Diversity between regular units in europe.

[mr.floppy]

Hi ,
My humble question is :
Is there any mod that brings more diversity between units in Europe ?
I'd like to play a new game so that I don't see the same units all over the game which is :
spear milita and armoured sergants.

I can understand that these are general types, are much common in medieval Europe - but to be perfect clones in shape, name and skill is quite boring thing.
It would be more realistic that there units should vary, as every nation in Europe has its own drill and tactics, its own instructors, generals .
So they should vary in :
1) in statistics (like the difference between Italian militia types and other european nations), a point, or two (attack skill, charge, defend) some could be cheaper, a little bit - just slight changes too add colour and life
2) in graphics, this is exceptionally dull seeing the same units in battles all over
3) image graphic in unit roster and NAME too

Do , any of you know such mod ? However, I'd like best not a major overhaul, like DLV which makes tons of other things I do not want as well as huge map that makes game unplayable for those who does have months to play a game (however this is fantastic mod because of so many various modifications)?

Thank you for any guides!
F.

[PrestigeX]

You could go with S.S. ,
but most of the mods that really over-haul the rosters are also changing the game a lot by adding all types of things you probably won't care for - factions like idk what Azerbaijan and like, Bulgaria or so obscure place off in the east.

If you really want to customize the game so each faction draws more on it's unique units and less on the standardized clones then you should consider doing a bit of your own modding.

with some knowledge of the EDU, the EDB and the Modelsdb file - you can change things up a bit.

get some of the different skin packs out there --- Burrek's Knights and Knaves is most famous, -- instead of having 1 set of uniforms for the basic Mail - ie. armor sergeant, they will have 3 or 4 sets of mail so you can really add a lot of variety.

There's also a number of others who made skin packs and 'cosmetic' changes -- ie . helmets for sergeants, helmets for mailed knights - Lord Condiments or something....he made a whole bunch of little things so the "dummy spearmen ug2 " can be highly customized. -- ie. sergeants wear a kettle hat, and good looking armor.
spear militia wearing no helmet, and wear armor that looks like dirty leather with bits of metal sewn on it.

just trying to give you some examples, you'll have to search the site / the web for some tutorials but there are plenty around that will show you how to do basic modification and it's really not hard.

[mr.floppy]

Thanks for your advice. S.S also has this huge map as I remember (am i right?).

Unfortunately I do not have time to lurk into deep sea of modding, however I could use your expertise to answer this question :

Perhaps you can tell me why major overhaul mods makes economics so harsh that you loosing thousands of florins on very start (negative income) ?
Isn't it odd to start with nation that has so huge army that its economy can go bankrupt with it in 2 turns ?
What's so fun in disbanding units at start ?

[PrestigeX]

Perhaps you can tell me why major overhaul mods makes economics so harsh that you loosing thousands of florins on very start (negative income) ?
Isn't it odd to start with nation that has so huge army that its economy can go bankrupt with it in 2 turns ?

It has a big map in S.S., with more regions and spaces between the various kingdoms.
The reason for the difficulty (which is often made HARDER by the sub-mods available for many of the most popular mods) is that many players found the 'default' game tooo easy.
They want a challenge, and they want to play feeling like the AI really can beat them.
Once you have played the game a few times over, its a formula ingrained into your head of what to do / build, and in what order -- after a few dozen turns they've got more money and resources than they know what to do with.

I'd recommend you try - Darth Mod , it's one of the best that I've played for m2tw. you don't need kingdoms for it, but its really a great balance between 'vanilla' and 'super hard economic mod' and the rosters / feel of each of the factions is a bit different -- A lot of the annoyances of Vanilla are gone, and just ... More settlements / more on the map, but without going overboard . At first glance, Darth mod doesn't seem very 'sexy' -- but it's very very elegant and sophisticated, and I think it still has one of (if not the) best of A.i. changes and battle-a.i.
plus the unit stats and combat etc, it just feels perfect
The changes aren't as obvious as you might expect from a lot of the other mods, but there is a reason ppl love Darth's mod for each TW game out right now -- he's a master at it =)

It's an easy one to customize too because the MOdelsdb is formatted, and all the relevant folders are easy to see in the mod's own "main folder".
All it amounts to for the skins is really just, placing the files in the right folders - you don't actually have to do any modding.

[MagicCuboid]

Well, going into debt isn't too bad, really. Sure, you go into debt - but then you disband your armies after conquering useful targets and regain your money! The goal is to force the player to play more strategically, rather than just getting tons of money and spamming armies.

Another reason is because most factions didn't historically have standing armies in the early medieval period when MTW2 starts. A lord would raise a bunch of peasants, equip them as best as he could afford, and join up with other nobles to form an army. Then those armies would go after targets assigned by the king or marshall and disband once victory was attained .