Age of Machinery 0.503 *stable* REDOWNLOAD please, file was messed up

[Rydmer]

Man now you got me hyped higlander it looks so great and looking even more for the next version
And maybe adding shot cows over the walls while siging castles and maybe towns to make diseas and maybe even humens 

 

[vlad_flyzzz]

In case you were wondering, flad_fuzz is my evil twin brother who was captured by Highlander and put to work for this mod.

Anyway, those look awesome in game, Highlander. Any progress with the rams? 

 

[virus_found]

But well, how should they look like? What types of armour/weapons would you suggest?

imho, they should wear medium armor and wield some light weapon (like 1h sword or short spear) without any shield and ranged weapons, they have only 2 hands, where do they have to wield all that stuff if to count, that they must always reload siege equipment and carry heavy boulders to it?

 

[Merlkir]

I was just wondering how they would load the ballistas. But it's ok, they look terrifying
Ladder looks great, I really can't wait to use them

 

[Kaizoku]

This mod is not intended for small battle sizes, indeed. Well, nothing I can do about it. Engineers will become much less effective in later versions.
But well, how should they look like? What types of armour/weapons would you suggest?

I like spoiler tabs because they keep long-winded explanations out of the way for those who would rather not see them.

隐藏

Consider either weakening engineers but making them more accessible in the unit trees and/or making multi-tier engineers. I encourage the latter because rather than restricting certain artillery to a particular faction's engineers I think it would be more reasonable to make them easier or harder to use/obtain for particular factions but usable/constructable by all provided they have elite engineers. The lowest level engineers should be dressed in leather at best, no plates or heavy gear (tactically inefficient to have, considering they work in the rear of the battlefield and the ability to operate heavy machinery would normally be hindered by heavy armor) and carry small to medium melee weapons, nothing like the giant axes and the longbows they carry now (I wonder what inspired you to give engineers huge horse-killing axes -- cutting ropes on catapults?).

In my imagination, those that fire artillery are neither the ones who have built them nor elite units in any way. In fact, due to the danger of these devices and how mindless the labor of operating them (except for aiming, which I suppose would be directed by someone other than those that are loading them) I would assume the worst for the poor saps who are being told to roll boulders onto the launching platform or mix/handle dangerous chemicals for medieval napalm. Although if I were you I wouldn't bother with it, you may want to consider separating "engineers" and "operators," and perhaps even have the ability to construct artillery dictated by the engineer skill of the party rather than the presence/number of engineer units (or a combination of both).

I do agree that this mod is best suited for and should in no way be strayed from battles with massive armies. I don't like artillery, to be honest, as it has done me very little good and a world of hurt, but its presence increases the game's depth. As much as I hate to see myself and five of my best men get thrown off our horses and killed by a giant rock from the sky, it feels like war and that's the game's theme.

In other news, starving castles does not work (probably not your mod's fault), I hate being called the Kingdom of Bulugha, and perhaps you should design siege defender artillery to be built in the castle upgrade section (along with prisoner tower) as to me it would make more sense and perhaps even be more easy to implement.

You have done great work, and I hope you're heading in a direction of many strategic/domestic additions, as opposed to combat -- more interaction with nobles, more quests, more political decisions as a faction leader... you've done wonderfully implementing what you have so far and those are the features I crave most.

 

[Xerdun]

this mod is amazing! ! i love it !!!

the only thing i'd like to see is the inclusion of custom troops, like retainers in craft mod? is that possible?

 

[Vostroyan1]

This would be my favorite mod if you could use siege weapons on all the castles.

Good through! 

 

[Woetorix]

I AM the Kingdom of Reindi. pretty awesome. I like this mod. I like the part were you are permanent Marshal. Thats pretty cool.

I used to not like being marshal. But I do now, alot. And I like the fief Management. All small fiefs like me at a 5, all lords get castles, and I get all the cities, yayayayayayay,    king Harlas was allways greedy or mentally Ill, Ill never know....

 

[phorest]

Okay, I read your first post and I saw that nords need mercenary engineers(please don't be mad if i missed it in your first post, I did read it all). But do the mercenary engineers spawn randomly in taverns like other mercenaries, or is there a special place to get them.

I teleported(fun and just to try find some)to all the cities for all factions and found none.



EDIT: for sieges and the defenders, they could have catapult/trebuchets in their courtyard perhaps, they are quite big(for some of the castles anyway). Just an idea..

 

[Adorno]

Downloaded version 0.503 and I'm getting an error message:

Runtime error!
program: C:\programs\mount&blade\mount&blade.exe.

I extracted the file and placed it in modules folder M&B v 1.011

Any ideas?

 

[Highlander]

Phorest:

隐藏

Okay, I read your first post and I saw that nords need mercenary engineers(please don't be mad if i missed it in your first post, I did read it all). But do the mercenary engineers spawn randomly in taverns like other mercenaries, or is there a special place to get them.

I teleported(fun and just to try find some)to all the cities for all factions and found none.

EDIT: for sieges and the defenders, they could have catapult/trebuchets in their courtyard perhaps, they are quite big(for some of the castles anyway). Just an idea..

No, mercenary engineers cannot be recruited in taverns. They are only available, if you upgrade watchmen.

If the catapults were in the courtyard, they'd hit the wall when shooting. It would be too hard to detect, if there is a wall. But I think about restricting defenders' artillery to scorpions and small catapults maybe.
However, there the problem, that the attackers' artillery is much too strong, will be even bigger.

Adorno:

隐藏

Any ideas?

Nope.
Xerdun:

隐藏

this mod is amazing! ! i love it !!!

the only thing i'd like to see is the inclusion of custom troops, like retainers in craft mod? is that possible?

Never really played Craftmod, could you describe what exactly is this feature?

Kaizoku:

隐藏

I like spoiler tabs because they keep long-winded explanations out of the way for those who would rather not see them.

Come on, there is so much spam here. No need to hide the few constructive posts.  Though I just got used to spoilers as well.

隐藏

Consider either weakening engineers but making them more accessible in the unit trees and/or making multi-tier engineers. I encourage the latter because rather than restricting certain artillery to a particular faction's engineers I think it would be more reasonable to make them easier or harder to use/obtain for particular factions but usable/constructable by all provided they have elite engineers. The lowest level engineers should be dressed in leather at best, no plates or heavy gear (tactically inefficient to have, considering they work in the rear of the battlefield and the ability to operate heavy machinery would normally be hindered by heavy armor) and carry small to medium melee weapons, nothing like the giant axes and the longbows they carry now (I wonder what inspired you to give engineers huge horse-killing axes -- cutting ropes on catapults?).

I have no problem with an engineer troop tree. Still, I think we need a better way to recruit them. A seperate tree for them, but where should you recruit them?
I gave the engineers the items from the best ranged unit of each faction, that's all. I didn't really think about this. 
Will of course be changed.

隐藏

In my imagination, those that fire artillery are neither the ones who have built them nor elite units in any way. In fact, due to the danger of these devices and how mindless the labor of operating them (except for aiming, which I suppose would be directed by someone other than those that are loading them) I would assume the worst for the poor saps who are being told to roll boulders onto the launching platform or mix/handle dangerous chemicals for medieval napalm. Although if I were you I wouldn't bother with it, you may want to consider separating "engineers" and "operators," and perhaps even have the ability to construct artillery dictated by the engineer skill of the party rather than the presence/number of engineer units (or a combination of both).

I'll probably use the last idea. Though I will stay at "engineer", as "operator" doesn't sound like artillery in my opinion.

隐藏

I do agree that this mod is best suited for and should in no way be strayed from battles with massive armies. I don't like artillery, to be honest, as it has done me very little good and a world of hurt, but its presence increases the game's depth. As much as I hate to see myself and five of my best men get thrown off our horses and killed by a giant rock from the sky, it feels like war and that's the game's theme.

In other news, starving castles does not work (probably not your mod's fault), I hate being called the Kingdom of Bulugha, and perhaps you should design siege defender artillery to be built in the castle upgrade section (along with prisoner tower) as to me it would make more sense and perhaps even be more easy to implement.

Yeah, do you think all artillery weapons should be available in castles or just ballistas or other small engines? It doesn't look that good to see a giant trebuchet on a small tower. Hopefully we'll get pitch and tar thrown down the wall at the attackers as well.

 

[Rydmer]

Yea Higlander pitch and tar and things like that from Stronghold  the first gaming series I was hoocked on, maybe falling pitches and things like that where  the lord may build on as a defense "item" on the Castle innprowment screen and Town improwment screen.
And maybe a few other things you could build there aswell to make it harder for the attacker to conquer a castle/ town.

 

[ottomanski]

Just downloaded and played Age of Machinery. This mod is GREAT! I loved the tactical map (Backspace) and artillery. Also recruiting vassals are an exremely useful feature. Morale in battles is very nice too.

Waiting impatiently for new features (mobile ladders, ballistas, and who knows whats next)

Thank you to all who spent time on this mod.

 

[Kaizoku]

I don't have "permission" to post the spoiler format anymore! Now everyone will see my long-winded rambling.

In my opinion the absolute best way to handle engineer recruiting is to make them available from castles with some kind of constructible as a prerequisite (like engineer's workshop, or something), because engineering isn't something that is battle-trained. Additionally I think it would make more sense to have artillery built not in the field but at castles due to how silly the idea of a traveling group of engineers building a catapult as they march is, and although it may affect the mechanics of the game too strongly it would be interesting to see map movement speed affected. I don't know how that might affect NPC lords from getting engineers, though.

Also consider a more historical use of artillery. They were almost only used in sieges (vs. castles, camps, and towns) and for the attackers are constructed upon arriving at the castle, then disposed of after the attack (less time consuming than dragging it from one kingdom to the other, and taking it home wasn't worth it). This may be heading in a different direction than you intend, but it would make more sense what with the lack of realism in marching around with five catapults at the speed of horsemen (or stranger still, having more artillery in your army than you have actual units and being able to move at all). Additionally I see more potential in focusing on castle siege artillery, as it's fairly simple to crush an enemy's engineers out in the field if there isn't a wall between you and them but the walls add an interesting element.

In summary, I suggest that artillery is softened a bit (a little bit less deadly and a lot less accurate) and focused to siege battles. Though I also think it's a novel idea to have mobile launchers like ballistas that your armies can bring, but a trebuchet is a bit much. Some artillery being castle constructible additions and others being mobile weapons. I'm getting ahead of myself now though.

 

[Amman d Stazia]

how about 'technician' then 'craftsman' then 'engineer' for an upgrade tree?

 

[Cloud Breaker]

Technician sounds weird. Laborer, perhaps. Or worker.

 

[Amman d Stazia]

recruiting them: since they would have been craftsmen historically, how about the PLAYER can only recruit them from a dialogue with the town guildmaster?  Maybe you need a positive rating of 5 or more in the city before the option appears? 

 

[Highlander]

recruiting them: since they would have been craftsmen historically, how about the PLAYER can only recruit them from a dialogue with the town guildmaster?  Maybe you need a positive rating of 5 or more in the city before the option appears? 

Perhaps.

<post>

Yeah, I certainly plan to limit the artillery more. Not every lord should carry engines with him. A large map speed disadvantage for trebuchets and mangonels is probably needed, too.
I'm planning to change the AI a bit too, so that it defends the catapults a bit better.

 

[Kaizoku]

Maybe you can just copy the script for recruiting peasants from villages and use it to recruit engineers from castles that have Siege Workshops? Instead of the village's wealth and favor as factors, it could be impacted by the engineer level of the NPC stationed there. Or if you want to be extremely particular and challenge yourself, perhaps create a menu where you can "garrison" any unit into a school and over a certain number of days they become engineers of varying battle hardiness depending on the level of the troop that was originally placed there.

Oh, and if you ever get around to it I'd love to see some expansion of the player faction, including sending messengers to other lords/factions regarding peace, combat, etc... and with the original Arena mod in mind, maybe allow the player to challenge other lords/kings to duels or tournaments (perhaps even hosting a tournament) in extreme challenges that rewards or penalizes the contestants' fame. And, even though I'm obviously getting into a topic that strays from the priorities of the mod, find a way for the player faction to get noble ladies, who can offer diplomatic services and quests just as the other kingdoms and additional features like seducing enemy lords and causing them to travel to that city (or coerce them into other actions, maybe even spark wars).

Also, instead of or in addition to changing AI to protect artillery you may want to consider placing physical obstacles like barricades or raised platforms to buy engineers time to throw a few more shots out. I think tampering with AI for units other than the engineers could cause balance issues, mostly in favor of the player, as it could thin the enemy's offensive lines. Just a stray thought, but before the AI was overhauled by an official patch, enemy units tended to disperse considerably, allowing them to be crushed too easily.

 

[NICK.ALTMAN]

where do I find boars? I found deers in forest near Praven. Is there a way to make them look on the map like deers not cows?