Calradia 1050 A.D.: Mercenary Uprising mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

--Player advice, bug reports, certain issues, balancing recommendations, and other thoughts on Calradia 1050 A.D.: Mercenary Uprising--

1. For those wondering how to tweak the Unit Size to be 300, first go to your rgl.config file in Warband documents and then set "battle_size = 1.5000" (specifically for this mod). Recommend starting as one of the new factions on the Southern Continent, it's lot more interesting than seeing Swadia get divided up once more. Can the modder explain to me how to entertain troops, keep seeing the popup?

2. Stated the above because Record Battle Size in the mod options seems to show 300 as the maximum, but only allows about 225 troops within the Battle itself. Onto the Map size in Battle, it's totally massive which makes getting to the action feel like labor. I've tried tweaking this to no avail, this is presently my biggest issue with the mod.

3. This proves to be frustrating with the limited reinforcement waves, one has to fight several battles to achieve victory, you could probably increase this value by 2. Also siege battles appear to cap the Unit Size at 150, don't know whether this is intentional or not, but it does make things not as possibly epic. For some reason certain musicians do not play music.

4. Be of the opinion that you should raise the amount of throwing projectiles by half while increasing the weight by half too, this way the weapon and these units can be more viable. Towns should have their mercantile threshold doubled, quite a chore having to sell stuff to folks with less than a 1000 in cash, advice even tripling it.

This is a real minor one, but I would like to see more food options, foods like dates and wine could perhaps be edible, just for more variety. An important suggestion of mine is disabling the dust effect in particle_systems file, this is the prime cause for lag in battles. A hidden problem that appears in many mods I find, if you want I can sent you the changes in PM, along with some of my other tweaks.

5. Very much like the new Companions (four I believe), decent backstory fitting the Mercenary theme this mod has going. Rejoice that they are all professional soldiers unlike the useless ones introduced in Floris.

Really support what you did for the Rhodoks and Khergits, they look amazing with their new gear. The former has the whole Hillmen motif going for them and the latter just appears like a menacing Horde coming your way.

The faction I think with the least adjustments would be the Sarranids. Their regulars has been a unpleasant sight to fight, what with their samey appearance from Native. The outfit of their lords can be randomly wacky at times too, it seems that those in the Sultanate don't have any taste for aesthetics.

6. Oh boy it took a while to write this, hope some of this can be used in the development.

discord?

Progress?

So I finally decided give this mod a try after what a decade of development, it's about time to play and review "Calradia 1050 A.D.: Mercenary Uprising". Let's go ahead with my critical thoughts on this mod, hopefully the creator sees these as suggestions rather than me being a opinionated jerk.

Firstly the needed improvements. I agree with the common sentiment in the comments on just how terrible the female textures are, not to exaggerate but that they all have the same plastic look to them. The menu loading screens could definitely be something better than a screenshot with a blurry filter.

There are things from Native that have not been touched on, the script for example could've use some editing. Now I get this is supposed to be a Vanilla+ mod, but important things like party size and troop recruitment could have had their values changed. Of course one can do those things for themselves, I've done it and wouldn't mind sharing my tweaks with the creator or anyone else here.

This is more subjective, but I would've liked to have heard some new songs. As music sets the adventuring mood for a game, and I think most folks have gotten tired of Warband OST (still excellent). Perhaps Floris mod soundtrack could be used instead, 1257 AD atmosphere (middle ages) is quite good too.

Now on to the good points. I like the three new factions and their given lore, it's refreshing to not see yet another Samurai faction added. The mod is very stable & clean, I can see that the Modder put a lot of time & effort in balancing & designing things.

My observation is that "Calradia 1050 A.D.: Mercenary Uprising" feels like it could really be the best Vanilla+ mod out there. I've tried many such mods and they're either very buggy or unnecessarily bloated. This mod deserves more attention, and with more updates I can see it rated beyond well.

End this review with an appraisal to the creator of this mod, not easy to have develop a mod for this many years. My quest is that I will help with playtesting and the seeking of bugs.

--The story for this mod-- (found on the documents, thought posting this might interest people)

It is the year 1050 in Calradia. The Calradian Empire has just recently collapsed after years of battles with the invaders and bloody internal revolts. The upstart kingdoms are fighting to hold onto their own lands and to grab some of their neighbors' lands. The Kindgom of Swadia occupies what was the western part of the old Empire while The Eastern Province occupies what was the Eastern part. The Nords and the Vaegirs have secured their own lands and are threatening Swadia from the north and north-east. The Rhodoks have split from the Swadians and have formed a republic to the south and are now butting up against the newcomer Sarranids, who are eager to expand their own kingdom into the lands north of the great desert. They are preparing to mount a counter-offensive to the north and east to regain their lands.

But there are other forces at work in Calradia. Three mercenary peoples have grown in strength and are now threatening their neighbors in Calradia. The Balion Folcland, many of whom fought ably as mercenaries for the Old Empire, retreated to the fertile lands south of Shariz along the coast when the Old Empire finally fell into ruin. They built a town and four strong castles and prospered in the years since the fall of the Empire. Their troops are seasoned, well trained, and tough, having very good infantry, archers, and skirmishers. Their castles are well-manned and their leaders are eager to take war to their former enemies. The Balions have recently captured Starfall Castle from the Sarranids.

In the far eastern steppes, the Khergit Tribe, long serving as auxillary troops to the eastern Calradian lords, and more recently to the Eastern Province, are gathering their numbers. They are no longer content with serving others and have set their sight on taking new lands for themselves. They have already occupied 4 strong border fortresses abandoned by the Old Empire, and are calculating which neighboring kingdom they should attack first. Whatever they decide, the Khergits will make their mark, because they are going introduce a new style of warfare to the other kingdoms. While the other kingdoms of Calradia have only recently begun to develop their own cavalry arms, the Khergis are masters of mounted combat and will field armies with numbers of mounted warriors never seen before in Calradia. The horde is restless and is galvanizing itself for war.

In the north-eastern portion of the great desert, the Geroians have established a Duchy with a capitol in Volkheim, which had been named Barriye by the Sarranids. These Geroians had served the Old Empire and when it fell, sought whatever lands they could take and hold for themselves, driving the new-comer Sarranids out of that part of the desert and establishing a line of castles as far north as Asugan castle. The Geroians, not favoring ruling a desert land, are eager to expand northwards into the Eastern Province and perhaps even nort-east into the lands of the Khergiz tribe. The Geroians, aware of the increasingly important role of horses in Calradia have built a strong cavalry arm that is supported by well-equipped and well-trained infantry and crossbowmen. But will their heavy cavalry be able to stand up to the Khergit mounted horde?

Other former mercenaries, without their own land, live to plunder the rich caravans and farms of central Calradia. These masterless men have no single leader yet, but some of their bolder captains seek to unite all the bands together under one banner and thus make their own kingdom among the warring kingdoms of Calradia. Only time will tell if they have the will and strength to unite.