Mod is great, but is it for me?

[bacchus731]

Hey guys looks like a great mod and I've been reading about it but still have some questions/points I'd like to put to you before I d/l.

1) I use to play Lands to Conquer first. I liked the troop consolidation script they had. No longer did the AI attempt to conquer my provinces with piecemal, worthless armies. So I ask, does this mod have a revamped campaign AI script that makes the AI CONSOLIDATE his troops a little better? (A simple test I believe is the following: will the AI do the rational thing and put his ships (armies) together, or will he leave them wandering about, scattered on their own or in groups of 2-3 max?)

2) Then I tried The Long Road. I loved the large map and the ancilliaries. This mod has ancilliaries which is great, but does it also have a larger map and more provinces? (funny enough couldn't find this anywhere - I blame myself for not looking hard enough)

3) I hated how The Lond Road forces me to play with cheap troops for the first 100 turns or more. I want a complex army fairly early on (and I want the AI to have it too, of course...). I don't have the willingness to play with spearmen and peasant archers forever, and TO RUN AN ECONOMY THAT IS REALLY MORE TEDIOUS TO MANAGE THAN IT IS CHALLENGING. There is really nothing to it. It forces you to play with dumbed down armies. Although some people enjoy it and feel like it gives them a sense of achievement once they get the better troops, it makes for very poor gameplay imo. I want tactical options earlier on and there is very little of that if I have only 3 different units to play with. In fact, I got bored with TLR before I could get to the good stuff.

Also, I like to watch my troops in action and think of how sexy they are, but there is only so much sexiness to be had from town militias! It is also very unrealistic. I'm not asking for muskets in the 11th century, but kataphracts did exist by then did they not? (they had been for over a millenium under various forms and were, in fact, well into their decline by the time TLR introduces them).

I tried "fast forwarding" to the 13th century or so where I thought gameplay would improve, but the stupid AI keeps attacking me, making this a terribly tedious process of trying to sue for peace against dumb AI factions that just never know when they are beaten.

4) Also The Long Road was way too easy. Besides being strapped for cash, and removing any creativity in your development and troops options, the AI is an absolute push over (VH/VH). Is this mod harder? I don't mean in the tedious way of hard, but in the sense that the AI produces armies in quantities and quality that actually HAS a strategic significance. I'm happy to see you have a garrison script, which I think is a great way to make it harder. Do you give more money to the AI factions as well to bulge up their forces? The AI really needs somethin like a 3 to 1 advantage in total forces to have a genuine balance of power.

5) The Long Road did have a few nices skins tho, does this mod offer any new skins?

Thks for reading (I really think there should be a central page where all the features are listed. The FAQ, although useful, could not answer all my questions).

[JHG6784]

1. No The Computer still send folder to the fire

2. Yes

3. Yes and No, it depends how well you build up your economy on the onset, if you do a terrible job you'll be left with peasants or less if you do a great job you'll have an elite force, but don't get to cushy with that force it cost a pretty penny during long campaigns.

[Sinnerman49]

These are my experiences...


1) Yes and No. Navies are still often single or double ships...nothing really challenging, however sometimes you run into a swarm of low-stack ships which put up a fight. Naval recruiting in DLV is a bit different. The max I've seen at any of my ports is 1 recruitment of each type of vessel, there's definitely NO quick churning out navies. In fact, I believe this adds to the strategic importance of navies; Say I'm looking to invade Corsica, well I know that I might want a large Navy to ferry my troops there so I don't risk loosing a whole army in the voyage, so I have to plan accordingly. It takes just as long, if not longer, to raise a modest fleet as it does to produce a well balanced Army.

HOWEVER...on land, you will find ourself fighting challenging full-stack armies that are comprised of era-correct units (Most of the time).

2) DLV Has a huge map, and adds more provinces as well as two factions (Ireland and Rus I believe...) The map is fantastic.

3) It seems DLV and TLR are similar in this respect. DLV is made for a long, epic campaign. I'm WELL into the campaign and just now starting to get late era units such as Musketeers. The early years are REALLY meant for building up a strong economy (Which pays back ten fold in the later years, as I'm pulling in a modest amount of money these days...)

4) DLV is hard. Especially the early years.

5) Yes...new skins.

[bacchus731]

These are my experiences...


1) Yes and No. Navies are still often single or double ships...nothing really challenging, however sometimes you run into a swarm of low-stack ships which put up a fight. Naval recruiting in DLV is a bit different. The max I've seen at any of my ports is 1 recruitment of each type of vessel, there's definitely NO quick churning out navies. In fact, I believe this adds to the strategic importance of navies; Say I'm looking to invade Corsica, well I know that I might want a large Navy to ferry my troops there so I don't risk loosing a whole army in the voyage, so I have to plan accordingly. It takes just as long, if not longer, to raise a modest fleet as it does to produce a well balanced Army.

HOWEVER...on land, you will find ourself fighting challenging full-stack armies that are comprised of era-correct units (Most of the time).

2) DLV Has a huge map, and adds more provinces as well as two factions (Ireland and Rus I believe...) The map is fantastic.

3) It seems DLV and TLR are similar in this respect. DLV is made for a long, epic campaign. I'm WELL into the campaign and just now starting to get late era units such as Musketeers. The early years are REALLY meant for building up a strong economy (Which pays back ten fold in the later years, as I'm pulling in a modest amount of money these days...)

4) DLV is hard. Especially the early years.

5) Yes...new skins.

Thanks mate, this helped.

[Selucius son of Peridocius]

from what you want to know about this mod, it seems the only way to truely find out is just to play it

[ivanhoex]

i have to add:

game starts late

mongols arrive soon. very very soon if you are rus or turk

gunpowder arrives soon after that.




economy is hard to build. especially when you not know that you need markets to build ports.


campaign AI is strong in alliance and it rushes the hell out of you.

naval AI is not it best. i have no ships and i have only 1/10 of my ports bloked every turn.




the game is slow:

you have to defend your cities. if you are in war with more than one faction, this means from two to four cities being sieged EACH turn. dont expect any profit from them also, as they are under siege EVERY turn. enemy presence in the land plus sieging means no crops and no trade.

you have to pay for ally. a lot. it can be done.

fighting in defensive and losing more than 1/10 of your defending troops might mean losing the city sooner or later.
as AI attacks with three full stacks or four, reaching the town in waves, each turn they attack and fail, they attack again, meaning NO refuelling for your army, meaning slow decadence of deffensive prowess of the city, but also meaning that enemy siege weapons is your worst enemy. one breach in your wall may be ok the first assault but after 4 waves of consecutive assaults, your forces weakened and the wall with 3 more breaches it can be doom for the city. priorize always taking down siege wapons before they take out the walls.

remember also, a sieged city have unrest. a sieged city that has no walls benefit because they have been damaged and you cannot repair them... is fatal to peoples loyalty and it can rebel if not properly fit


fighting in attackin means you run out of cash, nobility rebels and you suddenly lose the game after a huge massive strike of all your neighbours.




the game is nice looking, even when you fight with militias a lot. the game is challengin but it can be morally devastating to fight the same fight turn after turn.

the game makes you feel pushed to the limit not only of your patience (you CANT hit "autoresolve" in city battles or you are doomed) but it also pushes you to find the best way to survive the continuos attacks.

this means, diplomacy IS a weapon. its worth any florin you have to invest there. if you use diplomacy and strenght wisely, you will have a very rewarding gaming experience.

if you dont, you might got bored or wiped out.


btw, there is not only a garrison script to prevent attaking undefended cities. there is also a script that hurts badly your economy if you are attaking.