New mod for M2TW, or perhaps Medieval 3 suggestions

[Askthepizzaguy]

On one of the threads there was a discussion about what Total war game was the best, and then it degenerated into what the next best game would be. Inevitably, I offered my opinion:

Imagine a game that combined the best of European warfare and the best of Asian warfare, and more realistically portrayed the Mongol invasion, the rise of the Caliphates, and the rise of superpowers in the European theater, all on one glorious map. A game that extended the map completely around the globe, like a Civilization map, so that eventually America (in it's entirety) would become available.

I think it would be fair to cut off the map at the equator and just include the northern half, but any extra map space would be great, and give the Aztecs and Mayans and Incas space to move, and introduce African tribes and so on.

You have the game move at the slow place of 2 turns per year, have realistic timetables for inventions, set the time period anywhere from the dark ages to the middle ages to the Renaissance, and extend the technology all the way up to the American revolution. (Shouldn't be too hard... it's not much different from the 1400's era.)

I picture the AI in the game having random and varying degrees of strength and predictability. Some AI factions might "turtle" and others might expand at their own pace, and some might go for a bloody conquest as uber expansionists. You could go for realism, and have certain factions more likely to emulate their historical counterparts, or you could have a "randomize" option.
This way you have the likelihood of battling superpowers equal or greater than yourself, even after the initial stages of the game are over and you have vanquished some opponents.

After you defeat one empire in the vanilla game, it's all but over. The only challenge is the Mongol/Timurid invasion. Well, what if all of Eurasia is one connected map, and there is a realistic depiction of Asian factions, including Mongols, Chinese factions, Japan, India, the steppe factions, and the middle east factions. From such a map and with varying AI strengths and abilities, each game could give rise to a new and different superpower to challenge, and also provide for two AI giants battling it out. Europe could "turtle" While the Muslims fight the Mongols, etc, and then the winner goes on to challenge Christendom, which could be relatively united, at war, or under the banner of a superpower.

The New World event could be left in place, and the game could also provide for the possibility of the Japanese or Chinese or even the Mongols to discover the proper sailing technology first and sail to the New World, altering history and providing unexpected game play for the Europeans.

The Americas could also have competing native factions, who, until the New World event, have a limited techtree, but when the New World event happens, they are gradually allowed to gain technology from their contact with Europe/Asia, and become powerful themselves, if the game goes in that direction. Suppose the Europeans reached America, but they were promptly destroyed by Mongols... then the new technology might spread throughout America and the Aztecs could go on to become the superpower that challenges the Hordes.

There could be features such as your King dying in battle causing unrest in all your regions, possibly triggering a civil war for larger empires. Authority should be directly connected to unrest. Major bullet points so far:

*Bigger map spanning all of Europe, North Africa, Asia minor, the Middle East, the Eastern steppes, India, China, Mongolia, Japan, and the Americas, that connects to the other side for a complete global map. Possibly cutting off half of south America, south Africa, and Australia… or perhaps not.

*More regions (larger map scale)

*More factions (several New World factions: Aztecs, Mayans, Incas… Asian factions: Mongolia, Chinese factions, Japan, southeast Asian and Indian tribes… African tribes)

*Longer timescale (2 turns per year, realistic advances in technology, and/or have an option menu to change the trigger for new technology [Population goal, size of empire, buildings constructed, or a new Literacy Rate feature. Build libraries to increase literacy rate to get better technology])

*All factions playable, even rebel factions (rebel factions are divided and not given any new features separating them from existing factions… play as the Burgundian rebels, which have the same units/techtree as HRE or France, unlockable)

*New and improved campaign AI, with either realistic, custom, or random AI “personalities”, including Perfectionist, Warlike, Expansionist, Pacifist, Blitz, Defender, Trader, Alliance builder.… (Civilization meets Total War)

*Each game would give rise to new and different AI superpowers. Mongols might become dominant, perhaps China, perhaps an Islamic Caliphate, perhaps Russia, perhaps the Roman empire will be revived via Constantinople, perhaps the French or the English create a Western European empire… with varying AI strength, games become unpredictable and playable even after you defeat one or two factions, because there are other rising conquerors as well.

*Fixed game bugs and loopholes closed (No more blatant exploit of the Crusade function for askthepizzaguy… all who wish to join the Crusade are welcome, but there should still be at least SOME upkeep, and, of course, desertion)

*New religions! Native American spiritualism, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, PROTESTANTISM, paganism…

*Basically, take the best features from all the Shogun/Medieval/Barbarian Invasion and modded Total War games and combine them into one massive, replayable, and revamped game. I am largely inspired by The Long Road, Lands to Conquer, Medieval 1 + 2, Shogun, Rome Total Realism and Barbarian Invasion.

*Most of the features are already there. This game could almost be created as a Mod to M2TW, but it is too massive, I think. So let’s make CA build it.

*Don’t stray too far from Medieval 2 when making this new version… fix the bugs and the gameplay mistakes, and you have a perfect game.

*Civil wars caused by unrest or sudden loss of the King, based on Authority rating and loyalty rating for each region to your crown, in addition to loyalty rating for all characters.

*Tone down heretics and inquisitors, and don’t make civil wars the new pain in the neck, tone it down to the proper level. A latent threat, especially to blitzers and expansionists who have low loyalty to the crown, but not such an annoyance that it happens to everyone, all the time. Proper management should avoid civil wars, they should be reserved for those with too much territory and power proportional to the rest of the game’s factions, to avoid Pizza Guy blitzing the entire map.

Perhaps there are already threads out there designed for new features and bug fixes, but I believe this one is worthy of floating on it’s own. Imagine this game as Medieval 3: Total War.

I’d be interested in hearing feedback, suggestions, and debate about such a game. I believe that if we got enough good ideas here, we could have someone copy and paste it and send it to CA for consideration. Unless some crazy, tripped-out modder can build this game as I envision it… which would take more effort than any unpaid person should ever give… so, maybe CA would be the best for the job.

I’d trust Lusted to make the game playable, he did a great job with Lands to Conquer. The game definitely should be Beta tested extensively before being put out on the market.
I’d be willing to Beta test it for about a thousand man-hours. I’d probably die from happiness if someone actually built this.

Ok let’s hear your reaction!
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