Crusade Improvement Mod

[andersonm]

Crusade Improvement Mod

Download Early Alpha 0.1 Here

I am beginning work on a Crusade Improvement Mod.

Highest Priority: First Crusade bookmark/scenario with army setups, war declarations and personal events (mainly historical) for each of the main characters:

Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse
Hugh I, Count of Vermandois
Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Bohemond I, Count of Taranto
Robert Curthorse, Duke of Normandy
Baldwin of Boulogne

I am working on the coding now and should have a very early alpha up by tonight or tomorrow.

The mod will also focus on general improvements and more flavor for Crusades as vanilla is a bit bland at the moment. I'll flesh out the description of my intentions for this mod once I've got some coding work done. If you have any ideas for events please let me know and I will code them if they are a good fit! I am open to adding one or two more main characters if there is a request for them, but do not plan on modelling all the 20 or so lords that were actually involved...

 

[unmerged(418323)]

Will this also include functions such as requesting the pope for a crusade or perhaps asking non-allied christian rulers to help as well? It would also be cool if when a crusade is declared the chances of the Muslim world declaring a Jihad skyrockets.

 

[andersonm]

Will this also include functions such as requesting the pope for a crusade or perhaps asking non-allied christian rulers to help as well? It would also be cool if when a crusade is declared the chances of the Muslim world declaring a Jihad skyrockets.

Yes, these are definitely the types of things I'll be adding in... I'm gonna get the First Crusade setup done first but I really want the Crusade system in general to be much more expansive/exciting...

BTW, I am adding in Baldwin of Boulogne as a main character as well because he's necessary for Edessa being formed historically and he ended up being King of Jerusalem later...

 

[Joel M Bridge]

Could there be event once Kingdom Jerusalem is made, you get even bewteen choice to be call Defender of Holy Sepulchre or king. Denfender would Tilitar title, that could stay or go Godfrey if make king title self him mass piety boost alow discount piety use for pope and let vassal holy order alot easier, but hurt prestige become it humble title if Godfrey does not have child the title will die with him. Defender will be king but as primary title once you pick it.

 

[andersonm]

Could there be event once Kingdom Jerusalem is made, you get even bewteen choice to be call Defender of Holy Sepulchre or king. Denfender would Tilitar title, that could stay or go Godfrey if make king title self him mass piety boost alow discount piety use for pope and let vassal holy order alot easier, but hurt prestige become it humble title if Godfrey does not have child the title will die with him. Defender will be king but as primary title once you pick it.

I'll definitely have something regarding the whole Raymond vs Godfrey situation where if you are playing as Raymond you can choose to either take the title or not and get some massive prestige and piety by NOT taking the King of Jerusalem title... Godfrey in that case of course will gladly take the King title . Right now, I'm still working on just getting the mechanics of all these different nobles warring on multiple opponents at the same time... probably around the same annoyance level as actually getting them to work together in real life...

 

[Joel M Bridge]

I'll definitely have something regarding the whole Raymond vs Godfrey situation where if you are playing as Raymond you can choose to either take the title or not and get some massive prestige and piety by NOT taking the King of Jerusalem title... Godfrey in that case of course will gladly take the King title . Right now, I'm still working on just getting the mechanics of all these different nobles warring on multiple opponents at the same time... probably around the same annoyance level as actually getting them to work together in real life...

He does become defacto king but never take the title, so are expand on that as well?

 

[CSL_GG]

I've had a few event ideas kicking around since I started reading Jonathan Riley-Smith's "The Crusades: A History"

- Have an event(s) where Crusaders upon taking Jersalem/Antioch/Edessa recover important relics such as the True Cross. Christian rulers would often take these relics into battle with them in order to gain divine favor. In addition an event might be made where if a crusader losses a battle they would have to pay a ransom to get back a relic (for a loss of gold but a gain of piety and positive relations with other crusaders and vassals)

- If the player takes Jerusalem there should be a series of events regarding how the existing Orthodox establishment in the city is dealt with, especially vis-a-vis the Byzantine Emperor.

- During the period lords who went on crusades were guaranteed by the Popes that debt payments would be halted while they were on crusade. Event(s) could be made, hopefully, that if a lord is in debt when he takes the cross that his payment will be forestalled until he returns.

- Familial ties were often crucial for those who settled in the Holy Land, perhaps there should be events whereby members of the family that still reside in France, etc could send small amounts of money to help their kin in Palestine.

- Similarly it is noted by Riley-Smith that Christian rulers would often subsidize the cost of a number of knights or sergeants to help hold the Holy Land. If there were someway to give kings or dukes the ability to do this after they have gone on crusade it would be a nice touch. Perhaps it should be a decision like holding a feast whereby a ruler pays a set amount of money and then the size of a garrison in the holy land is increased by such and such an amount for a set period of time. In return there should be a piety and prestige bonus. Almost always this kind of thing was small scale though - we are talking about 100 knights/200 knights/300 sergeants, etc.

- If possible there should be events where after the Pope has called for a crusade for an important place - such as Jerusalem - that he makes a direct appeal to Christian rulers. The way I see it is if the Pope calls for a crusade to retake Jerusalem an event should pop up for the Holy Roman Emperor, the French and English kings, etc that asks them to go on crusade. If they agree they go to war with the target and receive a piety and prestige bonus. If they refuse they lose both of those. Relation hits and bonuses should also occur with randomized bishops and the Pope.

- Add in mercenary fleets so as to simulate the importance of Venice/Pisa/Genoa in regards to transporting the crusaders to the Holy Land.

- If possible events for armies marching overland and getting into trouble with the local population. It is well attested that the early crusades in particular ran into trouble in Hungary and in the Byzantine Empire as they didn't have a stable way of getting food and forage.

 

[andersonm]

CSL_GG: Wow, lots of great ideas that I will definitely incorporate!!!

I'm about to go hit up the casino for a few hours so I'm gonna upload what I've got so far which is in a VERY alpha but if people want to mess around with it they can... from the user standpoint it doesn't seem like much, visibly it's pretty much just a new First Crusade bookmark with army and war declarations for the main characters. It took me quite a while to figure out the Crusade mechanics so I could call one for Jerusalem on scenario start and to sort out some of the history files which actually were not completely accurate... Note that at this point the wars are holy wars not actually Crusades I'll fix that tomorrow.

 

[repent]

Dont forget Tancred d'Hauteville!

 

[unmerged(418323)]

Now I think of it... how about Crusader specific buildings? Hospitals and banks maybe? I'm thinking if you capture Jerusalem there could be an event to rebuild the Temple for the Jews, giving you a HUGE boost to levies but giving a chance to change the counties in the holy land to Judaism.

 

[fcmsaab]

Muslims already get rapped by Crusades. Please buff them!

 

[unmerged(418323)]

Muslims already get rapped by Crusades. Please buff them!

IMO its really really hard to judge the power of countries in this game. Sometimes the Muslims absolutely destroy the Iberian peninsula and gain half of France, and others they are destroyed themselves. For instance, in my current game the muslims are being absolutely conquered by the HRE, Ilkhanate, France, and me, Leon. I have almost taken over all of the Iberian Peninsula save for one or two counties and France owns all of the kingdom of Africa. Hungary owns the Holy land as well as the HRE. I get what you mean when you say Muslims are UP, but right now I think it would be best to implement the mod and then see how that affects the Muslim's power and then adjust them for balancing purposes. Right now its a little to unpredictable as to how powerful the Muslims will be, until we see some sort of patch or change that reduces the variance in counties' power from game to game it will always be hard to judge which country is to powerful and which one is to weak.

 

[Joel M Bridge]

Will see the defender of the Holy Sepulchre as title or trait?

 

[Tamerlan]

Did you manage to have the crusades called by the Pope ? Or did you implement some holy wars without the Pope having specifically called them ?

I think if I load the game in 1099, I don't see any active crusade on the religion screen (in the vanilla game).

EDIT : I see you have some AI decisions there, looks good.

Do you know if there is a trigger reacting to a start date ? I wonder if it would be possible to start a game with active historic crusades about to be called when you load the game (for instance if I load in 1098, or in 1187, one day later the crusade to Jerusalem is called etc). It would be even better if those were somehow written in the history files, but I don't know if that is possible :/ ...

 

[andersonm]

Did you manage to have the crusades called by the Pope ? Or did you implement some holy wars without the Pope having specifically called them ?

I think if I load the game in 1099, I don't see any active crusade on the religion screen (in the vanilla game).

EDIT : I see you have some AI decisions there, looks good.

Do you know if there is a trigger reacting to a start date ? I wonder if it would be possible to start a game with active historic crusades about to be called when you load the game (for instance if I load in 1098, or in 1187, one day later the crusade to Jerusalem is called etc). It would be even better if those were somehow written in the history files, but I don't know if that is possible :/ ...

Yeah so after some looking it doesn't seem to be able to have a Crusade called in the history unfortunately so what I'm gonna do is have an instant Crusade for Jerusalem called by the Pope (already implemented). Then I'll have all the main people latch onto the Crusade, plus have some other Holy Wars for Antioch, Tripoli, Edessa, etc. Should have an update up tonight... and as to everyone else suggestions I'm definitely liking the idea of new Crusader specific buildings so that will definitely be on the agenda. I'll also add in that Tancred fellow!

 

[CSL_GG]

So taking a peak around the crusader event files they have events for finding the spear of destiny/holy lance and the holy grail. It seems that we could basically copy/paste these with minor alterations to simulate the finding of the true cross or the crown of thorns. The current events give 100 and 200 prestige respectively for finding the spear and grail and finding these two relics should be worth more prestige (though obviously not a game breaking amount of prestige) It should probably cap out at 300 prestige. If an event can bestow a title to a character finding the true cross it should for instance say "Geoffrey guardian of the true cross" or something to that effect. Perhaps the other events should also be modded to that effect.

Next it would be nice if there were a random event whereby the holder of the true cross (we might assume the True Cross continues to reside with the Kings of Jerusalem as they did historically) may loss it if they lose a large battle with a Muslim army so as to simulate a Battle of Hattin kind of event though it should be a low percentage randomization that can only be triggered if the true cross is held by a ruler. It is well attested that medieval christian rulers would bring relics with them into battle so as to gain divine favor.

Keeping on the issue of relics it is well attested to in Jonathan Riley-Smith's book that the sale of relics was, if not common, an accepted practice for lords with financial issues to use. Quoting from his book (pp. 190-191):

"In 1238 Baldwin (II), badly in need of money and military support, raised with Louis (IX) the transfer to France from Constantinople of one of the best-known relics of Christ's Passion, the Crown of Thorns. All his life Louis was devoted to relics: he avidly collected them; he built churches to house them and made gifts of them to favoured institutions; his travels were punctuated by visits to shrines. His response to the offer from Baldwin was immediate. He sent a mission to Constantinople, which discovered on its arrival that the Crown of Thorns had been pledged to the Venetians. The mission negotiated the transfer of the pledge to Louis for 135,000 pounds (at ta time when the monarchy's annual budget was 250,000) On 11 August 1239 the king and his brothers met the reliquary at Villeneuve-l'Archevêque and carried if barefoot to Sens. Taken by boat to Vincennes, it was again borne by them into Paris where, after being exposed for the veneration of the citizens, it was transferred to the chapel of St. Nicholas in the royal palace.

Louis had already learned, probably from Baldwin, of the dispersal of other relics from Constantinople to Palestine, including a fragmetn of the True Cross which had been pledged to the Templars for a huge sum, and a phial of the Precious Blood. These were redeemed on his behalf and were brought to Parris in 1241. In less than three years the king had acquired a major part of the famous collection from the imperial treasury in Constantinople. It included relics relating to almost every stage of the final hours of Christ's life on earth and many others besides. It rivaled even the ancient treasures in Rome and its provenance was in thirteenth-century terms unassailable. One of several pieces of the True Cross, for example, was probably the famous fragment which had always been stored in the Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors and had helped make Constantinople the chief centre for distribution since the sixth century. Baldwin made the collection over to Louis absolutely in June 1247. To house it Louis had already begun to build the Sainte-Chapelle, which was completed within a decade."

In addition I'd like to point out how Louis treated the relics...

"It is probable that Louis had heard of the taking of the city (I think Riley-Smith refers to Constantinople and the fall of the Latin Empire in 1261 here) just before he fell into an illness so severe that it was said that at its height Blanche of Castile ordered the relics of the Passion to be brought for him to touch. It is remarkable how often these relics played a part in his crusade preparations thereafter. He timed the solemn tournée of his domain before departure on his first crusade so as to be present at the dedication of the Sainte-Chapelle on 25/6 April 1238. As late as June 1270, while in Aigues-Mortes preparing for his last crusade, he was making dispositions relating to the care of the relics in the Sainte-Chapelle. When he was planning that second crusade, John of Joinville, who was going to register a protest against it, found him in the Sainte-Chapelle. 'He had gone up to the platform here the relics were kept and was having the fragment of the True Cross taken down.' The relics answered to the needs of a man with an exaggerated, even histrionic, devotion to the cross which was so well known that Humbert of Romans referred in his advice to preachers to the 'king of France carrying the holy relics of the Crown [of Thorns] and the Cross of the Lord on his shoulders in his chapel'."

There is amble evidence right in these quotations to set up a good half dozen or more events relating to relics alone and I'll try and talk about what I think would work tomorrow. In addition if you have any questions relating to research/etc I'll be happy to help as I've still got access to JSTOR through my university.

 

[CSL_GG]

Finally one other small thing that I might forget if I don't type it out right now. A significant minority - perhaps even a majority - of those who took the Cross didn't actually go on crusade and perhaps there should be a custom trait for that (possibly just modify the default crusade trait image to be a red "sinful" crusade icon) for rulers that historically signed up for a crusade but then didn't actually go. I'm not sure if this is a trait that you could implement into the game normally however since players that declare was on a crusade target intend to actually go crusading and the AI won't ever not actually march on crusade when they declare war.

 

[unmerged(418323)]

CSL... are you majoring in Medieval history or have you already gotten your degree? Did you write that huge long post yourself or was it an excerpt? By god, I would buy a book from you if you actually wrote that.

 

[andersonm]

CSL... are you majoring in Medieval history or have you already gotten your degree? Did you write that huge long post yourself or was it an excerpt? By god, I would buy a book from you if you actually wrote that.

Yeah no doubt, its nice my mod already has a full time historian! But seriously I do want to improve the flavor and historical accuracy so will definitively implement as many as CSLs suggestions as I can... Still trying to get some event triggers worked out for the First Crusade but soon as that's done will go through his ideas heh.

 

[unmerged(418323)]

I've recently been pretty annoyed at the way holy orders currently work. Right now it costs piety to hire them. I don't like that because it seems strange to me that you asking a group of religious warriors to help you in your religious war would somehow reduce your faith in god. While i understand why it is the way it currently is i think it could be improved upon. First and foremost increase the minimum piety that is required to hire them. Don't make it cost piety, just increase the required prerequisites. Another requirement should be that you cannot be at war with a christian nation. As it is now you can be at war with another christian nation, but the holy orders won't help you. The wars that prevent you from hiring holy orders though should only be offensive ones, wars which other nations are the agressors shouldn't prevent one from hiring them. One other prerequisite. Should be that you have at the very least a +1 opinion with the pope and a +10 opinion with the grandmaster of the order. These might be to harsh or not harsh enough, but i'm just kind of brainstorming anyway.

(Typed this on my phone so it might be kind of hard to read... sorry about that.)