Dei Agminum - Developer Blog 05/11/2023 news

Hi I want to check in with everyone about the state of the mod as it has been quite a while since I’ve released any updates. I know last time I said I was going to work on releasing the latest iteration of the mod which will now feature a working Ayyubid faction, but I have decided to delay this release.

The main reason for this is that I want to pack in another Muslim faction into this release. The faction in question is the Zengid Atabegs. I have elected to do this because they share almost 50% of the same units as the Ayyubids, so developing them would be rather quick and will make the latest campaign much richer. They will inhabit the domains of northern Syria and Northern Iraq. They were the fiercest opponents of the Crusaders before the emergence of the Ayyubids and Mamluks. Their greatest leader Imad ad-Din Zenghi captured Edessa and forced the Crusaders to give up attacking Damascus during the Second Crusade and the later Nur-ad Din (the master of Saladin) forced the Crusaders to give up their hopes of capturing Egypt by taking over the dying Fatimids.

I’ve already started porting over units from the Ayyubids to the Zengids. The only real work I have been doing within this process is retexturing these units.

I am porting over the following unit types:

-Ahdath Militia (complete)

-Bedouins (complete)

-Turkic Auxiliaries (complete)

-Syrian Regular Troops (WIP)

-Thaqlah Troops (WIP)

New Unit Types to develop for the Zengids:

-Turkic Nobles

-Senior Ghulams

-Junior Ghulams

-Tawashi Cavalry

-Daylamite Auxiliaries

In terms of other updates:

-Ayyubid flags and icons updated. These visuals have been mostly ported over from Broken Crescent so credit to the BC team; I have created some of my own icons as well.

-I have been working on mercenaries for the campaign map. The goal with this release is to have two mercenaries each available for the Crusaders and Muslim factions. Obviously this pool of mercenaries will expand as I get more time to work on such units. So far the Muslims have Mutatawwi’a religious volunteers and the Crusaders have Mercenary Latin Knights.

-Improved textures for the Ayyubid Thaqlah units as they looked a bit “cloney” and generic. Added a bit of color to them.

-All Crusader knightly units now can upgrade their armor on the campaign map to reinforced mail once the final blacksmith is built. This upgrade will produce a new texture and model for these knights. Their surcoats will feature plate reinforcement and they will wear greaves, pauldrons and elbow armor. Partial plate will not be available yet, even though I’ve created most of the models for these knights. I am working on upgrades for Muslim elite troops as well, such as replacing leather lamellar with metal lamellar. I want to have these upgrades completed for the next release as well.

-Complete overhaul of the campaign music tracks. With new scores curated by me to enhance the ambiance. Muslims and Crusaders will have their own soundtracks.

-Complete overhaul of Islamic and Crusader building models, ported over from Broken Crescent. Credit to the original creators of these models.

-Rebel variants of existing Crusader and Muslim units have been textured and are now occupying rebel settlements in Egypt, the Levant and Syria. These units will also spawn in these areas as rebels/brigands.