Medieval II Mod Questions & Recommendations

[mr.blonde]

I suggest you should play on hard or medium campaign difficulty with 1.2 because its much more logical and fun, atm at medium difficulty i have a very enjoyable campaign wit the right mix of backstabbing. Also if you like i can attach a modified campaign ai xml for passive pope, because it seems that with 1.2 usually he goes really crazy

edit:OK here are the attachments, the campaign script archive is about adding the army upkeep cost script from DLV to LTC

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

@Giedrius: Thanks for the info on the crashing UAI alpha - saves me from making the same experience.
@Sinan: From what I've read, in the unofficial 1.2 bugs thread, there don't appear too many changes from vanilla and alliances are still quite useless. I liked the formation of power blocks in earlier versions of UAI - and from my understanding, there's still nothing in 1.2 similar to that. Besides, the constant time-dependent deterioration of relations towards the human is still in...
@mr. blonde: I might give it a try - maybe 1.2 is not that bad on medium skill - I usually play on vh for more challenge in economics, which I find to be too easy on m, but that goes in hand with psychotic AI factions. Are there any changes to the economy in 1.2?

I'd be interested in your modified campaign ai xml - nothing's worse than an overly aggressive pope...

Right now I'm also thinking about a combination of MTW classic 7.0 (which was made for 1.2) and BBB 1.9+ which should hopefully work with minor drawbacks (no bloodlines for Aragonese and Switzerland).

[Giedrius]

i heared, that in this Medieval 2 , any medium, hard , or very hard settings do not effect any economic or morale things , so , if you choose hard, no handicap to AI factions, only fight better and more aggresive.

So. im playing as England in unofficial 1.2 (as I said), Hard/Hard , pope is crazy man , maybe he smokes weed , he self goes on crusade on my capital, but I kicked him ass, he ran ,anyway soon he will be dead

edited: but all factions are crazy, like in vannila, first , france attacked me, then spain, I made alliance with portugal, they helped me fight against spain, after good friendship with portugal, they attacked me (what a ? ) , then bloodsuckers milan attacked , I made alliance with danes, helped them to fight against scots, but one day danes attacked me, that's what I hate, fast broken alliances...

[Lusted]

Yes on very hard the game is set up so your relations with other factions go down each turn so it ends up with you vs ai. So just play on medium or hard, must better alliances on those levels, or edit the descr_faction_stanidng.txt file to remove the part that drops your relations every turn.

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Thanks - I guess I'll play on m then and use DLV's army upkeep script for more economic challenge...

[Lumberjack]

I'm using Stainless Steel 3.1 for the unofficial patch. I'm 200+ turns into the moor campaign, and I'm very satisfied.

I only played 1 other campaign, and on v1.1 so I dont have alot to compare the experience with, but I also haven't experienced many of the things people complain about.

So far I've had long standing alliances, been offered many free cease fires (though they aught to be paying my ass)

And I think there's a script that funds dieing nations. Portugal kept getting money in the console when they were on their last leg, let them put up a fierce defense, even enough to make a respectable counter. Might be a feature that suits your style.

[war91]

Could someone please add a description and link for mods that work for 1.2?

I hear some names, but can't find any downloads.

So could someone add a link and description?

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Allright - I've started a campaign with MTW classic 7.0, late era and incorporated BBB 1.9+ as well as some other changes (thanks again, mr. blonde).

I've started in the late era (1307 IIRC) as Poland on m/vh and I'm about 30 turns into the game - so far no major issues. The vanilla battlemap AI appears to have partially improved as the AI actually seems to seek the high ground when on defense (fought no defensive battle yet), but still does stupid things, which I admit must be terribly hard to code.

E.g., the HRE attacked me and when I counter attacked their army mainly consisting of forlorn hope, dismounted gothic knights retreated to ahigh ground area surrounded by cliffs and only accessible through a small gap in between those - at first I was impressed, but if the AI was smart, it would have blocked the pass (thermopylae anyone?), but instead, it moved further back into the pocket, providing enough space for my hussars to reform and charge into them. As said above, I admit that this is probably too much to ask, but overall, I think it's an improvement and if Darth gets his fingers onto this, we might see a halfway decent AI eventually.

I can't say I'm impressed by the campmap AI, but that's hard to compare as I've allways played with AI mods and on vh/vh, so I don't remember how exactly the 1.1 vanilla m AI behaved. It seemed to be easy to manipulate, didn't ally among each other but most were eager to ally with me. No backstabbing from allies so far and got attacked by HRE and mongols. The HRE's decision was probably not that stupid (I was their weakest neighbour, but allied to each bordering faction surrounding them. However since alliances don't mean ****, it's probably scripted to ignore alliances when considering an attack, which makes sense, overall), and the mongols had a reason (I've tried to kill their faction heir and got caught).

On a positive note, I've noticed that it's now impossible to remain allied with two allies declaring war on each other and that pikemen also seem to have improved - they didn't throw away their pikes and resort to knives as soon as combat was near. Seems we're getting there, CA...

@ pinko: Thanks for the hint, I'll probably give it a go, but I'm not too fond of the increased # of provinces in that mod.

@ war91: I've linked the ones I use - you might want to use LTC 2.2 or Stainless Steel 3.1 as well, but I haven't tried them yet (descriptions inside the posts/mod forums).

[war91]

Thank you

EDIT: Niccolo Machiavelli, could you make a mod called, The Prince?

That would be awesome

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Thank you

EDIT: Niccolo Machiavelli, could you make a mod called, The Prince?

That would be awesome

You're welcome - and on the mod: It would surely sound nice, but unfortunately, I'm not much of a modder - I just recombine other peoples mods and do minor changes for personal purposes .


On a side note: In case anyone has a similar playing style and followed this thread, Emotive AI looks like exactly what I was looking for campmap AI wise. I think I'll combine the AI portion of this with LTC 2.2 and BBB 1.9+ and my own changes to the timeline.

[Wolfshart]

So no one likes Anno Domini? I had played it for a minute but had to reinstall for the 1.2 patch and was looking at other mods as well.

[repman]

Anno domini ist the best if you want to create a real medieval atmosphere, but because of the heavy scripting-features the turns take a certain time.

repman

[Tokus*Maximus]

The latest incarnation of DEUS LO VULT version 3.0 has just been released by Repman. Check us out on http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=309

"Wet your blades!!!!!"

[Shaba Wangy]

Anno Domini is great if you REALLY want the medieval experience, but sadly its not updated to patch v1.2 yet. In the mean time, I recommend Stainless Steel. Clean simple and fun.

[Exidus Maximus]

DLV is the best.

DLV= Deus lo Vult

DLV FTW!

[j4k3]

i was going to use the one by Lusted but read in some of the comments that there are a few problems that i don't like (can't remember them now) that will get fixed after the official 1.2 release.

i'm playing with DarthMod and it's definitely better than the Vanilla version.

[Tokus*Maximus]

Deus lo Vult 3.0 is out today! It runs on the 2.1 unoffical patch. Don't be shy - give it a try!

[Tranceaddict]

I have finished 3 campaigns in MTW2 (vanilla, LTC 2.1, and Ultimate AI 1.3). I want to install the new 1.2 patch and try out another mod. What would you guys recommend? I am especially curious about (Deus Lo Vult, Darthmod, The Long Road, or Stainless Steel). I usually play h/h or vh/vh, and I find that once I overcome the early difficulties then the rest of the campaign is fairly easy. I want a good challenge, where it really takes time and effort to destroy a faction and the end result is very gratifying. In other words I am looking for an epic style of play where taking each major settlement is a great feat, and the enemy army has powerful stacks of well balanced units. BTW, when I play I just don't steamroll from the start I usually focus on my economy and let the AI built up.

[ziphnor]

Due to my busy real life i have so far only managed to play through one campaign in MTWII (as england).

In now looking to start a new campaign (as Milan i think, relying mostly on cities), but i would like the game to be longer without affecting the game balance. I know that its simple to change the turns per year, but i would like to know what else should be changed.

I assume its a good idea to scale the time to construct buildings according to the increase in turns per year, as otherwise you will climb the tech tree too fast?

What about all the events such as gunpowder and invasions, do they need to be adjusted as well?

Are there any mods out there that contain these changes, but doesnt otherwise affect gameplay? (apart from bug-fixes, such as the 2h bug etc)?

Thanks for reading,
Z

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Thanks Tokus*Maximus - I'll definetely try it - played one of the earlier versions and am eager to see what 3.0 does!