goes unmentioned in the book, the mod makes it so that they are Numenorean supremacists hostile to both Gondor (for being the descendants of their Faithful rivals) and Sauron (for leading their old empire into ruins).

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there are also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard and Steelbowmen, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Mordor's Temple Marksmen[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Angmar's Barrow-wights, Harad's Troll-men Champions, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's and Dol Guldur's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].

** Angmar's higher unit tiers fields several companies of these, such as the Witch-Knights, a dark order of hooded Knights pledged to the Iron Crown. Most notable are the Guardians of Carn Dûm, who are this trope crossed with HornyVikings; as the Witch King's most loyal barbarian retainers, they ride might steeds, are clad in heavy black plate, and wield thick iron shields.

* ChoosingNeutrality:
** While Bree starts off allied with the Northern Dúnedain, the former can break this alliance by choosing the Isolationist path when prompted, which is described in the accompanying description cards as the Bree-landers and Shire-folk deciding to prioritize their own interests over contributing to the greater war against the Shadow.
** The Ar-Adûnâim faction is the closest thing the game has to a true neutral campaign, being a remnant of Númenor loyal to neither Sauron nor the Free Peoples. If the player wants to, they can play the entire game only conquering rebel settlements and not siding with anyone.

* ElvesVersusDwarves: AI-controlled Ered Luin has a reputation for being rather aggressive against a Lindon player, though funnily enough, AI-controlled Lindon is usually quite friendly towards an Ered Luin player.

* GrimUpNorth: According to [[WordOfGod the head modder himself]], the reason why the snow-orcs of Gundabad are so much stronger than the other orcs (and most men, for that matter) is because of the countless millennia they've spent in Middle-earth's frigid north after the fall of Morgoth.[[invoked]]

** Like in the original ''Third Age'', if Mordor recovers the ring, Sauron himself will return as a ''very'' powerful general with a unique bodyguard. He also comes with the relentless trait and becomes the most powerful infantry commander in the game.

** The Ar-Adûnâim are the descendants of Númenórean colonists who settled in Middle-earth's far south and thus survived the sinking of Númenór. Unlike the descendants of the Faithful or even Sauron's own Númenórean followers, the Ar-Adûnâim maintain the ideology of the King's Men who ruled Númenor in its final millennia.

* TechTree: In general, the Dwarves, High Elves, and Númenóreans have the most extensive upgrade options, while the Wild Men have the most restricted (though the latter do get the benefit of being able to recruit ''all'' their units from just one building line). Additionally, Bree has a particularly unique recruitment method; most of their units require various economy buildings instead of the standard Barracks/Stables/etc. Also, like in vanilla ''Third Age'', more elite units can not be recruited until the automated Barracks Event script kicks in.

* WeaponsOfTheirTrade: The true masters of the hammer (besides Sauron's bodyguard, of course) are Imladris's Smiths of Eregion, who are even more powerful than they were in vanilla ''Third Age'', to the point of being probably the strongest non-monstrous unit by far in all of [=DaC=].

* AuthorityInNameOnly: Aragorn starts the game already titled as the High King, all while having 3 settlements to his name. This can be defied if, much like in canon, Aragorn reclaims the throne of Gondor.