Caius Britannicus Presents: The Crusades v1.0

[caius britannicus]

Over a year of blood, sweat, and tears the development team behind The Crusades is ready to unleash the beast. The Crusades V1.0 is a hefty product that is a nearly complete version of the mod. However, to get the mod out earlier several features have been left out and will be patched at a later date. Currently there is only one download link, I would ask that people be patient, I am working at getting mirrors up. However, at 250+MB it takes a while to upload.


THE CRUSADES

Can't wait for Medieval Total War 2? Just don't have a machine that will be able to play Medieval Total War 2? Do you want EPIC battles fought across sweeping campaigns in the holy land? Then The Crusades is for YOU!

The Crusades is a total conversion mod that brings the player back to the time of Salah al-Din, Richard the Lionheart, the Kingdom of Jersualem and the Third Crusade. It offers the player a chance to relive two famous campaigns of the period, the campaigns of the third crusade and the conquests of Salah al-Din. At the players disposal in both campaigns are over 100 unique units (roughly 50 for each faction), a host of historical characters (Salah al-Din, Fredrick Barbarossa, Richard the Lionheart and many more), as wells a several unqiue buildings and settlements.

Outside of the campaign the player will be treated to 12 brand new custom battle locations to do battle against the crusaders or saracens. All the units for each faction as well as rebel units are available for custom battles, including byantine, cilician armenian, and county units. So you may not get to play as the byzantines in the campaign, but that doesn't stop you from forming a byzantine army in a custom or online battle.

***AVAILABLE DOWNLOADS***
TotalRealism.net - The Crusades v1.0 (http://www.totalrealism.net/developers/caius/The%20Crusades%20v1.exe)
FileFront.com - The Crusades v1.0 ( http://files.filefront.com/The_Crusades_v1exe/;6154050;;/fileinfo.html)
FileFactory.com - The Crusades v1.0 (http://www.filefactory.com/file/d2ed31/)
FileFactory.com 2 - The Crusades v1.0 (http://www.filefactory.com/file/b74f91/)
MegaUpload.com - The Crusades v1.0 (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8K3VQPCD)
MegaUpload.com 2 - The Crusades v1.0 ( http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P1N0V2JU)
SendSpace.com - The Crusades v1.0 ( http://www.sendspace.com/file/bc8cgz)

***INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS***
- Install a CLEAN version of either ROME TOTAL WAR GOLD EDITION or ROME TOTAL WAR: Barbarian Invasion PATCHED TO 1.6

- Download the exe above.

- Install the mod using the install program to the correct directory. The install program is defaulted to the Gold edition directory. Make sure that if you have another version you select the proper directory

- play the mod!

***FEATURES LIST***
- TWO seperate campaigns!
- 52 Turns per year script brings the campaign to life
- Over 150 UNIQUE units and officers
- BRAND NEW MUSIC
- NEW mounts, including covered horses for crusaders and mailed horses for saracens
- NEW battle user interface and campaign user interface for each faction
- NEW event pictures
- NEW loading screens
- Updated stone walls for the crusader faction
- Stronghold Settlements - walled fortresses where knightly orders can recruit troops
- Massive Map - 4x the size of the original RTW map with historic locations such as Karak or Hattin
- New Strategy map characters - gone are the single characters of Vanilla RTW.
- Updated Traits and Ancillaries
- All new portraits for Generals, family membres, agents and ancillaries
- New UI cards for all units
- New seige weapons - Catapult and Siege Bow
- New formations thanks to Darth Vader and Darth's Formations v16.2
- Darth Vader's stat charge and stat fire delay changes implemented for more realistic AI behavior
- New special purpose units - Naffatin Fire Throwers and Priests of the True Cross
- Unit descriptions and names explain the role of each unit in the game and how to best utilize them.
- Sprites for all units so even people with low end machines can play the mod
- Palm Tree forests
- New stats system utilizes moral and stats to bring new challenges to each battle.
- Brand new menu art
- new quotes from the period of the crusades

***SCREENSHOTS***
https://img501.imageshack.us/img501/7127/coveredhorsesks9.th.jpg (https://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=coveredhorsesks9.jpg)https://img280.imageshack.us/img280/9036/crusadercampct0.th.jpg (https://img280.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crusadercampct0.jpg)https://img206.imageshack.us/img206/8094/crusadercampaign1xa1.th.jpg (https://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crusadercampaign1xa1.jpg)https://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1527/crusaderfamilytreemv6.th.jpg (https://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crusaderfamilytreemv6.jpg)
https://img398.imageshack.us/img398/6791/armyselectyj9.th.jpg (https://img398.imageshack.us/my.php?image=armyselectyj9.jpg)https://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9250/crusaderformationsgv7.th.jpg (https://img386.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crusaderformationsgv7.jpg)https://img295.imageshack.us/img295/8645/welshstuffld1.th.jpg (https://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=welshstuffld1.jpg)
https://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6088/customnattlesqs8.th.jpg (https://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=customnattlesqs8.jpg)https://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8690/menucampaignseu0.th.jpg (https://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=menucampaignseu0.jpg)https://img367.imageshack.us/img367/5444/saracencampselectno5.th.jpg (https://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saracencampselectno5.jpg)
https://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7104/newcustomlocationskq1.th.jpg (https://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newcustomlocationskq1.jpg)https://img367.imageshack.us/img367/2927/palmforestscv1.th.jpg (https://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=palmforestscv1.jpg)https://img372.imageshack.us/img372/6279/saracencampaign2jl4.th.jpg (https://img372.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saracencampaign2jl4.jpg)
https://img478.imageshack.us/img478/7712/saracenfamilytreejw8.th.jpg (https://img478.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saracenfamilytreejw8.jpg)https://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6399/saracenformationsgz0.th.jpg (https://img503.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saracenformationsgz0.jpg)https://img358.imageshack.us/img358/1754/saracennunitselectsm8.th.jpg (https://img358.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saracennunitselectsm8.jpg)

***GAMEPLAY TIPS AND TRICKS***
- When using lance armed cavalry always attack with alt-right click. This will make the cavalry charge with their lance (higher charge bonus) then draw their side-arm weapon which has a lower charge but more powerful attack
- European units are recruited via the top level ports. However, it takes a little longer for them to be trained than the local Latin troops
- Turkish, Syrian, and Arabian units are trained through the caravanserai.
- Spys and Assassins have low upkeep and are really cheap to recruit. Use them alot. Before invasions or planning any incusions always have at least a 1 spy screen infront of your army.
- You don't need a spy to see the general strength of an army. Simply double click the army to see how many units it has.
- Richard the Lionheart is on Cyprus and Barbarossa is in Asia Minor, don't forget about them in the Crusader campaign. They have powerful armies and are your best generals.

***CREDITS AND SPECIAL THANKS***

Major Contributors

Chris "Caius Britannicus" Janssen
Reiksmarshal
Uranos
Isnogood
Meothar
Daud.fr
Lacademon

Special Thanks to

Def
Nzike
Myrdraal
Alpaca
Chigga
Don_Achilles
Lord BDH
Darth Vader
Laca
Kscott
Brandon M
Dark89
Desertfox
The Chivalry Total War Team
The Rome Total Realism Team
The TotalWar.org Community
The Rome Total Realism Community
The Total War Center Community

[Kara Kolyo]

Thank you Caius and everybody else for the great mod! It's absolutelly divine:egypt: Keep the great work!

[Motep]

That mod looks simply amazing....graet work, sadly i cannot get it...

[Myrddraal]

Stunning

PS, two ds in Myrddraal :wink:

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

A short and sincere review:

MAP : 10 out of 10

The map is large, there are numerous provinces, howewer they are well spaced out. Due to the existance of the villages with no walls, sieges are not that freqcuent (so less "siege total war" effect).

The terrain looks great in my opinion, it is probably the most beautifull map of all the ones made in RTW so farr....

The battlemap with the palms is also great, altough the palms are a little bit to high, but no problem.

CAMPAIGN GAME : 8 out of 10

The overall campaign game is awesome, especially when you play as the Crusaders, sorounded by Saracens from almost all the sides. Howewer, when you play the Saracen campaign, there is a strong sense of emptiness... more factions would have been much better (at least 2 )

UNITS : 10 out of 10

The units are very well made, historically accurate, and the skins are more than beautifull. It is more than a pleasure to command such units on the battlefield.

STABILITY : 6 out of 10

Random CTD`s , unfortunately, are something which do happen quite often in this mod. Saving each turn is necesary, and due to this, there is a sort of "beta version" feeling around it. Howewer, you can safely play at least a couple of turns and battles with no real problems.

DESCRIPTIONS : 7 out of 10

Many buildings, units, do require proper descriptions....and new icons won`t be bad for some buildings ~;)

BALANCE: 9 out of 10

Lets face the historicall facts... the crusaders who fought in the Holy Land were elites... while the muslims had the numbers ! ~;)

MUSIC: 10 out of 10

It is awesome... it guarantees a total imersion ~;)

TOTAL : aprox 8, 50.


A great mod, with great posibilities, but still needs a lot of work to be done. It is a necesary download, even for the people who got MTV2

[caius britannicus]

A short and sincere review:

MAP : 10 out of 10

The map is large, there are numerous provinces, howewer they are well spaced out. Due to the existance of the villages with no walls, sieges are not that freqcuent (so less "siege total war" effect).

The terrain looks great in my opinion, it is probably the most beautifull map of all the ones made in RTW so farr....

The battlemap with the palms is also great, altough the palms are a little bit to high, but no problem.

CAMPAIGN GAME : 8 out of 10

The overall campaign game is awesome, especially when you play as the Crusaders, sorounded by Saracens from almost all the sides. Howewer, when you play the Saracen campaign, there is a strong sense of emptiness... more factions would have been much better (at least 2 )

UNITS : 10 out of 10

The units are very well made, historically accurate, and the skins are more than beautifull. It is more than a pleasure to command such units on the battlefield.

STABILITY : 6 out of 10

Random CTD`s , unfortunately, are something which do happen quite often in this mod. Saving each turn is necesary, and due to this, there is a sort of "beta version" feeling around it. Howewer, you can safely play at least a couple of turns and battles with no real problems.

DESCRIPTIONS : 7 out of 10

Many buildings, units, do require proper descriptions....and new icons won`t be bad for some buildings ~;)

BALANCE: 9 out of 10

Lets face the historicall facts... the crusaders who fought in the Holy Land were elites... while the muslims had the numbers ! ~;)

MUSIC: 10 out of 10

It is awesome... it guarantees a total imersion ~;)

TOTAL : aprox 8, 50.


A great mod, with great posibilities, but still needs a lot of work to be done. It is a necesary download, even for the people who got MTV2


Thank you for the review. Its very helpful in decided what needs to be fixed. And yes, this release is very much a beta release. I hesitate to call it that simply because I didn't want the stigma of an unfinished mod. The music is the pride and joy of Reiksmarshal, he compiled it and it takes my breath away each time I play. Descriptions also need alot of work. Mostly because well, its just me. So its either have long interesting descriptions or have other parts of the mod work properly and released on time.

PS: the next patch will have smaller palms.

[Motep]

am I right in reding that there are 52 turns per yer?

[caius britannicus]

am I right in reding that there are 52 turns per yer?

Yes, the campaigns span 13 years and comprise of 676 turns.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

As an interesting fact, the Saracen campaign is extremely stable (you can really play for hours without any kind of CTD), actually afters hours of playing it i believe there are no CTD`s at all in the Saracen campaign...

The Crusader campaign, howewer, and i am having these problems, make CTD everytime the Saracen starts to siege a town... the music stops, and instead i hear a sort of noise wich you can hear when the radio is not working right, then in less than 20 seconds i am back to my desktop.... I would have said that it has something to do with the fact that the towns are really at the edge of the sea... but when i sieged them as the Saracens, i hade no problem. My sound card made me no problems... Who knows ?

[Roman_Man#3]

this mod looks awesome. i would download it like that if only my BI worked :2thumbsup:

[caius britannicus]

As an interesting fact, the Saracen campaign is extremely stable (you can really play for hours without any kind of CTD), actually afters hours of playing it i believe there are no CTD`s at all in the Saracen campaign...

The Crusader campaign, howewer, and i am having these problems, make CTD everytime the Saracen starts to siege a town... the music stops, and instead i hear a sort of noise wich you can hear when the radio is not working right, then in less than 20 seconds i am back to my desktop.... I would have said that it has something to do with the fact that the towns are really at the edge of the sea... but when i sieged them as the Saracens, i hade no problem. My sound card made me no problems... Who knows ?


Its very confusing to me really. I have been bug searching my ass off trying to figure it out. The Saracen campaign is very stable and only differs from the crusader campaign with one file, the descr_strat.txt. And even then differences are minimal.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

I
ts very confusing to me really. I have been bug searching my ass off trying to figure it out. The Saracen campaign is very stable and only differs from the crusader campaign with one file, the descr_strat.txt. And even then differences are minimal.

Could the RTW engine confuse the 2 campaigns ?
But even so, it does not explain why in the moment a siege of a large city of mine starts (no problem when Saracens or I attack villages !), all crashes down....I dont know what kind of crashes were reported by other people...

Maybe we should ask some modding experts around here ~;)
It is surely a problem related to the game engine somehow, because no error is shown up...

[Myrddraal]

Caius, you could try making the Crusaders playable in the Saracen campaign, and see if that crashes with the same bug. If not, then it might not be the descr_strat?