This mod came about because I wanted to get back into M2TW, but vanilla didn't do it for me anymore, and I wasn't as enthusiastic about the major mods as I was for EB with Rome. So I started to make my own tweaks, and eventually it turned into a much bigger project. The three big things I've been trying to do are to make things as historically accurate as possible, add cool new campaign map features or fix broken ones from vanilla, and make battle feel more challenging and less arcady.
You can see the results below, and if you are interested, the download link is below the credits. So, here it is!
Revolutionised Campaign Map:
There are now around 195 regions out of the max 200 (the larger map is based on Spurius' Big Map Mod), and all the new settlements have been thoroughly researched to make sure they are historically accurate for the start date. Settlements and regions are shown in their native languages, from Breton to Norman French, to Gaelic, Old Nubian, Berber etc, as well as local dialects like Genoese, Silesian, Egyptian Arabic and the like. Also, the map is now covered with hundreds of permant forts guarding strategic locations, and conquering these will be important in holding a region due to the propensity of Rebels to attack them, and the high devastation enemy armies in them cause.
It also looks much prettier thanks to the inclusion of a number of mini-mods.
Changing and Interactive Campaign Map:
In addition to all the above, there are dozens of scripted settlement name changes which can occur through either conquest or player decisions. For example, Batalyaws will become Badajoz once conquered by the Spanish, Caer yn Arfon will become Caernarvon in English hands etc. Plus, the Scots will have a decision in 1120AD (turn 80) on whether to keep native place names in Gaelic, or change them to Scots.
Reworked Traits System with Titles, Supply System & Lots More:
I've incorporated Blood, Broads & Bastards v4.0, so all the credit for this goes to them. This adds a huge roleplaying aspect to the game. Now regions grant their own titles to governors, rebellions will turn into civil wars, King's must go to their capital to be crowned or risk losing their authority, and lots more. There is also now a supply system that means armies in enemy territory will quickly lose morale, and will have reduced movement capacities in winter. There's a ton of new traits and many broken ones from vanilla are fixed.
Rebalanced Battle System:
The main aim here was to make battles longer and more challenging, and to have units performing more specific roles (I always found it too easy to swarm the AI with sheer mass by flooding one part of the battle line). A lof of units have been 'fixed', like 2-handers and pikemen, which perform 100x better than in vanilla. The general changes are listed below.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
units more specialised
light units weaker but faster (fast pony mount for all light cavalry), more stamina, better in rough terrain
heavy units stronger but less stamina, more prone to fatigue and hampered by heat and terrain
morale increased (roughly double for most units, a few units including Bodyguards now no longer rout)
cavalry weaker, smaller unit sizes, but rely on shock (heavy cavalry have 'frighten_foot' attribute)
late-era units more effective (bills, halberds, pikes, guns)
pikes fixed (removed second weapon so they now function more like a RTW phalanx)
2-handers strengthened (all armour piercing, strong charge and have 'frighten_foot' attribute)
missile units weaker (but bigger difference - longbows deadly but peasant archers really only for harassing)
crossbows altered (shorter range and lower max angle of fire means they need to be deployed more carefully)
specialist elite troops more interesting (eg Sherwood Archers can hide anywhere, Forlorn Hope have 2HP)
new formations (schiltroms removed, replaces in some cases with shield wall, more units can deploy stakes etc)
artilley better against units (now worth using - more accurate and larger damage radius)
officers added to some units (just a cool feature left over from RTW!)
Islamic Princesses:
I always missed having princesses as agents while playing as Islamic factions, so now they can acquire them just like anybody else!
Royal Ladies Feature:
Royal Ladies are a new agent that function in much the same way as a Princess. They can marry your Generals, conduct diplomacy, marry into other factions, or steal their Generals away from them. However, Royal Ladies are not a part of the family tree, although they can enter into it through marriage. Royal Ladies are acquired through a spawn script, so as long as a faction owns its original capital province, there is a chance that a Royal Lady will appear next to it. When this happens, you are notified by an event message.
Grand Imams:
Each Muslim faction may have one Grand Imam at a time, who can be acquired by training an Imam or letting one reside in a settlement where a Minareted Masjid has been built. The Grand Imam ancillary grants +2 Piety, and upgrades the Imam model to that of the Grand Imam.
Orthodox Patriarchs:
Patriarchs are a cool feature that for whatever reason was not implemented in vanilla, despite the model being there. An Orthodox faction may have one patriarch at a time, who represents the head of the faith in their respective kingdoms. This feature adds a little bit more uniqueness to the Orthodox world which felt a little bit sidelined in vanilla.
New Buildings:
These are really new features more than new buildings as such. Centres of Administration or Trade cannot be built by the player, but exist in certain regions at the start of the campaign, and grant bonuses to things like law, trade, and population growth, to allow these places to remain particularly important throughout the game. Royal Palaces and their Royal Court upgrades can be built in any city by any faction, and the Royal Court allows General characters to be recruited, albeit at a slow rate. Highways are a feature left in the game from RTW that was never implemented, meaning that once these are built, they appear as Highways on the campaign map. They can only be built by Byzantium, Milan and Venice.
General/Minor Changes:
These are mainly concerned with providing longer campaigns, more character depth, and fixing broken campaign features (bribery and assassins!).
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Timescale change (1 turn = 6 months, matches character ageing)
Date shown in years rather than turns
Recruitable Generals (recruited through Royal Court building which requires a Large City)
Significantly increased movement points (especially for agents and fleets, and not just relative to the larger map size)
get family members from a younger age (eg 14 for Generals)
characters live longer
assassins much better, especially against agents
bribery has much higher chance of working (its actually possible now!)
brigand spawn rate massively reduced, somewhat reduced for pirates
========== CREDITS ==========
Spurius' for hisBig Map Mod Agart's for his City and Castle Strat Map Models Charge's for his Trees, Textures & Sea Mini-mod plasticfigurine's for his Early Generals Mod Lord Condormanius' for hisvEuropean Captain Strat Map Models Occhi Di Davide's for his Cog Warship Strat Map Model Dearmad, Pnutmaster & Tokus*Maximus' for their BBB Mod v4.0 (minus Tokus' graphics, as I have been unable to contact him for permission)
========== PERMISSIONS ==========
Should not be a problem but please ask me first!
========== DOWNLOAD ==========
The installation of this mod is very simple. I based it on the Barebones mod, so install that from here:
...and replace the Barebones mod data file with my one. And that's it, you can run my mod through the Barebones launcher without affecting the regular M2TW installation or any other mods you happen to have.
Enjoy, and any feedback is very welcome!
12-16-2014, 14:39
Alligger
Re: 190+ regions, Islamic Princesses, Royal Ladies & lots more! Download & screens he
Could you please post another link? From what I've seen it looks a really good mod, but the link isn't valid.
Thank you
