Looking for information about Broken Crescent

[Boriak]

The info I'm looking for doesn't seem to be written anywhere so bear with me.

I recently bought M2TW and thought it would be a nice break from RTW. The catch is I've been playing RTW with EB for a while now and have grown used to the low mortality rates of that mod. Now, playing Vanilla M2TW mortality rates are astronomical. No matter what kind of tactics I use, the casualties are so severe the forces that survive the battle are nearly worthless. I was used of units standing firm (unless faced with supreme opponents).

I heard that Broken Crescent is a mod that resembles EB somewhat (BC fans don't kill me for this). Does this include lower mortality rates?

[Iguanaonastick]

There are several fans of both mods here, including me.

I'd try downloading the new EDU from the sticky thread if you want a more EB-like experience. Gamegeek, the guy making it, also works on an EB mod if I'm not mistaken. Making it more EB like was one of his original intentions.

However, the M2TW engine lacks the "lethality" stat that EB makes such heavy use of, and so casualty rates are generally going to be a bit higher. Cavalry charges are also more extreme in M2TW. The new EDU tones them down considerably from vanilla or BC 2.02 but they're still capable of sometimes destroying entire units in one go. (As opposed to EB, where even a hetairoi or cataphract charge would kill a dozen guys and be called effective.)

Another difference which I personally do not like is that troops in BC route very rarely. Battles are won by crushing 90% enemies underfoot, rather than by routing them as you're likely to do in EB.

All that said, this and BC are my two favourite total war mods. Graphics, music and atmosphere-wise Broken Crescent is second to none. Europa Baraborum is denser, has more depth, but a less original setting and of course is based on an older engine. Play both. Have twice the fun.

[trollface]

>Graphics, music and atmosphere-wise Broken Crescent is second to none.

agreed, broken crescent is the only M2 mod that actually sucks you into it's setting, it also successfully recreates the pageantry of medieval warfare... no other mod can say the same. As for the combat... charges are very powerful and can destroy infantry with hilarious ease... however when two elites fight the battle is long and protracted, as it should be.

[Ansar Warrior]

Not 100% sure but maybe the high moral is due to the religious ferver of the times?

[Iguanaonastick]

Uh. No.

People are people no matter the era. People weren't braver in the middle ages than in antiquity. Peasant militias were peasant militias, trained professionals were trained professionals, religious fanatics were religious fanatics. (In antiquity you had those too, though perhaps fewer. Europa Barbarorum does have -some- units that have extremely high morale.)

It's a game-design choice. Presumably there are undesirable consequences to having low morale. Maybe it makes the AI too easy to beat because they can't handle morale shocks. In Europa Barbarorum it's possible to easily win battles by "gaming" the system with the right combination of scary units. This doesn't bother me, personally. Maybe it has something to do with the medieval 2 engine. Maybe there just hasn't been time yet for careful morale-balancing. I don't really know.

But I do know I don't like the fact that even levies very rarely break until they suffer crippling casualties. It feels less like a real battle that way.

[Dago Red]

People are people no matter the era.

Yes and no.

I agree in general that regular troops would be just people like any other era. But those Crusaders who marched across the world to kill and conquer for the glory of God and Jesus? They were completely insane.
By modern standards. Those people believed in what we now call the supernatural, and though their ancestors of antiquity did as well, they also believed that pious devotion to their lord God would absolve them in the afterlife. So you get this absurd contradiction -- killing people for a God that loves. They were not like people of other times. Their Jihadist counter parts were similar. Those men are not going to route.

[Ansar Warrior]

Yes and no.

I agree in general that regular troops would be just people like any other era. But those Crusaders who marched across the world to kill and conquer for the glory of God and Jesus? They were completely insane.
By modern standards. Those people believed in what we now call the supernatural, and though their ancestors of antiquity did as well, they also believed that pious devotion to their lord God would absolve them in the afterlife. So you get this absurd contradiction -- killing people for a God that loves. They were not like people of other times. Their Jihadist counter parts were similar. Those men are not going to route.

I agree the tensions for religion seemed much higher in the medieval era as Christianity and Islam were hugely unifying religions, never before in history has so many nations and races been brought together through religion and not just through being conquered.

[Filips Augustus]

Yes and no.

I agree in general that regular troops would be just people like any other era. But those Crusaders who marched across the world to kill and conquer for the glory of God and Jesus? They were completely insane.
By modern standards. Those people believed in what we now call the supernatural, and though their ancestors of antiquity did as well, they also believed that pious devotion to their lord God would absolve them in the afterlife. So you get this absurd contradiction -- killing people for a God that loves. They were not like people of other times. Their Jihadist counter parts were similar. Those men are not going to route.

That touched my heart :')

[Boriak]

Beg your pardon but I'm taking my thread back.

I'm interested to know if the town of Siwah in Africa is conquerable. I ask this because I mostly play EB and they made the Sahara region unconquerable. Sahara and Arabian desert region were both the same province. Is this so in BC?

[Neige]

I agree levies need to be toned down when it comes to morale. Levies fleeing and pros still fighting in stead of everybody standing to the last man. That's how it should be.

It will probably make the battles faster and less stagnant (which in this case isn't exactly bad), but I think it is worth it.

[trollface]

greek levys act like levies... toxotoi, light spearmen and peltastoi rout very easily. However some levies such as light turkic archers/melee infantry can be hard to rout

[Ansar Warrior]

No you can only travel on the coastal parts of Arabia not the centre and everything west of Alexandria is unconquerable, you can go all the way south though into Makuria.