New MOD. Middle Ages: Total War

[Lord Condormanius]

EDIT March 15, 2007

This mod is now being hosted at TW Center. Click here or on my signature to reach the mod's forum.

EDIT MARCH 4, 2007

Being that there has been far more interest in this mod at twcenter, the main thread has been moved here. Or you can simply click on my signature.

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I know the title isn't all that flashy, but that's ok. It can be changed later on if necessary.

The purpose of this mod is to add length, balance and overall enjoyment to the game. I basically plan to expand on what CA has already done by adding new factions, a bigger map and adjusting the AI to compensate.

The factions. I am adding 10 new factions (*=new faction), removing Portugal and renaming some of the existing ones:

England
Scotland
Ireland*
Wales*
Kingdom of France
Duchy of Guyenne*
County of Toulouse*
The Holy Roman Empire
Burgundy*
The Kingdom of Sweden*
Denmark
Leon y Castile y Gallicia (Spain)
Aragon y Navarre*
Almoravids (Moors)
Zirid Emirate*
Seljuk Turks (Turks)
Fatimid Califate (Egypt)
Poland
Hungary
Novgorod (Russia)
Kiev*
The Roman Empire (Byzantium)
The Papal Patrimony (Papal States)
Genova (Milan)
Pisa*
Venice
Duchy of Apulia & Calabria (Sicily)
Mongols
Timurids
Aztecs
Slave

The map is finished for the most part. There are a couple of adjustments that I need to make, but you get the picture.



-The map is a modified early version of Spurius' BigMap with 199 regions and no land bridges.
-Timescale modified to 0.50 (2 turns/year), campaign rebalanced to match (i.e. slower pop growth, lower income per-turn, etc.)
-reconfigured starting postions for factions.

Any and all help is welcome and appreciated, especially skinning, models (may not be possible at this point), etc. Research and background info is also helpful. The map is nearly finished & I have nearly finished creating Ireland.

Edit 3/2/07 -

Here's a quick look at some of the units for the Irish faction:

Some early spearmen (Peasant Spears):



Some Late Spearmen (Irish Spearmen):



Gaill Gaedhil (I still have to paint their shields):



...and an Irish warband...I think the blue ones look silly, I may have to redo them, but you get the idea.



More to come...

[der Kaiser]

Okay, a few suggestions and questions.

How far east does the map go? If you made it go further east, it would definatley increase the fun of the game, I think. Like india. How much of the New World are you covering? Any further West or North? Maybe add a few more towns/castles in the Caribbean and make the game go until until like 1600 or something, that'd be cool.

About some of the new names for the factions, personally, I would just go for what the CA had at first, at least on some of them, or just change them slightly. (Russia - Rus')

For example, I wouldn't call the Byzantine Empire the Roman Empire for several reasons, one, it wasn't Roman, it was Greek and a few other Cultures, even if they liked to think they were Roman of some sort. I think they even called themselves the Byzantines, but I could be wrong. Another one is Spain. Leon y Castile y Gallicia, thats a hell of a name. Besides, if all the other ones are in English, why make this in Spanish? If you really need to put it like that, just say and instead of y. I would just call it Spain, but thats completly up to you.

As for helping... I've already told you a bit for Wales, but I'll help out on research for the rest, besides, I'd like to learn more about the rest of the World at the time. (I pretty much only know about Wales...:P)

Possibly even some Crusader Factions? I dunno, just a thought, might get a bit crowded, I suppose... I think that the Hospitallers founded Rhodes, or something like that.

I can try and learn skinning, I wonder how different from Oblivion texturing it is... Do you know of a tutorial?

I really like this idea, and it is much more likely to succeed then some others, I think.

[Lord Condormanius]

Okay, a few suggestions and questions.

How far east does the map go? If you made it go further east, it would definatley increase the fun of the game, I think. Like india. How much of the New World are you covering? Any further West or North? Maybe add a few more towns/castles in the Caribbean and make the game go until until like 1600 or something, that'd be cool.

About some of the new names for the factions, personally, I would just go for what the CA had at first, at least on some of them, or just change them slightly. (Russia - Rus')

For example, I wouldn't call the Byzantine Empire the Roman Empire for several reasons, one, it wasn't Roman, it was Greek and a few other Cultures, even if they liked to think they were Roman of some sort. I think they even called themselves the Byzantines, but I could be wrong. Another one is Spain. Leon y Castile y Gallicia, thats a hell of a name. Besides, if all the other ones are in English, why make this in Spanish? If you really need to put it like that, just say and instead of y. I would just call it Spain, but thats completly up to you.

As for helping... I've already told you a bit for Wales, but I'll help out on research for the rest, besides, I'd like to learn more about the rest of the World at the time. (I pretty much only know about Wales...:P)

Possibly even some Crusader Factions? I dunno, just a thought, might get a bit crowded, I suppose... I think that the Hospitallers founded Rhodes, or something like that.

I can try and learn skinning, I wonder how different from Oblivion texturing it is... Do you know of a tutorial?

I really like this idea, and it is much more likely to succeed then some others, I think.

The map covers exactly the same area as the vanilla map, only lmuch larger and with many more regions. I think I'll have to save the 17th century colonialism for a different mod. If the area was any larger, I don't know what I would do. I already left a bunch of regions off that I wanted to add. In fact, before I knew there was a limit, I hit 190 or so by the time I was in Italy (obviously, I had to redo the map ). btw, I sent you a PM with the map, no?

I want to get the factions names as close to native as possible, while still understandable to the user. I have already done this with the settlement names.

The Byzantines always referred to themselves as Romans. They saw themselves as being diretly decended from the Emperors of Rome, which they were. Other people called them Greeks, mainly because of the reasons that you stated, but also because the Papacy had always had a little beef with the other Patriarchs (prior to the big break-up) over who had higher power. The Papacy liked to rub it in their face that the Roman Empire no longer had Rome. The term "Byzantine" was pejorative, in that it refers to a specifically pre-Roman era of the area of Constantinople. It was also history's way of drawing a divide between the old Roman Empire and the fragmentation of that same empire. Just like the term "medieval," the word "Byzantine" was coined in the Renaissance by people who looked at the period in a less than favorable light. iirc

Rhodes has been around for thousands of years. You may be thinking of the Knights of Saint John and Malta.

As for skinning, there actually are a couple of tutorials in this forum and twcenter.net. Unfortunately, I don't know them offhand. If you do a search, they should come right up.

Thanks for whatever you bring to the table.

LC

[der Kaiser]

Wow, I believe I am completly blind. How did I miss the PM?

Of course I'll help out.

I really should read up a bit more before trying to sound smart :D

Interesting bit about the Byzantines.

I'll get you some pictures and info for Wales right now, I think.

[Lord Condormanius]

added map to first post... https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...44046#poststop

[der Kaiser]

Okay, here is an idea for the Welsh banner.

You could use the modern Flag of Wales.
http://www.busybus.co.uk/images/flag.gif
The Dragon had been a tradition in Wales since the Romans came with the Draco. It wasn't really adopted by Wales until around the 1400s, but the Dragon was used often enough by them, just not officially. I think that would be the best choice. Heck, you could even just retex the Saxon banner, if you wanted to. Its the same sideways serpintine dragon. The colors of the clothes and everything should be Green and White, with maybe a little Red mixed in sometimes.

[Lord Condormanius]

Cool. This could work. I'll compare it to the Saxon banner and see if I can just color the saxon one or if I have to get my wife to retexture this one. I'm fortunate enough to be married to a graphic designer, although I wouldn't count on her for a whole lot since she does it all day long and doesn't like to work in her free time. At the very least, she can show me how to do it. anyway thanks

[der Kaiser]

No problem, I'll get a unit tree up sometime for you to see if you like it.

[der Kaiser]

I had an interesting idea for mercs. For the British Isles, you need to add Scandinavian and Irish mercenaries. My ideas are Deserters and Bandits.

Deserters because if you deserted, you would either go back to living normal, become a bandit, or join another army. You could make Deserter Knights and Infantry, they would be spendy though, I would think.

Bandits because if they want money, they are going to get more in War. I had an idea for them, maybe make them a small group of light shock troops, like early Sword and Buckler men. Maybe Italian Spear Militia, but with a sword and small shield. Wouldn't stand up to heavy infantry, mostly spears.

[der Kaiser]

Okay, I have a few units for you. You can rearrange them and whatever.

Welsh Peasants
Welsh Raiders
Welsh Warband
Welsh Spearman
Welsh Pikemen

Welsh Hobilars
Mailed Knights
I was thinking of some sort of Tealu Javelin Horsemen, as they did use them.
Tealu (Equivalent of Norman Knights) Maybe add a little more attack, but less defence, I dunno...

Welsh Hunters
Welsh Longbowmen
Welsh Skirmishers (Like Javelinmen)
Armoured Longbowmen

Possibly some sort of a Woodsman like the Eastern Europeans. Maybe add another variation of Bowman. All the units are out of order except for the cavalry. The main weapons of Wales were the Spear and the Longbow. The Welsh spearman are already really good, but they need their colors.

[Lord Condormanius]

Added Unit pics to first post.

[der Kaiser]

Those look great. Why do the Irish have a Dragon Banner, though? I thought that they were using a Lyre, I think it is. I also think that the random blue units and shields in there are kind of wierd. I would get rid of them, If I were you.

Any feedback on the Merc Ideas? And the Units?

Oh yeah, for some info on the units:

The Welsh raiders aren't like Viking raiders, they are Spearmen, should have a combat bonus in the Woods, like all the Welsh Infantry and Missile units.

[Lord Condormanius]

I haven't done the battlefield banners yet. They will have the Lyre. I don't mind the shields. I was looking into it and there should be some blue, I just thought that the warband weren't textured right.

I'll get back to you about the mec thing. I was also looking into the Welsh. They are going to be tough, but fun, to make. I wish I could find a warhammer for them. Check out fanaticus.org/DBA, there is pretty cool stuff there for a lot of factions.

[Lord Xenophon]

if you are looking for good irish names for your units, ill name them as im from northern ireland :D:D

[Lord Condormanius]

Thanks, but Irish names is the one area that I don't need help with. I have a very long list.

[Lord Condormanius]

I was thinking about replacng the Duchy of Guyenne faction with the Pechenegs. I can't help but thinkinking that Asia is going to be a vaccuum until the Mongols arrive. Any thoughts on the Pechenegs or the Duchy of Guyenne?

[der Kaiser]

I think having the Petchenegs there would be fun. If you are playing as the Byzantines, you would be able to ally yourself with them, therefore protecting you from the North/East. I don't think having the Duchy of Guyenne (Isn't that Aquitine?) is a good idea, if you already have Toulouse being a seperate faction. It would give France even less room to expand.

Thinkinking? :D

[Lord Condormanius]

Yeah I think it's going to be the Desht-i Qipchaq. They basically replaced the Pechenegs...same area, just a different tribe. Since I've gotten a lot more interest at TW Center I have been postingmore there. Check out the thread. It has new screenshots and what not.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=85790

I'm starting the Welsh a litle bit later. I'll post a unit tree (based on yours) when I start them.

[Lord Condormanius]

Updated first post.

[Lord Condormanius]

This mod is now being hosted at TW Center. Click here or on my signature to reach the forum.

LC