TSARDOMS: TOTAL WAR - FIRST PREVIEW !!!

[matko]

I'M PROUD TO PRESENT YOU:
TSARDOMS: TOTAL WAR - FIRST PREVIEW



Factions in v1.00

Roman Catholic Christians
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Naples
Republic of Venice

Orthodox Christians
Tsardom of Serbia
Tsardom of Bulgaria
Byzantine Empire
Principality of Wallachia

Muslims
Ottoman Empire

Krstjani
Banate of Bosnia

The following factions will be added in later mod versions: Duchy of Athens, Knights of Rhodes (Knights of St.John), Archduchy of Austria (the House of Hapsburg), Karamanid Emirate


Map

The map includes part of Italy, Balkans and Asia Minor and it will contain about hundred regions which will allow us to represent the area in a realistic fashion.


Flags and faction symbols

Tsardoms: Total War, in its final version, will include over 100 totally new flags and coats of arms.
We take heraldry very seriously, so we decided to make a reconstruction of all primary sources made known to us. Here you can see results in some examples (made by matko and phoenix[illusion]):



The King of Hungary, The Ban of Bosnia, The Roman Emperor

Here you can see 4 randomly selected faction symbols (by Ave_Serbia):

Principality of Wallachia, The Empire of Romans, Knights of Rhodes, The Republic of Venice



Tsardom of Serbia: Units Part I
( all models and skins by phoenix[illusion] - except for the skins on horses )

"At first we were confused. The East thought that we were West, while the West considered us to be East. Some of us misunderstood our place in the clash of currents, so they cried that we belong to neither side- and others that we belong exclusively to one side or the other. But I tell you, Irenaeus, we are doomed by fate to be the East in the West and the West in the East, to acknowledge only heavenly Jerusalem beyond us, and here on earth--no one." - St. Sava (of Serbia) to Irenaeus, 13th century

Although Serbia has long been in the shadow of more powerful rivals in the Balkans like Byzantium, Hungary and Bulgaria, under the Nemanjic dynasty its influence and power grew significantly. In 1345, Serbia is a dominant power in the peninsula and one of the most serious contentenders, along with Ottomans, Hungarians and Venetians, for the legacy of Byzantium. The player who controls Serbia will have these units (among others) at his disposal...

Shielded Bowmen

Shielded Bowmen are the evolution of early Serbian archers. They are primarily archers, but unlike their predecessors they are armed with swords, carry shields for protection, and wear light armour. In battles they act as archers and they can fight melee but are not effective as standard infantry. They are best for weakening the enemy with a rain of arrows and for defending settlements. Historically-speaking, in feudal Serbia there was a class of people called vlasi (vlachs) who were cattle breeders. They had an obligation to provide certain number of soldiers and were archers in Serbian armies. In the famous Battle of Velbužd (1330) they inflicted great losses on Bulgarian army.






Upgraded Shielded Bowmen






Heavy Infantry

Historically, there were free people in high feudalism in Serbia who weren’t meropsi (peasants), but neither had they income enough to buy horses and expensive cavalry equipment (like vlastela). Because of that they became infantry (ordinary called vojnici) and formed a class called vlastelcici, the lowest ranked nobility. These soldiers are covered with mail, have a round shield and are armed with a sword. The unit can be upgraded with better armour and then the soldiers will wear scale and lamellar armour (like on these pictures).





Serbian Speramen

Historically, there were free people in high feudalism in Serbia who weren’t meropsi (peasants), but neither had they enough incomes to buy horses and expensive cavalry equipment (like vlastela). Because of that they became infantry (ordinary called vojnici) and formed a class which was called vlastelcici, the lowest ranked nobility. These soldiers are covered with mail, have a large round shield and are armed with a spear.





Horsearchers

Serbian Horsearchers are light missile cavalrymen drawn from various nations popular known as Turcopoles. These cavalrymen are armed with bows and arrows and in close combat they use swords and sabres. For protection they use smaller shields and light armour which allow them higher maneuverability. Historically, they were mercenaries hired from Cumans, Turks, Alans and Tatars and were heavily hired in time of King Milutin (1282-1321). He used them mostly in several civil wars with his brother Dragutin and for special tasks when he couldn’t rely on the Serbian nobility. In 1321 he sent a unit of 2000 Cuman Turcopoles to help Andronicus II to hold his rule in Roman Empire





Upgraded Horsearchers





Auxilia Cavalry

These horseman, recruited from among the lower nobility, are armed in Byzantine fashion. Their equipment consists from a scale/lemellar loricon,
mail protection for arms and legs and an open helmet. They use spears and swords in combat.
In a beginning of the 14th century they were seen as heavy calvary but now (in the year 1345), with the development of the plate armour, they should be considered as medium cavalry. Auxilia are a support cavalry for heavier troops like Vlastela; they cannot defeat western style knights in a direct battle but their speed and manoeuverability makes them useful on the battlefield.








And it is important to mention that we have got permission from DisgruntledGoat to use his beautiful skins for Byzantine Empire.
Skins on horses that you see in pictures above are his.


Gameplay

Tsardoms will bring many changes to gameplay to reflect our aim of striking a perfect balance between gameplay and historical plausability. More realistic economy, harder and longer sieges, improved recruting system, realistic population growth, more buildings etc.


Ok, ideje/ideas, misljenja/opinions i/and kritike/criticism su/are dobrodosli/welcome...



In the next preview you can expect: more information about gameplay and the map (and some in-game screenshots), the rest of the Serbian units (the mighty Vlastela heavy cavalry, Gusars light cavalry...), and maybe even some units from the Banate of Bosnia.
Stay tuned for more information

PS
I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the whole team. We worked hard and now tw are proud to show the result !

[Gazi Husrev-Beg]

It looks very good phoenix, congratz to your team. Textures look very cool, keep it up. For now they look awsome, as mod progresses you can add more difference to individual soldiers in units. Its just eye candy, but makes huge difference...anyway, awsome work.

"At first we were confused. The East thought that we were West, while the West considered us to be East. Some of us misunderstood our place in the clash of currents, so they cried that we belong to neither side- and others that we belong exclusively to one side or the other. But I tell you, Irenaeus, we are doomed by fate to be the East in the West and the West in the East, to acknowledge only heavenly Jerusalem beyond us, and here on earth--no one." - St. Sava (of Serbia) to Irenaeus, 13th century

I enjoyed this...how true, how true indeed.

I liked that you will have a lot of heraldry. I wondered have you thought of implementing something like mod Blood, Broads, & Bastards? I think something like that would be kickass.

PS! Ovo je isti comment ko sa twcenter.net, samo sam paste and copy :)

[Vla_86]

This is really great guys..You did a fine job.I would just like to say,you should consider adding crossbows into Serbian army..Keep on with the good work This is gonna be the best mod

[IrishArmenian]

What does Krstjani mean?
I love these new units! Especially the Horse Archers and the Auxilia Cavalrymen.

[Dreadking]

This is awesome! Can't wait to see more work on this mod. Keep it up guys

[Tsar]

What does Krstjani mean?
I love these new units! Especially the Horse Archers and the Auxilia Cavalrymen.

The Bosnian Church (crkva bosanska, ecclesia bosniensis) is historically thought to be an indigenous branch of the Bogomils that existed in Bosnia during the Middle Ages. Adherents of the church called themselves simply Krstjani ("Christians"). The church no longer exists,

[matko]

What does Krstjani mean?
I love these new units! Especially the Horse Archers and the Auxilia Cavalrymen.

and Krstjeni were considered to be heretics from booth Catholic and Orthodox church. Hungary called several small crusades to drive them out of Bosnia. Actually is not entirely clear were they heretic in dogmatic way. But it seems that they had connections with Catharism and Patarinism from northern Italy. That implies some dualistic teachings in Bosnian church.

[The_Baron]

Wow, this looks like it's really coming together, which is good to see. Keep us posted, and keep up the great work!


-Max

[Thufir64]

What does Krstjani mean?
I love these new units! Especially the Horse Archers and the Auxilia Cavalrymen.

From my understanding (I might be totally wrong) the Church of Bosnia was actually a form of monasticism practiced only by the elite who ruled Bosnia, they had no parish churches, only monasteries, they did not celebrate the liturgy and held public prayer only at funerals. The great majority of Bosnian commoners were Eastern Orthodox. The Church of Bosnia was only associated with Bogomilsim after the Bogomils were driven out of Serbia, most went back to Bulgaria where they came from, though some went to Bosnia where the Bosnian rulers granted them protection.

………………………………

Just wanted to say I am very excited about this mod, excellent work so far. A mod covering the Balkans is long over due

[Mithradates VI]

I can't wait for this. Finally, a decent mod with a really interesting situation. I can't wait to take on the Venetians and the Ottomans and restore the Byzantine Empire :-D

[Ronaldinho10]

Hey Medieval 2 Total war is great strategy game, maybe one of the best strategy game ever include games like Stronghold and Age of empiers ,but i am very disappointed because Serbia is not on the game, and than i see that you make that patch and that patch is GREAT but can i download it and if i can where?

[Nevada]

keep it up!
i really missed serbia (and the others, too) in the maingame, when i play, hungary rules everything there at round 20....
that's so boring.....

I look forward to this, good work untill now

[Tsar]

Hey Medieval 2 Total war is great strategy game, maybe one of the best strategy game ever include games like Stronghold and Age of empiers ,but i am very disappointed because Serbia is not on the game, and than i see that you make that patch and that patch is GREAT but can i download it and if i can where?

We are working on it and when is done there will be link on this pod-forum for download

[Sarmatian]

Ok, boys and girls, this is just something to wet your apetite while you are waiting for the second preview. As you have seen from the first preview, we take pride in our heraldry. These flags are done, again, by Matko.


(Mrnjavcevic, Vojinovic, Kobilic)


(infantry and archers banners)

And now something totaly new! Just a hint of new structures that will be present in Tsardoms when it's finished. By names of the buildings you can conclude that economy is gonna get a huge overhaul and will be an important part of the overall strategy for domination. These buildings are work of Il_Duce and Milos98... Expect more info on the buildings in the near future...



And, as always, stay tuned for more information :thumbsup2

Tsardoms: Total War team

[matko]

Something for our Bulgarian friends: a Bulgarian infantry banner with Sv. Ivan Rilsky and cavalry banner with St. George. Hope you like them.





AND IN GAME IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

mm

[jimmy spong]

i like all this stuff as i can see by screenshots you got really far with this mod , good work .

like the banners too .

all in all cool

[alien_t]

Something for our Bulgarian friends: a Bulgarian infantry banner with Sv. Ivan Rilsky and cavalry banner with St. George. Hope you like them.





AND IN GAME IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

mm

Very nice banners :) In our mod bulgarian banners are almost same ;)



If you want some help write here...
http://www.takeforum.com/btw/viewfor...=19&mforum=btw

Keep up the good work!

[dumuzi]

Your textures look very good, and you've chosen an interesting, unusual area to focus on. I look forward to seeing how this mod progresses.

[Sarmatian]

Thanks. It only gets better with time :)

[rrandynovotny]

This mod looks great! is there any more work being done on it. Most of the posts are from 2007.

[Tsar]

This mod looks great! is there any more work being done on it. Most of the posts are from 2007.

There are 2 new PREVIEWS

MENU PREVIEW: CoA

Scripting Preview - Resources and Merchants

and there are lots of new stuff here
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=539

[CarDusan1]

When will you relese this mod?
(cant wait this mod is great)