Been playing M&B:Warband with the Native Mod Compilation, full version. Lots of nice features without all the extra stuff that makes the game unstable.
Tried that Floris pack, but kept crashing with various errors. Unable to open a texture file for a helm, crash. RGL crash. Unexpected error crash. Few more. Basically, that mod shanked my M&B and left it dieing in the alley.
Anyway, in my game with the compilation mod I'm experiencing a bit of a world war. I guess its the diplomacy thing thats causing it. Heres how it went down:
I joined the Nords while they were at war with the Vaegirs. Other wars going on are Swadia v Rhodok, Sarranid v Khergit. Next thing I know, the Swadians declare war on us - so now we're at war with Vaegirs and Swadians. Then a few days later the Sarranids and the Swadians make an alliance, which shares hostilities. Then shortly thereafter the Vaegirs make an alliance with the Khergits...
So now the Nords are at war with Swadians, Sarranids, Khergits, and Vaegirs. And the Swadians & Sarranids are at war with the Khergits, Vaegirs, and the Rhodoks.
Surprisingly, this has played out to favor me in a big way. The Khergits are keeping the Sarranids busy, the Swadians are focused on the Rhodoks. The Vaegirs moved in and managed to steal Sargoth right as the Nord army moved in and clashed with the Vaegir one. My fief was lost with the conquest of Sargoth, so when I immediately retook it (with a minimal garrison of 120 due to it just being captured before I arrived) I requested it and was granted Sargoth. I helped mop up the Vaegir army, and the Nord forces moved over and started sieging Praven. The Swadian army rushed over to stop that, and while they were occupied there the Rhodoks moved in and took Dhirim. The Nords failed to take Praven and fled, and the Swadian army moved to retake Dhirim. The Nords went back to Praven while they were busy, and this time they succeeded. I marched to Dhirim to check it out, and right after I arrived the Swadians managed to retake it, then ran off after some Khergits who were raiding, and I assume were held up either by them or maybe the rhodoks while I spent two and a half days sieging Dhirim (siege tower). On the third day some Nord buddies showed up and wound up saving my ass by chasing off a big Swadian army that finally came by to stop me, and then I managed to take Dhirim while they were still on the run from the Nord army. I requested it, and again was given what I requested. While I'm camping out in Dhirim and protecting it until I see if it will be mine or not, the Nords mount another offensive and take over Suno.
So the world war still rages, but the Nords have made some serious gains during it. Nords control their own lands as well as Dhirim, Praven, and Suno. We had several Vaegir castles, but lost them back while going against the Swadian cities. I personally own Sargoth and Dhirim (Dhirim alone pulled in over 10k in tariffs in the last week...). The Rhodoks control the same cities they've always had after retaking Veluca from an earlier Swadian conquest, the Khergits lost Narra to the Sarranids and haven't retaken it yet although they successfully retook Halmar from the Swadians, and the poor Swadians are sitting there with nothing but Uxkhal.
Funny thing is, my character has been waiting to wed his betrothed for the last two months, but this war doesn't look like its going to stop any time soon and I guess it can't have the wedding feast during a war.
From all this battle my character and his companions are getting pretty high level. I'm playing an all foot army with no horses at all and 7 companions. All the companions are suited up in Heraldic armor with tabard, Huscarl shields, Nordic Warlord helmets, Saranid mail boots, and balanced elite scimitars; and I'm set up with the same except it's all Lordly (most of the companions is Thick or Reinforced). So its a little team of 8 identical soldiers as my front line, with a bunch of Nord troops of varying levels behind them (mostly the Warrior and Veteran level, I lose quite a few since I've sworn off taking the surgery skill and replacing Huscarls gets expensive).