The "Art of Medieval: Total War" Mod

This mod will be set (roughly) between 1080 and 1280, and is supposed to capture the essence of medieval warfare in that period. It's main objective is to portray as accurately as possible the armies, units and tactics used in that period. So in the first 80 years (1080-1160) the armies of most factions will almost solely consist of heavy cavalry, and infantry will be scarse and overall weak. For some factions ofcourse, like the Scots, Flemish and Italian city-states it will be the opposite. The idea is to get the real feeling of campaigning (making armies quite expensive to maintain but easy to recruit to shot that only few units were actually always maintained.) and the battle on the medieval battlefield (heavy charges followed by awesome melee, all in formation). Most good and reliable infantry will be recruited from expensive mercenaries. After 1160 will come the transition period of around 40 years when good native infantry will see it's rise (Welsh Longbowmen in England, Flemish Pikemen in the Lower Countries, Heavy Spearmen in Italy and Germany). The battlefields will change forever, archers and infantry will be more abundant and above all better skilled. The knights won't be the sole mean of force on the battlefield, and more important they will no longer be invincible. Around 1200 onwards to 1280 the infantry will play a more prominent role on the battlefield. But cavalry will also get heavier, so they are still a force to be reckoned with.

It is supposed to become a bit like EB, though not soo big. But more for the realism factor. The mod will start now with recruiting and doing research, but it won't actually start untill Kingdoms comes out and we can see wether that will bring any useful advantages. Interested read more down below!

The mod will be looking for everything, since now it's just me. Modelers, mappers, textures, historians, balancers, skinners and graphic artists, all are welcome and needed.

The mod will add new units and factions where possible and needed, also the map will be changed to better portray the situating at 1080. Titles for every province will be added to make the feudal system really come to life. The armies will be balanced, morale and valour systems will be changed. Recruiting and maintainting forces will be made far more realistically. If it can be achieved, recruiting will be fast and will cast nearly nothing, and as long as they are in cities and castles armies will be very cheap. But as soon as they are on the march, large armies can quickly drain your coffers if you are not careful. Titles will grant power and privilige, generally making the general more loyal, but if you give too much power to the wrong man, it will be disastrous and could result in civil war. Most units will be "generals", which means they are units under the command of a "charactar" just as units of your royal family the rest will disband when the "general" is killed. This is to show that the units actually aged and were not immortal. Retinues and traits will also be added, lots of new titles. Titles will generally add influence and loyalty, but some will also decrease loyalty, as where others increase dread. If it can be achieved titles will also give you a taxincome bonus but only if the general is present in the region to which the title belongs. Thus making it more atractive to have a general in the right province and you must carefully select who you give the titles to. Also it represents the expenses of campaigning a bit.

Here you will see a glimpse of my ideas, I will add more later on.

Countries:

Almoravids (predecessors of the Almohads)
Mostly light cavalry troops, but because the intensive interactive with christian europe, they have some heavy cavalry a bit similar to knights. Camels are also a part of their arsenal. Their Infantry is light armored and has good stamina and are hardy fighters in general, better trained than their early christian counterparts.
Byzantines
Some heavy infantry and cavalry in the form of Varangian Guards and Kataphraktoi. Their main infantry will be medium armoured and trained but their moral will be pretty low. They will mostly have to rely on mercenaries though.
French
An impressive array of knights and heavy armoured cavalry. Their early infantry will be weak and will mainly be composed of archers and some spearmen. Their later infantry will still be undisciplined and poorly trained but better armoured. For good infantry they will turn to mercenaries, mostly basques and brabançons.
English
Their cavalry will be heavy armoured nobles supported by hobilars. Their infantry will be better than the French but not much anyway, untill around 1160 when they will be able to recruit lots and lots of Welsh Longbowmen and other Welsh infantry who will form the majority of the English infantry from then on. Although lightly armoured they are very skilled.
Scots
Poor quality of cavalry, strong and ferocious infantry with good morale, better than other countries infantry. Nobles mostly fight on foot, and no more Braveheart units. Will make extensive use of Schiltron/m.
Turks
Mainly light and quick horsearchers, supported by fast infantry. Their soldiers will be hardy and will have great stamina. Not so armoured as any they will encounter on the field they will have to rely on agility to win the day. Their Horse Archers will be deadly and also pretty skilled in melee, but nothing in their army will be able to resist western knights or kataphraktoi that will charge home against them.
Russians
Dunno, suggestions?
Hungarians (Magyars?)
Same!
Polish
Not a clue, probably like a mix of HRE and Hungary.
Flemish
Their cavalry isn't poor they are just not many. Probably the only heavy cavalry will come from family members. Because the armies will mostly be city militia that are recruited from the great cities like Ghent and Antwerp doesn't mean these soldiers can't put up a fight. Definitly after 1200 they will become one of the most fearsome infantry on the battlefield, which can when commanded wisely, defeat an army of knights. Something that was unheard of before.
Milanese (Genoese?)
A bit the same as the Flemish, but with more cavalry and great ships.
Venetians
A bit the same as the Flemish, but with more cavalry and great ships.
Pope
Don't know.
Sicilians
Don't Know
Germans
Heavy knights, which will only become heavier over time, supported by armoured cavalry. Infantry will be underused in the first few years, but later they will have some pretty good swordsmen.
Spanish
Portuguese (Better suggestion?)
Egyptians
There is atleast one slot open for another

Units:

Flemish Macemen
Flemish Macecliers (The guildsmen)
Brabançons (Mercenaries)
King's Retinue
Templar Turcopoles
Templar Sergeants
Flemish Burghers (They were the Flemish Pikemen)

Training, Recruiting and Maintaining:

Movement of Armies, Fleets and Agents:

Traits:

Retinues:

AI-Changes:

Map: