Rise of Bulgaria MOD - 3 new Factions, complete rebalance of many aspects and much more! ( Now with Crimson Tide 4.2 Blood Mod)

[Khan_Omurtag]

Version 1.11
http://www.moddb.com/company/khan-omurtag/downloads


The TEUTONIC ORDER is now available from start with its territories from 1300.
Thus, there are three more nations in Eastern Europe and Asia now - the Bulgarians, the Teutons and the Kazan Khanate, which makes both sides of Europe potential hot spots.

[Tokharian]

I downloaded the mod yesterday and played it for 2 days so here's my feedback:

1.- I'm a good player, so it is pretty easy for me to wipe out the enemy even on VH/VH with Gracul, however I was surprised to see fighting the Cumans, Kiev and the Rus as the Volga Bulgars. The fact that nations now can ally randomly is a good addition since it gives the game unpredictability.

2.- I don't wanna be a jerk on this one, but I expected more unit variation and specially new units for the Bulgarian factions. It was disappointing for me to play as Volga Bulgaria and see only the Mongol troops available, I think only 1-2 new units were created and that kinda let me down since I'm a fan of Bulgarian history myself.
The fact that the units still have Mongol descriptions doesn't help either.
It's kind of sad to see my brave Bolgar troops ride down the Rus' and then seeing in their description they are "Mongol soldiers".

3.- I understand why you removed the Mongols and Timurid, but in my opinion you should have kept the Mongols at least. I agree the whole Timurids cannibalizing Mongols is silly, but it would have been awesome to experience the Mongol invasion as Volga Bulgaria.
I know you created this mod for gameplay experience mostly but including the Mongol invasion gives the ultimate challenge experience for the Eastern factions.
You don't know how crazy and difficult it was for me to fend off the Mongol invasion as Khwarezmia in the original SS.
Over 65 turns fighting for a couple of regions, defending against countless mongols stacks and spamming forts near my border; it was insane.

Mongols need to be reworked so they can reach Western Europe 100% of the times (unless they are defeated) so they don't stagnate after killing 3-4 factions.
That being said, if a Mongol rework is not your objective then I agree with the removal of the Mongols altogether, with more new factions taking their place.

3.- The new buildings are nice, it would be great if you could ass unique buildings to Volga Bulgaria in the future. According to many sources, their capital was amongst the greatest cities in the World, and within the Islamic World it was said to rival even Baghdad itself.

4.- The map aesthetic looks great, just like you said. I was wondering, maybe you could add a few more regions/settlements for the Eastern side of the map. That would provide more variety to the Eastern front, seeing how the regions in that area are huge and few compared to Western Europe for instance. A couple new settlements in the North Caucasus and the Volga Region would be perfect in my opinion.

In resume, you have created a good mod, with much potential. Seeing how Ruski mods and even Stainless Steel itself aren't being updated nearly as fast enough, your mod has the potential to outpace them.
I remember reading another submod, named ​Titaniu​ considered to add the Bulgar factions as well, but that mod is on the verge of death so I don't see that happening anymore.

Also, perhaps you didn't know but Volga Bulgaria was already added as a faction for the mod ​Broken Crescent​ You should check that out. They added completely unique and new units to that faction specifically, and their unit descriptions match the ones of the historical Volga Bulgaria.
I don't mean to compare both mods since they are very different from each other, but it could be a nice inspiration to look upon.

Other than that, your mod is great, unfinished in my opinion, but definitely has a lot of potential. I would help you with the flag issues if I only knew how lol.

I liked that you added the Teutonic Order in your latest patch, but in my opinion if you are considering to add new factions, maybe you should consider Eastern factions for that job.

The options I'm contemplating are Armenia and the Khazars. Some people have suggested to you that you add Georgia but since many other SS submods have already added that faction I personally don't see it as a good option.
You could really innovate and bring even more attention to your mod if you added completely new factions that no one has made.

Also, the Khazars were long time enemies of Old Great Bulgaria, and they were responsible for the creation of the 2 Bulgar states when the Khan's sons went to the Volga and the Balkans respectively. A Khazarian faction would fit very well with the theme of your mod.

The thoughts of playing as the Bulgarian states and conquering the Khazars and avenging Old Great Bulgaria drives me crazy!

[Khan_Omurtag]

I downloaded the mod yesterday and played it for 2 days so here's my feedback:

1.- I'm a good player, so it is pretty easy for me to wipe out the enemy even on VH/VH with Gracul, however I was surprised to see fighting the Cumans, Kiev and the Rus as the Volga Bulgars. The fact that nations now can ally randomly is a good addition since it gives the game unpredictability.

2.- I don't wanna be a jerk on this one, but I expected more unit variation and specially new units for the Bulgarian factions. It was disappointing for me to play as Volga Bulgaria and see only the Mongol troops available, I think only 1-2 new units were created and that kinda let me down since I'm a fan of Bulgarian history myself.
The fact that the units still have Mongol descriptions doesn't help either.
It's kind of sad to see my brave Bolgar troops ride down the Rus' and then seeing in their description they are "Mongol soldiers".

3.- I understand why you removed the Mongols and Timurid, but in my opinion you should have kept the Mongols at least. I agree the whole Timurids cannibalizing Mongols is silly, but it would have been awesome to experience the Mongol invasion as Volga Bulgaria.
I know you created this mod for gameplay experience mostly but including the Mongol invasion gives the ultimate challenge experience for the Eastern factions.
You don't know how crazy and difficult it was for me to fend off the Mongol invasion as Khwarezmia in the original SS.
Over 65 turns fighting for a couple of regions, defending against countless mongols stacks and spamming forts near my border; it was insane.

Mongols need to be reworked so they can reach Western Europe 100% of the times (unless they are defeated) so they don't stagnate after killing 3-4 factions.
That being said, if a Mongol rework is not your objective then I agree with the removal of the Mongols altogether, with more new factions taking their place.

3.- The new buildings are nice, it would be great if you could ass unique buildings to Volga Bulgaria in the future. According to many sources, their capital was amongst the greatest cities in the World, and within the Islamic World it was said to rival even Baghdad itself.

4.- The map aesthetic looks great, just like you said. I was wondering, maybe you could add a few more regions/settlements for the Eastern side of the map. That would provide more variety to the Eastern front, seeing how the regions in that area are huge and few compared to Western Europe for instance. A couple new settlements in the North Caucasus and the Volga Region would be perfect in my opinion.

In resume, you have created a good mod, with much potential. Seeing how Ruski mods and even Stainless Steel itself aren't being updated nearly as fast enough, your mod has the potential to outpace them.
I remember reading another submod, named ​Titaniu​ considered to add the Bulgar factions as well, but that mod is on the verge of death so I don't see that happening anymore.

Also, perhaps you didn't know but Volga Bulgaria was already added as a faction for the mod ​Broken Crescent​ You should check that out. They added completely unique and new units to that faction specifically, and their unit descriptions match the ones of the historical Volga Bulgaria.
I don't mean to compare both mods since they are very different from each other, but it could be a nice inspiration to look upon.

Other than that, your mod is great, unfinished in my opinion, but definitely has a lot of potential. I would help you with the flag issues if I only knew how lol.

I liked that you added the Teutonic Order in your latest patch, but in my opinion if you are considering to add new factions, maybe you should consider Eastern factions for that job.

The options I'm contemplating are Armenia and the Khazars. Some people have suggested to you that you add Georgia but since many other SS submods have already added that faction I personally don't see it as a good option.
You could really innovate and bring even more attention to your mod if you added completely new factions that no one has made.

Also, the Khazars were long time enemies of Old Great Bulgaria, and they were responsible for the creation of the 2 Bulgar states when the Khan's sons went to the Volga and the Balkans respectively. A Khazarian faction would fit very well with the theme of your mod.

The thoughts of playing as the Bulgarian states and conquering the Khazars and avenging Old Great Bulgaria drives me crazy!

Hello and thank you for the constructive comment.
There are no NEW units in this mod, Ive used only units from other factions and merc pools to create the Second Bulgarian Empire unit pool, just focusing on units and tactics that they used to use. (Heavy infantry, light cavalry etc.) For the Kazan Khanate (Volga Bulgaria) I used the timurids unit pool (I dont know why the descriptions are for mongol units, should be for timurids even lol), but I also added like 6-7 units to their pool as well. Arquebusiers, Tatar Lancers, stuff like that. Some appear late in the game and in weird buildings, so you should check your buildings description every now and then and they will show up eventually. This is true for all other nations as well, since Ive added units to most of them, especially the ones that lacked big unit pools in the base game.

I like the Mongols invasion sometime too, but the problem is they will always kill 3-4 nations and then die out, which makes the game utterly boring afterwards (due to the fact that there will be no rivals to the east, just 1-2 nations). Now you have 6-7 nations there constantly fighting for domination, which is what I aimed for mostly.

I am thinking to change the Cumans with Khazars, as there were no Cumans in the 1300s anymore, so making them Kazars to rival the Bulgars and giving them some interesting units sounds cool.
I might as well add the new units from the mods you've mentioned to the Bulgarians, although I must contact their creators first and see if they are ok with it. Would be great.

Sorry again about the descriptions on Kazans, I like that you role-play and it made an impression to you, so I will change them in the near future to Bulgar ones. Its just a lot of texts and check-ups, I just focused on gameplay and balance issues first to make the whole game more enjoyable for replaying, there are some visual and text matters that need to be done. In fact if you like, you can write the descriptions for the Kazan Khanate units and send me a .txt file with them and Ill just swap them in the necessary files afterwards, will be much faster.

Cheers

[Khan_Omurtag]

https://www.moddb.com/company/khan-omurtag/downloads

Small new patch.

[Khan_Omurtag]

https://www.moddb.com/mods/rise-of-b...-mod/downloads

CRIMSON TIDE 4.2 has been added to Rise of Bulgaria - an amazing submod made by Magus, which adds more effects for blood, flames, etc, bringing a much more realistic feelin to the game.

Newcomers, please install the base mod file and then all patches one by one to make sure you have every aspect of Rise of Bulgaria at your disposal.

Enjoy

[Khan_Omurtag]

Rise of Bulgaria 1.08 is out
https://www.moddb.com/mods/rise-of-b...-mod/downloads
Read the info in the archive for full info.

[Khan_Omurtag]

https://www.moddb.com/mods/rise-of-b...-mod/downloads
Rise of Bulgaria 1.1 (full version) is out.

[Orkmann]

Hi KO, I gave your mod a try, playing the Hungary campaign for ~30 turns. Please see my findings below:
1. Pop and economy. It was a bit weird at first, but I like it.
2. Wonders: I recall you mentioned the wonders are intended to be Strong, but for instance Constantinople seems a bit OP with the global growth bonus.
3. Mercanaries: great system, feels vers realistic. Was especially pleased that I got access to Catalans.
4. Horse Archers are too Strong for my taste, esp with the increased Range for basic units.
5. Local units: this needs to be reviewed. From Durazzo to Adrianople the only local are the desert cavalry, beduins and kurdish javelins. You cannot train Magyar cavalry nor Bosnian Archers enywhere. Building browser shows the local unit in Vàrad is the Mourtatoi.
7. Year: I was a bit confused about this. Settlements seemed to represent the early campaign, and also the Hungarian rulett is Kálmán. I even got the concordate of Worms évent, which is early 12th century így recall it. This is for me not a huge issue, but some polishing would be needed ön those things.
8. Difficulty: found the campaign relatively easy, butcher the Byzantynes...until the Scholariis kicked my ass...man that was a surprise
9. Order:conquering is too easy early, as public order is very high even in newly conquered provinces. I assume this is because the low pop. Nontheless, I would like to see Linzer Assimilation, if that is possible.
10. AI at Belgrade: When the AI defenders Sally out, they do nothing just running around like crazy in front of the castle gate. The Archers dont shoot, just wonders game around. This is not changing even when started shooting them. Very weird, but it did not occur át other places - although I did not have many sallies yet.

Considering all, the Campaign is very much playable, had some fun. Thanks for your efforts on the mod!

[Khan_Omurtag]

Hey and thanks for the feedback.
About those matters :
1. Glad you like it, it's much more depending on your actions and taxes now.
2. Constantinople has two wonders actually. So it's op, yes... But try keeping it versus all those juhads that follow if you cap it. Also the other wonders have similar effects now too.
4. Horse archers are really weak once gunpowder and crossbows come out.. You just played 30 turns mate, it's nothing..
5. You need castle lvl 3 for most unique units as well as some buildings, again turn 30 problem. Other case is if you didn't paste the export descr buildings file correctly.
6. Where is 6?
7.I haven't touched the events at all so they are not historical in any way. They are there just to give unit unlocks now and then, completely gameplay oriented. Names of the rulers are as from early campaign too, I only made the Bulgarian ones, as I created those nations.
8. Always use vh/vh settings and Gracul Ai if you want a hard campaign. Savage Ai is with no backstabs and such, most enjoyable after turn 50 , once sides are taken from all nations.
9. Public order is always good early game here, but due to the huge increases in population , it gets pretty low on later stages, so it's at good state now.
10. Some bug I guess, I haven't changed the AI, as it is decent in the base mod.
Cheers

[Khan_Omurtag]

Aragon portraits are not present in the 1.1 version (as I've accidently missed them), will hotfix soon.

[Khan_Omurtag]

Hello,
Rise of Bulgaria v1.11 is out. (link at thread start)
This is the last patch, that I'll be working on, as it finalizes most matters.
Cheers to everyone enjoying this gem and to all future-comers as well!
Good luck, Commanders

[paleologos]

Well done then!

[Khan_Omurtag]

Well done then!

Thank you, fella

[Khan_Omurtag]

Hello,
A small hotfix patch was released, which changes some late game building mechanics and buffs the AI a bit more.
Link a thread start

[lakota]

Finally decided to reinstall M2TW and try out this mod today, I'll let you know how it goes!

[sullivanclan1]

I thought the submod was good but I think SSHIP 0.95 was better.

[lakota]

Man these install directions are ROUGH

[lakota]

Okay, after you install SS 6.3 and 6.4, in both cases DO NOT CHOOSE a campaign and then install the rise of Bulgaria

[Svennnny]

This mod has some great potential but there are some things that realy bothered me after trying it out. For example the city growth goes way too fast in like 30-40 turns you already have a large-huge city. Also the income you get from cities is weird. Your capital city gives you an income of like 4000-5000 meanwhile the other cities barely give you 1000 income.