Scandza: Total War (Preview & Download)

[La♔De♔Da♔Brigadier Graham]

Excellent work sir

[Geffalrus]

Had not heard of this mod until I saw it previewed on Gudea TW on youtube a few days ago. Usually I'm all about the late Hellenistic experience in mods like Europa Barbarorum and RTR VII, but I figured I would check this out. The migration mechanics seem like a very effective use of the religion introduced in BI, and I've never really dived into pre-Viking Scandinavia before. So far I'm really enjoying it. Took me a few tries to find a faction to latch onto, but I'm sticking with the......well, the Bolm Island Boys since I still can't pronounce their faction name very well. When I saw that they use double-sword Berserkers as generals instead of the normal generals, I knew I had to see them through. Money is a huge problem, but hopefully I can stabilize after some quick conquests. Unit variety may be less than what you see in EB, but I do appreciate the more subtle variety within the roster and how it reflects the structure of your society.

Hopefully at some point we get factions in Finland and the Baltics? Depends on what the faction limit cap is for BI presumably. Anyway, great work on the mod!!!

[Geffalrus]

I think the faction is called......Finneheider? I am terrible with Norse letters for some reason. Regardless, my initial few turns with them went poorly - I ran out of money by turn 3 due to a combo of not having much income and as I soon discovered, the awesome berserker bodyguards get massively more expensive to support as they naturally grow in size. My king unit had an upkeep of 1,800, which explained why my rather small army was so expensive. So be it. I tried going after the nearest Rebel settlements, but they just didn't seem to give me anything in terms of money when I occupied them. If anything, I lost money to repairs. Second time around, I went after the Western Geats instead. Settlements closer, army weaker than the Rebels, and after some snooping loading up as them, I noticed they had some decent wealth. I also opted to enslave instead of just occupy, and my coastal governed settlements appreciated the influx of population.

Depending on how quickly this goes, my next faction interests are 1) the Heruls and the incredible market they have (lotta money), and 2) the Upper Swedes and their cavalry potential. Digging around to see what other special things the various factions have hidden.....

[Dansk viking]

Looks incredible! Great to hear you still work in this.

All the best//skat.

Cheers!

Excellent work sir

Thank you!

Had not heard of this mod until I saw it previewed on Gudea TW on youtube a few days ago. Usually I'm all about the late Hellenistic experience in mods like Europa Barbarorum and RTR VII, but I figured I would check this out. The migration mechanics seem like a very effective use of the religion introduced in BI, and I've never really dived into pre-Viking Scandinavia before. So far I'm really enjoying it. Took me a few tries to find a faction to latch onto, but I'm sticking with the......well, the Bolm Island Boys since I still can't pronounce their faction name very well. When I saw that they use double-sword Berserkers as generals instead of the normal generals, I knew I had to see them through. Money is a huge problem, but hopefully I can stabilize after some quick conquests. Unit variety may be less than what you see in EB, but I do appreciate the more subtle variety within the roster and how it reflects the structure of your society.

Hopefully at some point we get factions in Finland and the Baltics? Depends on what the faction limit cap is for BI presumably. Anyway, great work on the mod!!!

I think the faction is called......Finneheider? I am terrible with Norse letters for some reason. Regardless, my initial few turns with them went poorly - I ran out of money by turn 3 due to a combo of not having much income and as I soon discovered, the awesome berserker bodyguards get massively more expensive to support as they naturally grow in size. My king unit had an upkeep of 1,800, which explained why my rather small army was so expensive. So be it. I tried going after the nearest Rebel settlements, but they just didn't seem to give me anything in terms of money when I occupied them. If anything, I lost money to repairs. Second time around, I went after the Western Geats instead. Settlements closer, army weaker than the Rebels, and after some snooping loading up as them, I noticed they had some decent wealth. I also opted to enslave instead of just occupy, and my coastal governed settlements appreciated the influx of population.

Depending on how quickly this goes, my next faction interests are 1) the Heruls and the incredible market they have (lotta money), and 2) the Upper Swedes and their cavalry potential. Digging around to see what other special things the various factions have hidden.....

I'm very happy that Gudea made a video featuring my mod!

Yeah, the "Bolm Boys" are an interesting faction. Quite hard to begin with, but if you get a foothold in e.g. Western Geatland, things get easier as you progress. I just played a campaign myself as them recently, and got established around Skara before the Danes, Southern Swedes, and in turn the Eastern Geats attacked me, so I could fend them off and take both Scania and Eastern Geatland eventually.

Finland and the Baltics might get some love in the future, but it's not easy since sources are extremely scarce.

You might want to wait for the release of version 1.2 for your next playthrough. It's pretty much done, and I just have to collect myself in order to release it really...

Thanks for playing!


PS. The decisive battle (and only after this could I get a positive income)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Geffalrus]

Ha, a glorious victory! Well fought sir. I've been having some similar fun now that I have some relaxation time with the holidays. Those Wulfbronoz you get for Bolm family members continue to be just absolutely awesome. Most of my battles are quite small affairs as I march south against the treacherous Danes. With my economy so much better, I've taken to experimenting with more mercenaries since they don't drain the population I desperately need to level up Bolm and my original towns. The Wrakjons are worth their steep cost, and the weird Woodsmen are pretty neat.

Thanks for the advice about waiting for the update. I'm quite interested in checking out the Anglo-Saxon rosters, but I'll wait for 1.2. The historical flavor - the writing, the naming, and the music continue to be truly top notch.

[Dansk viking]

Cheers! Also a couple of new units coming with the new patch:



Both are using an axe modelled on bog finds from Vimose, Nydam, and Illerup. Axes aren't very common at this time, when the spear (thrown or otherwise) ruled supreme, but I thought I'd spice it up a bit with smaller units with axes (specialised for damage and charge bonus, sacrificing defensive ability).

[Dansk viking]

Another update here.

I've started working on a new bookmark, set in 451. The British Isles will still be off map, but the events reverberate in Scandinavia. The starting date is set immediately after Freswæle (The Fight at Finnesburg) and the departure of Hengest and Horsa. The Jutes will still be present (represented by the Jutish faction allied to Finn in Tolkien's interpretation of the Freswæle, i.e. opposed to Hengest). Many of the ancestors of the Angle and Saxon royal houses will be present, but they have not yet committed to depart (the first to do so is Ælle, the later king of Sussex, who is a young man at this point).

[Dansk viking]

I realised that my plans for the new bookmark was becoming quite ambitious suddenly (with new migrations mechanics possibly being implemented) so it would rightly belong in a patch of itself, which requires quite some time to complete.

Therefore I give you now patch 1.2 which brings you plenty of new stuff and improvements!


ModDB

Dropbox (optional w. normal environment here)


The patch is cumulative, which means it includes all previous patches in one package.


Installation:
- Extract the "scandza" folder into your "bi" folder inside your main RTW folder (eg. "D:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Rome Total War Gold\bi") overwriting/patching the previously placed full version "scandza" folder.

(Can be applied to both a clean full version or a previously patched version).

Patch 1.2 (17-01-24)

CHANGELOG


- New custom version of the Roma Surrectum 3 environment for both campaign and battle map (a version of the patch without this is available above for those who prefer the more performance friendly normal environment).
- More in-game advice and information explaining the migration unrest mechanic, economy, and settlement population scripts.
- Agents will no longer have a ten percent chance of becoming pagan (spreading sedentary belief).
- Pagan trait renamed "Oathbound" and given new description to reflect its new function. Other paganism traits also modified.
- Corrupt traits due to full treasury now requires more silver and higher tax level (10.000 with extortionate, i.e. very high tax level, 20.000 with additional, i.e. high tax level, 100.000 with customary, i.e. normal tax level).
- All faction starting capitals will spawn garrisons if besieged for a full turn, as long as at least one named character is present in the settlement and the population is high enough.
- New normal tier axe-wielding unit for all factions. The unit has fewer soldiers than regular units, and specialises in damage and charge bonus, sacrificing defensive capabilities.
- New archer unit for the Saxon faction, with an axe as sidearm (base unit thanks to Lanjane).
- More mercenary units available (also a selection of standard factional units in suitable regions).
- Small unit cards for all units rearranged by hand for better aesthetics.
- Ships/boats have received brand new unit cards, stats, and descriptions.
- Diplomats now have proper faction-specific unit cards (thanks to Lanjane).
- Higher missile damage for all archers.
- Slightly lower shield attribute for Karlar/Ceorlas.
- Further tweaks to unit stats.
- All general's units now take the same amount of turns to recruit (6).
- Can stage races already with basic stables.
- New mead consumption/production building tree (thanks to Lanjane).
- Remodeled Norwegian highland valleys.
- More custom battle locations.
- Radar map now has textures (thanks to Lanjane).
- Small gap in the wooden framing of the battle HUD fixed (thanks to Lanjane).
- Fixed a couple of mixed up captain banners (thanks to Drachentoter for reporting).
- ArthurianTW faction symbols (of Munster and Picts) will no longer show up in the custom battle screen.
- "Erilar" faction renamed "Vestr-Iarlar" to comply with the use of Old Norse for North (and East) Germanic factions.
- Various minor changes to starting family trees.
- More loading screen quotes from Hávamál and Anglo-Saxon poems (all of them, like the old ones, my own translation).
- Other minor tweaks/fixes.

EDIT: Please note, if you downloaded the patch before 26 of January 2024, the script had "perfect spy" toggled on, which means you can see all troop/building information without using a spy. Please download the patch again for normal fog of war settings (or turn it off in the script yourself if you know how).

[Geffalrus]

Huzzah! Good to see a new update - I'll go check it out.