Buff and Shine 2.4: New Factions, Changed Recruitment and more
Hi Everyone! Buff and Shine 2.4 is out with no major additions but addresses many of the annoying bugs from the previous versions.
Buff and Shine 2.4 it has released.
Changelog from previous versions:
* Overhaul of the Battle AI, more aggressive in field battles while also remaining cautious.
* Improvement in Siege Defence, Battle AI better prioritises defence stages.
* Rebel AI is now more active and will reinforce and defend their settlements if they have armies nearby.
* Implementation of Victory Condition Maps for all factions - no longer do you need to guess victory condition locations.
* Extensive bug fixing for buildings, traits, scripts, and units - Thanks to the community for finding them.
* Turns are faster
* Improvement in Localisation
* Much, much more.
Download here:
https://mega.nz/file/Br51wDpb#rvD6xS...gHeLG8og8rlEis
https://imgur.com/JXikdelIf you are getting crashes, it can be helpful to install the 4gb patch. If you don’t know what this is the 4 GB patch for the Medieval 2 executable will make the game run that much smoother and will likely address any crashes you may experience. Read more here: Ntcore.com
What is Buff and Shine?
Buff and Shine is an overhaul submod for Broken Crescent originally intended to address many of the bugs, missing features and incomplete design decisions seen in vanilla BC that quickly morphed into its own thing.
Improvements in UI:
· The Menu has been overhauled, allowing full faction selection (all factions except Rebels and Mongols) for the grand campaign without causing a crash.
· New portraits which add many new culture-specific portraits for some extra flavour.
· All missing unit and building portraits have been added (if you find any please let me know!) many of which had none integrated in the past.
Text overhaul:
· All text descriptions for units, events and buildings have been overhauled as many contained spelling and grammatical errors or lacked any descriptions at all.
Balancing:
· A focus on the historical immersion and the overall variety both in the campaign and in battles.
· I’ve overhauled the unit stats. Many units hadn't been adapted from previous builds, making some rosters weaker and far less effective in battles and the campaign. These changes at first will seem minimal, but you will dramatically notice their effect for the better over the course of a campaign.
· A huge range of tweaks for battles, campaigns and many other things.
New Traits and Ancillaries
· Added 50+ new traits that add flavour, RPG aspects and cool game-play elements.
· Reworked the title system to be dynamic and effective. Examples include: conquering enough land as a Hindu faction and pushing the Muslims back past the Indus, and you may be declared a Maharaja, or perhaps as Rome, you lose Constantinople be prepared to be stripped of your title of emperor and face rebellions or even civil war.
· New ancillaries have been implemented. Enhancing game-play elements and additional RPG flavour.
· Introduction of a trophy system if you defeat a different culture group decisively, you will receive a trophy from them that gives unique benefits. A crusader shield, for example, will give you extra command and troop morale, whilst a Turkic bow will give you greater skill in ambushes and authority.
· Generals with a dread rating can raid and pillage enemy territory for financial gain but at the cost of reduced movement and range of sight penalty.
New Factions:
· 3 New Factions to battle against with a priority to fill boring or dull regions whilst remaining historically inspired.
· The Salghurids Atabegs based in Fars came to dominate much of the Gulf and southern Iran.
· The Principality of Kyiv is a mere shadow of the once great Kievan Rus state with the right leadership. Perhaps greatness could be great once more.
· The Bavanids – a Shiite state surrounded by enemies will you be able to lead them to greatness?
· Kerman Seljuks have been reworked to fulfil the role of the Seljuks of Iraq, like what they were in BC 2.3.
Historical Battles
· Five Historical Battles
· More historically inspired than accurate, they are all well-balanced and work in multiplayer if that is your thing.
Buildings
· A new recruitment system. No longer build Barracks / Stables / Ranges for units; instead, one building is responsible for all faction-specific units whilst levy, and AOR troops now have their own building trees.
· As an extension of the feudal system, recruiting troops outside of home regions is now possible. However, they arrive at a far slower rate. As a result of this, recruitment is not instantaneous. You must develop your faction's cultural infrastructure after every conquest. It is a middle ground between BC and Vanilla MTW2.
· New buildings, for the economy, infrastructure, and warfare.
· Streamlined the building tree. All buildings now do something. No longer are their useless buildings.
· Inclusion of new cultural buildings and wonders.
Mongol Overhaul
· The Mongols have been overhauled compared to 2.4.2 Broken Crescent. No longer will they rush you with unlimited free instantly produced units. The Mongols are still a realistic threat, but they are a fun threat. Now they come in waves over a period of around 20 turns. After each new region of conquest, they gain the ability to raise new powerful armies.
· Their recruitment has been revised in several ways. Their production times have been increased, and their recruitment of elite troops has been. Thus, making them far more balanced when compared to other factions. In compensation, they can now also produce auxiliary AOR troops. Whereas previously they were given unlimited money and instant production.
AI Overhaul
· An AI Synthesized and Inspired by XAI and Ultimate AI that has resulted in aggressive yet cautious Battle AI that is a lot of fun to fight in sieges and has become an interesting opponent in the campaign.
· Introduced faction specific formations for varied combat encounters.
· Diplomacy has been improved, bribing is more likely, and agents are used more effectively by both players and AI alike.
· Elephants are less likely to stall sieges (at least in India).
· Rebel or Slave faction has become more dynamic and will actively move armies to defend their cities.
· New Religious Systems
· Implemented and Expanded Byzantineboy’s Jizya, Kafirs & Dhimmis.
· Religion is of greater relevance than the vanilla experience. Differing faiths can cause more significant turmoil in each region; however, there is also the option of evoking religious tolerance. Which allows a ruler to construct edicts of religious tolerance that increase trade and collect a poll tax upon religious minorities in the region. Its cost is that it halts religious conversion of the faction's faith in that province, and it is a source of unhappiness for the more zealous of the true faith population. Choosing to oppose tolerance removes the edict of tolerance across the Realm, but it does give a flat increase to the true faith. This choice occurs upon the crowing of each new faction leader.
Optional Scripts for an Even Greater Challenge
· Can you win a campaign where a governor is required in a settlement to build anything? How about a campaign where siege buildpoints matter? If your general hasn’t had the right education or hasn’t brought a host of troops along with him he might never build a single ram or ladder? If that’s not your fancy how about implementing rebellion mechanics now when you ruler’s authority starts to slip its more than an annoyance but a real threat of something far worse. Don’t want to include any of them? Totally fair their all optional at the start of a campaign.
· 20+ Optional New events will provide new challenges, including the Trebizond Empire emerging, The Conversion of The Sindh, Dynamic Jihad and Crusades and many more.
Credits
Mod assets/ideas that were integrated into this mod in no particular order:
· The Vanilla Broken Crescent Team
· Rolling_Wave's HUB.
· MIKE GOLF Broken Crescent Portrait Mod.
· Prince of Judah's Tiny Balance Mod.
· Blood, Broads, & Bastards Dearmad & Pnutmaster.
· Byzantineboy for integration of his JizyaKafirsDimmis.
· vsivak for bug fixing and correcting all of the many mistakes.
· The community of TWC for their enthusiasm, advice, and patience
· The Rus 2 Total War team for some of their lovely models.
· XAI team for their AI
· Jurand of Cracow for his advice and insight.
· Mountainhouzhe for help with the religion script
· Gigantus for his guidance
Manual: Faq https://mega.nz/file/5iBUTCBL#7A3Ow6...RXpBkW9G6LJqbw
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