Outremer 1100 A.D. (Beta) available!

[Bohemond]

ABOUT THIS RELEASE:

Because some people seemed to have liked my previous mod (The Teutonic Order) I decided to release my next project a bit earlier as a pre-release beta. The intention is to get as much feedback as possible before finalizing balancing / difficulty.

The mod is called Outremer 1100 A.D. and recreates the situation in Outremer 1 year after the first Crusade. It is quite finished and I could finalize it, but I have not played it as I simply have not the time to play campaigns with all the factions right now. Therefore I would like you to download it, enjoy it and tell me what you think. Because it is this experience which can turn a good into a very good campaign.

Download in the test section:

http://www.totalwar.org/Downloa....0AD.zip (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Mtw_Uploads/MTWbeta/TEST_Bohemonds_Outremer_1100AD.zip)

Right now the mod is intended to be played as either The Normans or The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Word document with a campaign introduction is included as well as a map - in the final release I plan to include a complete background history but this is a lot of work and one of the main reasons this release is not final ...

So far I can only assume you are already familiar with Balduin & friends.

Playing it as the Fatimides, the Seldjuks or Byzantinum is also recommended, but personally not my cup of tea.

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

This is intended to be a historically accurate mod. I therefore need your help. Please check if the following leaders show up at the beginning of the campaign:

THE NORMANS:

Prince Tancred I

Joscelin de Courtenay

Baldouin of Le Bourg

KOJ:

King Balduin I

Raymond de Toulouse

Hugh de Saint-Omer

The reason for my request is that they show up on my system every time I start the campaign, but I am not sure if this works on any system. It's no magic, I try to accomplish this by fine-tuning names.txt after all units are placed. I also have completely reworked names.txt and it shows real Norman and French Crusader names, and I'm quite proud of the result. The only snag - no more correct Italian names. Why CA made the Sicilians use Italian names is beyond me. Certainly this mod is not the best choice if you want to play as The Italians.

I also would like to know if its too easy or if its too hard. Right now I would rate The Normans as Moderate, The Kingdom of Jerusalem as Fairly Hard. But if I play as The Normans, Jerusalem is normally wiped out in less than 20 years. However, The Normans AI is doing fine and can become quite powerful. I only plan to play the KOJ, so this is OK for me.

However, early testing suggests that playing the KOJ is extremely difficult. You might have a hard time holding Jerusalem even long before 1187.

I am now eagerly awaiting your feedback

Your humble servant

Bohemond

mailto:
webmaster@christian-wendt.org

[insolent1]

I liked your teutonic mod so I will give it a go tonight give me a day or 2 & I will let you know how it went ahhhh the plesures of been unemployed http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[ICantSpellDawg]

oh my god what is wrong with this guy, hes a genius. seriously, i think we should bann him from the boards before he starts making games that we all buy, cuz then we will stop playing medieval total war


please note the sarcasm and the awe

seriously, im so happy that someone is actually doing their homework on the era. while the developers did homework to some extent, i think that they botched alot of the history and could have catered a bit more to the medieval fanatics out there (like.... me)

[Bohemond]

Hello TuffStuff, good to have you in the boat too. Seems as if we both like the Crusader setting very much.

Basically all my mods attempts to create factions that I intend to play myself. But why not release them for everybody who is interested too.

All right. On sunday I made my first game in Outremer as the KoJ. I want to give you an overview:

First it all seems very difficult. Both The Seldjuks and the Fatimides assemble strong armies in front of the gates of Jerusalem. If they would strike now, I were finished.

But I achieve an unexpected diplomatic victory early on: the Fatimides accept my proposal and will be my allies. For now, No need to worry about unity among the Muslims.

With on less enemy to worry about I begin to build up my military strength. With the huge income of Tripoli and Jerusalem, I will be able to maintain a standing army at least half the size of the Seldjuk army in Syria. At the same time I quickly upgrade my facilities so I will be able to recruit Knights Templar and Order Footsoldiers around 1130.

I take a chance to bribe a strong force of Orthodox rebels in Crete, long before I can produce my first ship. For many years Crete will cost me money, but I am sure one day I will need its superior strategic location.

At the same time I act very carefully and improve my relationships with neighbouring countries, while the Normans foolishly provoke both the Turks and the Greeks. Ownerships of provinces in Turkish territories changes many times, and in the end the irresponsibility of the Normans makes the Turks only stronger - because loyalist revolts pop up everywhere. There seems to be something broken with turkish AI however, because instead of strengthening their possessions in Anatolia, Nicaea, Armenia or Rum - they focus only on Syria and Arabia, they even build a strong fortress in Arabia.

In 1120 the Seldjuks offer me an alliance and I have to decide between them and the Normans. Of course I stick with my friends from Antiochia. They may be fools and adventurers, but in the end they are my christian brothers. I begin to prepare an attack on Syria.

1142 - many years have passed. I have build up around 1000 troops in Jerusalam and Tripoli, and some reinforcements of Trebizond Archers and Pronolai Allagion from Crete have arrived. With the rests of a french Crusade in Syria, my chance has finally come

In the first round the Turks retreat to the castle. Together with a small norman army that has also joined the battle, I now have to drive the insolent french Crusaders away, who demenad Syria for themselves. On a map that looks exactly like the Horns of Hattin, we attack from two sides and massacre them until the desert is covered with blue corpses.

In the next round the Turks attack with all their might. But they cannot mount more than 1600 men, while I have 1200, with a greater share of Order Foot and Knights Templar. Of course the Turks lose, and after the following siege, Syria is mine (1149).

One thing that is interesting is that now the support cost is doubled during a siege - well done CA.

While Turkey disintegrates under the ensuing Norman offensive, I gain complete control of Syria and Outremer has passed the most critical phase - The KoJ is now a strong player who controls 4 provinces, while the Normans have taken over most land from the Turks.

When I was just about to finish, the Egyptians attacked Jerusalem with 1200 men, when I had only 600 in reserve. While I was able to defeat them, I lost 4 of my heirs in this battle - the greates mistake I ever made in MTW. My only surviving heir is already 43, and even when I give my consent to his offer to marry his own sister, the couple is not able to produce any heirs.

After I achieved victory after victory in a naval war against the Fatimides, and an Invasion of Eqypt, both my Kings die in quick succession and its game over. How could I have been so stupid and leave all my heirs in my capitol?


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
OK that was a very good game but there are some ideas on my list how the game could be improved:

-tune down income in Norman territory and KoJ slightly

-no more Crusades possible for Normans and KoJ

-increase income in Arabia 10fold , because for some reasons the Turks will make it their capitol - imagine that Arabia stretches as far as Baghdad, and the income is realistic

-The turks should have a stronger position

-Georgia will become an independent province
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Errors I found:

-must correct all occurrences of The Normans, The burgundians etc in variables.txt

-hospitaller foot Knights - support cost is 35, should be around 60

-Teutonic Knights should be available in Tripoli only (Akkon)

[ICantSpellDawg]

rock on - yea the game runs smooth, but for some reason the computer cant translate the last names of some of the KOJ leaders, thats the only real problem i found, and i can never find any feudal foot kinghts and they are some hot sh*t

thanks, awesome mod, awesome setting

[Bohemond]

The problem with names is caused by using version 1.1 files with 1.0 exe.
In 1.1 all French names with an "accent" now use strange letters like Q - quite irritating if you ask me.
You therefore must update to 1.1 for the mod.

[ICantSpellDawg]

hows it goin? havnt seen any posts from u lately.

i was just writing a request and wanted to see if you had time or interest.

in your crusade units file, i like how you had the order units able to be made in palestine and tripoli. really gave me a reason to crusade. i just had some suggestions to maybe make the game better

here we go:

1)would it be possible to allow the HRE (only) to create teutonic knights up on the ordensstadt as well?

2)Could Santiago knights be the royal knights for Aragon and Castile (the king of castile and his sons are automatically in the order throughout history) also, could they be allowed to be created like royal knights when the proper buildings are available and could the royal knights also be available to spawn?

3)could you make feudal,chivalric, gothic footknights able to be created with all of the same buildings as the mounted versions (minus the horse buildings?)

in my opinion, this would make the game much more fun than it already is, but ive been giving it a go and i dont seem to get the exact concept of the line structure.

ugh - as of now, i use your game in conjunction with paladins early file

just write me back if you are interested at all, cuz i cant figuire it out yet

thanks

(ps - i sent u an e-mail that said exactly the same thing)