Troop Tree Expansion For M&B .960

[ArakDemonBlade]

Early on (at levels 1-10) the game seems to compensate by keeping looter party sizes low.  This changes later as your level advances and as you remove parties from the map.  No clue as to the mechanism in place, but early "looter" parties are at about 6-9, with 15-25 fairly common around level 12ish...

The party sizes do increase with level for bandits: I saw some comment about it inside the code somewhere.

 

[RogueHunter]

in fact i had a question about your expansion(s):you made Mercenary Tree expansion,and i read implemented etc,when download only the beta release on your first link is it adding the Mercenary Tree expansion too or do i need to download that one too?
srry for the stupid question but i needed some info about it,im going to add this one to my list if they are apart...

 

[eliteman123]

Imo, I think the Swadians should have the siegemen.


Heavy armored guys, don't take much damage from damage.

I have to agree wit some ppl, nords (aka danish) werent really known to use horsemen, maybe if they were heavy axemen, not a skirmisher there really nevr was a rank in danish history of archers at all, and yes a halberdier is bttr. cataphracts are more of a nomadic type of horsemen, they should belong to kergits, not swadians. and also swadians are also one of the most proficeint factions on the game they shiould also be intitled to knights as for the rest, sounds relly good, i cant wait to try it

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

in fact i had a question about your expansion(s):you made Mercenary Tree expansion,and i read implemented etc,when download only the beta release on your first link is it adding the Mercenary Tree expansion too or do i need to download that one too?
srry for the stupid question but i needed some info about it,im going to add this one to my list if they are apart...

The additions to the mercenary tree are not in the currently released version. They are in the version I will be bringing out in a couple of days. It is not a separate mod unto itself (sorry if there was any confusion). I am thinking I might push that release up to tomorrow or Thursday. Honestly the extra day or two isn't going to help me all -that- much. 

I have to agree wit some ppl, nords (aka danish) werent really known to use horsemen, maybe if they were heavy axemen, not a skirmisher there really nevr was a rank in danish history of archers at all, and yes a halberdier is bttr. cataphracts are more of a nomadic type of horsemen, they should belong to kergits, not swadians. and also swadians are also one of the most proficeint factions on the game they shiould also be intitled to knights as for the rest, sounds relly good, i cant wait to try it

I'm having a tough time understanding some of what you are saying there...

Understand I am -not- aiming for historical accuracy. I'm aiming for M&B accuracy. On a side notes, the Cataphract horseman was adopted by Ancient Rome at one point so it could hardly be called only 'nomadic'. It has a specific origin which was indeed nomadic but has grown to refer more to a class of cavalry than one group in particular. And the Swadians do have knights.

The addition of the tactics it makes some form of (light) cavalry essential for reducing the frustration of chasing guys down on foot. I am implementing a Rhodok light horseman which will likely be in the next release at least though may be removed later if it seems too jarring a change, though honestly Rhodok cavalry makes more sense to me than Nord (not that Nord is senseless either). I am working under the theory that A) Calradia is NOT Medieval Europe. B) The factions have history enough fighting each other that they would have adapted to the best of their abilities to combat the enemy, hence why Rhodoks and Nords might have starting putting guys on horses, even if their cavalry isn't very good.

Nords are primarily infantry: that is their strong point. The Skirmishers and the Scouts are so-so archers and the Throwing Axeman are really ranged infantry themselves. And the Raider is just that.

The Vaegirs are the mountain men: mostly light weight with some damn good archers.

Khergit are the Mongols more or less. No other way to describe them.

Rhodoks are the citizen soldier tribe types. And they have pointy sticks and REALLY good crossbowman.

The Swadians have the best overall tech tree with particularly strong heavy cavalry. They are also in the most vulnerable position strategically speaking and in my experience tend to end up in wars with everyone at once, so them having a powerful army tends to make sense.

 

[RogueHunter]

take your time,make it bug free and without anything wrong...
im only going to download your expansion because i dont play much as before and dont have time for beginning a new game for mods,this expansion doesn't require a new game heh?! 

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

take your time,make it bug free and without anything wrong...
im only going to download your expansion because i dont play much as before and dont have time for beginning a new game for mods,this expansion doesn't require a new game heh?! 

You always need a new game when playing a mod as opposed to native. So yes you do need a new game. Also true for most changes to troops.txt, which this mod changes extensively (since its a troop expansion). You can export your character and use cheats to get back to a basic approximation of where you were before though I can understand if that is a bit more trouble than you want to go through.

Question to the audience: Where is Geroia in relation to Calradia? I haven't been able to find a good reference for it in game...wonder if maybe someone knows?

 

[RogueHunter]

i only cheat against swadia,nords and sometimes rhodoks...
dont worry,your expansion is definitely worth to begin a new game!

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

i only cheat against swadia,nords and sometimes rhodoks...
dont worry,your expansion is definitely worth to begin a new game!

In that case I recommend waiting till the next version is out before doing so if you haven't already since the additions to the mercenary tree really add a lot I think. The addition of the Terma folks will be a ways off as I have to figure out where in the M&B universe to place them and create the units themselves and make them spawn. Right now they only exists as place holders in the source and as entries in my spreadsheet. Since I have no pre-existing units to work off of  I have to come up with their equipment and such from scratch. Also would like to add some new companion NPCs which may or may not come along with that.

On a side note the current tree for the terma faction will be going up shortly. is up. 

 

[Boeing]

Where is Geroia in relation to Calradia?

I've always assumed it was that island across the sea. Maybe one of the companion's flavor text reveals it's location though.

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

Where is Geroia in relation to Calradia?

I've always assumed it was that island across the sea. Maybe one of the companion's flavor text reveals it's location though.

Manrid's hiring dialogue says he left Geroia to come to Sargoth but was ambushed by the Khergit. That would suggest to me they come from over the mountains by the Khergit/Rhodok region (south east I think?).

May just take liberties. Either way Terma will probably be in the west.  (or whatever direction that would be because I'm really not sure how the map is suppose to be oriented...bleh...)

 

[Looking 4 Real Mods]

Did you make any new kinds of armour to create those new unit types? they might start to look like eachother otherwise..

great fan of this mod, i'll add it when it's ready

 

[Zendarian]

"Terma" is never mentioned in the game. However, some people reference Harlausia, a land from over the mountains and also the lands of Vaegir "kinsmen" to the north in addition to Geroia.

 

[Zendarian]

I'm really not sure how the map is suppose to be oriented...

Considering that "Nord" means north, I think that answers your question. This would put the Khergits (Mongols) in the east and Vaegirs (Eastern Europeans) in the east.

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

"Terma" is never mentioned in the game. However, some people reference Harlausia, a land from over the mountains and also the lands of Vaegir "kinsmen" to the north in addition to Geroia.

Never saw that before. As I said "Terma" is more of a stand in name until I come up with something more fitting. Harlausia might warrant a look at the string files.

And in case it wasn't clear I made Terma up, never claimed it was in game already. 

Did you make any new kinds of armour to create those new unit types? they might start to look like eachother otherwise..

great fan of this mod, i'll add it when it's ready

No new armor. I have 0 artistic talent I'm afraid. Some units do start to look kind of the same I'll admit but then some of them did that anyway. 

EDIT: I checked the string file (should have done that before posting) and saw nothing that looked like Harlausia. One of the things I wanted to do anyway if I added a new nation outside of Calradia was to add some flavor text about it and disperse it in some of the random villager dialog. May be that I should just make that part a separate mod and just include the troop tree expansion with it as that might be crawling outside the bounds of what I intended for this project. I'd rather not do that, however. The whole point is I would like to add a higher level 'bandit' faction to challenge higher level players with something to do other than just fighting lord armies or steam rolling mountain bandits. Having a foreign power with an actual military seemed a good way to do this.

Finally: Its my mod, dang it! I'll do what I want!

 

[Shik]

In the old version of the game, Marnid said that he left Georia for Harlaushia, but was ambushed by Khergits.

I'm assuming that Georia is a middle eastern sort of area near the Khergit Khanate, and that Harlaushia is the island northwest of the Nord Kingdom.

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

In the old version of the game, Marnid said that he left Georia for Harlaushia, but was ambushed by Khergits.

I'm assuming that Georia is a middle eastern sort of area near the Khergit Khanate, and that Harlaushia is the island northwest of the Nord Kingdom.

Which still leaves borders for me to fill in with my own touches. I like having wiggle room, makes devious plans easier. 

 

[Boeing]

More flavor is always good!

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

So I am thinking of putting the new version out tomorrow. Among the changes that will be seen:

-Expanded mercenary tree

-Small expansion to the bandits

-Battlefield tactics kit

-Rhodok cavalry (oh the humanity... )

-Tweak to the morale system as detailed in an earlier post (each soldier for the purposes of calculating the morale penalty for party size is now only 75% of a man)

-Slightly tweaked kingdom parties (barely noticeable if at all)

-Anything I missed, which shouldn't be much.

Finally something I wanted to ask the audience: in my personal version I have tweaked the arena so that foot archers also spawn with a practice staff to give them a fighting chance when all the enemies with swords decide to come after you and ignore everyone else. That way the majority of npcs and characters who are NOT archers don't have to depend on a dice roll for whether or not they have a chance of winning or are totally screwed. I was planning on removing this for the release version (not hard to do) but I decided to ask and see if people wanted me to keep this in? I know the debate over archers in the arena is pretty polarized with some people saying its horrible while others say that archers rock but don't include the disclaimer of "But only if you are a pure archer build".

I might leave it out of the next release either way until I can be sure it won't throw balance for a loop: I did it for myself because I'm sick of losing to nothing short of bad luck. 

Though come to think of it its a small enough change that I could release it as an option...that reminds me I need to write a read-me.

 

[RogueHunter]

finally!
im excited!
i shall post my comment after playing it...

 

[ArakDemonBlade]

Its bad when you find yourself wanting to strangle the person who balanced things because you just got your butt kicked only to remember that person was you. 
Use to Swadians vs Nords with the nords having a mere 25 man advantage over the Swadians was an easy Swadian victory (least it use to be for me...)

The nords just handed my butt to me  and an allied lord. Sure we took out about 130 of them but that wasn't enough. My game has been on a downward spiral sense. Fortunately I'm going to have to start over anyway shortly. 

So to the Nord fans: Nords hurt. Alot.