DLV 5.3 Mini Mod William Marshall

[gubbs]

UPDATE: DONT BOTHER DOWNLOADING THIS, GET MY REAL PLANTAGENETS MOD INSTEAD. INCLUDES MARSHAL AND A FEW MORE TWEAKS TO THE ENGLISH FACTION FOR 5.3

Linky: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=144590

Here we go. Took me an hour to figure out how to do it and another half hour to test it works ok.

Few things to note:

1. Although Marshal was, frankly, without peer as a combatant, he wasn't a leader of men as such. He was a Knight Errant for much of his adult life and served and fought under others. This is reflected in his lack of experience as a commander. You can improve on that yourselves by kicking some rebel ass.

2. I have specifically not made him a tank, even though in real life he was only bested once in combat - and that was from behind and after he had killed six men William's greatest assets were his physical size and strength, his horsemanship, his sheer modesty and his precious reputation - as such nearly all his traits grant morale bonuses rather than strategic insight.

3. William is not a member of the Royal Dynasty, as a commoner he rose to extraordinary heights as Regent of England and latterly ennobled as Earl of Pembroke. For the game, he starts outside the dynasty, so you can choose to RP him as the greatest Knight of his age, or marry him in and breed through him for a bloodline.

4. If you haven't heard of Bill before, I urge you to read http://www.williammarshal.com/. This man was bigger than David Beckham in his own lifetime and totally forgotten by history (we don't even know where he is buried for certain) as the man who (among other things):

Unhorsed and cursed Richard Lionhearted to the Devil before casually defeating him in single combat, challenged King John to single combat, once had to have a blacksmith belt his helmet back into shape (with his head on the anvil) so he could get it off, crusaded in Syria with Guy de Lusignan for two years, was the man who physically forced John to sign the Magna Carta and whom at the age of 75 years (older than Leonidas!), lead the army of England into battle against France AND after slaying their general in single combat, escorted the entire French force out of England. Literally saving the nation, something Churchill never did. Yet who is better commemorated? Tsk.

5. I haven't scripted him to live to 75. Sorry, but I feel that would suck and make him way too powerful an asset. If he lives to old age, great! If not, thats life .. and death .. in the middle ages.

His last words were: 'I cannot defend myself against death .. '

So true.

If you didn't believe in a perfect knight outside of Hollywood, you missed Bill. If even half of what he did is true, William Marshal was the closest thing to that ideal humanely possible.

Enjoy!

Install:

Download .zip http://www.mediafire.com/?6ii1l9m1rxi

THIS IS ONLY FOR DLV 5.3

If you want to add this character to any other version just edit the files manually, its not a lot of work ..

Backup first. Obviously this will over-write any manual changes you have made to the names and descr_strat files so BACKUP FIRST or stop and think, either or Or just manually merge the changes - its only a few lines per file.

I'm going to do a complete English and French 1180 overhaul soon, including more accurate traits and character/agent names and many more historical clergymen and non family member characters for the major European factions.

Probably the weekend sometime ..

PS: This is my first 'moddette' so if I have done something criminally wrong shout up.

[gubbs]

Yup, I spelled his name wrong in the thread title.

I did originally do the mod as Guillaume le Mareshal but since his father was John and they had castles in England not Normandy, despite the fact they all spoke French and William trained in France, I felt the anglicised version of his name would best serve. It also helps to disassociate him with the French faction in the game I think.

You could always just change it ..

[Valantine]

Great idea Gubbs!
This coudl really spice up the DLV experience with a bit of history!
+Rep coming your way!
V

[gubbs]

Plenty more to come, I have been at it all day now ..

Have got _really_ stuck in to the Plantagenets.

They are looking much more like the real life counterparts now!

I'll stick up my changes asap.

Cheers for rep btw!