Old Screenshots

[Khalid ibn Walid]

Basilica San Marco:







Italian Romanesque Church (c.1200).








Church interior:





Campanile:





Pillory:



[old:]





In-game, the shading is not quite right, so I have to fix it, but here is how it would be relatively speaking:






Canal inside entrance - beautiful detail, even that bridge in the distance!

Another Venetian canal

A side piazza

Piazza /quay by a canal

Piazza San Marco!
View of St. Mark's showing relative position of NPCs:



I made two types of Venetian banner, one simple (for propping around) and another ornate (more sacred & pompous)

Close-up view of the Doge's Palace (with simple Venetian banners)



Inside the palace (with ornate Venetian banner)




And that Four Way's Inn (sorry, Locanda del Quadrivio is just about the puuurtiest little forest inn.






The new trainer:



The new arena in Venice:



Dueling a German knight outside the walls of "Mantua"



Taken from the Taleworlds thread (many very old & no longer applicable)

Guelf war party from hell:



229 troops & 368 prisoners! How do you defeat this?

Old & Very old Screenshots

Noble factions:

With the troop constraint gone, the fair is a bit busier
The new altar is also a bit, um, busy (too busy?)
The noble factions of Modena -- Alberto Grasulfi vs. Rangone degli Aigoni
The Vimercati of Crema
...and the Maggi of Brescia
The Geremei of Bologna
Burgher captain invites you to beat up some Bolognese noblemen
Guess who? Who's your daddy?
And who's your daddy?
Ha! Bumblee-man (Gonzaga) will outlast you both!
I've got a feeling the Vistarini of will be particularly popular
....but the Colleoni and their x-rated armor win the day ( )

The Dukes

The man and his man - as Duke of Anjou with Marnid in Geremei gear
The armor of the Duke of Saxony
As Duke of Bavaria with Borcha as Orsini

Stemma of city factions:


Top Row: Della Torre, Visconti (Milan), Carrara, Camposampiero (Padua), Gonzaga, Bonnacolsi (Mantua), Vimercati*, Benzoni (Crema), Brusati*, Maggi* (Brescia)
Second Row: Scotti, Landi (Piacenza), Fogliani, Sessi (Reggio), Geremei, Lambertazzi (Bologna), Montemerli, Guidobono (Tortona), Maltraversi**, Vivaro** (Vicenza)
Third Row: Beccaria, Langosco (Pavia), Dovara**, Cavalcabo*(Cremona), Suardi, Colleoni (Bergamo), Vistarini*, Fissiraga* (Lodi), Della Scala, San Bonifacio (Verona), Correggio, Rossi (Parma), Grasulfi, Aigoni* (Modena), Tornielli, Cavallazzi* (Novara), Torelli*, Adelardi* (Ferrara), Rusconi, Vitani* (Como)

Stemma of dukes & others:



Top Row (Germans): Swabia, Franconia, Saxony, Bavaria, Carinthia, Austria, Goerz, Sponheim, imperial
Second Row (Papal): Papal, d'Hauteville, Sanseverino, di Capua*, Orsini, Colonna, Frangipani*, Conti, Caetani*, Anjou
Third Row (Wildcard): Friuli, Canossa, Malatesta, della Rovere, Montefeltro, Pio, Malvezzi, Pico della Mirandola, Prata, Busca*
Bottom row (New towns): Manfredi, Accarisi, Avogardi*, Tizzoni*, Guttuari, Solari, Castelli**, da Camino.

* - Uncertain. Should be double checked
** - Semi or totally invented/probably completely wrong

New armor for the Podesta of Crema

Here it is seen from behind (that monastic knight has similar armor)

Court scene Jonathan Andrews has provided the existing court cases & personaes; Nikitas contributed a few more.

Court of Crema in session - Yours truly (assisted by a learned giudice and one of the city's Consuls) prepares to hear the case of a major cleric, Padre Vettori v. a minor peasant, Titha Morelli
Decision goes against the priest
Another case: the captain Bottiglio Chiacchi presents his own argument against the valvassor Gondi Vaggio.

The verdicts & sentences in the cases will be used to tilt the internal balance of the cities between various parties.

The palio. I couldn't model the usual palio competition (horse race between contrade on the main city square), so I went with the next best thing, a 'palio' tournament fight between the armed companies of the contrade. Some palios in modern Italy: Palio di Ferrara, Palio di Asti, Palio di Siena, etc. My version:

Arms of the four contrade above the city square for the palio (from L to R: San Matteo (angel), San Marco (winged lion), San Luca (bull) and San Giovanni (eagle))
Avanti! Forza San Luca! - fighting for the contrada of San Luca against the contrada of San Matteo.
Trouble in Paradise? Romeo whallops Juliet

The lists Tournament between a random selection of high nobles and aspirants.

Master divulges the lists at the Lombard fair in Milan
Charging straight against the Constable Cappelletti of Milan & his squire.
Yours truly, Podesta of Cremona fighting the feudal magnate Tommasina di Biandrate
Me & my squire (Borcha) entangled with Biandrate and her squire.

Freemanship Freemanship is obtained by acquiring a house within the city walls and making a stiff lump-sum donation to a guild. There are four quarters ("contrada") available: San Matteo, San Marco, San Luca and San Giovanni. You will be drafted into the relevant armed company ("Compagnia") of that neighborhood.

Street brawls against rival contrade companies are fought through the winding city streets. Depiction of a street brawl between contrade companies in Medieval Bologna:



My version of a street brawl in Medieval Bologna between the armed company of San Marco and the company of San Giovanni.

Brawls against the noble syndicates ("consorteria") will be in the piazza underneath the syndicate's tower. These were typically erected by nobles to dominate a neighborhood and fend off attacks from rival families and burgher companies. A tower & piazza in Bergamo:



My version: Tower & piazza fight - Mounted retainers of a noble consorteria syndicate, defend their tower from the armed burghers of the Compagnia di San Marco.

As soon as you become a citizen, you will be courted by nobles to enlist with one of the various noble tower syndicates ("consorterie") and help them against their rivals.

The Election:

Consul introduces me before the City Council
Councillor drills me with tough questions
The moment of truth
Success! Yours truly is elected Podesta of Verona
Ghibelline herald calls for the acclamation

The Campaign:

My flunkey informs me of the Ban of Arms
Mayfield outside of Como
The Mayfield - the other counts are already there
Receiving instructions from the Constable of the Ghibelline League
And so it begins.
Armies of the lords of the Ghibelline League on campaign
As we approach the Guelf camp near Padua, the Guelf Count of Reggio rushes up and intercepts the Ghibelline Count of Como
Ghibelline infantry with their pavesi shields
The Guelf Count of Tortona goes after poor Borcha (hey! nobody treats my Borcha that way)
Yours truly (Lord of Verona) joins fellow Ghibelline Count da Strada of Parma against the perfidious Guelfs

Few more screenshots:

Yours truly as the Guelf Podesta of Piacenza
As Count of Crema, leading the Guelfs to victory
Yours truly, illegally wearing the armor of the Marquis of Pelavicini, pillories a Norman raider (won't be actually possible to acquire this (unless you strip it from the dead marquis); but I just think the Pelavicini horse is just purty.)
Your truly outfitted as Count of Padua, shortly after being elected.
The city barracks
At the Church of St. Homobonus in Cremona, chatting with the Bishop of Cremona
Lombard fair sets up outside Bologna
At the City Hall of Bologna, discussing business with the Bailiff and the Consul.
Helping Holy Brothers against the Saracen cavalry
Saracen footmen about to do something awful to a terrified sword sister (and me, ever the gallant, look on and do nothing)
The Papal Guard fending off my perfidious attack on a legation
The cardinal legate defends himself with a blunt weapon.
Yours truly, decked out in stolen Saracen gear, with the downed cardinal at my feet
At the March Fair, checking out foreign vendors and moneylenders.
The master of tournaments at the March Fair.
Negotiating destinations with a pilgrim.
Fierce Ezzelino - the legend himself and the horse he rode in on.
Imperial Commissioner Rainuld receives my homage and oath of fealty to the Emperor.
The Imperial Guard fights off my treacherous attack

[ingolifs]

Did you get my Venice scne file in your E-mail? I sent it out a couple of days ago and no word yet.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

ingolifs said:

Did you get my Venice scne file in your E-mail? I sent it out a couple of days ago and no word yet.

Indeed I did. Took a while to check it out as I was hunting down a bug. But.....it is MAGNIFICENT!

Screenshots:

Canal inside entrance
Another Venetian canal
A side piazza
Piazza /quay by a canal
Piazza San Marco!

Everything but the pigeons! THANKS!!!!

[ingolifs]

hey, glad you like it!

It was a bit of a job to get the illusion of endless water going, having to cover up all the bits of land and stuff. Passage_house_1 was used extensively in that map. I think the end result pretty good, considering the rustic nature of the standard town houses.

I might as well get to work on the other scenes.

[johnathanandrews]

Very nice job Ingolifs! Magnificent barely describes your efforts on Venice, which is another reason I'm glad you are helping with scenes.

[Questor]

Simply impressive.
Just a question: why the plate and mail suit?
Isn't it a bit of an anachronism, given the game spans just only as late as XIII century?

[ingolifs]

There is still a full plate armour in the game that shouldn't really be there.

[Questor]

Even coat of plates might be too modern, if mod revolves around 1176.
It looks good for surcoat over chain mail, but it might be downgraded a bit in effectiveness.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

We have podestas everywhere, so the central reference point would be a wee bit later. But then again, with outliers like Saracens & Magyars pushing it back, and the Duke of Anjou & some of the noble factions pushing it forwards, the range is pretty large. So long as I don't break the 1300 mark (too egregiously), I'm happy.

So, methinks coats-of-plates are not too outlandish since they emerged within range. Besides, ever since I banished black armor, some supertroopers, like the German knights, would be rather naked or indistinct without them.

The plate armor will likely go.

[Questor]

I'm quoting Osprey books here, so I'm not too sure they are hard fact, but...
Germans in early XIV c. wore surcoat armour not unlike coat of plates currently featured in-game.

I would really suggest teaming up with modellers and add bascinets: they would greatly enhance the suspension of disbelief.

While you might be tempted to leave the current black helm/bascinet helms, they actually are later, closer fitting, barbut helms.

...

I know you are not looking for hollow eye-candy, but you guys already did an impressive job with towns; it would be a waste to leave details behind.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

questor said:

I'm quoting Osprey books here, so I'm not too sure they are hard fact, but...
Germans in early XIV c. wore surcoat armour not unlike coat of plates currently featured in-game.

I would really suggest teaming up with modellers and add bascinets: they would greatly enhance the suspension of disbelief.

While you might be tempted to leave the current black helm/bascinet helms, they actually are later, closer fitting, barbut helms.

Black helm? Are you going by the screenshots? Those aren't accurate anymore.

My rule of thumb is that anything that existed pre-1300 can stay, so coats-of-plates definitely can. Besides, surcoated coats of plates puts the armors of the marquises, counts & dukes one notch above the surcoated hauberks of the regular nobility & freelance lords.

I've expelled all the black stuff (black armor, black greaves & black helm) and plate armor will likely go. There is no barbutte, but I am not uncomfortable leaving the open-faced bascinet there, even if it really comes close to the end of that period.

As for the exact timing of the game, like I said, it is not exact. Magyars & Saracens push it back, Angevins and many of the noble factions push it forward.

The political system is more narrow, even though still wide-ranging. The presence of consul-checked podestas everywhere suggest 1200-1220, but I will allow developments (marquisate tyranny & "captains of the people") which are mid & late 13th. So, roughly speaking, the politics range from 1200 to 1280. My mental reference point is 1210-1230.

Incidentally, the current piece of armor that most disturbs me, however, is not any piece of armor, but the ubiquitous leather jacket. That is quite discordant with period fashion for nobles.

[Questor]

No, I was going by vanilla M&B: if I recall well, black helm was actually shaped after italian XV c. sallet.
It could have been ok, until you posted 1225 as a reference point. A tad earlier than I thought.
Taking that into account, even bascinets might go.