{DIK} Discussion

[Aneirin]

Well, what faction do you play?

[Iskar]

Financial management is not as easy as it was in Vanilla M2TW, mind you. A simple keynesian expansionist economy powered by the spoils of war that would work in Vanilla is very likely to fail here, as you will be in high debts soon and at some point you have to pay them all back.

It is usually possible with any faction to get positive income by
- disbanding expensive troops (ships, cavalry, elite units) at the start
- keeping your generals in the towns until you really need them (cf. field cost script)
- recruiting as many of the (free!) merchants as possible to eat other merchants and exploit the gold and silver in the alps and on the balkans
- keeping sieges as short as possible, they cost you 1000 per round
- restricting construction activity to a minimum (except for markets/farms) for the early phase of the game, until you can afford bigger/more projects
- increasing taxes to the highest possible level.

[Theramines]

Although I haven't downloaded 4.0 yet (waiting until I'm back at work: internet is expensive in Oz), I found Iskar's comments above ring true in the earlier versions.

Another strategy I tried: on the first turn recruit merchants and mercenaries (including cannon) and capture one or two nearby rebel settlements. Don't spend anything on your own settlements. You need the cannon to avoid long and expensive sieges. Fight off any vengeful rebels, then disband as many as possible. All within the first 3 turns.

After that you're good to build your economy in small increments because the one or two extra settlements provide a surplus and a little cash from looting.

That was my opening strategy with Florence, Venice and HRE.

[Aneirin]

That's another way to gain some money.
I think the only problem might be that when your army gets defeated, then you have a serious problem, because all your money is gone.. as well as your troops.

[Theramines]

Hey, I returned to work today and downloaded 4.0. I've just started a Florence campaign. Very, very good. The units look great. Well done.

Did you make a front page announcement for this? Or are you waiting for the English translation?

[Aneirin]

Many thanks for your praise

We are going to wait till the English translation is done

[Haithabas]

Good job guys!

I´m playing the Kingdom of Naples (~ turn 100+) in alliance with Florence and the Pope against France. After rebuild my economy I´m currently dealing with the spanish traitors in the souths.

I like this mod very much especially the political and historical events. The battles are good too, but the units moral on the battle field seems to me a little bit to high. The units often fight to the bitter end, even the more less quality troops. Of course it's only my opinion.

[Aneirin]

Many thank's for your positive feedback

Well, if you like you can make some kind of a list and send it to me, probably there is some space for adjustments

[Maxdivi]

Wowww the new release, I just discovered today and still have to download it. I'm curious about new things.

[Aneirin]

Just check the changelog for the new stuff
It's quite a lot

[Chios]

There's really some cool new stuff in 4.0, love the hungarians!

Currently I'm trying to get the guys together for the forementioned big siege, we will be 6 people playing via Steam.
My goal is maybe on the 5th of January, but I rather expect it to be February to get everyone together.
I plan to upload it as a commentated battle an my Youtube channel (which I will create just for this purpose ^^)

For the custom battles I dared to dabble in the unit files and make some small adjustments, I hope this is ok for you guys?
Tell me if you would rather not see the altered mod on Youtube (it is your hard work after all), but the changes are very minor anyway, I doubt it's noticeable from a spectators view.

Just a list so you know what I changed:

Hungary:
Hajducken cost 1100 instead of 20
Napels:
Apulische Arkebusierreiter now cost 1100 instead of 20
Apulische(Kalabrische) Schildkämpfer now cost 800 instead of 20
Neapolitanische Garde (Kalabrische Pikeniere) now cost 1200 instead of 20
Kalabrische Hakenbüchsenschützen (Neapolitanische Hakenbüchsenschützen) now cost 750 instead of 20
Schwere Balestraschützen now cost 600 instead of 20
Schwabia:
Landsknecht Hellebardiere now cost 700 instead of 20
Turks:
get the Serpentine (not that anyone will use it in a siege, but hey ^^)
Austria:
Kärntner Doppelsöldner now cost 855 instead of 800


P.S.
Man, I hope the guys can make some free time soon, I want to play singleplayer quite badly on this
Keep up the great work!

[Aneirin]

Glad to you like our work

Well, that shouldn't be a problem!
In patch 4.1 (after we finished the english translation ), we will also have a closer look at the unit balance/costs.

Cheers Neadal

p.s. I would be grateful if you could share that link with us, afterwards

[Maxdivi]

Finally I found some time..I'm downloading now. I watched the changelog. The team did a lot of work.
I'll try to find time for some battles in weekend or next week.

Speaking about battles..Are mercenaries/all units available in custom battles as we spoke in summer?
I hope yes.
have nice year from italy to all the staff and friends of this mod

[Aneirin]

You just have to change one entry
Go to the mod directory mods/italian_wars/data search for a file named descr_sm_factions. In this file you are looking for this entry:

faction                        slave
culture                        southern_european
religion                    heretic
special_faction_type                slave_faction
symbol                        models_strat/symbol_rebels.CAS
rebel_symbol                    models_strat/symbol_rebels.CAS
primary_colour                    red 100, green 100, blue 100
secondary_colour                red 100, green 100, blue 100
loading_logo                    loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_slaves.tga
standard_index                    20
logo_index                    FACTION_LOGO_REBELS
small_logo_index                SMALL_FACTION_LOGO_REBELS
triumph_value                    5
custom_battle_availability            no
can_sap                        yes
prefers_naval_invasions                no
can_have_princess                no
has_family_tree                    no

Change the custom_battle_availability from no to yes. Then you will have all mercenaries playable in costum battles

[Maxdivi]

I'll try then..many thanks.

[Aneirin]

If you have any problems let me know

[Maxdivi]

It works..I have a "Rebelenn" faction in my screen, thanks again
Very beautiful units, I see them for the first time.

[Aneirin]

Your praise is very welcome

[NeewaX]

Very nice mod, I'm looking forward for the english translation to fully appreciate it.

I played a couple of hours and noticed that some towns seem to be misplaced ; I feel that the towns Strasbourg (which I occure to live in), Mulhouse and Nancy, are located way too southward in the game, I feel like they shouldn't be included.
But I understand that you might have included them, if there isn't any other big cities in the area.

[b257]

Playing as Venice right now using the latest up to date English translation and let me Say, this mod is great . I just had a battle with 2 large rebel armies using 7 Pikemen and 3 Pavise Crossbowmen and with only my general being the only Cav Unit and boy was it a nail biter, my crossbowmen really saved me, they took out the enemy gun units and softened the enemy cav enough that I managed to fight on even terms despite being outnumbered . One small teeny weeny Nit-Pick for me though is the Hungarian Winged Hussars on the armored Horses, I always thought they fought on Un-Armored Horses, you know to counter the maneuverability of the Ottoman Cavalry. Other than that the mod is great