Mediæval Fidelity

[Ignoramus]

Mediæval Fidelity
Oaths and Vassals

With Rome: Total War it was Europa Barbororum and RTR, with Medieval: Total War II it is Mediæval Auctoriso, MTR, and now Mediæval Fidelity.

To be honest, Rome: Total War had its historical flaws. Although Burning pigs and Egyptian units that were out of place can be fun, sometimes, historical accuracy improves the experience. Without attacking CA, it seems that Medieval: Total War II will have similar problems, and this is where Mediæval Fidelity comes in.

Mediæval Fidelity aims to create a historically accurate game, with an improved gameplay experience, with special attention being paid to the feudal aspect of the Middle Ages.

Of course, as Medieval: Total War II will not be released for several months yet, this mod will be based upon research and various ideas, depending on the capabilites of the game engine.

I also would like to wish good luck to the teams of MTR and Mediæval Auctoriso.

The mod will need a dedicated team consisting of:

Researchers
This job would require the individual to concentrate on a particular area of research set by the team leader (Me) and other members of the group. Their area’s of research would range from what countries owned what, what troops fought for who and so on. Basically it is broad, nobody would be stuck doing the same thing all the time, ideally we could set somebody an entire country to research which means they could research all sorts from troops, buildings, borders of the realm and so on.

Graphics Artists
Historical accuracy will also need to be portrayed in the look of units, building and so on. Skinners and general menu artists are required, though the majority of their time now would be helping in research, making preliminary sketches and working with those researching area’s specific to the visual atmosphere we hope to portray. Modding projects such as this live and die for those with graphical talents, and as such would be important to get on board early.

The Team

Team Leader - Ignoramus



P.S. I have based this post on the Mediæval Auctoriso introduction. The "Researchers" and "Graphic Artists" paragraphs are by NagatsukaShumi. I apologize if I have offended any of the Mediæval Auctoriso team.

[Peasant Phill]

So there will be 3 mods now with the emphasis on historical accuracy and a goal to make the gameplay better?

Diversity is good but might I suggest that all the teams combine their efforts to at least share their information and research. it would be a shame if all three teams finish a product that would've been a lot better if they would've worked together. I'm not saying that you (MA, MTR and MF) should form up one team but at least share everything and afterwards use what you like in the mods.

Let the M2TW modding community be a real community (if it wasn't before).

[shifty157]

How exactly is your mod different either MA or MTR? From your description it doesn't really sound like it is.

Well good luck regardless.

[Woad Warrior]

Diversity is good but might I suggest that all the teams combine their efforts to at least share their information and research. it would be a shame if all three teams finish a product that would've been a lot better if they would've worked together. I'm not saying that you (MA, MTR and MF) should form up one team but at least share everything and afterwards use what you like in the mods.

:no:

I don't understand why people say MA and MTR will shrivel and die if they don't work together. :skull: Remember, EB and RTR were both historical accuracy mods for the one game, but they were still unique, with everyone having a preference for one over the other, depending on their style of play. EB was a very high quality mod, with focus on making battles as realistic as possible. RTR was also a historical accuracy mod, but with a more arcade style. Both EB and RTR were released fine, and are still hugely popular with thriving communities. Why shouldn't MA and MTR (and perhaps even MF?) be the same? They are both still very unique mods as you'd see if you read the reviews, and with the Total War series gaining ever increasing support, why shouldn't there be room for two mods?

Anyway, I'm already on the MA team, but good luck with Medieval Fidelity.:2thumbsup:

Also, it may help to do a little research, some nice pics, make a map on paint even. But you have to give the people something to see, otherwise they'll just think its another modding newbie, who thinks modders jump for joy whenever they see a new idea for a mod. I'm not saying thats what you are, but you need to put some effort in on your own first, and, especially if your most is based on the same idea as another, don't copy/paste their introduction.:skull:

[shifty157]

Going off of what Woad said. The thing that attracted me as a modder to MA was MA's focus on creating a world of alternate histories. Whereas MTR is strictly historical and doesnt deviate in the least from history, MA will purposefully deviate from history in some areas to represent what could have happened had history taken another path. Take note this doesnt mean including absurd fantasy units like elephants mounted with cannon but logical fantasy units like as an example gothic horse archers might appear if a german faction like the HRE conquers the nomadic steppe regions or vice versa (thats just an example off the top of my head and in no way means this unit will actually be in the mod).

So again im curious as to what exactly makes your mod unique. RTW had plenty of mods that covered the same ancient time period besides EB and RTR like SPQR and RTG. SPQR focused on gameplay and also made the big difference of giving units a 0 turn recruit time (among other things). RTG focused entirely on gameplay over history.

[Ignoramus]

I intend to make a working feudal system. However, I can merge with MA if they agree to implement some of my ideas, if it would prevent "quantity rather than quality".

If MA don't, I am still more than happy to be a researcher or something, as well as head of MF. I am working on a map now.

[Peasant Phill]

I don't understand why people say MA and MTR will shrivel and die if they don't work together. :skull: Remember, EB and RTR were both historical accuracy mods for the one game, but they were still unique, with everyone having a preference for one over the other, depending on their style of play. EB was a very high quality mod, with focus on making battles as realistic as possible. RTR was also a historical accuracy mod, but with a more arcade style. Both EB and RTR were released fine, and are still hugely popular with thriving communities. Why shouldn't MA and MTR (and perhaps even MF?) be the same? They are both still very unique mods as you'd see if you read the reviews, and with the Total War series gaining ever increasing support, why shouldn't there be room for two mods?

I didn't say there was no room for two or more mods. I support the existence of several quality mods with different intakes on the game. Like I said in the post you reacted to, I'm all for diversity and if the quality of those mods is similar to RTR and EB than by all means produce as much as possible.

I just don't think you've read my post well enough. My point was/is that collaboration between the different modding teams would result in a gain in time, effort that is put in the mods and the quality would be even higher (2 or 3 are still better than 1).
even if the collaboration only occurs in the research fase, it still can have numerous advantages (more sources looked at at a faster pace and more people learning to understand the mechanics of the new game.

[shifty157]

I intend to make a working feudal system. However, I can merge with MA if they agree to implement some of my ideas, if it would prevent "quantity rather than quality".

If MA don't, I am still more than happy to be a researcher or something, as well as head of MF. I am working on a map now.

Now you have me interested. Exactly how do you propose to do this? At MA we already have a couple of ideas for recreating the feudal system. PM me if you want. Im curious to hear what you have in mind.

[NagatsukaShumi]

I will re-iterate what has previously being said, feel free to use sections of my preview if you wish as long as you continue to acknowledge me or the MA team appropriately as you have done.

However, if you wish to capture attention for your project (Believe me its hard, took me some time to get together the very solid and talented group I have now) it is adviasble that you have your own intentions set out and goals rather than using ours as it doesn't seem to seperate the projects apart.

[Aetius the Last Roman]

Perhaps there could be an established mod research center put up on one of the forums in order to help to increase collaboration.

The fact is that many of the mod teams will be fairly unwilling to share the information until they see the advantages of doing so.

At the end of the day these mods are not-for-profit, so why not allow a free flow of information, models and methods?

[zakalwe]

Just a quick reminder that i've made a couple of times regarding mods for TW games - for many parts of the map it is absolutely impossible to have historically accurate depictions of the time period.

You can try and cut out complete and utter inaccuracies, but you will always need to make subjective decisions about various elements of the game.

To take my usual example = how on earth can you divide scotland down to a reasonable number of exactly bordered provinces with nicely defined names and major settlements? Do it and claim that you are being 'historically accuate' and you will have Scottish archaeologists/historians like myself crying 'Historically accurate? Rubbish!' at whatever you say.

It is best to claim right from the start that you are attempting to make a historical game but are aware that that there are areas where compromise and learned speculation are required. EB actively does this (although at times it seems that some fans aren't aware of it).

So ... no big deal, but for me, any game depicting the period can only ever be a simulation based on the available evidence rather than a historically accurate depiction of warfare and state rule in the time period :juggle2:

[Woad Warrior]

To take my usual example = how on earth can you divide scotland down to a reasonable number of exactly bordered provinces with nicely defined names and major settlements? Do it and claim that you are being 'historically accuate' and you will have Scottish archaeologists/historians like myself crying 'Historically accurate? Rubbish!' at whatever you say.

I am Scottish as-well, but the purpose of these historical accuracy mods is to do the best as we can within our modding capabilities. I don't doubt we can make it a lot more historically accurate than CA will. Wouldn't even be surprised if they split Scotland into Highlands and Lowlands or something stupid like that, with Glasgow and Inverness as region capitals. Us modders can't make it perfect, but we can do better than that.

BTW wasn't bashing CA they're great and we wouldn't be here without them.

***screams heard in background***

"Don't shoot, don't shoot, I said it!"

:sweatdrop:

[zakalwe]

Wouldn't even be surprised if they split Scotland into Highlands and Lowlands or something stupid like that, with Glasgow and Inverness as region capitals. Us modders can't make it perfect, but we can do better than that.

lol

True

[Vladimir]

Now you have me interested. Exactly how do you propose to do this? At MA we already have a couple of ideas for recreating the feudal system. PM me if you want. Im curious to hear what you have in mind.

Ditto and all that. I'm not much of an historian but I would love to see how you plan to implement this. One of the reasons MTW was so easy is that you could have your king sitting in Scotland with most of your army in Kiev and not have to worry about rogue generals. Everyone seemed a little too loyal and the 60% loyally drop should apply to generals as well as territories.

What I am more interested in, however, is a realistic feudal economy. At the end of my last Pict VI game I had 100,000 florins in my coffers. A feudal English king would KILL to have that much in his treasury. I guess the problem is having the AI still be competitive with a smaller, feudal economy.

[Silver Rusher]

Wow, three realism mods already! I wish everybody working on each of these luck in their endeavors.

Ignoramus, take my advice, (speaking from the experience of founding the Citadel: Total War mod which is still running today) to survive with the competition of two other mods set in the same period and one with (what seem to be) similar aims, you are going to need to keep the community interested from the start. Give stuff to them: and I don't mean pictures from the internet, I mean something that takes effort. Have you got skill in any areas, e.g. art, historical knowledge, coding ability etc. that you can use to help gain support? Many of us have struggled trying to get mods off the ground before, and trust me, it can be very annoying. So yeah, release previews etc., try to get a good team together early on and so on. Good luck, I hope your mod is successful!

EDIT: See the link in my signiature for an example of this.

Speaking like a try expert ~;)


What I am more interested in, however, is a realistic feudal economy. At the end of my last Pict VI game I had 100,000 florins in my coffers. A feudal English king would KILL to have that much in his treasury. I guess the problem is having the AI still be competitive with a smaller, feudal economy.
Heh, all English Kings killed on a regular basis anyway. But I see what you mean, and this is one of the reasons I love EB. In that mod, you can't just go steamrollering your way around. You have to think carefully about each individual military campaign, considering how fragile your economy always is.