Roar of Conquest: The Late Middle Ages IV Changelog and Release news

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Detailed description of the changes made in Roar of Conquest: The Late Middle Ages IV update.

Posted by Lord_Vinciullo on Oct 30th, 2021

Greetings! I am happy to announce that Roar of Conquest: The Late Middle Ages IV is now live! This article will be covering all the changes and updates that this version brings to the table from the last version. If you want more information on how this mod overhauls Stainless Steel 6.4, feel free to check out the other articles on the mod page. Now, on to the update!

The Team Expands!

I am happy to announce that the modding team for Roar of Conquest is now a party of two! Mekkermann has just recently joined the team, and has been invaluable ever since he joined! He has been able to figure out how to fix a whole host of bugs and crashes, which you will see in just a moment, as well as providing new ideas and suggestion for the mod. Welcome to the team, Mekkermann!

Bug and Crash Fixes

This release has come with a whole slew of bug fixes. Thanks to Mekkermann, many bugs and crashes have been fixed for version IV, so the mod is now far more stable than it was before. Here is a list of what has been fixed:

1) Fixed bug which caused the Minimap on the campaign map to have an "Error" on it's left side.

2) Fixed bug which caused the game to crash due to a coding error for the Teutonic Order's leader script.

3) Fixed bug which caused the game to crash due to the mod file name being too long; from now on, the file will always be an acronym to reduce the number of potential crashes.

4) Fixed bug which caused message saying the players Cardinals were now the anti-pope even when their faction was not excommunicated.

5) Fixed bug which decreased global standing with all other faction in the campaign over time, even when neutral or allied. Now, when you choose to occupy a city or castle instead of sacking or exterminating the population, it will now positively increase your relations with all friendly and neutral factions.

6) Fixed graphical bug for the Mourtatoi; now they will appear on the battle map with the proper textures instead of the silver surfer look.

7) Removed Permanent Arrows from battles; this change will help improve performance on the battle map, especially ones with many archers and crossbows present.

Replenishment Script

Latin Empire Title Picture

The brainchild of Mekkermann, he created a script that allows the replenishment, (NOT recruitment), of castle units in Large and Huge Cities. This change now makes it easier for you, (and the AI) to maintain your elite units at peak combat strength as you march across the campaign map, and makes Large and Huge Cities even more valuable in the campaign. Even if a Large/Huge city is not a major money-maker, it can now serve as a staging and replenishment ground for your campaigns.

Crusader Target Changes

After some discussion, Mekkermann and I decided to remove certain cities as valid Crusade targets in the European theater. The idea was that these targets only affected a certain few factions, (mainly the Holy Roman Empire), and led to these factions being nuked by their neighbors because everyone declared war on them. The campaign testing we did with these changes proved very satisfactory, so they have remained. The locations are as follows:

Frankfurt, Paris, Toulouse, and Silves are no longer Crusade targets.

Artillery Campaign Movement Change

culverin

Do you enjoy big explosions? Does tearing down enemy walls with cannons fill you with childish glee? Does it sadden you when bringing artillery in your armies significantly reduces your campaign movement? Well, be sad no more! Thanks to the kindness of the Divide and Conquer mod team in sharing their knowledge, artillery will no longer reduce your campaign movement range for your armies! They will now have the same movement range as infantry, making the inclusion of big guns in your armies no longer such a burden. Enjoy your explosive fun!

The Return of the Timurids

Timur

Timur has returned to Roar of Conquest, and boy is he ready to conquer! The Timurids are no longer spawned into the campaign by event, but start on the campaign map with two territories under their direct control and 4 full stack armies ready to conquer the world. For those of you who feel that amount is too little, rest assured; in every campaign that I play-tested, they always kicked serious butt and made the Mongols and the Kwarezmians very sad neighbors. They start with the regions of Kerman and Yazd under their control. All hail Timur the Lame, conqueror born!

Settlement Ownership Changes and Upgrades

With this update has come quite a few changes to settlement ownership and the starting level of settlements, mostly focused on the Eastern theater with the return of the Timurids. The specifics of these changes are as follows:

Kerman has been upgraded to a Fortress, (now belongs to the Timurids)
Yazd has been upgraded to a Large City, (now belongs to the Timurids)
Urgerch has been upgraded to a Large City, (Mongols)
Khiva has been upgraded to a City, (now belongs to the Mongols)
Konjikala has been upgraded to a Fortress, (now belongs to the Mongols)
Bulgar has been upgraded to a Fortress, (Cumans)
Kazan has been upgraded to a City, (Cumans)
Jaiksk has been upgraded to a Castle, (Cumans)
Embi has been upgraded to a Castle, (Cumans)
Yelabuga has been upgraded to a Castle, (Cumans)
Isfahan, (now belongs of the Kwarezmian Empire)
Ahvaz, (now belongs of the Kwarezmian Empire)
Basra, (now belongs of the Kwarezmian Empire)
Al-Muminiya, (now belongs of the Kwarezmian Empire)
Sharjah, (now belongs of the Kwarezmian Empire)
Baghdad, (now belongs to the Seljuk Sultanate)
York has been upgraded to a City, (Rebels)

Mongol and Cuman Khanate Starting Armies Changes

With the return of the Timurids, I have made some changes to the starting forces that the Mongols and Cumans get. Worth noting here, the Mongols, Timurids, Kwarezmian Empire, and Cuman Khanate all start at war with each other, (except the Cumans and the Kwarezmian Empire, who are at peace), making starting a campaign in the East hectic no matter who you play as. As such, the Mongols start off with 5 full stack armies, (which does not give them an advantage over the Timurids, believe me), and the quality of the Cumans starting armies have been improved, including the brand new unit they got this update, (more on that later). As such, none of these factions bulldoze the others in the first 30 turns of the campaign most of the time, making for a more interesting campaign map.

Reskinned Mercenary Units

Are your tired of bland, brown-and-gray mercenary units on the battlefield? Do you feel depressed when you hire a cool-sounding unit like Swiss Pikemen and then see them look ugly and bland on the battlemap? Well feel depressed no more! I have gone through and reused textures from various places in order to make the mercenaries more colorful on the battle map. While it is not as cool as completely brand-new, personally made textures, (something I can't do, sadly), I am quite pleased with the result, and I hope you guys enjoy it as well. I will admit, some of the mercenaries will look exactly like their non-merc counterparts, (such as the Mercenary German Knights), but since they are copies of each other anyway, I felt like it was a imperfection worth looking over instead of staying with the drab brown-and-grey textures. While I don't have pictures to show off all the changes, I do have one; the new look for the Swiss Halberdiers mercenaries:

swiss halberdiers info

In the future, I may do an article for all the mercenary units in the mod and provide pictures to show off their new appearance, but I won't do that for this article. The 30 units that have had their appearance changed are as follows:

Welsh Longbowmen
Catalans
Macemen
Sergeant Swordsmen
Mercenary Spearmen
Free Company Longbowmen
Free Company Men at Arms
Mercenary German Foot Knights
Prussian Spearmen
Hashashim Mercenaries
Swiss Armored Pikemen
Swiss Halberdiers
Swiss Pikemen
Flemish Pikemen
Mercenary Saracens
Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen
Mercenary Arquebusiers
Black Band Arquebusiers
Albanian Cavalry
Arbalesters
Serbian Hussars
Condottieri
Armenian Infantry
Armenian Cavalry
Mercenary German Knights
Mercenary Knights
Armenians of Cilicia
Serbain Knights
Longbowmen, (not mercs)
Galloglaich, (not mercs)

Mount Changes

Along with the changes to the appearance of some of the mercenaries, some units also got new mount changes. I made these changes to help make certain cavalry units feel more professional and impactful than they previously appeared. The units that received new mounts are as follows:

Lithuanian Bodyguard, (Lithuania)
Cuman Bodyguard, (Cumans)
Boyars, (Kiev, Novgorod, Bulgaria)
Heavy Boyars, (Kiev, Novgorod, Bulgaria)
Eastern European Bodyguard, (Kiev, Novgorod, Bulgaria)
Late Eastern European Bodyguard, (Kiev, Novgorod, Bulgaria)
Junior Druzhina, (Kiev, Novgorod, Bulgaria)
Broken Lances, (Sicily, Papal States, Genoa, Venice)

New Units

With this update comes 3 brand-new units to the mod! 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) Slav Militia (Tsardom of Bulgaria)

transilvanian peasants info

Unit Size: 150
Melee Attack: 6 (AP)
Charge: 4
Defense: 8 (Armor 3, Defense Skill 5, Shield 0)
Attributes: Free upkeep
Availability: Campaign start
Building Requirement: City Watch, (City)

A cheap but useful infantry, this unit replaces Halberd Militia in Bulgaria's roster. While not as sturdy as Halberd Militia, they hit harder and have better morale, and are very useful for dragging down armored infantry and knights.

2) Scots Home Guard (Scotland)

scots home guard

Unit Size: 150
Melee Attack: 6 (AP)
Charge: 4
Defense: 15 (Armor 6, Defense Skill 5, Shield 4)
Attributes: Free upkeep
Availability: Campaign start
Building Requirement: City Watch, (City)

A sturdy armor-piercing unit, these men replace Urban Spear Militia in Scotland's roster. These men provide much needed staying power in Scotland's front line, while remaining more than capable of dishing out damage themselves.

3) Kipchak Cavalry (Cuman Khanate)

kipchak cavalry info

Unit Size: 80
Missile Attack: 6
Melee Attack: 7 (AP)
Charge: 6
Defense: 16 (Armor 7, Defense Skill 5, Shield 4)
Attributes: Cantabrian Circle
Frighten Infantry and Cavalry
Availability: Campaign start
Building Requirement: Amir's Stables, (Fortress)

A deadly horse archer capable in melee combat, these warriors are capable of going toe-to-toe with the best that the Mongols and Timurids have to offer, and will prove critical to the Cuman's survival and growth as an empire.

Unit Changes

As with most updates, I have gone through and tweaked certain units stats that I felt would befit that unit's specific role in battle. While many of these changes were rather minor and not worth noting here, I am listing the more dramatic changes and tweaks that will impact gameplay substantially. 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) Spanish Arquebusiers (Leon and Castile, Portugal, Aragon)

musketeers 1