Hi there!

I thought I would like to leave some feedback about how the mod plays out for me, and sadly, I have to say, it's disappointing (not avoid saying infuriating) in almost every regard. I have now played the Electorate of Trier, Toulouse and the Crusader States (going on crusade every campaign because it's an iconic event to me, and I wanted to experience it like back in M:TW2.):

- Campaign map:

The gameplay is incredibly slow, and most of the time you spend just waiting turn for turn, until you are able to do something. Wanna attack the next settlement? Wait until religious unrest is quelled enough so you don't immediately have a rebellion once you leave town. Want to build up an army? Wait several turns to recruit a single unit and then wait a few more for the next one. Want to develop your cities further? In only 47 turns you will have the research ready to build the next level of your sanitation building and avoid having your town drown in ♥♥♥♥ and people who died of the plague. Building a research increasing building? Needs research, and also comes with negative modifiers which require more buildings to be built to keep up order in your citiy. Also because of the long waiting times and two turns being a year already characters die left and right without ever having done something meaningful really, at rank 2-4. Getting a high rank character? Forget it!


- Battle:

Catapults have the same range like towers and archers. It completely leads the idea of artillery ad absurdum. Also unit balance is completely messed up. I don't know how often Saracen crossbowmen have bested two or three of my spearmen units in a row in melee. And on top of that they easily rake in 100-200 ranged kills. But don't fret, I have my own crossbow units! When they make 20 kills a battle on range I'd say that's a pretty good result for their average performance. Units rout and rally within a few seconds, even while being chased. A half dead bodyguard unit (like 7-10 men remainig) of a dead lord charged my cavalry unit while having -72 morale, killed like 8-9 men and only then decided the battle was over, because all other units were already fleeing, army losses penalty was active for like 1-2 minutes, but it was enough to wipe my own half dead cavalry unit which did not make it out of the battle alive.

It's a complete joke. It feels like the AI is getting hefty secret stat bonuses against the player during battle. I am seriously afraid sending in a half strength cavalry unit to charge a Muslim archer or crossbow unit, they will outright lose the fight in melee. Let alone some militia spearmen or something. If you want to kill archers in melee you need like dismounted knights at full strength or something.


I don't know, I really wanted to enjoy this mod, and I was following it for several years now. And now since the campaign map is finally available I am trying for a year now to enjoy it, but I can't, I just can't. I have thousands of hours in many other Total War titles, I know what I am doing, I am also knowledgeable enough in terms of medieval warfare in order to be able to judge how a fight between certain units should pan out. But in this mod I get my ass handed to me regularly, because my crossbowmen do ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ all battle long, while the enemy ranged units slaughter my own troops. And when I am not battling I am yawning at the campaign map, waiting to be able or allowed to do the next thing.

So far to me the mod is just pretty to look at, but a horror to play. 2/10. And I wanted so much to give it 10/10.