Tournament of Shadows mod for Empire: Total War

Tournament of Shadows

An Empire: Total War Modification

What is Tournament of Shadows?

Tournament of Shadows is a mod for Empire: Total War that aims to give flavor to the major European factions and make them more unique than in vanilla. ToS is built upon ilia_r_s/Erzya’s Foothold in India mod, which itself strives to make the Indian factions and the Middle Eastern/Caucasus factions more unique. While the aim of ToS is not to completely overhaul the game or even necessarily to be 100% historically accurate, quite a few things will be changed for flavor or gameplay purposes - to the best of my abilities as a very green ETW modder.

Or maybe you were asking about the name? “Tournament of Shadows” was the name that Russian ambassador Karl von Nesselrode gave to the Great Game, the extensive 19th-century geopolitical struggle between the British and Russian empires in central Asia, Persia, and India. As ToS is essentially a fork of Foothold in India, a mod that still uses “The Great Game” as its internal file designation, I felt the name to be appropriate.

Mechanics Changes

ToS is based on the Napoleon: Total War-derived battle mechanics options included in FII 1.4.7, which among other things means that infantry generally have better weapon ranges and that artillery ranges differ considerably based on type and shot weight. However, at the same time, infantry projectiles become slightly less accurate across the board to try and make battles less dependent on who fires first to wipe out an entire unit in several volleys. Battles are still potentially a bit more lethal than in FII or ETW, so be aware of your firepower and the enemy’s when choosing to fight.

Most notably, all line infantry, elite infantry, and grenadiers not only in Europe but also in the Middle East and India receive a variation of the Minutemen’s mass firing drill, having on average the first two ranks shoot instead of only the first rank if Fire by Rank cannot be used. This is based on how real-life musket volleys tended to work and allows line units to put more rounds on target than with the rather anemic one-rank-only volley fire seen in vanilla. While this does give non-FBR units (Ottoman and Indian infantry in particular) a better chance against FBR-capable units, units using FBR not only maintain their vanilla reload bonus with their new firing drill but also enjoy more consistency in utilizing three ranks when firing. The new baseline drill is rather dependent on terrain, line of sight, and the angle at which the unit acquires an enemy target. It might result in three or four ranks firing all at once or even just one, or it might not even have the entire rank(s) fire - all the while reloading generally more slowly.

Line infantry, grenadier, and elite infantry formations are more compressed in spacing than even FII to support this new volley fire system, but this means that Platoon Fire has to be removed. Platoon Fire requires formations to stretch out to fire, which means that units can overlap and unintentionally inflict friendly fire on each other. Fire by Rank for all frontline infantry also helps allow elite units’ reload speeds to truly impact a unit’s firepower, especially given the other core mechanic change listed below. In turn, the Platoon Fire technology in the campaign gives 10 prestige for no downsides in return.

Socket bayonets are removed in favor of all ring bayonets. While this would reduce European infantry’s rate of fire mostly across the board, it is balanced out by the fact that many more men per unit can be expected to fire on a target. Also, ring bayonets just look better in my opinion. In return, the Ring Bayonet technology in the campaign is modified so that while it does raise land upkeep costs by 2%, it also gives 10 prestige.

Lastly, Custom Battles mode will make available the following factions in addition to those that FII unlocked:

• Scotland (to represent Jacobites in a pinch and because of their unique Clansmen melee infantry)
• Venice (to represent the Italians, and they have their own voice lines)
• Hungary (personal preference, and it did rebel at the start of the 18th century)

In exchange, Gran Colombia, the Mamelukes, and Khiva are disabled from Custom Battles.

Graphics Changes

Battle standards for all major factions as well as for Portugal, Venice, and Hungary have been created by me, with more planned in the future. In addition, uniform colors for several factions have been changed and a modified version of Bavarian Grenadier’s Vanilla Units Enhanced skin mod is included in ToS. All three additions are to try and make land battles in ToS seem more historically authentic, if not necessarily accurate.

Notable changes to faction uniforms include:

• Spain (mainly white uniforms with yellow highlights to better distinguish them from the Austrians; faction uniform color is now white.)
• Ottomans (faction uniform color is now the same dark red as its faction color; Wind From the East’s skins for janissaries and Nizam-i-Cedit units are incorporated with authorization from team leader Goutlard.)
• Portugal (mainly white uniforms with green highlights, as Portugal historically did adopt the French-style white-gray coat; faction uniform color otherwise is now the old vanilla Ottoman green.)
• Venice (faction uniform color is now more aquamarine, and the uniforms are based more along French patterns to better resemble Venetian uniforms in the Morean War.)
• Hungary (faction uniform color is now brown, and uniforms generally have light blue trousers and red highlights to more resemble Hungary’s 1848 uniforms.)
• Punjab (faction uniform color is now a dark blue; Sikh Musketeers and Sikh Warriors also have bluer uniforms to hopefully better represent the Khalsa.)

Two major unit packs have been incorporated into ToS to better aid in faction overhauls:

• danova’s Ornamentum packs (Poltava-era Swedish and Russian units, as well as a wide collection of other ground units for European factions)
• wangrin’s Nec Pluribus Impar (Seven Years’ War-era French infantry and artillery)

Faction Specialties & Changes

[NOTE: not all units from vanilla, the incorporated unit mods, or even necessarily FII are actually used in ToS. They should still be in the files if you want to activate them, but please be advised that they are not optimized for ToS.]

Austria

Large line infantry units with melee-superior Hungarian counterparts, devastating light infantry, and fairly strong shock cavalry.

• Royal Hungarian Line Infantry and Royal Hungarian Grenadiers from Ornamentum are incorporated into the Austrian and Hungarian rosters, serving as superior variants of Austrian line and grenadiers to augment melee combat.

Great Britain

Well-trained infantry, wide selection of light infantry, improved and near-exclusive Puckle Guns, and some of the best ships in the game.

• The unit cap for Ferguson Riflemen has been increased to 2. Hopefully, this makes the effort to unlock them more worth it.
• Several units of Ornamentum’s Independent Highlanders, very capable in melee assaults, are available to aid in hand-to-hand combat and to give Britain some Scottish representation. It seemed odd that other factions in vanilla seemingly had more Scots.
• The Puckle Gun has been made almost a British-only unit with increased accuracy and range to boost consistency. I do want this to be more unique and worth unlocking.

France (and Louisiana and Quebec)

Slightly more melee-aggressive infantry, a wide range of foreign and elite infantry, a powerful artillery park, and accurate warship gunnery.

• The infantry and artillery rosters are overhauled by Nec Pluribus Impar, with names being made French to try and remain as close to the spirit of NPI as possible. (If I have made any spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know.)
• All NPI units are available to all forms of government.
• Infantry changes:
• NPI’s Régiment Ecossais is reworked to become the new Gardes Françaises, and has received appropriate combat stats, recruitment cap, and unit cost. It uses the Maison du Roi’s/generic Guards’ stats and receives an extra melee attack and charge bonus like French Line Infantry.
• NPI’s Régiment Italien is reworked to be standard French Line Infantry but with +1 morale.
• NPI’s Régiment Allemand is reworked to be standard French Line Infantry but with +5 reload skill.
• NPI’s Brigade Irlandaise is reworked to be a bit of a mix of vanilla’s Bulkeley’s Regiment and Dutch Scots.
• NPI’s Régiment Suisse is reworked to be a near-copy of standard Dutch Swiss Infantry. The actual Dutch Swiss Infantry in turn will receive additional accuracy and reload bonuses.
• Up to 10 units of NPI’s Grenadiers Royaux are recruitable in Europe as a kind of inferior line infantry to aid in general defense. Despite their name, they do not throw grenades.
• NPI’s unique Régiment du Roi line infantry unit serves as a bridge between the Infanterie Petit-Vieux and Infanterie Vieux in overall combat abilities.
• Up to 4 units of Compagnies Franches de la Marine (from danova’s Ornamentum) are recruitable in America as a limited but powerful light infantry force. They are recruitable from any city in the Americas with either at least a Barracks or a Military Governor’s Encampment.
• Artillery changes:
• France’s cannon roster has been overhauled with NPI to allow limbered (and smaller-caliber) artillery from the start of the campaign. Canon de 24 de Vallière units give France a non-Guard 24-lber artillery counterpart again (albeit in a fixed form), and receive slightly higher accuracy and morale.
• NPI’s Canon de 12 de Vallière pieces remain mobile like the 12-lber Foot Artillery they replace, but have become slightly more accurate as well.
• NPI’s Mortiers de 8 de Vallière are available earlier and without technology requirements. They share the same performance as Eastern mortars.

Poland-Lithuania

Superheavy cavalry, and large numbers of superior lancer cavalry and auxiliary cavalry.

• Winged Hussars are available from the start of the campaign in any major city with any military building, and are given Good Stamina to allow for longer effective usage. Ornamentum’s National Cavalry are also incorporated into the PLC roster for mid-game deployment, and are superior lancer cavalry rivaling Austria’s Uhlans.
• The Guard Grenadiers’ unit cap has been increased to 2 to actually make them worth deploying. Despite these changes, Poland-Lithuania might be ToS’s most difficult European major faction to play as.

Prussia

Excellent line infantry and grenadiers, surprising range of cavalry and skirmishers.

• Pikemen are given higher morale for consistency’s sake.
• Prussia can recruit Feldjaeger zu Pferd - highly mobile skirmishers.

Russia

Large, slightly melee attack-oriented line infantry units, shock grenadiers, good selection of steppe auxiliaries, and arguably the best anti-infantry artillery in the game.

• Petrine Line Infantry units have 200 men and are similar to Austrian Line Infantry except with reduced costs and melee defense stats in favor of higher melee attack.
• Vanilla Line Infantry are refitted to be stock standard in combat stats while maintaining slightly lower recruitment costs. These are meant to represent the undermanned, artillery-focused Observation Corps used during the Seven Years’ War.
• A new artillery unit called the Yedinorog (Unicorn) is introduced, replacing Ornamentum’s Russian 6-lber Foot Artillery. Essentially a more accurate, longer-ranged howitzer that exchanges round shot for canister shot, the Yedinorog could be the best anti-infantry artillery unit in ToS. Unit cap of 4 for balancing purposes.

[NOTE: because of the way ammunition and ammunition selection work in ToS’s code, Yedinorog canister shot is accessed by selecting the round shot button.]

Spain

High-morale line infantry and grenadiers, very early access to skirmishers and light assault infantry, and sturdy trade fleets.

• Line Infantry and Grenadiers have +1 morale compared to their standard counterparts. There seems to be historical observations that the Spanish soldiers of the era had a good reputation for bravery and loyalty even with major supply issues.
• “Corso Terrestre” Guerrillas are now Encamisados, light shock infantry based on early-1600s Spanish raiding parties as portrayed in Alatriste. Encamisados have a unit cap of 6 but in turn receive major charge bonuses, Good Stamina, the ability to walk while stealthed, and Morale 9. They are rather fragile in extended fights, however.

Sweden

Shock infantry, larger cavalry units, and the quickest-firing artillery in the game.

• Infantry in general now are high-morale, very powerful when charging, and slightly worse at aiming. This was done to emulate Sweden’s historical Carolean military doctrine.
• Livgardet guards infantry and Drabant Corps elite cavalry can scare nearby enemies, partly as a means of emulating the notorious, unnerving Swedish silent march toward the enemy.
• Ornamentum’s Swedish 6-lber Foot Artillery is changed into the 3-lber Geschwinda Skott Artillery, which fires the weakest cannon projectile in the game very quickly. Unit cap of 6, but arguably deserved because of the rate of fire.

United Provinces

More accurate line infantry, and a highly potent and armed merchant fleet.

• Line Infantry and Swiss Infantry have +5 reload and +5 accuracy to represent the Dutch army’s pioneering of the platoon firing drill and general European musket formations. The Dutch will genuinely need as much help as they can get on land.

United States

Excellent militia and light infantry, wide range of unique units, improved Puckle guns, and a very well-trained navy.

• Minutemen have +5 reload to better act as fire support for more expensive Line Infantry and other regular units. They are still highly vulnerable to melee.
• Legion of the United States has a unit cap of 6, as well as +10 reload to simulate Gen. Anthony Wayne’s experimental modifications to musket reloading mechanisms and to offset the ring bayonet’s reload penalties.
• The US has access to the Puckle Gun as well. Given America’s infamy for the Gatling gun, even if it’s way far off beyond ETW’s time period, it seems fitting.

Other Faction Changes

• Portugal: Ornamentum’s Caçadores units are now made exclusive to Portugal, recruitable from any major city with a Barracks after researching the Machined Rifling technology. They move while stealthed, equip bayonets, and have an additional point of morale over Cazadores but otherwise are the same stats-wise.
• Miquelets and Cazadores are disabled for Portugal. The former is genuinely not great to utilize, and the latter is now redundant.
• Hungary: Ornamentum’s Royal Hungarian Line Infantry and Royal Hungarian Grenadiers are also made available for Hungary.
• Middle Eastern/Indian factions: 64-lber artillery units have a range of 750. This hopefully should make them worth using over smaller, limber-capable guns in field battles.

Installation Instructions

Installing ToS is extremely simple. After a fresh install of ETW, unpack the mod’s .7z folder into ETW’s data folder. No user scripts are required, but only two sub-folders (both for campaign) and one file (sounds_sfx.pack) in the data folder will require overrides.

The included ToS pack files are as follows (and for the purposes of the beta, assume all are required):

• tos_main_beta.pack: the core of ToS, and has the unit manpower sizes, the tight formations, the localization, and the NPI and Ornamentum units.
• tos_battle_mechanics.pack: has the new NTW-derived battle mechanics and ballistics.
• tos_campaign_1700.pack: a modified version of the FII original. It mainly removes its copy of the localization file to avoid conflicts.
• tos_campaign_tech_tree.pack: has the removal of socket bayonets and platoon fire, and the replacement effects for the respective technologies.
• tos_bavgren_skins_mid.pack: has Bavarian Grenadier's Vanilla Units Enhanced skins for the SYW period, with my own modifications to the overall collection.
• tos_goutlard_skins.pack: Goutlard and the Wind From the East team's Ottoman skins, specifically for the janissaries, Nizam-i-Cedit troops, the Ottoman generals, and the Ottoman campaign models. Also should include blue Sikh uniforms.
• tos_majors_battle_standards.pack: my own battle standards for use in ground battles for all major factions as well as Venice. Historical accuracy is definitely not guaranteed.

Most FII (“tgg”) packs are included in the fork as well in order to better create a unique and streamlined experience based on FII. Quoting directly from FII’s instructions:

• tgg_patch6: A conservative community bug-fix compilation. The most notorious bug is the overpowered Galleon cannon. Fixing it reduces Galleon’s firepower from 370 to 122 [sic!].
• tgg_campaign_ai_mfr: [FII’s] own AI adjustments in the style of Minor Factions Revenge. The AI is generally more helpful towards allies and has a bit more incentive towards maritime expansion. One of the highlights is that the AI recruits generals more frequently. Another is making Eastern factions much more reliant on cavalry.
• tgg_campaign_difficulty_darth: DarthMod’s system of difficulty settings. Removes most buffs for AI on various difficulty levels. The AI now won’t have more recruitment slots in their cities than the player, the AI’s units won’t go further distances on the campaign map, etc. The only things left that change with difficulty level are: speed of research, income and upkeep costs.
• tgg_campaign_diplomacy_twc: TW Center forums’ "hush"-style diplomacy attitudes, with penalties for going to war, annexing, assassinating, etc. quickly going back to normal.
• tgg_campaign_mechanics_mfr: Campaign variables in the style of Minor Factions’ Revenge. The impact of generals rank on autoresolve outcomes is considerably lowered. Autoresolve is generally more fair. Tax inefficiency kicks in faster, the more territories a faction conquers.
• tgg_campaign_no_city_forts: Shokh Hates Sieges by Shokh. Disables city fortification construction.
• tgg_campaign_sikh_temple: Gives Punjab a religious building (but not an agent).
• tgg_battle_environments: Smaller cities and less resilient buildings during battles.
• tgg_battle_groupformations_sinuhet: Sinuhet’s group formations.
• tgg_battle_increased_misfire: Increases matchlock muskets misfire chance from zero to 16%, and flintlock muskets from zero to 12%.
• tgg_battle_terrain_templates: Random campaign battle maps generator from Napoleon: Total War with increased deployment zones from Imperial Destroyer.
• tgg_unitpack_anatolian_janissaries: Gives elite Anatolian Janissaries to Ottomans. Recruitment is only possible in Anatolia and is limited to 4 units.
• tgg_unitpack_caucasus: Redesigns troop rosters of Crimean Khanate, Georgia and Dagestan to resemble Morocco and Barbary States.
• tgg_unitpack_fleets_of_india: Complete redesign of early Indian and Persian navies. The factions now start with Barbary-style fleets, which evolve into proper European fleets with technological progress. This leaves the Ottomans and Mamluk States as the only factions with European-style ships right from the early development stages.
• tgg_unitpack_guns_of_caucasus_for_mersechal: Enables cannons only for Georgia (which is historically correct).
• tgg_unitpack_guns_of_the_west: Allows making European sakers in Minor Governor’s Encampments, Barracks, and Minor Royal Palaces.
• tgg_unitpack_india: Gives Mughals Islamic Musketeers (Hindu regions are not common in Mughal lands in vanilla). Gives Mysore Islamic Musketeers and Hindu Warriors (Islamic units are not recruitable in Mysore region in vanilla). Makes Qizilbashi Cavalry and Dervishes recruitable globally (like Qizilbashi Musketeers), unlocking them for Persia. Makes Native Lancers accessible faster, and Sikh Musketeers accessible slower. Unlocks Zamburak Camel Gunners in custom battles for all Indian factions and Persia. All in all, this pack addresses the wild inequality of Indian factions.
• tgg_unitpack_maghreb: Gives Morocco and Barbary States swordsmen and proper cavalry.
• tgg_unitpack_nerf_bargir: Makes Bargir Infantry poorly trained and undisciplined, using matchlocks instead of flintlocks, and only recruitable in major multislot cities, starting with Drill School (read more below).
• tgg_unitpack_nerf_galleon: Galleons can now be recruited only starting from Dockyard and Commercial Port, effectively preventing Spain and pirates [from spamming] them until the necessary facilities are constructed.
• tgg_unitpack_ottoman: Increases Mamluks unit size to 80, improves their training and makes them accessible faster, giving Ottomans a cavalry unit accessible right from the start. Also, they don’t disband after a revolution because the Ottomans don’t have any good alternatives to using them as light/medium cavalry. Increases Circassian Armoured Cavalry upkeep. Gives Ottomans and Mamluk States Deli Lancers. Gives Mamluk States Fellahin Swordsmen and Musketeers.
• tgg_unitpack_pirates: Gives Caribbean and Barbary land pirate units grenades and pistols with one round to shoot before making a charge. Allows Barbary States access Xebecs faster. Adds stronger units to Barbary States and Pirates city garrisons. Try starting as Spain and taking the "unprotected" Algiers on turn 1, and you are in for a nasty surprise.
• tgg_unitpack_streltsy: Gives firearms to Russian Gorodskiye Streltsy.
• tgg_unitpack_zamburaks: Unlocks Zamburak Camel Gunners for Indian Factions and Persia in campaigns.
• tgg_misc_family_tree: Enables a Family Tree button, like in Rome and Medieval II.
• tgg_misc_minister_titles: jeweetwel_youknow’s correct titles for kings, queens, ministers, etc.
• tgg_misc_tracers_less: Make projectile tracers less visible. Taken from Minor Factions’ Revenge.
• tgg_media_bronze_cannon_barrels: By Lada97. Replaces iron cannon textures with bronze.
• tgg_media_durango_historical_portraits: Atmospheric historical portraits in uniform style.
• tgg_media_line_infantry_equipment: By erasmus777. Replaces line infantry backpacks and bags with small cartridge boxes and gives spontoons to the infantry officers.
• tgg_media_manics_flags: Cool looking flags.
• sounds_sfx: Sounds of gun and musket shots, etc. ATTENTION: Please make a backup of vanilla sounds_sfx.pack before applying
• tgg_media_ultima_effects: Campaign and battle video effects.
• tgg_media_ultima_graphics: Campaign and battle textures, UI changes, etc.

Known Bugs/Oddities (as of Beta 0.1.1)

• General:
• Very occasional, random crashes mainly in the middle of battle. I’m still not able to pin down the causes, and it may very well differ between players of different computer capabilities and graphics/sounds settings.
• Mexico’s unit skins seem to be broken, using FII’s blue uniforms for officers but Spain’s default white/yellow skins for the general rank and file.
• Gameplay:
• Skirmishers in Light Infantry Behavior may not listen to commands to cease fire if you toggle Fire at Will off. You have to turn on Fire at Will and then press the Halt button for them to stop.
• Artillery might not fire as reliably as in vanilla at targets that are obscured by friendly units. Give your artillery clear lines of sight and fire.
• Puckle Guns may be completely unable to fire at will; manual targeting is required in this case. They also may not always have all of their crews move with their limbered guns for some reason.

I Found a Bug!

Great, thank you! Please let me know so that I can try and fix it, but my knowledge of the code and all is still very limited. I’ll do my best. If by any chance you want to take matters into your own hands and fix the problems yourself, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to credit you for it and incorporate the fix into the mod!

Credits

• ilia_r_s aka Erzya: for making the Foothold in India mod, for making the assets available for my project, and for being an incredible source of modding guidance.
• danova and the Ornamentum Team: for their Ornamentum unit packs, including their massive Sweden and Russia land unit roster overhaul.
• wangrin and the Nec Pluribus Impar Team: for their Nec Pluribus Impar unit pack that let me overhaul most of the French land unit roster.
• Goutlard and the Ottoman Total Overhaul/Wind from the East Team: for their Ottoman unit skins. Special thanks to Goutlard as well for being one of my first supporters in entering the ETW modding field.
• Bavarian Grenadier: for their Vanilla Units Enhanced unit reskin mod.
• JaM and Thoragoros: for their contributions to emulating two-rank volley fire, which has greatly helped me in getting this done in ToS.
• The following sources for the current land battle standards:
• Kronoskaf’s Project SYW: Austria’s default standard
• MrFlag’s Charles Ashburner: Britain’s default standard
• The Karolinska Förbundet: Sweden’s default standard
• Walter Baudinelli: Venice’s standard
• Wikipedia’s Dahn, Fred the Oyster, Fry1989, Himasaram, Kevyn, MADe, Samhanin, Sodacan, TRAJAN 117, Tretinville le: assets used for many of the standards
• You, the player: for trying ToS. You had many choices of mods and yet you decided to give this one a try. Thank you all very much!

Future Plans?

Based on whether I have the time and skill required, I also want to try:

• Refining the campaign startpos files so that armies use a little bit fewer militia and a little bit more regular troops at the start. Maybe even revise the campaigns to start in 1689 or so to end sometime at the end of the Seven Years’ War or even the Napoleonic Wars.
• Additional adjustments to faction flavors as required. There is such a thing as too much, but the question is where exactly.
• Lore for more factions at the campaign faction selection screen.
• Making more flags - not just land banners but also national flags and naval ensigns.
• Some animation and graphics mods to help spruce up the game.