Which new factions are modders going to add?

[Klund]

When they finally get around to releasing the unpacker took which should have come with the game, which factions are people planning on adding and which would others like to see? Think I read somewhere the faction limit for M2TW is 31? and believe 22 of which are being used?

My list would be something like: Sweden, Bulgaria, Georgia, Navarre, Lithuania, Wales, Armenia, Aragon (game starting in 1080, believe King of Castile was also King of Aragon but they merged and broke apart so many times before and after I would think to make them their own faction), and Prussia. Not sure when Prussia first broke away into the Teutonic states? But if Lithuania is their own faction you would almost have to put in the Teutonic Order/Prussia as their own faction. Teutonic Order is the Bert to Lithuanias Ernie.

Filling the map with 9 new factions would almost require breaking down some of the large provinces into smaller ones, so would be a long ways down the road.

Or possibly a fun faction/map idea would be to make a Europe only map and break the European factions up into Duchies that start as the vassal of the King who would only have direct control over 2 or so provinces like the Ile de France or London/Normandy etc.

[molonthegreat]

sweden and norway would be godd and a lot more provinces up north. so it could be wars betwen norway sweden and denmark such as it was during the medieval times

[tnick777]

sweden and norway would be godd and a lot more provinces up north. so it could be wars betwen norway sweden and denmark such as it was during the medieval times

I'd definately add Finland as maybe an emerging faction (if Happiness gets too low in Finland) and I'd for SURE add Hakkapeliitta, the feirce light Calvary of the Finns that actually was utilized by the Swedes during their rule. Beleive it or not, Finns were content when being ruled by Sweden... Russia.. not so much. So Finland should have the recruitable unit Hakkapeliitta, a light armoured but HEAVILY armed light calvary. They had a breast plate and a long sword. They were seriously big vikings on big horses, huge horses, and only the fastest. They were the most feared things in the 30 year war.

[nightwar]

I'm Agast that nobody ever mention's adding the Swiss! they had one of the best mercs in the middle ages. they could be a emergeing faction.

[Immacolata]

The northern part of Europe is perhaps a bit light on playable factions, but I would rather not see the game swell with too many new factions. It doesn't necessarily lead to a better game. One or two more factions for the map would perhaps be interesting, but not a lot. The game is complex as it is, and Im not sure more factions would make it harder, just more tedious to play.

The rebel provinces are kind of simulations of tiny kingdoms that are not players on the big scene. Abassids are perhaps valid, but sweden and norway? If I recall correct neither rose to be major powers untill the middle of the medieval era. In fact Norway never really rose to be a major power. They were pocket change in the european history. Denmark had a short stint which was squandered away by foolish kings, then Sweden took over as a regional power.

The region is a bit barren however, with Denmark, Poland and russia sharing a lot of land with no real ressistance. If you split up sweden into two provinces, SW and NE, and put sweden as a one province kingdom, maybe the game would turn out more competitive in that area.

Central Europe have enough contenders as it is. HRE, Poland, Milan, Hungary, potentially Russia, byzantium. Western and southern Europe is also full. Three factions in Hispania, the french sharing with HRE and the English, the italian kingdoms + the papacy. Maybe for the ME?

[redmark]

All suggestions below based on a much bigger map, with plenty more provinces; only thought about north/western Europe so far, but more provinces all round.

At the risk of upsetting any Portugese posters, I'd be tempted to replace Portugal with Aragon. Portugal's time as a major player begins only at the very end of the M2TW period, and then largely elsewhere in the world. For similar reasons, I'd remove the Aztecs, freeing up another faction slot and more importantly moving the map back to Europe and the middle east.

Wales - 2 provinces (north and south), to give the English something to worry about, with new English provinces such as Gloucester/Chester, or Exeter/Chester and Warwick replacing Nottingham. Move York south a bit to where it should be, put in Durham to add conflict with the Scots, who get an extra province for Perth, which should be their capital (not Edinburgh until mid c15th). For making England concentrate on the British Isles and not immediately expanding in France, I'd also be tempted to make game start in 1100, with Normandy starting as rebel (i.e. Robert Duke of Normandy, who Henry had to fight after succeeding William Rufus as King of England in Aug. 1100).

Norway or Sweden, some new provinces, or maybe both with Norway starting with decent troops but getting weaker, with Sweden the opposite. A strong rebel stack in Hamburg could be used as a choke point to slow Danish advance southwards and encourage conflict within Scandinavia (map extended northwards, a little). Bruges/Antwerp/Utrecht (new) should have strong rebel stacks to stay independent for some time.

Burgundy, with better province design in France and toward the HRE. Might even help the HRE a little, by giving Milan and France something more to worry about, as would Aragon (setup with good relations with Castille).

[Lusted]

Well if i was going to add in 9 new factions i would first rename Spain to Castille, Russia to Novgorod, Milan to Genoa, then i would add(based on the area covered by the existing campaign map):

-Lithuania
-Aragon
-Kiev Rus
-Cicilian Armenia
-Georgia
-Bulgaria
-Bohemia
-Navarre
-another Muslim faction, do not know much about Muslim fations so not sure which one.

[Rusty Catapult]

Well if i was going to add in 9 new factions i would first rename Spain to Castille, Russia to Novgorod, Milan to Genoa, then i would add(based on the area covered by the existing campaign map):

-Lithuania
-Aragon
-Kiev Rus
-Cicilian Armenia
-Georgia
-Bulgaria
-Bohemia
-Navarre
-another Muslim faction, do not know much about Muslim fations so not sure which one.

I like that list, but I would switch Navarre for Sweden or Norway as the Iberian peninsula would start to get too crowded and we need something to balance out the Danes in the North. For muslims, the Baghdad caliphate or whatever it is called, would be a nice addition, if the map was to be stretched a bit more East.
I also agree that the Latin Empire would be a good idea as an emerging faction.

Or another emerging faction idea would be having a "nemesis faction" for the player in case of civil wars. It would function like the Roman Rebels in BI (that was so great).

[Shaun]

Well if i was going to add in 9 new factions i would first rename Spain to Castille, Russia to Novgorod, Milan to Genoa, then i would add(based on the area covered by the existing campaign map):

-Lithuania
-Aragon
-Kiev Rus
-Cicilian Armenia
-Georgia
-Bulgaria
-Bohemia
-Navarre
-another Muslim faction, do not know much about Muslim fations so not sure which one.

This seems the best choice, for the Muslim faction it could always be some Sultanate around Baghdad, or even one based in Antioch that would expand rapidly to the holy land and Baghdad due to them all being rebels.

[Klund]

Yes, Bohemia would be a good one. Also how could I have forgotten one of the most famous duchies in Europe, Brittany! That would be a difficult faction for those looking for a challenge, sandwiched between England and France.

Yes many of the factions should be renamed. The ones you mentioned, plus the Moors is their christian name I believe, they should probably be the Berbers or probably more so the Almohads. The Sicilian faction I believe at that time was still the Kingdom of Naples, or do I have that backwards.

I'm not quite sure about the Holy Lands factions, I believe the major ones should be the Fatimids, the Seljuk Turks, and Syrians. The rest would probably be small Arabian tribes so probably better represented as rebels. Egyptians, once again (think they would have changed it from RTW), should not be a faction.

[xopium]

Hmmm... Pisa, Khwarezm (if I extended the map towards Samarkand), Aragon, Kiev, Genoa, maybe the Abbasids, Ireland and Wales (although as far as I know the latter two never had a co-ordinated army except Glwyndwr's revolt).

I'd probably add the Latin Empire as an as emergent faction if I had the modding skills since the Byzantines in my expierience usually never get wiped out by 1530. Or maybe even Muscovy or the Incas if the Mongols were convinced to invade Russia instead of the Holy Land or the Americas could be extended south.

More or less though I'd probably make modifications to existing factions, I think the HRE deserves it's own kind of "rebels", given that a lot of the Kingdoms and Duchies within it were mostly in a loose union by the end of the game. I think the Turks army should have significant differences in the custom battles between eras to show the differences between Seljuks and Ottomans.

Overall I'd change the rebels (yes rebels existed in Ancient Rome but I'd think by this period most of the rebel areas on the map were independent states), they still look like tribes and I think the grey colour with no individuality makes them look as if they're of zero significance.

[Klund]

Hmmm... Pisa, Khwarezm (if I extended the map towards Samarkand), Aragon, Kiev, Genoa, maybe the Abbasids, Ireland and Wales (although as far as I know the latter two never had a co-ordinated army except Glwyndwr's revolt).

Yea, Ireland probably would not be worth it. There are a great number of other factions that could be put in that had a bigger impact than them.

The Abbasids would be good, make them aggressive and they'll constantly be warring with the other factions in the middle east which would be historical.

[Methoz]

Yes, Bohemia would be a good one. Also how could I have forgotten one of the most famous duchies in Europe,

yes my bro..its very good think
me to - BOHEMIAn kingdom

we have incredible history....

[repman]

First I'm going to rename many of the factions, regions, settlement names, units.....

repman

[Lusted]

You see i just think that the Sweden province isn't really good enough to support a nation n the current campaign map, hence why i went for Navarre instead, even if it does mean a very crowded Iberian Paeninsula.

[shadyrome]

lets hope u guys balance the unit stats , most calavry stats are the same :

[Methoz]

lets hope u guys balance the unit stats , most calavry stats are the same :

yes - now is cavalry terrible

[Klund]

Emerging faction, Burgundy. I would definately play that.

BTW, does anyone know for certain whether Catalonia was independent or under Aragon's rule in 1080?

Iberian Peninsula certainly will be crowded with additions of Navarre and Aragon (and even more if Catalonia is independent) but I think the provinces should be broken down quite a bit, there are way too few provinces in the game as a whole and especially on the Iberian Peninsula.

Iberian Peninsula has what, 8 provinces? It should probably have closer to 15 the provinces of Galicia, Porto, Lisbon, Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, Valencia, Zaragoza, Catalonia (or Barcelona), Navarre, Leon, Burgos, Toledo, Mallorca, and Spanish Marche (or Pyraneese, not sure which would be correct name).

That would make the addition of more factions much less crowded.

[Klund]

I have a book that lists nearly all of the counties and duchies of the middle ages, but unfortunately does not list at what years they were created, but I think if anyone wanted to greatly increase the amount of provinces then going by duchies would be the way to go. For example:

Iberian Peninsula: Zaragoza, Barcelona, Asturias, Navarre, Burgos, Leon, Galicia, Toledo, Cordoba, Mallorca, Badajoz, Valencia, Sevilla, Murcia, Grenada, Porto, Algarve, Beja

France: Brittany, Normandy, Toulouse, Flanders, Burgundy, Berry, Bourbon, Aquitaine, Poitou, Anjou, Auvergne, Gascogne, Orleans, Champagne, Valois

England: York, Gloucester, Somerset, Cornwall, Canterbury, Hereford, Buckingham (ala Oxford), Bedford, Northumberland, Lancaster, Norfolk

Scotland: Galloway, Orkney, Moray, Lothian, Argyll, Albany

These are just examples, this game would have so much more added scope if there were an adequate amount of provinces for an increased number of factions.

BTW I wonder if whoever placed Portugal in Navarre in M2TW has my same book, as it has a mis-print and lists the county of Rioja, which I believe to be part of Navarre, twice. Once under Navarre/Castile and then again under Portugal (unless theres actually two of them, which would seem unlikely)

[TigranTheGreat]

Cilician Armenia, Sweden would be great factions to add.