SP Dark Ages The Sword And The Axe

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My laptop is on it's last legs, not working as it should. Fixing it will be a hell and as costly project
I can post some more pictures for now but no idea for how long. My life situation has become more dire as well, and the forums where i have gotten some of these pictures require an annual membership fee.
my friend who has many these kind of pictures also wants something for his labor and i can't pay for everything.
If that wasn't enough my economical situation has worsened more than i thought, because of higher taxes and fee's that my job requires that i pay.
 
What i am proposing next is not a threat nor a demand. I do this because of my love with history in all it's forms as well as Finnish and Scandinavian culture and teaching people. But in order that i can continue delivering the best pictures from "locked" sources and preparing for my laptop's eventual end, as well as to start improving my life situation which is dire, the ability that i can pay for even the essentials has become considerably more uncertain.

I am asking that you, Antonis or (anyone else who likes this mod) pays some moderate amount of money for each picture or a bunch of pictures that i deliver, i hate that i have to ask for this, but even i who does this because of my passion for history or even history-influenced works, has to eat. I am sorry if i have annoyed you with this.
 
Oh. Wow.
Ok, I sympathize with your situation, I really do. But modding is a hobby for me, something I do for fun exclusively. I strongly believe in the saying 'sharing is caring' and that all modding should be free. And while I am thankful for your assistance, I won't really pay for stuff I can find with other means. With more difficulty, perhaps, but yeah.

Just as a sidenote, and please don't view it as rudeness, but if your friend wants to charge you money just to let you look or read some of his books, maybe he's not a real friend. Just saying.
 
Yeah my friend can be a jerk, but i understand it somehow, because the book he searched for me from a museum is rare and it took him 2 months to find this specific historical picture book.

I understand that you don't want to pay for this which i consider a sort of a hobby too. I will still try to find appropriate pictures and sources, but i cannot guarantee that i can deliver them with haste because this laptop is really not working with me, and no real money to pay for fixing it when combined with other life problems added it can be hell sometimes, to be blunt.
I am not angry at you, don't worry about this, since i am not demanding a payment. i will continue with this project.
 
Well i have managed to borrow my relative's laptop but it's been painful to try to find any pictures, my old laptop gave up the ghost i managed to save some pictures but not all. I can maybe/possibly/hopefully post something this week but no promises cause there is so much to do.
 
Okay, things are still looking pretty grim, but i have managed to stabilize the situation somewhat, financial situation is still bleak as is the state of my laptop but if i can work things out by Monday there should be some pics i could post though as i have stated i can't guarantee anthing with this machine and other things pressing.
 
I tried this mod in the past few weeks, and since I am having a great time with it, I thought I should drop by and tell it to the creator! Great job team, this mod is really fun.

I especially like:
- the focused map (I don't like too large maps. When you get a "take oil to X" quest, and you realize you have to travel for 15 minutes IRL)
- faction variety is very good. Even though there is a common baseline, every faction has a unit or two which is unique.
- prices, merchants, tournaments all seem reasonable
- generally the gameplay. Infantry focused, but still managable for my bad skills
- this mod seem to be a fine example of laser focus. You knew what you wanted, and didn't get sidetracked with all the possibilities. Very rare thing, very pro.

Room for improvement (not much :grin:)
- rename the companions, adding some meaningful stats (looking at you, Katrin! 7 inventory what you cannot even use?), and maybe new facial features. I can help with this if you need help. (just share where can I extact the face code so you can use it)
- rename Denmark for Danmörk*! Instant awesome for rock dots!
- there is a big empty space between Denmark and Livonia which looks unnatural. I think it would do good for the gameplay to have a new faction. To have it viking style, you could add wends or some balts (Kursi perhaps)*. The same base really, but maybe a bit more heavy on skirmishers.
- I don't know where the music is from, but it is very good. I really like this folk-metal something wibe. Some more music would be very cool though.**
- no matter what you do, please, please don't change the combat animations, and don't add the "everybody is drunk/high" submod.


*this is actually from Wrath of the norsemen Medieval 2 TW mod.
**the main theme is actually used by the WotN mod for Med2 too. Pattern recognition, HA. (I very much love that mod, so a big plus from me!)
***WotN uses a few, I can look up the troops trees for you if you want
 
Hello, glad you had an interesting time! Keep in mind, there's a new version coming soon! As for your suggestions, really good, I'll answer them:
- the companions are all renamed and their backstories changed(?) That was done years ago, by an old teammate. Still, if you wish to help by re-designing some of them, I say go right ahead! This is not just my mod, I mean it to be a collective effort; my vision isn't the only and the only correct one! You can send backstories to me via a text file, or if you want to write the dialogues, I can send you the file, you can directly do it. As for face codes, it works the same. You can do it directly on the game files, but I would advise sending me the face code, because my file generally follows my structure, which maybe is not the easiest to get through. :grin:
If you are unsure, to generate the face code, you should launch the game in Edit Mode and after you make a new face, hit Ctrl + E and a box with a hexadecimal number will appear in the top left of your monitor. Just click it (it copies itself to the clipboard by clicking) and paste it in a text file.
- I'm not really an expert in Scandinavian history, any researched input would be welcome. The only reason I don't use umlauts in the game is that I don't know if the font or the base game font support them.
- Yeah, the area is there for a reason. :grin:
I have plans to add 3 or 4 new factions, smaller than the rest. The certain ones are a Rus faction, a Baltic native faction (don't know yet what tribe) and maybe a Carolingian faction. I just need to find some time or help with that.
- The music is from Royalty Free license composers from YouTube. I also like the folk drums etc.
- Heh, I also like the combat animations and I won't change them, dw. The attack animations are carefully selected because the mod revolves around the use of a shield, so all the onehanded animations are better suited for shields + weapon combinations.

Unrelated, but you are a member in the Discord, too, right? I recognize that glorious, glorious name. :grin:
 
Hello, glad you had an interesting time! Keep in mind, there's a new version coming soon! As for your suggestions, really good, I'll answer them:
- the companions are all renamed and their backstories changed(?) That was done years ago, by an old teammate.

Hm, it seems I have an old version (from repository I think), will look up the latest than!
Still, after checking the revised companions, I might have an idea to include a new one :smile:


- I'm not really an expert in Scandinavian history, any researched input would be welcome. The only reason I don't use umlauts in the game is that I don't know if the font or the base game font support them.

Fair enough. It is called Danmörk in a MEdieval 2 mod, and I thought it looks cool :smile:


- Yeah, the area is there for a reason. :grin:
I have plans to add 3 or 4 new factions, smaller than the rest. The certain ones are a Rus faction, a Baltic native faction (don't know yet what tribe) and maybe a Carolingian faction. I just need to find some time or help with that.

If you want, I will look up the settlements, lord names and troop trees from the Medieval 2 mod. It is historicalish.
Generally it was developed as a historical mod, but with gameplay and faction variety first. Basically every faction has some common units: light spearman, light archer and armorded spearmen. Specialist units (axemen, 2 handed axemen, skirmishers, sword and shield, light cavalry) are added on top to provide unique gameplay for all factions, and balanced hard counters for each. (eg. your foot skirmishers take virtually no damage in field battles against heavy infantry... but wait! What are these franks bringing into battle? Light javelin cavalry with kite shields? Oh well, you guys were good lads!).

Carolingians: one point of view is that they would be unique in the area, fielding armored/lightly armored javelin cavalry with kite shields. However, I think most players would gravitate towards hiring them in high numbers.



Unrelated, but you are a member in the Discord, too, right? I recognize that glorious, glorious name. :grin:
Well, yes and no. Quite sure you mistake me for someone else :smile:
I am on Discord tho, but mostly because I am a roleplay DM, and I find discord better than rolltwenty. Regarding mods, I was never active (trying to spend the minimum amount of time on social media). The only chance for us to have met is that you joined an open table game of mine. I did lots of those during the April-May lockdown/quarantine.[/QUOTE]
 
Ah, no, sadly, I haven't played any international, online tabletop RPGs. Sounds fun, though, would love to try at some point.
The latest version of the mod is 5.4. I hope that soon(ish) 5.5 will be released. I just keep adding stuff, you know. If you play on a version before 5m, hich I suspect you do, almost everything has changed, reasonable. Here's the Discord link, with most of my public M&B projects, this mod included and the latest changes: https://discord.gg/XF5qjeu

Generally it was developed as a historical mod, but with gameplay and faction variety first. Basically every faction has some common units: light spearman, light archer and armorded spearmen
That is pretty much my philosophy, as well. I do hope I put more weight and thought on realism and accuracy, but I also like to have an interesting mod, gameplay-wise.
 
I checked the mod I was talking about for the baltic factions. It has Obrodites (Stargard. Pretty sure it should be called Storgórd or something) and Vendland (Demmin and Radegost) sandwich between Denmark and East Franks. Kursi (Jurpilis) and Prusia (Medanava) on the coast, and Novgorod (faction called Gardariki, with the city of Novgorod actually named Holmgard).

I'm pretty sure the modders there used fantasy-ish army setups to spice things up, because (except for Novogord) the flavors seem interchangable. Most of the region has similar troops to scandinavia, but with a bigger focus on skirmishing:
- the entry unit of the faction is not the usual spear+shield, but javelinmen
- spearmen also carry a few javelins
- access to slavic units. Usually no meaningful armor, but hybrids. Good ambushers and flankers, propably not suited for frontline because of the lack of armor (either sword+shield+javelin, or axe+shield+javelin. Also axe+bow)
- cavalry is available to all baltic factions. They usually come in two varieties: light to medium javelin cavalry (no lances) which represent raiders or mid-class landowners who can afford to lose a horse in a campaign. The other is usually the druzhina (chosen bodyguard) of the leaders, which are medium javelin cavalry (mail, round shield, nice helmet, javelin). There is no lance or horse archer cavalry in the mod.
- Novgorod/Holmgard is an exception, because apart from the access to slavic units, they also get varjagi (two handed axes, mail) and vitjazi. These are high tier sword and shield troops which raise morale in the shieldwall.
- also, there a faction which has cheap troops, nice allround roster, but no meaningful armor on even top tier units. I don't know if it would work in Warband tho.


edit:
Maybe you don't know about these, but this might actually be a useful contribution for you. (I know these because of my rpg background)

Alexander Nakarada has royalty free, free downloads on his site. You can use these online or in PC games, as long as you give credit to him.

This is also true for the Fietcher brothers. As long as you work on an indie game project, and give them credit, they allow using their tracks for free. I especially recommend their dwarf, and celtic playlists.

They have lot's of norse tracks too, but it is not compiled for some reason.
 
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Hey, pretty cool stuff. I knew about Nakarada's and the brothers Fiechter's music, I used a couple of tracks. I also use tracks from Slavic Affairs etc. All royalty free for non-commercial use.
As for the factions, very interesting. When I do make those factions, I'll go historical, but yeah, a nice inspiration and a starting point. I had in mind for quite some time to make an AoR system, like in my other mods, but while Denmark and perhaps Finmark would have unique units, like Baltic or Finnish/Lapland troops, I don't know about the other factions. They would have to use one of the same units they already have or something not very historical (which I don't want.).
 
Hey, pretty cool stuff. I knew about Nakarada's and the brothers Fiechter's music, I used a couple of tracks. I also use tracks from Slavic Affairs etc. All royalty free for non-commercial use.
As for the factions, very interesting. When I do make those factions, I'll go historical, but yeah, a nice inspiration and a starting point. I had in mind for quite some time to make an AoR system, like in my other mods, but while Denmark and perhaps Finmark would have unique units, like Baltic or Finnish/Lapland troops, I don't know about the other factions. They would have to use one of the same units they already have or something not very historical (which I don't want.).

Since I will start a new campaign, are you interested in specific feedback? SHould I look out for specific things? Eg. item balance, some locations you had problems with, finances during a longer campaign, etc?

Also, is there a way to enter tournaments in the last version? I see that cities have them, but there is no option to join. (might be inteded, not sure)
 
Anything you can report, that would be great! But item and troop balancing is always an issue! No, for the moment you cannot enter tournaments. It is quite intentional, because tournaments are not really Viking-like. I want to transform the to something, but I haven't figure our what, exactly. So, I just disabled the option to join, until I do. :razz:
 
Anything you can report, that would be great! But item and troop balancing is always an issue! No, for the moment you cannot enter tournaments. It is quite intentional, because tournaments are not really Viking-like. I want to transform the to something, but I haven't figure our what, exactly. So, I just disabled the option to join, until I do. :razz:

Good to know, I will not try than :smile:

I mostly use them for learning the attack animations of the mod, and get 80-ish in weapon proficiencies. For me, they are basically weapon training where I cannot die.

Some ideas here:
- it is in the icelandic saga's (not 100% compatible), very often people hire sellswords to represent them in a duel. There is a difference in settings of course, but might work. This might work for money.
- in quite a few mods, you can train your own troops live from the camp menu. Training weapons, beat up the recruits. You get some weapon skills, they get some experience. Also it is a great opportunity to put in some flavor text, like "Mate, you don't hold your shield firmly! Now look... I easily pull it down with the back of my axe... like this... Bam, axehandle in your face. Pay attention to this next time" This might work for training up skills and flavor. I think SWord of Damocles has this, but numberous other mods too.
 
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