Greetings! I am happy to announce that Roar of Conquest: The Late Middle Ages VII is now live! This article will be covering the major changes that it brings to the table from the last version.
For those of you who are new to the mod, Roar of Conquest initially started as a submod of Stainless Steel 6.4. Now it now combines Stainless Steel 6.4 with Broken Crescent 2.4, and assets from various other mods, into one big mod! However, Roar of Conquest is not simply a merging of various mods into one; it also brings its own unique features and mechanics, such as replenishment of Castle units in Cities, an extensive rebalancing of unit stats, better balancing between all factions in the game, new factions and units, and more! So without further ado, on to the update!
Episode VII: Return of the Mongols!
As of this update, the Mongols have returned as a playable faction to Roar of Conquest! A while back, the Mongols were replaced by the Timurids as a playable faction, a decision that some people did not exactly enjoy. At the time, the reason I made this change was simple; the Mongols and Timurids had the exact same roster, except the Timurids could recruit Elephant units and the Mongols could not. It made no sense to have two factions with the same roster both be playable, so I choose Timurids over Mongols.
However, after bringing in Broken Crescent’s assets into the mod, we were able to overhaul the Timurid’s roster and make it unique and colorful, both in appearance and in demonstrating the cultural diversity of the historical Timur Empire. As such, we felt that we could do the same for the Mongols with the tools and assets we now had available.
After running a poll on the mod’s Discord channel, (which you can find here if you’re interested: ROC Discord), the community overwhelming voted in favor of getting rid of the Cuman Khanate and porting over territories and unit models from their faction over to the Mongols, so that is what we did! I know some people may be sad at the fact that the Cumans are now gone, but it was a decision made with community input.
The Mongols have not only returned as a playable faction; they now start as an established empire, with extensive territory under their control from game start, and they have an updated unit roster that is a mixture of Mongolian, Steppe, and Asian cultures combined. An article detailing their roster will be published here on ModDB on November 5, 2022. I hope people will enjoy playing as the new Mongols and continue the legacy of the great Khans!
New Faction: The Kingdom of Georgia
That’s right, there is a new faction on the block; the Kingdom of Georgia! After removing the Cumans from the mod, I felt that a new faction should take their place, and Georgia became that replacement. Boasting a balanced roster of strong cavalry, good infantry, and skilled archers, Georgia stands ready and defiant against all those that would seek to subjugate them! They also have the distinction of having the only horse archer bodyguard unit in the game.
At campaign start, they have the Mongols to their north, the Turks to the west, and the Persians to the south and east, making their game start a challenging one. For those of you who are veterans of Medieval II, this campaign should provide a new and reasonably challenging start to sink your teeth into. An article showing off the entire faction roster will be published here on ModDB on October 22, 2022, so stay tuned if you want a more in-depth description of their roster!
Timurids Rebalance
After the last update, it became pretty clear that even with all the new stuff the faction had received that the Timurids tended to struggle in the campaign, especially when controlled by the AI. As such, they have received several buffs in order to help them out:
- The King’s Purse, the amount of money the faction receives each turn as base income, was substantially increased.
- Three additional regions are now under their control at campaign start.
- Three new units have been added to their roster, adding a Persian influence to their culturally diverse roster.
Based on the beta testing, these buffs have helped the Timurids substantially when controlled by the AI, and helped make the player experience as the Timurids more enjoyable.
Islamic Factions Rebalance
When version VI of the mod released, many of the Islamic faction had their rosters completely rebuilt from the ground up, which of course was a good thing! However, after the update was released and I looked back on the rosters, I felt that there was a lack of diversity. Each faction looked different, of course, but it seemed they were all equally good at everything; it felt like no faction did anything better or worse in comparison to the other. To remedy this, I decided to give each faction a clear strength to do at least one thing better than their neighbors. The change summary is as follows:
- The Seljuk Sultanate has the best archers, both on foot and mounted, than the others. Their cavalry also tends to be better in melee and on the charge.
- The Ayyubid Sultanate has the best heavy infantry, both in armor and in melee prowess, than their competitors.
- The Kwarezmian Empire has the most heavily armored cavalry, making their cavalry the toughest of the bunch in comparison.
- The Almohad Caliphate is now the camel expert; all their camel units have been substantially buffed, making them genuine threats in battle.
For those of you who are curious about how the stats have exactly changed, I will be updating the existing roster articles to bring them up-to-date with the newest release over the next month or so; each article states which version of the mod it represents, so that will be your way to tell if it has been updated yet.
Jewish Diaspora Script
For those of you familiar with Medieval history, you will know that the Jewish people frequently moved from place to place all across Europe during the Middle Ages, seeking a peaceful place to live away from violent prejudice and discrimination. Scholars refer to this historical occurrence as the Jewish Diaspora. As of the latest update, the Diaspora is now a scripted part of the mod, thanks to Mekkerman!
The way the script works is that you will receive a message, much like you would for Guilds, asking if you would allow a Jewish community to be established in a city. The higher the public order of the city is, and the more chivalrous the city governor is, the more likely this event will occur, reflecting the desire of the Jewish people to find a hospitable place to live. If you accept, the community will provide substantial buffs to trade and the city’s income, but have a penalty to public order and religious fervor. You can also receive events asking you if you would like to expand the size of the Jewish community, which will provide greater bonuses to income and trade but have increased penalties to public order and religious fervor. This script is available to all factions in the mod, and serves as an acknowledgement to the unfortunate prejudice the Jewish people faced in the Middle Ages.
New Supply Depot Building
After the introduction of the replenishment script for Castle units was introduced, which was quite popular, quite a few people commented that it was unfortunate that late-game pike and gunpowder units did not have the same kind of script, especially since these units were so difficult to recruit in the first place. To remedy that problem, a new building was born: the Supply Depot!
This building becomes available after the Matchlock Developed event, (year 1420-1440), and is available to build for all factions in Cities. The Supply Depot will allow the player, (and the AI), to replenish their late-game pike and gunpowder units wherever this building is created. Now, you can march across the world with your pikemen and musketeers without worrying about not being able to replenish their ranks after battle! This change will hopefully encourage people to use these units more aggressively instead of being afraid to use them in combat.
New Units
Part of this update is the introduction of new units to the mod. While I will not be covering the new units for the Mongols or Georgia here, (since there will be articles for them later), I will cover the other new units that have joined the mod so you can see what is new! For reference, the unit sizes I will be listing here are when the game is put on 'ultra unit size', Secondary Melee Attack represents the secondary weapon cavalry units use after completing a charge, and the acronym AP stands for armor-piercing.
1) Ghazni Heavy Spearmen (Timurids)
- Unit Size: 200
- Melee Attack: 7
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 20 (Armor 10, Defense Skill 7, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Fortress
Elite heavy infantry, these men specialize in holding battle lines and eliminating enemy heavy cavalry.
2) Bulgarian Infantry (Tsardom of Bulgaria)
- Unit Size: 150
- Missile Attack: 11
- Melee Attack: 4
- Charge: 3
- Defense: 14 (Armor 5, Defense Skill 5, Shield 4)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: City Watch, (City)
These men act as sturdy medium infantry, useful for whittling down enemies with their javelins before charging into melee.
3) Bulgarian Guard (Tsardom of Bulgaria)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 10
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 19 (Armor 8, Defense Skill 7, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: New Era Event, (year 1300)
- Building Requirement: Militia Drill Square, (Large City)
These warriors act as elite heavy infantry, skilled at holding the line or charging into the enemy as the situation demands.
4) Mercenary Rus Cavalry (Mercenaries)
- Unit Size: 60
- Melee Attack: 7
- Charge: 8
- Secondary Melee Attack: 6 (AP)
- Defense: 15 (Armor 5, Defense Skill 6, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Poland, Prussia, Russia
Tough medium cavalry, good for supporting your infantry and chasing down routing enemies.
5) Mercenary Rus Swordsmen (Mercenaries)
- Unit Size: 120
- Melee Attack: 8
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 20 (Armor 7, Defense Skill 8, Shield 5)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Poland, Prussia, Russia
Strong heavy infantry, serving as capable attackers or defenders as needs be.
6) Cossack Mercenaries (Mercenaries)
- Unit Size: 150
- Missile Attack: 28 (AP)
- Melee Attack: 4
- Charge: 3
- Defense: 7 (Armor 1, Defense Skill 6, Shield 0)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Poland, Prussia, Russia
An excellent ranged unit, these men will deliver devastating volleys of shot downfield for the highest bidder.
7) Caravan Guard (Southern European)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 7
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 20 (Armor 8, Defense Skill 6, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Merchant's Guild, (City)
Accustomed to protecting merchants and their wares on the road, these guild-specific troops can sometimes be called upon in battle as experienced warriors.
9) Caravan Guard (Northern European)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 8 (AP)
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 16 (Armor 10, Defense Skill 6, Shield 0)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Merchant's Guild, (City)
Accustomed to protecting merchants and their wares on the road, these guild-specific troops can sometimes be called upon in battle as experienced warriors.
10) Caravan Guard (Eastern European)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 7 (AP)
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 17 (Armor 7, Defense Skill 6, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Merchant's Guild, (City)
Accustomed to protecting merchants and their wares on the road, these guild-specific troops can sometimes be called upon in battle as experienced warriors.
11) Caravan Guard (Middle Eastern)
- Unit Size: 150
- Missile Attack: 3
- Melee Attack: 4 (AP)
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 15 (Armor 6, Defense Skill 5, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Merchant's Guild, (City) or Caravan Stop, (City or Castle)
Accustomed to protecting merchants and their wares on the road, these guild-specific troops can sometimes be called upon in battle as experienced warriors.
12) Spanish Knights (Kingdom of Leon and Castile, Kingdom of Aragon)
- Unit Size: 60
- Melee Attack: 8
- Charge: 14
- Secondary Melee Attack: 12
- Defense: 19 (Armor 11, Defense Skill 5, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Half Plate Event, (year 1310-1330)
- Building Requirement: Fortress
An elite shock cavalry, this unit becomes more readily available later on in the campaign, replacing the Feudal Knights after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
13) Spanish Foot Knights (Kingdom of Leon and Castile, Kingdom of Aragon)
- Unit Size: 120
- Melee Attack: 10
- Charge: 5
- Defense: 21 (Armor 10, Defense Skill 8, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Half Plate Event, (year 1310-1330)
- Building Requirement: Citadel
An elite heavy infantry, this unit becomes more readily available later on in the campaign, replacing the Feudal Foot Knight after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
14) French Foot Chivalric Knights (Kingdom of France)
- Unit Size: 120
- Melee Attack: 10
- Charge: 5
- Defense: 22 (Armor 11, Defense Skill 8, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Half Plate Event, (year 1310-1330)
- Building Requirement: Citadel
An elite heavy infantry, this unit becomes more readily available later on in the campaign, replacing the Feudal Foot Knight after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
15) Norse Knights (Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Denmark)
- Unit Size: 60
- Melee Attack: 7
- Charge: 12
- Secondary Melee Attack: 12
- Defense: 20 (Armor 13, Defense Skill 4, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Half Plate Event, (year 1310-1330)
- Building Requirement: Fortress
An elite shock cavalry, this unit becomes more readily available later on in the campaign, replacing the Feudal Knights after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
16) Norse Foot Knights (Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Denmark)
- Unit Size: 120
- Melee Attack: 11
- Charge: 6
- Defense: 22 (Armor 11, Defense Skill 8, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Half Plate Event, (year 1310-1330)
- Building Requirement: Citadel
An elite heavy infantry, this unit becomes more readily available later on in the campaign, replacing the Feudal Foot Knight after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
17) English Footmen (Kingdom of England)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 5 (AP)
- Charge: 3
- Defense: 16 (Armor 5, Defense Skill 6, Shield 5)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: Drill Square, (Castle)
A sturdy infantry unit, these men are useful for clearing out enemy spearmen and archers, and are superior to most other infantry at their tier.
18) Foot Condoterri (Kingdom of Sicily)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 17 (AP)
- Charge: 6
- Defense: 19 (Armor 12, Defense Skill 7, Shield 0)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: New Era Event, (year 1300)
- Building Requirement: Barracks, (Fortress)
An excellent heavy infantry, these men will tear apart any foe that gets too close with their polearms.
19) Italian Noble Retinue (Republic of Venice, Republic of Genoa)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 14 (AP)
- Charge: 6
- Defense: 18 (Armor 11, Defense Skill 7, Shield 0)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400)
- Building Requirement: Castle
A powerful heavy infantry, these men are skilled at dealing with multiple opponents, and are especially suited at dealing with enemy armored cavalry.
20) Gothic Foot Knights (Holy Roman Empire)
- Unit Size: 120
- Melee Attack: 11 (AP)
- Charge: 4
- Defense: 26 (Armor 16, Defense Skill 7, Shield 3)
- Attributes: Free upkeep
- Availability: Gothic Armor Event, (year 1450-1460)
- Building Requirement: Fortress
Elite heavy infantry, these men can take enormous punishment with their heavy armor and dish out devastating attacks with their maces.
21) Monteros de Espinosa (Kingdom of Leon and Castile)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 20 (AP)
- Charge: 6
- Defense: 21 (Armor 13, Defense Skill 8, Shield 0)
- Attributes: None
- Availability: New Era Event, (year 1300)
- Building Requirement: City Hall, (Large City)
These deadly heavy infantry traditionally serve as the bodyguards of Castile's royalty, and as such are a force to be reckoned with in melee.
22) Varangian Veterans (Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Denmark)
- Unit Size: 150
- Melee Attack: 21 (AP)
- Charge: 4
- Secondary Melee Attack: 10 (AP)
- Defense: 24 (Armor 10, Defense Skill 10, Shield 4)
- Attributes: None
- Frighten Infantry
- Availability: Campaign start
- Building Requirement: City Hall, (Large City)
Having served as skilled mercenaries abroad, these men have now been called to war in their native lands, and are more than capable of answering it.
Faction Recruitment Changes
As you could tell, there have been quite a few new units added to the mod, which in turn required some changes to recruitment for certain factions. Also, other factions that did not receive new units had their recruitment updated in order to bring them up to par with their neighbors. These changes will be shown in the updated roster articles; however, in the meantime I will give a quick rundown of the major changes here:
- Kingdom of Sicily, Republic of Venice, Republic of Genoa, and the Papal States had their Sergeant Spearmen replaced with Pavise Spearmen.
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s more elite units, such as Lithuanian Regular Swordsmen, were made more readily available for recruitment.
- Kingdom of Aragon now receives access to better late-game knights through the Spanish Knights, both mounted and dismounted.
- Tsardom of Bulgaria now has more ready access to heavy melee infantry, both in pre-existing units and new units.
- Kingdom of England has more ready access to Heavy Swordsmen after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400), but more restricted access to King’s Men.
- Kingdom of Scotland can no longer recruit Feudal Knights after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
- Kingdom of Poland and Kingdom of Hungary can now recruit Hussars from the Baron’s Stables, (Fortress), after the Full Plate Event, (year 1380-1400).
- Kingdom of Hungary now has better access to decent infantry choices in the low-tier Castle Barracks line.
- Timurids now have units they can recruit through the Castle line.
New Unit Models
While not nearly as expansive as the last update, the latest version of the mod comes with its own fair share of new models for units. While some of them are for the base unit models, many of them are for when you upgrade unit’s armor. Here is an example:
Norse Axemen (Base Model):
Norse Axemen (Upgraded):
Here is a list of factions that had the most model changes:
- Kingdom of Norway
- Kingdom of Denmark
- Kingdom of England
- Kingdom of Scotland
- Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Tsardom of Bulgaria
- Mercenaries
- Kingdom of Poland
In particular, Bulgaria's changes helped them feel more like a unique faction in battle rather than a simple clone of Novgorod or Kiev. There are a couple other factions that had some changes as well, but those listed above had the most changes.
Settlement Changes and Upgrades
As with each update, there is a juggling of settlement ownership across the map, both for balance purposes and to bring new life to certain factions. The changes are as follows:
- Thessalonica: switched ownership from Rebels to Byzantine Empire
- Durazzo: switched ownership from Byzantine Empire to Rebels
- Kazan: switched ownership to Mongols
- Bulgar: switched ownership to Mongols
- Zelabuga: switched ownership to Mongols
- Jaiksk: switched ownership to Mongols
- Khlynov: switched ownership to Mongols
- Embi: switched ownership to Mongols
- Baghdad: switched ownership from Seljuk Sultanate to Kwarezmian Empire
- Tbilisi: switched ownership from Seljuk Sultanate to Kingdom of Georgia
- Trebizond: switched ownership from Rebels to Seljuk Sultanate
- Qarisiya: switched ownership from Rebels to Seljuk Sultanate, upgraded to Fortress
- Gorgan: switched ownership from Kwarezmian Empire to Timurids, upgraded to City
- Damghan: switched ownership from Kwarezmian Empire to Timurids
- Mashhad: switched ownership from Kwarezmian Empire to Timurids
- Kutaisi: switched ownership from Rebels to Kingdom of Georgia, upgraded to Large City
- Baku: switched ownership from Rebels to Kingdom of Georgia
- Yerevan: switched ownership from Seljuk Sultanate to Kingdom of Georgia, upgraded to City
- Amkara (Seljuk Sultanate): upgraded to City
- Milan: switched ownership from Rebels to Republic of Genoa
- Tabriz: switched ownership from Seljuk Sultanate to Rebels, upgraded to City
- Smyrna (Seljuk Sultanate): upgraded to City
- Rhodes: switched ownership from Republic of Venice to Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Bologna: switched ownership from Rebels to Republic of Venice
- Moscow (Republic of Novgorod): upgraded to City
- Medina: switched ownership from Rebels to Ayyubid Sultanate
- Nicaea (Seljuk Sultanate): upgraded to Large City
- Basra (Kwarezmian Empire): upgraded to City
- Al-Mu’miniya (Kwarezmian Empire): changed to Castle
- Azaq (Rebels): upgraded to City
- Tmutarakan: switched ownership from Rebels to Republic of Genoa, upgraded to Fortress
- Athens: switched ownership from Byzantine Empire to Kingdom of Aragon, upgraded to Large City
- Visby: switched ownership from Rebels to Kingdom of Norway
- Turku: switched ownership from Rebels to Kingdom of Norway
- Serdobinskaya: switched ownership from Rebels to Grand Duchy of Kiev
- Pereyaslav (Grand Duchy of Kiev): upgraded to City
- Murom (republic of Novgorod): upgraded to City
- Nykoeping (Rebels): upgraded to City
- Lund (Kingdom of Denmark): upgraded to City
- Thessalonica (Byzantine Empire): downgraded to City
Submods are Back!
When version VI of the mod was released, the submods that Mekkerman had brought to the mod were disabled due to all the coding that was outdated and incompatible with the update. Now, after much hard work on his part, the submods are now back and working with the mod!
There is also a new mod added to this update, also thanks to Mekkerman. After creating the Kingdom of Georgia, we found out that Medieval II has a hard-coded limit of 27 playable factions at a time, and now we had made 28 playable factions. Mekkerman thought of a solution: a submod that would allow you swap out between two factions, in this case the Teuntonic Order and Kingdom of Aragon, in order to make all the factions playable! For those of you who are confused or concerned with how it works, do not worry; installation instructions are included with all the submods in order to help you install them as you wish. By default without the submod, the Teutonic Order is the only faction not playable, so if you have no interest in the faction you don’t have to worry about it.
Various Other Updates
Along with everything else listed, a few other things worth noting have been changed with this update. They are as follows:
- UI fixes that were previously bugged for certain units and buildings.
- Mongols and Timurids can now build the Caravan building chain.
- Tsardom of Bulgaria’s campaign UI has been changed and made unique, thanks to Mekkerman!
- Tsardom of Bulgaria’s faction names have now been changed to be more historically accurate ones; a special thanks to Brank from Discord for helping to provide these names!
- The Castle Library building chain now provides health and public order bonuses, making it a more useful structure to build.
- The Byzantines Empire no longer start with the Imperial Barracks pre-built in Constantinople; having access to one of the best cavalry units in the mod from turn 1 was making the Byzantine absolutely tyrannical in the early game for its neighbors.
Note for Input
Quite a few people have shared their feedback about things that they would like to see added to the mod. While some of these requests are extravagant, most of them have been quite reasonable and flavorful suggestions for the mod. For those of you who have contacted me about certain changes and are disappointed that they are not in this update, rest assured; I’m not ignoring you, I simply haven’t gotten around to it, or it is something I do not have the skill to accomplish. Please remember, at the end of the day this mod is a hobby of mine, so while it is not perfect, I hope it will be something you guys can enjoy!
So there you have it, the changelog for Roar of Conquest: The Late Middle Ages VII! If you like what you have seen and would like to try out the mod for yourself, you can download it here: ROC: LMA VII I plan on updating the faction roster articles for all the changed factions, so keep your eyes open for that. Feel free to join the mod Discord as well; it's a great place to share you thoughts on the mod: ROC Discord Until then, go forth and conquer!
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