Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
We’re proud to present you Tsardoms: Total War second official preview.
In this preview we’ll finally show you some parts of the map, new buildings and of course, loads of new units… Last but not the least, we’ll give you some news about new features that Tsardoms is going to include.
Map
As we’ve already said, we’re putting a great deal of effort in the map. The first screenshot of the centre of the map shows the Queen of Cities, Constantinople and her immediate surroundings. Even though the “City of Emperors” (as she was known in south slavic languages) lost the position of dominant trading hub in the Mediterranean to Venice, her prestige and strategic value can never be lost. From this city empires are proclaimed, in this city emperors are crowned and from this city armies march. (Note- we still haven't changed banners, so we are using those from the vanilla for the purposes of preview)
If you look in the upper left corner of the picture you’ll notice a monastery slightly to the west of the city. That’s one of the new features we’re implementing in Tsardoms. More details about it in the future. For now, suffice to say that it will affect piety of your generals and income of your provinces…
https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4097/final1yp4.jpg
Next screenshot shows the gate of Europe, the Kallipolis fort, the last obstacle for the Ottomans on their road to Europe. Romans would do well not to allow Ottomans to advance past this point, because then entire empire is open to their armies…
https://img86.imageshack.us/img86/710/final2oy3.jpg
Last screenshot is about Egean islands,(Naxos in particular). Crucial for naval dominance of the eastern Mediterranean, they are also very important link in the trading network and as such will be of great importance to Venice.
https://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1286/final3by5.jpg
(Map work of il_duce)
Units
Ottoman units, part 1
“Lord God almighty, help faithful Christians against ignoble heathens, to wipe them out. Amen.” – Konstantin Mihailovic, “Memoirs of a janisarry”
The ending words of this remarkable document show exactly how much Ottoman conquests have affected Europe. In the beginning, Ottomans were just one of many Ghazi states in Asia Minor. Through remarkable adaptability and unparalleled military organization, they managed to become supreme power in the Asia Minor and southeastern Europe in no more than a century. In 1345, Ottomans don’t control much territory but their excellent unit and inexhaustible manpower promise future greatness.
Azaps
-Azaps (Azabs), litterally bachelors, were organized as a military unit during Murad I's reign in the mid-14th century. In the beginning, they were selected from single Turkish males of Asia Minor; but after the 16th century, males living near the borders were also enlisted as Azaps. In battles, the Azaps were positioned in front of the Janissary, and were the first to face the charge of the enemy. After slowing down the enemy advance and causing casualties among them they usually parted and allowed Janissarys to advance. And, after the enemy was shocked with both cannon and musket fire, the azaps and Janissary were ordered to close the gaps around the enemy, usually resulting in defeat of the enemy. From 14th up to the 16the century, the Azabs were in the form of light archers, who didn't nave a uniform nor wore armor. Their weapons were consisted of shields, yataghans, composite bows. (research - tzar, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko)
Janissary Gunners - tüfekçi yeniçeri
-As an elite corps they have the best armour and equipment, and are the first in the Ottoman army to use the newly invented musket. Tüfekchi musketeers were armed with a variety of muskets, swords, axes and daggers. During the 15th century, arquebuses were more common but their musket varieties increased rapidly during the 16th century. Muskets incluided giant trench muskets, flintlock muskets, matchlock muskets, carabines for cavalry and many more musket types.They became very proficient in its use, although their tactics differed from the usual way in which firearms were utilized. Instead of firing in unison to present a ‘wall of lead’ to their enemies, the Janissaries relied on their individual marksmanship. . (research - tzar, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko)
Janissary Archers - okçu yeniçeri -Janissaries are expert archers equipped with powerful bows. They usually wear some armour underneath their robes. The armaments of Okchu archers were similar to those of the musketeers; the only difference was their composite bows, which they used instead of muskets. Years of dedicated training and experience made them deadly both with a bow and in a melee, and their discipline was legendary. Due to light armour, they can be used as a fast moving light infantry, but their hand-to-hand prowess makes them capable of standing up to a much better equipped opponent in melee. The number of archer ortas were rather small, and most of them were turned to musketeers in the 15th century. Bow types incluided short composite bows, "Chagra" crossbows and "Zemberek" heavy crossbows, which shot bolts as thick as a human thumb. (research - tzar, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko)
Deli(Delil) - Delils were the elite serhadkulus selected from the best of the akinjis. Even tough their real name, Delil, meant somethihg similar to Pathfinder or Scout, they were called as Deli ("Mad") by the ordinar people, because of their frightening looks and courage.Their opponents particularly disliked them, considering them and their ancestors to be traitors of the Christian faith, and they tended to get beheaded or impaled if captured. In turn, they would have no qualms about doing the same to those unfortunate Christians they would capture, if no prospect of bounty was likely. Delils were experts in sword using, javelin throwing and horseback riding; and it is said that each Delil had to face at least a hundred enemy soldiers in battles. Their most important duties were to distract the attentions of the enemy and cause them to lose time. With their frightening looks, they also caused the enemy morale to go down, and caused havoc in enemy lines.
Even tough the delils didn't have a uniform, they were easily identified from their unorthodox and frightening clothes, such as bear pelts, animal skins, feathers and even whole wings attached to their shields and some of them even stapped small knives to their bodies. They usually carried a sabre, lance and a pair of pistols. (research - tzar, skins – il_duce, model – matko)
Special thanks to Artizan, who allowed us to use his models and skins for our Ottoman units from his mod Walls of Konstantinia 1453 for the game Mount & Blade. We are very privileged to have his work included, as he is very talented as you can see yourself. His work includes turban and yatagan (Azaps), sabre (both Janisarry Archers and Gunners) and two types of caps (Dellis).
Bulgarian units, part 1
Bulgarian Spearmen - using spear as their main weapon and clad in scale armour, are one of the basic units of Bulgarian Tsardom. Their armament and skill ensure that they can be relied on to hold a line, but they will definitely be hard pressed when engaging elite units... (research – Kavhan Isbul, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko, Skin of shields with stripes - DisgruntledGoat)
Bulgarian Swordsmen - Similarly armoured as their spear-wielding counterparts, but armed with a sword instead. More agile than spearmen, they can be used as assault units on specific points. They will usually get the job done, provided they are not outnumbered or outskilled... (research – Kavhan Isbul, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko)
Bolyar Cavalry – Bolyar cavalry is one of the heaviest variant of Bulgarian cavalry. Bolyars of Bulgaria always maintained a strong force of cavalry. the Shishmans are reported to have maintained at least a few thousand well equipped armored horsemen, and this force obviously played a great role in their ascenssion to power eventually. They are equipped with heavy armour and use lances as their primary weapon, with devastating effects. Their skill and morale unquestionable, enemies of Bulgaria will have to be vary of them. (research – Kavhan Isbul, skins – phoenix[illusion], model – matko)
Bonus units
Serbian Hussars (Gusari) – They are the pinnacle of the light shock cavalry. As the Ottoman Empire advanced further into Europe it was clear that stopping them would have to involve some changes in the military style. Their light and fast horse archers and their hit-and-run tactics proved impossible for heavier western cavalry to counter. For this purpose Gusars were created in Serbia. They are lightly armoured, use light lance as their primary weapon and switch to sabres for melee. Although they are proficient in melee, they shouldn’t be expected to hold out against medium and heavy cavalry. Light cavalry, of course is fair game. They are fast moving and have a good stamina, but they can be unruly and aren’t very fond of discipline...
In modern Serbian Gusar litteraly means pirate, but in old Serbian it meant aomething like brigand, highwaymen, outlaw often using flamboyant fighting style. After the fall of the Serbian Despotate to the Ottomans, most of the Gusars went to serve Hungarian king. They proved effective so that Hungarian version of the unit was created. Later the concept spread to Poland and most of Europe. (skins – il_duce, model – matko)
Hussars Horse Archers – Although most of the Hussars were used as a light shock cavalry, with light lances as their primary weapons, some of them were employed as horse archer. Rest of the equipment is pretty much the same… (skins – il_duce, model – matko)
Buildings and economy
We announced earlier that we are going change much about economy in the game. To achieve this, we created lots of new buildings. The purpose of this is not to allow the player to create an ultra developed economy, but to allow the player to specialize in some types of the economy... More info on economy and buildings in the future.
Mint will provide substantial trade bonus, and more XP for merchants (global effects). It will be possible to build only one mint per faction. Mint requires Big mine (gold or silver).
Wine Cellars will provide +5% global happiness (only for non muslim factions), and some increase in trade. Can be built only in regions with Vineyard building and monastery resource.
Vineyard will provide increased trade. Can be built in regions with wine resource. Tavern building requires Vineyard building to be present in the city.
Wool Manufacturer can be built only in regions with wool resources. It will provide trade bonus. Also, later on, it will be needed for some other high level and income buildings.
Sawmill will provide recruitment bonus for ships, and will increase income. It requires wood resource.
Jewish Quarters will provide a minor boost to population grow, increased trade but will add some unhappiness. Will be available only in certain cities
Mercenary Camp will allow recruitment of mercenary units within city walls, but will, on the other hand add some unhappiness.
Big mines will provide a substantial boost to income (for city in question), and will allow to player to make his own coins (with Mint building).
(Buildings created by il_duce)
New Features
Beside economy and new resources that we already mentioned, the most important feature that we are gonna bring back for Tsardoms are civil wars from first Medieval, long thought gone and extinct. In order to best represent the turbulent nature of feudalism we ressurected them for Tsardoms. Expect full, blown-out civil wars, where generals, family members and cities from your faction are going to defect to the enemy. These rebel are gonna appear as a separate faction in their own right, ie they will be able to make trade agreements, alliances, arrange political marriages etc... They will act similar Roman Rebels from RTW:BI, but with much higher level of detail. If rebels manage to win, they will replace the faction from which they originally rebelled. This will add some unpredictability to the game and force you to treasure your high-authority faction leader. Also it will provide more strategic options to dealing with threats. Can’t deal with the militart might of the enemy? Maybe a knife in the throat of the faction leader can solve all your problems...
We’d like to use this opportunity to announce that is going to be last preview in this form. We are adopting open development system, which practically means that we are going to show new stuff as soon as it’s done. We’ll do faction specific previews later, where we will talk about particular factions in depth, ie their history, rosters, strenght, weaknesses, starting position, victory requirements etc...
Also, we’d like to thank our supporters, who helped us with research and cheered us on. It reminded us why we are actually doing all this hard work
Preview created by Sarmatian
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Great preview, indeed. I especially like the new strategy map features and Delils.
About Delils, according to some sources they trained themselves with slapping flat of wet marble. In an heat of battle if their weapons had broken, they used both sides of their hands which could deliver a mortal blow to the face or neck of the infidel and this made the frightning fame of 'Ottoman Slap'.
Looking forward to hear more from you!
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Delils?! Hmm. That souns arwfull close to word 'deliya' (delija), which means (something close to) Hero. I wouldn't be surprised if we borowed it from Turks, after seeing these in battle.
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4th Dimension
Delils?! Hmm. That souns arwfull close to word 'deliya' (delija), which means (something close to) Hero. I wouldn't be surprised if we borowed it from Turks, after seeing these in battle.
Hey, my friend long time didn't hear from you:2thumbsup:
1.Delils is Delije on serbian
2.Why do you still have Feudalism sig.:inquisitive: that is old thing, now Tsadoms rock the world:thrasher: :laugh4:
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Well, there wasn't much going on lately, so I had no reason to make my presence known.
And the sig thing will be corrected this moment.
Also I think factions thus far shown in previews coul use more diverse units. So far, main diference between Bulgars and Serbia are that we have those advanced archers and HA cavalry.
Also to me they sound like they lack *something* to punch with.
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4th Dimension
Well, there wasn't much going on lately, so I had no reason to make my presence known.
And the sig thing will be corrected this moment.
Also I think factions thus far shown in previews coul use more diverse units. So far, main diference between Bulgars and Serbia are that we have those advanced archers and HA cavalry.
Also to me they sound like they lack *something* to punch with.
We've only shown a handful of Bulgarian units... But there really weren't so much difference between Serbian and Bulgarian military at that time. We can't make up units because to create the difference.
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Well, I allways suppoused that Bulgars should have at least some units to stimulate the steppe raider origin of their nobility, and Serbian army was western influenced.
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4th Dimension
Well, I allways suppoused that Bulgars should have at least some units to stimulate the steppe raider origin of their nobility, and Serbian army was western influenced.
they will have :yes:
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
When u will finish this game??
and if u finish where i can downlaod it?? :2thumbsup:
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Orthodox Religion
When u will finish this game??
and if u finish where i can downlaod it?? :2thumbsup:
yeah people when is the duw date
its taken some time now
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Serbian Hussars (Gusari) Not (gusar) but Light cavalry :wall:
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Croat knight
Serbian Hussars (Gusari) Not (gusar) but Light cavalry :wall:
What is the problem with that?
Re: Tsardoms: Total War 2nd Preview
Why is there no Croatia and Bosnia?!
If there is no Croatia and Bosnia then this mod is pile of :furious3:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
