Two Crowns : Total War

[NagatsukaShumi]

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/TwoCrowns.jpg

Two Crowns : Total War

The year is 1455 and England is in disarray. Following the humiliating end to the Hundred Years War, culminating in the Battle of Castillon and the loss of all English territory apart from Calais, the English crown is now in turmoil. Henry VI is mad and a Regency Council was set up to govern in his place, lead by the powerful Duke of York, Richard Plantagenet. One of Richard’s first acts was to imprison the Duke of Somerset, the man responsible for the final defeat in the Hundred Years War, and back the Nevilles in their personal dispute with the Henry Percy, the Duke of Northumberland, a powerful ally of Henrys. Henrys recovery in 1455 thwarted Richard’s ambitions and the Queen, Margaret of Anjou, forced the Duke of York out of the royal court. Margaret became the de facto leader of the Lancastrians, building up an alliance against Richard and conspiring with other nobles to reduce his influence. Increasingly under pressure, Richard is in a position where he must begin armed hostilities with the forces stacked against him, the first phase of the War of the Roses is about to begin.

Meanwhile, north of the border, James II of Scotland is locked in a bitter struggle against Clan Douglas after the murders of William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his brother at the “Black Dinner” in 1440 and William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas in 1452 by the King himself. Tensions are at a boiling point, after numerous attempts to suppress the Douglases by murdering them and seizing Douglas lands, which he had to return after Douglas allies forced him to do so, but the tide has turned in the kings favour as the Earl of Crawford and many of the Douglases allies switched sides. The dispute, however, is far from over.

The battle for both the English crown and the Scottish crown is heating up as the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions are formed in England and the Douglases continue their campaigns against James II in Scotland. The British Isles will never be the same again.

What is Two Crowns : Total War

Two Crowns : Total War is a modification project for Medieval II : Total War, produced for both the community and my university portfolio which will focus on the Wars of the Roses that were fought in England between 1455 to 1485. Two Crowns will look at not just the English dispute over the crown, but also the events in Scotland as well, starting with the conflict between the Douglases and James II which produced three murders and an intermittent civil war. During this time the two countries continued animosities and engaged in conflict numerous times amidst the chaos of the warring factions in England. Two Crowns will offer the player the opportunity to pick either a English Family, be it the two branches of Plantagenets, the Nevilles or Percys or a Scottish faction, be it the ruling House of Stuart or one of the many clans of medieval Scotland.

Why the Wars of the Roses?

I have always loved the late medieval era since I was a child and early on in my life I attended events at Lotherton Hall just outside my home in Garforth. These events commemorated the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest in English history, which, much like Lotherton Hall was minutes away from my house. I have since ready up on the battle itself, the wars and the men of the War of the Roses and it has become one of my favourite periods of history. It has everything, war, personal rivalries and the reign of no less than five kings starting with Henry VI, followed by Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III and finally Henry VII who would found the Tudor dynasty, removing the Plantagenet line which had existed in England since 1154. It is the perfect setting for a Total War project, it has the warring factions, the great armies of men, the numerous battles and the demise of the great Plantagenet dynasty.

What are the aims of Two Crowns?

The aims of Two Crowns is to recreate the political situation of 1455 and beyond in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and offer an enjoyable gaming experience in the process. There will be a new system of tech trees involved, called the “Retainers and Labourers System”, a variety of troops at your disposal, a chance to assert your chosen families power and maybe even go for the crown yourself, a new map and other features to be revealed as we go along. Although the features may not be revolutionary, they will hopefully be enjoyable and give the player a different scenario to play in from the European conquest mode of the vanilla version of the game.

What about Anno Domini?

I will remain on the Medieval Auctoriso team (The project has been renamed after a merger) and offer help where appropriate there, the project is under the able leadership of alpaca and Re Berengario after an internal vote and I am sure they will still produce a quality product.

Is there a release date?

No, no and no. I will not specify any release dates at any point until I am ready, there will be no point asking me so please try and refrain from doing so, it will be done when its done, it may be in a few months, it may be in many months, I cannot say for sure.

Anything else?

I will be releasing more information about the features and set up of Two Crowns over the next few days and screenshots when appropriate. There is no concrete faction list, but rest assured the more obvious of factions will be included along side the major players of the age and all will hopefully provide a different experience in each new game. I will try and answer any other questions you may have, although one final point is that 1100 AD was intended as cover whilst I set the wheels on Two Crowns going, it however seems to have failed in that goal and, obviously, was never going to be continued.

- NagatsukaShumi

[Incongruous]

Yusss!:2thumbsup:

[Herkus]

Very interesting concept.
Are you planning to remake all units, or you will leave as they are from vanilla M2:TW?

[NagatsukaShumi]

Thank you for the replies Bopa and Herkus.

The units will be re-skinned and modified for Two Crowns, there are reasons for this which will be explained in an upcoming release, but units will be changed from the vanilla game, skins especially as each family would of course request their men wore their liveries.

Just an example of some very early skinning work, but this is the sort of re-skinning that will take place as the armour and weapons are accurate to the period from the vanilla game, where it isn't I shall modify them where possible.

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/texturetesttwo.jpg

[NagatsukaShumi]

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Beaufort.jpg

The House of Beaufort

House Allegience - Lancastrian throughout.

House Titles - The Duke and Earls of Somerset.

House Battles - The 1st Battle of St. Albans, The Battle of Wakefield, the 2nd Battle of St. Albans, The Battle of Towton, The Battle of Hexham, The Battle of Barnet, The Battle of Tewkesbury

The History of the Beaufort Family

John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, was an English noble and military commander. He fought for King Henry V in the France during the Hundred Years War as a young man, in 1421 he accompanied the king’s younger brother, Thomas of Lancaster, to the fighting in Anjou. Thomas, however, was slain in the Battle of Baugé and John was captured. He remained imprisoned by the French until he was ransomed some 17 years later where he went on to be one of the leading English commanders in France. In 1443 John was created the Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, made a Knight of the Garter, and appointed General-Captain of Guyenne. However, John proved to be a poor commander and later reputedly committed suicide in 1444, leaving behind a wife, Margaret Beauchamp of Blesto who he married in 1439 and four children, Jacinda, Thomasine, John and Margaret, who would later be the mother of Henry Tudor.

The original Dukedom of Somerset died with John, but the Earldom of Somerset passed to his brother Edmund Beaufort and later, when it was recreated in 1448, the new Duke of Somerset, commonly known as the 2nd Duke of Somerset. Edmund too was present at the Battle of Baugé and captured, released in 1427 after a lengthy spell in captivity, much like his brother. He became a commander in the English army in 1431, but he was a much more successful than his brother John, becoming an outstanding soldier and statesman. After he captured Harfleur he was titled Knight of the Garter in 1436 and after further success he was created Earl of Dorset in 1442 and the Marquees of Dorset the following year. In 1444 he succeeded his brother as the 4th Earl of Somerset after his apparent suicide, also acting as the Lieutenant of France during the five year truce.

Although Edmund was the head of the greatest family in the land outside the royal family, his inheritance was only worth 300 pounds, a stark contrast to his rival Richard, Duke of York, who was worth around 5800 pounds. Henry VI’s effort to compensate Edmund with offices worth around 3000 pounds only served to offend many nobles and as his personal quarrel with York grew more personal. A further quarrel with Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, over lordships in Glamorgan and Morgannwg is likely to have forced the younger Neville into Richard’s camp. Edmund came to realise that only through military success could he protect himself from his now numerous rivals, he was not get his wish as when hostilities with France continued in 1449 English power began to fade, and with it, military victories. By 1450 the majority of English lands in Northern France, attention then turned to Gascony in the South. The English proved no more successful here, losing the entirety of Gascony in the final defeat as the Battle of Castillon. Power had rested with Somerset from 1451, but the King’s madness in 1453 saw Edmund imprisoned in the Tower of London after Richard of York was named Lord Protector, his life however was, most probably, saved by the Kings recovery which forced Richard to lose his power over the King.

By now relations between York and the King were at an all time low, the King’s wife Margaret of Anjou was rallying nobles against him and hostilities eventually begun, starting with the 1st Battle of St. Albans. Edmund fell during a wild charge from the house he had found himself sheltering in, passing the Dukedom and Earldom of Somerset to his son, Henry Beaufort.

Henry was known as the 3rd Duke of Somerset, though more accurately he was the 2nd since the title was recreated for his late father, Edmund. He was the cousin of Margaret Beaufort and Richard Neville and the uncle of Henry Stafford, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham. At the 1st Battle of St. Albans he was seriously injured, but survived and went onto be the leading commander in the Battle of Wakefield and then the 2nd Battle of St. Albans which the Lancastrians won and then the Battle of Towton which the Lancastrians lost, the blow being so great that Henry was forced to flee to Scotland along with many other nobles, including the King and Queen themselves. Henry went to France to attempt to negotiate for help but was held as a prisoner for a time before being sent to Flanders to return to Scotland, then England. Upon his return he garrisoned several castle in Northumberland, where he eventually surrendered after a siege, indicating a willingness to negotiate with Edward, the son of Richard of York. He was pardoned on 10th March 1462 where all his forfeited lands were returned to him, for the following year Somerset stuck close to Edward, attending his court and giving him military advice. At the end of 1463 he, however, slipped back to the Lancastrian side, recruiting men in the North of England before finally being defeated at the Battle of Hexham, after which he was beheaded and buried at Hexham Abbey.

Henry left no legitimate heirs to his Dukedom and Earldom, so his title passed to his brother, Edmund Beaufort who became the 3rd Duke of Somerset since its re-issue to his father of the same name. Edmund was unenthusiastic over the reconciliation of Warwick and Margaret, after the formers falling out with Edward, and did not make any effort to co-operate, later failing to hold London against Edward, a decisive moment in the upcoming campaign. He commanded the centre of the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Barnet, which resulted in a Lancastrian defeat before commanding the right of the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Tewkesbury where he lead a charge against Lord Hastings as Red Pierce Meadow. This attack failed as neither the Earl of Devon or Lord Wenlock supported him in his attack, after the defeat that followed he fled to Tewkesbury Abbey before being forced from sanctuary, tried and then executed immediately. With him died the House of Beaufort and following the death of Henry VI shortly afterwards, his cousin Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry Tudor becoming the leading representative of the House of Lancaster.

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Beaufort4.jpg

The Beaufort Livery and Emblem

The House of Beaufort’s livery incorporates the royal coat of arms but with a border compony. The first of the Earl of Somerset was John Beaufort, the illegitimate child of John of Gaunt. Despite being the grandchildren of Edward III and next in line after the Lancasters, they were barred from succession by agreement, this however did allow Henry Tudor to make a loose claim to the throne some hundred or so years later. The family name came from John’s birthplace, Beaufort Castle in Champagne, and their family emblem was the portcullis (as shown in the image above) which is shown on the reverse of the modern 1p coin.

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Beaufort2.jpg

[Warluster]

Awesome, I shall be keeping tabs on this one.

It looks like some of those Knights have beer bellies. :P

[NagatsukaShumi]

Awesome, I shall be keeping tabs on this one.

It looks like some of those Knights have beer bellies. :P

Thank you Warluster.

Yes, some of those knights need a good workout, if they are Lancastrian I guess they'll get a good run at Towton :beam:

[wilddog]

Looks nice.

So you did go down the 'families' at war theme in the end similar to what I was planing on my earlier (time wise) placed PKH. I haven't done that much on mine for a while (got a little side tracked) but I still intend to wait for some of the changes in Kingdoms (castles and some of the other features).

[NagatsukaShumi]

Looks nice.

So you did go down the 'families' at war theme in the end similar to what I was planing on my earlier (time wise) placed PKH. I haven't done that much on mine for a while (got a little side tracked) but I still intend to wait for some of the changes in Kingdoms (castles and some of the other features).

Indeed, families work alot better than "yorkist" and "lancastrian" factions, which imo provides little in the way of opening up the colourful characters of the era. Naturally families held grudges and picked away at eachother still by the WOTR, Neville vs Percy being a big one. Families, much like is yours, was the more interesting route to go down, as marriage between them happened all the time, as did side swtiching and the like.

Kingdoms features will be utilised when it is released, as alot of them could be usable i must admit.

[G3N3RAL GR13V0US]

War of the Roses was the event that I wanted to be represented in MA but (II) was chosen.....Naga if you need more hands on this talk to me...

[NagatsukaShumi]

War of the Roses was the event that I wanted to be represented in MA but (II) was chosen.....Naga if you need more hands on this talk to me...

Hey GG.

As this is also for my university portfolio pretty much everything (aside from the map) will be done by me, HOWEVER, I may well need some beta testers to help me out at some stage, I will remember your offer.

[Herkus]

Hey GG.

As this is also for my university portfolio pretty much everything (aside from the map) will be done by me, HOWEVER, I may well need some beta testers to help me out at some stage, I will remember your offer.

If it is not a secret, what do you study in university if you can have MTW2 mod work in your portfolio?

[NagatsukaShumi]

If it is not a secret, what do you study in university if you can have MTW2 mod work in your portfolio?

I am studying Computer Games Design, by including a modifcation in my portfolio I am able to show I can work under constraints (the engine and untouchable programs) and so forth.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Just a brief post to merely say, progress is ongoing, do not fret at the lack of public releases. More infromation will be forthcoming, work has slowed down whilst my mapper is on holiday, but its proving a welcome break for myself too.

A early teaser of the campaign map in progress, it is more advanced now but you get the general idea here.

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/regionssamplegi0.jpg

[Ignoramus]

I glad to see that Novgorod is included ~;p .

[NagatsukaShumi]

I glad to see that Novgorod is included ~;p .

My ambitious plan to branch into the Russian market has been foiled :laugh4:

[NagatsukaShumi]

This is also available in the mod report that has just been released, but I though I would release it here too, so that it can be read by those who miss the report.

Why Two Crowns?

Personally, I feel that the Wars of the Roses are completely overlooked as far as games are concerned, I have yet to discover any sort of semi-major game depicting the period and it is something I feel needs addressing. I have a great love for the history of England, I have sat down since MTW I trying to decide on a period which I wish to depict from Britain’s vast history, from the Wars of Scottish Independence to the Roman Conquest, I was unable to either find one that I deemed suitable, the Norman Invasion for example in my opinion is not vibrant enough to depict a total conversion on, or that was already a project or had gotten plenty of time in the spotlight, as was the case for the Wars of Scottish Independence. The two most interesting choices were the English Civil War and the Wars of the Roses, both provided a good platform to craft a campaign around. I decide upon the Wars of the Roses for a few reasons, the biggest one, however, was that I love the wars themselves, others were that it provided a great variety of factions, it provides me the opportunity to explore innovative features and it allows me to explore the many characters of the period.

In essence, the Wars of the Roses sets a perfect scene to play a total war campaign in with all the side-swapping, the slaughter of the nobility, the great battles, the system of livery and maintenance and the fight for the crown, placing you in a position where you are not yet King, and if you are your certainly not secure.

Why did you decide to include the Scottish?

It wasn’t just in England where all the action was occurring, the events in Scotland were also pretty fiery. The Douglases and the Stuarts were engaged in a bitter feud, and the Kings were far from all powerful. I felt that if all I did was include the English factions it would deny me the opportunity to delve into a varied unit roster, including just England would create a Shogun scenario where all factions were the same and there would be little variety. I love Shogun, don’t get me wrong, but I feel a little variety is even better so I decided to include the Scottish to not only investigate the disorder above the border, but to provide a bit of variety in the units available whilst not going overboard with the variety, something the vanilla MTWII suffers from I feel, RTW too.

How will religion be represented? All the factions are Catholic aren‘t they?

Pretty simple answer, it won’t. Every nation involved was indeed a Catholic nation, to include religion would simply have a huge bunch of Catholics fighting each other with little to no penalties for failing to maintain your religion as well as the rather non-sensical prospect of having a Scottish highland settlement with a Muslim population. Religion has, in the case of Two Crowns, been replaced with a system representing nationality. The five nationalities are English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Continental. Your faction will ideally populate its settlements with its own populace, having a hugely Scottish settlement when your English is far from ideal and dangerous as it could provide an uprising against your rule. The system will look to give the player the task to colonise newly conquered lands with their own people to bring down the risk of nationalist revolt in the region, after all, when your fighting for the crown you don’t really want a Welsh uprising on your hands.

Primarily I had looked to include the factions, but decided that as that could lead to Yorkists declaring war on one another with no change in allegiance which would not work very well. With the nationality system I am able to represent the issue of nationalism which I feel will provide an interesting alternative to the religious system. Instead of churches, there will be systems in place to support your countries people in your settlements and to lower the foreign influence, this is a system I will detail in much more detail in a future preview.

What is going to happen to the building tech tree?

It will be revamped to fit the scenario. Nobles and clansmen, for example, would not be able to construct many buildings, whilst Kings would be able to construct a few more upgrades in their settlements. A system that I call the Retainers and Labourers system will be introduced to replace the building tech tree as a whole, though some buildings will be constructible. The system will give the player the ability to hire workers rather than construct buildings, for example instead of building a swordsmiths the system will work on the premise that you already have a facility in the city that can provide the tools but requires a swordsmith to produce the weapon, so you hire a swordsmith rather then build the building. That is a very simple example and the system is a bit more complex than this, but again this is something that is best explained in a later preview.

What sort of units can we expect?

Realistic units. Seriously though, the units present will be realistic, no cannon sheep or incendiary chickens will be making an appearance. The system of units will be closely tied to the RLS detailed above and the armies you can muster will be far more customisable than those in any project to date. My main aim is to provide the player the opportunity to tailor construct their forces to their own tastes and I have worked out a system to achieve this. For example, I want a men-at-arms, but not just any men-at-arms, I want one clad in Gothic armour with a war hammer. To accomplish this I will hire a German armour merchant say and a metal smith, along with a man-at-arms. This will then allow me to hire men-at-arms with gothic armour an a war hammer. But now I want them to have swords too, to help hack down those pesky Billmen, simple, I just hire a swordsmith and voila I can now hire a gothic armour clad men-at-arms with a sword. This is the sort of customisable I hope to include to provide the player an unrivalled experience at really tailor crafting their forces to their own tastes. Choosing certain set-ups will allow you to counteract particular armies, for example, war hammers are effective against armour, giving your men-at-arms war hammers will allow them to go toe-to-toe with men-at-arms with swords and come out on top, but they will be less effective against Billmen and lesser troops, here you may have a small band of men-at-arms with swords. This system will hopefully thrive online as well as in the single player campaigns. The main aim historically is to represent that no every men-at-arms for example wielded the same weapon or wore the same armour.

So you do plan to make it online compatible?

Yes, I do, I think the customisable armies will work well online, especially if the AI fails to grasp it fully, a human player will do.

Will mercenaries play a role?

Yes they will, but they will be expensive to maintain dependant on their origin. British mercenaries will be fairly cheap and accessible via a Mercenary Captain style retainer (building technically), whilst foreign mercenaries will be a lot more expensive to use. They will be hired like a normal unit, however, not through the usual mercenary system. If this proves ineffective in play testing it may well return to the vanilla system, but prices will reflect the units locality still, its all to be worked out via testing still.

What about the Pope?

The Pope will of course play no role in the campaign what-so-ever due to the removal of religion. I am sure he will still be busy off the map killing Templars and brooding about infidels. This also brings up the issue of Inquisitors, witches and the like and their fate. They too will be gone, no longer will they plague your lands, instead, other people will instead, these are called nationalists.

So agents are reorganised too?

You bet they are. As I said previously, witches and heretics will be replaced by what I like to call nationalists. These nationalists will look to rouse the populaces of Ireland and Wales, the two nationalities that replace paganism and heresy, which could of course lead to nationalist revolt in your settlements. I am not entirely sure which agent will replace religious ones for the Scottish and English just yet but they will of course be able to counter act rebellious nationalists by trying them for treason as well as promoting their own nationals to settle in your settlements. Other agents will change too, though their functions will be similar naturally, for example the Diplomat will be replaced by somebody who is more appropriate for the time such as a herald say, though that’s not entirely important. Simply put, as religion is removed some units will be changed to accommodate this.

What other factors will hinder you?

The weather will hinder you on occasion. Currently you can see how much flooding has effected England, flooding will be a factor to settlements around rivers in Two Crowns. Floods will not kill your retainers, in fact when you “de-construct” a worker you will be firing them, not killing them, so workers that are “damaged” in floods, fighting and so on are merely losing their means to produce their trade and are out of work, you will then need to re-hire them on the premise that doing this also means you have fixed the damage by nature and man, this will be represented in text and just using your own imagination. Plagues will of course still make an appearance as it was nowhere near dead in England, as will the other factors in settlements, all of which will be counter-actable with certain retainers and labourers, aside from plague when it hits, you will just need to wait it out and prepare to hire workers who relate to health and housing. There will be a few more features that will cause you headaches, but you’ll discover them as you play.

What about claims and marriage?

Having a strong claim is of course fairly useful when trying to claim a crown, but so is the point of a sword. Sadly it will be impossible to represent a system where you can only claim the crown if you marry wisely, sometimes you will claim the crown whilst married with a person of royal descent and have a claim, weak or strong, but sometimes you will just take it by force, neither is that inaccurate really for the time, Henry Tudor after all had a very weak claim which only strengthened once he had killed Richard at Bosworth and married into the royal line. You will of course be able to marry your daughters off, just as the families would do, it will be a good way to stake claims for role-playing purposes and producing links with families.

What role will the crowns play in Two Crowns?

The “Two Crowns” will be a resource that are present in Edinburgh and London and will provide benefits to those who hold the settlement. To declare yourself King you will need the capitals, holding them will give you what I can only describe as Kingly benefits, benefits that will be previewed later on but ones that will be worth the bother. You can of course take both crowns, so its entirely possible to be King of England and Scotland, much like James Stuart in 1603.

Is everyone’s aim to be King then?

No, it isn’t. Victory conditions will be appropriate to the family in question is both a historical option and a two crowns option. The historical option will require the faction to focus on more historical goals, the Percies for example will be looking to outlive the Nevilles as well as maintaining their estates in Northumberland and elsewhere, whilst the Yorkists will have grander goals as will the Lancastrians, it really will depend on who you pick as far as the historical goals go, so no, not everyone will want London. A two crowns option will provide a different goal for the factions, but I want to shy away from the flaw I see in vanilla MTWII where all factions seem to want Jerusalem and give them varying goals to achieve.

Is there only one campaign planned?

No, there will be a few campaigns so I do intend to make use of the custom campaigns option to provide different scenarios. Thus far I am toying with the idea of having a House of Lancaster v House of Stuart campaign, so a good old traditional England v Scotland campaign will the possibilities of Wales and Ireland appearing to give people something unhistorical to play around with, I can’t confirm what form it will appear in yet but I do plan to include it in some form. Confirmed custom campaigns will be ones starting in different years of the wars, these will of course be historical, they will hopefully provide different games as different families are prominent and some are no longer around.

Will there be anything like historical battles included?

Possibly, I am not entirely sure yet, they’d certainly be extras rather than definite inclusions, I can’t say for sure really, if they did appear it would depend on what I have time to do at the time really.

What is your favourite faction then, you must have one?

Why yes I do have one, the House of York. I am from Yorkshire, my favourite city is York and I support York City, whilst admiring Edward IV and living about three miles from Towton, so the option wasn’t a difficult one to choose. A notable shout out should also go to the House of Neville too, I must say I look forward to being the Kingmaker, if only for the pretty cool title in role-playing!

So you’re a Yorkist then? Traitor.

Yes, you Lancastrian dog, I am. I am loyal to the true claimants, thank you very much.

Well, you should have known this was coming, when can we expect a release?

I’ve waited for this, now I get to practice for when I am making games professionally. It will be ready when its ready, no sooner, no later. You will be told when to expect a release by myself, so until I say anything, don’t expect anything. Hopefully it will be out this year, that’s the goal, certainly a beta release at any rate!

What about Kingdoms?

Ah yes, that little nugget. Kingdoms will be undoubtedly used for the production of Two Crowns, so expect it to be for Kingdoms thanks to its larger modding options if the expansion is out relatively soon, otherwise it may well see a release on the original MTWII game. I will see how I am progressing at the time.

Any final words?

Well, if your taking that tone do I get a last meal too?

Maybe

Your so considerate. All I can really think of is that if there are any further questions that the community may have, please feel free to ask them, I will try my best to answer them, although I will be in Denmark negotiating a Viking Invasion until Sunday, sorry about that.

Thank you for the information, and good luck!

Its been a pleasure, thank you!

[Incongruous]

Barnet! Towton! Tewkesbury!
Oho man...
Im soo looking foreward to this.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Barnet! Towton! Tewkesbury!
Oho man...
Im soo looking foreward to this.

Well, look forward to creating your own massacres at a place of your choosing (unless other nobles decide otherwise that is!)

[NagatsukaShumi]

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Two%20Crowns/twocrownstitle.jpg

The Houses of Two Crowns

The most important part of Two Crowns is, apart from the game play, the men who make up the Houses within it. Ranging from the powerful to the courageous, the men who made up the Wars of the Roses and the Scottish civil strife played great parts in the drama that unfolded, be it the Douglases who where unceremoniously murdered more than once, or the Beaufort family, staunch supporters of the House of Lancaster. What made the wars so interesting was the games of political one-upsmanship that the houses involved played with one another constantly, jostling and bickering over who should have the largest scraps.

Below is a full list of the houses involved in the conflicts in England and Scotland during the latter half of the 15th century that will feature in Two Crowns : Total War.


https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Two%20Crowns/line1.jpg

The English Houses
From left to right, top to bottom (House of Lancaster, House of York, House of Tudor, House of Stanley, House of Stafford, House of Percy, House of Neville, House of Holland, House of Herbert, House of de Mowbray, House of de la Pole, House of Courtnay, House of Beaufort and House of Clifford)

The Kingdom of England boasts numerous powerful families from the very tip of Cornwall to the border with the Kingdom of Scotland, from Wales to Eastern Ireland. Hostilities over the right to the throne grew from the overthrow of Richard II by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster, in 1399. Since then the kingdom has been ruled over by the House of Lancaster, boasting the famous warrior king Henry V as one of its more successful monarchs. The current king, Henry VI, is far from being in the mould of his father, plagued with the mental illness of his grandfather King Charles VI of the Kingdom of France.

The Duke of York, Richard Plantagenet, has being vying for power in the court and was granted the title of Lord Protector when Henry suffered his first bout of mental illness. The Queen, Margaret of Anjou, does not approve of York’s new position and the imprisonment of the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort. Richard, however, has been removed from his position as Lord Protector and cast from the court as Henry recovers from his mental illness, this is an act that will spark the turbulent period ahead.

Not everybody is fighting over the crown or power over it, the House of Neville and the House of Percy have been squabbling for years and this has, on occasion, spilled into a violent argument. The Duke of York’s backing of the House of Neville against the House of Percy has granted the Yorkist a strong ally, the family who boasts the Earl or Warwick, Richard Neville, later known as “The Kingmaker” for his power over the realm upon the accession of Edward Plantagenet, the Earl of March and son of the Duke of York.

All over the country, great families move to support either the House of Lancaster or the House of York, whilst others look to use the impending conflict to their own advantage and to increase their own influence. Many will make a name for themselves in different ways, the Beauforts for their loyalty to the Lancastrian cause, leading to their execution for betrayal by the Yorkists, the Nevilles who for a time wielded more power than King Edward IV but later turned on the king and sided with the Lancastrians, the Percies who were often known as the Kings of the North, the House of Tudor who would later launch their own bid for the crown, even though it was a weak one, and the other houses who would all play a part in the 30 years of civil conflict known today as the Wars of the Roses.


https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Two%20Crowns/line2.jpg


https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Two%20Crowns/line3.jpg

The Scottish Houses
From left to right, top to bottom (House of Stuart, House of MacKenzie, House of MacDonald, House of Gordon, House of Douglas and House of Campbell)

The Kingdom of Scotland could be said to finally have the chance to get one over their arch-nemesis, the Kingdom of England, as it slips into civil disarray. Unfortunately for Scotland, things aren’t to rosy in their own realm either. Constant squabbles between the Douglases and most of King James II court. The Douglases, in fact, have been subject to numerous murders at the hands of political rivals and even the king himself on one occasion. Between all this political backstabbing, the Douglases themselves have actually massed their forces and marched on Edinburgh, an act that would suggest the King does not yet wield total control over Scotland and is certainly not in any position to exploit the English weakness just yet.

The House of Douglas is not the only powerful clan who resides within Scotland under the House of Stuart, the House of MacDonald for example wield great power over the Scottish islands whilst the Gordons have near total control of much of central eastern Scotland. The House of MacKenzie has great influence in the north of the kingdom whilst the Campbell’s have found new power as Lord Campbell’s and have begun growing in power in Argyll.

The House of Stuart is by no means weak, however, and are in a position to put their rivals to rest if they act carefully. It is perhaps the best option for the Stuart’s to look to secure their own realm, and maybe then they can move against their old foes, the English, if they remain in a weakened state.


https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/Two%20Crowns/line4.jpg

[Antagonist]

I really like the way this mod is going, I didn't realise you were going to feature Scottish families as well. Will there be any more factions? I would love to see the Butlers and the Geraldines in Ireland, for example.

Antagonist

[NagatsukaShumi]

Greetings Antagonist.

There will be no Irish factions I am afraid, as most of Ireland will be cut from the final map, so for now this will be it, although by using 21 (including rebels) there shouldn't be any slowdown between turns, a problem that seems to plague alot of big on factions projects.

[Antagonist]

Oh well. You have to go with what will work. I must admit that within the context of the British Isles I've always wanted to see a Hiberno-Norman faction (fascinating cultural and military hybrid) but I can wait a bit longer. Keep up the good work NS, I eagerly await the finished result. :book:

Antagonist

[NagatsukaShumi]

Oh well. You have to go with what will work. I must admit that within the context of the British Isles I've always wanted to see a Hiberno-Norman faction (fascinating cultural and military hybrid) but I can wait a bit longer. Keep up the good work NS, I eagerly await the finished result. :book:

Antagonist

Part of the reason for Ireland's removal is simply to lower the workload and allow me to concentrate on two area's rather than three, which means I can be far more indepth with the Scots and the vitally important English.

I may include them in a later release, but the primary aim was to open up more land for provinces in the main British Isles, especially in England. I too was interested in including the Irish as they add their own unique variety, but for now they will merely be mercenaries. I am not personally making the map, and its unfair on IslamirLord to keep changing my mind, so I have tried to chop off what wasn't vital at the time.

But hey, once the main portion is released for beta play who knows where I can go, we shall certainly see.

[Ferret]

cool mod keep it up

[NagatsukaShumi]

cool mod keep it up

Thank you Bob_the_great!

Whilst I have nothing from behind the scenes I wish to release at the moment, heres a little signature for the Kingmakers in you...

https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/minsterman/nevillesignature.jpg

[Cecil XIX]

I'll definitely try this mod when it comes out. I'm especially interested in how you represent both sides with multiple factions.

[NagatsukaShumi]

I'll definitely try this mod when it comes out. I'm especially interested in how you represent both sides with multiple factions.

Thank you Cecil XIX.

Some people may consider making it merely Yorkists v Lancastrians would be wise to lower the work load, but I feel this over simplifys the conflict. Families switched sides sometimes more than they ate meals, so I wanted to represent the politcal backstabbery of the period with the chance to expand the influence of your favourite families (I can see the House of Neville probably being a popular choice for example) and maybe even push for the crown yourself, but also allow you to play about with being a loyal Yorkist and Lancastrian, entirely up to the player.

Same reason for Scotland being split into houses was to avoid one big yellow blob picking off the Percies in the North and marching down into England, giving the King something to do (as his nobles were the rebellious sort as well, Douglases were actually beseiging Edinburgh).

[[R]icK]

very very nice, expecially looking forward to the scottish clans. Any ideas on what kind of units we would be seeing with them, hated vanilla becuase all they had were highlanders basically.

Another question, say if for example someone united scotland and marched on england. would all the noble families be united together to stop them, or would it be whoever looks the suffer the most as the scottish savage their lands?

Cheers

[NagatsukaShumi]

icK']very very nice, expecially looking forward to the scottish clans. Any ideas on what kind of units we would be seeing with them, hated vanilla becuase all they had were highlanders basically.

Another question, say if for example someone united scotland and marched on england. would all the noble families be united together to stop them, or would it be whoever looks the suffer the most as the scottish savage their lands?

Cheers

Greetings [R]ick.

The Scottish will have as accurate units as possible to the time, recruitable dependant on the area you own so in the lowlands you will get lowland troops, then in the highlands you'll get highland units and so on and so on. Currently the Scottish unit roster is very empty and needs filling, but I intend to give them as much attention as the English, mostly because they deserve it and partly because it will allow me to create ones that are a bit different, and it would be unfair to neglect the Scottish or banish them to basic Braveheart clones.

They too should have some customisability with their units, such as how you clad them in armours and so on, but as I say, their roster is very much empty.

As it stands, should you unite Scotland and declare war on the Percies say you will be at war with the Percies, not the rest of England, I will try and find ways to move about with it all but at the moment your border conflicts will be conducted by the families against eachother but in my opinion should you conquer many lands as the MacDonalds say, they are Scottish and part of the Scottish Kingdom. Its rather complicated to explain, I will try and cover the way it works in a preview, but I am currently waiting on my mapper to get to work implementing those kind of things, I will make sure however that its not easy to jsut declare wars and pick people off and advance easily through the country as best I can at any rate.

[Cecil XIX]

Hmm. I remember in EB there was a part of their script that automatically put you at war with a faction that attacked a certain province. Something like that might work to simulate England putting aside their differences (sorta) to unite against a foreign foe.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Hmm. I remember in EB there was a part of their script that automatically put you at war with a faction that attacked a certain province. Something like that might work to simulate England putting aside their differences (sorta) to unite against a foreign foe.

Thats the general idea, but it presents its own problems in that the Scots would then have to negotiate a peace with every English family, insetad of whoever is King.

I will devise some sort of system to make it all work efficiently enough, as it stands uniting Scotland will a difficult task and they will be mostly bothered with doing that whilst the English fight for the English crown and it'll be minor border raiding by the AI where possible, what you as a player does is up to you, but I will find ways to make it as realistic as I can with the system.

[[R]icK]

Cool. As im saying really looking forward to this mod. if only it had The McGregors and Rob Roy i would actually love you.

Good luck. How long roughly are we going to be waiting ? :P

[NagatsukaShumi]

icK']Cool. As im saying really looking forward to this mod. if only it had The McGregors and Rob Roy i would actually love you.

Good luck. How long roughly are we going to be waiting ? :P

As long as it takes :laugh4:

[Cecil XIX]

I suppose that's all we can ask. Just remember that we're watching this thread. O_O

[NagatsukaShumi]

I suppose that's all we can ask. Just remember that we're watching this thread. O_O

I'll make sure to tease you all with nuggets of info and pictures :2thumbsup:

[Justiciar]

Any news on the Two Crowns front? Is it progressing, or has it fallen flat?

[NagatsukaShumi]

Still progressing yes, the thread over on the Total War Centre, however, is alot more lively than the one here, for all the latest info check it out over there.

[Cecil XIX]

Good to know.

[Pantsalot]

Yet another game/mod which has the map of Britain but has left out the
Shetland isles.. :shame: :no:

[NagatsukaShumi]

Yet another game/mod which has the map of Britain but has left out the
Shetland isles.. :shame: :no:

The Shetlands are in Two Crowns....:2thumbsup:

EDIT - The map on page one is an old version, but yes, the Shetlands are in the mod anyway.

[Justiciar]

Glad to hear you're still going, sir. :2thumbsup: