Recommendations / What is Stainless Steel

[ben331]

I've recently got back into MTW2 after not playing computer games for a long time. I want to download this mod. After looking through the forum for a few days I noticed people seem to have downloaded other mods as 'accessories' if you like to this mod. What are some recommendations for some accessory mods, if this is the case?

Also, do the Timurids show up in this mod? And what major differences apart from the new factions are there?

If anyone could point me to an overview of this mod I'd be very grateful

Thanks for your time.

[NiceGuyAdy]

If you're looking for and sub-mods for SS it's worth having a look in the sub mods section of the SS forum, loads of little mods in there. My person favourite is Meneth's sub mod compilation, here's the link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=380006.

AFAIK the Timurids are in this mod, however they are an A.I. Faction. if you want to know what the mods about look here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=417435. It tells you all the major changes for the mod, if you want to look at ealrier versions of the mod just follow the links.

Hope this helps.

[Byg]

The OP is right though, there is a lack of a single well defined summary of what is in this mod. The current feature lists usually just display the latest version features, but there are many more originating years ago in older versions.

[NiceGuyAdy]

The OP is right though, there is a lack of a single well defined summary of what is in this mod. The current feature lists usually just display the latest version features, but there are many more originating years ago in older versions.

True, but i guess it isn't so bad. the links are easy to follow i suppose. Still, needs to be a better layout.

[bɑne]

The OP is right though, there is a lack of a single well defined summary of what is in this mod. The current feature lists usually just display the latest version features, but there are many more originating years ago in older versions.

True, but i guess it isn't so bad. the links are easy to follow i suppose. Still, needs to be a better layout.

Well there is always the wiki. Problem is that putting all in one post quickly snowballs into a tl;dr. Condensing it like here leaves out info. If anyone of you wants to try to tackle this he'd be most welcome.

[Byg]

I had not seen the wiki before, but after a quick glance I see that it fits the bill nicely.

[Ultra123]

are the aztecs in early campaign? i see images of them lower down under new factions on the wiki.......

[PerXX]

are the aztecs in early campaign? i see images of them lower down under new factions on the wiki.......

No. There's no Aztecs and no Americas at all in Stainless Steel.
The Americas have been removed in order to allow the map expanse east instead.
Since the majority of the Americas map were the Atlantic ocean, it means much more actual land where units can manoeuvre around.

[bɑne]

are the aztecs in early campaign? i see images of them lower down under new factions on the wiki.......

That image is part of the "Stainless Steel 4.1 Features" section of the article, 6.x has no Aztecs as PerXX already stated. I took most of the content for 4.1 as it was and only reworked / added a few pictures, still haven't played the v4 version but seeing as it is the last version non-kingdoms I kept it in.

[The Source]

could we have a vote for the next stainless steel to get rid of one hardly playable faction in replace for another, and no i dont mean ireland, i mean somewhere where its heavily populated so its more historically accurate

[popovic]

could we have a vote for the next stainless steel to get rid of one hardly playable faction in replace for another, and no i dont mean ireland, i mean somewhere where its heavily populated so its more historically accurate

Which hardly playable faction?

[bɑne]

You can vote all you want we'd still need someone to research, design and create the units.... and whatnot. If you want a vote then create a poll

That said please get back on topic and respond to the OP

[The Source]

yeh true that does sound like hard work, you could maybe though borrow it from another mod, and for the faction, well i dont speak for all players, rather id speak for most or half, but The Cumans, people say they contribute to the whole anti-mongol thing but we already have novogorod,kiev,teutons,lithuania,seljuks,Fatmids/ayyubids and the crusader states(if they survive)

[-Myth-]

I also found it difficult to learn what was the difference between vanilla and SS. I first saw SS when looking at a screenshot thread over at the .org. The first thing I noticed was the textures on the units - a bloodied general hacking away just looked so much better than vanilla. To summarize:

- The map and settlements have been rebalanced. There are generally more settlements to go around.
- More factions have been added. Existing factions have been changed - historical coat of arms, rosters and FMs have been added.
- A more elaborate trait system has been added. You now get traits if your king is lazy, if you stay excommunicated for too long, if you fight a lot or if you stay and govern a lot. Overall it's better and more comprehensive than vanilla.
- The game knows who is the king of each faction, and lord/baron/duke titles are assigned to generals who sleep in a city/castle.
- Becuase the map is bigger and we get 1 tpy all units get more move points. Vanilla is horribly lacking in this department.
- We get more buildings, a lot more units, prettier models for the units and for the settlements on the map (I didn't like the settlements at first but now I love them). The RR submod adds historical accuracy to your recruitment options, so you don't just go and bum-rush some high-population castle to get retinue longbowmen in 1010 AD.
- Guilds give greater bonuses and are more worth it. The AI doesn't spam Thieves guilds everywhere like in vanilla.
- The AI is more challenging as it gets bonuses in the form of gold, movement points and free stacks.
- The battle AI is more challenging because it gets a ton of bonuses for it's units.
- Things follow a general history, with events and emerging factions.

[Mr Kriegtooth]

Ireland is the only faction that should be let back in D:<

Seriously, Ireland is like the only faction I can think of(truer in more ways than one...) that'd be good now that Caesar put in Sweden in his excellent Battle for the Baltic submod. Maybe Serbia or Bulgaria?

[Super-Soviet]

Just what is Stainless Steel? I can't really make any sense of the FAQ.

I don't mean what the content is, I mean how exactly does it work. Is it like Roma Surrectrum, and will it overwrite the original game files? Will installing Stainless Steel prevent me from playing the mods I already have? What exactly makes it different from other mods?

[ash874]

Just what is Stainless Steel? I can't really make any sense of the FAQ.

I don't mean what the content is, I mean how exactly does it work. Is it like Roma Surrectrum, and will it overwrite the original game files? Will installing Stainless Steel prevent me from playing the mods I already have? What exactly makes it different from other mods?

it will not prevent you from anything
its completely separate from the main game in its own folder

[-Myth-]

It's fully mod-foldered and IMO it sets the bar for all other M2TW mods (apart from TATW which is in it's own league, not going after historical events). You'll be hard pressed to find anything better currently. (as in, there is nothing atm)

[ash874]

It's fully mod-foldered and IMO it sets the bar for all other M2TW mods (apart from TATW which is in it's own league, not going after historical events). You'll be hard pressed to find anything better currently. (as in, there is nothing atm)

tatw as far as i understand is made by a lot of the same people
broken crescent and call of warhammer are definitely in the same league as these two
id say deus le veult too but if im not mistaken once you enable bgr4 you pretty much play DlV anyway

[Mr Kriegtooth]

Yeah, Stainless Steel is fully mod foldered. How it works is, when you activate the mod's shortcut, it launches a .batch file that tells the executive for Kingdoms to bring up the mod's files

And Stainless Steel is the preimer mod in the classic Medieval 2 sense IMO. Its like the Grand Campaign, if Creative Assembly liked historical accuracy, fun, and making a huge game that works. *glares at 2 handed bug*. Theres other great mods that focus on smaller things, such as the Last Kingdom's Britain and Scandanvia in the Dark Ages, Invasio Barbaroum 2's Britannia and Southern Europe in the dark ages(I recommend all of those ), and then theres stuff like Call of Warhammer and Third Ages, for fantasy things