XAI V3.4 for Pro Deo Et Rege Very Soon!

[xeryx]

XAI For Pro Deo Et Rege (PDER) Ver 3.2
The complete package; XBAI and XCAI

What benefit does this mod offer?

First and foremost, it has a stellar diplomacy "matrix". Why is that a matrix, because it involves three files, and all are calibrated to work together. You have triggers in both the Campaign AI and the Faction standings files. These work for the AI and human. This primarily allows diplomacy to occur for the AI. The human has our own file, the diplomacy file. Our diplomacy the most complex system of decisions to date. I love it, because it really adds to the immersion factor of the game.

What we learned in our first revision of XAI, that many problems existed with diplomacy, resulting in super easy alliances, imbalanced rules, and bugs. We negated these barriers, and ended up with a diplomacy system, and correct global standings, that works as it should. You can now become a Saint or a Demon Spawn incarnate if you want to. The world will now see you for what you are, and take the appropriate action. The best part though, is now you can play any faction and get satisfaction from it. What you get is a complete system of diplomacy, that takes all faction actions into account. It is so in depth, that it would take a whole page to write it out. One of the best tools to use, is the lifetime faction standings, this is used for allies and enemies that are to last the duration of the campaign.

Strategic ability of the AI, is the largest area that we worked on and within the CAI because it is really the the part we all want to work the best. Unfortunately there were many issues here. These vanilla issues like defenses not working correctly, etc... What we have done is take complete advantage of how the AI reads the code. Instead of the normal..you meet this condition and now I will execute this command. The AI now takes tons of factors into account. For invasion points, as each criteria is met it adds or subtracts some points. This is the true "matrix' of the AI, letting many conditions hold true, but allow the AI to either add or subtract from that total. In order for the AI to make attack decisions! Many other political, and religious considerations are also taken into account. We cannot control what province is attacked, only influence it towards danger. Once a threshold is reached, which is now based on level of difficulty, the AI decides what kind of attack and when to attack. Sometimes this is immediate, other times it lays in waiting for you to make a mistake. On the flip side, is the defense, defenses are much simpler unfortunately, and we have matched them to the appropriate attack mode as best we can. The great news! is that now all defenses function as they should, some have been broken since day one of medieval 2.

You guys remember how the fortified defenses didn't work before in any AI, XAI has fixed forts! Units no longer get stuck in a fort. This allows this defense to now be a viable option again, and it is a very good defense. Forts can be set to permanant or to disband when occupied and both modes work. This also allows for stone forts to work properly as well.

Religion is the largest contributing factor to both strategic and diplomatic decisions made in the game. However, it is not just one-sided for the Catholics, like in vanilla. All religions have their biases toward other religions. What this gives is the flavor of religion vs. religion, the way medieval times were. All religions have many rules for how we are perceived. We used to have the Pagan religion in the faction standings, but it is now removed, to simplify the code.

There are more AI's now for versatility of integration. We have added a very aggressive and non-religious based nomadic AI. It hates everyone equally, we use it for the Mongols, but it can be used for any other bad guy. We do have a Pagan AI available, for countries like Lithuania, or if you want to use it for the Timurid's it works well too.

The open seas, have been an enormous challenge to get the AI to do what it was suppose to do. The AI does not see the ocean as it should, and does not consider distances. It was with extremely hard work and some ingenuity, that we now have the AI doing exactly what it is suppose to use naval fleets for. The high seas are now aggressive again, and the only time you will see Port Blockades, is when you are, or about to be, at war. If you have many enemies, you better be prepared financially. Now you will see the your enemies allies blockade your ports as well. You will also see, large fleets protecting the seas around the nations borders.

We added vassalage, this time around, unfortunately the game is hard coded to only have vassals or protectorates when at war, sorry guys I tried for peacetime rules. However, the AtWar rules work.

The key to the success of XAI is the re-working of the files, we have gone through the most important files affecting Campaign AI, with a fine tooth comb. We have eliminated so many issues (bugs). That other functions of the AI that are typically be broken, seem to work very well. For example, the AI spending and saving it's money, along with building proper units and buildings without the need for scripts. Don't give me wrong though the AI is still not very thrifty, and needs a little help with money from time to time.

We have really made some good headway this time around, and we know that you are going to really enjoy this CAI. Why? because we have been enjoying testing the campaign, so much more, than we did before. I will however, leave that for you to decide.
These two cores are the heart and brains of the game, and they needed major surgery to get them working properly again. We really hope you enjoy, the game the way it was meant to be played! Thank you from the XAI TEAM..

Now with that said, no mod is perfect, and other issues with balancing of units still remain.
NOW GO PLAY!!! Read the rest later!! It's just the boring change log and the disclaimer. GO!!

Change log
The XBAI (battle AI)
This is very hard to describe! You just have to play it to appreciate all the complex work we have done. This is basically a complete revamp of all the existing code values. This go around we have fixed sieges both attack and defense to be as dynamic of battles as the open field battles. Plus, we minimized units getting stuck, it still happens occasionally, but it is now a map and ladder issue. The AI is the very poor at selecting the proper targets for the proper missile weapon, therefore the XAI team added in Missile Attack Analyzer (MAA). We have allos included the melee attack analyzer to take out the toughest targets with the appropriate units. Other code we included defined conditions for difficulty levels, revamp of the morale values, additional code so the AI will flank units better, and more refinement of code to allow better AI decisions. We have redefine open battles for range of engagement. This will allow for the proper units to engage at the proper distances, while maintaining the battle group cohesion. Speaking of cohesion, unit cohesion has also been re-done. The chaos battle is gone and is now dependent upon the discipline of the actual unit (another XBAI first) type itself. Now, spears and spear walls will be tightly formed before engaging and moving. More refinement to path finding in the tradition of Darth we have made varying degrees of difficulty for various units for different terrain. Hopefully this will help the AI path finding in sieges and open battles.

I have gone through and simplified the readme, it was just too long. You're welcome!!

The XBAI (battle AI)
You remember the opening movie sequences, that you bought the game for? Well now they are a reality! The XBAI is more action packed then the Lord of the Rings Two Towers, battle of the Hornburg.

You just have to play it! to appreciate all the complex work we have done. Sieges are now just amazing, and pretty difficult. The AI will fall back to the other castle tiers, while your troops keep getting tired. The AI no longer is indecisive in it decisions, it knows what it want's, and it will take it. You have to constantly watch your rear and flanks for attacks. These are the absolutely, most engaging battles ever, seen in medieval 2.

The path finding file, such a simple little file, with so much power!! We revamped and fixed it, for a major performance boost. We also fixed the speed issue with the previous version.

These two cores are the heart and brains of the game, and they needed major surgery to get them working properly again. We really hope you enjoy the game the way it was meant to be played! Thank you, from the XAI TEAM..

Now with that said, no mod is perfect, and other issues with balancing of units still remain.
NOW GO PLAY!!! Read the rest later!! It's just the boring change log and the disclaimer. GO!!

V3.2 (open Beta, but it super close to final)
++ Fortifications work properly, even stone forts if in the mod.(pder does not have them)
++ properly working naval system.
++ added in alliances against
++ total optimization of attacks and defenses, you will see a aggressive AI
-improved the performance of the pathfinding files.
-Redeux of many many tags, to be inline with our new tagging system for consistency.
-another rework of the wonderful, skirmishing system. It's better.. We will improve it more as time goes on.
+Added in new line for missile deaths for skirmishers, if they get many missile deaths they retreat. (self-preservation)
+Added in some engagement rules for melee types to have them engage better on the line.
+Added flanking rules for skirmishers (for javelins, Modders only, see instructions at the bottom)
-cleaned up the code.
-did many tweaks to unit behavior. Too numerous to mention.
+fixed many things in Pder Units, adn increased the mass of cavalry

V3.2b
Bug fix for gate crash during AI Siege Attack

New XBAI:V3.2
++ Completely revamped the AI sieging section. You are now going to experience real attacks.
++ MeAA Melee Attack Analyzer targets the apropriate melee unit to get the job done right.
++ MAA Missile Attack Analyzer designates proper targets for the proper types of units, and projectiles
++ Fixed most path finding issues with the AI defense siege system.
++ Siege engine now appropriately attacks at each stage of a siege
+ Many optimizations to the siege code
+ Minimized the chances of units getting stuck, and facing backs to you
+ made more tweaks to the flanking analyzer, removed many melee units to help battle group line cohesion.
+ AI makes you work for every inch the human takes in a siege
+ New difficulty system for siege attacks
+ Refined many more rules by the types of units, no longer general
+ Optimized the code
+ Refined the Battle Analyzer to make it tougher in battles and campaign, on harder levels

Version 3.01
++ Revised AI unit engagement ranges, to include all unit types.
++ Changed the unit cohesion system, to be unit type specific instead of generic.
++ Human Re-enforcements under AI control, defend settlements and attack properly.
+ AI reinforcements now properly attack the Human opponents and merge correctly when needed.
- revised siege equipment values to give the troops better path finding.
- Revamp of the existing siege-code and more balancing.
+ LoD (level of Difficulty) For AI attacking/defending decisions.
+ (GBS) Global Balancing System controls accuracy, and melee hit rates by unit type (removed un-needed unit types per section)
+ Expanded the flanking code considerably (also fixed an issue)
+ High performance tuning in the path finding file. (fixed a bug too)
+ Tuned the morale system to correctly give difficulty in battles.
+ BAI uses reinforcement properly, and puts up the best fight yet.
+ Re-vamp of the settlement walls and battlements, to increase difficulty for all.
+ Proper use of artillery during siege battles, and simultaneous attack
+ proper use and defense of multiple tiers of castle walls
+ ferocious town square offense/defense

Past versions, please see the older read me.
Here at the XAI team, we believe in innovation, dedication, and making this game the best we can. We do not listen to the "nay" sayers. If we did, this game would never evolve into what we have here. We are not done yet! There are other issues that we are going to resolve. They will take more time, but we wanted to get this release to you, now!! This is because of the dwindling support, and playing of the game. Hopefully, we can bring back new life to this, potentially great game. With this major step forward, we say "Thank You" for all the support you do give us. Being the black sheep is not an easy road, but it does lead to the most satisfaction!!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THE XAI CAI OR BAI.
There are so many things that can affect the operation of these mods to work properly. We do not grantee performance in any mod other than the ones we have tested in. These mods have full integration of the XAI.

New intergration: We have to have final say and testing, if the XAI can be used or not. We will give you permission to integrate it. However if in testing, it is deemed that it is not working right, and we cannot fix the issues at hand. Then we will not let it be in the official release. This is a quality control issue. After all you wouldn't want the nice shiny Ferrari to get down the road and just stop on you.

It's is up to the modder to make the changes to the XAI that they want. I can tell you how to do it, and advise you. We have continued work to continue, and won't be done any time soon.

We also do not really grant use for sub mods, unless we know they work 100% This is based off of our experience modding. We prefer to work with the main mod creater, to insure smooth integration of the XAI.

Installation: Please follow the installation readme.

Credits:
Team- Xeryx, Naimad, Miikll, Condoitorre SOG, and Argent Usher.
PDER Beta-Testers- Tony83, and Primative1
XAI community, which is growing day by day!! We love that you guys are coming down and participating. Thank you for playing, too bad the others really don't know what they are missing!!

DOWNLOAD LINK #1
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=2190

Alternate Download from Filefront, Click my signature logo (as always) then look in the PDER folder.


Installation: Unzip contents to your PDER Data directory.

[xeryx]

One of the goals here is to get the Auto-resolve working as close to what a humans results will be, and +/- 20% for difficulty.

So this is what I recommend when doing do some campaign battles, both open field battles and sieges, there are 2 values to set. Do the same battle manually, and then do it with auto-resolve. Then calculate the percentage it is off by. I will do the rest. I will also be doing this and hopefully can get it auto-resolved quickly..

[xeryx]

Major fixes in 2 areas. Please see the first thread, and DL and install the update...you do need to restart a campaign..but it will be worth it.

[xeryx]

Just a small update, I am seeing improved behavior, with the Campaign AI.

I am seeing better Garrisoning, in @ war situations. (i have even seen a corectly build fort will post screen shot later, we'll see if they ever engage the enemy!!) AI is expanding better, but may need improvement. Armies seem to be using a better ratio of troops for the job at hand.

[Tony83]

Hi Xeryx, I'm assuming Update 02 can be installed over Update 01.

I'm going to start a new ERE campaign: I'm currently 80 turns into one using Update 01 and XBAI 3. It will be interesting to see the differences.

[xeryx]

Yep, it needs to be.

[Praetor1981]

Noticed the AI have interesting behaviour with how they aquire rebel settlements. Playing as venice I have seen HRE, Hungary and Byzantium attack neighbouring settlements in two differnt methods. Wave after wave of small armies attacking a high garrison settlement or a big diverse unit army attacking a battered settlement. Was strange discovering settlments with damage and casulties sustained within the first 20 turns.

Also when one faction seiges a rebel settlement there is a crowd of other faction armies waiting around to take the settlement if the current seige fails rather opportunistically, I've noticed the AI doing it to my seiges as well.

I've seen the AI loose and win realistic battles in the Italian area. And in the current crusade the Egyptian AI has concentrated a large garrison within the settlement of Cairo and there are large egyptian armies within reach of the city to relief it.

Up to 1090AD (25 turns)

See how it goes from here

[Praetor1981]

Hmm this may be more a PDER problem then a CAI problem. But i am noticing there is a serious shortage of family members for AI factions (and sometimes human as the Kiev Rus I never had any new born family members I had to recruit them) The Egyptian faction lost their king in the crusade and the faction was eliminated.

[xeryx]

Yes it is strange, I think I increased the amount of children one could have, as it was at four, I think I put it up to at least eight. Definitely something I can fix though.

yes the AI will do a siege of attrition, I may need to change the sally forth to prevent this.

[Tony83]

Hi Xeryx, I've just started an ERE campaign with PDER 1.0a using your v3 XBAI (fixed GB) and XAI PDER (ver 2.5) updates 01 and 02. I'm playing on M/M and am 10 years into the campaign, so I thought I'd give you some feedback on what has been occurring, First I'll give a chronological account of the campaign with regards to AI interaction.

CAMPAIGN - First Ten Years
Summer 1080

Sakatvelos Samepho offer trade rights and map information - which I accept
I offer alliance and map info - which is accepted.

Winter

Given mission to capture Smyrna (15 turns)

Winter 1081

Kievan Rus ask 500 Florins for trade rights and map info - I accept
Armenia offer ceasefire - which I accept
I offer Armenia alliance and map info - they counter offer with alliance, map info and trade rights - which I accept.

Winter 1082

I offer the Magyars trade rights - which they accept
I then offer an alliance and map info - which they also accept

Summer 1083

I offer trade rights, map info and alliance to HRE - which they reject
I then offer trade rights alone - which they also reject.
Re-loading the game - I offer trade rights alone - which they accept.

Winter 1083

Trade rights offered to Venice - which they accept
I then offer alliance and map info - which is also accepted.
Egypt offers alliance, trade rights and map info - which I accept.

Summer 1085

Merchant Guild built at Constantinople.
mail armour introduced.
Smyrna fails to sally and capitulates after a siege to a similarly sized besieging force.

Summer 1087

Alliance and map info offered to HRE - which they accept.
Reino de Castillo offer alliance, trade rights and map info - which I accept

Winter 1087

I offer alliance, trade rights and map info to Rome - which they accept.

Summer 1088

Turkey offers trade rights - which I accept.
I offer alliance and map info for map info - which they reject.
They counter offer with alliance for map info - which I accept.

Winter 1088

I offer Sicily alliance, trade rights and map info - which they accept.
Devleti offer trade rights for 200 Florins - which I accept.
I offer them alliance and map info for map info - which they accept.

Summer

Genova offer trade rights - which I accept.
I offer them alliance and map info for map info - which they accept.

MAP

After first 10 years, most of the factions have gained one region from the rebels.

DIPLOMACY

Using vanilla PDER it is usually very difficult to establish good relations with Catholic and Islamic factions. However, here I find myself having set up alliances with eleven factions in the first ten years, which I think is probably too easy.

OVERVIEW

No battles in the first ten years. I would have expected the garrison at Smyrna to have sallied at the end of the siege but instead they surrendered without a fight.

FAMILY TREE

After ten years I have two family members and a 9 year old daughter and fourteen generals/governors. Using vanilla PDER I would have been offered candidates for adoption nearly every turn but I have not received one so far, using the current file set up.

FINANCES

The treasury is running at about 40,000 Florins and am making around 13,000 Florins per turn.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Compared with vanilla PDER, it is easier to make alliances and money: the family tree is of concern because there have been no additions to it after ten years. Using vanilla I would still feel threatened with annihilation after hundred turns: here after ten I am having fun but am feeling quite secure.

Hope you find this of use Xeryx.

[xeryx]

@tony,

Wonder why the family tree is being so problematic? I will have to check on that.

Yes you are getting quite a few too many alliances, even for the medium level. I will look at the levels again. How are the AI's alliances? are they logical, blocks or are they just everyone? It's just a matter of balancing. Do you think the money level is about right for a medium level?

Also if you could observe some of the power, money charts and take some screenies.

How has the ai been doing as far as expansion? Have you done many AR battles? and then done them yourself to see if the differences between the two are close.

Good posting !!+1 Rep

[Tony83]

@ Xeryx Glad you found it useful mate.

I've checked out my other ERE campaign on PDER, which is about 80 turns in, and is the same set up as my current campaign except I'm using v3 XBAI instead of v3 XBAI (fixed GB). Again natural births seem to be few and far between, but the situation is alleviated due to the frequent offers of candidates for adoption which have been totally absent in my current campaign. Lack of births appears to be a PDER issue, and I think it's only become a problem because adoptions are missing - something I've seen other players comment on as well.

The alliance blocks seem pretty logical on the Catholic side but I note that the Islamic factions don't seem to have made any with each other. As for the money, there is a bit more coming in than in vanilla PDER, and appears to be plentiful, but I think that is probably more of a product of being surrounded by allies and not being at war with anyone. Usually, I would expect Venice, Sicily and even Turkey to be sniffing around my borders by now. I'd leave the money as it is for now and play around with the alliance settings first.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So far, as I mentioned in my last post, most of the AI factions, including myself, have gained an extra province, at the expense of the rebels, but a crusade has been going on for the past four turns or so. Below are the screens of the current Faction Rankings.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

One of the reasons that I like PDER so much is that, even after a 100 turns, it is challenging and I still feel threatened that I could still lose the campaign. At the moment, after only 20 turns, I feel this threat totally lacking, but that could change once the AI has built itself up and begins to wage war against me. However, at my current rate of infrastructure development, I feel confident at being able to meet any threat.

[Syntax]

Hi Xeryx - just a few issues of the short campaign I played picking the Armenian. I upgraded the initial PDER to your second version of improvement. The most issues are already covered in a very nicely listed report of Tony83. The issue of to much money, to much alliance offers every turn, the family member problem - to few members and no adoption offers at all. On the AI expansion I have to say - its nearly perfect - I mean very impressive fast expansion on the rebel towns but not only limited to rebel towns - that means one faction is able to go for rebel settlements and war with others at the same time - which I in my long time experience never saw from the CAI - it was always either one - so I think that's quite positive results here. On the aggressiveness I have to state the same as the previous poster - aggressive - yes - but many times the AI not uses all his forces placed around - only small forces - but that several times - until the settlement finally falls! The same I have to report if I myself besiege my enemies settlement - they attack me with forces that are about equal or lower than my strength, even in the same surrounding they would have larger forces and if they would only mobilize them they would kick me from their land - but they don't do that and therefore lose their settlement! - If that could be resolved it would be a very tough campaign play!
On the BAI side I have to state its quite good now - not jet perfect but the best we ever had in this game until now. My findings are again the same as Tony83, reinforcement are waiting until the "first" fight is nearly done and than joining to fight - which gives you easy living as you only fight two or three smaller armies which you easily decimate and rout from the field. Two battles occurred where the AI was the aggressor on medium hilly terrain but as I was in a quite good hill position the AI not come to fight and just reform very nicely at the other corner - even he was quite a bit stronger (4:3) as my army - so as I don't wanted to lose my troops to his many missile's I routed home wards from the battlefield. (Loose fight! - but not the troops). The responses from horses towards my spear units are quite impressive - the AI tried to avoid them or tried to flank them! Infantry and archers are also progressing well and do their job accordingly their actual usage. On the flanking of enemies it could be a little improved - as previous versions of Darth AI showed more flanking maneuvers which where a real pain for the player. But as I stated all in all its quite okay and good - some fine adjustments only needed in the unit statistic part - but that everybody can do himself as he wants the units to be regarding strength and morale - but also in this mod units are probably right for my taste. Haven't played any settlement or castle battle - as I never liked them - but I will do in my next campaign, because I saw your posted pictures which are very promise looking (right use of catapults, archers - cutting and blocking off the ways of the aggressors. I will tell you my experience - maybe these battles are now finally worth the time? - Will see.
All in all respective improvements overall!
Its not a very far forward thinking CAI with serious plans behind its overall attacks to your country yet (which would be great, I mean in the way of a real intelligent and learning AI! - like check programs for example - but there the game itself is very different and if compared what options and availabilities you have in this total war game it is quite limited! - anyway I would like to see "Thinking AI's" - but that's probably another discussion to come and near future!) -, but "baby steps" to go - and slowly come to success - be patient John!
Anyway thanks for your good improvements - c u
Johannes

[xeryx]

Did you guys use the XAI PDER package the version 1 XAI to start with? (The one in the PDER forums) then install these updates over that? If not, you will be missing files. I will post the whole package, for you..It sounds like you don't have all the files installed. Like the Desc_strat file for one. Flanking...No way..that would mean new code?, I'll post more to your response later.

[Tony83]

The PDER install I'm currently using to test was using PDER XAI 221 Lite before I installed your new XAI and XBAI files, and I've not actually had any fights during the first ten years of the campaign, so I can't really comment on the BAI yet.

One thing I have to retract from my previous reports is that your XAI is responsible for the ease with which I managed to acquire alliances. Out of interest, I started a new ERE campaign using a pure vanilla PDER install, just 1.0 and its patch 1.0a. I've done this to establish a kind of benchmark and the results have been quite interesting. The family member situation is the same, very few births, if any, however, I am being offered candidates for adoption nearly every turn, so I'm guessing that something in your XAI files is affecting that.

Money, as expected, is tighter: the treasury is running around the 21,000 Florin mark with an 8,000 Florin revenue each turn. This compares with the XAI's 40,000 and 13,000 Florins. So not a huge difference really.

What did surprise me was the alliances. Normally, using vanilla PDER, I would be lucky to have two or three of them after ten years, and I thought that the XAI was being generous because I had managed to get twelve in the same time period using it. However, this time around, after ten years with vanilla PDER, I have sixteen alliances!

so my conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with the XAI's diplomacy, it's just that I must have learnt how to use my diplomats properly.

[xeryx]

The PDER install I'm currently using to test was using PDER XAI 221 Lite before I installed your new XAI and XBAI files, and I've not actually had any fights during the first ten years of the campaign, so I can't really comment on the BAI yet.

One thing I have to retract from my previous reports is that your XAI is responsible for the ease with which I managed to acquire alliances. Out of interest, I started a new ERE campaign using a pure vanilla PDER install, just 1.0 and its patch 1.0a. I've done this to establish a kind of benchmark and the results have been quite interesting. The family member situation is the same, very few births, if any, however, I am being offered candidates for adoption nearly every turn, so I'm guessing that something in your XAI files is affecting that.

Money, as expected, is tighter: the treasury is running around the 21,000 Florin mark with an 8,000 Florin revenue each turn. This compares with the XAI's 40,000 and 13,000 Florins. So not a huge difference really.

What did surprise me was the alliances. Normally, using vanilla PDER, I would be lucky to have two or three of them after ten years, and I thought that the XAI was being generous because I had managed to get twelve in the same time period using it. However, this time around, after ten years with vanilla PDER, I have sixteen alliances!

so my conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with the XAI's diplomacy, it's just that I must have learnt how to use my diplomats properly.

No you were probably right about the alliances, I had it tone it down for the Catholics too. Orthodox are a bit more able to receive alliance from both sides. However you need to remember, just because they offer one, doesn't mean you should take it. Now, with that said, I may still need to offset the Alliances more for Orthodox, because Catholics and Islamic, have bitter hatred between them, so they usually don't happen. However I have managed to be able to get the two, too trade.

So when you play another one, as either Catholic or Islamic. Let me know on that. There is another inherent bonus, for the human player (yes they are all over the place in the game) for relations and alliances. We offset these with large negative penalties, to cancel out the bonuses. It seems that they end up getting adjusted on a per mod basis.

Now back to the money, thing for PDER with it's expenses and such. How much do you think it is over? Remember I increased trade income, so if you have a ton of trade alliances, you should be able to be an economic Giant, until you go to war. Keep an eye on that money thing, it may just go away? yes, I know it is more than what you are used too. Do you see the AI doing bettter because of it? Give me a percentage of how much you think is too much.

More to come later.

I think I found the family bug, so I will post a fix for that tomorrow.

I need official XAI/ PDER beta testers. Kale Weathers is the Lead Beta Tester, then Tony83. I need 2 more, and you must be able to give me your souls for 2 weeks.

There will be a disclosure agreement for this beta. (Kale you can right it)

YOU GUYS NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK YOUR DESCR_STRAT FILE!! Make sure it is in there. I will play this go around as BYZANTINE

1st turn, indicates that no alliance, nor trade possible: even if it says yes, therefore the XCAI is working fine. If you use the original vanilla desc-strat, there will be no special rules for the religions. therefore you will get the very easy alliances. DOUBLE CHECK IT find the factions, the labeles are catholic-faction, islamic_faction, orthodox_faction,nomadic_faction etc.
Without this file the game will be VERY EASY

I played 20 turns and am not seeing the problems with alliances, in fact not one has been offered. If you need to, I have put the full package up in the first post. Reinstall it. Yes you have to restart. (I will Label it as well)

This is a very exciting time...

[xeryx]

Reinstall PDER XAI files if you have easy alliances and diplomacy!!

BTW Testing will take 2 weeks, I would like to start this by next week.

I highly recommend you DL and replace your Pathfinding files! With my matched set, or dele the old .db file

[xeryx]

I don't know if you guys realize this, but I haven't been able to play or get into a game of any Kingdoms mod for a long time. With modding you can never play, it's always tweak this, tweak that..and with many files your always have to restart a campaign. It get's to the point you don't even want to see the game anymore. Fortunately for me I had a four and a half month break..literally. It's alot of time to brainstorm.
Since I have fixed most of the campaign issues with PDER, I am actually going to play for a while, as I need to to tests some beta files, in the long term of the game.

The stealing of an empire

So I am actually starting to get into my Byzantine empire a bit, and I see my faction air need a wife, so I go on the hunt for the little primo fraulien that just came of age...grrrrryuuummmmyy

I must find her, before all the lecherous Catholic Lords get their gauntlets, on my Prince's fair skinned honeysuckle.
My diplomat Methodio Tyzkadelis can outwit even the most sly of nobles. (he just asks them to spell his name) Well, he finds sweet little Agnes the Affectionate, strolling through the plaza spending daddy's florins. He respectfully approaches the young princess, and he proposes her the deal of a lifetime, a powerful alliance with the mighty Byzantine empire. She refuses with a "Nein gut"...Amazed at the prowess of this young lady, Methodio offers her 2000f as a gift. She looks at him with a paltry look and holds out her tiny laced mitten, palm open.. Methodio rolls his eyes and taps his foot, and hands her another 2000f. She says "Now tell me more about this handsome prince and the Great Alexander!!" For a bit he talks and then! she begins rambling, and rambling, for hours! about the mighty Reich..Methodio..can hardly contain his anxiety for ending this...He flies off the stone bench, as if he were a rotting cow, thrown by a catapult! (it would have been a much kinder fate) Madam I am prepared to give you another 4000f, key maps to our civilization, if we can just go back to Konstantinopolis to meet your new husband. She looks to her maiden and they chuckle ever so deviously, and says "Take all this to my father immediately, we have the wedding of all weddings to prepare for!" As she turns to say "Good day" to Methodios, she then notices him unconscious, and as pale (as if he had just traveled through Transylvania) lying on the cobble street.

Let me tell you what a woman!! She was the most relentless negotiator since Ghengis Kahn...chuckle.. I think my Prince and Diplomat actually did give his left nut each, for this frauline. 8000f, maps and marriage, so the Alliances are working Superbly !!

Wow! now that was fun..really makes all of this hard work rewarding, when you can sit down and immerse yourself into the empire you are playing!! I just had to share that one, it was too cool !

[Kale Weathers]

Huh, you made me laugh......for once.

[xeryx]

Hey Naimad, one thing I am noticing playing orthodox, is that my relations are going down with them way more than with the islamic states. I think we need to do some adjustments in the FS file. To even things out a bit. Less decrease for the catholics and maybe more toward the islamic.