Mediaeval Auctoriso Update #3

Hello everyone. Im back again with another preview from Mediaeval Auctoriso. While last time we decided to show you the kind of work we're doing for each of our factions, this time we decided to give you a look at the new gameplay features we're planning.

As always if you don't know what Mediaevel Auctoriso is or you just want to refresh your memory I highly suggest you take a look at our previous updates:
Mediaeval Auctoriso: Aims and Goals
Update #1: Gameplay Feature Overview
Update #2: The English
And with that said; on to the preview!

Cultural Assimilation
At MA we aim to provide as realistic an experience as possible for our players. As any person knows, western civilization at this time was an icnredible amalgamation of differing cultures and ideologies and not just on a regional basis. The relatively recent widespread arisal of powerful and centralized governments along with continual technological advances have made Europe a much smaller place and the result was a cultural melting pot unlike any that human history has ever seen. To say that the medieval era was an era of drastic and far-reaching cultural change would be quite an understatement. This reason is why our cultural assimilation system is by far one of the most integral aspects of our modification.

Quick Overview
As the ruler of your kingdom, whenever a new territorial acquisition has been brought within your borders (by whatever means) you have the choice to attempt to assimilate the territory to your own culture. Indeed, conquering a people through war is merely the beginning. The true task and measure of a ruler is turning his once sworn enemies into his most loyal citizens.

The benefits of culturally assimialting a province are immediatly apparent. A homogenious culture throughout your land removes any intra-cultural tension or agression within your own borders. History has gvien us countless example where internal cultural strife has brought a state to its knees before tearing it apart. In the timeframe of our modification, we can see how culturally diverse the very expansive Holy Roman Empire was only to splinter apart in a series of civil wars as one cultural group after another seceded from the Holy Roman Emporer's rule. A single universal culture also makes ruling your empire much simpler as well as allowing you to maintain a standardized military on your every border.

While the benefits of cultural assimilation are readily apparent, achieving this goal will be a very very difficult task. The process as a whole could take anywhere from only a year or two to up to (and quite possibly exceeding) 150 years of continual effort. Considering the investment of time and money, this is not a task to be taken on lightly. Cultural assimilation is not a necessary process by any means, however. Many states have stood strong and united despite seemingly insurmountable cultural discrepencies. The Holy Roman Empire which I mentioned before maintained a surprising degree of unity between its varying cultural groups for many centuries before ultimately succumbing to them.

I would like to stress that unlike other mods that force you to fully complete their cultural assimilation process before being able to fully utilise a province, MA will make the province fully usable as soon as you conquer the territory and it will remain fully usable throughout the process of assimilation. What I mean by this is that you will have full access to all buildings as well as the ability to recruit the full spectrum of soldiers from peasants to elites in that province no matter at what stage of assimilation you find yourself. To what extent you assimilate a province is entirely up to you and you will not be penalized in any way for your decision in this area. As you will see, however, the extent to which you assimilate a province will have a profound impact on every other aspect of the game.

The Process Explained
To represent this aspect as realistically as possible we have created a system of seven levels and two major routes.

No matter what, the first step in assimilating a province is to encourage your own existing nobles to move to the province. Historically this was done with incentives such as money, land, titles, and power among other things. This rather small but very integral step is represented by a single building that is the gateway not only to cultural assimilation but several other aspects of the mod.

It is at this point that you can choose to embark on the journey to cultural assimilation. The process could take anywhere from the construction of a single step to up to the construction of seven depending on how similar the culture of the province is to your own. In this way, the provinces immediatly around you at the start of the game may only take a short amount of time to assimilate but as your borders spread across the map and you come into contact with increasingly different cultures you will find that assimilation can take a very very long time to complete.

Here you can see the cultural assimilation map for the English (the faction we showcased in our last update).
https://img102.imageshack.us/img102/...olos2je.th.png
MAP KEY

Each faction has its own personal assimilation map made on a province by province basis.

England finds itself in a very interesting situation. Immediatly the most noticeable aspect of its assimilation map is that England has no level 0 provinces. It is one of only a small minority of factions in this situation. Youll also notice that the country of England itself is not very similar to the Norman culture. Indeed, at the start of the game, England will only have just begun the process of assimilation under the rule of William the First. Youll also notice that single provinces stick out and are different from their neighboring provinces. Among these are Paris, Rome, Venice, and Constantinople. These provinces have such a powerful and defined culture that they would be considerably more difficult to assimilate than the provinces around them.

Integration vs. Colonisation
Once you have completed the initial step of moving your own nobles into a province you are presented with a choice of two different paths toward cultural assimilation: Integration and Colonisation. Both of these paths have their own benefits and penalties throughout the process however they will both reach the same result in the same amount of time.

The path of Integration represents the slow replacement of the existing culture with your own. In this way you slowly pull the population away from its existing culture and move them to your own. Its benefits arrive much slower because it is a slower process however it is a much less intrusive and obvious path.

The path of Colonisation represents the slow replacement of the existing population with your own. In this way you flood the province with your own population until the existing populace and its culture are so diluted that they represent only a miniscule minority. The benefits of colonisation arrive quicker however be prepared for cultural friction which could spark into a full fire.

Military
The changes of integration are very gradual and for the most part you will see them most prominently in the soldiers you are able to recruit. When you conquer a provicne you will only be able to recruit the local regional troops. While this is not a bad thing by any means (you will still be able to recruit the full spectrum of troops from pesants to elites) it does mean that the local troops will almost definitly emphasize a different form of combat than what you may be used to requiring you to use new (potentially clashing) tactics in your battles. As you progress down the path of integration you will find that first the medium troops will switch over to your own culture. These troops are the first to switch over because they are the backbone of your armies and they are recruited, trained, and equipped by the government meaning they will be trained and equipped in the fashion of your own faction. Continuing down the path of integration you will find that the next units to adopt your culture are the high level troops. These powerful nobles have up to now been maintaining their ancestral warrior traditions and only after considerable time and prodding have begun to take up the warrior traditions of your culture's noble class. Finally at the very tail end of the process the low level troops will transition to your own culture. These troops were levied when needed from the peasants and farmers and expected to supply their own training and equipment. Therefore they have taken the longest to adopt the methods of warfare used by your faction.

Also throughout this slow transition of military tradition you will find various hybrid troops emerge when appropriate. These hybrid troops will show the fusion of key aspects of one military culture with those of another into one very unique and interesting class of soldier. You will also see these troops emerge as the adaptation of your own military tradition to the new environment. Something as simple as a soldier wearing lighter armor in the desert can have far-reaching affects on the way that soldier fights and its subsequent role in your military tactics.

In the process of colonisation you will see much the same pattern in the transition of military traditions however it will take place on a slightly quicker basis. Since you are simply replacing the existing population you need only wait until the new population exceeds the old population to take advantage of your own military units. Hybrid troops, however, will take longer to appear if they appear at all.

Happiness and Order
Perhaps one the largest reasons for choosing one path over the other is each path's affect on the happiness of the population. As you might expect, colonisation can lead to extreme unhappiness immediatly and you will need to keep a sizeable garrison in even smaller cities to deter hostilities. As the existing population grows ever smaller relative to the new population you will find that the abnormally high levels of unhappiness at the beginning of the process will drop off very quickly to near nothing. Integration on the other hand will not incur such hostility but it will foster resentment in the existing population. Alone, this resentment does not pose a very large problem to your maintaining order in the province however if it is coupled with other causes for anger it can quickly grow out of hand. Regardless, in a normal city only a slightly larger garrison would more than be able to keep the peace. This resentment though, you will find is very long lasting and you will only begin to see it subside as the process nears completion.

Major/Minor Status
To create a more interesting and dynamic assimilation system from one faction to the next, certain factions will be given the status of Major or Minor in either of the two paths to assimilation. These titles represent a faction's individual propensity or deficiency above the average faction in the area of integration or colonisation.

To be a Major in the area of integration, a faction must have a very strong and rich culture of its own that would be relatively simple to impose on an inferior culture. Examples of Major integration factions include France, Egypt, and Byzantium. Minor integration factions have little or no exportable culture of their own. Examples of these include Scotland and Denmark.

To be a major in the area of colonisation, a faction must have a very very large and relatively mobile population with which the faction can flood a newly captured province. Examples of Major colonisation factions include The Golden Horde, The Seljuks, and the Holy Roman Empire. Minor colonisation factions have below average populations that cannot be convinced to travel to newly conquered provinces. Examples of Minor colonisation factions include the Georgia and Serbia.

Major factions will find that the level of difficulty to assimilate a province by the route in which they have Major status is decreased while minor factions will find that the difficulty is increased. So you see that having Major status in one of the two paths is a strong positive reason to choosing that path over the other. The majority of factions will simply be average (neither major nor minor) in these areas.

The Sum of the Parts
You stand at the opening of a new era in which the tribal kingdoms of the previous age are beginning to coalesce into the diistinct and powerful nations of the future. To ensure your faction's place in this future of powerful and centralized nations it is absolutely necessary for you to strengthen and expand your influence as far as possible. The necessity of this task is undeniable but it is the manner by which you decide to accomplish this end that you must ultimately decide. Will you fuse your new territories into a single solid homogenious brick or will you bring together a coalition of differing peoples and bind them in unity under your banner? Ultimately the choice of how exactly you intend to piece together your empire is yours alone. It is without doubt a difficult question keeping in mind that the choices you make now will have significant and far-reaching affects throughout the remainder of your reign.


We hope you enjoyed our third update. Please post any questions or comments you may have either here in this thread or on our official forums. Stay tuned for our future updates.