Medieval 2 and Kingdoms News

[Release] ReallyBadAI Battle System v5.6 by MasterBigAb
ReallyBadAI Battle System v5.6








Germanicu5 recently released the new version of his
ReallyBadAI series
for the TWC community.

After receiving his own subsection a few months ago - ReallyBadAI Battle System,
he continues to impress us with his new release, the 5.6 version.
The mod is already available/compatible for several mods like
the Third Age, Call of Warhammer, Stainless Steel or Broken Crescent.



The main improvements this mod brings are:

- most aggressive outflanking around -
- much improved overall AI performance -
- heavily customised AI formations, improved player formations -
- very efficient skirmishing -
- cavalry avoiding spears -
- corrected pathfinding -
- countless fixes, tweaks, balancing changes -
- limited possibility of exploit use -
- optional Battle AI and Content Switcher (currently for SS and TATW) -

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The new version also contains:

- reworked ReallyBadAI Hardcore, player temporarily loses control over charging units, including impetuous -
- reinforcements tweaks - AI made more aggressive -
- script optimisations -
- new art courtesy of cedric37 -
- AI uses hero abilities in Third Age: Total War -
- better AI reinforcements behaviour, supports up to 8 AI armies in a single battle -
- AI not getting stuck during sieges - restored functionality -
- fixed random CTDs that might occur due to hard coded AI being unable to apply battle strategy [definitely solves 99% of issues] -
- better behaviour of elephants, mumakil, steam tanks etc. during sieges -
- AI deploys stakes on hard+ difficulty only -





Those are only the basic features: check the link for a long and detailed list of great changes
this mod is going to bring to campaigns and battles.

This and more is waiting for you in the new ReallyBadAI.
If you are interested and would like to get more details visit his mod section
here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1745

Or if you are convinced already, download it right there:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=3350



Germanicu5 is constantly improving the mod and bringing in new features.
So stay tuned, keep an eye on the mod, and be sure to always check out the newest version(s).


Keep your eyes on it!








[Release] 1648 - Der Dreißigjährige Krieg by MasterBigAb
1648 - Der Dreißigjährige Krieg (The Thirty Years War) [DE]



1648
The "Thirty-Years" War


A period in history
in which the Catholics and Protestants of the fractious German states fought for their religion,
their freedom, or their Kaiser.
A war that lasted a whole generation and claimed thousands of casualties is
finally portrayed in a very detailed and promising
Total War modification.








The mod 1648
is settled in the period 1618-1648 of the wars in Central Europe
better known as the '30 years war'.

The battlefields of this conflict are all located in the area of the Holy Roman Empire.
The map has 24 factions and 198 provinces.
The pivotal aspect of the mod will be the struggle of the Kaiser with the counter reformation with
protestant leaders being his main adversaries.





Foreign powers enter the game as spawning factions like Siebenbürgen or as invaders like Sweden and France.
Poland-Lithuania (the Western areas), Denmark, Swiss Union and the United Netherlands have their part on the map as well,
although their influence in the beginning will be more passive.
The eighty years war between the Netherlands and Spanish Habsburg will also play a role in the overall war of that period.

The mod has followed new paths to make the game experience more intensive:
new music and sounds, new textures, new units, new animations, new stratmap elements and more.






One of the main special features of 1648 - Der dreissigjährige Krieg,
is certainly the modified cities, which introduce some the ability to place artillery on walls.

This fantastic innovation allows you to place cannons on your city walls,
in order to bombard attacking armies trying to break down your defenses.







There is nothing more to add for all the German fans interested.
Some epic mod, something totally fresh that will give you many hours of Total War fun.
Go and download the awesome mod here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=315422


For the English speakers:
The mod currently is released just in German,
not only because of the developers' native language, one of them the great TWC size Gigantus,
but also due to the setting and background of the project.
For those of you who don't want to try it out in German already right now,
you can sigh, an English translation is being worked on.






So
while you still have to wait for the translation to be completed,
Or you are already downloading and have to wait,
watch this nice little trailer bringing you in mood to start a 30-years war






And once again the link if you still have not checked out this promising project:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=315422


Enjoy.









[Release] Bellum Crucis 6.3 by MasterBigAb
Bellum Crucis 6.3


Bellum Crucis




The Holy War,
one of most interesting parts of history and the perfect scenario
for a Total War game.



Bellum Crucis has been developed since the end of 2006 as a community project
on Medieval Total War Italia.
It has been wildly successful, boasting thousands of downloads in Italy and abroad.

Bellum Crucis is an extended modification of Medieval II – Total War that aims at an overall improvement
of the game in all its aspects including the campaign map, unit models,
artificial intelligence,diplomacy, gameplay, and historical accuracy.



Four campaigns are playable.
The mod also features many scripts like a Garrison Script, Rise of Heroes, Prestige Script, New Agents and many more.
Next to some new factions which are brought into the game,
the number of regions has been maximized and have been rationally distributed over the entire extension of the map,
in order to optimize the pathfinding calculations of the AI,
while maintaining great historical exactitude in choosing the settlements.


Special attention has been given to diplomacy, as a very central role in the campaign.
Another focus lies on climatic distribution, directly influencing many aspects of the campaign
such as the appearance of snow during winter seasons and the reduced mobility of the characters.






Now the famous mod comes up with another new version:
Bellum Crucis 6.3


The new Bellum Crucis is a stand alone and does not require an older version of the mod.
In case you do already have some prior version installed,
it is recommended to delete or rename the older folder.

The 6.3 version includes a lot of great changes,
the most important ones are listed below:


- Various improvements to mechanical governing diplomatic & the strategic and tactical IA -
- Changes to the strategy map perspective to the addition of the Abbasids and the latest factions -
- Addition of many new units and revision of many existing units -
- Added portastendardi for siege weapons -
- Made many new flags -
- New textures for the turrets on the strategic map -
- Improved the economic balance -
- Relics that can be captured in battle (killing one who has them) -
- Random sieges by armed rebels to the settlements on the borders of the map or on the islands -
- Added a script to limit participation in the Crusades \ jihad by AI -
- The system of differential recruitment between AI and human player -
- Various changes to the system of mercenaries -
- Updated the historical battles -
- Introduced the possibility of supplying units of the settlements under siege by sea -
- Various graphical updates -
- Adapted to new package of sound units -
- Many fixes and minor changes -


And at the end there is also something nice for you to look at:
They also published a little video with some nice information:





You like what you saw here ? Then the best is to try it out yourself.
If you are interested, go and download this great mod, here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...9#post11082509









[Release] Broken Crescent v2.3.2 by MasterBigAb
Broken Crescent v2.3.2


BrokenCrescent (v2.3.2)




Broken Crescent
is a Total Conversion modification for Medieval II: Total War.
It is among the most popular M2TW mods and features a brand new campaign map, a multitude of new units and factions,
new religions, a "Titles" system and an AOR (Area Of Recruitment) system .
It is centered around the Middle Eastern warfare during the period between 1174 and 1400 AD.






It features Muslim, Christian, Pagan, Hindu and emergent factions.
The campaign map is spanning from Constantinople and Egypt in the west to Northern India and Afghanistan in the East.
It encompasses all the classical and iconic lands of the Eastern and Islamic world.


The famous mod now release the next version:
BrokenCrescent (v2.3.2)

It includes a lot of great changes listed below:



  1. fixed limited choices of factions in custom battle faction selection menu
  2. fixed too long ladders
  3. fixed too tall siege towers
  4. added missing gubernatorial titles .tga
  5. added missing victory conditions for Chauhans
  6. lowered Chauhan bodyguards recruitment costs and upkeep
  7. fixed broken battle UI
  8. fixed unaccessible strat map resources (special thanks to Araven at forum.totalwar.org.pl)
  9. in Kandahar Region, changed "honey" resource to "dogs"
  10. fixed broken Raider's Loot script
  11. fixed the issue of never dying family memebers
  12. added missing Omani baqlah unit_info picture
  13. fixed broken swordsmen animation (Taiji)
  14. fixed spelling errors in descr_names.txt
  15. changed "Middle Eastern" culture into "Islamic" (expanded.txt)
  16. lowered building cost of dirt roads from 7000 to 4000
  17. added win and lose .bik's to descr_faction_movies.xml
  18. added missing Malik of Sindh title
  19. fixed save corrupting 4th crusade siege script (special thanks to TechStrider)
  20. crusaders besiegeing Constantinople appear as Latin army now (instead of old middle_eastern rebels)
  21. improved Ayyubid behaviour
  22. adjusted AI Cash Script (thanks to Polish fans of Broken Crescent)
  23. improved Garrisons script
  24. improved AI Faction Stacks script


So for every fan of this excellent mod,
or also anyone new to this project who's interest has been awakened:
Check out the new version and download this great mod, here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=520801








[Preview] The Great Conflicts "The Kievan Rus' Khaganate Preview" by MasterBigAb
The Great Conflicts (872-1071) The Kievan Rus' Khaganate Preview


The Great Conflicts




The Great Conflicts (TGC) Team presented their fans another excellent preview
of one of the factions from their upcoming mod:

The Kievan Rus' Khaganate




After the team already released many very informative and beautifully detailed faction previews,
containing the Bulgarian Empire, Emirate of Iqritiya, Duchy of Croatia, Francia Orientalis,
the Lombard Duchies, the Roman Empire and the Normans,
the developers provided another great insight into their work.
This time, the team showed you

The Kievan Rus' Khaganate
from their mod, that settles in the Mediteranean area around Greece from 872 till 1071.
The borders of the GC's map reach from southern Germany and Italy, to Tunis, Jerusalem and Belgrade.


"The main scenario is the huge – in numbers and in timeline - conflict that took place between the Medieval Roman Empire (Byzantium) and the Bulgarian Empire.
That conflict changed a lot in the middle ages Europe and those changes are more or less unknown to the public.
In order the player to have a spherical view of the changes that happened in Europe there are some more conflicts that influenced the world back then
and lead to the first crusade, the Norman establishment in Italy, the Magyar establishment in the central/east Europe and the birth of the Hungarian kingdom.
Also [...] the appearance of Turkish tribes in the eastern Anatolia and in the Middle East [will be shown].
Players will know the dynastic changes the Islamic kingdoms suffered that lead to the Islamic civil wars.
Players will learn about the last attempts of the Lombards to have a kingdom of their own and the birth of the HRE from the ashes of the East Frankia."



To see a full list of factions visit the FAQs in the TGC section. Two little cinematic trailer of the mod 8so far) can be viewed in this thread as well.
For further info and small previews, please go to the Collection of minor previews.





"While the lands of the Rus' have been occupied for centuries, their history truly lies within the heart of the Norse people - those who many know today as the Vikings. For many years, the Norse had been terrorizing the known world, raiding and attacking every civilized country in Europe. However, in their search for glory and gold, the Norsemen would create one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in all of Europe."



The preview also explains the origin, background and conflicts, government and religion of the Kievan Rus'.
From "The Early Period" and the "Rorikid Dynasty",
to the "Years of Oleg" and "Christianity".







Of course the very informative preview also contains, beside a very detailed banner collection,
in-game screenshots of some of the faction's units, such as the


Druzhina Kagana





Each of these beautiful looking and detailed made models is obviously armed with a nice little description as well,
fitting to the rest of the developer's preview, who are indeed sticklers for details
- what is of course an advantage for the look and the general outcome of this promising mod.

To see the whole preview and all the units' glory, visit the TGC's thread: [Preview] The Kievan Rus' Khaganate



So once again keep an eye on the mod and it's developers
to also see their next wonderful preview, which will certainly be another piece of eye-candy,
while we will all wait, wait for the beginning...

The beginning of

 the Great Conflicts.







[Preview] Anatolian Principalities Faction Preview: Kingdom of Georgia by MasterBigAb
Anatolian Principalities: Kingdom of Georgia Preview


Anatolian Principalities






The Anatolian Principalities Team recently published another awesome preview
of one of their factions from the mod:

Kingdom of Georgia



The team already released many very informative and beautifully detailed previews,
containing some artistically masterpieces such as the Character Artworks, Battlefield Banners, Character Portraits, etc...,
as well as some faction previews like the Karaman Begs or the Order of Saint John.
Now the mod developers provided another great insight into their work.
They did release another fantastic faction preview for us:

The Kingdom of Georgia
from their mod, that displays the Turkish area from 1310 till 1510.
The project is about the Second Anatolian Principality. It includes struggle and wars between the Anatolian Principalities
and the Balkans as well as the eastern factions.






It also contains conflicts about the Mediterranean and Aegean's islands,
features the Ilkhanids as well as the Timurid invasions.
The A.P.'s map focuses on Turkey, from the Balkans to Georgia, the north of Egypt till Baghdad
and the south coast of Crimea with all together 173 cities.





For more details, screenshots, fantastic artwork and information,
visit the Anatolian Principalities (AP) section.





Kingdom of Georgia



"At that time the country is ruled by the Bagrationi Dynasty. There were throne wars with Imereti dynasty and authority struggles in addition to unrest caused by the repression of the Ilkhanids in the Kingdom of Georgia. George provided national sovereignty when Ilkhanate lost their power, but that sovereignty ended with the spread of the threat of Tamerlane.
Although, they are away from the Anatolian principalities, Ilkhanid and Timurid pressures is being felt quietly. Kingdom starts game with four regions. Our goal is to withstand the pressures of the Ilkhanid and Timurid and establish the Kingdom of Great Georgia. To achieve this, we deal with local Georgian rebellions."







Of course the preview also contains, beside some nice emblem collection and event pictures,
many in-game screenshots of some of the faction's units, such as the










To
see the whole preview and all the units' glory, visit the A.P thread:
[Faction Preview: Kingdom of Georgia]


So check out that good looking mod and keep an eye on it,
so you see whenever they release another great preview of their work.





House Stark of Winterfell

Winter ends for us on March 20th, but the cold is still approaching in Westeros. Murfmurf presents us with a preview of House Stark. Each unit is lovingly handcrafted using community-made assets and the WTW team's modding expertise. If you count yourself as a Game of Thrones fan you have no excuse not to head over to the Westeros: Total War forum and check out this gorgeous preview. Winter is coming.


Written by: Legio.