Mettle Blades and Skill **BETA ver 005 12tpy RELEASED 30May**

[Hazbones]

Thanks, I am moving right along with the mod progress so I don't feel like I am getting bogged down or tired of working on it.

Question: Will the battles be really slow? I really like Darthmod and TROM's changes to make the battles more cinematic (animation improvements, longer battles) so we have time to watch the fighting as well as command, and so that units do not rout so easily.

I will of course give the units my own preference on stats to start out with but there will be an extensive playtesting period to adjust the stats to something everyone can enjoy. I prefer slow battles too.

Once the mod is out for playtesting, I plan to try incorporating one of the common gameplay mods like Darth or Radious. I won't try to do that initially simply because it would just delay alpha even longer as I try to tweak their mods to fit into mine.

Suggestion: Something I have always dreamed about was units having the same depth as Generals. Having their own leaders with portraits who gained skill points and had skill trees just like Generals do. That's why I modded my own game to have recruitable Generals.. just because the battlefield lacks character. Use my Generals like units. I'm not sure if it is even possible to do this with regular units or if such a RPG system would fit with your mod, but I just thought I'd share my own ambition with someone who is doing something amazing.

I did not have the intention of doing this but I can keep it in mind as a possible project in the future.

[McCarronXLD]

I see Thank you for the responses. Looking forward to it!

[Hazbones]

Sorry guys, I have been stumped working on a bug I encountered for 2 days now. I think I have fixed it and so now I can roll out the next preview.

Background

Sagami is on the southwest corner of the Kanto plain. Other than the low hills and mountains on its borders, Sagami is a barren field. The people there would be poor and scappy-looking and historically the Hojo used rapid response units to defend its lands. This means the warriors would be pulled straight from the field to fight. I tried to take this into consideration in building the unit variants.

Late Sagami Ashigaru

Variant 1 Notice that these men do not have all the fancy trimmings that you might see in more wealthy places. And YES, I used another mod I found to get rid of that stupid DOT. Variant 2 Variant 3 There are some other slight variants but looking at these you can get the gist.

Before I go further, I wanted to point out the awesome scabbard mod that weirdoascensor is working on. It can be found HERE. I have incorporated it into MBS.

See the scabbard in all its GLORY!

And here are some pics of the Early and Late Ashigaru together so you can compare...

Early (top) and Late Version (bottom)

Early Sagami Ashigaru- NOTE that these are just for Sagami. The colors and unit variant will differ region-to-region And Late Version... my babies have all grown up!

One question I know will pop up is: "Will we have both early and late variants available for recruitment at the same time"?

ANSWER: Yes.

The early and late variant of each unit is tied to the building level in the province. Usually (but not the rule), you can recruit the early variant in the first two levels (where they cease in availability after that) and the late variant will be available thereafter.

So, if you have all level 3 buildings in your home region then capture a region with only level 1 and 2 bldgs then you will continue to recruit late variants of your units in your home province and the early variant in the newly captured territory.

[McCarronXLD]

Looks fantastic

[weeeee659]

Looking at those scabbards got me thinking. It would be cool if you gave different units different katana. You could have the really well equipped units have the Tenkagoken sword (I know historically there were supposedly only 5 but oh well) and have the the Ashigaru just with the normal katana. It is a very minor thing and i don't mind if you chose not to implement it ( I wonder what some people on the Rome 2 forums would say ) but it would be nice. Maybe after the mod is released?

[Hazbones]

I will surely keep that idea in mind weeeee659 but there is nothing stopping someone (like you maybe) to create a submod for MBS with your idea implemented. It would be a simple modification to do.

[tino92]

hi mate, i really like these features:
regional specialties, different units for each region and peasant's weapons
i'm waiting for a beta

[Hazbones]

After a bit of a slow-down due to a bug I found, I am just now starting on the Samurai tweaks to models, cards, stats, etc. but...

The Peasant and Ashigaru alpha units are DONE MAN!

If I can plow through the samurai fast enough they are the second biggest unit roster after the ashigaru so the remaining ones shouldn't be so difficult.

[Castiel]

to the progress!

[Hazbones]

Samurai models are done. Now moving on to the unit cards and stats. I might be able to post a samurai preview today or tomorrow.

[Hazbones]

There are quite a few pics and so I will break this preview down into two separate parts.
In this one, we will see some of the MBS Religious Samurai units...

Background

Even though Daimyo were converting to Christianity in order to get the guns being traded by Portugal, that did not mean that the whole region's populous just woke up one day and had to convert as well. There was great conflict stirred up because of these fundamental life changes that were being thrown upon the people. Some did do what they were told and convert to a new religion, others did it on their own will regardless what the daimyo said.

On top of that, there were warring sects within the same religion fighting to control the hearts and minds of the people in the region. Whole armies were being built by the various sects as a way to muscle their beliefs over the competition. Anger and animosities grew between the sects and when one started to gain the upper hand, the others would ally themselves and lend contingents of warriors to help force out the trouble-makers. Sometimes, the battles that the clan daimyos were fighting to win control of the country would play to the benefit of one religious group over another. At these times, the sects would offer the services of their armies to the clan leader in exchange for wiping out their rivals.

The new arrivals on the scene were the Christians. Slowly they began to convert the peasantry and eventually all the way up to the higher classes. This was made easier by the bribery of firearms. Bands of Samurai either through loyalty to their clan leader or of their own free will took up the Cross and fought under a Christian banner. This blatant disregard for their religion (Buddhism) made some monks furious. A resistance to this change was started to combat the spread of Christianity and other sectarian beliefs splitting the country apart. Now monks of all sects were taking up arms not just against fellow Buddhists but now against foreign intervention in their country.

This was the Sengoku era on a social level...

All religious units in MBS will be capped so we don't go overboard on recruiting them. They are not some uber-unit like CA portrays them but they do have some morale and stat bumps and other abilities that are only available to these units. They are not God-like however so don't expect them to out-perform all units on the battlefield. Their unit sizes are small too (under 100 men) so be careful when and where you use them.

"Why would I want to use such a small unit that are not much better than my home units?"
Well, the benefits these units have are not just in their abilities and stats, they also do not require any resources from your clan. This means that all you need to do is build the appropriate religious building and you have instant access to a whole army of various religious units (this is where the units caps come into play ).

This quick access to such a pool of units will not be helpful to some OS in this mod but other OS's (like Clan OS) that have long recruitment times can access these pools of units to keep on the move or defend themselves while their units are sitting in queue.

And now, the units:
Of course these require the Christian chain of buildings and the Christian religion to be recruited. They are available in ALL REGIONS.

THE CHRISTIAN SAMURAI

As you can see, I was trying to give the Christian Samurai a look to reflect the foreign influence on them. Luckily the Unit Editor has some "western" style armours available. Variant 1 Variant 2

The next ones are your average Buddhist Warrior Monks.
These units require the Buddhist building chain and Buddhist religion to be recruited. They are PROVINCE SPECIFIC and so some may not be available in all locations.

THE BUDDHIST WARRIOR MONKS

In a future sub-mod for MBS, I plan to expand these models to look like the specific sect that lived in a particular region. Initially though, they will all resemble this guy. Variant 1

And the final contestants we have are the Ikko-Ikki Warrior Monks.
These units require the Ikko building chain to be recruited. They are available in all regions.

THE IKKO-IKKI WARRIOR MONKS

In an experiment for MBS, I plan to allow the construction of the Ikko building chain in all provinces even without the Ikko religion. This gives you access to the Ikko units but once the Ikko building is built, it will start spreading the Ikko religion in your province making your populace unhappy. So for the price of these Ikko troops, you might get a rebellion to take care of until you remove the Ikko building. Again, this will just be a test feature in the initial release of MBS. Variant 1

MBS will have a heavy variant of the Buddhist and Ikko units.
These units require the Buddhist and Ikko building chains AND the Armourer Regional Specialty to be recruited. They are available in all regions as long as you have the building requirements.

THE HEAVY VARIANTS

This time, if you see the word "Heavy" in a unit's title, there will not just be a stat bump for them but also a visual difference as well. Variant 1 The Ikko-Ikki have been portrayed in books as a rag-tag bunch with not much in the way of standardized armour. I went ahead and tried to standardize these guys just to set them apart from their brethren. Variant 1

The Ikko-Ikki have been given a Bullet-proof variant as well. It will have the same recruitment criteria as the heavy variant but you must have the Master Armourer Regional Specialty to be recruited.

THE BULLET PROOF VARIANT

No other religious group has a BP variant. Variant 1

Ignore the colors I used on the units. The actual colors will be decided on your faction color and if you have any color mods installed.
This concludes the preview. I will post the Samurai preview in a day or two.

[Fra70]

Very good !!

[Hazbones]

Ok, so today I will be previewing my own custom icon pack that I created for the Samurai Roster.
I did this because as hard as I tried, I just could not tell which units were what using vanilla and a couple other community made icon packs. At least making my own I will know who is who.
I plan to have a unit icon pack for each caste represented in MBS when I release the first version of this mod.

This is not a complete roster, just for preview purposes. It will grow as I have time to create them. It is easy to make them (but not very fun) so please don't laugh at me for doing all this work in MS Paint. I don't have any fancy art software to make them better so initially you'll just have to take them as they are.

Please be gentle, I thought they looked better than vanilla at least.

MBS Samurai Icon Pack (Preview)

[VENNONETES]

Can't wait for the release! True samurai and MBS will be my favourite mods for sure!

[Hazbones]

Thanks!

[Fra70]

This could be one of the biggest mods ever made , in terms of complexity and innovation !

[Hazbones]

Well, maybe not the most complex. I will probably use other mods to fix the CAI and BAI in my mod. I can't do it all by myself.

[Hazbones]

UPDATE: Samurai infantry and cavalry unit models are DONE!

Now I am moving on to finish up the unit cards for the samurai roster.
This is a slow process but I will keep chugging on it probably for the next day or so.

There are only two more unit rosters to finish (Hatamoto and Kashindan) but both are tiny compared to the last two I have done...

[zagy20]

This mod I can tell will be so awesome. Thanks in advance for all the work your doing.

[Hazbones]

Thanks!

I hope that this mod will become a community project after I release it. With each province having its own units and buildings, it is possible to REALLY get creative and flesh out each province with MBS as a base.
I don't expect that I will have much time to flesh out the provinces since I will probably be buried in play-testing and bug squashing so I will rely on the community to help out with ample sub-mods.