Here is my fantasy gameplay submod for 1257 Anno Domini (required for the mod)...mostly balance/challenge submod. If you hate fantasy or unrealistic things, than feel free to skip this. Many of the things I changed are the opposite of realism and history...lots of fantasy. Now that I gave you the warning...
Link to mod forum :
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/board,167.0.htmlSubmod download (needs Nexus account)-
http://www.nexusmods.com/mbwarband/mods/5857/?This is what is changed/added/balanced. Keep in mind most of it is themed (name change), as without the python files I am limited to what I can change. I can not change that much, except names/stats/colors. So, any name changing is purely cosmetic and imagination required
Except for meg...
The main focus of this submod is to add challenge and strategy, in an otherwise very easy game. My friend (Josh) and I won 99% of the battles, and each huge war felt always the same. This goes in and corrects that. While you can play that way, many of the "new" lords are incredibly strong (impossible 1 on 1, and relies on other lords on your side) and will take a lot of strategy to beat. Following the main army may not always be the best idea...and yes, I purposely made many lords godlike. This makes it (from my playtest and Josh) more strategic in wars. More reliance on other lords to help, and makes it impossible for you to go around pwning everything 1 on 1 and lolling at everything and everyone. Also, since some factions have such powerful lords, the wars are vastly bigger and to win a war takes a lot of strategy and skill.
The next major focus is item balance. Many horses changed (with a few easter egg horses), made crossbows not shit (before I used them as firewood), slight change to bows and huge change to javelins.
And as obvious, this is purely a fantasy mod with a focus on balance/challenge and quite a bit of fantasy thrown in. It is a fantasy submod
- Factions -Kingdom of Cilicia - The Crusader States replacer. Many anatolian troops (in vanilla 1257, you can't even find these) with a focus on infantry and cavalry. Very strong lord (Ganghis Khan) in this faction. Tons of work went into this faction, and a lot of research and reading (actual books at a library too! But yes, not 100% historical)
Dutchy of Normandy - The Papal Pedo Replacer. Average lords (by that, I mean compared to the new lords I put in) and pretty good troops. In this, William the Conqueror in an alternate timeline took over the boy Pope and declared himself the new Pope.
Galactic Empire - The Kingdom of Navarrae replacer. Where the majority of the fantasy factions started. They have some of the most variety of troops of the new factions (andalus, varangian, anatolian). On top of that, they start in an alliance with (Peteopia, Shadows of the Stars, Castille and Aragon) in an alliance vs alliance war with all other factions. GE starts out hated by almost all. Also, they have the following lords: Darth Vader (godlike), Chuck Norris (super strong), Abraham Lincon (weak, but lots of charisma) and Death (one of three of the "boss" lords of the game, meant for an "endgame" challenge.)
Holders of the Rings - Novgorod replacer - The Lord of the Rings based faction. About same troops as GE, but more cavalry and a bit more unique of units. Sauron is the second of the three boss lords of the game.
Peteopia - Gaelic Empire replacer - Family guy themed faction, none real except meg! Meg is a male lord and closely resembles Meg from family guy! This is actually probably my most unique faction I changed. Peteopia main troops are bandits and farmers and a tiny bit of gaelic units. But this is a bandit and farmer faction! Lots of bandit units. Probably the hardest faction to play, as no one is actually strong in this faction and the troops are weak.
Shadows of the Stars - Scotland replacer - Starcraft themed faction, with a couple godlike lords and Xel'Naga (I know that is a "species" name, but ah well) being the third boss lord of the game and the strongest overhaul boss of the game. This faction gets a bit of variety of troops, but more Andalus troop focused.
- Item changes -Horses: Changed charged on many of them (not all, so some aren't as good as others)...now you don't hit a peasant and die. You can ride your horse through lines of infantry and archers! Far more realistic in my opinion, and way more fun than hitting a peasant and stopping in your tracks. Four super rare (should be) horses to find (easter egg kind of thing)
Crossbow+bolts: Upped speed, damage, reload speed, more ammo for bolts, reload on horseback ...vastly better at defense sieges, average in open, horrible at offense sieges...much more use. Not entirely realistic, but more fun and not firewood junk
Bows+arrows: Only slight changes here, tweaked damage slightly and upped arrow ammo...average at offense sieges, not nearly as good at defense sieges as crossbows, much better in open than crossbows
Javelins: (very) slight change to damage, greatly lower throw speed and the javelins fly much slower in the air, much higher ammo counts (4 was lame). This is actually out of the four, the best change. Javelins still hurt like hell if they hit you, but they are VERY hard to use (require actual player skill). Out of the four, javelins are actually 100% like they would be in real life.
And some slight changes to roman armor and other roman things...anything else you gotta find for yourself.