Balance of Power (A game balance mod for Empire (mini realism mod) - Version 12 Released Darthmod AI 7.5

[Matte979]

update 040509

The upload of 3 turns per year and 4 turns per year has been removed at the request of Tharros, he said they might have a bug. New files will be added when this issue has been investigated. I have personally have not had any issues.

Version 12 released 040409

-Changed to one version with Darth AI 0.75
-Land Battles stays at quixote 1.82, I see no reason to change anything.
-Doubled penalty for Religion unrest
-Raised experience levels to match the larger units
-Changed Naval Morale to Darth Naval Morale
(Naval stats and dynamics moved to Darthmod 0.75)
-Increased morale for flintlock Milita to make them a little more effective, they are defending their hometown. Changed training level to poorly_trained from rabble and changed spacing to be the same as militia.
-Tech cost changed (Orignal under 100 x2 (Military x3) under 300 x3(mil x4) above x4 (mil x5)
-Strelsky changes (Add musket and melee axe) Thanks to Kivals and Tharros



UPDATE 032898: Added files for 3 turns and 4 turns per year. (Thanks Tharros) replace the file in the campaign folder. These have the minor nations unlocked.

So I thought I follow the trend and name my mod.

Balance of Power - A mini realism mod for Empire.

This mod has a simple goal which is to slow down the overall "speed" of the game to create a more realistic development for the human player. The game is much harder than the cake walk vanilla game so prepare yourself for a challange. You can still conquer the world but it will be extremly hard as it should be.

Its meant to be used with 4 turns per year mod or a 3 turns per year mod.

4 Year per turn mod can be found here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=240277

Instructions on how to set custom turns can be found here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=240167

This mod is using both elements from Darthsmod (Campaign Variables, and NAVY balance) and the tactical battle balance changes from Quixote combat overhaul mod. I give you the choice of using quintox campaign AI or Darthmods campaign AI.

Currently based on

Darthmod 0.5
Quixote Combat Overhaul 1.82
Quixote Campaign AI 1.6


A huge thanks goes to both Darth and Quixote for their mods. I would love to just use their files directly or have link but due to some of the parameters that I needed to change to create a slower overall feeling I had to create my own version of their mods. I decided to keep them seperate as much as possible so people understand where the files comes from.


Overall "Slower" Changes from standard Empire.

-Navy combat better balanced(DarthMod 0.5)
-Land combat better balanced(Quixote 1.82 )
-Building costs increase and building times increased
-Unit cost / upkeep changed to be more expensive and slower to recruit
-Money is much tighter
-Pop Growth and new village growth has been slowed
-Tactical Battles both land and navy has been slowed
-Expansion is harder and will happen slower
-Technology cost has increased
-AI bonuses tweaked for new slower balance.
-Campaign AI changed to be more aggressive (Darthmod 0.5 or Quixote 1.6)
-Happiness a little harder to manage

Installation instructions:

Pick which zip, both has the pack files you need.

Drop the pack files into the data folder, edit the user.empire_script.txt or drop the one I included in your scripts folder.

For more info on how to use mods see
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=239933

[Onizuka0513]

Oh man, those AI handicaps on Very Hard sound ridiculous.

[Yoda Twin]

Coolz

[Tharros]

Looks good. Now we just need to figure out how to make 4 turns per year.

[Pilot37]

Thak you so much. I will test this too.

Then we need someone to slow the battles down to a non arcade pace

[Tharros]

Thank you so much. I will test this too.

Then we need someone to slow the battles down to a non arcade pace

Might give it a go tomorrow if I have time. It takes ages to edit all those units. So here is what I am thinking:

1. Halve moral. Units should run when they have lost ~50% of their unit. Not 90% like it is now.
2. Drop accuracy (-10) but increase reload skill (+10)?
3. Drop melee attacks (by 25%)?
4. Increase charge bonus to reward good tactics (+25%).

Fixes:
1. Overpowered Native Americans
2. Russian Line Infantry (Increase units size and melee attack)
3. Pikemen. Actually making them useful.

How does that sound?

[solecist]

good! DO IT!

except maybe for the charge bonus. i'd really like to see land battles slowed down by a bit, though.

[Matte979]

Double post.

[Matte979]

I have exactly the same goals.

4 Turns (This one will be tricky as it might cause game mechanics get out of whack)

I will try your morale / accuracy changes. It took 2 hours to change the cost of units so it might take all day to do the other changes and my wife might think I am strange looking at tables on the computer all day. But it would be interesting to see the effects of game play so it’s on my priority list.

So when I have time today I will

1. Half the Morale
2. Drop Accuracy with 30% Increase reload with 20%
3. Drop melee attacks with 25%
4. Increase charge bonus 25% (This might help AI as they charge more than I do)
5. Reduce battle move speed with 20% (Not sure about this one) I found the file that has the speed for the different terrain so should be an easy change.

I guess the slower speed would help me enjoy the Smoke and Music mod more.

After that I will wait for CA to do some patches as you have to redo fixes if they change any of these files. This is a PAIN... We need to convince LtChambers to help with some kind of mass update to a column in the files so its easier to do mass increase on columns so it easier to test different changes. At the end somebody (Not me) has to rebalance all of the units, it’s just sad that all the units cost the same and are very similar on all the European factions, and we need country specific uniforms. Every time I look at the Swedish troops I just want real Karoliner. We need real specific and dramatic strengths of the different factions or they all play the same and replay value is non existent.

Personally I am very excited on what mods can be created for this engine. I think this game will be a diamond when the modders can do some adjustments. I think the new campaign map and the new gameplay additions in this mode can really make this a great total war game

If you do the changes let me know and could you post the file here? I would be happy to test any changes and with the pack manager it’s easy to add the changed file to my changes.

Btw, I suspect the Natives are crazy due to low cost of units and low upkeep. The 2 hour recruit time might help a little. Personally I will look more at Europe in my testing.

[Pilot37]

Slowing the overall battle pace by about 30% I would say.

The troops also dont seem to get tired running and charging all the time. Horses should tire out quickly on all that broken terrain and the infantry with all that kit, should only run occasionally?

[Fingon NL]

This seems very cool to me, but where do I need to place your file?

[AirnetSnake]

Matte979

Could u release version of this mod without player penalties? Just AI bonuses, 'cause I think this economical improvments would help AI a lot to make good armies and not to be so passive.

[notger]

How do you tackle the problem of improbably large AI armies (Cherokee with three full stacks in three provinces)?

I like the idea of a slower pace, but I do not like the idea, that when I play France, I will face small factions with super-armies all the time.

BTW: Where do you have the numbers for the different difficulty levels from?

[lesterthenerd]

Matte979

Could u release version of this mod without player penalties? Just AI bonuses, 'cause I think this economical improvments would help AI a lot to make good armies and not to be so passive.

yeah that would be awesome if you could do that.

[rageallday]

Might give it a go tomorrow if I have time. It takes ages to edit all those units. So here is what I am thinking:

1. Halve moral. Units should run when they have lost ~50% of their unit. Not 90% like it is now.
2. Drop accuracy (-10) but increase reload skill (+10)?
3. Drop melee attacks (by 25%)?
4. Increase charge bonus to reward good tactics (+25%).

Fixes:
1. Overpowered Native Americans
2. Russian Line Infantry (Increase units size and melee attack)
3. Pikemen. Actually making them useful.

How does that sound?

can you change the native american artilarry to 1 accuracy and 1 reload skill and give them a crew of like 3 people?

[Matte979]

First its easier to do the changes you want then you think.

1. Download the PackManager and put it in your data folder.

2. Put the slower-patch.pack in the data folder.

3. Open PackManager and open the slower-patch.pack file

4. Open the three structure.

I have changed the following files , you can remove those changes using the RMB delete and then save the file, or in case of unit and tech you can even change them in the packmanager.

Building_Effects_Junction
- increase unhappiness from industry

Campaign_Difficulty_Handicap_effect_table
- Changed the handicape bonuses

Taxes_Effects_jct_tables
- Increase unhappiness from taxes

Technologies_Table
- Doubled cost of tech

Units_tables
- Unit cost changes

[Sailor]

Wow, that's pretty pathetic, that even with the old AI handicap bonuses, it still has to cheat on normal difficulty.

[rageallday]

First its easier to do the changes you want then you think.

1. Download the PackManager and put it in your data folder.

2. Put the slower-patch.pack in the data folder.

3. Open PackManager and open the slower-patch.pack file

4. Open the three structure.

I have changed the following files , you can remove those changes using the RMB delete and then save the file, or in case of unit and tech you can even change them in the packmanager.

Building_Effects_Junction
- increase unhappiness from industry

Campaign_Difficulty_Handicap_effect_table
- Changed the handicape bonuses

Taxes_Effects_jct_tables
- Increase unhappiness from taxes

Technologies_Table
- Doubled cost of tech

Units_tables
- Unit cost changes

i can't wait for your land battle edit of units. i hhink you should be very careful, however when changing unit movement and morale.

[Lucius Tiberius Vorenus]

Looks good. Now we just need to figure out how to make 4 turns per year.

DING! WINNER!

I've wanted this more than anything since Empire was released. Always my first concern with any new mod, or new TW game.

[Mikhail Tomasovic]

i don't know why they don't just implement that setting in... to allow for 4 or 2 turns per year for those who like longer games..