Medieval 3 Q&A Part 1
Espionage
One of our goals for MEDIEVAL III is to 'put everything on the map'. Essentially avoid too many separate panels or full screen views - and instead use the campaign map to show you relevant information. With Three Kingdoms, I think there was a nice evolution made in terms of espionage in that it felt like you had a view/glimpse into the workings of other factions. It wasn't just about you sending your spies across the map - but instead the enemy faction was doing their thing, and you were able to peak behind the curtain and receive information from them. Building on top of this with more AI decision making exposed to you through espionage is the right way to take this - which is in line with what you are proposing.
Recruitment in 3K vs in M3
Three Kingdoms' recruitment system was quite a bold step at the time, and we appreciate some of the pain points that players felt with it, such as:
- • Quite severe recruitment restrictions depending on the General's archetype ("color")
- • The general was always forced to be part of the retinue and army
- • Some cases where the retinue was lost when the general died
Rest assured - we are not intending to bring back similar restrictions. I recommend checking here again where we explained our intentions a bit more (and why we believe it is an appropriate solution for MEDIEVAL III).
There will also be a bit more information coming soon (tm); we are currently collaborating with a historical consultant on unit design and will be sharing more details on units and recruitment in the upcoming weeks.
Q&A to Info
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1.Can you play the game past the end year? If you want to map paint will you still be able to?
We are not currently considering a fixed end date that would end your game. But there would be naturally a point where new content stops coming in, and the overall narrative progression through the game would have come to a conclusion. Map painting - as we have said before: This is a core part of the Total War fantasy, and it will still be possible in MEDIEVAL III. That being said, we don't see it as the default path through a campaign, and it may be harder than in previous games.
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2. How extensive is the technological ‘osmosis’ going to be?
We are thinking of a separation between Key Innovations (crucial ideas that can move across the map through osmosis or when being confronted with it in battle, for example), and Applications. Applications is "learning how to use an innovation", and will be more akin to research in previous Total War games. So for example, through trade, you may learn about the Key Innovation of the 'Spinning Wheel'. Now that you know of this idea, you can start "researching" your understanding of this idea (at Universities, for example), leading to tangible in-game boons like unlocking new buildings (Tailor Workshop), building upgrades (Pit Treadle Loom) or equipment upgrades (Padded Tunics).
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3. What source are you using for the Medieval material culture of the period?
We don't really have a 'single source', and it heavily depends on area/era/topic. One of our designers is currently researching the HRE roster, and he mentioned a couple of example sources he's currently looking at:
Goll, Matthias. Iron Documents: Interdisciplinary Studies on the Technology of late medieval European plate armour production between 1350 and 1500, 2014.
Nowakowski, Andrzej. Arms and Armour: In the Medieval Teutonic Order's State in Prussia, 1994.
Thordeman, Bengt. Armour from the Battle of Wisby 1361 Volume 1, 1939.
We don't really have a 'single source', and it heavily depends on area/era/topic. One of our designers is currently researching the HRE roster, and he mentioned a couple of example sources he's currently looking at: https://manuscriptminiatures.com/ -
4. Can a charge either stall/not follow through if it’s against an extremely cohesive unit? E.g. Pikemen or polearm units.
Yes, that's the idea. Something like "Loose Formation" would naturally make you more susceptible to charges, whereas a "Brace" action would do the opposite.
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5. (Regarding the regional retinue system) What about other regions and soldiers? E.g. Mamlukes and Ghulams.
I want to post a more comprehensive unit recruitment and roster thread soon. But until then: Mamluks would be a good example for a unit that is tied to culture. In some previous games (Rome 2), we had specific recruitment options tied to regions. In MEDIEVAL III, some recruitment options will be based on culture. The big difference is that culture can travel across the map. If you have a major influx of a culture in your realm (trade routes, diplomatic relations, border migration, events, etc.), then there would be a way for you to recruit units of that culture.
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6. How detailed will the region system be?
That's a bit broad to answer in this form. :)
I would say that we are not looking at increasing the number of resources or features that live on regions compared to games like Three Kingdoms. Instead, we want to make sure that the strategic depth is more prominent. Physicalizing population and wealth as "things in the world" is an awesome step for this, because it leads to so many ripple effects for you to exploit (or challenges to overcome). We want to bring regions to life more than in previous games, and give players more ways to customize and influence their regions. But also decrease the "tactical puzzles" that sometimes emerge in our games ("if I build this, I get more money, but also decrease public order, so I need to build this other thing first..."). -
7. How many unit types will each region have?
This is what I'll be laying out more comprehensively soon. Broadly speaking, what you can recruit in a region depends on: What is your local infrastructure (in the classic Total War sense; cavalry-focused regions need well-developed stables, etc.)? What faction are you playing as? What cultures are present? And what estates/population classes (and how many of them) are present?
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8. Can a lord/duchy/earldom rise in power and become a major faction in their own right? Can they become a new ruling house in your faction or strike out on their own?
Yes, powerful vassals within your faction gaining more autonomy and legitimacy to "outsource" themselves into a separate faction would be a classic progression for a powerful vassal (it could also go the other way around - integrating an external diplomatic vassal into the realm). The intention is that realms will have multiple dynasties - they represent the powerful families within a realm (or across realms). There can be new dynasties emerging as well (think as a consequence of something like Man of the Hour).
Religion
Our aim is to represent the religions of the time as authentically as possible, including both Christianity and Islam. With MEDIEVAL III, our goal is to push authenticity further than in some previous titles, and a deeper realization of the important religions of the time is key part of this. Needless to say, we are not favouring any particular religion. There are exciting gameplay opportunities and unique elements on either side, lots of storytelling and strategic decision making. Of course, our games are about conflict. But the beauty of games like Total War is in learning about the viewpoints and nuances on different sides of conflict, relive and replay them from these different viewpoints. Yes, history can be violent and cruel. But generally speaking, we see historical strategy games as ways to bring these periods to life, celebrate their contributions to human history, to learn from it, and to inspire us.
Feudal System
There were some discussions recently about how we would represent the Holy Roman Empire (see this thread here) in MEDIEVAL III - and in a sense, France is very similar, especially early on in the game. In the terms we used in the other thread: France may have more 'external vassals' early on, and then manages to 'centralize' more throughout the game, increasing the lands directly held by the crown, as well as making external vassals 'internal'. Like always with the feudal system, we absolutely want to capture the layers of governance (with all the gameplay implication that comes from it, such as military organization, politics, diplomacy, economy) - but do it in a Total War way. We have previously specifically talked about paying homage, and that we want to look into how this can work within Total War. The idea of a vassal (external or internal) belonging to you, but paying taxes to another realm could be really cool...
Replenish Troop
Replenishment removes a lot of logistical micromanagement and busywork. We don't currently intend to going back to a raw and pure "no replenishment system" like in Med 2, where you'd need to send individual units back to appropriate locations to replenish their ranks. At the same time, the modern approach of auto-replenishment - in combination with our balancing execution in past titles - has often taken logistics out of the equation entirely. It has led to a loop of: Fight army, capture settlement, replenish to full health, continue. We want to avoid this for MEDIEVAL III. So our current intention is:
- - Replenishment is possible, as a dedicated action/stance.
- - This action would generally consume military supplies and/or gold (cost and replenishment rate may depend on whether local region is owned/occupied/allied/hostile).
- - Army has reduced movement capability while replenishing.
- - No on-map travel of replenished forces (avoiding map clutter)
- - For regional levies, replenishment would still require the appropriate manpower being available in this specific region.
We definitely want to bring back the sense of a diminished army fighting for its survival, a sense of resource starvation if a war is not well prepared. Or perhaps a sense of whittling down an invading enemy with defence in depth. But without bringing back the micromanagement of older titles. We feel this creates a sweet spot and gives everyone the best of both worlds!