Final Faction Voting Thread

[Cousin Zoidfarb]

I would like to say something. The mod is your creation so the decision is yours. I am not of balkan descent, but the truth is the balkans of the middle ages was an ethnicaly diverse area with magyars, greeks, albanians, slavs, bulgars and vlachs, the states of moldavia, wallachia, bulgaria, serbia, the latin greek states and others all existed at one point during the time period. These states entered into conflict with the byzantines, mongols, hungarians, poles and each other. Units of said nations took part not only in battles that were of local significance but also at nicopolis, ankara, and tannenberg. Serbian cavalry in particular turned the tide at nicopolis and distinguished themselves at ankara angainst timur.

At the present italy has 4 factions. The balkans have hungary and byzantium, but these factions will probably be preoccupied elsewhere in central europe and anatolia, so there does seem to be a vacuum in the balkans and not having any faction here seems to deprive the Venetian, hungarian, polish, turkish and byzantine player of the enjoyment of fighting a full-fledged faction here.

I have the following suggestion, it may take some imagination. The kipchaqs were involved politically in the creation of the second bulgarian empire and the creation of wallachia and moldavia i think the first ruler of moldavia was actually of kipchaq descent, bassarab if i"m not mistaken, so i think it would be a good idea to give the kipchaqs provinces in the balkans as victory conditions, as well as giving them names and titles that suggest a link to bulgaria and wallachia/moldavia. I think this would make gameplay a little more interesting for eastern europe and lessen the balkan snub.

[Yun Dog]

OMG I pity these modders I really do,

heres the upshot - its THEIR mod - they can put in whatever nations they like - get over it - or make your own mod

obviously theyve chosen these nations because they are the ones they want - and seeing as they are the ones donating all their free time to make it - then good on em

talk about a bunch of moaning myrtles

yeh Im disappointed cause Australias not in there - everyone knows we were an expansionist nation of aboriginal warbands

maybe you should stick one of the balkan states in - just to dry the tears

[Tuuvi]

I now understand why the team said they weren't going to discuss their choice of factions...We haven't even seen any previews of units, features, etc. and people are already complaining...I think this could be a great mod if people would give it a chance. So what if they chose Ireland as a faction? I think Ireland sounds cool, and I for one will be playing as them when this mod comes out.

[IrishArmenian]

i just listed serbia as an example and i sort of understand why they didnt pick it but, instead they could have croatia or something elsa. also i now see no difference between mtr and ma since norway has won. if they wanted another catholic faction add burgundy since western europe is now empty(two factions for a 1/5 of the map, scandanavia is 1/15).the only difference is genoa but even thats not enough to make me choose this mod over the people that made rtr. also after seeing rostov-suzdal i really lost faith. sorry. i had such high hopes.

Well, its good to see such an open mind. We haven't even released previews of units and new mechanics and yet you abandon ship. Well, have fun?

[Apoc]

Norway has my vote.

[El-Wrongo]

I made a post in the other thread regarding why Norway should be chosen as the last faction slot, besides the fact that æ, as in Mediæval Auctoriso is a Norwegian Letter (well the danish got it too).

Anyways here is the link: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...&postcount=119

PS: My main source is Wikipedia, but I have read alot of other books about the subject, besides I defy anyone who think wikipedia is wrong to supply another source proving it. Wikipedia is definitively one of the best sites on ze net, and the popular view many have that its a bad site is bullshit!

[Rollon]

æ is a Latin letter, not Norwegian.

[El-Wrongo]

HAH!

I challange you to bring me one latin person to make claim to the letter!

If you manage that I will bring 10 million Scandinavians to claim it back!

My point beeing, that France is no longer Gallia/Gaul, because its been taken by the franks, see, in the same way that letter now belongs to danes and Norwegians, because after the last latin dude jumped over the pearly white fence, we invaded the letter and claimed it.

My point beeing "Even if the letter is a part of the latin alphabet, it is mainly in use in Scandinavia".

[OssomTossom]

It's also used in Icelandic - with a different sound than in Norwegian, Danish or Faeroese. It still is originally Latin, though.

Anyway, I voted for Norway.

[El-Wrongo]

AHA!

Icelandic is a also known as Old Norse (Norwegian/Gammel Norsk), because the original settlers in Iceland was Norwegians (Iceland became a part of Denmark after Norway and Denmark became a union).

Well, this thread is not about the letter Ææ anyway, so I really suggest we leave it at that here and make a new thread somewhere if continuing discussion is that interesting.

Anyways, I think I should point out that the city of Trondheim should really be included in the mod (not included in the map in the intro). This was a very important city in Norway, and had great historic importance. Among other things this city had a shrine to saint Olav (Norwegian patron saint, father to King Magnus the first, died at the battle of Sticklestad on his way to take control of the strategic important trondheim). This was a important site for pilgrims in northern Europe that couldn't afford traveling to Jerusalem. This of course meant a increase of comerse in Trondheim.

Several battles have been fought over this city (Birkebeinerene won a important victory here), and it was definitively the most important city in Norway at the time.

Another thing that is important for the Norwegian faction (if Norway wins) is the belif in magic and specially in magic items, like weapons. I remember reading something from a battle where a king had a magic sword that was able to cleave a human head trough his helmet and down to his shoulders. This is again things that make Norway somewhat unique, even tough other people, like muslims also belived in magic and genies (1001 nights).

[Stig]

Next to that Wikipedia is wrong ... multiple times, maybe not on this, but on enough other things.

[Cousin Zoidfarb]

was i just called a moaning myrtle?

i thought i had a constructive suggestion in my last post by making the kipchaqs a little bit of a "generic" faction and giving their later family members bulgarian and vlach names and titles. they did take part in founding said states.

i enjoy playing as the turks, all that motivates me in this post is to make conquest of the balkans more interesting.

[Cousin Zoidfarb]

oops

[Rhyfelwyr]

To all people interested in this mod, do not be put off by the MTR thread-hijackers. While we at MA accept the choices they made for their mod and the factions they have included, they have proved to be very disrespectful to our mod. Unfortunately, the MTR crew have a very narrow minded approach to history, and are disilusioned by common yet incorrect historical ideas and interpretations. For example, they will say Kingdom of Ireland, good joke, hahahaha. So lots of other people that know nothing about the nation just jump on the band-wagon thinking they are clever, ridiculing Ireland as a faction. The truth is, Ireland, all bar the city of Dublin, was a united Kingdom of 1073. Someone in this thread statead the importance of Serbia in supplying its cavalry in major battles, well, the Scots pikemen at major battles such as Bannockburn consisted of mainly Irish allied soldiers and mercenaries.

I accept MTR's choice to add Serbia as a faction. It did indeed become significant later on in the Medieval period. It adds some spice to the Balkans. However, at MA, we researched Europe at 1073 and beyond very thoroughly, and came to the conclusion that Serbia did not merit a faction slot. It did come very close, we originally planned to include it before we thought better of it. The Balkans will still be one of the most interesting areas of the map in MA, we will use our cultural units system to represent all the cultures and their militaries in the area. Still, please do not be put off this mod by the likes of Duke of Serbia, they simlply do not accept that there were more than 30 factions deserving of a faction slot in medieval Europe, and most significantly to us at MA at 1073.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Just to point out the actual differences between MA and MTR. Pretty small faction-wise really.

Common Factions:

Papal States
Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of England
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of Leon-Castile
Crown of Aragon
Holy Roman Empire
Kingdom of Bohemia
Republic of Venice
Kingdom of Appulia-Calabria
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Denmark
Kingdom of Norway (probably)
Byzantine Empire
Kingdom of Georgia
Principality of Kiev / Rus
Novgorod
Moorish Amirate
Sultanate of Rum
Fatimid Empire
Volga-Bulgarians
Kipchaks
Principality of Lithuania
Golden Horde

MA Factions:

Kingdom of Ireland
Republic of Genoa
Kingdom of Cilician Armenia
Abbasid Caliphate
Khwarezmid Empire

MTR Factions:

Kingdom of Portugal
Serbia
Berbers
Khanate of Transoxiana
Timurids

[CaesarAugustus]

I like the MA faction list much better than MTR's (though I am a fan of both mods), especially since they chose to include Genoa and (maybe!) Sevilla, which just makes more since than say the Berbers or unplayable Timurids, or Portugal, which IIRC wasn't a kingdom until the mid - 12th Century.

[Ignoramus]

I hope that people stop going into MTR vs MA wars. This happened with RTR and EB and solved nothing.

They are two different mods with different aims. If you don't like what they're doing, tell them. But be respectful, as they don't get paid for their work and put in a lot of effort and time.

[Cousin Zoidfarb]

. Someone in this thread statead the importance of Serbia in supplying its cavalry in major battles, well, the Scots pikemen at major battles such as Bannockburn consisted of mainly Irish allied soldiers and mercenaries.
.

I guess that was me. I never suggested to take Ireland out, my idea was to make the Kipchaqs a faction with Balkan victory conditions (ie provinces needed for victory) and giving the family members of said faction names and titles that are vlach and bulgarian, since thay did take part in the founding of said states. This would give them a presence in the balkans gamewise ( since the victory conditions would make the ai invade that region )and make the area more challenging to take over. Just a suggestion.

[Rhyfelwyr]

We could give the Kipachaks victory conditions to encourage them to move into the Balkans, get four factions involved there (Venice, Hungary, and Byzantium). Could also help with this by modding the Kipchak AI a little. To be honest, that sounds like a very interesting Balkans with all those very unique factions, plus all the unique rebel units that will be found in that area. I really don't think the Balkans are being poorly represented in MA. Thanks for the suggestion anyway Beavis.

[HighLord z0b]

I think the Qipchak idea is a good one, very much worth considering, especiallu as I'm the guy who's doing most of the Qipchak research .

Another thing to consider is that I think there will be many nomadic and semi-nomadic steppe rebels in this area; Pechenegs, Allans, Bashkirs, Uzes, Oguz, Kimek etc.

[Lusted]

It might be possible to have more than 30 factions, vlad added in 9 more to his mod without using the normans and saxns and it worked.

[alpaca]

Hmm, he didn't try enabling the saxons, too, by chance?

[Erik Bloodaxe]

Norway, plain and simple. Vikings kick arse!

[CaesarAugustus]

Hmm.... looks like Norway will be the final faction.....

Is the MA team planning on releasing any factional previews after the vote is over? And if so, will they be as detailed as the one released on England?

[Malachus]

Dag nabbit, looks like Norway is gonna win this thing hands down. I was hoping for Seville. More Muslim factions to oppose the Catholic ones seems like it would give a stronger feel to the religious war between the two faiths.

[Excel]

i too voted for that reason but all these nubs want to play with their lol vikings.

[Mocker]

Seems like some people are expecting a Norwegian 'viking faction' here... I don't think that will happen. Yes, they'll start with norse units available, but that's just about all there is of viking units.

[Tuuvi]

What was Norway like in the mod's time period?

[Taedius]

The description of Norway at the start of this thread gives you a good idea. It was a kingdom, but quite decentralized. Most people were farmers, but many also traded. Their military was based on levies; the land was divided in small regions, each responcible for equipping a ship with crew in wartime. In addition, the King had a body of professional soldiers called the Hird.

There was no feudalism. Farmers mostly owned their own land, and the 'nobility' consisted of the richest among them. Society was based around the family. A mans influence depended on the family or clan he came from, and his relation to other powerful families.

The judicial system was based on the Ting. This was simply a gatering of all 'free men', where laws were read aloud and issues of common interest was debated. Conflicts were also solved, and the lawmen would issue punishment on offenders, usually fines, but also outlawry.

Hm. Anything else?

[CaesarAugustus]

Norway it is!

Now that the last faction is decided will the MA team be releasing a preview on it (or anything for that matter)?