SP Dark Ages The Sword And The Axe

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Hello guys, I'd like to introduce you to "The Sword And The Axe". It is a mod about Viking Age Scandinavia.


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SUMMARY
It's a mod about Vikings. The year is 860AD and the diferrent petty kingdoms and factions are fighting for supremacy in the land of Scandinavia. Axes and swords clash, shield are raised. War is about to break loose...


FEATURES

PROGRESS

-New map of Scandinavia
(Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and a wee bit of Northern Russia). 100%
-Items
(Balancing of prizes and statistics, new items implementation) 100%
-Factions
(Factions that correspond to the time frame of the mod) 100%
-Troops
(completely reworked troop trees, close to no cavalry, unique units 100%
for each faction, etc)
-Kings, Lords and Mercenaries
(kings with unique equipment and interesting lords. Jomsvikings as mercenaries.) 100%
-Banners and flags 100%
-Menus and presentation 100%
-New, better Graphics 100%
-Artwork
(Menu screens, load screens, escape menu and town screens, etc.) 100%
-Scenes 100%
-Music and sound overhaul 100%
AND MORE...


DOWNLOAD LINKS

VERSION 5.4(CURRENT)
MIRROR 1 - MEGA
MIRROR 2 - MODDB

Name: The Sword and the Axe
Version: 5.2
Game version: 1.168 and up
Category: Total Conversion
Short Info: A total conversion mod about Viking age Scandinavia circa 850AD.
Mode: SP
Languages: EN
 
Last edited:
SCREENSHOTS

TBM

CHANGELOG

Version 4.5
  • A LOT of Graphical Updates, additions and UI modifications
  • A lot of new items
  • Yet again, overhauled troop trees
  • A great deal of item re-balance edits
  • Some campaign map fixes, edits and corrections
  • A couple of new hairstyles, some from other OSP, one by me
  • Volvas, wise women in every capital
  • A treasure hunt that leads to a powerful weapon
  • The ability to change your party's name or make a new clan after a level of renown
  • Forcible recruitment
  • Weapon breaking system
  • New levelling system

Now, to a more detailed description:

  • I updated most of the building, wall and flora textures, using my own textures(from Google and such) and also textures fitting from CWE mod that has gone OSP. This last mainly for some forest ground texture which I find excellent. Most of the armor and weapon textures also received a 'boost', by increasing contrast, making textures sharper but same size, so no performance loss. Finally, new UI elements have been made. Some, I am really content with, like the inventory, character and party screens. About a couple of others, like the 2 loadscreens, I have made some experimental, but will soon change them with a patch (save-game compatible). Also, fixed some minor issues with the custom font, now, it should be perfect, as intended.  :smile:
  • About 30-50 new items. Mostly, they are weapons(swords and axes), some new helmets and also armors.
  • Troop trees have been changed once again (sorry about the constant changes, I just want to achieve the best mix of game-play balance and accuracy possible). Following the new item stats (see below), use of tactics in battles instead of a wild charge is recommended. Spearmen now are really useful against archers, the one cavalry unit in the mod, other spearmen and to keep any enemy at some distance, but will die in a full confrontation with swordsmen or axemen. Archers are really lightly armoured and will also be killed by most melee units. 
  • Now, about the new item edits. All of the weapons have greatly changed. My goal here was(and I think I achieved it) to make every weapon and every weapon type to be handle differently, with different tactics, requirements and skill required to wield or to kill the enemy that wields it. First of all, all weapons have a portion of speed decreased. In more details:

    [list type=decimal]
  • First of all, we have the daggers, knives and seaxes. These cannot be used by their own to block or parry, have little damage, but they are the second fastest weapons available and can be used for tight spaces that require small reaction time (in events like sieges). Generally, they are used by the ranged troops. 
  • Then, there are the spears. The fastest weapon in the mod, the have long reach, they are as said, quite fast and lighter than most weapons. The have medium to low damage output, all of that piercing. The swing damage is there, but it is virtually non-existent. Really useful against light infantry, horses or to hold anyone at a distance, they can be parried by a shield and good armor easily.
  • Then, the range weapons. The javelin type are (with medium skill levels and up) one-hit killing machines. Quite fast to throw them and accurate enough for medium to low distance. Very useful to destroy shields. Throwing axes next, they are not very accurate, only for very low distance, but with really high damage. Same use as javelins, mostly. And of course, bows. Bows have little damage by themselves, the arrow being what deals the damage. Medium reloading and shooting times(not slow, but not Native level fast, either), they are accurate, especially good for high distance, but not the most useful against sufficiently armored enemies. Still, arrow damage has been increased to +30, while bows have a base attack damage of 5 or 6. That means that you deal 30 damage anyway with a bow. But, with skills, you can raise that higher. The aim here was to have some
  • Next we have swords. Swords are quite expensive weapons. They are faster than axes, a bit slower than daggers and spears. Good damage, good reach and two kinds of damage delat, piercing and slashing.
  • Finally, axes. Axes have really good damage output, best of all weapons. But they are quite slow, generally having shorter reach. They are cheaper than swords and with skill above 150-200, they are deadly, a kill per hit.
  • Now, about armour: Weight has been fixed and corrected for pretty much all items. If anything seems out of order, tell me. Armor values have increased a LOT, basically a mail armored enemy is unkillable in the first 5 levels or so. Also, prices have been raised, so that the player cannot buy super enhanced equipment form Level 1. All troops are using light to medium armor, with only the lords and some unique troops using mail armour. This leads to balanced battles, where you have to use tactics to win. Simply put, light infantry will die when facing medium or heavy infantry.

Also, all items have changed weight values, I hope I got most of it correctly. If anyone has some better info about weight of various items or spots mistakes, again, please inform me.


[*]The fixes on the map are mainly some errors in spelling of settlements, or in the names of such. Also, now more desert villages appearing. If there are further mistakes on my part, please report!

[*]A couple of new hairstyles, some from other OSP, one by me, representing the famous Ragnar Lodbrok haircut. Don't know if that is historically accurate, but I just find it really cool. I hope you will allow me this minor transgression.  :grin:

[*]New NPCs wait you in the castles. Volvas who will guve you spiritual guidance and help you become adored, for a price, of course.

[*]A new treasure hunt! A king, when beaten, might drop off an item, which mentions the location of a powerful sword. Of course, in said location, you need to find some clues first, to obtain the sword. The weapon is quite powerful and it is meant for higher level, hence the requirement to beat the king first.  :smile:

[*]You can recruit 30 young men from each village by force, but you will lose 15 relation points doing that!

[*]With the weapon breaking system, your weapon can break. To be balanced, it is pretty rare to happen, being a bit more often with rusty or cracked weapons, due to the raised item prizes. PLEASE BE CAREFUL: the breaking of the weapon is permanent! Also, since it might happen anytime, better carry more than one weapon.
[*]Changed leveling system, to resemble that of Viking Conquest, as the folks describe it. Now, on each level up, you get 2 skill points and 5 proficiency points, to use as you see fit. Every 4 levels, you gain one attribute point. I've done that, because it didn't seem too good to be more strong, agile or wise every now and then. Those should be acquired properties that have a slower rate of increase than your skill with weapons or your ability to track and hunt, for example.
[/list]

POLLS

Should Raiders be mercenaries or a faction's special unit?
Mercenaries                          15 (57.7%)
Special Unit                            11 (42.3%)

 
DISCLAIMER

The mod IS NOT Historical. It is loosely based on history. The map is NOT historically accurate. The names of towns and castles are mostly real and partly not. 

CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS  (WIP)

-GothicKnight, for the Dark Age OSP.
-Idibil and the Brytenwalda team for their Vendel helmets, a coat with many texture variations, helmets, a couple of shirts and many items, from the Brytenwalda mod as OSP
-Dejawolf, for the Viking OSP pack
-Waewulf, for the Light Armor OSP pack.
-Rathos, for the Arms and Armors OSP pack.
-Talak, for the Special Armoury OSP pack
-Faradon, for his OSP models.
-igorbb for his OSP of helmets and weapons and armours.
-Walx, for RealSwordsNord
-XIII Rus OSP
-Motamaru, for his Formations Kit
-El_Guache, for mail shirt texttures
-ha3481, for armor textures
-Crusaders Way to Expiation OSP mod for some of the textures for buildings and landscape.
-BrustwarzenLenny, for his OSP armors and a cloak
-The Last Days mod, for permission to use beard and hair meshes
-Floris OSP mod, for many items and inspiration
-Psyphoon, for Animations OSP
-Royalty Free license music
-Rohzdear, for Warband UI Retexture
-Free models from Turbosquid
-Hoboistice, for cool animation and general usage tweaks
-Caba'drin and others, for scripts taken from the Forge OSP Script section
-Raptor, for the viking swords
-Bob's Armory(from Skyrim), used with permission
-Calradia in Darkness mod OSP for textures and graphical enhancements
-Game of Thrones OSP resource, from RusMnB
-Gaunt and Lionheart2, for Weapon Breaking system
-Last Breath of the Calradian Empire mod, for the excellent skyboxes
-DatFrog, Timothy the Knight, Ringwraith #5 and others for banners from the Banner Request thread
-Dansk_Viking and the Vikingr mod team, for items and scene props used with permission
-Lord Jamestown, for OSP from the Russian Commando site
-Jacobhinds, for the Animation variety pack and Ottoman Clothing OSP
-Redleg, for some textures, models and ideas about armor variety
-xenoargh, for Blood and Steel OSP
-syabr, from Mushrooms OSP
-SendMeSmile, for Blood and Steel environment OSP
-kojjam1, for OSP items and more importantly, parts of them
-Zeus, for nasal and spectacled helmet
-Russian Game of Thrones OSP, from the Commando site
-WeiXiadi, for Armor Lite OSP
-motamaru, for Formations and AI kit
-Nate884, for testing, new starting menus and ideas
-LordHummingbird, for a LOT of research(I tried to apply as much as possible  :smile:)


From rusmnb(those were a suggestion of Sherlock Holmes, a co-forumite):
-Oswald, for Sword OSP pack
-сикомор(sycamore), for shields OSP pack

IF you see your work in the Screenshots or in the mod(when it is published) remember that the Credits list is WIP, so contact me and I will add you immediately.

THANKS AND AKNOWLEDGEMENTS (WIP)

-matmohair1 for his helpful Research and some images that were used as Artwork.
-Bactstay, for ideas, suggestions and research for Historical Lords' Names
-Sherlock Holmes(not the consulting detective :razz:) for suggestions of two amazing OSP packs
-Teofish and Urgrevling for significant historical research
-HooTman, for reworking all the village scenes, remaking many textures and adding more things to the mod

ASKING FOR HELP

Any help would be appreciated. Particularely, I want to ask for help from: Sceners, modelers and texturers(of any experience) and Researchers. Now, regarding the Research part, I'm not looking for Wikipedia copypasta or Google search(that much I'm able to perform myself). I need people with relative books, images and texts, people with a very good knowledge of those times.

Also, if you know how to speak Russian, I would be grateful if you could help me find some OSPs from the Rusmnb forum.

Thank you very much!


MOD TEAM

-Me :razz:: Mod idea, editing, music pack compilation and pretty much all the editing related stuff.
-EternalPaladin: Scripter and writer and NPC editor
-Theoren: Additional Scripts & Music, Ideas & Suggestions and Scripting
-Dykjozo: Scener and researcher
-Backstay: Research, currently making a list with Historical Lords, Kings and Fiefs. INACTIVE
-Tybalt: Research about troops, lords, items and music. INACTIVE
-Nate884, research, character backstories, Scripter

PROMOTIONAL STUFF
 
Are you planning on using the original and proper names for fiefs etc? Good luck, regardless.
 
Thanks and to answer your question, the mod is pseudo-historical. That means that some(or rather, most) things would be real and a little will not. But nothing Fantasy or Horned Helmeted Berserkers charging naked, I'm afraid... :smile:
 
Oh, nice. This is the most promising mod I've seen that is set in the viking ages.

I really love the viking ages, and have read a lot of books in school about it, so if you'd like, I can probably help with a bit of researching. Also I'm from Denmark, and that's in the mod, so that's a plus. Already noticed a thing or two about the danish fiefs on the screenshot :razz: I'd love to help with more, like modelling, but I'm working on another thing as well, so I can't offer too much.

Good luck with the mod :smile:
 
I hope you greatly increase the armour weights, kinda like in Vikingr.

But as for research, I have this one book, "The Gruesome Truth About: The Vikings", doing a quick skim through it says about the weapons & armour they used and about beserkers :lol:
 
Carlos Danger said:
I hope you greatly increase the armour weights, kinda like in Vikingr.

But as for research, I have this one book, "The Gruesome Truth About: The Vikings", doing a quick skim through it says about the weapons & armour they used and about beserkers :lol:

Armour weight is going to be increased, yes, as well as the weight of helmets; I mean, it's not possible to wear an iron helmet in your head and that weighs less that a kilo. Also, regarding the book, I have it, too, (translated in my language, of course) and it helped in some areas. As a side note, it belongs to a series that are quite good(although a bit more for younger audience). They have a book about Romans, I think and other historical periods.
 
Thanks. Of course I would try you pack. You have excellent items and those swords were absolutely fantastic. And those helmets you speak of, would I find anything that would help me? :smile:
 
Antonis said:
Thanks. Of course I would try you pack. You have excellent items and those swords were absolutely fantastic. And those helmets you speak of, would I find anything that would help me? :smile:

I haven't really made any helmets yet.I might in the future, or I can retexture other osp helmets.
 
You could use Crusader Kings 2 to get help with lords etc, if you don't have the game i can help you if you need it.
 
This is something I really wanted to play.
To lead a small, mobile unit of raiders.
In every fight axes fly, shieldwalls form, no cavalry.
One thing, do you think you'll be able to introduce more siege options(e.g. night raids in which only like half of the defending troops are ready, or some stuff like that, also maybe city raids(you don't take the city, but take good loot)).
 
That would be a very good idea(the raids, I mean). But since I know little of coding, it'll have to wait until I am more able. Already, I follow some online courses and various script tutorials. What I can promise you, though, are new quests. And raids will probably among them.
 
Will there be few and very expensive Ulfberht swords around the world?
 
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