Vanilla MTW Mod question?

[Byzantine_Fury]

is there any good Mods that r available even if u only have vanilla MTW. I checked XL but u need VI to use it, any help would b awesome. thnx

[Martok]

I highly recommend acquiring Viking Invasion, and/or the Battle Collection if you're able to. For one thing, almost every single mod out there requires you have VI installed. For another, though, VI just adds so much to the original game; you're doing yourself a disservice by not picking it up!

That said, the only major mod that's available for 1.1 is Wes' MedMod (it's located at the bottom of the page). It's an excellent mod, however, and comes highly recommended by many MTW players. Enjoy!

[Bremen]

I am interested in finding out a bit more about mods for MTW (I have the VI version). Which ones do you like the best? I guess I am most interested in one that "improves" on the regular game rather than starting a whole new era like the Napoleonic mod. I've paged through the modding forum, but I feel a little lost. I've heard of the XL mod and BKB mod and the Med mod; I;m sure there are many others. Anybody have any preferences or pros/cons? Do these mods come with files that show you what has been changed?

Thanks.

[Martok]

Bremen,

I myself have (unfortunately!) only played VikingHorde's XL Mod. While I'm certainly loving it (), I would definitely be remiss not to mention BKB's SuperMod (along with Wes' aformentioned MedMod). As you've already noticed, there's actually a number of medieval-era mods available. Perhaps the main difference between the "Big Three" and the other mods is that a lot of them are more region-specific, focusing on the Vikings, Byzantium, the Spanish Reconquista, etc.

I don't really know what changes Wes made in his MedMod, except that by pretty much all accounts, it's more challenging than the original MTW/VI. I believe trade was altered significantly, but I can't remember how. I know one of the biggest changes in MedMod is the concept of Homelands. Basically, you cannot recruit your unique "national" units outside of your home territorry. I believe Wes added this feature to help improve historical accuracy and reduce "cheese". Thus, you don't see silliness such as the English being able to train Longbows in Khazar, or the Turks training Gazi Infantry over in Ireland.

BKB's Supermod, in addition to extensive tweaking of stats and rebalancing of units/factions, adds a lot of new stuff. New maps for each era (as well as adding a bunch of provinces), new buildings, new heroes, new titles, a ton of new units....the list goes on. If you want a mod that adds the most new content, then BKB's is probably the one you're looking for.

VikingHorde's XL Mod isn't as "big" as BKB's, but instead takes a more focused approach and makes more significant changes. Trade income has been reduced, and farm income has been increased by 30%--this helps the AI keep up with the human player. Speaking of AI, it's generally much improved over the original game. It's better at developing its lands & infrastructure, as well as building up its armies. (The AI now tends to field smaller armies of higher-quality troops, as opposed to useless hordes consisting of just peasants and archers.) Peasants have been eliminated. Factions like the Papacy and Golden Horde are now playable--and of course, there are new factions for each era (just not as much as BKB's mod). Perhaps most significantly, all factions--both old and new--are playable in Glorious Achievements mode.

Sorry, I didn't mean to talk about XL more than the other two. It's just that I'm more familiar with it, since as I said it's the only one I've played thus far.