(S) Calradia 1050 A.D.: Mercenary Uprising mod (Old Thread)

[Redleg]

Sounds great. I especially like the lower-tier tweak of seaxes to keltons and axes to Nords.

In version 1 I had one type of seax used by Keltons and another type used by Nords.  I decided to give them all to the Keltons.

I forgot to mention that I also changed a few of the sarranid weapons.  I took the long hafted knobbed and long hafted spiked clubs away from the skirmishers because they don't work well with a shield.  I gave them appropriate maces so now they are more effective in combat.  I also gave the Swadians slightly better armor at the top tiers.

 

[WizardOfAtlantis]

I also gave the Swadians slightly better armor at the top tiers.

Those poor Swadians...they're always getting the crap kicked out of them on all fronts.

 

[Redleg]

I also gave the Swadians slightly better armor at the top tiers.

Those poor Swadians...they're always getting the crap kicked out of them on all fronts.

The funny thing for me is that the Swadians do the worst when I am one of their lords or a freelancer enlistee in their army.  When I am working for another faction, the Swadians do fairly well, unless they are gang-banged by several other factions at once.

 

[mikeboix]

This mod looks pretty awesome!! I'm dowloading to try it and opening a thread at my spanish forum 

 

[Redleg]

This mod looks pretty awesome!! I'm dowloading to try it and opening a thread at my spanish forum 

I hope you like it.  I am also looking forward to trying your your mod when you release it.  The concept and screenshots looked outstanding.

 

[Funkmachine]

Looks Amazing, I was going to create a new Mod combining all of the best OSP packs but it appears you have already done it. Good Job sir. Looks like i'll be playing instead of coding!

 

[Redleg]

Looks Amazing, I was going to create a new Mod combining all of the best OSP packs but it appears you have already done it. Good Job sir. Looks like i'll be playing instead of coding!

It had the OSP mod packs that I thought were most essential for my gameplay enjoyment.  I am glad that you like the features.  Let me know your thoughts after you get a chance to play it.  I am working on version 1.1 and want to incorporate any needed fixes before I do so.  The changes that I have already made for version 1.1 are shown in the Nov. 23 update announcement on ModDB. 

 

[Redleg]

I think I finally fixed the bug with towns people participating in the night bandit ambush in towns.  It looks like a little snippet of code from Diplomacy was causing the problem.  I am testing out my changes to make sure they didn't screw something else up.

Once I am confident that issue is fixed, I will finish the rest of the changes for v 1.1.  You can see some of these changes already made for v 1.1 listed on page 12 of this thread in my Nov. 14 post.  I plan to release v 1.1 in the middle part of December.  The main things remaining are to finish the new armors and to separate the levy and professional troop trees and add the new top levy troop.  Rubik's latest troop upgrade trees code will show the separate troop trees and troop equipment.

I will probably replace the most heavy armors with slightly lighter armors for each of the factions in keeping with the 1050 A.D. era.  Only professional troops will have metal armor.  All other troops will have some type of cloth armor and with decent helmets at the higher level.  The spear proficiencies will be increased for all melee troops to make spearmen more effective.

I appreciate all your input including comments, requests, and bug reports. 

 

[Crossbow Pig]

How Freelancer will work with the changes that you are going to make to the troops?We will be only able to enlist as a peasant?

 

[Redleg]

How Freelancer will work with the changes that you are going to make to the troops?We will be only able to enlist as a peasant?

Good question.  I haven't thought through all the details yet.  I could make it so that you start as the lowest-level professional troop or as the lowest-level levy.  I might be able to figure out how to give the player the choice.  The advantages of enlisting as a levy would be more rapid advancement early on while the advantages of enlisting as a first-tier professional would be better arms and equipment but slower promotion (assuming the players start as level 1 and hasn't "cheated up" his/her level).  I was thinking that there would be 4 tiers of levy footmen, with the highest tier being around level 19 or 20.  The lowest tier professional would be level 14 or 15. 

Do you have any ideas or preferences in this regard?  I am still in the concept stage and want to work out as many pros and cons as possible before I make the changes to troops.

If I go to the split troop tree idea, I might need to fiddle with party templates a bit to make sure the AI parties aren't overpowered or underpowered too much relative to the player.  The player will still be able to recruit professional troops from towns and castles and levy troops from villages.  All skirmishers and archers will be part of the levy troop tree, along with the levy footman (spearman) line.  I want to make it so it is still worthwhile to recruit from villages so the top tier levy foot soldiers will have good weapons skills, especially for pole-arms and shields and also 1-handed side-arm.

Do you have any preferences in this regard?

 

[Crossbow Pig]

Well, I don't know man, maybe if we start as a levy and once we have become the top tier levy we could become the professional soldier, but I don't know if its possible because the freelancer code looks too complexe.As for the party templates, I think you should make lords stronger,cause once the player have enough money he will always recruit professional troops.

 

[Redleg]

Well, I don't know man, maybe if we start as a levy and once we have become the top tier levy we could become the professional soldier, but I don't know if its possible because the freelancer code looks too complexe.As for the party templates, I think you should make lords stronger,cause once the player have enough money he will always recruit professional troops.

I will have a better idea once I take the time to really dig into the Freelancer code.  It would be nice to be able to jump from the levy line to the professional line.  The party templates in version 1.0 are somewhat different than in native Warband.  I know I added to each of the reinforcement templates but don't recall off-hand whether I made them better or worse overall for AI lords.  I will take a look at them.

Your point about party templates is a good point.  There will be fewer professional troops available than levy troops because the castle/town troops refresh less often and are limited to 1-4 troops.  I will only offer the lowest tier professional troop for recruitment and they will take some time and experience to level up to the really powerful troops.  The way it is set in version 1, the young noble is the professional troop who upgrades to top tier.  In version 1.1, the lowest tier professional will be level 14 or 15.

Thanks again for your insight.

 

[Cadrian7491]

I believe that the Gekokujo (A Feudal Japan Mod) had separate freelancer troop trees, in which if you started as the son of a noble or a samurai you would be in the samurai line, and if you were a commoner you would be in the commoner troop line, i have no idea if the code is OSP or something but the separation of freelancer troop lines is possible

 

[Redleg]

I believe that the Gekokujo (A Feudal Japan Mod) had separate freelancer troop trees, in which if you started as the son of a noble or a samurai you would be in the samurai line, and if you were a commoner you would be in the commoner troop line, i have no idea if the code is OSP or something but the separation of freelancer troop lines is possible

Thanks for the info.  I will have to check it out.
My only concern with starting as a noble is that in a previous version of Freelancer, you would "inherit" the banner of whichever lord you served as an enlistee.  In other words, once you retired from service, you would get his banner instead of the banner you selected.  I don't know if that is the case with the version of Freelancer I am using because I haven't tried enlisting as a noble character.  I added some of Floris's Freelancer fixes and a few small ones of my own so the problem may not exist in my version.  I will check it out to see if it works okay before making the split troop trees for version 1.1.  Plus for version 1.1 I have added the code to be able to change your banner.

Have you had a chance to play version 1.0?  If so, what are your observations of it?  I am interested in hearing about gameplay balance and any bugs you have encountered.  I am aware of several small bugs, none gameplay breaking or crashing, that I have fixed for the upcoming v 1.1.

 

[Huseby]

I've got a problem with party size and morale.  I've got 147 troops, and when I check my reports/morale it shows that I'm getting -147 morale for troop count.  Is it normal to lose 1 morale for each troop in my party?  I went to try and change the scripts.txt file to change this, but can't find what I would need to change based on this article:  http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,36638.0.html

Can you give me any guidance on how to make it so I'm not losing 1 morale for each troop in my party?

*EDIT* as  work around, I'm using TweakMB to increase how much leadership skill gives morale, but ideally I'd like to not have to do that

 

[Redleg]

I've got a problem with party size and morale.  I've got 147 troops, and when I check my reports/morale it shows that I'm getting -147 morale for troop count.  Is it normal to lose 1 morale for each troop in my party?  I went to try and change the scripts.txt file to change this, but can't find what I would need to change based on this article:  http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,36638.0.html

Can you give me any guidance on how to make it so I'm not losing 1 morale for each troop in my party?

*EDIT* as  work around, I'm using TweakMB to increase how much leadership skill gives morale, but ideally I'd like to not have to do that

Huseby, as far as I know, that calculation is the standard morale calculation used in Diplomacy 4.2, which may be the same as in native Warband.  I didn't make any changes to the morale scripts.  For  version 1.1 I had considered making a few small tweaks to the scripts, similar to what could be done using TweakMB.  One of the things that annoys me is that companions count as regular troops in terms of morale loss.  I will change the script so that companions don't count as regular troops.  I may also raise some of the morale adjustment factors (I don't recall the exact term used and I don't have my module in front of me right now) so that it will be a bit easier to maintain a larger party.  I already have these marked for change in my module system, I just need to go ahead and pull the trigger.

I am also looking at other ways to repair morale.  Currently, you can buy relatively cheap rest time for your troops in taverns.  I am also investigating adding an entertainment skill that can be used by companions or player to improve morale but without all the added stuff (like in Brytenwalda).

One thing to remember is that this mod has higher max party size than Native if you own a fief or castle.  The problem is that with higher party size, your morale will drop faster than with lower party size.  So even though you might be able to have more troops, it will cause morale problems if you carry the max amount for an extended period of time.

 

[Redleg]

A peak at some new Rhodok cloth armors I am working on for version 1.1



And another one for the Rhodoks:



I am also working on a few more cloth type armors for some of the other factions and am improving my mascled armor for the Keltons.  As mentioned in a previous post, I have added more OSP helmets for most of the factions and also a few OSP weapons and armors.  I think you will like the changes I have made to troop equipment for version 1.1.

 

[Huseby]

Appreciate the answer Redleg, and yes I noticed the higher troop count once I had a fief (which I like), I'll just have a balance with lots of war and garrisoning troops   I just thought the -1 per troop number was abnormal, but maybe I just never noticed since my party size typically wasn't as large so early in a game.

There was some other things I tweaked as well (using that Compilation of 82 little tweaks link: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=46290.0 ) that you may want to consider adding (if it fits your goals, and doesn't break immersion).

I always change the capture rate of lords, but couldn't figure out where to do it in this mod's scripts.txt file.

I lower the escape rate of lords as well.  I typically cut it in half or more, from 50% in party chance of escaping to 25, and in a town or castle down to 10 or 15% (from 30%), and if in a prison tower from 5% to 1 or 2%.

I always adjust the tournament bet amounts (pretty much just multiply default amounts by ten, aka add a 0 after each).

I change the amount of gold a king gives you when refusing to grant you a fief that you took from an enemy (900 gold for a fief is ridiculously low,  I usually do 5k or 10k which may be too high for some opinions).

I like to allow access to inventory while in a siege (you can in battle if you go back to your baggage, but not in siege by default), I think that it makes sense.

I like allowing party and inventory access while besieging (why shouldn't I be able to switch out weapons, or upgrade party members while I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the siege tower to be built?

I like being able to attack caravans on the map, even if friendly relations with the faction.  Your red numbers were 1 higher than in native, but I verified that moving them down 1 number (mno_encounter_attack from 3 to 2, and mno_encounter_order_attack  from 4 to 3, and removing the part after as it says in instructions, does work in this mod). 

I don't like losing honor when refusing to ransom lords (but couldn't figure out how to make the change in this mod).  I don't think there's anything dishonorable in keeping a prisoner as your prisoner until you see fit to release them.

 

[Redleg]

Appreciate the answer Redleg, and yes I noticed the higher troop count once I had a fief (which I like), I'll just have a balance with lots of war and garrisoning troops   I just thought the -1 per troop number was abnormal, but maybe I just never noticed since my party size typically wasn't as large so early in a game.

There was some other things I tweaked as well (using that Compilation of 82 little tweaks link: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=46290.0 ) that you may want to consider adding (if it fits your goals, and doesn't break immersion).

I always change the capture rate of lords, but couldn't figure out where to do it in this mod's scripts.txt file.

I lower the escape rate of lords as well.  I typically cut it in half or more, from 50% in party chance of escaping to 25, and in a town or castle down to 10 or 15% (from 30%), and if in a prison tower from 5% to 1 or 2%.

I always adjust the tournament bet amounts (pretty much just multiply default amounts by ten, aka add a 0 after each).

I change the amount of gold a king gives you when refusing to grant you a fief that you took from an enemy (900 gold for a fief is ridiculously low,  I usually do 5k or 10k which may be too high for some opinions).

I like to allow access to inventory while in a siege (you can in battle if you go back to your baggage, but not in siege by default), I think that it makes sense.

I like allowing party and inventory access while besieging (why shouldn't I be able to switch out weapons, or upgrade party members while I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the siege tower to be built?

I like being able to attack caravans on the map, even if friendly relations with the faction.  Your red numbers were 1 higher than in native, but I verified that moving them down 1 number (mno_encounter_attack from 3 to 2, and mno_encounter_order_attack  from 4 to 3, and removing the part after as it says in instructions, does work in this mod). 

I don't like losing honor when refusing to ransom lords (but couldn't figure out how to make the change in this mod).  I don't think there's anything dishonorable in keeping a prisoner as your prisoner until you see fit to release them.

I have already lowered the lord escape rate from battle down to 50% (in the module system rather than using TweakMB). 

I normally do some of the same tweaks that you have listed but decided to leave it up to each player to tweak the game as they saw fit.  Some of the regular tweaks won't be available on TweakMB due to some of the new code I have added to the module, mainly the permanent camp mod, which makes it harder for TweakMB to find the right line of code in the text file.

Anyway, I never noticed that there was a Magelord tweak for equipment in sieges.  I had tried to incorporate Caba'Drin's  code to access chest during siege but for some reason couldn't get it to work.  I will try again for version 1.1 and if I can't get it to work, I will see if I can implement the Magelord tweak in the module system itself.

In regard to attacking caravans: I haven't made any changes to any of those values so any differences must be due to Diplomacy.

 

[Redleg]

Some updated armors I am working on.  These are improvements on the Rhodok armor shown a few posts ago.



and another variety




I am working on several more cloth and mail armors that you will see them in the v 1.1 release this December.  So far I have made new Rhodok, Eastern, and Kelton armors, including a nice improvement on my original Kelton Macle shirt.