Hi guys!

I've been really busy over the past month working on this mod for Age of Charlemagne, it's not completed yet but it's pretty close and I'll have something to release on the workshop in February.

Like many I found the unit rosters in Charlemagne to be a little underwhelming, for starters they are quite small with some factions only having 15 land units in total. There was also very little progression as many units would be unlocked in the first couple of turns meaning that you would be using the same units from the beginning all the way to the end of your campaign, with only a few exceptions. This obviously effects the quality of the campaign, small rosters are boring and without any progression this problem becomes worse, since the units at turn 300 are the same as the ones at turn 10 there really isn't any reason to continue the campaign into the late game.

I aim to fix the Age of Charlemagne rosters with this mod. Unlike other unit mods I will not just be adding units, I'll be completely erasing the vanilla units and then completely replacing them with newly designed rosters. They will be quite large with just under 40 units per faction, don't worry about roster bloat though - the rosters will be teased out slowly with long upgrade trees so your recruitment menu will never be overwhelmed by redundant units.




Here are the main aims of the mod -

• Visual Variety: Units, obviously, will look different from each other but there will also be plenty of variety within each unit. This will be done using incredibly complex unit variants with several times more items of clothing and armour than any vanilla variants.
  
• Technological Upgrades: Most units will be upgraded with technologies. Some units will have long chains of 4 or even 5 units while other secondary units will upgrade once. This ensures that the unit roster progresses throughout the entirety of the campaign while cutting down on roster bloat.
  
• Slow Progression: Units will upgrade but not in leaps and bounds, when a unit upgrades it will be a relatively minor change. Their stats will be improved, and so will their variant, but the new unit will be similar to the unit it has upgraded from. This means that progression is gradual and believable as your units will go up step by step rather than suddenly transforming into a new unit as they have in previous games.
  
• Varied Unit Roles: There will be no duplicate units in this mod, all unit chains will have their own use and separate role on the battlefield. This means you will have to pick your units carefully and tailor your armies to whatever enemy they will face.

I've designed a formula for making the new rosters. It's difficult to explain but the gist of it is that there are 5 unit 'categories' which make up each of the rosters.

General Units: These are the general bodyguards. They are powerful and made up of the units most associated with the faction (for example knights for the Franks or swordsmen for Mercia). Like in past games they will not be recruitable and are tied to generals. They will upgrade twice during the campaign.

Levy Units: These are basic units which are recruitable from town buildings. At the beginning of the game they will be pretty weak but they will be cheap and cost effective. Later in the game the levy units will be upgraded to become more organised militia units. They will be lightweight but strong for their price, making them ideal for reserve armies or garrisons.

Primary Units: These will be the rank and file of each faction and the units you will use most often. They will for the most part be the units most commonly associated with the faction (for example the Avars have lancers, horse archers and foot archers as their primary units). They will have long upgrade chains with each upgrading 4 times.

Ancillary Units: These are side units, units that would have been present in the faction's armies historically but would not have been a main feature. They will only upgrade once.

Elite Units: These units are the best of the best. They don't upgrade at all and are unlocked with the final military technology. Elite units will be far stronger than any regular units but will be limited in number.




It's pretty important that this mod is released before warhammer comes out, and it will be (at least in part).

• This mod will release in early March and expand all 8 major factions (and minor factions that share the same rosters).
  
• In early April a Slavic faction, an Irish faction and the theme of Sicily will be made playable through this mod and will have their rosters expanded (again, a long with minor factions that share those rosters).
  
• Later April the remaining minor factions will be expanded (Breton, Welsh, Pict and some others). At this point the mod will be considered complete.
  Later I may add in an area of recruitment system but no promises!

If you want to see more then check out the preview threads, there are tons and tons of screenshots, videos and other previews! Click, click, click.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?707913-Charlemagne-Expanded-Unit-Roster-Overhaul-(work-in-progress)

https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/167696/charlemagne-expanded-unit-roster-overhaul-work-in-progress#latest