Kingdom of the Scots 3 - Previews

[The Bruce]

The Campbells were a relatively minor clan until they supported the Bruce who awarded them much of the lands formerly held by the MacDougalls.

The MacDonalds were indeed the hereditary Lords of the Isles beginning with their founder Donald who was a grandson of Somerled, King of the Isles.

My Dad won't have Campbells soup in the house as we too are MacDonalds. Not all of their Clan history is so dark however, they were Scottish patriots and loyal to the Bruce and his successors in the time our mod is set.

[The Bruce]

you guys belong to clans ?

or nowdays clans are just a inherited title ?

do you use to wear kilts and play bagpipes ?

The Clan system was effectively dismantled during the Highland Clearances in the 18th & 19th Century.

Most Scots (and those of Scots descent) can claim their family belongs to a Clan. However its not something that many of us pay a lot of attention to. Its just a nice bit of heritage and lets us know what tartan to wear at weddings.

The obsession with belonging to a Clan (and Clan Societies) is far more prevalent in America and elsewhere.

Often a visitor with only notional Scots ancestry will be conned into buying a kilt in Edinburgh that allegedly relates to there family name. You could be Hungarian and some expert would "discover" a clan and tartan for you. Everybody wins, the visitor walks off with his kilt and new-found heritage feeling smug because he is Scottish after all and the expert counts his money and thanks God for the endless supply of gullible tourists.

I only wear kilts at weddings but I do like them. Very liberating.

As for bagpipes - it is compulsory for all Scots to play the bagpipes at least 12 hours a day and whenever a tourist is in earshot.

[The Border Reiver]

Yes I bought my kilt in Edinburgh on the Royal Mile, i saved up for a year for it! I too only wear mine at weddings, Scottish Gatherings and fancy dree parties.

I learned to play the bagpipes but gave up after I had to travel 11.5 hours each way.

As the Bruce said a lot of scots can claim they belong to a clan...and by the naming conventions over the last 2000 years they are right. I like to as well! It's one of those things in life, we are all trying to feel like we belong to something....perhaps that's why I studied Roman History etc at Uni and only read historical books, because I prefer to think of a lifestyle long ago, instead of the modern age.

Still I remember being by Loch Lomond 4 years ago in the misty rain (visibility 100 metres) and out of the mist I heared the bagpipes playing and then the pipers emerged from the woods...it was all rather surreal!!

[Swagger]

i would pay for see you wearing a kilt...

[Father Jack]

haha in that case id better find a picture of me in one ....... now where did i put it?:hmmm:

I cant tell u how good a kilt is to wear

About being in a clan..... it doesnt really mean much nowdays but its nice to have that part of history in your name i guess. And its better then having an English name like Smith

I guess id better start practicing on the old bagpipes considering that i may be going to Edinburgh university

[The Border Reiver]

Kilts are great to wear...everybody looks at you ! Especially girls which is great!

And its better then having an English name like Smith

- too true.

Edinburgh University - Yes I nearly applied there a few years ago....should have done it, i have walked through the grounds many times though.

i would pay for see you wearing a kilt...

- well we know Swagger isn't Scottish because he's offering to throw money around!

It's not like a Scot to offer anyone anything except an earfull of some old timers story...about how the there used to be more grouse and capercaille.....and when I was a boy, there were red squirrels....but it's been a cold winter this one, oh aye it has, rminds me of the time when I was a boy serving with the 10th legion up at Mons Grapius...and so on. Some of those old timers can spin a yarn!!

[Swagger]

i'm portuguese....



and no i don't use to offer money around..


it's just a way to say i would like to see you wearing a ''skirt''

[Father Jack]

Swagger how dare u call it a skirt

nice to talk to you again anyway

[Swagger]

it was a pleasure


if you want anything just PM...

even if you just want to talk (i would love to)

[The Border Reiver]

Hi All

This week has seen an absolutely amazing amount of hours being spent on the mod by The Bruce and I, both with skinning and text work. I have added a lot of mini mods which I will show next week after gaining permission from the users. This week also saw 2 out of the 3 Factions completed in full for Strat Map characters and battle skins.

For starters here are four Kingdom of the Scots Signatures you may wish to use:






I have completely overhauled the EDU, courtesy of Da Vinci who suggested and showed that my initial Version for 2.2 needed tweaking to make battles last a little longer. Here is a quick list of changes made:

1. Scottish Pike fight in Schiltrom...not a Phalanx
2. Siege Weapon handlers reduced moral and size to 5 & 12 respectively
3. All unit sizes reduced by 10-15% except Pikemen and Longbowmen who are still at 250. Light Horse have 90, Medium Hourse have 70 and Heavy Horse have 60.
4. All unit morales better organised now, in general if there is a mercenary unit and a faction unit, the mercenary unit will always have 5 more morale.
5. Archer units morale set at 5 (except mercenaries 10, Longbows and Ettrick Archers...all 10 too). No more Archers taking on Heavy Sword etc.
6. Some captains added to some units (Highlanders, Clansmen, Clan Spearmen)
7. Added new mercenaries (Theigns, English Huscarls ....only available in Norse controlled areas. (Dismounted Feudal Knights, Noble Highland Archers
8. Added movement bonuses to light infantry formations (vikings, all highlander units, gwent raiders, etc). This will enable an element of surprise at how quickly they move.
9. The Stat Ground which is used to determine how a particular unit fights in either grass, sand, forest or snow has been updated. Cavalry units have been given a -2 in the forest, where as light infantry such as mentioned above has been slightly increased.
10. Collision Mass for Spear and Pike formations has been increased slightly to better accomodate charging cavalry and infantry. All 0. (whatever) values have been increased to over 1.0

On the EDB, I have made the following changes:

1. All Merc Units are recruited at 20% (was 30%) instead of %40
2. All Merc units are recruited with experience of 2
3. All Faction units recruited (that were 5, 10, 15, 30, 35, 70) are at 50% now, this will make capturing and holding towns/castles more to think about.

Also I have added a few screenshots to show the artistic work the Bruce has done to date and it is something that is continually being updated (he's a perfectionist .

Campaign and Battle AI:

I have decided to use all of Lusted's Battle AI and his diplomacy and faction standing AI. I will incorporate aspects of his descr_campaign_ai.db also.

Anyone who is unfamiliar with Lusted's Battle AI will be happy to know that you really have to protect your flanks both in siege battles and field battles now. The AI will literally circle you if it can.

















The rest of the updates I'll talk about next week. We hope you enjoy what you see so far.

If you can mod units using Milkshake please contact us as we still need 4 changes made to existing units.

Next Update: 08Mar08

Included:

1. Complete list of Mods being used
2. New Screenshots
3. Detailed Changes to the DS File

cheers
The Border Reiver and The Bruce

[Swagger]

are these the new loading screens ?



and about the signature...too little..you can't almost see the units, and the resolution, isn't the best..
if you can send me some images, i'll turn them in a nice signature...(check my current one)

anyway

as you can see i don't have much space in my signature...

can you make to me a USERBAR ??



Cheers

ps: for whe the next version ?

[The Border Reiver]

Hi Swagger, yes they are some of the new loading screens, there will probaly be 40 in all, some retained from Version 2.2, but some as The Bruce finishes some new skins will be added.

About the signatures, yeah they're a little small, but they are ok I guess. Thanks I will send you the originals, I appreciate you looking at them for me...I will PM you!

I thought the resolution was ok though...a little distorted.

I'm not sure what a userbar is....what do you mean by this? Also the next Version we are still hoping to be ready by Easter weekend, I think we willbe advanced enough to have Beta Testing start a week before (in 2 weeks) ...I'll keep you posted.

[Swagger]

this is a bunch of userbars, each one is an example

[DragonsWarrior]

great pics for the game looks intense

[Muzz1497]

Swagger, its good to know you use toilet paper too, do they have a bar that says 2-ply toilet paper user, cause thats me.

[Swagger]

lol

[The Border Reiver]

Dragons warrior....yes it is actually quite intense especially playing as an undefended highland village against the ferocious vikings. In that regard it still requires a bit of tweaking. The AI looks after themselves well but, the human player really has to move his troops around constantly because Lusted's Battle AI constantly flanks you from 3 or 4 sides!

Swagger...I won't be creating any userbars, just the signatures.

03Mar08 - I have update the initial post in red.

[Swagger]

no problem...


i'll make my own if that's no problem..

[The Border Reiver]

Hi Swagger, no problems at all, what I meant to say was:

Swagger...I won't be creating any userbars, just the signatures, so please feel free to go ahead and design your own!

[Swagger]

TBR, how can you add more movement speed to light infatary ?