https://i.imgur.com/pUS11Hq.png
It has been a while since the last update but rest assured that constant work is being done behind the scenes to improve the Shieldwall mod. Thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to participate in the Beta thus far and offer feedback. That said the Shieldwall Overhaul Team is excited to show off a new preview of the upcoming update which is very close to release. This is the largest update so far and covers everything from new graphics to brand new campaign gameplay. The main theme of this update focuses on the Saxons and focuses on the new faction that will be unlocked when the update drops.
Northanhymbra (new playable faction)
https://i.imgur.com/kkYNS1a.png
Starting Map
The Northern factions have been rearranged to more closely reflect the historical situation in 878 AD – that is, Northleode has been renamed to be Northanhymbra and Northymbre is now known as Jórvík. The Saxon Kingdom of Northanhymbra will have a number of challenges to overcome at the start of the campaign. Ten years ago, the Great Heathen army invaded and toppled the Saxon political powers in the North; the leadership was killed or deposed and the land was divided among the victors. All that remains of Northanhymbra after the invasion is a puppet king that rules the land above the Tyne River as a vassal of Jórvík – they must pay a hefty tribute each year to their overlords or else risk going to war with the biggest Danish coalition in the game. Their future looks bleak in comparison to the Southern Saxons. It is up to King Ecgberht either to uphold the treaties he made with the Danes and live under their thumb or to rebel against his masters. If King Ecgberht does not properly gather his strength before going to war it could mean the end of Northanhymbra for good.
In order to fully flesh Northanhymbra out as a complete faction, they will also receive new units such as the Bernician Horsemen unit who were inspired by the pictures of the Northern Saxons fighting on horseback as seen on the Pictish Aberlemno stones. They do not quite match the rugged horse culture of the Hen Ogledd “Old North”, but they still have deep roots that may go as far back as 650 AD when the Cumbric Kingdom of Rheged was annexed by Northumbria after a royal marriage of a Rhegedian princess to King Oswig. They will fight similar to the cavalry of Strat Clut with throwing spears and allow the Northern Saxons to be more flexible compared their southern counterparts.
https://i.imgur.com/eOJncuM.png
Bernician Horsemen
New Icons:
The playable Saxon and GVA factions will receive new faction icons to reflect the changes listed above.
West Seaxe
https://i.imgur.com/9O1n9y4.png
Mercia
https://i.imgur.com/NwpJeyU.png
East Engle
https://i.imgur.com/8h5FGNX.png
Jórvík
https://i.imgur.com/jQFsdTL.png
Starting Regions:
The starting regions in the North have been shifted to reflect the dominion of Jórvík and strengthen their position. Eoforwīc has been renamed to Jórvík to reflect the new Danelaw culture. In addition Jórvík now controls the entirety of the North Thryding province.
Campaign features:
Hunting
The King now has the opportunity to go hunting during Autumn each year as long as they are willing to finance the trip. Hunting will be presented to the player as a series of event popups prompting the player to make certain decisions at critical times. The yearly hunting adventure brings with it the possibility of gaining new traits, extra food, and new items.
Peasant Rebellions
The peasant armies that rise up when public order gets too low have been replaced entirely with revolt conditions in the style of Medieval 2. Civil Wars will still trigger and your nobles can still raise an army against the King. There are several nasty little effects that can occur when the peasants rebel including, persecuting the nobles in the region, work stoppage, damaging buildings, and killing the governor. It will be ideal for the King to keep a basic peacekeeping patrol at home that can be moved into a rebelling province to restore order. If the force is too small, however, then they will be harassed and lose men for the duration of the event.
Events/traits:
Work continues to overhaul the trait system to be cleaner and to put more focus on creating specialized characters. The overall number of traits has been dramatically reduced from the vanilla game – the philosophy of the mod is that it is better to have a small handful of traits that actually matter rather than have 20+ per character that do not matter. In the vanilla game, it generally didn’t matter what the player did with specific nobles as each character could be upgraded to be a jack of all trades, but the endgoal of Shieldwall is that each noble will be forced to specialize for a specific role (general, governor, peacekeeper), thus forcing the player to be more strategic in how they utilize each character.
Assets:
This update also includes a complete update for the Saxon armies – some units have been renamed for historical plausibility, some units have received new units cards, and all Saxon units have received a large visual update to add more color and character variations. The ships have also received minor upgrades with the prows being painted which is reflected on the unit card. Ships are still a WIPO as there are engine limitations we have to work around, but ship shields will be getting upgraded soon.
Few extra screenshots
We don't have a release date for the update, but we will post it as soon as it is finished :P
