Viking Invasion II (for BI) Released

[Dol Guldur]

A Mod for BI 1.6

"Breathes new life into one of TW's tightest and most atmospheric iterations with simplicity, balance and superb quality." - Antagonist

With Generous Contributions from Arthurian Total War, Chivalry Total War and the defunct Age of Vikings and Fanatics Total War...And with the sterling support of Aradan for his unrelentingly-perfectionist work on traits, ancillaries, unit balance, campaign balance, testing and tweaking...

VI2 aims to recreate the campaign of MTW: Viking Invasion on the Rome BI engine. It sticks closely to the original campaign, only making changes to correct large inaccuracies, to improve gameplay and comply with the new engine. It is also set a little later than the original campaign at AD 851 - two years after the birth of King Alfred the Great of Wessex...

Find out more here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1036

Kindly hosted on Halie's In The Shade forum.

[Dol Guldur]

IMPORTANT: For those with version 1.0 a patch (1.1) has been added which removes a loophole in the coding which can create and end-turn ctd under certain - thankfully rare - circumstances.

Download it here: http://www.topnotchmods.net/downloads/VI2_1_1_patch.rar (less than 2 megs). Please visit the page from whcih you downloaded the mod (see opening post) if you require instructions.

Thanks to jimkatalonos for drawing our attention to this.

Game-save compatability is not gauranteed.

[Aradan]

Viking Invasion II patch 1.2 has been released - both as an upgrading patch, for those with 1.0 or 1.1, and as a full new installer.

It includes: changes in the campaign balance for the Danes, new "Viking Looting" and "Viking terror" traits to simulate the effect of raiding, a series of evolving RP-traits for Alfred the Great, rebalancing of the HBs, reskins of the mercenary units and a few more minor tweaks.

You can get hold of it HERE. Instructions (also in video) included in the page.


1.2 is NOT compatible with savegames started under previous versions.


Thanks to the many who have downloaded it and providing great comments and feedback!

[Raz]

Looks interesting, I'll give a spin sometime soon.

[Fate]

I've started up on this campaign, and ive gotta say for the most part, very impressive!

Few niggling features though -
*Occasional glitches in the graphics in the start of turn scrolls
*Occasionally the music will start looping, and the game will freeze up, leave it for a minute and it'll go back to normal, but it is disconcerting
*The Economy! Having played ATW, im sure the immense and sickening level of debt that you get in early doors is intentional, but really, it completely rapes you! Ah well, i'll fight off the mercians as the welsh and see where it leads me!

[Aradan]

Never had the first two issues you report, maybe it's a gfx/sound card incompatibility of some sort? Will check it out anyway.

Yes, economy is meant to be tough, especially for factions like Wales, that are very Hard. In case you want a more rlaxed go at the game, there's a "basic" version of the campaign script that does not apply penalties to the player's faction. just swap it with the campaign script (change names or change the script defined at the bottom of descr_strat).

[Revenant]

Hello!

Very nice mod, but I am kinda struck...

I tried to play as Danes and to say the truth, I do not know what to do. If I conquer some settlement, it is impossible to hold it, it always rebel because of religion. After several turns I am in big debt and cannot contruct anything, cannot train troops. Even if I disband almost all units.

Can somebody give me some elementary strategy tips, please?

[Aradan]

I think, you should first go with Norwegians for a test-drive of the mod, get the hang of it. Then set it to easy and try again with the Danes. Vikings rely on hit-and-run tactics, ie, attack ill-defended settlements along the coasts, pillage and destroy everything you can and then move on. Don't try to play the Vikings as a regular faction.

[Revenant]

Thank you for answer.

I also noticed that some buildings have bonus called "Tax on plunder" what does it mean?

Rev

[Aradan]

It's our name for bonus on "taxable income", as Vikings didn't ask for taxes, they prefered a... umm... more agressive finincial policy, so we had to use a more viking-y name.

[Aradan]

Viking Invasion II patch 1.5 has been released - both as an upgrading patch (.rar), for those with pre-1.5 versions, and as a full new installer (both .exe and .rar).

It includes: minor error tweaks in descriptions and text, a couple of fixed portraits and Orretje's 'Realistic Trees' mod.

You can get hold of it HERE. Instructions (also in video) included in the page.

1.5 is cumulative, and includes everything from patches 1.1 to 1.4, so these are unnecessary.
1.5 is NOT compatible with savegames started under previous versions.


Thanks to the many who have downloaded it and providing great comments and feedback!

[Dol Guldur]

Viking Invasion II has been featured in the best-selling PC Games magazine, PCGamer(UK).

Get the full scoop here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...34#post4283934

[Spartan198]

Hmm, I think I might give it a try. The thought of rampaging across the land with a Viking horde, raping and pillaging as I please...just gives me that tingly feeling deep down inside.

[Revenant]

I am playing it and i have to say,

hail the creators of it!



It is very professionally done. I just noticed that Aradan is a man behind FA:TW:) too. No wonder it is so good.

One question: does the last patch (1.5) change gameplay somehow, or is it only for cosmetic things?

btw: i got forward with the Danes already:)

Rev

[Dol Guldur]

Aradan has indeed become the master of balancing units and balancing campaigns for superb gameplay and challenge! He's also the man behind the coding of the traits and ancs in VI2 which are always well done and uniquely so ;)

He even helped me finish typing up all those Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entries! ;)

Aradan joined FATW justed before the 2.0 release and has done wonders with it. My own input input fatw has now dwindled to nothingness and am pleased with my replacement

Please do use the latest patch if you are not on 1.5 already - they are mainly developments in balance and tweaking and make for better gameplay. There are some other changes too, though minor. Also, support will generally not be given unless you have 1.5.


Dol Guldur aka MasterOfNone aka Palantir (retired (almost!)).

[Revenant]

Sadly I have a campaign in progress before patch:( And it was a really tough one to beat as Danes.

[Dol Guldur]

Viking Invasion II has pick up the first-place, tied with Napoleonic Total War II, as "Favourite Post-Roman-Era Mod" in TWCenter.Net's 2008 RTW Awards. Thank you to all who voted!

[HouseOfHam]

One of these days I'll have to put my ExRM campaign and FOE work aside and try some new (or even not-so-new) mods... *adds VI2 to the list*

[Dol Guldur]

Indeed you will



Congrats on your own award too!

[Dol Guldur]

1.7 was released recently. It is likely the last version of VI2. You will need this base to play the new Dominion of Britannia "expansion" for VI2 (see own thread). See OP for link to forums.

[Hildefuns]

Where do I get this mod?, and what how many years does the campaing handle (851 AD-??? AD)

[Dol Guldur]

I've updated the link in the opening post. All information can be found there. Thanks for the bump, I'd forgotten this thread still had the defunct website link.