Das Heilige Römische Reich file

Author: Das Heilige Römische Reich Team

Das Heilige Römische Reich - Version 0.7

for Medieval 2: Total War - Kingdoms 1.4 / 1.5 (recommended)

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1) Introduction

Welcome to Das Heilige Römische Reich! Take control of one of the numerous lordships of the Holy Roman Empire and fight for the ultimate double goal of both becoming Emperor and establishing the Holy Roman Empire as Europe's hegemonial power. This will be no easy task, as you have to weaken your inner and outer imperial rivals while still trying to maintain good relationships with them, especially the mighty Elector Counts. Often diplomacy will achieve what swords can not. Open rebellion against Imperial laws will result in suffering the 'Reichsacht' or Imperial ban and should be avoided, as your rivals will jump at the chance to attack you with the Emperor's consent gladly...
Or sit on the throne of one of the Germans' many rivals and stop their ambitions in their tracks...

This Mod for Medieval 2: Total War - Kingdoms focuses on a much more realistic representation of the Holy Roman Empire:
The vanilla HRE faction has been split and is now made up by the Duchys of Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, Franconia, Upper and Lower Lorraine and the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Burgundy. These lordships are ruled by hereditary dukes and the all important (and hereditary) Elector Counts, who alone are able to vote in imperial elections. These take place in addition to the vanilla papal elections and have been added via script, as well as the 'Reichsacht' or Imperial Ban feature. This one punishes inter-HRE agressors with the 'Acht' and allows other HRE factions to attack them. In addition, banned HRE members are not allowed to vote and will never become emperor. Other new features include: Antipopes, Imperial Tax, uprisings, Counter Kings & Civil Wars, awardable titles as in MTW1 and much more!
Prepare yourself for a medieval experience you never had before - becoming Emperor while mainting the Holy Roman Empire will not be an easy task!

General hints: The mod was created for difficulty settings VH/H+ and you should not attack any none-rebel faction before turn 6 or 7.

2) Features - also see THIS thread.

-) Map

- The new map focuses on Europe: America, the Middle East and large parts of Africa have been cut away. It's western border is Spain, it's eastern border the Georgian shore of the black sea.
- based on Spurius' BigMap with additions by Sb2ean (RPM 2.3 BM)
- starting positions:

-) Provinces

- 199 regions
-many new ones added all around Europe:
-Kherson (cumans)
-Seleukeia (rebel)
-Ancyra (turks)
-Philadelphia (rebel)
-Sinope (rebel)
-Amaseia (rebel)
-Dorylaeum (turks)
-Tarnovo (byzantine)
-Annaba (moors)
-Sivas (rebel)
-Bourges (france)
-Troyes (france)
-Perigueux (rebel)
-Salamanca (spain)
-Cadiz (moors)
-Brest-Litowsk (poland)
-Parma (rebel)
-Bari (rebel)
-Cambrai (rebel)

-) Factions

- 31 factions; all factions playable except Slaves and Mongols - 29 in total!
- 13 new factions: The Duchys of Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, Franconia, Upper and Lower Lorraine and the Kingdoms of Bohemia, Burgundy, Aragon (from Socal_Infidel's Pro Deo Et Rege) and Sweden, the Obotrite Confederacy and the Cumans

-) Script features

- Imperial Elections: HRE factions are able to elect the emperor now (in ADDITION to papal elections).
- 'Reichsacht' / Imperial Ban: HRE factions can't attack their neighbour duchy without just cause. If they do, they will be banned and the priority target of the other HRE factions.
- 'Reichssteuer' / Imperial Tax: The current Emperor gets paid a small tax by the other HRE members, as long as they are not losing money or are at war with him or under the Imperial Ban, of course!
- Antipopes: Excommunicated Emperors now have the option to make one of their cardinals a puppet antipope under imperial control. This will allow emperors to receive the crown even when excommunicated as well as providing him with a strong candidate for the next papal elections - and these may take place sooner than expected if the pope falls victim to an assassins blade by ill chance...
- Coronation Events: Human Emperors now need to travel to Rome to get crowned by the pope and receive the full benefits of being emperor. Excommunicated German Kings may no longer be crowned in their capital, but need either to 1) capture Rome and be crowned by an Antipope there or 2) go to Milan Province and receive the crown there by an Antipope, but that will only work if the King is allied with Milan.
- New diplomatic overview screen covering the HRE's internal affairs.
- AI money-script based on number of cities; AI dept money script; AI 'Last-Stand' money bonus script
- Rebels are now agressive and build things; pirate and brigand spawn rates have been reduced
- Counter-King / Imperial Civil War Feature added: The Emperor no longer gets banned, but if he isn't doing his job right, the opposition will set up a counter king and civil war will follow.
- Much more detail has been added to the process of defineing the quality of the Emperor's reign. Things like growing/shrinking HRE, excommunication, the construction of special buildings, etc... now all play a role.
- A message system that tells the Emperor if he is especially loved/hated has been introduced.
- In addition, you now see who is Counter King in the HRE's diplomatic overview screen.
- A garrison script has been added to the Obotrites' starting position. It is active as long as the majority of the Obotrites is pagan (AI only).
- AI controlled Obotrites will convert to catholicism automaticaly as soon as the majority of the population has been converted. Players have the option to remain pagan. New buildings and units will become available, but the 'pagan bonuses' will be lost.
- The scripts for rebellious regions have been updated so that the spawned rebel armies attack properly most of the time. They also don't always spawn randomly but are tied to special events.
- In addition, certain rebel provinces have got garrison scripts now (Mostly the 'rebellious provinces' mentioned above).
- The Obotrites now get a special moral boost in their home provinces as long as they are pagan. You'll most probably have to kill them to the last man to win any battles vs the Obotrites there.
- Title system added: Award titles as in good old MTW1. For an overview of the current titles, see this thread.
- Aging one year per turn script added.
- AI has been edited so that it can cope with special things like civil war, imperial ban, and the 'multi-faction-HRE'.
- 'Romzug' feature added: A newly elected German King may declare that he will travel to Rome to become Emperor. This will provide extra movement points for him and an extra tax. The Romzug is subject to a time limit and geographical limits - the Emperor may not leave the HRE's territory while on the Zug. His reputation will suffer significantly if he does or if he fails to get the crown before the time limit runs out.
- The Crown of Italy (aka Iron Crown of Lombardy): This is available in Milan for German Kings that control that province or if the owner is an allied HRE nation not subject to the Reichsacht. Also available for none-hre faction leaders that take Milan.
- 'Renewed oaths of allegiance' upon election of a new Emperor: All HRE factions not subject to the Reichsacht will be allied again.

-) General:

- Starting positions: changed for a better representation of 1080
- 1 turn per year; build times / settlement mechanics etc updated to match the new time scale; characters also age one year per turn
- lots of names have been changed to more historic ones.
- 'retrofitted': boiling oil and other 'Kingdoms' features are included.
- Some settlements change their name during the campaign now, dependent on their owner. e.g.: Lübeck is called Ludice as long as it is not under German control.
- New strat-map-models: All catholic kings use the 'generic northern king' model (from 'Kingdoms'). The Holy Roman Emperor is represented by a unique model of his own, thanks to Alletun.
- Faction leaders that become 'king' via an ancillary get the 'king' strat-map (and battle-) model, even if they are not normally a king (e.g. the Duke of Milan).
- Historic family trees for many of the factions.
- Lots of new historic events
- GrandViz's Ultimate AI 1.6 AI pack included.
- Full hotseat support - IMPORTANT: You need to play hotseat with console ACTIVATED. Otherwise lots of features won't work properly. It's not possible to use the console anyway, so you don't have to fear cheaters.
-Judaism added / Jewish Temple building added.
-Venice has been turned into an island; it's army has been reduced considerably.
-The titles of Elector Count have been re-allocated for a better mix of playability and historical accuracy. Now the Elector Counts are: The Dukes of Upper & Lower Lorraine, Franconia and Saxony and the King of Bohemia.
-Improved and more detailed era system added: 14 additional tech events added; ships and cities tied to era system.
-AOR (Area of Recuitment) system added: 26 AOR zones so far, including 3 'dynamic' AOR zones (Asia Minor/Greece; Spain; Slavic regions NE of germany) that even allow a shift of native populations. See the appropriate thread for more infos -> LINK.
-ZOC (Zone of Control) system added: 8 different administration/government types & their respective special building chains have been added. See the appropriate thread for more infos -> LINK.
-'Huge cities' are limited to certain regions now. Usually ones with lots of trade or very fertile regions.
-AI: Pope reworked, so he is not passive all the time any more.
-Mercenaries: reworked pools and rosters to include the new and correct 'Mercenary Knight Armour Progression' (Frankish Knights > Mercenary Knights > German Mercenary Knights; 6 different upgrades in total)

-) Graphics

- New event- and ancillary pics.
- New loading logo, menu style and layout and loading screens added.
- New skins, battle banners, etc... for all new factions
- New and unique battle skins for faction leaders, kings and emperors, most of them thanks to Musculus Maximus.
Future Plans
- the HRE script will be extended to allow the Emperor to control the HRE's foreign politics, and react to inner-HRE treats.
- double-elections, uprisings and civil wars will be implemented
- unique victory conditions for the new factions
- continued improvement of HRE battle skins
- unique unit roster for certain HRE factions (especially for Lower Lorraine, Burgundy and Bohemia)
- improvement of the existing factions and better campaign balance
-Missing captain skins added.
-New heater shields for Saxony & Lower Lorraine, Austria, Bavaria, Upper Lorraine, Franconia, Swabia, Bohemia, Burgundy and the Obotrites.
-New skins for Burgundy.
-New faction selection buttons & slightly changed COAs.
-New banners for Bohemia (thanks to Methoz's Bohemia Medieval Mod).
-New Stratmap-models for the HRE factions (no more full plate models)
-New Battle-Map Captains & Named Generals for all 'western' nations
-New Battle-Map Faction Leaders and Heirs for all western factions: These are tied to the era system (dark age, early, high & late medieval) and to the status of your leader (Kings wear crowns for example).
-new icons & cards for all new ZOC buildings
-new UI-cards & info pics for all completely new units.
- and much more...

-) New Units

-The Kingdom of Burgundy has got a new unit roster.
-New units: Thuringian Archers, Lorrainian Infantry, Lorrainian Spearmen, Lorrainian Crossbowmen, Lowland Peasant Militia, Lowland Spear Militia, Goedendag Militia (these are all AOR units), German Polearm Warriors, German Knights, German War Servants (the last four are available for most of the HRE factions), Obotrite Bodyguard, Obotrite Axemen (surprisingly, these are Obotrite units), Baltic Crusader Sergeants (Mercenarys available for crusading armies in the Balticum), Faris, Cuman Nobles, new Cuman Horse Archers, new Turkish Horse Archers, Pecheneg Horse Archers, reworked Mailed and Feudal Knights & new Bodyguards for the western nations, new Granadine Lancers, Brabancon Spearmen & Crossbowmen, new Alamanoi Mercs, new Order Knights for all Orders, reskinned Spear Militias, new Late & Early Norman Knights for both Sicily & England, new Crusader Knights, Frankish Mercenary Knights, Mercenary Knights ...
-'Seljuk Nobles' added to the Turkish roster.
-'Seljuk Infantry' added to the Turkish roster.
-'Complete Byzantine Unit Roster' (CBUR) mod added.

-) Bugs hunted out

-Many of the units with wrong skin allocation have been fixed.
-Wrong Obotrite Bodyguard & Named Character Animations fixed.
-Some missing icons & skins have been fixed.

3) Installation

- Delete any previous version of 'Das Heilige Römische Reich' or 'The Empire: Total war'.
- Start the installer (point it to your Medieval II root directory. c:\program files\medieval II\ for example).
- To launch the mod, use the medieval2_HRR_07.bat located in Medieval II/mods/HRR_07, or use the desktop shortcut or start menu symbol (created automatically during installation). Steam users should use the launcher.
- To uninstall the mod, run 'Uninstall HRR.exe' located in your Medieval II root directory or by clicking 'uninstall HRR' in the mod's start menu entry.

4) Notes:

- This mod neither changes nor adds files in your original Medieval II folders. Therefore, it should run with other mods that don't change them without problems. If you have changed your original files, it is recommended that you reinstall M2TW before installing 'Das Heilige Römische Reich'.
- If you want to turn on battle banners, open 'medieval2.HRR_07.cfg' (in mods/HRR/), and change the following line from:
show_banners = 0
to
show_banners = 1

- Custom battles are disabled. This game mode is not supported nor will be. If you want to join our team as a member responsible for custom battles, contact us via our forum (address: see below)
- If you get CTDs when clicking other factions on the campaign map, delete the audio and event files in your mods/HRR_06/data/sounds/ folder (That shouldn't happen anymore, but I couldn't test it with all language versions). This might also help if you are experiencing general sound problems.
- The mod's core timeframe is 1080-1300. While we have included most units up to 1525, they are only balanced until ~1400. Maybe we will fix this in the future.
Known issues:
- Repeated clicking on the faction symbols (~12+ times) in the campaign faction selection menu causes a CTD.
- From time to time you will notice corrupted UI icons. Please safe & reload when you are experiencing this. The cause of that bug is known and will be fixed for the final release.
- Sweden will be removed from the mod in future versions. That's why they often use other faction's skins, have missing icons, etc...
- The Cumans are very beta still.

5) Credits

The 'Das Heilige Römische Reich' v0.7 Team:

Zymran: researcher / tester

HannibalExMachina: 2D/3D artist; historian

Icefrisco: historian

DerDiskuswerfer: 2D/3D artist

Dimitri_Harkov: creator

former team members:

Rob_the_Celt: 2D artist
Nicolaswille: 2D artist
snoopy: advisor

Other contributers:

SirPaladin: Some faction symbols
JANOSIK007: gave permission on parts of the bohemia mini mod version alfa 1. Thanks to everyone on his team as well: Methoz, Meretrix, BuchVecny, the_mango55, M3rcury15, Sinuhet
sb2ean: gave permission to use his RPM2.3BM mod as basis. Thanks to everyone who helped him as well, especially Spurius for the map.
Sinuhet: Bohemian names
Alletun: norman king model
Tyre: armoured generals mod
Snipafist: campaign AI
GrandViz: UAI 1.6 AI pack. See his forum here.
Musculus Maximus: early general skins & other 2D art (COAs, strat map skins...)
Unspoken Knight: retrofit mod
GrnEyedDvl: barebones mod folder
Socal_Infidel: Aragon faction, permission on Swabian Swordsmen
Methoz: banners from his Bohemia Medieval mod
Falcom4ever: gave permission on his Khazar facion and judaism from his mod 'Falcom Total War'
DeZzErX: parts of his mod 'The Lion of Flanders' have been used.
Danova of the Ornamentum mod: Aragon's faction shield icon, as well as for the texture for the Swordsmen Militia.
Zogo (Pavel): Bohemian names V2; additional research on Bohemia
B.Ward: Modder's Resources
Complete Byzantine Unit Roster Project: Many thanks this great & friendly team: AnthoniusII, Tangro, The_Bulgar_Slayer, Nakharar, Pompeius Magnus, Ificratis,
Caesar Clivus, Stefaneke, Manuel Komnenos, Slash5, Byzantineklbanophori, EpicJon, Lord_Calidor and the contributers to their project: DisgruntledGoat, Whitewoulf, Laca, MADTAO, Burrek, yelowdogg23, Pacco, Leif_ericson, Ruchici team. See their forum HERE.
Argent Usher: XAI Real Horses mod
The Character Names Project: Many thanks to the team for permission on it. Unfortunatly I still have to include it into the mod...
And of course the one and only Boztorgai_Khan: More info on Ural-Altaic peoples (especially on the Cumans in my case) that can ever be put in a mod

Thanks to:

alpaca & tornnight: for their great modding tools & tutorials
alletun: for his superb tutorials
The TWC community: for lots of great mods, articles and tutorials
CA: for the Total War series - but better support would not hurt.
Averroës: Thanks to him I finally know how to change the faction accents.
Count of Flanders, Elite Ferret: for permanent constructive feedback and additional research.
Strelac & The Fuzz: Helped us in great need.

Shame on me if I forgot anyone here... Please PM me if that is the case!

Usage: Permission for personal use only.