IN DEVELOPMENT
Major Changes
The idea of this mod is to expand the number of buildings so that holdings will not just be more or less developed, but can develop in different directions depending on what choices the player/AI makes.
Currently, there is a default barony/city/bishopric, whose levy can be somewhat modified depending on culture, but otherwise is fairly similar for everyone. Other than the cultural buildings and the difference between inland and coastal cities, there is very little to differentiate one holding from another. All Italian-owned baronies will have lots of pikemen and few cavalry, regardless of whether they're part of small independent Italian republics or a unified Italian feudal kingdom, and all English baronies will have lots of archers regardless of whether they're in England itself or in the Middle East.
With this mod, buildings will be more context-dependent, so that, for example, an English Duke with holdings in England, Italy, and the Middle East, could have large longbow ranges in his English holdings, pike training grounds in his Italian holdings, and small longbow ranges plus squire lists in his Levantine holdings. Some buildings will still only be available to certain cultures (longbows, for example, will require either the province or the ruler to be English/Welsh), while others will be available to all cultures if certain conditions are met.
Major Changes
Province Laws:
The core of the mod is a system of province-modifiers representing the traditions and laws of the area. Provinces can be Highly Feudal, Feudal, Semi-Feudal, or Non-Feudal, each representing a different relationship between the aristocracy and the burghers/yeomanry (very broad abstractions, I know-it's more for gameplay than historical accuracy). These modifiers unlock different types of buildings for all the holdings in the province. For example, castles in highly feudal provinces will have access to the best Heavy Cavalry-boosting buildings, but in Semi-Feudal provinces will only have a more limited version of the building. In general, Castles will be best served by Highly Feudal or Feudal laws, Bishoprics by Feudal or Semi-Feudal laws, and Cities by Non-Feudal laws.
The modifiers are set (and possibly changed), but the owner of the province capital. Characters will tend to favor the laws that most benefit their own holding. So, if you put a Lord Mayor in charge of a province, don't be surprised if he institutes Non-Feudal laws, giving his city access to better buildings, but severely limiting the potential of any castles in the province. (This will hopefully be balanced to make Noble-type vassals more important, and discourage the strategy of having only Lord-Mayors/Prince-Bishops.)
Heavy Cavalry:
I've been persuaded that Heavy Cavalry is too rare at the start of the game (see this thread for a lengthy discussion). There may not have been late-medieval knights at the beginning of the game's timeframe, but there was cavalry that served a useful purpose in the heat of battle. This is not reflected in the current setup, where all cavalry is represented as light cavalry at the beginning of the game. Since light cavalry is only effective in the skirmish and pursuit phases of combat, cavalry plays a minimal role in early-game melee combat.
Moreover, the Franks/Germans should not be the only cultures with access to significant numbers of HC. The Byzantines, Poles, Bohemians, etc. all used some sort of cavalry in what would be the melee phase of combat. At the same time, however, there does appear to have been a difference in quality between the Frankish cavalry and that of the Byzantine Empire. So the Byzantines, at least, should not have access to the same sorts of HC-boosting buildings as the Franks.
So, to better model Heavy Cavalry in the game, I'm proposing the following changes:
This will obviously require careful balancing, so I'm especially hoping for any feedback you might have on this point.
Minor Changes
Culture Buildings:
Culture-specific buildings will be of 2 types: a) buildings that depend on the culture of the province, and b) buildings that depend on the culture of the holding's owner. Buildings that depend on the owner's culture will not vanish if the owner's culture changes, but they will no longer be upgradable, and their presence may block construction of other buildings. For example, a Norman king who becomes English would not automatically lose all his knights-lists, but he would not be able to build longbow ranges in provinces with them. Removing unwanted buildings is handled by decision.
More cultures will get culture-specific buildings. And some of the cultural buildings will be changed (longbows = English and Welsh, not Saxon, etc.). Hopefully, I'll be able to collaborate with some of the mods that already do this.
Economic Buildings:
There will be a greater variety of economic buildings, especially for cities. In general, the big tax-boost buildings will be divided into parts (per avee's suggestion that this encourages AI building). Also, holdings will be able to "specialize". For example, instead of a single type of castle town, you can either build fishing villages (more galleys), vineyards/farming villages (normal), trade towns (more tax+revolt risk).
Major Changes
The idea of this mod is to expand the number of buildings so that holdings will not just be more or less developed, but can develop in different directions depending on what choices the player/AI makes.
Currently, there is a default barony/city/bishopric, whose levy can be somewhat modified depending on culture, but otherwise is fairly similar for everyone. Other than the cultural buildings and the difference between inland and coastal cities, there is very little to differentiate one holding from another. All Italian-owned baronies will have lots of pikemen and few cavalry, regardless of whether they're part of small independent Italian republics or a unified Italian feudal kingdom, and all English baronies will have lots of archers regardless of whether they're in England itself or in the Middle East.
With this mod, buildings will be more context-dependent, so that, for example, an English Duke with holdings in England, Italy, and the Middle East, could have large longbow ranges in his English holdings, pike training grounds in his Italian holdings, and small longbow ranges plus squire lists in his Levantine holdings. Some buildings will still only be available to certain cultures (longbows, for example, will require either the province or the ruler to be English/Welsh), while others will be available to all cultures if certain conditions are met.
Major Changes
Province Laws:
The core of the mod is a system of province-modifiers representing the traditions and laws of the area. Provinces can be Highly Feudal, Feudal, Semi-Feudal, or Non-Feudal, each representing a different relationship between the aristocracy and the burghers/yeomanry (very broad abstractions, I know-it's more for gameplay than historical accuracy). These modifiers unlock different types of buildings for all the holdings in the province. For example, castles in highly feudal provinces will have access to the best Heavy Cavalry-boosting buildings, but in Semi-Feudal provinces will only have a more limited version of the building. In general, Castles will be best served by Highly Feudal or Feudal laws, Bishoprics by Feudal or Semi-Feudal laws, and Cities by Non-Feudal laws.
The modifiers are set (and possibly changed), but the owner of the province capital. Characters will tend to favor the laws that most benefit their own holding. So, if you put a Lord Mayor in charge of a province, don't be surprised if he institutes Non-Feudal laws, giving his city access to better buildings, but severely limiting the potential of any castles in the province. (This will hopefully be balanced to make Noble-type vassals more important, and discourage the strategy of having only Lord-Mayors/Prince-Bishops.)
Heavy Cavalry:
I've been persuaded that Heavy Cavalry is too rare at the start of the game (see this thread for a lengthy discussion). There may not have been late-medieval knights at the beginning of the game's timeframe, but there was cavalry that served a useful purpose in the heat of battle. This is not reflected in the current setup, where all cavalry is represented as light cavalry at the beginning of the game. Since light cavalry is only effective in the skirmish and pursuit phases of combat, cavalry plays a minimal role in early-game melee combat.
Moreover, the Franks/Germans should not be the only cultures with access to significant numbers of HC. The Byzantines, Poles, Bohemians, etc. all used some sort of cavalry in what would be the melee phase of combat. At the same time, however, there does appear to have been a difference in quality between the Frankish cavalry and that of the Byzantine Empire. So the Byzantines, at least, should not have access to the same sorts of HC-boosting buildings as the Franks.
So, to better model Heavy Cavalry in the game, I'm proposing the following changes:
- To represent early-game Heavy Cavalry, while still keeping it distinct from late-game Knights, the base attack/defense values of HC will be lowered, so that it begins weaker, but quickly improves to match the vanilla values at technology level 3 (around 1250), after which it keeps pace with vanilla values. This will allow us to replace some of the early-game heavy infantry with heavy cavalry, without significantly unbalancing the game. For a detailed explanation of the numbers see the following:
Vanilla heavy cavalry starts with attack-defense values of 1-8 / 10-8 / 8-5 for the 3 phases of combat (Skirmish/Melee/Pursuit). Both are modified by technology at the rate of 10%/15%/20%/25%/30%. So, at tech level 3, vanilla knights have attack/defense values of 1.2-9.6 / 12-9.6 / 9.6-6 (s/m/p). By setting the baseline for our knights at 2/3 of those values (vanilla tech level 3), we'd get 0.8-6.4 / 8-6.4 / 6.4-4, and having tech modifiers of 20%/40%/50%/55%/60%, we'd have HC that is approximately half-way between the base values for vanilla heavy infantry and vanilla heavy cavalry at tech level 0, and is roughly the same as vanilla HC from tech level 3 on. - To represent the differences between the elite Frankish heavy cavalry, and the heavy cavalry of the Byzantines, Iberians, and other groups not known for shock charges, the will be buildings that provide a holding with heavy cavalry, but gives it lower attack and defense values than the default (sort of the opposite of how longbow ranges work).
- Most castles will have access to some sort of stable building that provides heavy cavalry at the beginning of the game. The exact options will be limited by culture and province laws (so Highly-Feudal Frankish provinces will have access to elite HC, while Semi-Feudal Scandinavian provinces will get more LC and less powerful HC).
This will obviously require careful balancing, so I'm especially hoping for any feedback you might have on this point.
Minor Changes
Culture Buildings:
Culture-specific buildings will be of 2 types: a) buildings that depend on the culture of the province, and b) buildings that depend on the culture of the holding's owner. Buildings that depend on the owner's culture will not vanish if the owner's culture changes, but they will no longer be upgradable, and their presence may block construction of other buildings. For example, a Norman king who becomes English would not automatically lose all his knights-lists, but he would not be able to build longbow ranges in provinces with them. Removing unwanted buildings is handled by decision.
More cultures will get culture-specific buildings. And some of the cultural buildings will be changed (longbows = English and Welsh, not Saxon, etc.). Hopefully, I'll be able to collaborate with some of the mods that already do this.
Economic Buildings:
There will be a greater variety of economic buildings, especially for cities. In general, the big tax-boost buildings will be divided into parts (per avee's suggestion that this encourages AI building). Also, holdings will be able to "specialize". For example, instead of a single type of castle town, you can either build fishing villages (more galleys), vineyards/farming villages (normal), trade towns (more tax+revolt risk).
