Mannl's Elite Overhaul

Important

1 . >>> Right now it seems that Beta 1.3.0 for some of you has unidentified issues with some of my mods. So as long as 1.3.0 is still Beta, I now recommend to use my mods only with the stable branches. <<<

2. >>> When activating the mods in the launcher, make sure you put my load my mods at the bottom. Seems to have some issues with Mods like "Better Lords" or "BannerPeasants" when it's above them in the loading order. <<<

What is the mod about?

Tired of all the copy-paste elite trees in the game? 

Always Riding Horses+Polearm+blablabla?

I give you some more variation now in form of:

- the blessed and deadly Warrior Priests and bright Chevaliers
- the heavy armored Aserai Sultan's Guard as well as deadly sniping Assassins
- the mighty Sturgian Wolfguard
- the switft and deadly Battanian Wild Hunt
- the very versatile Gladiators as well as deadly Spartan Warriors
- the deadly Samurai

(ok, well ... the Unit-trees are in fact far more various than my deadly ability to find mighty adjectives)

This mod reworks all elite-trees.

Aserai:
Starting with the Aserai Youth you get to choose: Do you finally want to train your Aserai elites as heavy armored camel riders? Or do you want them to be a very athletic sniping crossbow unit (with hoods and style!)?

Staying in the main southern theme of the aserai, I tried to give them two different specialized units. As the only faction, the Aserai finally get to use Camel-Cavalry. The are heavy armored, use their spears to charge in and will use their deadly scimitars when in melee. The Assassins on the other hand are highly trained in using the best crossbows in the game and are also very fast. When charged in melee, they also got a high one-handed-skill to defend themselves. But be aware! They are not highly armored and will die fast in a cavalry charge. 

Battania:
Starting with the Highborn Youth you get to choose: Do you want to train your Battanian elites in the traditional way and get the best archers in the game with the Fian-tree (did not change them)? Or do you want them to be a very fast skirmishing Cavalry unit that circles its enemys and gives them a deadly rain of throwing spears?

Staying in the main theme of the battanians, I tried to give them an even more specialized, fast and light armored skirmishing cavalry. Get them in with your other horse-archers! When out of ammo, they will use their spears to charge the remaining enemys. But be aware, they are only lightly armored, every spear-infantry will ripp them apart in melee combat.

Empire:
Starting with the Empire Vigla you get your first choice: Do you want to train your Empire elites the traditional way as heavy armored shock cavalry? Or do you want them to be further trained as elite infantry?

The next step in the training of a Empire Vigla is the Empire Laconic Warrior. From here on there are two further ways to specialize your Elites:

The first path is the way of the Gladiators. These well trained Warriors use a variety of weapons and armors to kill their enemys in melee fights. Some will choose the way of onehanded weapons and shields, some will take spears and shields while others will use deadly two handed swords or two handed polearms. With this equipment they are very versatile against a wide array of enemys. But beware, they are not the most heavy armored unit and additionaly, they don't reach the weapon skill of the other heavy specialized elite units.

The second path is the way of a Spartan Warrior. They are the elite of the elite. Their traditional way of fighting forbids them to use any form of body armor, but they don't really need it anyway. The better a Spartan gets and the more experienced he is, the better weapons he will use. They are highly athletic and trained in using their spears and javelins. As secondary weapon they use their onehanded swords. Use them as anti-cavalry unit and beware of archers, as the lack of heavy armor will get them killed very fast in a distanced fight.

Khuzait:
Starting with the Khuzait Noble Sons you get to choose: Do you want to train your Khuzait elites the traditional way as the best skirmishing bow cavalry in the game (did not change them)? Or do you want them to be trained as a deadly unit comparable to the battanian Fian Champions? 

Staying in the main theme of the Khuzait, I tried to give them a very strong ranged unit on foot. When they are out of ammo or are getting charged (they have only the half ammo of the battanian fians), they will use their mighty two handed swords. As a third weapon, the samurai traditionally use a swift one handed sword that makes them slightly better at castle sieges and in narrow fighting places.

Sturgia:
Starting with the noble Sturgian Warrior Son you get to choose: Do you want to train your mighty 2h-Warriors to be a deadly Infantry Unit? Or do you want them to be a hard hitting and heavily armored Cavalry unit?

Vlandia:
Starting with the Vlandian Squire you get to choose: Do you want to train your Vlandian elites the traditional way as heavy shock cavalry (did not change them)? Do you want them to become bright and shiny Chevaliers? Or do you want them to be trained as a mighty two handed infantry in heavy armor? 

Staying in the main "western" theme of the Vlandians, I tried to give them a very strong two handed unit on foot and a very heavy armored cavalry tree: 

The Warrior Priests are equipped with brutal two handed hammers, that might not deal as much damage as two handed swords or axes, but are way faster! Additionaly their blunt damage will give you much more prisoners after each fight! (And let's be honest: Who doesn't want a pack of 50 bald, grumpy clerics to lead their infantry charge?)

The Chevaliers are equipped with mighty two handed swords, one handed swords and shields. When charging in, they will use their two handers and finish off their opponents with sword and shield if they still stand after the first charge. They won't be your main damage dealers, they will be real tanks on the battlefield. Have fun with the heaviest armored unit in the game!


I tried to give all them similar stats to the original elite units, but would be glad to hear if you think they are balanced or need to have some rework in their stats.





Installation

Download the file and extract it. Then simply put the "Mannls Elite Overhaul" folder into your /steamapps/common/Mount & Blade II Bannerlord/Modules folder, activate it in the launcher and you're good to go.

Incompatibility

I guess this mod should be incompatible with every other mod that changes the elite trees in the snpccharacters.xml

Credits

Thanks to @Maelstrom69 and his mod Custom Weapon Pack, I could give the Warrior Priests two-handed hammers and the Samurai their Katanas.


If you like this mod, feel free to give me some suggestions for further troops!

If you want to combine them with another mod, here you can get them each on their own:

- the Sturgian Wolfguard
- the Battanian Wild Hunt
- the Aserai Sultan's Guard and Assassins
- the Empire Gladiators and Spartans
- the Khuzait Samurai
- the Vlandian Warrior Priests and Chevaliers