SP Native [WB](WIP) Warband Improved

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Warband Improved
Hi guys, I'm here to announce a mod that has been in the works for a few months now. We are finally nearing completion and I wanted to update this first page with more up-to-date info. Below, you will find info on the mod team and on the features that will be included in the mod.

Mod Team
- Njunja - Graphics/Some Coding You may know him from his Eastern Items mod pack. He's been my right-hand man for quite some time :smile:. He's done some excellent work on a lot of the items and managed to make my "colored" item idea look pretty. He's also done most of work on the troop trees.
- CounterPoint391 - Graphics: Don't know if we can claim him for the team or not, but he's been a humongous help since this mod was in the brain storm phase. He gets around a lot and you've all probably seen his work on some mod or another around here :smile:. Along with Njunja, he has contributed much to the troop tree layouts and planted several other ideas in my mind. He has also contributed many items to the mod.
- Myself - Coder/Some Graphics I'm new to this coding business, but I've learned much thanks to my fellows on the mod team as well as the awesome guys that frequent the Forge. This has been a great experience. :smile:

Completed Features
The following features have already been implemented into the mod.

- Enhanced Diplomacy: the base of the mod is the excellent Diplomacy mod by Waihti. I just can't play Warband without it.
- More (Better) Banners: thanks to Chukcha for his excellent designs (see screen-shots below). The banners have been assigned to lords and kept within faction themes. There are also around 100 or more banners for the player to choose from. There is also a larger emphasis on heraldry. Most troops wear the colors or heraldry of their commanding lords. Battles between multiple lords are now a colorful display and it is now possible to fight Swadian lords with an army of Swadian troops without turning on the "show banners over friendly troops" option. Also, thanks to Yellowmosquito for the M&B Banner Standardization Pack.
- Recruitment From Towns and Castles: Swadian Knights and other elite quality troops from the other factions are only recruitable from towns that are part of your faction. Villages still produce "regular" troops (basically peasants that can upgrade to hardened soldiers) while you can recruit experienced mercenaries from castles that are in your faction.
- Enhanced Troop Trees: To go along with the recruiting system are well-thought out troop trees that stay true to the original factions while adding more options for advancement.
- Improved Arenas and Tournaments: Ranged troops have been removed from the tournaments and arenas (turning them into melee matches). We've increased the amount of gold received for winning a tournament as well. More tweaks will be done to tournaments in the future.
- Enhanced Sound Effects and Atmosphere Thanks to Checkmaty and Aeon for the More Metal Sounds and SoundRounding mods.
- Better Battle Control: Thanks to Caba'drin for his excellent scripts that he has written and posted on the Forge.
- Dynamic Lord Titles and Better Report Screens: Thanks to Jrider for his excellent work here.
- Better Auto-Resolve: Thanks to Arch3r for enhancing the Native script.
- Other Miscellaneous Tweaks: Thanks to Rubik for his many additions that have found there way into the Diplomacy mod as well as a few that I have added to Warband Improved and the many that I plan to add.
- OSP Item Content: Most of the good OSP packs have been implemented. Emphasis has been on quality over quantity. Thanks to the following modders for their contributions to the community...

CounterPoint391
Dejawolf
Faradon
FrisianDude
Havoc
Narf of Picklestink
Njunja
Shredzorz
Spak
Talak
Thick1988
Wanderer949
Wildhorse
Yoman Jenkins

What's Needs to Be Done?
Currently we are working on statting up the troop trees and equipping them with items. After that, we need to balance the troop trees and items to make sure everything works as intended. We can definitely use some beta testers to help us get through the balancing stage. If you are interested, please contact me and I'll get you started as soon as possible :smile:.

If you have other talents and would like to help (modelers, texturers, scripters, etc), please contact me. We have a lot of future plans for the mod and we can use all the help we can get :grin:

Future Plans?
We actually have many plans in the works for where we want the mod to go, but they are in the concept stage right now. You can see many of the ideas by continuing on through the thread. I will update this part with more info soon.

The Goods!
Now for some eye candy. Below are some pics of the banners that are implemented. Once again, thank Chukcha for the work here...

Faction Banners (from left to right): Swadia, Vaegirs, Khergits, Nords, Rhodoks, and Sarranids
factionbanners.png

Swadian Banners
swadianbanners.png

Vaegir Banners
vaegirbanners.png

Khergit Banners
khergitbanners.png

Nord Banners
nordbanners.png

Rhodok Banners
rhodokbanners.png

Sarranid Banners
sarranidbanners.png

Companion Banners: Thanks to SPD_Phoenix for the script that assigns each companion their own banner instead of the banner assignment being based off of the order they are made into lords.
companionbanners.png

Some Player Banners (Warning: large image block)
playerbannersd.png

playerbannersc.png

playerbannersb.png

playerbannersa.png

That's it for the preview guys. Feel free to post any feedback and ideas that you might have. :grin:
 
I've been playing M&B a long time now, always trying to find a good mod... by now I have same experience in modding but I am just never 100% satisfied with my work.
I must say I've not been an active forum member, I have never even made any comments but this mod you announced has picked my interest...
This is something I've been looking for and totally support it. If you could just tell me when will it be ready?
 
CounterPoint391 said:
What did you have in mind for troop trees?

Take Swadia for instance...
                                        Spearman
                                      /
                          Footman
                        /            \
Peasant - Recruit                Light Infantry
                        \
                          Skirmisher - Crossbowman

                                                Pikeman
                                              /
                                  Infantry
                                /            \
Soldier - Veteran Soldier              Heavy Infantry
                                \
                                  Archer - Longbowman

Squire - Man-at-Arms - Knight

Subject to change of course. This is just a rough sketch. Any Ideas are very welcome.

Njunja said:
I've been playing M&B a long time now, always trying to find a good mod... by now I have same experience in modding but I am just never 100% satisfied with my work.
I must say I've not been an active forum member, I have never even made any comments but this mod you announced has picked my interest...
This is something I've been looking for and totally support it. If you could just tell me when will it be ready?

Hopefully in a couple months. Could be sooner, could be later. The scripting part needs a little work and testing, but it's done for the most part. I've been looking through the OSP packs and looking through other mods finding some good quality items to add. The troop trees are in the concept stage as well. Some of the factions I've though a lot about, others I haven't even started on. The main thing that is holding me back right now are the constant patches. I really don't want to add a ton of crap until it gets stable. But I may just have to bite the bullet, keep going, and become and expert at WinMerge :razz:.

Swadian Man at Arms said:
Banners are 100% amazing. :shock:

Thank Chukcha for those. He did some excellent work there.

Thanks for the interest guys and remember, if you have any ideas, feel free to post them.
 
Ok....here's an idea....how about make two different types of mercenary troop available in the taverns: the default one and a new faction specific one. The faction specific ones can have a new troop tree, and can act as axillaries without moral penalties for leading a multicultural force. ie. Rhodok Mercenaries, Swadian Mercenaries...etc.

This thread has the python to do such a thing...mostly

As a whole I would lower mercenary troop wages to be just above normal, and make lower tier merc troops slightly weaker, but with elite mercs on par with other elite troops.


 
CounterPoint391 said:
Ok....here's an idea....how about make two different types of mercenary troop available in the taverns: the default one and a new faction specific one. The faction specific ones can have a new troop tree, and can act as axillaries without moral penalties for leading a multicultural force. ie. Rhodok Mercenaries, Swadian Mercenaries...etc.

This thread has the python to do such a thing...mostly

As a whole I would lower mercenary troop wages to be just above normal, and make lower tier merc troops slightly weaker, but with elite mercs on par with other elite troops.

Actually, I was planning on doing that. I'm thinking of making the faction specific ones only show up in the towns of their faction while making the original ones available everywhere. I also want to increase the number of mercenaries that can show up in a tavern to 2 groups. The player will have to rely on mercs in the early game because he has to work for the faction troops.
 
You specified "miscellaneous tweaks"... I would like it very much if you raised the amount of relationship points given when you assign a fief to your vassal because in my experience +10 points for 1 lord and -2(3) for all others is very much unbalanced. I am familiar with tweakmb(has an option to change relationship points) but the option doesn't work with Diplomacy mod... I couldn't find a way to change this trough scripts. Maybe you could help me?
 
Njunja said:
You specified "miscellaneous tweaks"... I would like it very much if you raised the amount of relationship points given when you assign a fief to your vassal because in my experience +10 points for 1 lord and -2(3) for all others is very much unbalanced. I am familiar with tweakmb(has an option to change relationship points) but the option doesn't work with Diplomacy mod... I couldn't find a way to change this trough scripts. Maybe you could help me?

I'll take a look at what I need to change. If there are any other popular "tweaks" that you guys wanna see in this let me know. I can definitely think of a few that I can't do with out. By the way, if you guys have any suggestions for troop trees feel free to post them. Just remember that there is a peasant, soldier, noble, and mercenary tree for each faction. I also plan on making sure that each faction has access to all the important troop types (cavalry, spearmen, infantry, and ranged) but they won't necessarily be equal. One example is the Khergits. They will have access to infantry, spearmen, and footmen - but only as part of the peasant line. Khergit soldiers and nobles will all be mounted.

By the way, I posted this in the Forge but thought I'd post it here for those who don't go there much.

VILLAGES - Peasants (Availability - High/ Quality - Low)
Since villages are numerous they will be much more of them to recruit than the other 2 types of recruit. They will be able to be upgraded quite a few times and will be very versatile depending on how you upgrade but, they will never have good equipment. You can recruit peasants from any village with a disposition of 0 or higher to you but not at villages who's faction you are at war with.

CASTLES - Professional Soldiers (Availability - Average/ Quality - Average)
The backbone of your army. Decided to have them be recruited from castles instead of towns as there are more of them (thus meaning a higher availability). Since castles do not have a disposition to the player (AFAIK), I plan on making the availability of recruits you get based on your relations with the lord who holds the fief or your relations to the closest villages. I'll have to look into how to do that however. You will be able to recruit from any castle as long as you have decent relations with both the residing lord and the faction as a whole.

TOWNS - Local Minor Nobles (Availability - Low/ Quality - High)
The heavy hitters. Since there are only 3 or 4 towns per faction, they will be very rare. My idea is to allow recruitment if you are a member of the faction (or have really good faction relations) and have proven yourself good for the town (good town relations). The number of recruits you get will be based on your renown. Most nobles will only follow someone who can lead them to glory.

I also intend to make mercs more available as you will need them in the early game. Without a faction and with no lords you are friendly with, peasants and mercs will be the only thing available.
 
Suggestion for Vaegirs(based on your tree)... since they are like medieval Russians(Novgorod)...
                                        Spearman
                                      /
                          Footman
                        /            \
Peasant - Recruit                Woodsman(axeman)
                        \
                          Skirmisher - Javelinman

                                                Berdiche Axeman(big slashing polearm)
                                              /
                                  Infantry
                                /            \
Soldier - Veteran Soldier              Dissmounted Boyar Sons(one-handed sword or axe+kite shield)
                                \
                                  Archer - Marksman(bow+very small shield+dagger)

Druzhina Cavalry - Boyar  Sons - Tsar's Guard(one-handed axe+kite shield)

I also suggest "Grand Duke Yaroglek" instead of "King Yaroglek".
 
Njunja said:
Suggestion for Vaegirs(based on your tree)... since they are like medieval Russians(Novgorod)...

...I also suggest "Grand Duke Yaroglek" instead of "King Yaroglek".

Love the tree and I will definitely be using it. As far as the kings name goes though, I was thinking of Grand Prince, but I still haven't decided yet.
 
For a 'Swadian' merc tree...maybe something like this:

              Free Company Skirmisher(longbow)----Free Company Longbowman----Free Company Yeoman?
            /
Freeman                                      Free Company Infantry----Free Company Foot Sergeant(halberds, poleaxes/hammers...use OSP's several have good ones)
            \                                  /
              Free Company Footman
                                                \
                                                  Free Company Light Cavalry----Free Company Mounted Sergeant
 
CounterPoint391 said:
For a 'Swadian' merc tree...maybe something like this:

Thanks for the ideas guys. You really can't believe how much this helps. Love the tree :smile:.

I've spent most of the night combing through the OSP's finding some decent armor and weapons to add. Weapons there are plenty of good ones... armor not so much. Found a few good ones that I'm looking forward to messing with but most look like they are from the DX 7 days. But luckily I can accomplish the variety in the troops trees that I want by copying and retexturing native armors. And by the way... I'm definitely going to use Narf's Transitional plate armor pack. Have you seen those pics?! He did make that open source right?
 
Indeed. I have a ****load of OSP's on my computer and can aid you in packaging the best items, as well as retexture some of them for the new era. I can also make normalmaps and specular, which will really make that old stuff look awesome. I'm doing it anyway for personal use.... :grin:
 
CounterPoint391 said:
Indeed. I have a ****load of OSP's on my computer and can aid you in packaging the best items, as well as retexture some of them for the new era. I can also make normalmaps and specular, which will really make that old stuff look awesome. I'm doing it anyway for personal use.... :grin:

Dude... that would be amazing if you would do that. I've done some "generic" versions of some of the colored armors in warband. I've also changed the changed the warhorse and charger saddles to brown and I've changed the grayish-brown part on the charger to a steel gray and adjusted the specular map to compensate. Here are some pics...

mb6g.jpg

mb1il.jpg

mb5h.jpg

mb4w.jpg

mb3f.jpg

mb2if.jpg

I also plan to do some in gray, black, and lighter linen colors as well as in an assortment of brighter colors. Hopefully that will liven up the game a bit. Another thing I had planned was to retexture some surcoats and shields, doing them in the same pattern as the banner backgrounds for the factions. Some would be checker patterns, others in stripes, some in two-tones, some mixed, etc. I believe it would add a lot more life to the game. The fun part is going to be finding horse models. The only 2 armored horses in native are nice but they just don't fit the Vaegirs, Khergits, and Sarranids, not to mention that they don't leave much in the way of variety. Now, I'm off to go do some texturing :smile:
 
I meant "Grand Prince".... I don't know why I wrote "Grand Duke"... lapsus calami, sorry :shock:
I am thinking of other faction's troop trees, I will post my suggestions soon as I figure it out.
 
Njunja said:
I meant "Grand Prince".... I don't know why I wrote "Grand Duke"... lapsus calami, sorry :shock:
I am thinking of other faction's troop trees, I will post my suggestions soon as I figure it out.

I figured that's what you meant :grin:

Looking forward to seeing your suggestions. I'm off to bed now. It's 6am here and I have to go to work tonight. I probably won't get much done other than answer post for the next couple days but I'll be able to get started working on this some more Tuesday. Looking forward to getting this done :smile:
 
These are my first ideas:
Feel free to criticize anything...
- Nords(great, agile, heavily armored infantry but lacking in good heavy armored cavalry)

                                        Spearman
                                      /
                          Footman
                        /            \
Peasant - Recruit              Town Milita(nordic sword+round shield)
                        \
                          Huntsman - Archer Militia

                                                        Huscarl/Berserker(plate armor+heavy maul/great axe)
                                                            /
                                                  Veteran
                                                /            \
Foot Soldier - Trained Foot Soldier      Norse Swordsman
                                                  \
                                                    Archer - Longbowman

Scout - Cavalry - War Cleric(one-handed axe+round shield)

- Khergits(great cavalry archers but weak infantry)

                                              Spearman
                                            /
Tribesman - Recruit - Footman       
                                            \
                                              Infantry(bow+small shield+nomad sabre)
                       

                                             
                                  Light Lancer - Heavy Lancer
                                /         
Nomad - Horseman             
                                \
                                  Horse Archer - Heavy Horse Archer

Cavalry - Heavy Cavalry - Khan's Guard

- Sarranid(Strong mamluks but lacking in heavy armor)

                                      Spear Militia
                                      /
                          Footman
                        /            \
Peasant - Recruit          Town Milita(sabre+shield)
                        \
                          Archer - Archer Militia

                                                     
                                                                    Tabardariyya/Sultan's Guard(Kettle Hat+Great axe/Halberd+Mamluke Mail/Sarr. Guard Armor)
                                                                    /
                    Trained Infantry  -  Veteran Infantry
                      /                                              \     
Desert Infantry                                            Hashishim(Sarr. Guard Armor+KettleHat+Scimitar+Steel Shield)
                    \
                    Desert Archer - Master Desert Archer

Desert Cavalry - Mamluke - Royal Mamluke

My inspiration was Medieval 2 Total War, I think it would be good if you added militia troops(inexperienced, cheap troops for early game).

This is my modified khergit lancer, still unsure about a helmet...
mb2lj.jpg

Since I was playing as a Sultan I modified some items and made one shield...
mb5c.jpg
 
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