It's just not fair! Or is it rather?

[PershsNhpios]

Salut! Servus! Salve! Kai to lwipon!

I have a decision to make.

As ever, I want to have a modified version of MTW to play and I would immediately have opted for XL with the patch Tyberii if not for one thought.

The last mod I played was MedMod, and although the variety was enjoyable, I was alerted to the fact that not every faction was balanced, and victory with some was considered impossible.

Far be it from my responsibility to prove these sources incorrect, I decided that I wanted a mod which would ensure balance!

In vanilla I always found that by the end of the first century a superpower would have emerged, Daneland, France, England, Castille - and they would ruin the fun for all parties.

So do freshen my memory and add to experience!

Which modification have you found to be most balanced, that is to ask, does a modification exist which gives each faction an almost acceptable chance of victory?
XL? (Yes?!)

Or would some of you testify that vanilla itself is suitably balanced, and that any power could emerge supreme?

[Vantek]

Which modification have you found to be most balanced, that is to ask, does a modification exist which gives each faction an almost acceptable chance of victory?

When played by you? Sure.

When played by the AI? No way. That would actually be very bad, because it means there would be no challenging factions. A starting point from which AI could emerge victorious would be very easy for an experienced human player.

I personally find XL nicely balanced and a huge improvement over vanilla, though I haven't gotten to trying other mods yet so I can't do much of a comparison between mods.

[Knight of the Rose]

Indeed it is a part of the gaming experience to have unhistorically correct emerging superpowers. (This is one of the parts were you could claim the map had already gotten to large.) In order to challenge you as *the player* there should be someone at equal strengh at all stages. That is, when you're small, there should be small kingdoms to counquer, when you're big so will the Spanish, French, Rus ect.

I've found that theres usually splenty of room for the turtler to cope with big kingdoms, but the effect is kind of "hardcoded" into the gameplay. Ruining the fun for those who aim for a pletora of minor powers all through the game to be sure.

/KotR

[PershsNhpios]

You both assume that I am a major faction by 1200AD in vanilla.

Truly, I never am!
My last memories of vanilla are playing Novgorod and being enslaved by the Danish before 1180, then playing England and being vassalized by the Spanish before 1210.

I never seem to be fast enough in vanilla.

Though I agree with your opinions! There should always be a faction to rival the player.

My habit is to make myself a major power in my own realm, and thereafter to help the minor factions rise up against my rivals. This is the most enjoyable part of the game for me.

Thank you for your replies, I think it will be XL 3.0/Tyberius 2.2 which I will download.

[gollum]

Xairete Mr Glenn!


I dont think that there is any modification that makes all factions have more equal chances of victory although certainly Asai Nagamasa's Pocket Mod had that aim in mind. If i am not mistaken you can still download the mod from the Britannia Divide subforum, however keep in mind that it is in beta state, hence there are minor imperfections here and there and it had some way to go towards completion, although Asai Nagamasa can certainly inform you better towards that than me.

One disadvanatge of making all AI factions have equal chances is that there are no challenging factions for the player anymore, because if he is playing as a weak faction, its position had been strengthened while the strong factions that come against it had been weakened. Even long term this approach is harmful for challenge as if the player becomes a superpower it is less likely that any AI faction will follow in his trail as they pose all strong impediments to each other.

XL, has two notoriously weak factions (and highly popular): the Volga Bulgars and the Armenians. All the major factions are by all accounts quite easy in XL, and even more so in Tyberous' version of it.

There is another major mod in the medieval theme that you can try, the BKB supermod, although there too IIRC there are weak and strong factions in terms of conditions.

You are right however that in the Medmod some factions are far too strong (say the Italians and Byzantines) and others far too weak (such as teh HRE that is an absolute nightmare). However keep in mind that Wes Whitaker (the creator) left the mod before testing and playbalance was accomplished, so what you are playing with is not the final product, neither we will ever see it come true as Wes moved on ages ago.

Vanilla is good on paper in terms of faction challenge, as it has the potential to balance challenge for the player vs AI performance in terms of factions, however it suffers terribly from lack of optimisation, that can be brought about by minor but extensive modding.

The most basic changes however can be easily done, as say modding out peasants, taking out the provincial valor bonuses, relocating arbalesters, lancers and Janissaries in the late era and other such.

[PershsNhpios]

Oh I thank you, Gollum s'ah, for your input!

I suppose it is all just wishful thinking that one day I will notice a large, sprawling Portuguese empire or find that the Turks have destroyed Byzantion!
The only way I have found little kingdoms to rise abnormally is by direct influence of the player.

You are quite correct about XL Tyberii, England is the easiest faction I have played... I think the Polish will be my next campaign, because I want to face the Horde now, but I do not want my capital within 2000km of their starting line.

There was a certain weakness in the BKB Supermod, or rather a preference which caused me to lose interest in it, although I have only a vague memory of what this was (I believe, the fact that there is no GA option).

Medmod is a nightmare, thanks to the Byzantines, (Yes - see my Iberian AAR...) but I never noticed a problem with the HRE, in fact Europa was divided between the HRE and Byzantion in my game.

Thank you for your opinion, Gollum - and I will be sure to look for the Bulga Vulgars in the XL faction list for my next game.

[gollum]

Are you sure you tried the HRE in early in Medmod v4.07? The Italians get those high/late type armored spears, Pavisiers or something, that can mow down anything the others have in early, especially the HRE that has the crapiest swords in the whole game i guess, the Herbaans.

Poland, Hungary, Italy, France and Denmark gang up on you from turn 1, and as i said you are fighting with inferior means.

Try it out for yourself if willing and able.