Please help me choose the right mod

[bitey]

Hello all, I'm relatively new to the whole modding thing- I had some reasonable sucess running the sicilian vespers mod on medieval 2 but havent done any mod experimentation with Empire yet. Browsing these forums, I found the huge and disparate range and combinations of mods somewhat overwhelming and I'm struggling to decide which would be best for me.

Basically the key elements that I think are really lacking in the vanilla game, from my gameplay perspective anyway, are:

diplomacy- ridiculously stubborn AI demands, unwillingness to ever make peace etc etc, you know the drill;

lack of variety in unit types and skins- all european line infantry/ grenadiers etc all look the same, I'd like some more variety in unit types- sweden and poland only have 1 unique unit each (and sweden's is pretty anachronistic). So more historically reasonable units and skins would be nice.

Dull unimaginative battle Ai- the only 'tactic' I've come across the AI using is the cavalry zerg rush at the beginning of the battle- charging hell for leather into any exposed artillery/ cavalry or failing that to a hopeless suicide mission into the front of my infantry. followed by all the AI's infantry mobbing forward. Some more expansive AI tactics would be good- a column attack at the centre of my lines whilst cavalry outflank say or attacking in depth with reserves, sending in force en echelon, commiting part of its forces on one flank rather than always throwing everything in at once.

then some cool things like a bit of smoke and blood which I saw on here, fixable ring/ socket bayonets- why the hell did they only include this button for plug bayonets, who wouldn't want to be able to order their units to fix bayonets and charge the enemy after giving them a volley? Muskets should reload faster without bayonets fixed but obviously wouldn't get the melee boost.

Oh and one other things is some fixes to retarded ship mechanics like brigs with 6 pounders outranging a 3rd rates 32 pounders, that and ships of the line being able to move further than brigs/ sloops on the campaign map.


So yeah those are some of the things I'd like in a mod, but how best to get them? I've heard a lot about darth mod but there are several features of it that I really don't like- no grenades for grenadiers for example (i can limit their ammunition manually by the number of times I click the button); cavalry made even weaker- at the moment with vanilla, it seems ridiculous to me just how easily and with how few casualties an infantry unit in line can deal with a cavalry charge which should tear them apart. I find I simply don't need to form square against cavalry, particularly light cavalry who drop like flies (why does heavy cavalry have more than twice the defence of light when they're wearing no more armour?)

Anyhoo I've gone on a bit now so better post before it gets even more lengthy!

Any advice as to what mod or mods would best suit the kind of changes I'm looking for would be much appreciated.

[bitey]

le bump?

I was also wondering about how easy it is to modify unit stats for someone like me with no previous modding experience?