Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword

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Frossa

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ItsFrossa

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About this mod

Changes the setting of the game to Germany, the Netherlands, and France in 1631. Adds religion, local politics in towns, marriages, and the ability for the player to join lords' armies as solitary soldiers. Dressing to impress is crucial in this world, as clothing matters considerably more. Many other changes and re-balancings.

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Changes the setting of Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword to Germany and parts of Western Europe in 1631, a pivotal year in the Thirty Years' War. The playable Factions are the Habsburg Monarchy, the Protestant League, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands. All Factions have unique troops, but some troops are shared between all Factions due to their ubiquity. Towns, Castles, and most Villages have been modified or redone entirely to match the setting. All Companions are new characters with new backstories. Goes without saying, but all Lords have also been changed to represent appropriate historical people.

(This is a singleplayer mod only, and there are no changes to multiplayer.)

The Thirty Years' War mod introduces a lot of limitations to what the player can do — much depends on your status, expressed either in Renown or the clothes and armour you choose to wear. Not all towns are necessarily welcoming of visiting adventurers, and not all Lords are willing to give you Quests right away.
This means that the early game can be quite an uphill battle, depending on your starting conditions. You can choose if you wish to start off as a merchant, noble, or perhaps just a poor vagrant. It is almost always possible to overcome these obstacles however, as you progress through the game.
If you have enough Strength, great opportunities for experience may be found in the army. Recruiters are found in Towns and Castles belonging to Factions that are at war, and have a Lord garrisoned.
It is also worth it to ask Lords for "special missions" for some other unique experiences. So far there are only a handful of special Quests made for this mod, but more are probably coming in the future.

FULL FEATURE LIST
Major new features:
  • You can become a soldier in a Lord's party, following it around and participating in battles to earn military ranks and easy experience.
  • You can buy a home in each Town on the map, where you can store items.
  • Towns have local policies that change dynamically depending on factors such as the personality of their ruler.
  • Towns have Criminality that affect Prosperity and various events in them. Criminality can be affected by policies, among other things.
  • You can become a politician in Town where you own a home, and are able to propose or repeal policies.
  • The player has to choose a religion when starting the game, and your choice affects how you interact with certain Lords and Towns.
  • You can marry noble ladies, in a system unique from the one in Warband. Marriage gives a Renown boost, depending on the Renown of the father of the bride.
  • You can get courted by and married to male nobles as a female player. You get a Renown boost depending on the Renown of the Lord you marry.
  • A tiered clothing mechanic. The type and quality of various hats, boots, armours, and clothing (or lack thereof) gives you an edge or a penalty in certain social situations (Commoners will also stare at you on the street if you're well dressed).
  • "First impressions" with Lords and Ladies based on how well-dressed you are. Plays considerably into the marriage system.
  • Abandoned Castles, Monasteries, and Farmsteads with npcs spawn in certain parts of the map to add some variety to gameplay.
  • Neutral and unconquerable Free Cities that offer various unique services dot the map. (Very shallow so far, WIP)

Minor new features:
  • An optional "historical" mode of diplomacy, where wars are started and ended on terms that resemble the territorial issues of the period. Lasts for 400 days if enabled, after which wars are started and ended at random again.
  • You can start the game as a teenager as opposed to an adult, which makes it harder to recruit mercenaries until you have enough Renown.
  • You can choose between four spawning locations when starting a new game.
  • You can beg in Villages for basic clothing.
  • You can scavenge looted Villages for basic items.
  • You can spend excess money on sponsoring renovations of buildings in Towns in exchange for Renown.
  • You can catch a cold, which penalises your Strength and Agility, for having poor or no clothing.
  • More armours, hats, and boots to add some more variety. More to be added in the future.
  • Several new Troops, such as the unique and rare Grenadier. (Yes, they throw grenades)
  • Special scenes might trigger when looting Villages.
  • The AI can now blow up the walls of besieged Castles and Towns if their Tactics is high enough, instead of only ever attacking with ladders.
  • Travellers in Taverns share intelligence about what certain Factions are planning.
  • Female players now have a female overworld model.

Changes to vanilla features:
  • Offer to serve as mercenary for a Faction is now its own dialogue option instead of something hidden behind asking a Lord for a task.
  • Women are slightly shorter than men.
  • There are children and teenager npcs.
  • New screen for selecting character and game settings.
  • Tutorial has been disabled.
  • Movement speed on map has been halved to make army logistics more challenging.
  • Renown requirements for accepting Quests and entering Lords' Halls in Towns. (Plays into religion and tiered clothing mechanic: you can overcome the thresholds easier by dressing "impressively".)
  • Bandits are very unforgiving: You lose all your money and your entire inventory upon being captured.
  • Illnesses are more penalising (-2 to Strength and Agility instead of -1).
  • Player skills start off way lower than in vanilla.
  • Companion hiring costs are much higher.
  • Resting in taverns costs twelve times as much as in vanilla. This is also to add logistical challenges to having an army.
  • Only two Factions have Claimants, found at semi-secret locations on the map. No Claimants spawn in Taverns.
  • Small graphical modifications to some buildings, as well as border terrain on scenes.
  • Melee mode disabled for most muskets and pistols to reduce irrational AI battle behaviour.
  • All Horses have significantly increased Charge stats, so that they're actually useful for knocking people out in battle.
  • All thrusting swords and also pikes have been made more powerful to balance them against the increased rarity of swinging weapons (Sabers are very uncommon).
  • Mercenary Camps have been removed, save for the Polish one, and one which has been repurposed for Swiss and is incorporated into one of the Free Cities on the map.
  • Most Special Missions and all of the main storylines from vanilla have been removed. These have been replaced by a few Quests that are more tailored for the period and setting.

Credits:
  • Willhelm for his tons of 17th century items: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/ultimate-17th-century-pack.327745/
  • NPC99 and other contributors to the English Civil War mod for many invaluable assets: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/wfas-english-civil-war.368595/
  • The BNL Eighty Years War team for additional asset: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/bnl-eyw-main-topic.86306/
  • kraggrim for his galleon model: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/galleon-ship-and-static-sea-battle-scenes.380010/
  • Jaako for his ecclesiastical props: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/few-church-monastery-and-bridge-pieces-updated.277166/
  •    https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/late-medieval-italian-prop-pack.279992/

Troubleshooting
If you fail the launch the module and receive a "shader out of video memory" error, open the configurations of the M&B launcher and go to the video tab. Make sure "Load Textures On Demand" is ticked.