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

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Antonis said:
Very interesting mod! Best of luck, man!  :smile:

Antonis, thanks.  I was nearly ready to release a stable, error-free version a few weeks ago until I decided to upgrade from Diplomacy 4.2 to 4.3.  Then I started incorporating some of the improvements to Freelancer 1.51.  Then I thought, "why not add KAOS political kit 1.5 to give it more depth?"  So here I am, waiting to get some information on fixing an opcode error from the KAOS political kit before I proceed.

I don't know how you have been able to manage all the mods you have made.  I personally have a hard time letting go, even when I think the mod is pretty good and finished and stable.
 
To be honest, that is an issue, letting go. You want to keep adding and improving and developing things, right?  :razz:
But I am sure the mod will be great, so many interesting stuff there.  :smile:
 
Just an update.  In my last update I discussed that I was working on upgrading to Diplomacy 4.3 and also adding the KAOS political kit.  I am getting some errors that I haven't been able to fix.  I am waiting to see if the KAOS political kit gets updated or if I can get some insight from the modder.

Anyway, I decided to just push on with the original mod using Diplomacy 4.2 and the rest that I mentioned in the first post.  I am now testing the newest troops, items, and party templates and once I am sure there are no bugs, problems, errors, etc., I will release it. 
 
GreenStalker said:
You should add some minor factions who cak take castles and towns. :grin:

I had thought about this and it's on the wishlist.  I like the idea a lot and I will have to check into the coding needed to do this.  I was reading some comments on the New Dawn mod thread and it looks like the modders have done this, although several players commented that the minor factions, while having decent sized armies, are not doing a good job taking castles and towns.  At any rate, I will investigate my options for this.  As I mentioned in my last update, I am mainly trying to polish my most current stable version since I am confident it is bug free.
 
Update.  I am still working on this mod and will try to complete it by the third week in August.  I am taking a couple weeks of vacation before then so I will be taking a break from working on it.  The testing is going fine so far with the new troops and features.  Here's a peek at v0.90 troop trees:

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I am liking the added skirmishers for each of the factions.  Lots more flying javelins, jarids, darts, spears, and axes to take your head off!  The nice thing is that the player can designate skirmishers as archers, infantry, or another type of troop and use them accordingly in battle.

You will also notice that the Nords and Rhodoks now have mounted skirmishers, as do the Khergits.  I am happy with the balance across factions and the equipment and proficiencies I have assigned the troops.  I am making a few more adjustments to some of the gear, but nothing drastic.

 
Nice! I like the troops very much! Skirmishers are very useful, because besides the fact that they can do some serious damage if used right by the player, they can also protect weaker ranged units in melee combat(like archers). I also like the fact that Khergits have now infantry. Since they have settled down, created cities etc. it didn't make any sense to fight completely on horses, they have supposedly abandoned their nomadic lifestyle, according to the game lore. That's a cool decision on your part.

One thing, though, that you might want to change: Vaegir Veteran Thrower. I am taking about the name, only. I don't know, but a plain 'thrower' doesn't have that uniqueness. Maybe something like 'Veteran javelin thrower' or something? It's up to you and it's a detail, not even something important, but... :razz:

Overall, very good progress, I really like the troops!
 
I like it. I very much do, however;

I don't know, 1050, there should be some remnants of tribal rather than feudal organization. I think Swadia being the most "feudal" of all, should resemble most closely the Normans.

Basically, leave them as they are but give them these shields, which should already, luckily, be in the game files;

ACOK_Kite_Shields.jpg

These are from ACOK, which uses the base vanilla as a model for some of the houses there, some are even unchanged from vanilla, like the one with the snake pattern. This would make Swadians a lot more unique without much changing.

As for vaegirs and nords and at least two tiers of early troops. I think they should look more tribal, with the characteristic vaegir white shirt the peasants use in vanilla, as well as no helmet/cap that they have now.

I don't like how you removed the "whiteness" from them that was kind of characteristic for the Vaegirs, especially how you've given the white shirt & lamellar armor to the khergits (my favorite vaegir equipment) though I do like all that you DID give them, in regards to armor.

I like it all, but I think there's still a lot of room for improvement. For example, helmets on most troops look unremarkable, and most rhodok bowmen have the very same leather cap. This is an issue with certain other troops as well.

Just my several cents.

 
I also like that idea, about 'Normanized' Swadians, it goes well with the date and theme of the mod. Many kite shields, besides the unused ones from Native(which are from item number 500 to 508, if I am not mistaken), exist in OSP packs. Sonyer's OSP has a lot of those and also Rathos' 11th-13th century pack. You will also find many other goodies in these two packs.  :wink:
 
YourStepDad and Antonis:
Thanks for your feedback.  As I mentioned, I am making some changes to the equipment shown in those troop trees.  Keep in mind that the images I posted were taken before the most recent changes to the equipment and don't show all the different options that the troops have re: equipment.  There is more variety to the troop equipment than meets the eye!

I had thought about making the Swadians more Norman-like and have used some of the Rathos Norman pack to those ends.  I made some changes to the Swadian lower-tier and archer troop equipment yesterday, giving them less leather armor and more padded cloths.  Those changes aren't shown in the troops tree image.

As you probably noticed, the Khergits are kind of a hybrid Khergit-Byzantine force relying on lamellar and scale armors at the top end and still retaining some of the vanilla Khergit flavor.  I have gone back-and-forth about whether to give them the Byzantine helmets from vanilla.  They will not have cataphracts!

The Vaegirs still have some nice armors, especially the higher tiers.  The troop tree images don't show all the inventory, but each higher-tier troop has 2-3 armor choices.  I haven't gotten rid of the vanilla lamellar armor- it's still there for Vaegirs.  In vanilla, the Vaegir armors were pretty generic, especially for lower-tier troops.  I have remedied that to a large extent and have made them more distinctive, giving the low and mid tier troops more choices so that they don't all look like bandits.

I have used a number of OPS armor and arms packs so you will see quite a variety of appropriate armor and weapons that will be relatively distinctive for each faction.  I have also up-armored many of the outlaws.  I  thought about the tribal aspects that both of you mentioned.  I decided against doing that mostly because it would require a major overhaul of the work I have already done.  I have been incrementally and carefully adding to this mod through 9 versions and I don't really want to take a step backwards. 

I appreciate your comments.  I was just looking at those Norman kite shields yesterday thinking about how nice they looked.  I may use them for the Swadians after all.
 
Actually, that's one point I disagreed with MyStepDad.  :razz:
I suggested that Khergits should be like you made them, less tribel, since they inhabited cities. Now, I really like that blend with the Byzantines, both in a visual, aestheticl level, and in gameplay, as in troops and such. if you like to add more 'Byzantine' helmets, I would suggest looking into a pack by igorbb. In a brf file, he has lots of armors and helmets, mainly Serbian or Rhodokian, as he designed them for Rhodoks, but I find that they look very similar of byzantine 10th-11th century equipment. It is worth a try. The Native byzantine helmet is nice, but a bit  :meh:. Also, having more choices to look at, that's always welcome. 

Overall, I really like the way the mod is progressing. I would love to see some of the newly designed troops, when you come to a stabilizing point.  :smile:
 
Antonis said:
Actually, that's one point I disagreed with MyStepDad.  :razz:
I suggested that Khergits should be like you made them, less tribel, since they inhabited cities. Now, I really like that blend with the Byzantines, both in a visual, aestheticl level, and in gameplay, as in troops and such. if you like to add more 'Byzantine' helmets, I would suggest looking into a pack by igorbb. In a brf file, he has lots of armors and helmets, mainly Serbian or Rhodokian, as he designed them for Rhodoks, but I find that they look very similar of byzantine 10th-11th century equipment. It is worth a try. The Native byzantine helmet is nice, but a bit  :meh:. Also, having more choices to look at, that's always welcome. 

Overall, I really like the way the mod is progressing. I would love to see some of the newly designed troops, when you come to a stabilizing point.  :smile:

Thanks for the encouraging feedback.  I like the new Khergit/Byzantine hybrid troops.  I always hated the all-mounted Khergits in vanilla and thought that I would give them good infantry and reduce the horse component.  I have been testing the party templates and am happy now with the mix of mounted versus infantry and archers and skirmishers. 

I have the IgorBB pack so I will need to look at the helmets you mentioned.  I used a number of the weapons for the Vaegirs.  I am also thinking about allowing the player to recruit two types of troops in the villages- infantry line and skirmisher/archer line.  I already have castle recruitment for Tier 5 infantry but need to make a few adjustments to it so that the volunteer pools in castles are replenished monthly.  That will all have to wait until I return from my trip.  Anyway, I am enjoying your latest Fires of War 1.04.  Well done!  And good luck with the new one you're working on.  I look forward to it.
 
I understand that it's your mod and you should of course have the final word in regards to everything, but that said, wouldn't there be more variety if there was at least some element of tribalism?

This is basically what I had in mind for Vaegirs, rather than the bandit clothes (not a fan myself)

Traditional ethnic clothing for some lower tier troops (of at least vaegirs and nords)
Slav_warrior_from_Solntsev_book.jpg

I kind of imagined this is what the vanilla blue and white shirts for recruits of those respective factions were meant to be anyway, I thought i'd fit perfectly still here, if to be somehow more emphasized.

You could of course, mix it with your already existing armors you decided to give the lower tier troops, no?


Another suggestion I'd like to give is this;

Concerning the Vaegirs, their snow leopard theme has never been made us of enough by any mod or by vanilla itself. Various standard medieval patterns and symbols such as the lion, the eagle, the horse and the bear dominate the pool of crest and shield patterns and heraldry, how about, for a refreshing change, making this icon prominent in Vaegir "culture"?

I always wanted to see banners, heraldry and shield patterns with leopard crests and whiteness, whiteness being the only consistence of that theme in case of the Vaegirs besides their faction symbol, if only to my imagination.

I know that most of that sort of heraldry won't exactly fit into the timeframe, nor will probably my next suggestion; I imagined early tribal Vaegir nobility wearing snow leopard skins and possibly adorning their helmets with leopard heads/skins, much like the Greeks did with lion heads and possibly vikings with bearskin.

Even if possible it would probably be a hell to model, but just throwing the idea out there.
 
Redleg said:
Anyway, I am enjoying your latest Fires of War 1.04.  Well done!  And good luck with the new one you're working on.  I look forward to it.

Thank you! And I wish you to have a merry time during your trip.  :smile:

I like the Khergits, as I said, good thought on making them use their infantry. And igorbb is an awesome guy, his pack has a ton of weapons and helmets, who are actually quite historically accurate. About the castle recruits, here is what I did for my big project, maybe you find it a good idea: I kept the village recruits as the simple infantry and skrimishers(separate for each faction, but all are poor men, with basic equipment and intended to be the backbone of the army) and in castles, the recruits are acting as special units and officers. So, each faction has two separate troop trees, one that is the 'normal' recruits, with spearmen, archers and the likes and the other one that has officers as top tier units. That's up to you, but since you already made recruits available in the castles, it'd be easy to add upgrades to them. And it will greatly expand you troops.  :smile:

@YourStepDad: I agree on that one, Vaegirs should be more 'rus-ified'. And the snow leopard motif should be more exploited, although, to be fair, there are already quite some banners with it. I recall from Native a white/green one and a red/yellow one. Also, the Vaegir faction banner, which is a leopard. But, sure, as Swadians have lions, it would be cool for more of that variety.  :smile:
 
GreenStalker said:
It would be good if you added more robbery bands and better equip looters.

The looters have been better equipped and have better proficiencies than before.  All the outlaws now have better equipment.

I am toying with expanding the outlaws so that they have several tiers each.
 
YourStepDad,
I have used some tunics very similar to those you show in the picture in version 8 of this mod.  I have recently changed them to something different.
 
Since we're talking about units and equipment, I think the surcoats should be removed from the Swadians. The first ever instance that they're depicted is in 1150, and it really wasn't until the 13th century when they were starting to be used widespread in Europe.

At this point in time, regardless of whatever culture the Swadians are represented by (unless they're being represented by 11th century crusaders), they shouldn't be wearing surcoats.
 
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