dclare4
10-06-2002, 13:19
Some thoughts on a prospective Renaissance/Reformation era Total War mod.
The era of the Renaissance is not usually thought of as an era of warfare. Discovery, faith and philosophy perhaps but not warfare. What is often not realized is that these elements, discovery, faith and philosophy bear with them seeds of conflict that often grew into bloody and cruel wars. The period bore witness to a cultural, religious and technological revolution that changed the face of the world.
Some momentous events of this age are the Protestant reformation, the discovery of the Americas and the Orient, the rise of the monarchy and national governments with the dissolution of the feudal system and the raising of national armies. The great Christian-Muslim conflict continued into this era with the dramatic backs-to-the-wall stands of the Knights Hospitallers at Rhodes and Malta, the great siege of Vienna and the naval battle of Lepanto but with the establishment of a new faith in protest of the widespread corruption and abuses of the Roman Catholic Church a new religious struggle began that would tear asunder kingdoms and make or break mighty dynasties.
With the issue of religion at the heart of the mod, I thought of ways to best represent or capture the spirit of the era. I decided that this would not be as 'warlike' an age as the medieval period and I wanted to emphasize the use of subterfuge and diplomacy over military conquest in this period of European 'cold war'. I wanted to show the philosophical differences of these two faiths through their effect on the possible 'technological advances' as embodied by the possible 'buildings' as well as giving each faith certain advantages in different areas.
The Catholic faith enjoys deepseated, almost fanatical loyalty as well as the patronage and fear of most of the major European rulers. They are maintained by an efficient system of Bishops, Cardinals and Inquisitors that spread faith and dread throughout the land. The Catholic culture relies more on agricultural improvement as well as the vast powers of the 'Holy Mother Church' to generate lavish sums of money. The side effect of all this, however, is the gradually growing discontent of the people over abuses such as corruption, hypocrisy, indulgences and the far reaching powers of the dreaded Office of the Holy Inquisition. Catholic cultures receive valour bonuses for their spies and churchmen.
The Protestant faith is rapidly taking hold among the discontented masses of Europe and several powerful princes have embraced it or are protecting it. Protestant work ethic gives bonuses for trade and acumen but in the relative freedom of their faith loyalty is often lowered.
To counter the growing power of the Protestants, the Catholic kingdoms rely on their Inquisitors and in the members of the newly formed Society of Jesus whose austere, soldierly discipline and inquiring mindset proves a worthy alternative to Lutheran doctrine.
Some planned buildings are actually not buildings but rather, embodiments of ideologies or policies. These will include INDULGENCES (happiness -15% / money + 1000), PARLIAMENT (happiness +10% / money -300 / trade +10% / loyalty -2), GUTENBERG PRESS (loyalty -3 / trade +5%), COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION (trade +15% / money +500 / loyalty +1), DRILL AND DISCIPLINE (w/c allows a faction to recruit professional quality national armies).
While the concept of the feudal warlord vanished and the idea of a national army in defense of the realm took shape mercenaries were still a major part of the military system if only for their professional qualities. Locally raised troops would be of militia or worse conscript quality with very little actual battlefield experience if at all. To make up for this, professional soldiers for hire, the mercenaries, would be hired by kings to make up for the lack of skill of local forces. Among the most famous mercenaries of the period were the Swiss, the Condottiere, the Landsknecht and the Irish Wild Geese. It is only after a faction builds the 'DRILL AND DISCIPLINE' building (following the construction of the Marshalate) that one can build locally raised units on par with the more expensive mercenaries.
Among the available mercenary buildings are the AULD ALLIANCE available to France, Spain and Russia w/c enables the construction of Scottish mercenaries such as the Guard Archers, Gendarmes Ecoissais and Scots Brigade Arquebusiers. This should be upgradable to JACOBITE EMBASSY w/c will enable the construction of Jacobites (handgunners with sword and shield) - Scottish mercenaries are very good for ambushes. The Irish mercenaries are of one type only, the legendary Wild Geese, arquebusiers armed with a 'gallowglass' sword and powerful shock troops on the battlefield. The Swiss mercenaries include Pikemen, Halberdiers and Swordsmen as well as elite Swiss Guards available only to the French and Papal factions. The Italians provide the famed Condottiere, heavily armoured swordsmen, while the Germans have the Landsknechts, pikemen, cavalry and arquebusiers.
The only truly professional army of this period was the army of Spain. With vast territories inherited from a Hapsburg king, the Spanish army garrisons the Netherlands, Burgundy, Milan, Naples, Sicily as well as the Spanish peninsula. The Spanish soldiers are well drilled, professional troops that are of much higher quality than those of other European armies. They are also pioneers of the 'Tercio' type of unit, massive phalanxes of pike and shot, mobile human fortresses that dominate the battlefield.
Among other units I plan to include are Catholic Adventurers (gentlemen exiles particularly from Britain and Ireland), Grenadiers (shock infantry Naptha throwers with axes), British Grenadiers (elite arquebusiers with swords and NO NAPTHA!!), Reiters (pistol armed cavalry with good charge values and some armor), Troop of Horse (lightly armored/unarmored sword armed cavalry), Dragoons (dismountable mounted arquebusiers with poor charge values), Kings Musketeers (available to France only, elite guard dragoons with excellent swords!), Horse Guards (elite unarmored bodyguard cavalry), Fusilliers (generally available line infantry w/c becomes available only after DRILL AND DISCIPLINE is researched/built) - most units are variations on the arquebus or handgun or alan cavalry units with different close combat weapons or varying armor or morale.
I plan to change the ships too and add/mod galleons, galleases, fast galleons and maybe even privateers/pirate ships.
Unfortunately the historical events can't be modified because there are many events that I would have wanted to add. For example the JACOBITE EMBASSY should only become available after the 'Glorious Revolution' event - Catholic England faction loses all its 'English' territories. Similarly the WILD GEESE event should occur if any Protestant faction invades and conquers Ireland.
I would hope that someone can modify the existing map and split the existing territories into two units at least (i.e. Northumbria into Northumberland/Yorkshire or Flanders into Netherlands/Wallonia).
While you still get troops here, I plan to make the maintenance of standing armies prohibitively expensive before the 'DRILL AND DISCIPLINE' building is constructed. Any troops build will merely eat into your cash reserves while being generally low quality anyways. An exception to this will be 'fortress troops' - spear armed militia suitable mainly for defending fortresses, and of course the poor helpless peasantry. Both will be very cheap.
If anyone has any ideas/thoughts just post them here.
Thanks,
Gilbert de Clare
The era of the Renaissance is not usually thought of as an era of warfare. Discovery, faith and philosophy perhaps but not warfare. What is often not realized is that these elements, discovery, faith and philosophy bear with them seeds of conflict that often grew into bloody and cruel wars. The period bore witness to a cultural, religious and technological revolution that changed the face of the world.
Some momentous events of this age are the Protestant reformation, the discovery of the Americas and the Orient, the rise of the monarchy and national governments with the dissolution of the feudal system and the raising of national armies. The great Christian-Muslim conflict continued into this era with the dramatic backs-to-the-wall stands of the Knights Hospitallers at Rhodes and Malta, the great siege of Vienna and the naval battle of Lepanto but with the establishment of a new faith in protest of the widespread corruption and abuses of the Roman Catholic Church a new religious struggle began that would tear asunder kingdoms and make or break mighty dynasties.
With the issue of religion at the heart of the mod, I thought of ways to best represent or capture the spirit of the era. I decided that this would not be as 'warlike' an age as the medieval period and I wanted to emphasize the use of subterfuge and diplomacy over military conquest in this period of European 'cold war'. I wanted to show the philosophical differences of these two faiths through their effect on the possible 'technological advances' as embodied by the possible 'buildings' as well as giving each faith certain advantages in different areas.
The Catholic faith enjoys deepseated, almost fanatical loyalty as well as the patronage and fear of most of the major European rulers. They are maintained by an efficient system of Bishops, Cardinals and Inquisitors that spread faith and dread throughout the land. The Catholic culture relies more on agricultural improvement as well as the vast powers of the 'Holy Mother Church' to generate lavish sums of money. The side effect of all this, however, is the gradually growing discontent of the people over abuses such as corruption, hypocrisy, indulgences and the far reaching powers of the dreaded Office of the Holy Inquisition. Catholic cultures receive valour bonuses for their spies and churchmen.
The Protestant faith is rapidly taking hold among the discontented masses of Europe and several powerful princes have embraced it or are protecting it. Protestant work ethic gives bonuses for trade and acumen but in the relative freedom of their faith loyalty is often lowered.
To counter the growing power of the Protestants, the Catholic kingdoms rely on their Inquisitors and in the members of the newly formed Society of Jesus whose austere, soldierly discipline and inquiring mindset proves a worthy alternative to Lutheran doctrine.
Some planned buildings are actually not buildings but rather, embodiments of ideologies or policies. These will include INDULGENCES (happiness -15% / money + 1000), PARLIAMENT (happiness +10% / money -300 / trade +10% / loyalty -2), GUTENBERG PRESS (loyalty -3 / trade +5%), COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION (trade +15% / money +500 / loyalty +1), DRILL AND DISCIPLINE (w/c allows a faction to recruit professional quality national armies).
While the concept of the feudal warlord vanished and the idea of a national army in defense of the realm took shape mercenaries were still a major part of the military system if only for their professional qualities. Locally raised troops would be of militia or worse conscript quality with very little actual battlefield experience if at all. To make up for this, professional soldiers for hire, the mercenaries, would be hired by kings to make up for the lack of skill of local forces. Among the most famous mercenaries of the period were the Swiss, the Condottiere, the Landsknecht and the Irish Wild Geese. It is only after a faction builds the 'DRILL AND DISCIPLINE' building (following the construction of the Marshalate) that one can build locally raised units on par with the more expensive mercenaries.
Among the available mercenary buildings are the AULD ALLIANCE available to France, Spain and Russia w/c enables the construction of Scottish mercenaries such as the Guard Archers, Gendarmes Ecoissais and Scots Brigade Arquebusiers. This should be upgradable to JACOBITE EMBASSY w/c will enable the construction of Jacobites (handgunners with sword and shield) - Scottish mercenaries are very good for ambushes. The Irish mercenaries are of one type only, the legendary Wild Geese, arquebusiers armed with a 'gallowglass' sword and powerful shock troops on the battlefield. The Swiss mercenaries include Pikemen, Halberdiers and Swordsmen as well as elite Swiss Guards available only to the French and Papal factions. The Italians provide the famed Condottiere, heavily armoured swordsmen, while the Germans have the Landsknechts, pikemen, cavalry and arquebusiers.
The only truly professional army of this period was the army of Spain. With vast territories inherited from a Hapsburg king, the Spanish army garrisons the Netherlands, Burgundy, Milan, Naples, Sicily as well as the Spanish peninsula. The Spanish soldiers are well drilled, professional troops that are of much higher quality than those of other European armies. They are also pioneers of the 'Tercio' type of unit, massive phalanxes of pike and shot, mobile human fortresses that dominate the battlefield.
Among other units I plan to include are Catholic Adventurers (gentlemen exiles particularly from Britain and Ireland), Grenadiers (shock infantry Naptha throwers with axes), British Grenadiers (elite arquebusiers with swords and NO NAPTHA!!), Reiters (pistol armed cavalry with good charge values and some armor), Troop of Horse (lightly armored/unarmored sword armed cavalry), Dragoons (dismountable mounted arquebusiers with poor charge values), Kings Musketeers (available to France only, elite guard dragoons with excellent swords!), Horse Guards (elite unarmored bodyguard cavalry), Fusilliers (generally available line infantry w/c becomes available only after DRILL AND DISCIPLINE is researched/built) - most units are variations on the arquebus or handgun or alan cavalry units with different close combat weapons or varying armor or morale.
I plan to change the ships too and add/mod galleons, galleases, fast galleons and maybe even privateers/pirate ships.
Unfortunately the historical events can't be modified because there are many events that I would have wanted to add. For example the JACOBITE EMBASSY should only become available after the 'Glorious Revolution' event - Catholic England faction loses all its 'English' territories. Similarly the WILD GEESE event should occur if any Protestant faction invades and conquers Ireland.
I would hope that someone can modify the existing map and split the existing territories into two units at least (i.e. Northumbria into Northumberland/Yorkshire or Flanders into Netherlands/Wallonia).
While you still get troops here, I plan to make the maintenance of standing armies prohibitively expensive before the 'DRILL AND DISCIPLINE' building is constructed. Any troops build will merely eat into your cash reserves while being generally low quality anyways. An exception to this will be 'fortress troops' - spear armed militia suitable mainly for defending fortresses, and of course the poor helpless peasantry. Both will be very cheap.
If anyone has any ideas/thoughts just post them here.
Thanks,
Gilbert de Clare