A few odd questions...

[Sarin]

So, I just came back to WB and decided to try out Floris. I'm running 2.54 EX from Moddb.

First, after pressing backspace in battle to show minimap, it pops up a background for minimap that doesn't go away. I have to press ESC and back to game to fix it. I've poked around, found reference to a hotfix, but can't find the fix myself.

I've been reluctant to try out 2.55, because a bit poking revealed that many people have problem with tournaments in 2.55. Also, my current WB installation is 1.58 (been a while since I updated it, and since the other mods I have installed work fine with it, I'm reluctant to mess with it), how's the compatibility of Floris 2.55 or Evolved with it? I'm still a bit WB newb, so I won't go multiplayer anyway (hell, can't control direction of slash properly sometimes, let alone chamber block or manual parry).

I can't seem to find option to request rations in Freelancer. Couple times I got bread on payday, but went starving on occassions too.

And I'm wondering just why is my tournament reward always a thick....horse. Not the sharpest one in stable, I guess....

 

[Sarin]

Oookay....I'll have to add a few things, hopefully someone will respond. I played, and played...eventually found myself founding my kingdom by breaking away from Rhodoks quite earlier than I expected...I got the opportunity to take majority of their towns with me. But it brough me heap of trouble...

No decent lord wants to join me. I have good honour, but not good enough apparently. RTR is 45. I might be able to keep the war going on without allies a while longer, but it's going to be hell. Any tips for getting the good lords on board quickly?

Another possiblity is to get peace with Rhodoks, at least for a while. I sent a few messengers to Graveth, he always had unreasonable demands...eventually I got tired of it and locked him up, does Floris offer any way to force him to make peace?

 

[AvionSpirited]

Okay,was sort of lazy to answer your first post,but oh well,... 
About your first post:

I googled what you mentioned,and it seems that by downloading version 2.55,the problem with the mini map would be fixed.Also,it was specifically mentioned that the Nexus mods version needed to be downloaded(its given right here,in the downloads section).So you probably want to upgrade your version from 2.44 to 2.55.

The tournament crashing is caused by WSE problems.I think you could solve it by updating your WSE to the correct compatible version.If I remember right,you could find some answers right here itself(might be some months old). I don't know the compatibility of Floris Evolved with the Native version,but the ver 2.55 works fine for me.Although,I must say that a myriad of bugs have popped up,after reaching day 320.Some serious,yet rare,while others are as measly as pronoun mistakes.And you might need to check in on the updates- it seems that its woking fine for me on Ver 1.168.So I guess you might not have any problems in running 2.55.

About the freelancer: Most likely a bug that needs to be fixed.I really haven't checked out Freelancer yet,so I can't say for sure....

Yes,I've also wondered some times about the horses.....have you gotten the Spirited Blue-White Warhorse(something)? Anyways,about your second post:

Okay,you might be too early to start a kingdom of your own,judging your right to rule.I would also try to develop a minimum of 100-120 honor before starting my kingdom.Just make sure that you have some friendly lords who are at least 'supportive' or 'friendly' to you.Go to Reports-> Known lords,in order to check the lords/kings you have the most relation with.Check specifically for lords who have the following titles mixed in with their kingdom specific titles: Dolor,Invisus,Ultio,Vindicta. These mean that the lord has a negative relation with the king/queen,and that he might have had a quarrel with the monarch.Although these lords may mostly be quarrelsome fools and ah 'sirrahs',you need to look for someone who is good in nature,like  an Upstanding lord,who has a negative relation with the king.I don't know for sure,but certain specific lords have  a high chance in becoming good natured/upstanding/etc.. For example,Count Grainwad may start to dislike King Harlaus,and acquire the title of Count-dolor-Grainwad after successful awarding of newly captured fiefs to lords other than himself.

        This means that you will have to concentrate on lords who aren't debauched,pitiless,calculating(for the time being),in order to maintain better relation between you and your vassals.Like I said before,check the 'Known lords' page to see rebelling lords who have an acceptable nature.And send your companions as emissaries,to increase your RTR way much higher.And finally,peace,as nice as it may sound,is really hard to obtain,especially when your kingdom is so small and vulnerable.Don't worry about being small in terms of fiefs;you can defend them more easily,but you should get those friendly lords into your kingdom as fast as possible.After this,you can conquer new fiefs.And I think you might also need to pay a hefty sum to negotiate for peace(don't really know if thats even possible as king,I haven't tried yet),so just keep Doge Graveth in your comfortable dungeons to get a good ransom(guard the castle/town well!). Hope this helps!

 

[Sarin]

I decided to roll with it, made peace with Rhodoks and entered a long period of building up army and generally being paceful. It helped that all remaining nations were too busy with each other. I used my huge money reserves (gotta love landowning...thanks to it, a huge center like Suno or Praven can support 1000 high tier troops). So far, I partially fixed the lord issue by grabbing a bunch of bad natured lords, gave them just a couple of villages each, recruited noble companions from "the other group", gave them some decent gear and basic skills and gave them a few villages before they could mess up my party. I decided for a strategy of keeping all castles and towns for myself, which gives me both huge income and increases party limit (+20 for each castle), hoping that I'll simply leave defense to my lords and take care of offense myself. After all, my capital now has 2000 tier 5-7 troops.

But I can't seem to be able to recruit anyone, because every good lord is happy with his liege. I've even built 100 relations with a good natured lord, sent my specially trained 10 persuasion companion to try to recruit him...nope. I suppose my only chance lies in blitzing the Rhodoks when they're busy, and then recruit their lords after the wipe. RTR and honour are not a problem anymore...nearly 200 honour and 99 RTR..I managed to get the other nations to recognize me as monarch after my quick honour and relations grabbing campaign of spamming gifts and freeing every imprisoned lord I could find.

 

[AvionSpirited]

You seem to be doing well so far.But just remember to keep your T-7 troops guarded with some mercenaries,like I5 Schild Maid/Femme Fatale for infantries,Mercenary Grosskomturs,C6 Kenaus,or anything that matches with the infantry/cavalry/archer groups.This might seem a bit pointless,but the mercs can deal good damage before being knocked out/killed,and will also soak some damage that would have otherwise killed your hardly trained T-7 troops.Also keep in mind the really cheap costs for keeping mercenaries in your party compared to faction respective t-6/t-7 troops.I for example,by simply keeping a bunch of C7 Khergit Cherbinuuds,need to pay nearly 400 denars if I have 5 of them(each week).

No angry lords might mean that the kingdom isn't conquering much.Kingdom of Nords is known to bully Grand Principality of Vaegirs(not completely sure),but check for kingdoms that have conquered much of the enemy faction's fiefs.That way,there will be lords who have grown angry due to the awarding of fiefs to rivals/people other than themselves.The fact  that the 100 relation lord doesn't want to join you,is because he might be more comfortable with his current companions/monarch.These lords might be much harder to convince.Although natures vary,it is common for certain lords to have a specific nature(like I said before).

                            Take Jarl Olaf.His family is known to cause quarrels,especially his son,Jarl Rayeck.But both of them may still have a chance to be 'good-natured'. So look out for specific people like them.Wang Tonju,Wang Belir,Noyan Imirza,are similar examples from the Khergit Khanate.Some of these lords leave a specific faction,because of their family having an overall negative standing as well.This means there may be a couple of lords who think the king is bad(because the king quarrels with his family members),but may actually be a 'trustworthy' lord in nature.Just sharing what I've experienced.

 

[Sarin]

Battle isn't a problem. Getting lords still is. I know the relations and natures...but if they're happy with their current lord, there's little I can do. I've accepted a few martial lords, and managed to get a couple of good natured ones too after Vaegirs bit the dust...but the lack of lords is still a problem for me.

Maybe some problem lies in the fact that I've played this save for a long time-over 1700 in-game days now. I've spent way too long time building economic base and training the companions to be useful. But I don't want to let go of it, especially after I got lordly Imperial plate from bonus loot.

Anyway, there are two things that keep me wondering. What exactly is the effect of chosen culture for my kingdom? I've nver really figured that one out.

Second, there are some items marked as merchandise, but assigned only to fac_player:faction. Is there any way to get them other than looting? Nobody has slaver chiefs that could get me an elephant...and I don't even know who could carry a few other interesting items.

 

[AvionSpirited]

Ok,so I did some searching,and it seems that the culture of a kingdom makes the lords recruit the same type of troops of the culture that you've selected.A bit vague,but still,as an example: You(as the king,ofc) change the culture of your kingdom to Nordic culture(ie,the Kingdom of the Nords). As a result,your lords and towns will have troops of the Kingdom of Nords mixed in with their current parties.Don't really know whether it 'mixes' with the previous culture of the lord like I said,though.

I've seen this happen currently in the game though.Lords who rebel into other factions,and manage to establish a good relation with the monarch,seem to slowly recruit troops of the new culture they have become part of.So even if you change the culture of your kingdom,I think the changes will be very slow.

Lastly,I have abysmal knowledge of modding,so I cannot recommend any ways of changing the scripts of the game . But I think there was a possibility to change the nature of the manhunters from neutral to hostile(so you can loot them). But still,manhunters don't upgrade themselves,so it would be sort of pointless to go after some mules and pavises....I think the mercenaries and manhunter factions have equipment that cannot be acquired without some changing of game scripts.I mean,mercenary cavalry have cool looking horses and armor,but they(like you said) are not available anywhere.But elephants seem really out of place anyways,right?I mean the texture and animation clipping,weird running,like that.......

 

[goosey54]

Quick question

Howcome the AI kings have armies of 400-500

While me as a king with more castles/fieds, slightly lower renown, can only field 200ish?

 

[Sarin]

AI gets boosts to ovecome its stupidity, and the fact that player can field higher quality of troops more easily thanks to trainer skill and companions. Those 500 are just about equal to your 200.

Oh, and you can field 500-ish too. Keep all castles to yourself, each gives +20 to party size.

@AvionSpirited Thanks. So, the culture is maybe the problem behind the issue I had with the ex-companion lords. They didn't field more than 50-ish troops.