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Hey, these are really cool! These days (among other things) I am implementing slings into the mod and trying to find what troops could use those. Also trying to find troops that could be used as AoR troops for the "mainland" Scandinavian factions(Sweden and Norway areas). Because I have various Karelian troops for the Finns and Baltic tribe units for Denmark.
I spent the whole day on the mod, enjoying it tremendously. (being in bat-plague quarantine, and having your company laptop in the office has it's moments 
)
Feedback from the early game, latest version
Fincances: since there are no tournaments, and I am awful at trading, the way to go are quests and selling loot/prisoners. Fortunately you can make 4-500 from defeating 20-25 looter equivalents. My only real purchase was a lame horse, because I love the mods villages and cities, but they are a pita to discover on foot. (in hindsight, I should have hired Nizar for his horse, about 80% cheaper)
Battles: battles are very nice, I really like the balance. Without companions it is not easy to get top tier (armored) units, so casualities are surprisingly high. (even when steamrolling over looters, I lose 3-4 men)
The optimal approach I think is to act as a commander (charisma+leadership, intelligence+tactics), buy a horse for swift "hold this position" commands, and contribute to the battle with a crappy (power draw 1-2) bow, from a stationary horse.
I tried the built in formation but it either doesn't work, or it is counterintuitive. I couldn't figure out anyway. When you tell your formation to hold position they go to a completely different place (to the left what you told them), while the archers ignore your commands and wander off. I saw this in other mods though, might be the module what you imported. It was easier to turn this feature off, and command them manually.
The tactic is usually a shieldwall in reverse slope defense (just behind the ridge, so enemy archers cannot fire on them), archers further back, while I personally lead (follow me+charge) the offensive infantry and cavalry around the fighting, and charge to their side/back.
The companions are very nice. I don't know who wrote them, but I would like to congratulate him (or her?). It is actually very hard to show the setting in text, without the NPC becoming a corny infodump. Very good example of quality writing, good personalities, interesting info, but it is just the right amount, not too much. Nice faces and starting equipments too!
Strategy:
So, early game is mostly fighting and some quests. I didn't try looting, because if it is similar to native, it is not economical. Might be an alternative way to go, if the income from looting is increased.
I feel that the breakthrough point is when you have ~10 000, and you get the "stop the war" quest from the guildmaster. That is a net gain of 3500 per quest, without persusasion. Now I have 30 000, with a few enterprises bought. I will report back later, when I participated in a few campaigns.
I wanted to increase my rep with the yellow faction (them being in the centre of the map), but I ended up being a friend to the blues (joining battles early game is awesome, actually I like it better then freelancer)
Unit balance:
Early game, low-mid tier units have nice balance. Enemies too (not too hard, but you have to use at least some judgement, so it's nice). Every unit has it's niche, nothing overpowered. This is really a nice job! Nothing to contribute here.
Character developement:
not getting attribute points each level adds to the mod I think. However, it has a side effect: my character has 2 in lots of skills (to provide the bonus for the specialist), because I couldn't do anything with the points. I think adding a few points (4-6) right after character creation, but keepeng the lower amount of attributes gained, would allow players to go for specialist roles instead of becoming a generalist.
Eg. my original setup after distributing free points was something like 9-9-6-9. I think 3 or 6 additional points wouldn't hurt. (so I could start with charisma 12 or intelligence 9)
My current setup is 10 or 11 strength (for armor and power draw 3), 9 agilitity, the rest intelligence and charisma, with surgery-trainer-leadership focus, and lots of party skills at 2. Light armor, basic bow, shield and club (for prisoners). I think by end game a strength focues 2 hander in mail might be a one man army though, so that is also a possibility.
Bughunting:
- This is in the scene which is used for Viborg. (all settlements with that scene have this giant "?".)
- there is a problem with Nizar's helmet. The helmet (khawda I think) deletes his face, so he looks like a faceless horsemean
- in the train the peasants mission, sometimes the AI bots get stuck. It is not easy to find them at night.
- actually, I find nighttime very dark. I made a habit of not fighting/visiting villages because I don't see a thing.
end of part 1
)Feedback from the early game, latest version
Fincances: since there are no tournaments, and I am awful at trading, the way to go are quests and selling loot/prisoners. Fortunately you can make 4-500 from defeating 20-25 looter equivalents. My only real purchase was a lame horse, because I love the mods villages and cities, but they are a pita to discover on foot. (in hindsight, I should have hired Nizar for his horse, about 80% cheaper)
Battles: battles are very nice, I really like the balance. Without companions it is not easy to get top tier (armored) units, so casualities are surprisingly high. (even when steamrolling over looters, I lose 3-4 men)
The optimal approach I think is to act as a commander (charisma+leadership, intelligence+tactics), buy a horse for swift "hold this position" commands, and contribute to the battle with a crappy (power draw 1-2) bow, from a stationary horse.
I tried the built in formation but it either doesn't work, or it is counterintuitive. I couldn't figure out anyway. When you tell your formation to hold position they go to a completely different place (to the left what you told them), while the archers ignore your commands and wander off. I saw this in other mods though, might be the module what you imported. It was easier to turn this feature off, and command them manually.
The tactic is usually a shieldwall in reverse slope defense (just behind the ridge, so enemy archers cannot fire on them), archers further back, while I personally lead (follow me+charge) the offensive infantry and cavalry around the fighting, and charge to their side/back.
The companions are very nice. I don't know who wrote them, but I would like to congratulate him (or her?). It is actually very hard to show the setting in text, without the NPC becoming a corny infodump. Very good example of quality writing, good personalities, interesting info, but it is just the right amount, not too much. Nice faces and starting equipments too!
Strategy:
So, early game is mostly fighting and some quests. I didn't try looting, because if it is similar to native, it is not economical. Might be an alternative way to go, if the income from looting is increased.
I feel that the breakthrough point is when you have ~10 000, and you get the "stop the war" quest from the guildmaster. That is a net gain of 3500 per quest, without persusasion. Now I have 30 000, with a few enterprises bought. I will report back later, when I participated in a few campaigns.
I wanted to increase my rep with the yellow faction (them being in the centre of the map), but I ended up being a friend to the blues (joining battles early game is awesome, actually I like it better then freelancer)
Unit balance:
Early game, low-mid tier units have nice balance. Enemies too (not too hard, but you have to use at least some judgement, so it's nice). Every unit has it's niche, nothing overpowered. This is really a nice job! Nothing to contribute here.
Character developement:
not getting attribute points each level adds to the mod I think. However, it has a side effect: my character has 2 in lots of skills (to provide the bonus for the specialist), because I couldn't do anything with the points. I think adding a few points (4-6) right after character creation, but keepeng the lower amount of attributes gained, would allow players to go for specialist roles instead of becoming a generalist.
Eg. my original setup after distributing free points was something like 9-9-6-9. I think 3 or 6 additional points wouldn't hurt. (so I could start with charisma 12 or intelligence 9)
My current setup is 10 or 11 strength (for armor and power draw 3), 9 agilitity, the rest intelligence and charisma, with surgery-trainer-leadership focus, and lots of party skills at 2. Light armor, basic bow, shield and club (for prisoners). I think by end game a strength focues 2 hander in mail might be a one man army though, so that is also a possibility.
Bughunting:
- This is in the scene which is used for Viborg. (all settlements with that scene have this giant "?".)
- in the train the peasants mission, sometimes the AI bots get stuck. It is not easy to find them at night.
- actually, I find nighttime very dark. I made a habit of not fighting/visiting villages because I don't see a thing.
end of part 1
Last edited:
Hey, first of all, thank you taking all this time to test and report. That means a lot to me and helps the mod tremendously! I'm also glad you had a good time. I'll try to answer as best I can:
- Yeah, battles are meant to have casualties on either side; I don't really like the Native system where at level ~15 you become a god. I want to make things as even and realistic as possible. In the coming version, battles are even harder, with battle commander duels, critical strikes from the back, skirmish mode, stamina system, reworked item weights and upgrades to weather system (by tocan, author of the great Tocan's Calradia) which adds weapon skill penalties in bad weather.
- The formations are fixed and new sub-divisions are added, like skirmishers, spearmen and ranged cavalry, based on the troops equipment (also the fixed was found by tocan).
- The companions were written and made by an old friend, eternal paladin.
- I'll check the scene, thanks. That question mark means it's a missing scene prop, nothing really serious.Still, bad for immersion.
- Ah, thanks for that; it seems I forgot to delete an item flag on Nizar's helmet, it's all fixed now!
- Nighttime is dark on purpose. However, in this version, there are troops with torches when it is nighttime.
- Yeah, battles are meant to have casualties on either side; I don't really like the Native system where at level ~15 you become a god. I want to make things as even and realistic as possible. In the coming version, battles are even harder, with battle commander duels, critical strikes from the back, skirmish mode, stamina system, reworked item weights and upgrades to weather system (by tocan, author of the great Tocan's Calradia) which adds weapon skill penalties in bad weather.
- The formations are fixed and new sub-divisions are added, like skirmishers, spearmen and ranged cavalry, based on the troops equipment (also the fixed was found by tocan).
- The companions were written and made by an old friend, eternal paladin.
- I'll check the scene, thanks. That question mark means it's a missing scene prop, nothing really serious.Still, bad for immersion.
- Ah, thanks for that; it seems I forgot to delete an item flag on Nizar's helmet, it's all fixed now!
- Nighttime is dark on purpose. However, in this version, there are troops with torches when it is nighttime.
Continued. Item checks.
Armor.
Basically what you can loot is good enough, as long as you find basic (not rusty, etc.) items. It is relatively easy to outfit the companions in okay medium armor from loot. Heavy armor is quite an investment, which seem good to me. I also like the cloak variations.
There is a small issue with battered versions though: battered mail armor is cheaper to buy and offer better protection than thick/hardened medium armor.
Swords.
I didn't find basterd versions (one handed/two handed).
I used the sword of the beligerent drunk, because I couldn't find a much better deal anywhere. That's actually very nice, I don't like it that in lot's of mods the top tier troops have 120 speed/120 reach swords which look like a regular length weapon.
There are slight balance issues between different swords, nothing major. An example is
Swerd, 1472 gold, 28 cutting damage, 95 speed, 106 reach
Swerd, 1472 gold, 28 cutting damage, 95 speed, 94 reach
The one on top seem a better deal for the same cost.
Axes.
The best one handed axe I found is this: 740 gold, 45 cutting, 90 speed, 62 reach. The much lower reach is fine, but I think one handed axes should be faster than swords.
I am talking about real battleaxes with those tiny heads, not fantasy ork headchoppers. These are actually pretty fast weapons in real life.
I was looking for a battle axe picture, to show how small the head is, but it is surprisingly hard to find a non-fantasy version online. Here is an example from a hungarian museum. The head itself is maybe 15-20cm only.
Two handed axes
Now, this is where it gets interesting. I think there are a few items which have a typo in the stats. Each of them is called "ox", so it doesn't make it easier.
1: 1480 gold / 60 swing / 70 speed / 120 reach
2: 1332 gold / 53 swing / 80 speed / 72 reach
3: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 69 reach
4: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 92 reach
5: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 109 reach
Here is where I came to a conclusion that "ox" just doesn't cut it. It is very time consuming to compare the weapons with similar (or in some cases: same) icons. Also, I don't understand 2 handed axes with 69 and 72 reach, as one handed swords have 95+.
Bows
By accident, I bought the best bow in the game on my first shopping spree. Not the best damage, but best value per gold spent. The winner in my opinion is. Ta-damm!
Strong Veidr Bogi: 1541 gold, 23 piercing, 95 accurancy, 77 speed.
compare this to
Strong Y-Bogi: 4332 gold, 28 piercing, 90 accurancy, 72 speed, 2 power draw requirement.
Because the Y-Bogi actually has a power draw requirement, it doesn't have a bonus for 2 PD, while the Veidr Bogi has. Since I am using the former all game, and don't find it overpowered, I feeld the latter could be buffed (with lowering the price at least).
Important comment: getting a masterwork hunting bow (with no power draw) is the best thing a commander type (9 AGI) can buy. So please don't remove "veidr bogi". But I do feel that the other real bows are not much better.
Spears
This is where it gets confusing. All spears have the same name, and they use a very similar icon, while having really different stats. Since I am awful with spears (except with viking invasion/Sparta mod animations), I didn't buy any until I came across a short spear with 90ish reach. (which was a surprise, as the icon looks like a regular spear). I will test this one.
Club
This is a strange thing, but being the only thing with blunt damage, I use a club to get some prisoners. I guess norse didn't use maces, so it seems correct. Kind of funny though. A hunting bow and a club, and green/brown tunic makes the character look like Hagrid from Harry Potter, not a serious viking leader.
end of part 2
Armor.
Basically what you can loot is good enough, as long as you find basic (not rusty, etc.) items. It is relatively easy to outfit the companions in okay medium armor from loot. Heavy armor is quite an investment, which seem good to me. I also like the cloak variations.
There is a small issue with battered versions though: battered mail armor is cheaper to buy and offer better protection than thick/hardened medium armor.
Swords.
I didn't find basterd versions (one handed/two handed).
I used the sword of the beligerent drunk, because I couldn't find a much better deal anywhere. That's actually very nice, I don't like it that in lot's of mods the top tier troops have 120 speed/120 reach swords which look like a regular length weapon.
There are slight balance issues between different swords, nothing major. An example is
Swerd, 1472 gold, 28 cutting damage, 95 speed, 106 reach
Swerd, 1472 gold, 28 cutting damage, 95 speed, 94 reach
The one on top seem a better deal for the same cost.
Axes.
The best one handed axe I found is this: 740 gold, 45 cutting, 90 speed, 62 reach. The much lower reach is fine, but I think one handed axes should be faster than swords.
I am talking about real battleaxes with those tiny heads, not fantasy ork headchoppers. These are actually pretty fast weapons in real life.
I was looking for a battle axe picture, to show how small the head is, but it is surprisingly hard to find a non-fantasy version online. Here is an example from a hungarian museum. The head itself is maybe 15-20cm only.
Two handed axes
Now, this is where it gets interesting. I think there are a few items which have a typo in the stats. Each of them is called "ox", so it doesn't make it easier.
1: 1480 gold / 60 swing / 70 speed / 120 reach
2: 1332 gold / 53 swing / 80 speed / 72 reach
3: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 69 reach
4: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 92 reach
5: 1295 gold / 50 swing / 80 speed / 109 reach
Here is where I came to a conclusion that "ox" just doesn't cut it. It is very time consuming to compare the weapons with similar (or in some cases: same) icons. Also, I don't understand 2 handed axes with 69 and 72 reach, as one handed swords have 95+.
Bows
By accident, I bought the best bow in the game on my first shopping spree. Not the best damage, but best value per gold spent. The winner in my opinion is. Ta-damm!
Strong Veidr Bogi: 1541 gold, 23 piercing, 95 accurancy, 77 speed.
compare this to
Strong Y-Bogi: 4332 gold, 28 piercing, 90 accurancy, 72 speed, 2 power draw requirement.
Because the Y-Bogi actually has a power draw requirement, it doesn't have a bonus for 2 PD, while the Veidr Bogi has. Since I am using the former all game, and don't find it overpowered, I feeld the latter could be buffed (with lowering the price at least).
Important comment: getting a masterwork hunting bow (with no power draw) is the best thing a commander type (9 AGI) can buy. So please don't remove "veidr bogi". But I do feel that the other real bows are not much better.
Spears
This is where it gets confusing. All spears have the same name, and they use a very similar icon, while having really different stats. Since I am awful with spears (except with viking invasion/Sparta mod animations), I didn't buy any until I came across a short spear with 90ish reach. (which was a surprise, as the icon looks like a regular spear). I will test this one.
Club
This is a strange thing, but being the only thing with blunt damage, I use a club to get some prisoners. I guess norse didn't use maces, so it seems correct. Kind of funny though. A hunting bow and a club, and green/brown tunic makes the character look like Hagrid from Harry Potter, not a serious viking leader.
end of part 2
Since I guess every modder has limited time, I tried to collect some ideas which already exist in some mods. If they allow, you could just copy them. I think the best mod to "raid" for ideas is Sword of Damocles. Most components I list below are in that mod, but of course some are quite common anyway.
General Quality of Life
- Even though I love the shields in the mod, please put back heraldic round shield into shops. It feels an achievement when you get nobility, and all companions paint their shields to your banner Also, it would be nice if the "generic not noble color" would be brown or grey instead of checkered red+black.
- some more cash (5000?) at shops would be nice. They run out of money if the player defeats a mid-tier enemy force.
- it would be nice to add a "lame old swaybacked donkey" mount with 10 HP to the player. Not suited for battle, but to help the player explore the lovely scenes
- doing the nervous man quest should add +1 relation to the village, instead of a penalty. If you are feeling ambitious, he could be convinced with 3+ persuasion. (or with 10% chance per persuasion point)
- increased income from looting villages, so that it is a valid playstyle to act as a raider.
- increase food stacks, at least double. (30 -> 60).
- no matter what you do, please do not let yourself convinced about expanding the map or changing animations. It is very rare to find a mod with a clear focus as this.
Simple, or copy paste modificaions
- cattle follow you (oh, I so hate this quest). This is in SoD, but very common in mods.
- live training of troops from the camp menu. You get weapon proficiency, they get some experience. I think the value it gives to the selected stack is 50 or 100 XP per trainer level, so it generally works on fresh recruits, but it gets very tiring if you want to level up mid-tiers to elite with this option. Which is a good outcome I think. (SoD)
- if all enemies are fleeing, they surrender instead. Now, this might have an effect on income, if players invest in prisoner management. But I usually don't like fleeing, it takes much game time (sometimes more than the battle did) (SoD)
- when you meet a bandit party, you can not just charge them or pay their toll, but you can also throw even more money on them, so they join up (SoD)
- sell prisoners to the guild master at a discount (say, 20 per head isntead of 32). Slavery was quite common in this period. Maybe to the village elder for relations.
- improve your rusty/chipped/battered gear to normal at shops for money (viking conquest DLC)
- change the color of your equipment at armorer (deeds of arms and chivalry), so you don't have to buy a new one, but you get the one that fits your companions
- spears are not carried at the back (renaissance mod). They are either in your hand, or they are invisible.
- ask the tavern keeper for _currently unknown_ companions, from Blood&Gold. It goes something like "pc: I am gathering men for my ship, do you know someone? tavern: please, try to act like you are interested in some drink, will you? pc: Damn! (buy a drink for 10 silver) tavern: "I know a guy, Juba, beast with the boarding axe. Last time I heard he was travelling to Port Royal". The added value compared to regular "tavern traveller" here is the location of companions (and a word about their speciality), who you didn't meet yet.
- you could add a healer into some villages. Blood&Gold has that (at catholic missions, about 4-5 on the map). You speak with the NPC, pay up, and it heals you. It costs 1 silver/HP for PC and companions, and 1 silver per wounded soldier, and a whole day.
A catholic nun doesn't fit the setting of course, but I think some village völva healer does. I would definietly put them into villages, not taverns, to award players who discover the scenes
From scratch, cannot copy I think
1: there are those books, which give you skill bonuses. Some mods (1866 western, Last days) use not books, but something else for this. These are nice rewards for quests. These only need an icon, since they don't appear in scenes. Examples:
- a group of small children, who follow the gang, and help after battle (+1 looting)
- some camp follower ladies (+1 wound treatment)
- a crate full of manacles, or a slavers lash (+1 prisoner management)
- an arabic spy-glass (+1 spotting)
- hounds (+1 tracking)
- a crippled old veteran, incapable of fighting, but shouts loud (+1 trainer)
2: I think you could borrow some hairstyles from other mods. Fantasy for dwarf beards and elf hair.
Left picture is an example hide armor and fur leggings, right picture is a mohawk which would work. Both from 1755 mod.
3: I really like some mods where the character creation is skipped, an you just choose a cliché to go with.
There is usually a traditional start, but there are other choices, some are hard to brag about them, some are easy for beginngers, some are drastically different. A few examples:
- Traditional start (normal). attributes at 4 with 16 points to spend, 10 skill points, weapons at 50 with 100 more to spend.
- Start as a slave (very hard). rags and a club, zero (0) money. (blood and gold mod)
- Start as a former champion of a kingdom, a lone wolf (easy). 1 balanced or masterwork two handed weapon, minimum money. 21 strength, 21 agility, 5 intelligence, 1 charisma, no free points. High (5+) athletics, weapon master, power strike, iron skins. (blood and steel mod). Very easy early game, but 1 charisma is harsher than it looks.
- Start as elopers (different). Idea from Battle of Hindustan mod. You start with a wife (in Hindustan, she is an overpowered superhealer-amazon), a noble house (wife's father and brothers) who hate your guts. Alternatively you start with a wife + her loyal retinue of 10-20 elite soldiers, but a faction is at war with you, and the ruler personally hates you.
- Start as deserters (from BAttle brothers game, different). You start with a few, 10-12 mid tier soldiers, and a set of mid-tier gear (same stuff the tier 3 soldiers use). A faction - the one you just deserted - hates your guts.
- Start as raiders (from Blood&Steel, different). You have about thirty bandits in your party. You start with 7 inventory management and 7 looting. You start at negative relation with all villages. You can hire bandit units.
- Start as rightful heir to the throne (from Sword of Damocles 1.011, different). Start with medium right to rule, a faction who you are in war with. Also start with 50-60 troops. SoD also has a companion (loyal servant), who can call for loyal lords in exile at start (a random, loyal lord just appears at your court in a few days).
- Trader (easy, from blood and gold). Start with absurdly high trade and persuasion, at least 7 (to make "assess prices" quicker), at least 5000 gold, +1 relation with all cities. Also 8-10 caravan guards, and some trade goods. The drawback is that you start with 0 in all physical skills, 5 or 6 strength/agility, and low weapon skills.
4: in Caribbean: Blood&Gold, you can access your pesonal chest from the camp menu (so you get one earlier than your first castle)
5: some new soldier types as mercs might work. Guys from the british isles. Since we know that saxons often went to exile to scandinavia, I think some irish slaves (with two handed swords :whistle) are not stretching it much. Also, spear+shield+javelin, light horsemen with javelins.
6: some mods neutral villages, where the player can keep his things. Usually these are four ways inn, but a generic village scene works too. (as long you can leave garrison there, and have a chest for items)
7: I think it would be nice to act as a hero who steps in for duels for old ladies, children incapable of defending themselves. It is quite common in icelandic saga's: someone gets the allowance to seek vengence, but is personally not capable of doing it, so he hires to hero. It could be similar to the nervous man quest, but the enemy could be higher (or more than one), and the price would be renown, not gold. Alternatively, PCs with villain tendencies could beat up old widows, silence witnesses and 12 year olds in service of fat merchants and evil nobles. (this is also very common in saga's)
8: I have no idea how to implement this, but family and a wife in general is very important in a norse saga. More often than not the reason for the whole adventure is that the wife calls his husband coward for not taking vengance.
General Quality of Life
- Even though I love the shields in the mod, please put back heraldic round shield into shops. It feels an achievement when you get nobility, and all companions paint their shields to your banner
Also, it would be nice if the "generic not noble color" would be brown or grey instead of checkered red+black.- some more cash (5000?) at shops would be nice. They run out of money if the player defeats a mid-tier enemy force.
- it would be nice to add a "lame old swaybacked donkey" mount with 10 HP to the player. Not suited for battle, but to help the player explore the lovely scenes
- doing the nervous man quest should add +1 relation to the village, instead of a penalty. If you are feeling ambitious, he could be convinced with 3+ persuasion. (or with 10% chance per persuasion point)
- increased income from looting villages, so that it is a valid playstyle to act as a raider.
- increase food stacks, at least double. (30 -> 60).
- no matter what you do, please do not let yourself convinced about expanding the map or changing animations. It is very rare to find a mod with a clear focus as this.
Simple, or copy paste modificaions
- cattle follow you (oh, I so hate this quest). This is in SoD, but very common in mods.
- live training of troops from the camp menu. You get weapon proficiency, they get some experience. I think the value it gives to the selected stack is 50 or 100 XP per trainer level, so it generally works on fresh recruits, but it gets very tiring if you want to level up mid-tiers to elite with this option. Which is a good outcome I think. (SoD)
- if all enemies are fleeing, they surrender instead. Now, this might have an effect on income, if players invest in prisoner management. But I usually don't like fleeing, it takes much game time (sometimes more than the battle did) (SoD)
- when you meet a bandit party, you can not just charge them or pay their toll, but you can also throw even more money on them, so they join up (SoD)
- sell prisoners to the guild master at a discount (say, 20 per head isntead of 32). Slavery was quite common in this period. Maybe to the village elder for relations.
- improve your rusty/chipped/battered gear to normal at shops for money (viking conquest DLC)
- change the color of your equipment at armorer (deeds of arms and chivalry), so you don't have to buy a new one, but you get the one that fits your companions
- spears are not carried at the back (renaissance mod). They are either in your hand, or they are invisible.
- ask the tavern keeper for _currently unknown_ companions, from Blood&Gold. It goes something like "pc: I am gathering men for my ship, do you know someone? tavern: please, try to act like you are interested in some drink, will you? pc: Damn! (buy a drink for 10 silver) tavern: "I know a guy, Juba, beast with the boarding axe. Last time I heard he was travelling to Port Royal". The added value compared to regular "tavern traveller" here is the location of companions (and a word about their speciality), who you didn't meet yet.
- you could add a healer into some villages. Blood&Gold has that (at catholic missions, about 4-5 on the map). You speak with the NPC, pay up, and it heals you. It costs 1 silver/HP for PC and companions, and 1 silver per wounded soldier, and a whole day.
A catholic nun doesn't fit the setting of course, but I think some village völva healer does. I would definietly put them into villages, not taverns, to award players who discover the scenes
From scratch, cannot copy I think
1: there are those books, which give you skill bonuses. Some mods (1866 western, Last days) use not books, but something else for this. These are nice rewards for quests. These only need an icon, since they don't appear in scenes. Examples:
- a group of small children, who follow the gang, and help after battle (+1 looting)
- some camp follower ladies (+1 wound treatment)
- a crate full of manacles, or a slavers lash (+1 prisoner management)
- an arabic spy-glass (+1 spotting)
- hounds (+1 tracking)
- a crippled old veteran, incapable of fighting, but shouts loud (+1 trainer)
2: I think you could borrow some hairstyles from other mods. Fantasy for dwarf beards and elf hair.
Left picture is an example hide armor and fur leggings, right picture is a mohawk which would work. Both from 1755 mod.
3: I really like some mods where the character creation is skipped, an you just choose a cliché to go with.
There is usually a traditional start, but there are other choices, some are hard to brag about them, some are easy for beginngers, some are drastically different. A few examples:
- Traditional start (normal). attributes at 4 with 16 points to spend, 10 skill points, weapons at 50 with 100 more to spend.
- Start as a slave (very hard). rags and a club, zero (0) money. (blood and gold mod)
- Start as a former champion of a kingdom, a lone wolf (easy). 1 balanced or masterwork two handed weapon, minimum money. 21 strength, 21 agility, 5 intelligence, 1 charisma, no free points. High (5+) athletics, weapon master, power strike, iron skins. (blood and steel mod). Very easy early game, but 1 charisma is harsher than it looks.
- Start as elopers (different). Idea from Battle of Hindustan mod. You start with a wife (in Hindustan, she is an overpowered superhealer-amazon), a noble house (wife's father and brothers) who hate your guts. Alternatively you start with a wife + her loyal retinue of 10-20 elite soldiers, but a faction is at war with you, and the ruler personally hates you.
- Start as deserters (from BAttle brothers game, different). You start with a few, 10-12 mid tier soldiers, and a set of mid-tier gear (same stuff the tier 3 soldiers use). A faction - the one you just deserted - hates your guts.
- Start as raiders (from Blood&Steel, different). You have about thirty bandits in your party. You start with 7 inventory management and 7 looting. You start at negative relation with all villages. You can hire bandit units.
- Start as rightful heir to the throne (from Sword of Damocles 1.011, different). Start with medium right to rule, a faction who you are in war with. Also start with 50-60 troops. SoD also has a companion (loyal servant), who can call for loyal lords in exile at start (a random, loyal lord just appears at your court in a few days).
- Trader (easy, from blood and gold). Start with absurdly high trade and persuasion, at least 7 (to make "assess prices" quicker), at least 5000 gold, +1 relation with all cities. Also 8-10 caravan guards, and some trade goods. The drawback is that you start with 0 in all physical skills, 5 or 6 strength/agility, and low weapon skills.
4: in Caribbean: Blood&Gold, you can access your pesonal chest from the camp menu (so you get one earlier than your first castle)
5: some new soldier types as mercs might work. Guys from the british isles. Since we know that saxons often went to exile to scandinavia, I think some irish slaves (with two handed swords :whistle) are not stretching it much. Also, spear+shield+javelin, light horsemen with javelins.
6: some mods neutral villages, where the player can keep his things. Usually these are four ways inn, but a generic village scene works too. (as long you can leave garrison there, and have a chest for items)
7: I think it would be nice to act as a hero who steps in for duels for old ladies, children incapable of defending themselves. It is quite common in icelandic saga's: someone gets the allowance to seek vengence, but is personally not capable of doing it, so he hires to hero. It could be similar to the nervous man quest, but the enemy could be higher (or more than one), and the price would be renown, not gold. Alternatively, PCs with villain tendencies could beat up old widows, silence witnesses and 12 year olds in service of fat merchants and evil nobles. (this is also very common in saga's)
8: I have no idea how to implement this, but family and a wife in general is very important in a norse saga. More often than not the reason for the whole adventure is that the wife calls his husband coward for not taking vengance.
Wow! What a couple of very, very useful posts! I am humbled and honoured you devoted so much time to test the mod, man.
Now, in the usual fashion, to try and answer:
- Yeah, I know about the high tier armour with bad modifiers being less expensive but better than medium tier armour. That has to do with item modifiers, which I didn't really edit; afaik, they are hardcoded, meaning that not much can be done.
- The difference in the weapons' reach is quite intentional. Each model has been carefully measure and the reach value you are seeing is the actual length of the model. That takes care of the infamous 'ghost reach' problem of Native. The cost is more or less based on the material of the item; I suppose it does make some sense that weapons with more length, so more iron, would cost more. I'll make the necessary changes.
- Hmm, the axes are a bit slower than swords (with a speed of 90), because they have high chopping damage. I assumed axes would be heavier, therefore, slower that swords; I'll do a research on that. As for two handed axes: I can see what you mean.The 70 speed is indeed a typo, and probably the price, too, if we are talking about items with the same modifier. I'll fix those.
- Same with bows, I'll have to check on some real life re-costructions and shooting of and remake the system.
- I've also added a few more 'clubs', based on real life 9th century findings of that area; not strictly 'Viking', but of neighbouring cultures or trading partners (to me, it makes sense that a merchant could sell one mace bought from a Byzantine trader or a Rus trader etc.)
Now, to your ideas. Man, that was interesting. What's more interesting, the author of SoD, Computica (a really nice guy) had sent me a couple years ago his whole module system. So, I can scavenge and take ideas.
- More cash at shops, sounds reasonable
- I noted your idea about the shields, sound good! I'll make replacements for the generic heraldic banners + put a couple of heraldic (round) shields
- Same for the donkey; I'll one of that and a mule
- The nervous man quest gives a -1 relation to the village (by game default) because he's a relative of the villagers; they don't take it kindly if you kill their family.
But the persuasion attempt sounds quite fun and plausible, actually.
- I hesitate to edit looting money amounts, because you can loot a poor village and take a lot of cash. Not really logical, imo
- Food stacks? You mean how much quantity a food item has?
- About the map, I won't really 'expand' it; but at some point, I might add a couple of minor factions (with 1 town and two forts or sth like that), for the Rus and maybe Franks and/or Baltic tribes. There's plenty of room on the map
- Oof, I did plan to alter cattle behaviour; like many things, I totally forgot about it
- Training sessions sound good
- The routing system is quite changed, in the coming version
- Bandits joining up? Sounds interesting. Might also have an impact on player's honour, I think
- In the next version, there's the VC system of improving your gear added
- About the armour colour changes; well, it would be weird, because in the 9th century, there was not really a 'heraldry' system. But I'll see what I can do
- Spears carried on hand? Now, that sounds interesting!
- Same or tavern keeper dialogue; I planned to expand the dialogues of the various troops at some point, anyway; I want the player to have a reason to speak to any troop and hear different things
- Healers are a no, I'm afraid. No 'magic' healing or other thing.
- 'Unique' items with unique bonuses sound cool. I've dome something like that in my fantasy mod, I just didn't really know what to do with the Viking setting. I don't think 'buying' people will do, but certain objects, sure!
- About hair; I did take some beards and hair from TLD. 1755 isn't open source, so I can't really take anything from there
- Well, it's a nice idea about character creation. But the current one, with all the extra flavour was done by a friend, Hootman, who contributed greatly to the mod and I quite like it, tbh
- More mercs from the British Isles sound plausible; I was looking to expand the merc list, anyway.
- Same goes for more NPC interactions, but I'll have to search and plan how to do it
Now, in the usual fashion, to try and answer:
- Yeah, I know about the high tier armour with bad modifiers being less expensive but better than medium tier armour. That has to do with item modifiers, which I didn't really edit; afaik, they are hardcoded, meaning that not much can be done.
- The difference in the weapons' reach is quite intentional. Each model has been carefully measure and the reach value you are seeing is the actual length of the model. That takes care of the infamous 'ghost reach' problem of Native. The cost is more or less based on the material of the item; I suppose it does make some sense that weapons with more length, so more iron, would cost more. I'll make the necessary changes.
- Hmm, the axes are a bit slower than swords (with a speed of 90), because they have high chopping damage. I assumed axes would be heavier, therefore, slower that swords; I'll do a research on that. As for two handed axes: I can see what you mean.The 70 speed is indeed a typo, and probably the price, too, if we are talking about items with the same modifier. I'll fix those.
- Same with bows, I'll have to check on some real life re-costructions and shooting of and remake the system.
- I've also added a few more 'clubs', based on real life 9th century findings of that area; not strictly 'Viking', but of neighbouring cultures or trading partners (to me, it makes sense that a merchant could sell one mace bought from a Byzantine trader or a Rus trader etc.)
Now, to your ideas. Man, that was interesting. What's more interesting, the author of SoD, Computica (a really nice guy) had sent me a couple years ago his whole module system. So, I can scavenge and take ideas.
- More cash at shops, sounds reasonable
- I noted your idea about the shields, sound good! I'll make replacements for the generic heraldic banners + put a couple of heraldic (round) shields
- Same for the donkey; I'll one of that and a mule
- The nervous man quest gives a -1 relation to the village (by game default) because he's a relative of the villagers; they don't take it kindly if you kill their family.
But the persuasion attempt sounds quite fun and plausible, actually.
- I hesitate to edit looting money amounts, because you can loot a poor village and take a lot of cash. Not really logical, imo
- Food stacks? You mean how much quantity a food item has?
- About the map, I won't really 'expand' it; but at some point, I might add a couple of minor factions (with 1 town and two forts or sth like that), for the Rus and maybe Franks and/or Baltic tribes. There's plenty of room on the map
- Oof, I did plan to alter cattle behaviour; like many things, I totally forgot about it
- Training sessions sound good
- The routing system is quite changed, in the coming version
- Bandits joining up? Sounds interesting. Might also have an impact on player's honour, I think
- In the next version, there's the VC system of improving your gear added
- About the armour colour changes; well, it would be weird, because in the 9th century, there was not really a 'heraldry' system. But I'll see what I can do
- Spears carried on hand? Now, that sounds interesting!
- Same or tavern keeper dialogue; I planned to expand the dialogues of the various troops at some point, anyway; I want the player to have a reason to speak to any troop and hear different things
- Healers are a no, I'm afraid. No 'magic' healing or other thing.
- 'Unique' items with unique bonuses sound cool. I've dome something like that in my fantasy mod, I just didn't really know what to do with the Viking setting. I don't think 'buying' people will do, but certain objects, sure!
- About hair; I did take some beards and hair from TLD. 1755 isn't open source, so I can't really take anything from there
- Well, it's a nice idea about character creation. But the current one, with all the extra flavour was done by a friend, Hootman, who contributed greatly to the mod and I quite like it, tbh
- More mercs from the British Isles sound plausible; I was looking to expand the merc list, anyway.
- Same goes for more NPC interactions, but I'll have to search and plan how to do it
Not important actually. I was comparing stuff, and it seems a bit off.
That's true, but you will have "best buy" items. Not sure if that matters though.
A battle axe is not actually a heavy weapon. I mean the real ones, not the warhammer ork axes.
I didn't find good pictures, but I did find a nice video. It is not exactly what I say (battleaxes are fast), but very similar (battle axes are small).
I was fine with the club to be honest. Adding hammers and maces as player (companion!) weapons, will add lots of prisoners in the early game. So might not be the best idea. Not sure.
Historically though, vikings had trade relations with Byzantines and Khazars, both of these used maces.
Not super important, but I think a generic shield, which is updated when the player finally gets a banner is nice.
The nervous man quest gives a -1 relation to the village (by game default) because he's a relative of the villagers; they don't take it kindly if you kill their family.
I understand that. The problem is that the basic format is not worth it. Too small amount of money to hurt relations with a village in the early game, late game it doesn't matter.
A peaceful solution could be to pay the nervous man 100 (the whole reward), for +1 relation with the lord AND also +1 with the village.
In Warband? I actually tried looting, and a village gave me some silverware what I could sell for about 400. DEfinietly not worth it. Raiding caravans is similar. Big hit in relations, and the loot sells for 1000-1500. Caravans are actually OK, if I don't have whiner companions, I sometimes designate a kingdom which I always raid, with no plans to make peace with them.
Yes. For example an apple item is 30 food. It would be better if it was 60. It is very easy to run out of food on campaigns, as there are no villages to buy from. (most villages are always looted)
I saw this in Blood&Steel. They only join if you are dishonorable. Since a raider start is dishonorable by default, and you cannot recruit from villages, for a long time you are left with bandits.
I didn't mean heraldry. But for example give an armorer a green cloak, and ask to dye it brown.
I think there is a javelins in left hand setting in one of the roman or greek mods. But I means that currently, when a spear is not equipped, it is on the back of the character, like a bow. It looks really strange. What renaissance does is that when a spear is not equipped (eg. an archer is using a bow, his spear is in the inventory), it doesn't appear as a separate item on the characters back.
You are right.
If you think camp followers, who never fight bend the athmosphere too much, you can use a chest full of slaver manacles (prisoner management), herbs from a wise-woman (wound treatment), spyglass from Arabia (scouting) could be used. Just an idea.
They are good, and it is among the better ones.
Continued playing by the way, and just got my first CTD. Siege of a white city (one of the two southern ones, either Narva or Lindesxyz). I sieged with 80. Defeated two sally attempts (went for max surgery, so no problem until the main character survives), third time they didn't sally, but they defended with a CTD
Very stable mod, with good performance. This is the first CTD so far.
Mid to late game summary:
Tried looting (both villages and caravans) and it is not economical. Might be a roleplay purpose for it, but it simply doesn't provide enough income. Villages give valuables which sell for 2-300, caravans have goods which sell for 1000-2000. Both hurt reputation and relations too.
Also, quite surprising in a viking game, the companions also complain about these activities. Alltogether, I think these are not valid to gain money.
So, since there are no tournaments, I kept defeating bandits, bought an enterprise in every city I was allowed to, and joined a campaign as mercenary to increase relations with lords.
Late game battles:
now, if someone in the party gets surgery 5, and the warrior companions start investing into trainer, things get quite a bit easier. If slain soldiers actually survive the battle (surgery), and you can skip the tier 1 phase of their carreer (trainer), you will find that you roll over enemy parties double your size.
The AI armies simply don't have many means to kill someone in mail armor, a good helmet, and a shield. (I decided to go for two handed axeman companions in a separate division to flank the enemy. Works wonders) This means that with 50-60 men heavy infantry, you can defeate 100 in the field. I defended a castle with a meager garrison + my 60 men (~20 finn archers, ~10 heavy shock infantry, ~20 heavy spearwall infantry + companions) against a force of 700.
Generally this is a common theme in dark age mods. When you get good armor, you are golden. If is quite disturbing to fight heavy armored enemies tho: you need 6-7 good hits to kill them with a good sword. As a general thought: it is very hard to start rolling (surgery 5, tactics 5, ~50 high tier units in mail), but once you do, the game becomes very easy.
I didn't find the end game troops of any faction particalarly weak. I used mostly finns (best archers), and spearmen in mail armor (pretty much everyone has this unit). Shock infantry were mostly mercs and companions (heavy armor+2 handed axe)
End character:
This is pretty much the furthest you can go without very extreme grinding (already level 20+)
STR 10, AGI 9, INT 15, CHA 9
ironflesh 3, power strike 3, bow master 3, weapon master 3, shield master 1, athletics 3, ride 2
training 5, tactics 5, path-finding 5, wound treatment 5, surgery 5, first aid 5, engineering 5, persuasion 1, prisoner management 1, leadership 3
raiding 2, hunting 2, tracking 2, spotting 2, inventory 3
Equipment: horse (for "wait here" command mostly), 2 handed axe, bow, arrows (2), medium armor. (cannot use high tier armor because of strength. Also the character would be too slow with 3 athletics only)
The last five skills (in italics) are strange. I never wanted them, but I cannot spend skillpoints on everything else, because of the low attributes. If you see the list above, you see what I meant that the player characters will become generalists (no opportuntity to focus). I did everything to get surgery 7/INT 21, but it won't happen. (I only added +1 to cha, and +2 to agi. Or something similar.)
Also, I think this is the optimal character in this mod. You need surgery 5 and tactics 5 more than anything, and your companions will never get that far. But since that requires 15 INT, there is nothing else you can go for. (at least, if you want the strongest army, with no roleplay considerations)
One issue which came up during mercenary days: early game it doesn't really matter that you cannot rest in castles. But it also means you cannot wait for the siege army to attack within the walls. You have to camp nearby, and when they attack, join the defenders. This is the only workaround I found to join defensive sieges. (nice for archery training)
Tried looting (both villages and caravans) and it is not economical. Might be a roleplay purpose for it, but it simply doesn't provide enough income. Villages give valuables which sell for 2-300, caravans have goods which sell for 1000-2000. Both hurt reputation and relations too.
Also, quite surprising in a viking game, the companions also complain about these activities. Alltogether, I think these are not valid to gain money.
So, since there are no tournaments, I kept defeating bandits, bought an enterprise in every city I was allowed to, and joined a campaign as mercenary to increase relations with lords.
Late game battles:
now, if someone in the party gets surgery 5, and the warrior companions start investing into trainer, things get quite a bit easier. If slain soldiers actually survive the battle (surgery), and you can skip the tier 1 phase of their carreer (trainer), you will find that you roll over enemy parties double your size.
The AI armies simply don't have many means to kill someone in mail armor, a good helmet, and a shield. (I decided to go for two handed axeman companions in a separate division to flank the enemy. Works wonders) This means that with 50-60 men heavy infantry, you can defeate 100 in the field. I defended a castle with a meager garrison + my 60 men (~20 finn archers, ~10 heavy shock infantry, ~20 heavy spearwall infantry + companions) against a force of 700.
Generally this is a common theme in dark age mods. When you get good armor, you are golden. If is quite disturbing to fight heavy armored enemies tho: you need 6-7 good hits to kill them with a good sword. As a general thought: it is very hard to start rolling (surgery 5, tactics 5, ~50 high tier units in mail), but once you do, the game becomes very easy.
I didn't find the end game troops of any faction particalarly weak. I used mostly finns (best archers), and spearmen in mail armor (pretty much everyone has this unit). Shock infantry were mostly mercs and companions (heavy armor+2 handed axe)
End character:
This is pretty much the furthest you can go without very extreme grinding (already level 20+)
STR 10, AGI 9, INT 15, CHA 9
ironflesh 3, power strike 3, bow master 3, weapon master 3, shield master 1, athletics 3, ride 2
training 5, tactics 5, path-finding 5, wound treatment 5, surgery 5, first aid 5, engineering 5, persuasion 1, prisoner management 1, leadership 3
raiding 2, hunting 2, tracking 2, spotting 2, inventory 3
Equipment: horse (for "wait here" command mostly), 2 handed axe, bow, arrows (2), medium armor. (cannot use high tier armor because of strength. Also the character would be too slow with 3 athletics only)
The last five skills (in italics) are strange. I never wanted them, but I cannot spend skillpoints on everything else, because of the low attributes. If you see the list above, you see what I meant that the player characters will become generalists (no opportuntity to focus). I did everything to get surgery 7/INT 21, but it won't happen. (I only added +1 to cha, and +2 to agi. Or something similar.)
Also, I think this is the optimal character in this mod. You need surgery 5 and tactics 5 more than anything, and your companions will never get that far. But since that requires 15 INT, there is nothing else you can go for. (at least, if you want the strongest army, with no roleplay considerations)
One issue which came up during mercenary days: early game it doesn't really matter that you cannot rest in castles. But it also means you cannot wait for the siege army to attack within the walls. You have to camp nearby, and when they attack, join the defenders. This is the only workaround I found to join defensive sieges. (nice for archery training)
Hmm, well. You will need to invest more points to STR, in the next version, because many of the heavy items, like mailed helmets and mail/scale armours are tied to it.
And yeah, waiting in castles is partly disabled due to that reason. I mean, isn't it a bit strange to rest in a castle and then attack it? And anyway, the besiegers were staying in camps around the fort/castle they were besieging.
And yeah, waiting in castles is partly disabled due to that reason. I mean, isn't it a bit strange to rest in a castle and then attack it? And anyway, the besiegers were staying in camps around the fort/castle they were besieging.
Hmm, well. You will need to invest more points to STR, in the next version, because many of the heavy items, like mailed helmets and mail/scale armours are tied to it.
I wanted to, but there are not enough attribute points to do so.
This character is high level (20+), and this the ending amount of points: 43.
Investing more then 10 in stength will make you weaker elsewhere. Say, if I wanted to have 15 strength (which would be nice for sure), I would have to end up with 4 charisma, when 9 is already pushing it.
From an other perspective: let's prosume that a minimum of 9 is preferred in each attribute, which is fair I think. That's 36 points, so I have 7 more to play with. Not much elbow room there.
If you further increase item limits (there are items which I couldn't try out personally in this playthrough), you should either add a few points (5-6) at character creation, or go back to the native advancement of +1 attribute per level.
Let's say you would prefer a 15-12-12-9 character at level 20. 48 points total. I think +5 at character creation is better than native advancement.
I think I was a bit confusing with this. An enemy faction attacked a castle, and I wanted to defend it. The occupants didn't let me stay within the walls. Basically they refused the help of 70 men. (the garrison was 60 or so)
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Hmm, good points. I'll make the necessary adjustments to the levelling system. Maybe 1 point per 2 levels? I find the native system a bit exploitable, tbh
Oooooh.
Ok, I get it. It's because I didn't make checks for a siege in the system, I think. Will have to take a look at that, thanks.
Oooooh.
Ok, I get it. It's because I didn't make checks for a siege in the system, I think. Will have to take a look at that, thanks.
I actually like the Viking Conquest system quite a bit.
- you start out as competent, much higher starting attributes than in native
- the skill ceiling are not attribute/3, but attribute/2
- you gain 2 skill points every level
- you gain attribute point every fifth (!) level. That is: 6th, 11th, 16th, 21th
In Detail:
1: Baseline is 4,4,4,5. That's 17 points
2: +2 for your heritage (eg. frisians get +1 INT and +1 STR, irish get +2 AGI). We're at 19
3: +8 points for gender (sexist!). 27 total
4: +2 point for height (tall get str, short get agi, normal get +1 on both). 29
5: verious points for age group. Let's say +8, so 37 now. (adult is 10 points, elderly is 6, young is 8. Basically you get more net points if you go for mental stats)
6: personality gives you +3 on average, 40 total. (again, physical stats are more expensive then mental)
7: virtue get you +2 point for 42 in the end.
The starting attributes of my first ever VC character was: 15 STR, 12 AGI, 5 INT, 10 CHA
Bear in mind than in a full campaign, you will most likely get +4 points total.
The reason I like this method is that it makes early game a bit easier, so the real game can start earlier.
Also there are two nice sice effects:
- since the skill ceiling is attribute/2, not attribute/3 (also, few points mean you will not go above 20!), the progression seems more natural. No more optimized characters with 21 intelligence, and 12 everywhere else.
- you can create a killing machine (like the character above), but you will pay the price for it. The sample character will have 9 INT maximum by end game.
- since skills are attribute/2, you can create the character in any way. For example the 12 agility above is good enough to get 5 looting, which I rarely get in native (needs 15 agi)
Just an idea.
But you didn't add the other parts:
- skill ceiling is lower in your mod (1/3 ability instead of 1/2 ability)
- much weaker starting abilities (didn't check but I think there is a 15 point deficit minimum)
Not a big problem, but I think it is good to consider before you increase the item requirements.
I don't know what other players said, but currently, by end game the best you can get is one 15 attribute, and a few on 9-10.
You talked about slingers, well the Western Finns who lived on the coast sometimes used the sling but it was not as popular a weapon as a bow that was owned by even the most poorest farmers and tribesmen. knife or "puukko" was owned in some form by almost everyone too, as a tool but also as a last resort weapon, there was a trick that involved using a knife and a shield at the same time, fooling the foe that you only have one weapon and then you could slash him fatally with a knife that he didn't expect, another one was "nopeaheitto" throwing of the knife and retrieving it quickly, often done from close quarter. I haven't talked about maces or blunt weapons, those were used by Finns because of their relative common availability as opposed to swords for example, the most common weapon meant for hunting and war was still the spear. Maces were used also because prisoners and slaves were very useful and ransom was very often paid because the opposing tribe didn't want to lose a good man. Vikings used maces but far less if at all, i don't remember them using them much, the Rus on the other hand used them, the bulow was a sort of a popular mace. about hairstyles: well here's a couple of pictures that according to some research in Finland was in use, some skeletons have been found with traces of hair and there's been saga's where these are described, the Iroqueis is unrealistic but a certain kind of mohawk is acceptable. for women short hair was in Finland a sign of slave and if the women's hair was free then she was unmarried but if she used a "hilka" a sort of white headwear then she was a married woman. If you want to get an example of Scandinavian hairstyles of the time, look at the Warband mod "Vikingr" it has believable hair and cloth styles. https://www.moddb.com/mods/vikingr the best i've seen in Viking mod for Warband.
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