MTW Pocket Mod: General

[caravel]

I think VikingHorde gave them javelins (actually I believe they were throwing spears, now that I think of it) mostly so that you had a reason to recruit them, as opposed to any historical precedent. Once you're able to recruit Ghazis & Muwahids, Arab Infantry become pretty redundant--unless they're given a valour bonus, and/or another ability.

For some reason Arabs and javelins doesn't seem to go together, though I could be wrong. The majority of Arab fighters were mounted, and armed with swords and bows of some sort. This is why I'd resist turning them into javelinmen. I'd give them bows before I'd give them javelins.

Good idea, Caravel. Also, since Greece was once famous for its hoplites, bestowing it with a bonus for armoured spearmen would be sort of a nice symmetry as well.

The Byzantine should have access to such a basic unit. I'm not so sure about giving the valour advantage for the Armoured Spearmen though but if they are able to train the normal round shield ones, then they should also be able to train the armoured ones, or neither. It's simply a generic unit and should be available to any catholic or orthodox unit that can't train Feudal Sergeants as a replacement (as the roundshield spears are used in place of the regular spears for some factions).

If you're going to have homelands, then militia units could have a bigger role in your armies abroad. (This is not a criticism in any way, but I do confess to sometimes wishing VH's XL Mod had Homelands like Wes' MedMod, as I think this would help with the "steamroller" effect later in the game. But that would just be icing on the cake for me. )

I've been working on and off modding for over a year, and have messed around with units sizes, and stats continuously as well as Sahara and landbridges. As things stand I believe that the stats are balanced enough. It has been my goal to create a sort of non personalised mod that doesn't drastically alter the game, nor add new provinces, new units or any new graphics. In essence the changes would only be scripted. a sort of a semi-realism / gameplay patch/fix that doesn't try to fix what isn't broken.

The main issue as I see it is homelands and provincial valour bonuses as well as the 'which factions should train what' issue. There are quite a few muslim units in particular that should be more restricted. Muwahid Foot Soldiers being a good example. They should be restricted to their Almohad homelands, and the Almohad Faction. Murabitin = Almoravid. Muwahid = Almohad. Homelands, for me is absolutely essential and can only mak the game vastly better, but it needs to be implimented well.

Agreed. Some units should be limited more by region than by who can recruit them. I don't think we should see the Polish being able to train Longbows, however, or the Sicilians training Huscarles. There does still have to be some limits.

That's why I said 'many'. There has to be some limitations. In essence both systems have to be in effect. There will be areas where they overlap and areas where they cancel each other out.

I second that as well. I'm more in favor of the Italians/Venetians being able to produce Galleys cheaply, as opposed to being able to produce them with a +1 bonus. Sort of like how the Uesugi clan could train cheaper Archers in Shogun.

The Italians can produce all of their ships cheaply as it stands (Vanilla) with the exception of Dromons. It would be simple to mod those in.

I've also messed up my most recent crusader_unit_prod11.txt so will be redoing that. It crashes and I can't be bothered to search for the error (not a column row reference crash but a real crash). Instead I will create more regular backups and catalogue all of my changes in future!