So this is a thread that is overdue. There are many common questions we get as a team and many we have answered multiple times. We hope this thread will lessen that a bit for modders and fans alike.
Q. How come ___ faction doesn't have ___ unit? Or has ____ equipment?
A. We put a lot of research into our faction rosters. We try to balance realism, accuracy and artistic license. Often times the more popular or biased perspective simply isn't grounded in fact. Obviously if someone makes a compelling argument we take it into consideration but it's still our call at the end of the day.
Q. I often see guys with plate armor and there's all this talk about "tiers." I thought this mod was set in 1212 AD?
A. The starting year for the campaign mode is 1212 AD. However in the interest of making mid and late game interesting we have 3 tiers and each tier represents a certain century. Tier 1 = (1200 - 1300), Tier 2 = (1300 - 1400), Tier 3 = (1400 - 1500)
Q. How does that work for factions that didn't survive the 1200s like Toulouse or the Latin Empire?
A. It's been tricky but in general we try and keep the equipment accurate to aforementioned tiers with plausible and grounded looks for what the faction would look like. Also we tend to change the look to fit a later faction that was in the region. The Almohads reflect this approach well for example.
Q. Are there going to be custom cities, custom ships, trebuchets etc?
A. Yes we will have all of those in due time. It's a matter of manpower and time.
Q. Are you guys making a campaign mode?
A. Yes, we do have a campaign mode in the works. As of me typing this we've made a ton of progress and despite the relative lack of previews we are hard at work behind the scenes.
Q. I don't get it. 1220 AD has a campaign mode and custom cities already? If it's such a lengthy thing to put together, how come that mod got it done much quicker? Don't you work with the guys from that?
A. First off we parted ways in terms of collaboration months ago. He has permission to use our stuff for his mod but otherwise he does his own thing. Second despite how nice those screenshots look, 1220 AD is actually rather buggy with it's cities. This is not slander either. I've played sieges where the siege towers can't reach the wall or buildings are just bugged. He took modded buildings and called them vanilla names, regardless of how functional it is.
Q. But what about other mods that have a campaign mode like 1295 or others?
A. Those mods are ultimately glorified texture swaps. In terms of gameplay they are just like Attila or AoC. It's simply not the same as what we are doing. Our campaign mode for example will have custom building trees and faction traits. Diplomacy more reflective of the timeframe and that's just for the alpha! Basically our gameplay experience will be deeper.
Q. Do you have any estimate on when the campaign mode will be ready?
A. We still don't have a solid answer at this time. Once we go into alpha testing we'll try to give an estimate.
Q. What about some kind of a release to tide us over?
A. I originally made a promise not to have yet another version without a campaign mode but if there's enough of a demand for something else even if there's no campaign mode then we will consider it. Good news is since CA adjusted the pack file limit we are finally able to upload all the pack files to the workshop directly for the first time! That will help everyone out immensely. We are considering putting out an updated release that will also double as the trial run for the mod being workshop only. If we decide on that it will be around April before ToB comes out. Stay tuned on that.
Q. If we do get an update in April. Will that delay the campaign mode even further?
A. We have different members working on different things. As a result the campaign work is unaffected by this plan.
Q. What ever happened to the weekly videos you used to do?
A. I honestly got burnt out by September. I do plan to do some more at some point but I don't know when at this time.
I'll add to this post as things progress. I hope that clears some stuff up.