The Sword of Islam: RFC Medieval Middle East

[embryodead]

The Sword of Islam: RFC Medieval Middle East

The Sword of Islam is a RFC modmod that follows the history of the Middle East from Contantinople to Delhi, through the Middle Ages up until 17th century, featuring the Byzantine Empire, Crusades, Turkic and Mongol invasions, Rajput and Mughal kings, and more. The Broken Crescent mod for M2TW was an inspiration for many aspects of this mod, notably the general idea, geographic area and some civs, but the timeline is obviously different.

Requirements:

• BTS 3.19
• Game language: English or Chinese*

Download

Latest version is 1.0, released on 25-Nov-2012.

Sword of Islam 1.0 Setup.exe (Windows Installer, 332 MB)

If you cannot run the Windows installer, try downloading the 7zip version and install it manually.
Note: for manual installation, uninstall or delete previous versions of the mod first!

* Chinese version of the mod, translated and maintained by Qiu, is available here.

Development versions can be found on sourceforge. In order to access the SVN repository you'll need a Subversion client such as TortoiseSVN.

Features Overview

• Medieval Middle Eastern setting: new map, 31 civs, UUs, UPs, UHVs, tech tree, units, buildings, wonders, music etc.
• RFC features: Rise and Fall, Stability, Plague, Unique Powers, Historical Victory, historical Barbarian invasions
• RFC improvements: Stability Overlay (CTRL-K), UHV Progress Tracking
• Conditional spawns: some civs will only spawn if certain historical conditions are met e.g. Ottomans will only spawn after 1300 AD if Seljuk Sultanate of Rum is destroyed or unstable.
• Provinces: the map is divided into historical regions; these are used by RFC mechanics, historical events and regional mercenary system (e.g. elephant units can only be hired in and aronud India, Daylamite mercenaries are only available in Iran, Pashtun Warriors in Afghanistan, and so on); hold CTRL to see province borders
• Honorific titles: players can claim contested titles as one of their victory conditions, or just for the added benefits the title provides, e.g. the Commander of the Faithful can call for holy wars against infidels and heretics
• Eight historical religions (e.g. Sunni and Shia Islam) with new mechanics such as persecution (target specific religions you want to get rid of) and religious massacres (i.e. you can murder all disbelievers when you conquer a city)
• Relics: there are twelve holy relics scattered randomly on the map; they can be recovered, captured or traded for special city bonuses & Religious Victory
• Religious Victory: it is possible to win by completeing three Religious Victory goals, unique for each major Religion; goals include spreading of religion, recovering holy relics, building wonders or sending Great People on a Pilgrimage to Mecca...
• Eight trade companies and religious orders replace corporations and spread on their own in a semi-deterministic way
• New historical and random events (religious revolts, heresies, crusades, relics, themed plot and building events)
• Limited number of included modcomps: Better BTS AI, Influence Driven War, SuperSpies
• Speed improvements: the CAR mod, BTS on Speed, reduced pickling, supressed autosaves during autoplay, PAKed art w/atlases - all compensate for large number of civs, ethnic art and Epic speed option, so that the mod is as fast, or faster than regular RFC

Rhye's and Fall

Spoiler :

SoI is based on Rhye's and Fall of Civilization in order to simulate the rise and fall of numerous short-lived dynasties of the medieval Middle East and India. Many of its features were improved or re-written, however. Here is a list of the core RFC features included in the mod:

• Rise and Fall of Civilizations
• Stability
• Plague
• Unique Powers
• Historical Victory
• Historical Barbarian Invasions

RFC improvements

Spoiler :

• Conditional spawns - some civs will only spawn if certain historical conditions are met e.g. Ottomans will only spawn after 1300 AD if Seljuk Sultanate of Rum is destroyed or unstable
• Stability Overlay (CTRL-K), also available through Province Highlight (hold CTRL)
• Victory Progress Tracking (Victory Screen - F9)

Advanced Resurrections, Revolts and Seccessions

Spoiler :

Some civilizations respawn in a different area, with a different state religion, flag and name. For instance, Armenia respawns as Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia (which follows spread of Orthodox Christians to the province), the Afghan Ghorid Sultanate respawns as Delhi Sultante in India, and Rajput states such as Gujarat and Malwa respawn as Muslim Sultanates. Civs are also more likely to be resurrected in their historical time period, but will not be able to come back at all if they are past their absolute "fall" date.

Revolts (ethnic, religious and event-based) and secessions are more frequent, but it is now possible to protect from them with strong military garrison, especially with mercenaries, who were traditionally more loyal than the local populace.

Provinces

Spoiler :

There are no RFC-style stability and war maps in the mod. Instead, the map is divided into historical provinces. These provinces are used for all RFC-related game mechanics (spawning, stability, AI wars, victory conditions) as well as new mechanics (regional recruitment, religions, companies). There is an additional benefit to this system - province names are displayed on the tooltip when you hover over a map tile. This way you don't need to learn any stability maps to know whether a particular city spot is OK to settle/capture for your civilization (lists of Core and Border provinces for each civ are in the Civilopedia).

Religions

Spoiler :

There are five major religions: Hinduism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. Catholics and Orthodox Christians are friendly towards each other (to some extent - their diplomatic bonus is halved), while Sunnis and Shias are hostile (but the penalty is halved).

There are three minor religions. Judaism spreads on its own and apart from formenting unhappiness and instability, it can provide boost to the city's commerce through the Jewish Quarter building. Zoroastrianism and Buddhism can be found in some ancient cities and serve as an obstacle to Muslim rulers aiming at religious unity within their realms. Zoroastrianism is also associated with one Great Wonder - The Shahnameh, and Buddhism with one Stability-boosting building - the Buddhist Monastery, buildable only in Hindu realms.

Non-state religions cause much unhappiness, instability, revolts and loss of piety (similar to RFCE's, but working more like in Medieval: Total War, with a 0-100 range and frequent up and downs). Religions can be removed with Persecutors or by massacring the city's infidel population upon capture, as shown on the screenshot (both actions affect diplomacy).

Holy Wars

Spoiler :

The Commander of the Faithful (the Islamic player controlling Baghdad, either directly, or through vassalage) can periodically call for a holy war. This can be done through Religion Advisor screen (the Red Fist symbol). The holy war can be called against a player who is at war with the Commander and is an infidel (different religion), a heretic (low piety), or a crusader (i.e. he occupies an Islamic holy city).

When a holy war is called, all Muslim players get the option to join the war (if possible). Joining the war increases piety, while refusing to join decreases it. However, if the Commander of the Faithful is much more powerful than the target, his call will most likely be ignored by everyone, and the piety loss will be minimal. If the Commander is weaker than the target, others will be much more likely to help him.

Relics

Spoiler :

There are 12 unique relics in the mod, 6 Islamic and 6 Christian ones. At the beginning of the game, relics are placed semi-randomly in various provinces. If the province has no cities, the relic will remain hidden until a city is built there.

Recovered or captured relics become units that can be transported to any city and turned into a reliquary to provide special bonuses. A relic that has been placed in a city can be picked up again by a missionary unit and transported elsewhere. Relic units can also be traded between players in the diplomacy screen. Most importantly, a number of relics are required for some Unique Religious Victory goals.

Religious Victory

Spoiler :

A completely new and unique feature of the mod is special Religious Victory devised by Tigranes. Adherents of each major religion can achieve Religious Victory by fulfilling three goals unique for that particular religion. Unique Religious Victories, or URVs, work in the same way as Unique Historical Victories, except that they have no deadline and can be completed by multiple players in joint effort. Switching your state religion will reset the URVs.

Mercenaries

Spoiler :

SoI includes TheLopez's Mercenary modcomp also known from RFC, with some changes:

• Regional recruitment system is used for many units, e.g. you can only hire mercenary War Elephants in India and adjacent provinces, Pashtun Warriors in Afghanistan, Sudanese Mercenaries in Nubia and Egypt etc.
• It is now possible to hire the basic naval units (if the player has a coastal city)
• Mercenaries are named historically, on a per-unit basis, e.g. Camel Archers use Bedouin names while Horse Archers use various Turkic/steppe names etc.
• Contracting units out is disabled (it's unrealistic - mercenaries are not "sold" by rulers)

Companies

Spoiler :

Companies replace corporations in SoI. With the name change comes a change in mechanics - they are not found and spread by the players. Instead, they spread automatically to cities that meet their requirements. The main concerns of companies are the city's geographic location, buildings, religions, resources and trade opportunities.

Once the company settles in a given city, it will start producing some commerce/yields just like a corporation, but without maintenance. Additionally, the city will be able to construct buildings and train units associated with the company.

If the company's vital requirements are not met, or if it finds a more suitable location, it will leave the city - e.g. Hospitallers and Templars will leave cities captured by Muslim players.

Improved Espionage

Spoiler :

SuperSpies modcomp has been included and expanded further:

• Spies can earn experience like other units
• Spy promotions increase their speed, success rates at spying and counter-spying, preparation, visibility and effects of particular missions
• Spies can cause state-wide Anarchy by executing Assassinate the Heir mission in the target's capital or summer capital
• Spies can assassinate special units such as Great People and Caravans
• Assassins are spies that start with extra promotions; they are better overall, but particularly suited for assassinations
• After completing their mission, spies return to a random nearby city, rather than to the capital

Credits

Spoiler :

• Embryodead – mod design, execution & some 2d/3d art
• Rhye – creator of Rhye's and Fall of Civilization
• Broken Crescent Team – creators of a mod that provided major inspiration for SoI with its medieval Middle Eastern theme
• Qiu - author of the Chinese version of the mod
• The Turk, MessageMan, Jusos2108, AOS9001, Tigranes, 2phunkey4u, AnotherPacifist, Barak, Leoreth, Bluebags, Ajidica, civ_king, spaceman98, corovanrobber, incognet, AdrienIer, thwump, comrade francis, Brew, Cetrix, AdrienIer, dafiden, MrBanana, FrogmasterG, srpt, youtien, Replacement and other testers – playtesting, research & ideas
• ColdFever – Blue Marble terrain
• GeoModder – Cultural City Styles modcomp
• TheLopez – Mercenaries modcomp
• moctezuma – Influence Driver War modcomp
• jdog5000 et al – parts of Unofficial BTS Patch & Better BTS AI modcomps
• The History of the Three Kingdoms Team – the CAR modcomp
• Sephi – BTS on Speed modcomp
• Karadoc - parts of K-Mod
• The_J, SaibotLieh, Baldyr – some Python code
• cybrxkhan – some Leader soundtracks
• Diversica, Dune Wars, RFCEurope, Rise of Mankind, Total Realism / Realism Invictus mod teams – bits and pieces of graphics and/or code I borrowed
• Bakuel – most of the unit art found in the mod
• stolenrays – a number of Great Wonders made specifically for the mod
• ambrox62, Bernie14, Castor_Troy, Chugginator, civ-addicted, Coffie Junkie, cybrxkhan, Danrell, Ekmek, machaerik, melcher kürzer, polycrates, siam, The Capo, veBear, Walter Hawkwood – units, leaderheads, buildings and graphics included in this mod
• wikipedia.org – most of the Civilopedia text

 

[embryodead]

Screenshots

The Map



Gameplay



Some Unit Art



Religious Persecution



Advisor Screens



Civilopedia





Useful Links

Strategy guide central:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=402100#post9989651

Past/ongoing succession games:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=424262 (Byzantine Conquest)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=419336 (Mamluk Domination)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=451786 (Samanid Religious)

Donations
If you'd like to buy me a beer, it can be done by PayPal through sourceforge website, where the project is hosted. Please note that the mod is essentially complete and donations will be treated as "thanks", rather than support for further development. Thanks

 

[Ajidica]

You should be done with reserved posts, so I'm posting now.

Definitly downloading it. I'll be back with comments.

 

[Baldyr]

Yay!

 

[Power_of_Beer]

This looks great, congratulations to the beta release

First impression is really good, the new concepts sound very interesting. Graphics, Music etc., I like it, nice atmosphere.

I started a game as Byzantium, sadly they go bankrupt after a few turns without the chance to recover (workers get deleted).

I'm gonne give feedback to the other civs soon for sure

 

[embryodead]

This looks great, congratulations to the beta release

First impression is really good, the new concepts sound very interesting. Graphics, Music etc., I like it, nice atmosphere.

Thanks

I started a game as Byzantium, sadly they go bankrupt after a few turns without the chance to recover (workers get deleted).

Turn the science slider to 0% immediately (you can steal techs with your UP) and manage a few cities so that they focus on commerce tiles over production, and you will be fine.

 

[civ_king]

I'm downloading

 

[Ajidica]

Okay, here are my comments:
1. This game can definitly be different from reality. In my quick test as the Safavids the Crusaders ruled the entire Outremer, northern Egypt, and Mespotamia while the Ottomans had already conquered Constantinople.
2. I can't really comment on gameplay but I have a serious campaign as the Samanids going so I'll comment later.
3. Soundtrack, there isn't one. There is plenty of good arabic music out there, just pillage BC or the Legends of Ancient Arabia mod out there.
4. I'm assuming you have BC so I would reccomend using either of the A_C_Battle tracks for the Timurids. They are apocalyptic enough. A jannisary march for the Ottomans would be nice too.
5. Something about the Armenia soundtrack is strange, its a bit lossy or something.

I'm liking the art alot. More pedia, but that can be accomplished later.

 

[The Turk]

I AM PISSING IN MY PANTS WITH EXCITEMENT!! I can't wait to get home, and download this mod. This is EXACTLY what I've been waiting for. I don't know if you've every played the mod for Medieval 2 Total War called Broken Crescent, but this is very similar to it (although two completely different game engines)!

I trying to make a mod like this but in regular RFC, and try to fix around the Middle East, so its more historically accurate, this will be nice inspiration! Would it be ok if I borrow some elements, and of course I will give you full credit?

Good Work!
Are you working on the next patch now?

 

[civ_king]

I AM PISSING IN MY PANTS WITH EXCITEMENT!! I can't wait to get home, and download this mod. This is EXACTLY what I've been waiting for. I don't know if you've every played the mod for Medieval 2 Total War called Broken Crescent, but this is very similar to it (although two completely different game engines)!

I trying to make a mod like this but in regular RFC, and try to fix around the Middle East, so its more historically accurate, this will be nice inspiration!

Good Work!
Are you working on the next patch now?

he cited Broken Crescent as an inspiration.
I'll try this tomorrow

 

[embryodead]

Okay, here are my comments:
1. This game can definitly be different from reality. In my quick test as the Safavids the Crusaders ruled the entire Outremer, northern Egypt, and Mespotamia while the Ottomans had already conquered Constantinople.

The mod is supposed to be more historical than vanilla RFC, though I didn't make it completely deterministic. Some civs are forced to die and respawn, for instance when you start with Ottomans, Rum is collapsed and respawned as Karamanids, Byzantium is revived too. With the Crusaders and most other civs, it look like this:
- after their "fall" date of 1291, they start losing stability, which makes them more likely to collapse
- if they're AI controlled, they lose even more stability
- they can only respawn as kingdom of Cyprus
- they cannot respawn after their "fall" date
So it's not likely that you'll see them in 1500, but still possible. This can be even more deterministic, or maybe there should be a game option / slider that enables choosing historical determinism vs some randomness?

Same thing with Barbarian invasions, Abbasids usually collapse after Mongol invasions, but sometimes they'll survive into 14th+ cent., often as #1-3 ranked faction.

3. Soundtrack, there isn't one. There is plenty of good arabic music out there, just pillage BC or the Legends of Ancient Arabia mod out there.

There is soundtrack for leaders, but not a general one (I've got like 10 mins music total atm). I do have BC, but I'm not sure about scavenging stuff from it, as they specifically said no to re-using any of their content, however, I don't really know if that's original soundtrack they have, or whether it was ripped from somewhere as well?

 

[embryodead]

I trying to make a mod like this but in regular RFC, and try to fix around the Middle East, so its more historically accurate, this will be nice inspiration! Would it be ok if I borrow some elements, and of course I will give you full credit?

Yes, of course. I saw that you asked for Shah Abbas LH, there's one included in this mod (not mine, don't remember who made it atm).

Are you working on the next patch now?

I will, it's not complete by any means. In fact I've just encountered a mercenary-related Python error, although rather harmless.

 

[Black Whole]

Cool! I will definitely try it out!
Did you do this all on your own? If yes I have to catch up very fast .

 

[The Turk]

@Embryodead
I quite love this mod, and because you have put so much time and work into this mod, I've decided to do a lot of work on the behalf of your mod. I've drafted 2 and a half pages full of critique that you should take into consideration, from bugs to gameplay issues. But it will take a while to type up, so I will probably post it tommorow. But great game!

Btw I checked out the Safavid leader, and I have to say I am quite impressed, other than the background (which I would like to change), do you know where I could find this?

Thanks Embryodead
And keep up the good work with the next patch, I really can't wait

 

[Ajidica]

There is soundtrack for leaders, but not a general one (I've got like 10 mins music total atm). I do have BC, but I'm not sure about scavenging stuff from it, as they specifically said no to re-using any of their content, however, I don't really know if that's original soundtrack they have, or whether it was ripped from somewhere as well?

I don't think it applies to their soundtrack as long as you give them proper credit and/or ask the mod team. IIRC they added that part about not using their stuff after a couple mods blatently stole all of their research and used it in their own mods without even citing BC as an inspiration.

You can also find alot of Arabic music here in this mod:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=249649&highlight=Arabia

 

[embryodead]

I've drafted 2 and a half pages full of critique that you should take into consideration, from bugs to gameplay issues. But it will take a while to type up, so I will probably post it tommorow. But great game!

Well, I'm afraid already and thanks.

Btw I checked out the Safavid leader, and I have to say I am quite impressed, other than the background (which I would like to change), do you know where I could find this?

You mean, where to change the background or get the leader? I got it from another mod, I think Diversica. As for this mod, leaders are PAKed for speed, you can unpack them with a Firaxis utility PakBuild, then the background art is in Assets/Art/Leaderheads/Abbas/tokugawa_bkrd.dds I can see what you mean though, it's ancient Persian art, I guess it should be replaced with something from Safavid era.

@Ajdica
Thanks, I'm downloading the Arabia mod. If that's 100+ MB of arabian music then it's more than enough

 

[civ_king]

@Embryodead
I quite love this mod, and because you have put so much time and work into this mod, I've decided to do a lot of work on the behalf of your mod. I've drafted 2 and a half pages full of critique that you should take into consideration, from bugs to gameplay issues. But it will take a while to type up, so I will probably post it tommorow. But great game!

Btw I checked out the Safavid leader, and I have to say I am quite impressed, other than the background (which I would like to change), do you know where I could find this?

Thanks Embryodead
And keep up the good work with the next patch, I really can't wait

two and a half pages?

Well, I'm afraid already and thanks.



You mean, where to change the background or get the leader? I got it from another mod, I think Diversica. As for this mod, leaders are PAKed for speed, you can unpack them with a Firaxis utility PakBuild, then the background art is in Assets/Art/Leaderheads/Abbas/tokugawa_bkrd.dds I can see what you mean though, it's ancient Persian art, I guess it should be replaced with something from Safavid era.

@Ajdica
Thanks, I'm downloading the Arabia mod. If that's 100+ MB of arabian music then it's more than enough

Don't worry he will try to be gentle, he is a fanboy for everything Arab/Muslim

 

[The Turk]

two and a half pages?

Don't worry he will try to be gentle, he is a fanboy for everything Arab/Muslim

Well first, I wrote one full page, and one side, of bullet notes

And yes I am a fan of Middle Eastern History, but I wouldn't say ONLY for Arab/Muslim topics, I have great interest in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, especially the Greater Levant.

 

[Ajidica]

A few more comments:
1. It would be nice to play as the Zengids. Not sure what their UP would be, but something allowing them to maintain a compact and powerful empire would be nice. UU could be a strong militia or something. IIRC the Zengids were one of the first Seljul sucessor states to move away from the emphesis on horse archers.
2. When I tried out the Ghorids I noticed a strange thing, the Seljuks just collapsed. They had a somewhat large empire (just the eastern side of the mountains near Iraq and a few other cities) and they weren't at war with anyone. Then the next turn they just collapsed.
3. This is a minor thing, but more culturaly specific mercs or units would be nice, like the ability to activly recruit a limited number of Daylami units in certain provinces.
4. Constantinople needs more food. I saw it a pop1 a couple times. Some fish would be helpful.
5. The Timurid UP doesn't appear to work. I masacred the population of Merv (3 dead) and Samarkand (capital) didn't gain any culture. I razed a former Khwarzmian city to the ground(11pop) and I still didn't get any culture boost.

More Comments:
6. The Kingdom of Jerusalem does quite well, I think its resulting from their continous stream of Frankish reinforcements. In only playing around 15 turns as the Safvids they got two rounds of reinforcements and they were doing quite well. (Can you say, conquered Alexandria and Trebizond?)
7. More of a general observation, but the Ak Koyunlu seem to last too short of a time to really be considered a valid civ, they only last as a power around 100 turns.
8. The Hospitaller Knight is weaker than the Hospitaller Seargent. Plus the Sergent is using the Templar style armour coloring IIRC.
9. The monument is too strong. Its cheaper than a Mosque.
10. The Khwarzimian Lancers sole benefit is that it is faster than other lancers. I think the bonus should be more related to strength than speed. Speed seems more of a steppe/horse archer thing.

 

[senturus]

Ok, I have played this “modmod” only a couple of hours. But it is really impressive, especially as it suddenly appears “from nowhere”, with so many innovations and work. Historal accuracity, re-using and improving of main RFC concepts, many different civilizations with various kind of playing…. I think it does contain all I am looking for in a Civilization mod. The historical and geographical context is somewhat a bit unknown for me, but it is also a good opportuny to have interest for it.

I really like the corporations mechanics (at least what I’ve read), the importance of mercenaries, the conditional respawns, the concept of Provinces. And the various situations, historical goals, unique powers/units/buildings of all these civilizations is very promising.

A few comments now on my quick first attempt, with the “south-egyptian christian civilization” (sorry, I forgot the name) :
- To be honest, I think it is one of the less interesting civilization, due to his very excentred position : only one neighboor, and the UHV didn’t sound very exciting (but this is not a reproach). Anyway, I think it was a good choice for a first attempt, to get familiziared a bit with the new tech tree.
- The first UHV doesn’t seem to work, unless it requires 6 different luxes ressources : I had 3 ivory and three other luxe ressources in 1000 AD, but the victory screen still says “not yet”.
- It seems the academy is not available : then the great scholar can “only” be used as Golden Age, scientist research or scientist-specialist? Or is there a tech requirement for such building?

Finally : have you planned some kind off offline version (internet site, pdf manual, detailled post in forum...) of the civilopedia?