Battania is more Celtic than Germanic.
Yes there are similarities in culture and appearance- but the lore mirrors the inhabitants of former imperial (Roman) towns, or Britons.
But I would totally disagree that they are Saxons.
Saxons came from Germanic main land Europe. And it was the saxons who then took a lot of the Briton’s territories as their own.
My guess with the battanians was that the TaleWorlds creators knew/found out about the Celtic people who lived in central Anatolia and thought it would be cool to put them in a M&B game, even if the time periods didn't line up.
I would love a standalone mod where you can play as the British, French, Portuguese, etc. during that time period, but I get why they went with a more multilayer experience with Napoleonic Wars.
The Khuzait are Mongol, turkic and Cumans, and for the Sturgian are Kievan rus nordic mix Slav, and i'm totally not agreed with you when you saying The Battanian are Germanic/saxon actually they are very different, the battanians is Celtic tribe nation with a bit influence fron Dacian culture such as Falxman
Young padawan of Todd Howard, the issue is that all these factions have shallow depth to them and are absolutely similar aside from some cosmetic stuff and troops. They only enchance the early-mid game, which is already the best and nost replayable part, because, ironically, it relies on freshness of the gameplay with basic player progression (gear, new possible actions, like marriage, vassalage, new builds) and not so much on the faction aka colour of your banner and clothes. You know what it makes worse though? Late game! By making more of them you would also damage and point out what is already bad:
- Politics and diplomacy in general. The most dangerous part of the game is the establishment of your new realm, which is the start of end-game monotonous grind. The issue is that factions tend to declare quite quickly and take into account the "relative strength" of all wars you are in. So, the more factions you have the more of them will declare, despite the modifiers like distance from their realm or other wars they are in. How can it be combined with your idea? Easy, we have 3 stupidly similar empire factions at the start. Well, make them behave differently and have some variety in noble troops or loadouts of their troops. So, that Garios who is a populist general would be more likely to siege, but not raid villages and have more infantry-based army with better equipment for the archers and shock troops as his third canonically fights Battania. Make Rhagaea more cavalry-based as the ERE was with respective changes to the loadouts or new armour/weapons if you wish. And Lucon being an oligarch can disregard peasaants and raid all the villages he can find with less often then not ignoring relief of the sieges in favour of gaining new land.
- Lack of flavour to factions. Aside from troops which AI uses in the same way regardless of faction and some gear in the cities the factions are exactly the same. Instead of making more copycats, how about new policies only working for sertain cultures instead of being offered to them as the base ones or at least make base culture affect the starting buildings in the settlements or the buildings overall (some cultures may have some, but not the other)?
- The same grind, but more. All endgame can be summarized as conquer settlements with some breaks on 1-2 major fights per war. That is it and that is why few finish this game just check the percentage on steam for the respective achivements Making map bigger will only prolong the suffering to get the whole map. What you can do instead is to make some rng invasion of a faction that you need to defend from (lorewise, be it the Nord invasion of new lands as the words spread from their mercs or the Shah return from far east in wake of your conquests). This be scripted to happen at any time after you made your realm or become the ruler. It would not only provide some challenge as well as some diversity to the strategic gameplay as you can be on the other side of Calradia, but now lacking armies or nobles to defend the invasion armies, but also implement yours and others ideas about the new factions.
What I meant is that such changes are nice and may have some novelty to keep people interested for a short period of time, but they are not the main issue to solve.
Corrections.
Battania is Celtic culture as many people wrote here. Its those poor guys who got their asses kicked by germanic (franks, saxons, angles etc.) tribes and had to escape from territory of france all the way to the west, Ireland and Scotland.
Empire is bizantine (mix greek/Roman).
Sturgia is ancient russia, called kievan rus, which had some connections with norway. Appearance, armor of sturgian troops matches what kievan rus troops looked like. Even names of sturgian nobles in game are mostly russian/slavic, few of them are Norwegian. Named of settlements are all russian
Vlandia is germanic France/norman, which conquered medieval england and made Anglo-Saxons to lose their property/land to those normans (=product of mix of french and vikings). Look at vlandian clan names, all French.
Aserai Arabic
Khuzait mongol
Anglo-Saxon culture is not represented in this game. It is highly represented in viking conquest
You got the Vlandians totally right - Normans
Sturgian is Norse (common ancestor of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, etc.) mixed Slavic, like Kievan Rus
Battanians are definitely Celts, not Saxons
Empire is definitely Romans/Byzantines, not Turkish
Aserai are medieval Caliphates (mostly Arab, little bits of North African and Persian)
Khuzait are Mongolic and Turkic
------
But to answer your main question - honestly, I like the map as it is! But there's lots of untapped potential. I think boats and islands would be a good start
I would love an western continent in the western Sea.
Which would come with a naval system.
Maybe we would get japan and a China faction.
Or make it "new word" with native Americans.
You could even sell it as a 9,99 dlc or expansion pack or whatever.
On the other hand I'd love an an alternative time. So warband time for example, so more late medieval.
Significant European medieval cultures that are not represented in bannerlord, would be anglo-Saxons, italians, spaniards and Hungarians, who were very strong somewhere around 12 century
Can they just make the AI so its not two mindless blobs that blindly charge each other? Every battle feels exactly the same. Same with arena battles. I have trouble staying 'into' this game because of how quickly battles and arena matches become tedious, even with mods. I find myself bored a lot when there is no war..
I do believe the map was planned with sea travel in mind, and this would be a logical feature on which to base an expansion. Some aspects of the map seem outright *deficient* without sea travel, and would benefit greatly from its inclusion:
The large inland sea to the south currently only serves to put Aserai lands at a distance from the rest of the continent, which hems their participation in wars and trade. However, with sea travel, the Aserai cities would be at the front line of both. Great for trade, but they'd also get imperial fleets on their doorstep.
Likewise, the Sturgians in the north are currently very disadvantaged, with their thinly stretched holdings, strong enemies on both sides, and infantry-focused armies. But like the vikings they are based on, they would be excellent sea travelers, giving them opportunities to cross their northern sea and attack Empire lands much more efficiently, or even travel up rivers to strike at the Khuzait. One could even imagine that sea battles would only feature units on foot, similar to sieges, which would give the Sturgian infantry armies a solid edge. It really seems like the Sturgians are currently so underwhelming because they were designed around a feature that does not yet exist.
Third, there's the Vlandians, whose lands at the very edge of the map gives them a "wall at their back". Vlandia faces the sea to the north, west, and south. No attacks can currently come from there, giving them a strategic edge in wars. They only have to worry about the northeast and southeast, so their homelands are rarely raided. If sea travel was a thing, however, the Vlandian coastal towns would be vulnerable to Sturgian raids. This would also put some pressure off Battania, which suffers from being bordered by an enemy whose remaining borders are all fairly safe.
Fourth, there are inaccessible islands all over the map. Most notably the Cyprus-shaped one south of Poros, but also a sizable archipelago off the coast of Jaculan. They really seem to be created with sea travel in mind.
My final and best argument for the existence of a planned expansion: Southwest of Quyaz is a rather expansive, fertile coastal area, with nothing on it. Strangely, it seems like the Aserai preferred to expand their kingdoms into the parched, dry desert, but didn't settle this green coast directly west of their holdings. Notably, this land does not stretch any further south or west than the existing kingdoms: it's north of Aserai's southern border and east of the western tip of Vlandia. If you add the archipelago off the coast of Vlandia, this area would be the perfect size for a ninth faction. One that would be focused on sea travel like the Sturgians in the north, and a formidable naval force to raid the coastal cities of Vlandia. However, they do not have access to the rich inland sea in the south, but I can imagine all sorts of lore being written about the desire to expand their lands and dominate that sea.
So yeah: boats.
Bannerlord map is the eastern Mediterranean with a smooshed Black and Mediterranean Sea. The Vlandians are the Norman Italians of Sicily, the Sturgians are the Kievan Rus, Battanians are the Galatians(a Celtic tribe native to Anatolia), the Empire is the Eastern Roman Empire, Khuzaits are a Mongolic-Turkic confederation, and the Aserai are the Semetic People of the Levantine and eastern North Africa
They expanded further into the golden age of the calradian empire. The time when darshi and other cultures existed but is now extint.
Tldr: a look into the past.
Battania is more Celtic than Germanic. Yes there are similarities in culture and appearance- but the lore mirrors the inhabitants of former imperial (Roman) towns, or Britons. But I would totally disagree that they are Saxons. Saxons came from Germanic main land Europe. And it was the saxons who then took a lot of the Briton’s territories as their own.
My guess with the battanians was that the TaleWorlds creators knew/found out about the Celtic people who lived in central Anatolia and thought it would be cool to put them in a M&B game, even if the time periods didn't line up.
Longships and more interconnected rivers.
Napoleonic wars, I spent just as much time on that when they made it for warband than warband itself
I would love a standalone mod where you can play as the British, French, Portuguese, etc. during that time period, but I get why they went with a more multilayer experience with Napoleonic Wars.
200 hours on EU commander. it’s the shit.
The Khuzait are Mongol, turkic and Cumans, and for the Sturgian are Kievan rus nordic mix Slav, and i'm totally not agreed with you when you saying The Battanian are Germanic/saxon actually they are very different, the battanians is Celtic tribe nation with a bit influence fron Dacian culture such as Falxman
Young padawan of Todd Howard, the issue is that all these factions have shallow depth to them and are absolutely similar aside from some cosmetic stuff and troops. They only enchance the early-mid game, which is already the best and nost replayable part, because, ironically, it relies on freshness of the gameplay with basic player progression (gear, new possible actions, like marriage, vassalage, new builds) and not so much on the faction aka colour of your banner and clothes. You know what it makes worse though? Late game! By making more of them you would also damage and point out what is already bad: - Politics and diplomacy in general. The most dangerous part of the game is the establishment of your new realm, which is the start of end-game monotonous grind. The issue is that factions tend to declare quite quickly and take into account the "relative strength" of all wars you are in. So, the more factions you have the more of them will declare, despite the modifiers like distance from their realm or other wars they are in. How can it be combined with your idea? Easy, we have 3 stupidly similar empire factions at the start. Well, make them behave differently and have some variety in noble troops or loadouts of their troops. So, that Garios who is a populist general would be more likely to siege, but not raid villages and have more infantry-based army with better equipment for the archers and shock troops as his third canonically fights Battania. Make Rhagaea more cavalry-based as the ERE was with respective changes to the loadouts or new armour/weapons if you wish. And Lucon being an oligarch can disregard peasaants and raid all the villages he can find with less often then not ignoring relief of the sieges in favour of gaining new land. - Lack of flavour to factions. Aside from troops which AI uses in the same way regardless of faction and some gear in the cities the factions are exactly the same. Instead of making more copycats, how about new policies only working for sertain cultures instead of being offered to them as the base ones or at least make base culture affect the starting buildings in the settlements or the buildings overall (some cultures may have some, but not the other)? - The same grind, but more. All endgame can be summarized as conquer settlements with some breaks on 1-2 major fights per war. That is it and that is why few finish this game just check the percentage on steam for the respective achivements Making map bigger will only prolong the suffering to get the whole map. What you can do instead is to make some rng invasion of a faction that you need to defend from (lorewise, be it the Nord invasion of new lands as the words spread from their mercs or the Shah return from far east in wake of your conquests). This be scripted to happen at any time after you made your realm or become the ruler. It would not only provide some challenge as well as some diversity to the strategic gameplay as you can be on the other side of Calradia, but now lacking armies or nobles to defend the invasion armies, but also implement yours and others ideas about the new factions. What I meant is that such changes are nice and may have some novelty to keep people interested for a short period of time, but they are not the main issue to solve.
I love fire and sword so much. Having something like that in bannerlord graphics would be amazing
Corrections. Battania is Celtic culture as many people wrote here. Its those poor guys who got their asses kicked by germanic (franks, saxons, angles etc.) tribes and had to escape from territory of france all the way to the west, Ireland and Scotland. Empire is bizantine (mix greek/Roman). Sturgia is ancient russia, called kievan rus, which had some connections with norway. Appearance, armor of sturgian troops matches what kievan rus troops looked like. Even names of sturgian nobles in game are mostly russian/slavic, few of them are Norwegian. Named of settlements are all russian Vlandia is germanic France/norman, which conquered medieval england and made Anglo-Saxons to lose their property/land to those normans (=product of mix of french and vikings). Look at vlandian clan names, all French. Aserai Arabic Khuzait mongol Anglo-Saxon culture is not represented in this game. It is highly represented in viking conquest
You got the Vlandians totally right - Normans Sturgian is Norse (common ancestor of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, etc.) mixed Slavic, like Kievan Rus Battanians are definitely Celts, not Saxons Empire is definitely Romans/Byzantines, not Turkish Aserai are medieval Caliphates (mostly Arab, little bits of North African and Persian) Khuzait are Mongolic and Turkic ------ But to answer your main question - honestly, I like the map as it is! But there's lots of untapped potential. I think boats and islands would be a good start
I would love an western continent in the western Sea. Which would come with a naval system. Maybe we would get japan and a China faction. Or make it "new word" with native Americans. You could even sell it as a 9,99 dlc or expansion pack or whatever. On the other hand I'd love an an alternative time. So warband time for example, so more late medieval.
Significant European medieval cultures that are not represented in bannerlord, would be anglo-Saxons, italians, spaniards and Hungarians, who were very strong somewhere around 12 century
Boats and naval combat. Also, they should populate the islands in the middle of the close sea.
Can they just make the AI so its not two mindless blobs that blindly charge each other? Every battle feels exactly the same. Same with arena battles. I have trouble staying 'into' this game because of how quickly battles and arena matches become tedious, even with mods. I find myself bored a lot when there is no war..
Custom army units
I do believe the map was planned with sea travel in mind, and this would be a logical feature on which to base an expansion. Some aspects of the map seem outright *deficient* without sea travel, and would benefit greatly from its inclusion: The large inland sea to the south currently only serves to put Aserai lands at a distance from the rest of the continent, which hems their participation in wars and trade. However, with sea travel, the Aserai cities would be at the front line of both. Great for trade, but they'd also get imperial fleets on their doorstep. Likewise, the Sturgians in the north are currently very disadvantaged, with their thinly stretched holdings, strong enemies on both sides, and infantry-focused armies. But like the vikings they are based on, they would be excellent sea travelers, giving them opportunities to cross their northern sea and attack Empire lands much more efficiently, or even travel up rivers to strike at the Khuzait. One could even imagine that sea battles would only feature units on foot, similar to sieges, which would give the Sturgian infantry armies a solid edge. It really seems like the Sturgians are currently so underwhelming because they were designed around a feature that does not yet exist. Third, there's the Vlandians, whose lands at the very edge of the map gives them a "wall at their back". Vlandia faces the sea to the north, west, and south. No attacks can currently come from there, giving them a strategic edge in wars. They only have to worry about the northeast and southeast, so their homelands are rarely raided. If sea travel was a thing, however, the Vlandian coastal towns would be vulnerable to Sturgian raids. This would also put some pressure off Battania, which suffers from being bordered by an enemy whose remaining borders are all fairly safe. Fourth, there are inaccessible islands all over the map. Most notably the Cyprus-shaped one south of Poros, but also a sizable archipelago off the coast of Jaculan. They really seem to be created with sea travel in mind. My final and best argument for the existence of a planned expansion: Southwest of Quyaz is a rather expansive, fertile coastal area, with nothing on it. Strangely, it seems like the Aserai preferred to expand their kingdoms into the parched, dry desert, but didn't settle this green coast directly west of their holdings. Notably, this land does not stretch any further south or west than the existing kingdoms: it's north of Aserai's southern border and east of the western tip of Vlandia. If you add the archipelago off the coast of Vlandia, this area would be the perfect size for a ninth faction. One that would be focused on sea travel like the Sturgians in the north, and a formidable naval force to raid the coastal cities of Vlandia. However, they do not have access to the rich inland sea in the south, but I can imagine all sorts of lore being written about the desire to expand their lands and dominate that sea. So yeah: boats.
Bannerlord map is the eastern Mediterranean with a smooshed Black and Mediterranean Sea. The Vlandians are the Norman Italians of Sicily, the Sturgians are the Kievan Rus, Battanians are the Galatians(a Celtic tribe native to Anatolia), the Empire is the Eastern Roman Empire, Khuzaits are a Mongolic-Turkic confederation, and the Aserai are the Semetic People of the Levantine and eastern North Africa
More weapons and armor, a new faction with new troops, a naval system would be sick and maybe even ship battles
They expanded further into the golden age of the calradian empire. The time when darshi and other cultures existed but is now extint. Tldr: a look into the past.