[WIP] Calradia Total War

[King Athelstan]

Nice work, keep at it

[Tyranno85]

Calradia is a continent ravaged by war and as in all wars, companies of mercenaries will show up and work for coin. These men and women are available to all nations in Calradia and can be found in the tavern-building line. Don't forget to be generous with the wine! Do be warned though, whilst they provide their services to everyone, they're not cheap to maintain.

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Likewise to the bands of mercenaries are soldiers from within the realms of Calradia that look to their lords army and decided to fill in a role that is not their strength. These men and women will fill roles into the roster that'd otherwise be empty. For Swadia, men and women picked up maces, allowing Harlaus to field a dedicated can-opening unit with armour piercing.

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For Doge Praveth this entails a very solid line infantry that can go toe to toe with Swadia's heavily armoured infantry.

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The Vaegirs, oft in battle with the Khergits, they lack that which the Khergits have aplenty, horse-archers. And thus these will be available to the Vaegirs through the men and women filling that gap in their roster.

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The Sarranids have an all-round roster and can counter a lot. However, they do not have a very solid infantry that can hold the line and be effective against cavalry at the same time. For this purpose they are supported by the Landsknecht. However, that is not all for the Sarranids. Even though their northeastern neighbours love the horse more than the Sarranids, the Sarranids do love to race every now and again. This allows them to build racing tracks in their cities and from those racing, come very good horse-riders.

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The Nords oft times don't know what to do with a horse. Put in on the fire with some herbs would be the first thing to come to their mind. Their enemies on the other hand from Swadia and Vaegir lands, do know what to do with their horses and use these very well on the battlefield. Horses that are spared the roast on the spit are put to work and there are some men that spit on the Swadians and shout they can do it better, providing the Nords with some much needed cavalry on the flanks.

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The Khergits on the other hand, like the horse so much that they can't be bothered with training their men to fight properly on foot. After all, a horse is much quicker. Various mercenaries from Khergit lands have now flocked to the Khan bringing large two handed swords from Swadia.

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This is it for now Till next time

[EoNightcore]

Progress Report: January 6th, Men of Butterland.

So, it's been quite some time since I or Tyranno85 has posted.

While he's been focusing on campaign buildings and balancing the units, I've been focusing on making them look nice.

Of course, making them look nice is alot of work, but so far, I've gotten the Swadians done!

So without further ado, here is are the pictures and some bits of lore surrounding this certain version of Calradia!

Swadian Peasants: Life is not easy for the peasants of the Kingdom of Swadia. In times of war, these simple farmers are often forced into battle with little more than farming implements. Unsurprisingly, these men are better at fleeing than fighting, a tactic not recommended by braver men.

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Swadian Spear Militia: Made up of peasants who have been given some degree of training and actual weapons. These militiamen are more capable than their peasantry breathren, but are better suited for keeping the order and deterring bandits than actually holding the line in a true battle.

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Swadian Page: Within the knightly orders of Swadia, a page is the lowest rank possible, with many members starting at a young age. Typically serving under a chevalier and his retinue of esquires, pages are expected to tend to the needs of their superiors and to defend their master is need be.

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Swadian Men-at-Arms: Though Swadia often relies upon its heavy cavalrymen to carry the day, this does not mean they lack in infantry. Swadian Men-at-Arms are professionally trained troops, thus making them better-equipped, better-trained, and more brave than their levied militia brethren.

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Swadian Pikemen: Not all Rhodoks left the service of the Swadian crown during the wars. Though they are considered traitors to the Rhodok people, these pikemen of Swadia proudly claim descent from the loyalists who stood by the king, and will serve the Swadian crown just as loyally as their predecessors did.

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Swadian Swordsmen: Comprising most of Swadia's infantrymen, Swadian Swordsmen aren't as specialized as the Rhodok spearmen, nor are they as deadly as the Nordic axemen, but they serve their role well enough. A role that consists of holding the enemy in place long enough for the Swadian cavalry to deliver a fatal blow.

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Swadian Dismounted Chevaliers: Though most traditional Swadian nobility serve as mounted troops, there are situations which call for them to dismount and serve as infantry. In this state, the fearsome Swadian cavalry may appear to be less deadly, but to underestimate Swadian knights is to court death.

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Swadian Peasant Archers: Peasants capable of firing a bow are levied into groups of bowmen. Though serving a vital role as skirmishers and light infantry, their bows are designed more for hunting rather than war, and while equipped with a short spear to defend themselves, will collapse quickly in close combat.

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Swadian Archer Militia: More capable than any random peasant picked of the street and given a bow, these militiamen have some degree of training and are equipped with actual weapons of war rather than farming tools and hunting bows. However, even if they should wield swords, these men should not be relied to fight in hand to hand combat

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Swadian Longbowmen: Swadian Longbowmen are descended from Battanian archers who entered the service of the Swadian crown following the annexation of western Battania into the Kingdom two centuries ago. Though originally looked down upon, the status of the Longbowmen has arisen in Swadian society following the events of the Rhodokian Independence Wars.

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Swadian Yeoman Archers: With most of Swadia's crosssbowmen siding with the Rhodok rebels, the Swadian crown was left without archers to combat their former subjects. Instead, the conquered Battanians were offered the right to become minor nobles if they assisted the kingdom, thus integrating them into the yeomanry. As a result, many of the Swadian yeomanry are now required to be trained for war in the Battanian style.

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Swadian Hobilars: Swadia is famous for its heavy cavalry, yet this does not mean it lacks in having lighter-armed troops, namely, the Hobilars. Riding on a pony known as the Hobby, these troops are descended from the Battanian Hobelar cavalry. Though looked down upon by their heavier armed comrades, many Swadian commanders value these troops for their speed and reconnaissance ability.

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Swadian Esquires: Most rank and file members of the Swadian knightly orders serve as Esquires under the command of the Chevaliers. Though not true knights yet, the humble beginnings of the fearsome Swadian Cavalry can still be seen in these rather inexperienced horsemen.

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Swadian Chevaliers: True knights in shining armor, in principle at least, these men espouse the noble ideals of chivalry and honor. In reality, Swadian Chevaliers are brutally effective warriors who practice daily in tournaments and mock fights. On the battlefield, their strong armor, heavy lances, and martial nature makes them a fearsome sight to behold for the enemy.

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Swadian Paladins: Composed of veterans, the Paladins of Swadia are the ideals that all knights of Swadia look up to. entire generations train in hopes of entering this order, only for few to pass due to its strict requirements. In battle, very few can withstand their charges, with those that survive often deciding to flee rather than stay and fight.

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Swadian Bodyguard: These Paladins are tasked with guarding the general of the army. Armed with higher-quality equipment, these elite troops fear little on the battlefield. Loyal and disciplined, this elite heavy cavalry unit accompanies the general wherever he goes on the battlefield.

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King Harlaus' Feast (name pending): King Harlaus rules over the Kingdom of Swadia, and thus commands a royal guard known as Harlaus' Feast. Composed of the most brutal warriors in all of Swadia, they are a terrifying sight to behold on the battlefield and few can withstand the charge of the personal guardsmen of the king of Swadia himself.

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[Elendil 03]

Nice! But you should definitely replace some of the "look down at"s and "look up upon"s in the unit descriptions, there are like four or five of 'em around...
Anyway, I like the way in which you reference to M&B's "lore" and differentiate between different regions. Are you going to integrate an AOR system?

[Tyranno85]

We are currently working on the framework for all factions, making sure all units are available to train, setting up their models, textures, ui's and to make sure that all locations on the campaign map are akin to their M&B counterpart, villages being villages, castles being castles and cities being cities.

As for AOR, we haven't yet discussed this. We do have a lot of free unit spaces left so there is plenty of room for us to add in more units.

[King Athelstan]

The more the merrier I say, as long as balance is alright, it doesn't affect the stability of the game, doesn't take too much work leaving the mod unpublished, makes the mod better....
I might have to rephrase my first four words

[Tyranno85]

Stuff has happened in the mean time. Swadians got a new outfit and I've been busy making sure they all have castles, cities and armies.

First, let me return to the following question;

I wonder, will villages be limited in growth, so we don't end up with every backwater village growing into a huge city?

And I can tell you with a very short and simple answer; Yes. Villages are limited in growth. We've simply cut off the Large Town walls to be upgraded into City walls. To compensate for this, all villages on the campaign map have been given an unique building that can only be constructed in villages (Name and UI are placeholder). This building is the House of the Village Elder/ Village Elder's House. Every player of M&B knows that this is the guy to talk to when you need more fodder or quests. The presence of this building gives the village a boost to happiness (+25%) and a boost to law (+5%). However, once you upgrade the village to a town the happiness bonus of the House of the Village Elder/ Village Elder's House will drop from +25% to only +10% bonus. This is because it is no longer a village and thus the influence of the village elder diminishes.

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As you can see. Glunmar has the large town walls but despite having a 25k population, there is no option to build the city walls.

So let us jump over to the cities. These all start with the city walls (stone walls) present and can be upgraded to a Large City and to a Huge City with 15k population and 22k population. However, that's not the main reason we are within the cities at the moment. Every player knows that within cities you have the Guilds and the Guilds can make you a lot of money. So too, do the Guilds exist in Calradia TW. (UI and name are placeholder). The Merchant Guild is, unlike the House of the Village Elder/ Village Elder's House, indestructible and it gives the following bonusses to the city; Increase in tradeable goods, Public order bonus +5% and a static income bonus of 250 gold.

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But what is Calradia without war?

For this purpose we've set the following factions to be at war with each other when you start the game;
Swadia @ war with ; Rhodoks and Vaegirs
Rhodoks @ war with ; Swadia
Nords @ war with ; Vaegirs
Vaegirs @ war with ; Swadia and Nords
Sarranids @ war with ; Khergits
Khergits @ war with ; Sarranids

And as following the strength of each nation compared to each other.

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This basically puts us in a stage where we can test the campaign balance out.
However, there are few issues we've run into. For starters, the AI can't really deal with the fact that basically 80-90% of their holdings (all villages) are uninhabited by troops and thus instead of moving in to take the fight to the enemy, they'll occupy various regions first. So I'm thinking about a script where there can't be any war declarations being thrown out for the first 10 turns (which means putting all the factions back to neutral, though with severely crashing their standings with each other) and hopefully, I don't know if this is capeable, making sure that getting an alliance is simply impossible.

Secondly, which is a more serious issue than the incapabilities of the AI, is that there is a UI issue with the factions designated as northern_european culture (Swadia and Nords) where the game will crash upon clicking their castles as a different nation. It only happens with their castles and thus far I'm not entirely sure what causes it due to the lack of information that comes up in the system.log Once that issue is resolved we can start campaign testing and with that also making the settlements more unique to each nation (they're currently carbon copies '^^).

That's all folks

[Himster]

This is great. Can't wait to see more.

[Hazzard]

Would you like someone to help you write unit and building descriptions? I'd like to help with this, but don't have any other skills which I could put forward.

[Tyranno85]

Would you like someone to help you write unit and building descriptions? I'd like to help with this, but don't have any other skills which I could put forward.

You should contact EoNightcore for that. He's our UI person

[♔atthias♔]

Ì look forward to this mod guys but I have a small question,
how am I supposed to understand offensieve archers in this sentence?

"Kingdom of Vaegirs - Composed of powerful offensive-oriented archers and 2h units, this unfortunately leaves them weak on the defense."

does that mean archer with armour piercing or body piecing or both?

[King Athelstan]

I assume armour-piercing archers with weak melee stats, as bodypiercing seems awfully OP and a big step away from Warband

[Tyranno85]

The Vaegirs have the best archers in the game. That means that their arrows are armour piercing + their bows have the longest range in game that is only matched by only a few. The Rhodoks by definition have the best crossbows in the game packing a really solid punch but they won't outrange the Vaegirs.

[♔atthias♔]

thanks for the answers I really look forward to these guys then I have always loved archer heavy factions

[Azorica]

As a fellow Mount & Blade afficionado, I'm quite happy with this

But aren't swadians crossbow-based, since they are peasant militias? Any gameplay reason for going for bows?
Also suggestion: Swadia has a unique building, butter churners, to appease our Buttery Lord, Harlaus the Feast meister

[Tyranno85]

We gave the Swadians access to longbowmen to differentiate between them and the Rhodoks but the Swadians won't win any archery contests. They are outclassed by the Rhodoks, Vaegirs and Sarranids but excell immensely on the field with their heavy cavalry.

I had the idea to give the Swadians access to unique resources in the form of butter but that'd require a csm to go with.

[Cyprian2]

I'm interested to see the progress on this. Several mods have tried making Mount & Blade like Total War, but never, as far as I know, the other way around. Kudos, and +rep.

[cenkiss]

This is just what i was looking for. Hope for a great success.

[Tyranno85]

Time for an update!

We'll start with buildings. Each capital has been given a royal palace which gives various boosts to the city and is indestructible. Now that I think of it, I'll have to see if disabling moveable capital is a thing. No worries, there's no distance to capital issues.

Ports, can't have Nords without ports. Now, ports have been given to the Nords, Rhodoks and Sarranids for construction with the higher income from it to the Nords. They are the only faction capeable of building the t3 port in cities and the only one capeable of building a port in castle regions.

The Nords have gained the port but lost the ability to build stables within castles. I was thinking of giving them other benefits from stables but decided against it since they'd either gain too much money or too much population growth from it.

Now we're on the subject of money; trade and taxable income from castles has been turned down. Castles aren't meant to garner income and in my opinion, should actually cost the player money to maintain. Thus far I've struggled making that a thing so for now the income is negligible on a grand scale.

Farming income was also a thing that is turned down. We saw regions without farming have near 400 farming income so with full farming nearly a thousand, thats been taken down a notch.

Speaking of farms, the Khergits being horsefolk get an increased income, morale bonus and cavalry experience bonus from the farms.

Siege buildings have been given a purpose as well by, first of all, allowing the recruitment of ballistae, catapult and trebuchet with the latter only available in citadels. All three tiers of the building reduce the construction cost of buildings within that settlement.
Next to that, the ballistae and catapult crews have been given some training, making them a bit better alongside increased crew size.
Trebuchet crews on the other hand have been significantly improved in both attack, defence and crew size. This'll make them a much better asset in armies and a bigger threat you can't take out quite easily, however...They do not come cheaply with a 2000 gold ((open to change)) recruitment cost, 1000 gold upkeep ((open to change)), slow recruitment and replenishment time. Once you commit to them, they will bring down walls and fight through the breaches.

Resources have also made their way into Calradia. Thus far no butter has been found but I'll ask Britannia if we can borrow some camels in the meantime. Are there notable resources? Well, fish alongside the coast, wood and amber in the forests, fur in the cold north, spices and silk in the south, iron-silver-gold-marble in mountanous terrain and slaves near Tihr.

The main location you can find the resources are in village or castle regions, this way villages hold a more significant economic role than cities and thus would be foolish to ignore for any player.

Alongside the introduction of resources all cities and castles have been given their unique starting buildings and population. Yes, Rivacheg has a port despite Vaegirs not getting them.

Thats it for now I guess, not much to share on the UI front yet but changes are made in that area. Like you all, I'm curious to see what EoNightcore will conjure up for the rest of the factions. My focus will slowly be shifting to campaign scripting. I have an idea in mind where there is a 30 turn window for wars before ceasefires are put into effect. Should that ceasefire be ignored you'll be struck with severe penalties for the duration of the next 30 turns. This is mainly following the duration of war in Warband where ceasefires are implemented after about 2-3months of fighting. This also means that players will need to prioritize their conquests. But first I'll have to dig my head into how scripting works .

Oh, lest I forget. Should you find yourself wandering in haystacks and finding a strange armour, do make sure you won't find the Strange Swordsmen on the campaign map, my suggestion if you do...Run, they'll make mincemeat of ya

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[King Athelstan]

Glad to see the update! I like how you're planning on implementing the ceasefire mechanic, it looks like it'll be a good reflection of Warband