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  1. #1
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    Computer Simulation for Birthrighers

    Has anyone out in the BR community played the game "Mount &
    Blade"? I mention it for a few reasons.

    First, it`s a medieval combat simulator that, as the title intimates,
    uses mounted combat. As a simulation it illustrates nicely the
    power, utility and even the vulnerabilities of cavalry on the
    battlefield before gunpowder, and as such it becomes one of those
    rare computer games from which we "learn" a few things. Of course,
    we all know that cavalry is tough in combat, but a good simulation
    can show us how that actually works in a way that we could only
    approach through real life recreation--and it`s hard to find barding
    for a heavy warhorse nowadays.

    Second, there is a political level of play. Oh, it`s not much, but
    you can sign on with king and serve him as a vassal. They make a
    point of players not being able to BECOME king--which kind of
    bugs--and the interaction system is very simple, but it is surprisingly apt.

    Third, there is a pretty big mod community out there for the game,
    and apparently the mods are BIG. It`s not so much like other games
    in which the mod community does things like make a new shade of green
    for someone`s cloak. These guys make whole new worlds. I find the
    idea of "Mount & Blade: Birthright" very tantalizing....

    Gary

  2. #2
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    Well it a sad story.There is Birthright the Gorgon's alliance that is an "incomplete" but still very good game.Sierra forbidden the development of the game but IMHO Birthright PC game is better than the newer Shogun Total War:Sierra (that owned but not developed the game) made a big error.
    It has three section:
    Adventure:you use your regent and a max of three lieutnants for searching useful relics that improve your political or military strenght.
    Tactical:is in a "false" real time (the turns are made in real time) and you have squad.Is 3D,maybe the first RTT (yes,RTT because strategy is turned) in 3D.The downside is that you can field few squads and the max of the battle is 15 squads.
    Political:a very advanced political simulator.I seen other so advanced:if you like Romance of the three kingdoms you will like this.

    About moddability...well you can totally mod regents,you can mod the map (not the shape,but the province level,the realm expansion,the initial troop) but sadly you can't mod the army.


    Maybe you know already this,what I mean is that for evolve Birthright we need a more similar game to mod.If mount and blade has so few political I fear we can't do much...however if we convert Mount & Blade player in Birthright player is an excellent idea.
    Last edited by vota dc; 04-17-2009 at 10:56 PM.

  3. #3
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    I keep thinking that the best game for Birthright-like feel is Eve Online. Even if it's futuristic, the level of politics on that game are simply crazy.

    About mods, I'm following pretty closely Elemental - War on Magic:

    http://elementalgame.com/

    The ideas the developers are tossing around make me think this game could be a good candidate for a Birthright mod (and Stardock support to the modding community is amazing). But we won't have the beta until June (and the game doesn't ship until 2010).

    Regards,

    Vicente

  4. #4
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    I've played Medieval 2: Total War. Excellent game. You can manage your own battles or automatically resolve them, whether a field battle or castle (city) siege. The view of the battle is great (3D), troops can be managed to fit your desires, split them, join them, regroup them, use different modes of attack or defense (if they have the ability). When besieging, if you don't have any siege equipment with you, you can spend a turn or two to make them. Each city or castle has a number of turns it can hold out a siege. Before that they can decide to march out and meet you head on.

    Troops on the map are represented with a figure of a knight and you can see the strength of your troops before you engage in a conflict. It's good to have a leader in a group for morale and to rally the troops if they start fleeing from the battle. Their experience will grow and though outnumbered you may sometimes win a hard battle. Also with experience their movement is greater (they don't do shadow walk, )

    There are merchants that you position over certain sources and they establish trade routes, foreign merchants may challenge your merchant and take over his enterprise.
    Diplomats roam the land and negotiate. They may offer a peace treaty if you are at war, they may demand tribute or single payment, offer a province to you or request yours, trade rights, map information, etc. The royal marriages are a nice move to bring two kingdoms into alliance.
    Of course, alliances don't have to hold together forever.

    The game is generally played in Europe, with some parts of Africa and Asia (talking about the game map here).
    There is also the Pope and you are requested to stay in good relations with papal states. He may also demand from you to go to a crusade and fight "infidels". If you don't oblige his demands you may be excommunicated. There are catholic priests, orthodox priests, imams, witches and heretics. Priests are also like figures that can be moved across the map to preach and to 'fight' the heretics and witches. They gain exp, become more powerful (cardinals) and then may become the pope themselves. It's good to have friends in high places. The pope has inquisitors and if your leader is declared a heretic, he may be burned publicly.
    And yes, if the priest doesn't succeed in converting a heretic or denounce a witch, he may become heretic himself.

    Spies will reveal the map for you, discover what force you are facing whether on the field or in the city. They have a chance of opening the gates for you in case of siege, but you need to infiltrate they before you lay siege.

    Assassins do what we all know. You don't like this diplomat, foreign war leader or someone else? Get rid of them. Assassins may get caught and executed.

    With time, all the figures gain experience but also die so you have to train new ones and replace them.

    Cities and castles are automatically manageable or you can do it yourself. If you turn on automatic, you may choose a mode. It is wise to control the happiness or you people or they may start rioting. For cities or castles you get different buildings to choose, suitable for castle or city needs. It is advised to have equal amount of cities and castles. You may even convert a city to a castle or vice versa. The forces in the field need not be joined to fight together, they just need to stand in adjacent spaces to engage combat. Sea battles are always automatically resolved. You can see your trade routes and ports may be blockaded and stop trade to it. Blockading is done by a war navy. War ships can also transport troops and land them in any part of the land, doesn't have to be a port.

    Okay, this has gone long already and some of you may have played it also. This was for those that didn't.
    It kind of reminds me a lot of BR. Provinces, leaders, each faction has access to different troops with their strengths and weaknesses, also you may employ mercenaries (they are region characteristic). Map is the least problem, it is those BR specific tweaks to be build in. It doesn't have the adventure mode, but it would be nice for a young war leader, priest or rogue to go adventuring and let the AI play out the diplomatic roles. To combine this game with Icewind Dale and be able to put together a party of 6 and go fight awnsheglien....
    Rey M. - court wizard of Tuarhievel

  5. #5
    Hello, this is my first post for anyone that keeps track of this sort of thing. I felt the desire to coment, being as video gaming is a major hobby of mine.

    There is a practically ancient game ran using DOS called Lord of the Realm. Pretty cool IMO and an old precusor to the Total War games. It had a limited Real-Time combat system, and the levels of depth were pretty deep in most of the systems. They've also made 3 other sequals. Lords of the Realm 3 and Lords of Magic were made by Sierra. Both have also been around a while and could probably be found for cheep.

    Then of course there is always Heroes of Might and Magic. Classics in there own right. If what your looking for is massive strategy with a magical flair.

  6. #6
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    Unhappy

    I liked Gorgon's Alliance but doubt we'll ever see a BGAII.

    I've long dreamed of a new Birthright PC game and think that Medieval II Total War would likely be the closest match for modding. At least tactical battles wise. Still, it's diplomacy options are no where near as robust as they should be for a Birthright game.

    Well, a fan can dream at least.
    Sir Robin the Not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot,
    who had nearly fought the Dragon of Agnor,
    who had nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol,
    and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  7. #7
    Member SirRobin's Avatar
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    I should add that anyone who is looking for some battles with elfs and goblins should try the "Third Age: Total War" mod for "Kingdoms," Medieval II: Total War's expansion. Well, if you have those games that is.



    Sir Robin the Not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot,
    who had nearly fought the Dragon of Agnor,
    who had nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol,
    and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  8. #8
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    Pretty nice mod, thanks for sharing.

  9. #9
    Member SirRobin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vicente View Post
    Pretty nice mod, thanks for sharing.
    My pleasure, I think they did a pretty impressive job. They just hit 1.1 too so there is plenty of room for improvement. Hell, the Stainless Steel mod (love the CBUR submod for it) is up to version six, with Third Age being so popular I figure it will get to a fourth version at the least.
    Sir Robin the Not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot,
    who had nearly fought the Dragon of Agnor,
    who had nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol,
    and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  10. #10
    Moo! Are you happy now? Arjan's Avatar
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    Actually, with the coming of the new adobe suite CS4 i can finally do something that i have been wishing for the last 8 years.

    3d objects in flash!
    I have been fooling around with a map, and the results were very astonishing

    It is now very doable to create a webbased gorgons alliance game in php with a flash map.

    All i have to do is find the time for it to fulfill my dream
    Te audire non possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.

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