Hola peeps! So here is a fun WIP that I am doing in my free time for M2TW that I wish to share! The simple explanation of what this mod is pretty simple: It's a reshuffle of the unit roasters in the game to make them a bit more interesting and balance out some of the unit progression. By no means is this a historical mod for that matter, mainly because I design things and balance them around gameplay first and whether or not the unit or faction in question has an actual level of use in it. So don't expect me to get things to your historical liking to it.
The basis of this mod came from after playing AOE 2 DE for a while and coming back to Retrofit Grand Campaign. After playing some of it I just continued to tinker with things till... well this all came along. So without further ado, let me lay down what I have in a series of screen shots and written word!
Sicily
Removed: Armoured Sergeants
Removed: Sergeant Spearmen
Removed: Sword and Buckler men
Added: Muslim Spearmen (new unit)
Added: Norman Serjeants (new unit)
Added: Pikemen
Changed: Norman Knights (both mounted and dismounted) can now upgrade to full plate
WHY: I started off with Sicily because it was probably one of the more interesting factions to play with. I wanted to emphasize the idea that Sicily’s roster is a cosmopolitan mix of Normans, Italians, and Arabs. To reflect that I downplayed a little bit of the traditional spearman progression and instead added a new Arab themed one. I removed sword and buckler men and instead added the axe wielding serjeant because I saw that in AOE 2 DE and thought it was cooler. I also added in Pikemen to give them a different defensive unit.
Venice
Removed: Dismounted Men at Arms
Added: Venetian Men at Arms (new unit)
Reworked: Italian Men at Arms (cavalry) now is an actual progression of the Feudal Knight. It by no means competes with Chivalric Knights but they are now not useless.
Reworked: Broken Lancers are now Elmeti. They have small shields and mailed horses and perform slightly better. No longer recruited at the city walls. Can upgrade to advance plate.
Changed: Venetian Archers have 1 additional defense skill.
Changed: Venetian Heavy Infantry have their attack increased from 7 to 9. Their charge is increased from 3 to 5.
WHY: If Milan felt defensive oriented with all of it’s crossbows, then Venice is the more aggressive one. It has a larger infantry selection compared to its neighbor while having numerous melee answers to various units. Cavalry? Armored Sergeants. Dismounted Knights? Venetian Heavy Infantry. Both? Venetian Men At Arms. But in turn they have inferior archer selection and they do miss out on a super heavy cavalry unit.
Milan
Removed: Dismounted Men at Arms
Removed: Dismounted Broken Lancers
Added: Milanese Axemen (new unit)
Added: Volguier
Reworked: Italian Men at Arms (cavalry) now is an actual progression of the Feudal Knight. It by no means competes with Chivalric Knights but they are now not useless.
Reworked: Broken Lancers are now Elmeti. They have small shields and mailed horses and perform slightly better. No longer recruited at the city walls. Can upgrade to advance plate.
WHY: Milan’s roster feels slightly more defensive oriented now. With excellent crossbowmen, Volguiers, spears and dismounted feudal knights, they can hold any position. In comparison to their neighbor Venice, they have a little less in cavalry production but make it up with having some super heavy cavalry. The Milanese Axemen is also a fun early unit that can shake things up on the battlefield.
Hungary
Removed: Dismounted Feudal Knights
Removed: Slave Levies
Added: Balkan Levies (new unit)
Added: Magyar Swordsmen (new unit)
Changed: Chivalric Knights and Royal Banderium have their shield value increased from 5 to 6. Cost has been adjusted aswell.
Changed: Dismounted Chivalric Knights have had their shield value increased from 5 to 8.
Changed: Bosnian Archers have had their combat capabilities improved a bit and their range increased. They can also upgrade to light mail.
WHY: To keep up with the idea of mediocre infantry but good cavalry, I removed the dismounted feudal knight spam fest and the boring slav levies and added a new early infantry unit and swordsmen. They should feel more at home with Hungary and give them also a cheaper infantry alternative. The cavalry changes was due to the annoyance of somehow having less shield defense despite being full sized shields.
Poland
Removed: Strzelcy
Added: Obuch Infantry (new unit)
Added: Obywatel Crossbowmen (new unit)
Changed: Polish Retainers are now rolled into the Stables line.
Changed: Lithuanian Cavalry now rolled into the Stables Line.
Changed: Hussar only available at the city.
WHY: Strzelcy I felt like was too strong of a unit to start out for Poland. I’ll probably bring it back later but for now it’s gone. Poland now gets a new foot crossbowman, a hybrid stats between the regular crossbow and pavise crossbowmen. The Obuch Infantry also helps fill out it’s infantry roster with a good two handed unit armed with a poleaxe.
Russia
Removed: Druhizna
Removed: Dismounted Druhizna
Added: Svet Cavalry (new unit)
Added: Rus Infantry (new unit)
Changed: Boyar Sons are no longer a skirmish unit. They are now heavy melee cavalry. They also have two armor upgrades instead of 1.
Changed: Dismounted Dvor changed to Muscovite Archers. New model, same stats.
Changed: Brand new textures for Russian units.
WHY: Russia’s early game was boring and needed a new coat. The Svet provides Russia some form of melee cavalry and the change to the Boyar provides a healthy upgrade in the fortress. The Rus Infantry allows for more flexibility in it’s infantry roster by not being an exact clone of dismounted Boyars. The change to dismounted Dvor was for purely cosmetic reasons to add more visual variety in the late Russian Army.
Denmark
Removed: Mounted Huscarls
Removed: Viking Raiders
Removed: Dismounted Feudal Knights
Added: Norse Spearmen (new unit)
Added: Norse Raiders (new unit)
Added: Dismounted Chivalric Knights
Changed: Norse Axemen are now named Huscarls.
Changed: Norse Swordsmen have been buffed to replace Dismounted Feudal Knights.
Changed: New regional model for the Vikings, much like how Scotland is.
WHY: Denmark had way too many armor piercing units and a very lopsided power spike early game. I added new Viking spearmen to help give Denmark some anti cavalry units early on and decreased their cavalry power with a new lighter version of mounted huscarls.
That's the progress of stage 1 for now. So here are some screenies!
Remember, everything is a work in progress and still up for change!