On-line guide for PMTW 1.5
Hello everyone !
The incoming new release of Pike & Musket TW 1.5 will include so many changes comparing to the previous one and especially to the vanilla MTW VI that obviously it required a detailed guide.
I have decided to place it all in one topic on the ORG, but it will be included with the future download as well.
Most likely it will be the same as here so no wonder that this topic is closed.
Pike & Musket TW is probably the most complicated mod for MTW VI and certainly many features in the mod are hard to understand, especially for the users who didn't follow the main thread in the ORG or haven't tried the previous version of the mod.
Several new ideas appear in this mod, all of them demand explanations, so let's start.
1. Major features
A) Homelands
Unlike the vanilla MTW VI, but in similar way to MedMod of WesW PMTW implements homelands, i.e. restricted zones of recruitment for all the factions in the game.
It means that all national units are available only in some provinces where the nationality/state existed during the historical period of the mod.
This way Sweden can train soldiers in Sweden or Finland, but cannot in Serbia or other places far away from the home country.
Each faction has a different homeland, which sometimes varies for certain units as well. Every single one of them will be described later.
Sometimes, rather rarely recruitment zone can be different in different periods of the mod - it is the matter of historical accuracy and will e described in details later as well.
B) Regional units
There are several units in each period or campaign of the mod which can be recruited only in one/two provinces by either one, several or even all or almost all factions like Maroccan Cimaroons which are available in Religious Turmoil campaign only in Marocco.
The purpose of these units is to add some additional variety to players' armies, allow recruiting some soldiers outside of their homelanf zones or quite opposite - restrict them only to some provinces this way making some territories more valuable than its income or other qualities migh suggest e.g. this way when playing during Sun King's ambition campaign Danemark makes much use from rather backwater Norway, because only there it can train Skilopere infantry or Landdragoner cavalry.
C) Buildible mercenaries
Another feature copied from MedMod, although it is much more important in the PMTW.
Basically in addition to soldiers possible to hire in inn or other places ( more about it later) certain mercenary units are possible to train in usual way, i.e. are build, so can be retrained as the national units in homelands, still they require much more cash than national units.
Very many factions can train mercenaries in quite many provinces, especially in divided states of Germany or Italy. In fact some states like Portugal or Genoa use mostly mercenary based armies.
Provinces where mercenaries can be trained are marked with skull in trade good section of the province.
see the picture:
D) Militia units, non-trainable units and other ways to get soldiers.
Only very few units are available everywhere or almost everywhere e.g. Muslim Feudal Levy available everywhere to muslim factions or Town Militia possible to get in larger urban areas ( marked as Trade centers or Targe trade centers - more later). Their quuality and numbers are inferior to the mainstay units forming the bulk of fighting forces, but still they can provide armies with either cheap cannon fodder or garrison forces.
Of course not all of them are so bad, in fact in later part of the game Line Infantry and Cavalry provide users with some of the best units in the game as the direct result of military improvements heralding the time of massive, conscripted armies. In earlier periods Lancers, Eastern Lancers or Mounted Arquebusiers and Petronels are quite useful as well, but their existance is rather the matter of hardcoded limits than some extensive planning. They shouldn't affect the game to the extent which Line units provide.
Another type of units is represented by very few rebel or marauder bands which often appear during rebellions or when the user doesn't provide a province with some garrison and it attacts some local criminal bands. Sometimes some of these soldiers can appear as a result of loyalist rebellions or in mercenary pool hirable in the old manner in inn or else.
Finally re-appearance of Crusades ( renamed to National Levy) and Jihads adds additional options for some factions ( only some can use them - details later) - the very purpose of these is to support some of them, especially against all conquering forces of the Ottoman Empire.
E) New buildings
The mod adds something around 70 completely new building structures, many of them restricted to certain factions only. They will be described later in building section of the guide or even in faction specific sections of the description.
F) National languages
One of the most important ideas present in the mod is the use of national, local languages in unit names and office titles, whenever possible.
This way the game is more realistic and because all the descriptions are still in English it doesn't confuse the users anyway.
Many languages are present from Finnish to Georgian, from Polish to Italian and from Danish to Irish.
G) NATIONAL LEVY ++++ADDED++++
National Levy represents a new generation of Crusade - it recreates more massive and unusual ways to mobilise more forces in times of need used by countries with neighbouring the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Some sort of 'military border' existed in those regions and special ways of recruitment were used. It is easily recognised where they can be build - check the province information panel to see if the fist is present there, like here for example.
End of part 1
Regards Cegorach
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