Some thoughts

[Lokaar]

First up, good work on the mod! It looks like you're planning for some great things to come .

I started an HRE (or what ever the family name is) campaign, just to mess about with the mod, and I thought I'd share my thoughts:

1) Map size: The huge map is realy cool, though it gets a bit laggy if I scroll over to the middle east. The distances take a bit of getting used to, and finding the settlements in rebel terratories can be a little frustrating, but I got used to it fairly quickly.

2) 2 turns per year: always good - I loved having 4tpy in rome, the default always seems to detract from the immersion. However...

3) Increased build times and costs: I still haven't got the hang of these. I get the idea (and I agree with it) but I haven't worked out how to adjust to it - I rarely manage to get more than two or three cities building at any one time, when in a vanila game I'd rarely have one not building. This also ties in with:

4) Changes in city growth: First thing I tried to do in my campaign was build farm improvements in the citys with stagnant populations, but they had no effect! For a new player to the mod, this is a little off-putting, especially when combined with (3).

5) Empire size: linked with (1), I'm finding managing such a large (in terms of map size) empire to be rather taxing (not always bad) compared to managing the same geographical size in the standard game. I might have a go at one of the smaller factions tomorrow though.

So I would like to ask if anyone out there knows enough about how AD plays to write some sort of guide for those converting from vanilla? For example: which buildings are worth building first, how do you manage the build times and costs, and how do you grow settlements faster etc. Also, I'd strongly recommend you produce such a document when you release a non-beta version of the mod as I think it will help get more people playing it. I might even have a go at it myself if I have the time (and the answers ).

[Erioluk]

btw, RB, have you adjusted character aging?

So far the game's fine (if a bit too easy i'm on H/VH) I'm playing Byzantium and conquered the balkans, all of asia-minor and Egypt by 1040, but my generals are falling like flies...

[Re Berengario I]

First of all thanks to both of you for the deep review of our mod.

Here come the answers:

1) Ageing is back to natural terms (1 year game = 1 year for the character). In Vanilla character aged 1 year every 2 game years.

2) About the building times and priorities, they are pretty the same than Vanilla with the notable exception that trade is far more important and so every building connected to trade. We're planning to release a manual as soon as all the changes will be settled down, still many things need to be tested, rebalanced, tested again, etc... for example agricoltural income and growth rate. Thanks for your offer to help us! Keep in touch with us

[Lokaar]

Thanks for the advice. I started a campaign as the faction that was Milan and have been finding it much easier (mainly due to having to manage fewer settlements).

[♔ST0MPA♔]

I have had a look around a few mods and I still think this is the best map by far.
I would like to see more coastal african towns, but if this is not in the agenda then no probs