This is a great mod, with alot of potential, but is let down in a few areas.
Firstly, like nearly every mod out there it is in desperate need of a readme, or faq to properly explain all of the changes and what options actually mean. I'm continually amazed that modders will spend hours coding, yet only minutes on the readme, as if potential players are somehow supposed to magically know what is going on. This mod has great depth, but not all of us have the time to accidently discover how to do things properly. I certainly don't have time to read through 50 pages of this thread to find out what is happening.
In particular, I love the trade options in this and the economic side and this is the first mod that has had me actively engaged in trade and enjoying it! But things seem a little random, even here. For example I noted a message saying that a ship had arrived in a particular location carrying certain items, and as I was right next door, I popped in, only to find that there weren't any to be found. Also, I took a load of sugar to the capital of the normans, as it had been quite in demand, only to find that it was worthless. The very next day the price I recieved had gone up by at least 3-4 times.
It is great to see someone do something with the political side of the game, but frankly everything seems rather confusing and disjointed. I have no idea why, but everytime I go to my leige lord, he asks for an ever increasing and silly ammount of gold, while my single holding is unable to provide me with a penny. While I have fought and taken over many enemy castles and captured heaps of loot, I can't sell it to raise the required cash, because the merchants money doesn't replenish anywhere near fast enough.
Which raises the issue of my own little town, which seems to be more like a millstone around my neck, given that it doesn't seem to actually raise any cash, but merely incur financial obligations towards the leige. There is an option to settle landless soldiers. Does this actually do anything, except for wasting some of the more expensive units. The only thing that I noticed was that my revenues actually dropped after doing this.
Also, are there any NPCs beyond the "advisor" that you get originally? I've looked high and low and haven't found any, so I'm guessing not.
And whats the go with the capturing of castles and the like? I capture them, and hang around for ages before some infantry magically appear (but of course not enough to actually hold the place), but don't seem to be able to put any troops of my own in there. It would be nice to be able to do so, while wandering back to town to sell some loot instead of having to hang around waiting for the inevitable counter attack. In fact, despite having assulted and captured dozens of castles, none have managed to remain in the hands of my side, and I've certainly not been offered any additional lands, or recognition for laying waste to my enemies. In fact everything I've done seems rather pointless.
The main gamestopper in this mod is a serious graphical slowdown, which is particularly common in forested areas, and can occur with only small armies (ie less than 20 per side) in place. It reduces the framerate to about 2 per second, and quite obviously makes it unplayable. Given that I have a reasonably good machine (E6400 with a 7800GS & 1.25 gig RAM) and have no problems with native, or any other mod (except The Last Days) it is dissappointing.
I don't mean to sound bitchy, as this is really a great mod, so long as I don't attempt to fight in trees. But some basic pointers and info in the readme would be wonderful.
