New Units & Features

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Hi,
in the past years I worked on a lot of new units, factions and features for my private modifications ...

Then I was busy at my studies and couldn't visit the forum often.
When I came here again the last days, I saw the forum alive and visited by many fans (to my pleasure).
My question is if anybody is yet working on MTW2 mods or interested in new modifications since there have been so many years of newer sequels and so many great mods?

I appreciate answers,
Johannes Kurkuas

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Mate, I can tell you that Medieval II is still very much alive and we'd all be happy to see what you've been working on

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Thanks for the response!
That's what I've been hoping to hear, to be honest

I'll post screenshots tomorrow, when I'm back home ...
In my opinion they're to extensive to fall back in oblivion,
but I await your view with excitement,
feedback is much appreciated

Cheers, Johannes Kurkuas

[Heathen Storm]

Thanks for the response!
That's what I've been hoping to hear, to be honest

I'll post screenshots tomorrow, when I'm back home ...
In my opinion they're to extensive to fall back in oblivion,
but I await your view with excitement,
feedback is much appreciated

Cheers, Johannes Kurkuas

Definitely mate, even if you don't get a mod released, releasing new units for the community is a great asset to modders, especially up and coming ones!

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Thank`s for the feedback Heathen Storm
I´ll post screenshots of a few units in the next minutes, let me hear what you think about them ...

[Johannes Kurkuas]

So let`s start ...
For sure the base of all units belongs to CA and I don`t claim anything to be originally produced by myself.
And I want to thank the Community a lot, because only the great work on modding tools and tutorials gave me the chance to operate on this stuff .

In my own modding attempts I focussed on new units for byzantium, because the vanilla rooster doesn`t have much diversity (only 5-6 different looks for standard/heavy soldiers and a somehow strange looking for the militia units) as well as on new factions units (like bulgaria or the cumans) and new mercenary units for all regions.

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Part I - Byzantine Militia Units

Please notice that it wasn`t my goal to be 100% historically accurate (like ie. the great CBUR-Project), but to make the units look better for my favour ...

Byzantine Town Militia

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Spear Militia + Upgrade 1

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Archer Militia

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Pronoia Infantry + Upgrade 1 & 2

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Militia Cavalry

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What`s your opinion about these?

[Johannes Kurkuas]

addendum Part I

Byzantine Cavalry + Upgrade 1 & 2

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Part II - Byzantine Standard Units

Greek Archers + Upgrade 1 (replaced the Trebizond Archers as Medium Archers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Infantry + Upgrade 1 & 2 (using the weaponary from the Dismounted Lancers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Archers + Upgrade 1 (replaced the Guard Archers as Elite Archers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trebizond Archers (recruitable as a regional unit in Northern Anatolia, Medium Archers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Byzantine Lancers + Upgrade 1

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Part III - Foreign Units & Long Serving Mercenaries

Latin Infantry
(used as longer serving mercenaries & quality spearmen, with low replenish rate and high upkeep cost)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Latin Crossbowmen (same like the Infantry)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Alan Cavalry + Upgrade 1
(mediocre cavalry from the Steppes, similar to Alan Light Cavalry, a bit more armor and a bit slower)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I`d like your feedback ...
Next Part will be the Guard & Late Era Units, if appreciated

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Tell me your opinion about the units ...
Would you like to see them in a Unit Addon Mod?

[PrestigeX]

These are excellent!

I like the Byz town militia, using the simple wooden round shields.

then the Trebizond Archers - really interesting looking.

Latin mercenary crossbowmen and heavy spearmen are going to be especially fun to use since Byz lack both of these troop types.

can't wait to see what else you've got , I definantly need to get these for my game(s)

[PrestigeX]

These late units are equally, if not more, stunning than the first batch you've shown us.

pikes and muskets, and dressed in a manner that would seem appropriate for 1400's byzantium - what look more like 'commoners' or just lay-people taking arms. Many mods or implementations of byzantine pikes/muskets have the units wearing the heaviest set of armor - akin to varang guards or latinkon.

Byzantium "a la vanilla" was bland, all of their units wear exactly the same outfit and its kinda of dissapointing.

Meanwhile, you didn't go overboard and change the aesthetic of the game. Each of these units can easily match up against the rosters of the game. I refer to the way many mods take models and units from other sources, put them into M2tw and it just looks uneven. (ie. if you are playing Street Fighter 2, and you inserted Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat 1 as he is in that game, its just two diff styles artistically, it clashes).

It makes these units have more individual charm, there's a reason to care or to inspect them up close.

[b257]

These are excellent unit mods my friend and would be excellent to see them in a mod, alas I don't know how to mod . Question, did you redo some of the byzantine heavy cavalry as well, like the Kataphractoi and Archontopoulai, both were too damn similar for my liking , i mean the Archontopoulai was just a Kataphractoi with a kite shield and better stats for pete's sake.

[Johannes Kurkuas]

I hope some people enjoyed the units from Byzantium ...
If appreciated, I will present new Mercenary units today.



@b257
Thanks for your Feedback, b257
To your question, i didn't use the Archontopouloi in my game,
because they are an uninspired mixture of the armor from the Cataphractoi
and the weaponary of the Latinkon ... somehow a symbol for the marginal interest
CA treated Byzantium with, in my opinion.
Instead of them I created the Pronoiai as Mid/Late Game Heavy cavalry.
The Cataphractoi wear the same armor like in vanilla, because the two heaviest armor
upgrades (the heavy lamellar and that one with face protection) are perfect for Mid Game's
Heavy Cavalry ... So I use them for the Cataphracts and the General's Bodyguard.

@PrestigeX
Thanks again for your feedback & point of view, mate
You mention exactly what I aimed to create, neither a complete change of the
original game feeling nor super units that lower the game challenge.

@all
Tell me your opinion please, this thread has nearly 300 views, but only 5 feedbacks ...
It's lots of work to upload and present the stuff, is there only so little interest in it?
I'd anyway appreciate your comments

Cheers,
Johannes Kurkuas

[b257]

@b257
Thanks for your Feedback, b257
To your question, i didn't use the Archontopouloi in my game,
because they are an uninspired mixture of the armor from the Cataphractoi
and the weaponary of the Latinkon ... somehow a symbol for the marginal interest
CA treated Byzantium with, in my opinion.

i hear ya, regardless these are fantastic units and you should post more of your work, hell if I could I would probably download these if you made them available so I can attempt to use them in my Byzantine Campaign in Custom Campaign Mod 2 (I find they would suit the setting of the fantasy map), that is if I knew how to mod .

[Vipman]

Well they're not on the taste of most people here who want absolute historical accuracy (that might explain lack of replies), but they're very nice and A LOT more better than vanilla
*Though I personally don't ask you to make a mod from it because now I just spend time on TWC and don't play anything except in a few hotseats

[Johannes Kurkuas]

Thanks for your feedback, vipman
I understand the wish to see historical accuracy, the thread was started only to present my work, to get feedback about it and maybe create more units like these, if they could be used anywhere.

For the second point I looked around in many mod forums and saw mainly units, which look selfmade by modders, but not in the style and texture quality of the original ones - but that`s my personal opinion of course.

cheers,
Johannes Kurkuas

[Vipman]

If by "the original ones" you mean the ones from the vanilla M2tw, well almost everybody wants to see complete new units and never again anything which would look like the vanilla units. Or maybe they just took it from the modders who usually do total overhauls.
Because of EU3, now most important for me is strategy and complexity, then maybe units.

[y2day]

Great units. Really impressive. You should think about releasing them to the community so other can enjoy the results of your work. You should also consider letting other modders use them in thier mod projects. Giving you full credit in thier release thread of course. You don't have to do any of that but it would be nice. Either way its really good work!

[Johannes Kurkuas]

@y2day
Thanks for your feedback
I'll try to make the units available on the forum.

This week I'm very busy at my studies, but if possible, I'll present
some of my regional (Austria, Bulgaria, Cumans, Burgundy, ...) & mercenary units.

Again every Feedback is appreciated!
Cheers,
Johannes Kurkuas