1390 map and late campaign

[Ichon]

There are several map projects ongoing right now and while some are already mostly completed everything that is public knowledge has start date in the 1100s. I enjoy High era to Renaissance campaigns the most right now but it is annoying to have to play thru 200+ turns to get there.

Serbian Hussar has kindly volunteered to put his map skills to work making such a map and after some discussions I think 1390 is the best start date. Caesar Clivus has given permission to use some of the excellent BftB2 models and units as well so the Baltic factions should be well represented with Moscovy borrowing a bit from late Kiev.



Phase 1:

Create as accurate map for 1390 given game limitations and the rapid political changes of the 1400s which should be somewhat accounted for. Port as many current SS 6.4 factions and units as make sense and possible use Mongol and Turk units to create Karamanids, Ilkhans, Golden Horde, and some Ak Konyulu factions. Clean out EDU/EDB for 1390 campaign use and make room for more units to be created in Phase 2. Some units will be borrowed for Phase 1, but only where permission is obtained and the models make sense if given different name or stats for the 1390 rosters.

Phase 2:

New unit models to created as necessary so factions can fill up with historically matched units until the 1650 end date. Perhaps redo included factions a bit with new models- Crimean Khanate first on the list- Prefer to avoid using horde mechanism but for Crimean Khanate it might work.

Some event rebellions or spawned armies in Phase 2 after map and current factions are play tested a bit- Hussite wars, Joan of Arc, Vlad the Impaler, Charles the Bold, ejection of Jews and Muslims from Spain, rise of the Safavids, etc. Introduction of more religions- Protestant and Shia.


Why 1390?

1390 allows Kalmar Union to have absorbed Norway by Denmark while Sweden will start quite small and allied to Denmark as the political situation was more complicated than 1 simple Scandinavian faction would represent. 1390 will also allow Poland-Lithuania joining to be portrayed.

There will be no Pagan factions left in 1390. Golden Horde will start as Muslim though with many Heretics at the start to show the amount of pagans, Christians, Buddhists, and other religions was still quite high.

Timur's invasion of Golden Horde is just beginning- less predictable outcome in 1390 while also avoiding massive Mongol style invasion scripts. Timurids will be a serious threat in 1390- start at war with Ottomans, Golden Horde, and poor relations with Mameluks and Karamanids. Timur will be leading armies into the steppes to attack Golden Horde while a smaller force will be in Anatolia poised to attack Ottomans who have few forces ready on that front in 1390- Ottomans will have most of their forces in Balkans preparing to capture Tarnovo and Thessalonki which start as rebels while also being at war with Wallachia.

Ottomans are powerful in 1390 but face challenges on several fronts so nearby smaller factions hopefully are not immediately obliterated. Serbia, ERE and Karamanids start allies/vassals of Ottomans because those are the historical relations and to give more time for different outcomes each campaign and for human players taking one of the small neighbor factions a small chance to change history. Jalayrids start as allies/vassals of Timurids, as do Ak Koyunlu. Moscovy is allies/vassal of Golden Horde as is Novgorod.

Diplomatic relations in 1390

Teutons start at war with Poland-Lithuania and Novgorod with friendly relations with HRE.

Sweden and Norway-Denmark start allied but very with poor relations which might lead fast to war.

England and France begin at peace but with poor relations.

Castile-Leon is only at war with Maranids but poor relations with Portugal.

Crown of Aragon starts at war with Maranids and several rebel armies in S Italy.

Mameluks start at peace but poor relations with every neighbor and relatively weak military for the faction size.

Milan starts as allies of HRE.

Venice starts at peace but with poor relations with Hungary and Milan but good relations with HRE.

Papal States begin with poor relations with everyone except Hungary and Castile-Leon.

Rebel cities in most regions will start quite strong with both a full garrison and a full field army. Genoa, Florence, Tunis, and rebel area of HRE will start with 2 field armies.

Swiss start as poor relations with HRE and Milan but friendly with France and Venice.


List of factions by power in 1390 (power defined by military size and economic power)

1. Timur
2. Ottomans
3. Poland-Lithuania
4. Castile-Leon
5. France
6. HRE
7. Golden Horde
8. Teutonic Order
9. Hungary
10. England
11. Mameluk
12. Venice
13. Maranids
14. Burgundy
15. Crown of Aragon
16. Milan
17. Moscovy
18. Portugal
19. Karamanids
20. Norway-Denmark
21. Novgorod
22. Jalayrids
23. Serbian Despotate
24. Wallachia
25. Sweden
26. ERE
27. Swiss
28. Scotland
29. Ak Koyunlu
30. Safavids
31. Papal States

Something similar to this map but not quite as 10 years earlier there are a few differences.

http://www.worldhistorymaps.info/ima...Hem_1400ad.jpg


My philosophy on map design is that political borders in this era rarely reflect actual limitations on the rulers power so likely there will be more rebel regions at start though the increasing power of monarchs and centralization of the state is coming closer to the time when map boundaries do indicate real limits of power. For example- HRE was huge but did the Emperor control all the other princes? Not really... I haven't decided fully but more likely I would lean toward the ruling dynasty with their domains and direct vassals starting as the HRE. By 1390s many of the ruling families are becoming intermingled and the politics of succession are getting complicated.

The Papacy-

Phase 1 will see Crusades allowed only for Rome as by this point Crusades are not a strong political force- however if an invading factions captures Rome... a Crusade can occur just as several Popes orchestrated large alliances in history.


Progress and work can be viewed and participated in by the following groups.

I have a group that invitation in will allow access to the project website: Renaissance 1390 submod for Stainless Steel 6.4
http://groups.google.com/group/RSS1390

The website is https://sites.google.com/site/renais...tainlesssteel/ and anyone can view but must be a member of RSS1390 to join discussions and volunteer for tasks.

If you want, where you would like to help most and what you can do modding wise would be helpful information. For starters creating new ancillaries appropriate for 1390 timeline and creating faction rosters would be the most help for me. Progress is going in fits and starts- so far script is mostly done but undergoing tweaking, Swiss, Ottomans, Wallachia are assigned models and mostly coded into EDU. When my exams are done I expect progress on coding to move swiftly.

Serbian Hussar is making progress on the map with most of western Europe finished and expect progress there to pick up when his also finishes his exams.

Just remember that in Phase 1 there are currently no plans to redo graphics or animations. Any new units we can't use a current model for as a placeholder can be borrowed from another mod with permission for this first phase just to make sure we actually get a working 1390 campaign out. So there will not be much visual progress of the work aside from Serbian Hussar's map. As I complete each faction I will release the roster in this thread and the coding will be posted to the website.

If you want to help but don't have time to do much the only things I really need help with are flags and symbols for the new factions and some research into possible historical characters and rebellions for the various factions. Obviously Hussites and 100 years war will have some inclusions but I'd like to have at least one unique script character or rebellion for each area of the map in the timeline 1390-1650.

Also building ideas to make the various cultures more interesting- based on history and with reasonable effects please! European factions are already fairly full but in this period Timurids and Ottomans were arguably more advanced in many areas than Europeans so I'd like to reflect that. Currently in Phase 1 the only buildings I have plans tp add are special buildings for the Swiss that are required to recruit some Swiss infantry (to show that is would be quite hard for Swiss to expand rapidly relying on the small cantons population).