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Mod: Pro Deo et Rege 0.2A Beta

This mod will be aimed at improved historical accuracy and realism.

Expand Full Description & Credits

File Instructions:: Author: Socal_infidel

NEW FOR v0.2 BETA!
IMPROVED ORDER KNIGHTS THANKS TO RALENDIL!
BYZANTIUM RESKINNED THANKS TO WHITEWOLF AND DISGRUNTLED GOAT!
NEW BANNERS THANKS TO JOEDRECK AND MATKO (FROM THE MAGYARD MOD TEAM)!
NEW ITALIAN FACTION SHIELDS THANKS TO SALTY
REBELS SETTLEMENTS GIVEN NEW NAMES!
and more!

Overview: This mod will be aimed at improved historical accuracy and realism. At two turns per year, this mod hopes to provide for a slower and more challenging campaign. Forging and maintaining an empire will not be an easy task as the player will face many obstacles in his quest for medieval dominance. From noble rebellions to increased upkeep costs for standing armies to a regional area of recruitment system that limits and restricts the amount and types of troops available to a faction in newly conquered foreign province, establishing a medieval empire will be a challenge.

Note: This is the initial beta version of this planned mod so if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to post them. The mod is fully playable but does need some balancing tweaks, as well as minor graphical clean-up, in addition to additional planned changes (e.g. retextures). Any feedback would be appreciated.

Main Features:

I. Regional Area of Recruitment System:
Upon conquering a foreign province, a faction will find itself as strangers in a strange land. Looked upon with suspicion and faced with hostility, much work will need to be done to bring a new province into the fold. To this end, this mod implements a fully-realized Regional Area of Recruitment System that limits and restricts the amount and types of troops available to a faction in a newly conquered foreign province.

Step 1: Auxiliary Hall
Unless the newly conquered region is closely-aligned in culture (e.g. Spain and Portugal), a faction will find the existing military structures in this region useless and unable to provide for the recruitment of troops. The first step in the system that will allow for the eventual limited recruitment of a faction’s own roster of troops is an Auxiliary Hall. This building serves as a governour's residence, town hall and public meeting place. Consider it a place to show the locals that life under a new regime won't be so bad...or at least no worse than life under the old one…
This building does not allow for the recruitment of any troops but does provide a boost in public happiness and public order.

Step 2: Auxiliary Levy Barracks
After the locals have grown accustomed to life under a new regime, a faction may build an Auxiliary Levy Barracks that allows for the recruitment of regional levy infantry units. Provinces can now be entrusted with their own local levies as garrisons. A faction’s main troops can be moved back to the front-lines from the rather mundane task of garrison-duty.
Alternatively, in a castle settlement a faction may begin building Auxiliary Bowyers (which allow for the recruitment of regional archers and missile units) or Auxiliary Stables (which allow for the recruitment of regional cavalry units), if they prefers arrows and ponies over swords and shields!

Images:
English Levy Barracks
Andalusian Levy Javelinmen
Byzantine Slav Levies

Step 3: Regular Line of Military Buildings and Limited Recruitment of Faction’s Own Roster
As more and more of a faction’s population move into these new regions, a faction becomes capable of constructing its regular line of military building complexes that will allow for the limited recruitment of a faction’s own roster of units.

Regional Recruitment System: Not only will a faction face the challenge of defending a far-flung province with only regional levy troops initially, but certain units from a faction’s regular roster will only be available to recruit in specific provinces.
For example, should the Almoravids gain a foothold in France they cannot expect to recruit Tuareg Camel Spearmens there even after bringing their French region firmly under their control.

II. Revised Faction Names & Starting Positions & Armies

Factions Names: Revised all faction names for more historical feel:
Kingdom of England
Royaume de France
Heiliges Römisches Reich
Reino de Castilla
Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia
Regno di Sicilia
Repubblica di Genova [replaces Milan]
Rěoghachd na h-Alba
Kievan Rus'
Basileia ton Rhomaiôn
al-Murabitun Imarat
al-Fatimiyyun Khilafah
Selçuk Saltanat
Condado Portucalense
Kongeriget Danmark
Królestwo Polski
Magyar Királyság

Republic of Genoa: Thanks to Sicilian Vespers’ allowance of the use of his Coat of Arms and Banners, Milan has been changed to Genoa.
Repubblica di Genova: This fledgling maritime republic, in alliance with Pisa, has recently ended a campaign against Saracen corsairs in Italian waters. This campaign eventually saw the Saracens driven from their settlements on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. However, control of these prized island possessions is still very much in dispute, as Pisa hotly contests Genova's claim to these islands. It looks increasingly likely that this situation will break out in armed conflict between these two Italian city-states.
Should conflict come, Genova is well prepared for it. Boasting a port second only to Venice in all of Italy, Genova has established itself as the one of the world's leading naval powers. Despite its supremacy at sea and despite boasting fine militia in the time-honored Italian tradition, Genova cannot hope to compete with the larger medieval powers on land...yet. A likely first step will be to move quickly into Corsica and Sardinia to consolidate its status as the coastal gateway to the Mediterranean...and beyond.

Revised Starting Positions & Armies: All factions starting positions have been revised to reflect the regions they historically held at the time. In addition, all faction’s initial armies have been revised.

III. Historical Personages, Generals & More Realistic Aging:
Most faction’s leaders and family trees have been revised for a more correct depiction of the movers and shakers on the medieval scene at the time.
Robert Guiscard and Bohemond preparing to lay siege to Dyrrachium!
The de Hautevilles are at it again! These Slav Levies in the service of those Italian Norman free-booters prepare to enter battle against a coalition Papal Army led by Swabian Swordsmen!

Revised Titles for Faction Leaders and Heirs: thanks to deRougemont and finney13’s work in the Character Names Project, all faction leader and heir titles have been revised! Why does my Spanish king always change his name to “Rey” upon ascension to the throne?
All settlements now start out with named characters or family members governing them. However, don’t expect to blitz rebels early with your uber-generals of Vanilla! General’s bodyguard units have been decreased in size to 15 (on huge settings). Effective and loyal fighting machines? Yes. Uber-panzers able to single-handedly take out a unit of spear militia? Not likely!

Characters Live Longer! In addition, thanks to ZaPPPa’s work on character aging, characters now live longer than ever! Coupled with a lowering of the age of manhood to 14-years of age, expect to better maintain your royal bloodlines!
This Venetian Doge is 86-years young and as wrathful as ever! Will he live long enough to see Venice topple Constantinople?
Roi Reinald of France is a youthful 70-years of age! An heirless widower, however, his royal line dies with him...

IV. Stronger Rebels! Blitzing Won't Be Easy!
Rebels recruit and retrain troops and construct buildings!
Old Ziggy here is doing his best to make sure taking Vilnius isn't easy!

V. All New Units!

Varjazi Axemen: comprised of Scandinavian adventurers, these fearsome warriors serve as the personal troops of the wealthiest Kievan noblemen.
Dismounted Mailed Knights: well trained, clad in mail armour, and armed with sword, these troops fight as well as their mounted counterparts.
Feudal Sergeants: these veteran warriors wear heavy mail armour, are armed with a spear and can be counted on to hold a line in battle.
Armenian Foot Knights: these noble knights fights in the style of dismounted Western Knights and are willing to serve fellow Christians in their campaigns against the Moslems.
Cuman Foot Archers: these Turkish warriors found in regions north of the Black Sea are accustomed to life in the saddle, but will dismount and fight on foot when the need arises.

VI. More Challenging Holy Land!

Crusades: Taking the Holy Land was the easy part! Thanks to the new Regional AoR System and increased religious unrest, holding on to it is now even harder than ever! But there’s hope! If a faction is able to survive the first few years here, the odds are a Hospitaller or Templar Order will ask to establish a Chapter House. Also, you can count on a limited number of Outremer Knights and Sergeants to help defend your possessions in the Holy land, as well.

Images:
Knights of the Outremer
Foot Knights and Sergeants of the Outremer

Holy Orders:

Dismounted Order Knights: included Dismounted Order Knights for all 4 Orders thanks to zhumin1978’s fantastic mod!

Brother Sergeants: Brother-Sergeants are the lesser infantry that fight in support of their Orders. They comprise squires, rich commoners, or lesser nobility that have given up all their earthly possessions in the name of their Order. Protected by mail armour and wielding maces, these soldiers serve their Orders faithfully, but cannot be counted on in protracted melee.

Images:
Hospitaller Brother-Sergeants
Santiago Brother-Sergeants
These Templar Foot Knights and Brother-Sergeants with the support of Armenian Foot Knights and Turcopoles prepare to face a full onslaught of Turkish Horse Archers led by the personal bodyguard of the Turkish Amirs, the Askaris!

VII. Revised Buildings and Construction Times

City Stables and Merchant Cavalry Stables: All factions are now able to recruit their light cavalry units from city settlements. In addition, recruitment of cavalry militia has been moved to the new Merchant Cavalry Militia building.

City Stables are also included in the Regional AoR System and allow a faction to recruit
regional light cavalry units in their new foreign lands.
Town Stables

Revised Build-Times, Bonuses and Guilds
• Increased trade bonuses for market, port and wharf line of buildings leads to greater emphasis on trade buildings leads to greater emphasis on trade.
• Revised build bonuses for an Explorer’s Guild. Now it may actually be worth acquiring.
• Revised triggers for Thieves Guild, now expect to see a wider-variety of guilds in a newly conquered region
• Increased building costs and construction time balanced to the 6 months per turn time-scale.
• Generals are now recruitable from city/castle walls.
• Revised number of recruitment slots for city and castles.
• Castles given free upkeep slots

VIII. Trade Capitals, Centers and Hubs:
Not all medieval cities were equal! Due to location and resources, some cities naturally had more of an economic advantage than others. To this end, there are four levels of trade spots:
1) Commercial Capitals: these are the jewels of the medieval world! London, Venice, Constantinople…all cities that became major economic powerhouses. Should you be fortunate enough to hold one, expect greatly increased trade and wealth! Should you not, well then…get campaigning!
2) Trade Centers: these cities serve as the trade centers of a particular region and offer increased trade bonuses as well.
3) Trade Hubs: these cities serve as waypoints and stops on the main trade routes of the time and receive a slight increase in trade.
4) Minor Cities: a city that can be developed economically if the effort is put in, but one that does not boast the advantages that others naturally possess.

IX. Increased Campaigning and Army Upkeep Costs:
Don’t expect to maintain stack after stack of large standing armies. Expanding your fledgling empire won’t be easy and it will cost you. Recruitment and upkeep costs for all units have been increased by 50%. Expecting to undertake a long campaign using primarily militia units? Expect it to really cost you. Militia upkeep costs have been increased even more to reflect the blow to a medieval empire’s economy campaigning for an extended length of time with an army comprised of commoners would be.
To counteract this, however, more free upkeep slots have been added to cities. So as long as you keep your militia units garrisoned in their home settlements, you should be fine. Also you should take advantage of your noble knights and their armed retinues (sergeant spearmen, armoured sergeants and feudal sergeants)! Not only do they have free upkeep while stationed inside castles, they have lower upkeep costs in relation to mere commoners.

X: Battle Mechanics and Unit Balancing
Greatly improved and enhanced battle mechanics and unit balancing thanks to the hard work done by Lusted and Palamedes.

XI. The Long Road’s Developer Tornnight’s Era System
Thanks to The Long Road’s developer extraordinaire, tornnight, this mod makes use of his era-based building and unit recruitment system! Don’t expect to field an army of Chivalric Knights in 1150 A.D. anymore!

XII. Bloods…Broads…and Bastards! v.2.00
Need I say more? The mini-mod that leads to major depth and medieval atmosphere!

Credits:
Lusted and Palamedes - for their great work on unit balancing and battle mechanics.
Tornnight – for permitting me to implement his Era-Based recruitment and construction system.
dearmad and Pnutmaster – for allowing me to use Blood, Broads and Bastards v2.00.
SicilianVespers – for being so kind as to let me use his lovely Genoese Coat of Arms and Banners.
burrek – for use of some textures and units from Knights and Knaves 0.95
WhiteWolf - for his remarkable new Byzantine textures
DisgruntledGoat - for use of his amazing new Byzantine textures
joedreck - for allowing me to use his Kings Banners
Salty - for his great Italian faction shields
matko - from the Magyar Mod Team for use of his Hungarian Banners
deRougemont and finneys13 – for their hard work on shepherding the Character Names Project
zhumin1978 – for his fantastic Dismounted Orders Mod
Ralendil - for his wonderful Order mounts and banners
selenius4tsd - for use of his Highways Mod
zaPPPa – for his invaluable findings on variable & realistic aging and death
Everyone at TWC who has taken the time to help me out during my time here.

MORE CHANGES PLANNED! COMING SOON!

File Name: pder_v.0.3a_beta.exe		Author: Admin
File Size: 100.00 MB		Files Added: 9,406
Downloads: 747 (1 last week)		Author Downloads: 16,190,634 (71,269 last week)
Posted: 10.07.2007		Supporters: n/a