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Difference between revisions of "Lands to Conquer"

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{{mod3|mod=Lands to Conquer|image=[[Image:Map_FE.jpg]]|platform=[[Medieval II: Total War]]|era=Medieval|leader=[[Lusted]]'''|mod-folder=In mod-folder|release=[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=137614 Lands to Conquer Gold]}}
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{{Mod Information Table
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|Platform=[[Medieval II: Total War]]
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|Mod Type=Campaign Pack and AI Ungrade
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|Era=Medieval
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|Mod Leader=[[Lusted]]
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|Release Status=Lands to Conquer Gold
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|Forum=[https://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=302 Here]
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}}
  
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
Lands to Conquer is a mod that is aimed at improving the gameplay of [[Medieval II: Total War]].
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Lands to Conquer is a modification for [[Medieval II: Total War]] that focuses mainly on improving and balancing gameplay.
  
Version 4.0 of the mod uses the new [[Kingdoms]] expansion to add in new features and other things to improve the mod. Boiling oil, controllable reinforcements, unit balance, new rams and many other things from the expansion are added into LTC. LTC 4.0 also takes advantage of new modding possibilities available in the expansion to enhance the mods gameplay.
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The modification utilises features from [[Kingdoms]]: boiling oil, controllable reinforcements and unit balances are all included in Lands to Conquer. The modification also takes advantage of several new possibilities that are able to be modified in the expansion. It also features improved campaign and battle AI.
  
It also features improved Battle and greatly improved Campaign AI to provide better battles and an enhanced campaign experience. The AI is also used in [[Stainless Steel]] 5.1.
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Lands to Conquer replaces the tutorial and Grand Campaign and instead provides the player with a choice of six campaigns. There are the Early, High and Late Era campaigns that are based on the Grand Campaign map from the Medieval II: Total War and start in 1080, 1210 and 1320 respectively. There are also three regional campaigns based on the Hundred Years War, Italian City States and Reconquista, each with their own unique maps focusing on different parts of Europe.
  
And also whilst it uses the Kingdoms.exe, it does not modify the Kingdoms campaigns, the mod just uses the .exes to bring over more features to the mod as it has it's own campaigns.
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While it uses the [[Kingdoms]] .exe, it does not modify the Kingdoms campaign.
  
Find previews of the mod here:
 
[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=122505 link]
 
 
==Features==
 
==Features==
The big feature in Lands to Conquer is of course it's campaigns. It gets rid of the tutorial and Grand Campaigns from Medieval II: Total War, and instead replaces them with 6 others.
 
 
The Early, High and Late Era campaigns based on the Grand Campaign map from Medieval II: Total War are copied from the system in the original Medieval Total War. These provide campaigns starting in 1080, 1210 and 1320 respectively.
 
 
There are also The Hundred Years War, Italian City States and Reconquista campaigns featuring blown up parts of the Grand Campaign map. These regional campaigns feature more focused and diverse gameplay, and each one plays out differently and so compliment the campaigns based on the Grand Campaign map.
 
 
 
===The Campaigns===
 
===The Campaigns===
* Early, Late and High Era campaigns set on the Grand Campaign map. All start at different dates: Early 1080, High 1210, Late 1321. The factions in each campaign have different territories, different alliances and wars at the start. Settlement names also vary from Era to Era.
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In terms of campaigns, the modification features Early, High and Late Era campaigns that are based on the original Grand Campaign map. They each have separate starting dates, starting in 1080, 1210 and 1321 respectively. The starting conditions differ in each campaign according to the historical state of Europe at each point, with different starting territories, alliances and initial military entanglements for each Era. Settlement names also vary from Era to Era.
* Hundred Years War (1337 - 1450) : map featuring England, France and Scotland on an enlarged map focusing on that area. In this campaign it's all about war, and the gameplay of the campaign will be quite fast paced and a challenge to complete on Very Hard. There is little use for diplomacy in this campaign as all the factions hate each other. Finances are also quite tight. So you should have only a few stacks going around fighting battles and assaulting castles because of your low finances, and they will be assaulting probably because you'll be a bit pushed to meet the victory conditions near the end. The campaign is just 75 turns long to take 20 provinces. But it works well, and you can as always play beyond the end date. This campaign will be especially tough as the English, and easiest as the French.
 
* Reconquista (1146 - 1280) : Has Spain, Moors and Portugal on a blown up map of Spain. This campaign will last longer than the HYW campaign, and you'll have to take fewer provinces so will be slower paced. But there will be more emphasis on religion. With the increased effect of religious unrest in LTC, and this campaign focusing on the wars between the Christians and Moors in Iberia, use of priests/imans to convert the populations in provinces could be key to victory, otherwise the religious unrest could seriously hamper you. The 3 factions in it also have very similar fighting styles with good skirmishing light infantry and cavalry and a core of heavy cavalry and infantry. Once again with the factions not getting on very well with one another diplomacy will not be much use.
 
* Italian City States (1280 - 1450) : Venice, Milan, HRE, Sicily, Hungary and Papal States(unplayable) fight it out on an enlarged Italy map. The campaign with the most factions and least provinces, it is also the longest. There will be a clear cut superpower at the start, the HRE, but they will be disliked by the Pope so won't have things all their way. The smaller nations(Venice, Milan, Hungary) will be too weak at first to take on the HRE so getting in the Popes good books and using diplomacy well will help them towards victory. In the south Sicily will be large but weak, and will have to pass through Papal lands if it marches up mainland Italy. There will be more emphasis on city troops as those are the Italian factions specialities, and on diplomacy at first and conquest later.
 
 
 
===Battle Map===
 
* Improved ai coupled with a completely redone unit balance results in more challenging battles, and battles that feel more like the ones in the original Medieval: Total War.
 
* Terrain and weather also play more importance in battles.
 
* Boiling oil.
 
 
 
===Campaign AI===
 
* Stronger alliances, and allies which help each other more. This results in alliance blocs forming which also change over the course of the game.
 
* More logical changes to faction standings. So you and the AI will no longer always end up terrible and untrustworthy.
 
* More logical diplomacy, so it is now a more useful tool in the campaign.
 
* Rarer Catholic - Islamic alliances.
 
* Better AI sense of survivability. AI factions are more likely to want peace/vassal if being beaten/beaten badly.
 
* Better AI garrisoning settlements, and use of forces to guard it's borders.
 
* More aggressive AI v Independent Factions(eg the rebels from vanilla), so the AI expands much better early on and so the AI can create powerful nations.
 
* Better AI invasions. It will now build up more before attacking, and attack with more stacks, and stacks which have more units in them.
 
* Catholic factions less likely to attack each other, but still plenty of wars going on to give that Total War and Medieval experience.
 
 
 
=== Campaign Map ===
 
* Campaign is 1.5 years per turn and so is longer than normal M2TW, and population growth, income and building times/costs have been changed in line with this.
 
* Increased effect of religious unrest, corruption and other factors mean that religion is more important and taking care of your characters.
 
* The difference between cities and castles has been more emphasised by increasing the number of recruitment slots in castles and free upkeep slots in cities, making cities make more money but buildings in cities more expensive, and troop producing buildings in castles are cheaper.
 
* Guilds have been chaged so there is more variety in the Guilds you get offered, and the bonuses they give.
 
* Fight more diversly named independent factions who replace the rebels.[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=113894 link]
 
* More historical province names to add more depth to the map.
 
* Teutonic order family system implemented for Holy Roman Empire and Venice.
 
* Forts which can have 2 units free of upkeep and cost more but are not permanent.
 
* New event messages when a faction gets a new leader.
 
 
 
===Graphics===
 
* 37 new loading screens, a new splash screen and menu background.
 
* New faction selection maps and radar maps all campaigns.
 
* Castle models from Britannia campaign added for Catholic and Orthodox factions.
 
* Interface from Crusades campaign given to Muslim factions.
 
* Menu text brightened a bit to make it stand out more on the new background.
 
* Several new grass textures from Kingdoms added to mod.
 
* Flags no longer bounce when unit selected.
 
  
== Credits==
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The modification also features three regional campaigns:
Taken from mod installer.
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* Hundred Years War (1337 - 1450) campaign which focuses on England, France and Scotland. The player must, in order to win, hold 20 provinces and is allowed 75 turns to do so. This campaign is designed to be fast-paced and challenging.
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* Reconquista (1146 - 1280) campaign focusing on Spain and the warfare involved between Europeans and the Moors. This campaign is designed with a greater emphasis on religion and longer time-frame in mind. It features the factions of Spain, Portugal and the Moors.
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* Italian City States (1280 - 1450) campaign focuses on Italy featuring the factions of Venice, Milane, the Holy Roman Empire, Sicily, Hungary and the Papal States. It is designed to be the longest campaign, with the Holy Roman Empire being the clear superpower at the beginning of the campaign.
  
A big thanks to the following modders who helped with the mod:
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===AI===
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The artificial intelligence in Lands to Conquer has been greatly improved on both the battle map and campaign map. Units have been rebalanced in order to make battles more challenging. Terrain and weather also plays a greater role in strategy.
  
* Wilddog - for making all the maps for me, a truly amazing mapper.
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The campaign AI has been improved and balanced as well. Alliances are now stronger, more functional and more mutually beneficial and the AI factions have a better sense of survivability in terms of diplomacy and surrender. The faction standings mechanic has been changed so that the player is not reduced to always being seen as 'untrustworthy' by other factions. Alliances between Catholic and Islamic factions are now rarer, with religion having a greater impact on unrest.
* Jason Turnbull aka Palamedes - for his great help with unit rebalancing.
 
* Unspoken Crusader - for use of parts of his Custom Campaigns and Retrofit mods.
 
* Garnier - with his help providing info from Medieval Total War.
 
* CavalryCmdr - from Total War Heaven for his excellent campaign AI info thread.
 
* alpaca - for his help with my scripting questions.
 
* joerd9 - for help with some historical info.
 
* lawngnome - for helping with the edits to unit recruitment and settlement mechanics.
 
  
A big thanks to DrJambo, Klink, Quark, delra and others who helped me to improve the mod with their suggestions and discussions.
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In terms of strategy, the AI in Lands to Conquer has a better grasp of defending its territory using garrisons and forts. It also handles invasions better than the vanilla AI. AI factions will also be more aggressive against the independent factions, leading to quicker expansion on the part of the AI factions.
  
Another big thanks to the fans of the mod who through their feedback helped me to constantly refine the mod to make it the best it can be.
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===Campaign Map===
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The campaign map operates on a 1.5 years per turn basis, with all recruitment times, building times and other factors adjusted accordingly. The effects of religion and corruption have been greatly increased, such that they become more important factors in campaign strategy.
  
Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the historical info.
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The difference between cities and castles has been emphasised, with recruitment slots, upkeep and building costs being balanced to achieve this.
  
And of course huge credit to The Creative Assembly for making the Total War series.
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The campaign map also features more historically accurate province names.
  
 
==External Links==
 
==External Links==
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[https://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=302 Lands to Conquer Forum at TWC]
  
[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=302 Lands to Conquer at TWC]
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[https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=137614 Release Thread for Lands to Conquer Gold]
  
  
[[Category:TWC_Hosted_Modifications]]
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[[Category:M2TW Mods (Released)]]
[[Category:Medieval 2: Total War Modifications (Released)]]
 

Latest revision as of 06:55, 15 February 2020

Lands to Conquer
Platform Medieval II: Total War
Mod Type Campaign Pack and AI Ungrade
EraMedieval
Mod Leader Lusted
Release Status Lands to Conquer Gold
Forum / Thread Here


Overview

Lands to Conquer is a modification for Medieval II: Total War that focuses mainly on improving and balancing gameplay.

The modification utilises features from Kingdoms: boiling oil, controllable reinforcements and unit balances are all included in Lands to Conquer. The modification also takes advantage of several new possibilities that are able to be modified in the expansion. It also features improved campaign and battle AI.

Lands to Conquer replaces the tutorial and Grand Campaign and instead provides the player with a choice of six campaigns. There are the Early, High and Late Era campaigns that are based on the Grand Campaign map from the Medieval II: Total War and start in 1080, 1210 and 1320 respectively. There are also three regional campaigns based on the Hundred Years War, Italian City States and Reconquista, each with their own unique maps focusing on different parts of Europe.

While it uses the Kingdoms .exe, it does not modify the Kingdoms campaign.

Features

The Campaigns

In terms of campaigns, the modification features Early, High and Late Era campaigns that are based on the original Grand Campaign map. They each have separate starting dates, starting in 1080, 1210 and 1321 respectively. The starting conditions differ in each campaign according to the historical state of Europe at each point, with different starting territories, alliances and initial military entanglements for each Era. Settlement names also vary from Era to Era.

The modification also features three regional campaigns:

  • Hundred Years War (1337 - 1450) campaign which focuses on England, France and Scotland. The player must, in order to win, hold 20 provinces and is allowed 75 turns to do so. This campaign is designed to be fast-paced and challenging.
  • Reconquista (1146 - 1280) campaign focusing on Spain and the warfare involved between Europeans and the Moors. This campaign is designed with a greater emphasis on religion and longer time-frame in mind. It features the factions of Spain, Portugal and the Moors.
  • Italian City States (1280 - 1450) campaign focuses on Italy featuring the factions of Venice, Milane, the Holy Roman Empire, Sicily, Hungary and the Papal States. It is designed to be the longest campaign, with the Holy Roman Empire being the clear superpower at the beginning of the campaign.

AI

The artificial intelligence in Lands to Conquer has been greatly improved on both the battle map and campaign map. Units have been rebalanced in order to make battles more challenging. Terrain and weather also plays a greater role in strategy.

The campaign AI has been improved and balanced as well. Alliances are now stronger, more functional and more mutually beneficial and the AI factions have a better sense of survivability in terms of diplomacy and surrender. The faction standings mechanic has been changed so that the player is not reduced to always being seen as 'untrustworthy' by other factions. Alliances between Catholic and Islamic factions are now rarer, with religion having a greater impact on unrest.

In terms of strategy, the AI in Lands to Conquer has a better grasp of defending its territory using garrisons and forts. It also handles invasions better than the vanilla AI. AI factions will also be more aggressive against the independent factions, leading to quicker expansion on the part of the AI factions.

Campaign Map

The campaign map operates on a 1.5 years per turn basis, with all recruitment times, building times and other factors adjusted accordingly. The effects of religion and corruption have been greatly increased, such that they become more important factors in campaign strategy.

The difference between cities and castles has been emphasised, with recruitment slots, upkeep and building costs being balanced to achieve this.

The campaign map also features more historically accurate province names.

External Links

Lands to Conquer Forum at TWC

Release Thread for Lands to Conquer Gold