Spawning Additional Units Submod (SAUS) v1.4.2 (25-Sep) [3.2 compatible]

[Withwnar]

Spawning Additional Units Submod (SAUS) v1.4.2

TATW 3.2
It is included in Withwnar's Submod Collection.

There is a save game compatible bug fix (for v1.4.1) for the Elven Ranger Arrow Forge in post 152. It fixes the problems of:
1) Elven Rangers not retrainable in the Forge
2) The Forge not available at all in MOS 1.3
These have been fixed in v1.4.2.

[UPDATE - 25 Sep 2012] v1.4.2 - bug fix: see the Change Log.
[UPDATE - 19 Jul 2012] The SoundExtractor BAT file has been fixed to be Vista/Win7 compatible.

SAUS consists of four components:

• Glittering Caves - a Dwarven colony in Helm's Deep, providing Dwarven Warriors for Rohan
• Elven Rangers - an Elven unit for Eriador/Arnor
• Dwarves of the Oakenshield - a Dwarven unit for Dale
• Riders of Dale - a Dale heavy cavalry unit for the Dwarves

See posts below for details on each; the remainder of this post is information common to all.

These units can not be recruited and they are not mercenaries. Rather, they are units sent by other factions to help you in your cause. They are not available to the AI.

Main concepts:

• The game spawns a fixed number of units throughout the campaign; one unit at a time.
• Units are retrainable and can be replaced if they are destroyed.
• They have a unique building which provides retraining.
• These buildings can not be built by the player; they are built by the units and only in some settlements.
• Various traits, including bonus(es) applied to the army when it contains one of these units.

When the first unit spawns you will receive instructions on what to do with it first: namely, move it into a settlement so that they can construct their building.

Buildings are built by having the unit in a settlement during end of turn. The in-game building info cards tell you which settlements they can be built in. Details can also be found in the posts below.

NOTE: The Glittering Caves and their Dwarven Warriors work a little differently to this. They only have one building (in Helm's Deep) and it is built by you.

Installation and Compatibility

In the following the "mod" folder means the Third_Age folder, typically something like "C:\Programs\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\Third_Age_3".

1. Download SoundExtractor and follow that post's instructions to run SoundExtractor.bat. Don't start the game yet.
2. Download the attachment - this is for vanilla TATW 3.2 only! - and extract it into the mod folder, answering "yes" to any "overwrite?" prompts. If you can't open the file (*.7z format) then get 7-zip.

See the note at the bottom of SoundExtractor's instructions regarding removing files after the installation is complete. It is not required but it will free up some hard drive space.

It is not save game compatible.

It was scripted with HotSeat in mind but is untested. It should work but it is possible that some event messages will appear for more than the intended faction. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Replacing Lost Units

When no more of these units exist in your faction they will all be replaced.

For example, so far in your campaign you have received 3 units of Riders. One gets destroyed or is disbanded. That 3rd unit will not be replaced until the other 2 units are also destroyed/disbanded; at that time all 3 will be replaced (after a few turns).

This "replace only when none are left" is a scripting limitation; there's nothing I can do about it unfortunately.

Errors

You will probably see errors in the log saying "PercentageUnitAttribute needs a living character with an army".

These can be ignored. The cause of these errors will not result in CTDs, only the occasional slightly misbehaving SAUS trait.

Change Log

Change Log

Changes affect all parts of SAUS unless specified: GC = Glittering Caves, ER = Elven Rangers, DO = Dwarves of the Oakenshield, RD = Riders of Dale. v1.4.2 All historic event messages now compatible with 12tpy campaigns (e.g. MOS). NOTE: The saus_use_eh counter must be set to 0 if using 12tpy: see comment in campaign_script. [ER] Elven Rangers now retrainable in Arrow Forge. [ER] Arrow Forge now available in 12tpy campaigns. [GC] Escort's Envoy diplomat no longer uses up a diplomat slot (diplomat max count increased by 1 during pilgrimages). [GC] Pilgrim Escort ambushes fixed (was using wrong locations). v1.4.1 3.2 compatible. Added horn sfx to arrivals. [ER] "Tharbad" changed to "Lone-lands" (N.Tharbad) in lodge text's where-can-build. v1.4 Added battle map voices for SAUS units. [GC] Fix: added Rohan to Dwarven Warrior ownership for retraining. [ER] Fix: Lodge was being auto-built (again) after upgrading to Arrow Forge. Removed descr_projectile.txt from unit_models folder. No idea why it was in there. v1.3 TATW 3.1 compatible and available for download (was only in MOS until now). Glittering Caves added. All script made HotSeat compatible (as far as I know). Cinematic arrivals improved: now optionally viewed (via yes/no event); less chance of other event messages appearing during a viewing; added cheering SFX; Elven Ranger strat model and using general skeleton for DO/RD instead of diplomat. Spawn and "Lodge Built" event messages now have zoom button instead of the camera auto-moving to that location at turn start. Unit detail and event images improved, including alpha shadow. Ancillary and trait conditions/effects tweaked. [ER] Forge now upgrade of Lodge, rather than separate building. [ER] New Lodge and Forge building images. [ER] Building browser no longer reports Fornost as possible Forge location. [ER] Removed blue shoulder 'strap' from unit card. [DO] New House building image, more in line with Dwarven architecture and with Thorin statue. [DO] Added +1 Attack. [DO] New unit detail image. v1.2 Cinematic arrivals. Added some new (missing) event pictures. Added general_unit attribute to prevent getting units as mission rewards (I hope). Bug fix: very low number units could not be retrained. [DO] Bug fix: House was not buildable in Dorwinion. [DO] Bug fix: armour upgrade CTD. [RD] Bug fix: missing armour upgrade texture. [ER] Formation set to disorderly. [ER] Healer ancillary: now requires general with command 3+ to be in settlement for 2+ turns (50% chance). [ER] Changed Forge building image (large only). [ER] First arrival is earlier. Various minor internal coding tweaks.

Credits

A huge thanks to Curufin for making some strat map models. They are not used for much at the moment: the Dwarf one makes a few appearances and the Elven Ranger is only used for cinematic arrivals.



Also a special thanks to Ngugi for the voices and invaluable feedback.

• Alekhine for the brilliant idea of the Glittering Caves.
• Shredder for making the original beautiful Sentinels model and textures, and for allowing us to reuse them. (Elven Rangers)
• Koultouras for his Dwarven unit from FROME. (Oakenshield)
• Louis Lux for the original building cards and permission to use & modify. (Lodges and Forge)
• Werebear and the Call of Warhammer team for permission to use & modify their Goblin Mine building card. (Caves)
• Master Necromancer for his building card. (The original House of Thorin building which has since been replaced)
• Hero of the West for the original idea of Dale/Dwarven units, plus input and feedback along the way.
• The TATW team and all who have contributed to making this utterly awesome mod. (TATW that is, not SAUS, in case that wasn't clear.)

Thank you.

Permissions

See "Permissions" in this thread.

LINK: SAUS_1.4.2.zip

[Withwnar]

Glittering Caves

Aglarond, the "Glittering Caves" of Helm's Deep.

This works in a different way to the other submods of SAUS. Here the Dwarves, via a series of events and actions, take ownership of the Caverns behind Helm's Deep, setting up a colony within this Rohan region.

The campaign begins with a new building in Hornburg: the Caverns of Helm's Deep.



Once this building is under Dwarven 'ownership' (via an upgrade) Dwarves will arrive and settle there. (This is all 'behind the scenes' of course: Rohan still owns and controls Hornburg.) From this point the building - and its Dwarves - begin to provide benefits:

• Two units of Dwarven Warriors
• Temporary auto-garrison of Miners during sieges of Hornburg
• +1 free upkeep slot
• Retraining and free upkeep of Dwarven Warriors

The Dwarven Warriors arrive in the same manner as other SAUS units: spawned, not recruited. But in this case they spawn directly into Hornburg instead of arriving outside of the settlement.

Unlike other SAUS units they do not build "Lodges" anywhere to provide retraining; they may only be retrained in the Caverns. While they are happy to fight for your Rohan faction - it is in their interest after all - they have no intention of being sent to some far off corner of the world. If you wish to use them in battles and be able to replenish their numbers then those battles will need to be close to home.

The Dwarven Warriors and Miners are exactly the same as those in the Dwarves faction: no change in stats, names, descriptions, etc.

Pilgrimage Escort

The final upgrade of the Caverns is to the "Glittering Caves": lighting them up with many lamps, revealing the awesome splendour for which any Dwarf would pay "pure gold for a mere glimpse". And so begin the Pilgrimages.





You receive notification that some Dwarves wish to travel from their Northern homes to the Glittering Caves and request an Escort. This entails sending an army (of any size) to get them from one of four Dwarven settlements, randomly chosen. Once reached they become a Rohan unit (named "Dwarves") that can join your army. By getting this unit safely back to Hornburg you will be paid for your trouble.

Going along for the journey is a Dwarven Envoy: a representative (diplomat) from the Caves. At no point can the Envoy or the pilgrim unit become separated from the Escort: the mission fails if this happens.

Selecting the Escort and hitting F1 (Help) shows you instructions on how to perform the mission...



You can cancel the mission at any time by clicking the Decline button on that scroll.

The reward is high but it is a long way. And dangerous, of course. The more units you take in the army the less profit you will make because you are paying their upkeep all of the way. Indeed, the reward may not even pay for the upkeep of more than a few units.

So, this is an optional money making venture. There is no penalty for declining the mission. But if you have an adventurous spirit and the patience to walk a small army over a 25+ turn round trip - knowing full well that they could be attacked and killed at any point by enemy factions - then you will be rewarded with gold!

The reward amount depends on two things:
1) Distance. e.g. Erebor is a longer journey than Thorin's Halls so the reward is higher.
2) Risk of attack. The more Melkor factions that are currently present along the path the higher the reward.

If you're thinking of using a sea voyage to avoid attacks then think again: the pilgrims refuse to go by boat (they cannot board ships).

After a certain number of turns since the last mission ended (or was never started) another will be offered. And so on for the campaign's life.

[Withwnar]

Elven Rangers

Based in Imladris these Elves perform similar duties to the Rangers of the North: cleansing the forests of Orcs, Trolls and other evil creatures.

They are known by Men as "Elven Rangers" due to their similarity to, and long friendship with, the Dunedain Rangers. It is because of this friendship and a desire to go on the offensive against the evil threatening Middle-earth that they choose to join Eriador, rather than take a defensive role in Imladris.

They are essentially a rare battlefield assassin unit: a small unit with accurate and deadly missiles, with an option to upgrade them to armour piercing arrows. They can handle themselves fairly well in melee but only as a last resort due to their very small number.

Features include:

• Very low unit size: 20 on huge
• Missiles: armour piercing (optional), high attack, very long range, high accuracy, high ammo count (but few archers of course)
• Melee: high attack, high defense, 2 hit points but low armour (vulnerable to missiles)
• Forest hiding and combat bonus
• Fast moving
• Do not rout
• Healer ancillary
• General/army traits

The units appear at Amon Sûl. If it is not owned by Eriador/Arnor or it is under siege then they will appear at Bree instead. Eriador and the High Elves must be allies for any new/replacement units to arrive.

Spawning counts and times:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Two units in total: at turns 16 and 80.

Retraining is possible in an Elven Ranger Lodge, built by the units during end-of-turn in some settlements: Amon Sûl, Tharbad, Goblin Town, Litash, Isengard, Edoras, Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth and Thoronburg.

AP Units

At some point during the campaign you will be given the option to build an Elven Arrow Forge, providing armour piercing (AP) arrows to the Elven Rangers. Once this is done you will be offered to upgrade any existing Elven Ranger units to AP: if you agree then they will be automatically disbanded and replaced with AP ones after some 'training'. (NOTE: they will lose their experience). Any further spawning (new/replacement units) will be AP units.



Arrow Forge details:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

• Available from turn 30
• Amon Sûl only, an upgrade to its Elven Ranger Lodge
• Requires: Bowyer
• Buildable by the player, unlike the Lodge
• Destroying the building will not affect whether AP units are spawned or not (they always will be, so long as you agreed to the AP upgrade offer). However, there is a money penalty associated with doing this, reflecting the extra cost it takes to build AP arrows elsewhere.

AP vs non-AP units:

• AP missiles
• Lower missile attack
• Slightly different unit card (the arrow head)
• The tooltip description in the custom battle selection screen mentions AP missiles
• The unit card shows the appropriate stats and description

If using both in a custom battle then it can be tricky telling them apart as they have the same name. In the campaign this is not an issue because only one type of unit can exist at the same time.

AP Elven Rangers:

Traits/Ancillaries

Army
Having a unit of Elven Rangers in a general's army will give a morale boost trait to that general (and thus his army). This reflects the hope and courage the Men feel from having soldiers from another faction/race fight alongside them. Additionally, the Elves themselves provide some Elvish benefits to the army.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Elven Rangers" trait bonuses: LineOfSight, Ambush, BattleSurgery, Morale

General
The more time a general spends with these wise and deadly folk the more he learns from them. Some personal traits will be added, increasing in level over the years of having Elven Rangers under his command. Unlike the Army trait which is only active when Elven Rangers are present in the army, these traits are permanent.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Various traits, including these bonuses: Ambush, Attack, Defense, Command, personal security

Healer
This ancillary is available from settlements containing an Elven Ranger Lodge. Over time the inhabitants of the Lodge will train members of the local population in the arts of healing. These Healers are able to become part of a general's retinue, providing BattleSurgery for his army. Additionally they provide a Health bonus to a governor's settlement.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements: a 3+ Command general must spend 2 or more turns in a settlement containing a Lodge (50% chance)

Inspiration

Elrond's sons Elladan and Elrohir spent their days hunting and killing Orcs, with Aragorn joining them in his youth. Aragorn was no mere Ranger, of course, but I always fancied the idea that the Rangers and the Rivendell Elves had some kind of association, possibly even working together on occasion.

Model

The unit uses the Silvan Sentinel model with some modifications to the textures. Their garments are more forest-friendly with less shiny brooches and belt buckles. Some work has been done on the faces and the hair is darker: blonde hair is not as common as the movies suggest.

[Withwnar]

Dwarves of the Oakenshield

Honouring the Dale-Dwarven alliance, the Dwarves provide Dale with some much-needed heavy infantry. Of the belief that the evil uprising might prevail if either faction is lost, these Dwarves are proud to fight alongside their Dale counterparts instead of for their own faction. Their title is in honour of Thorin Oakenshield II; a heroic figure from the War that marked the beginning of the alliance.

These units are the Ered-Luin Warriors from FROME (thanks very much Koultouras). The model and texture have not been modified.



The units appear at Dale. Dale and the Dwarves must be allies for any new/replacement units to arrive.

Spawning counts and times:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Four units in total: at turns 5, 30, 65 and 90.

Retraining is possible in a House of Thorin, built by the units during end-of-turn in some settlements: Dale, Riverrun, Dorwinion, Rhovanost, Mistrand and Thoronburg.



The House of Thorin also provides a trade bonus, reflecting the Dwarvish resourcefulness of the inhabitants of the House.

Traits

Army
Having a unit of Dwarves in a general's army will give a morale boost trait to that general (and thus his army). This reflects the hope and courage the Men feel from having soldiers from another faction/race fight alongside them.

General
The more time a general spends with these units the more he learns from them. Some personal traits will be added, increasing in level over the years of having Dwarves under his command. Unlike the Army trait which is only active when Dwarves are present in the army, these traits are permanent.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Various traits, including these bonuses: Infantry Command, Attack, Defense, Command vs Orcish nations

Governor
The inhabitants of a House will over time share Dwarvish knowledge with the settlement's governor.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Various traits, including these bonuses: decreased Squalor, decreased Construction costs, defense Command, Respect (for being so trustworthy of the Dwarves)

Additionally a governor can learn mining skills from the Dwarves, if a settlement has both a House and Mines. (Only Mistrand can satisfy this requirement).

Riders of Dale

Honouring the Dale-Dwarven alliance, the Riders provide the Dwarves with some much-needed heavy cavalry. Of the belief that the evil uprising might prevail if either faction is lost, these Men are proud to fight alongside their Dwarven counterparts instead of for their own faction.

These units are the Aihwothiuda Horseguards from vanilla TATW (2.1). The unit has been changed in name only; stats and appearance are the same as vanilla. (Of course, Aihwothiuda Horseguards could change in appearance and stats in later versions of TATW.)



The units appear at Erebor. Dale and the Dwarves must be allies for any new/replacement units to arrive.

Spawning counts and times:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Four units in total: at turns 5, 30, 65 and 90.

Retraining is possible in a Rider Lodge, built by the units during end-of-turn in some settlements: Erebor, Dáin's Halls, Gundabad, Goblin Town, Moria, Kugavod, Mistrand, Upper-Khand and Thoronburg.

Traits

Army
Having a unit of Riders in a general's army will give a morale boost trait to that general (and thus his army). This reflects the hope and courage the Dwarves feel from having soldiers from another faction/race fight alongside them.

General
The more battles a general fights with Riders under his command the better he will get with commanding them. (CavalryCommand bonuses).

[Hero of the West]

this great work will be released very soon for MOS , let's rep it +rep

[glassakias]

good work, +rep.

btw, i am really eager to see what 3 reserved posts are needed for. you either have a lot of stuff to add, or you are really neat

[J_Bones]

Cool! Really good idea, im looking forward for the release

[Withwnar]

Thanks guys.

i am really eager to see what 3 reserved posts are needed for. you either have a lot of stuff to add, or you are really neat

A bit of both. It will be one post for each unit type. Plus room to move if more units are added later.

[Poosticks7]

Maybe you could do some evil units as well.

Haradrim for Mordor
Easterlings for Mordor

Mordor Uruks for OoMM and OoG (they were Uruks in the Misty Mountains in the books).


Anyone just some ideas for you.

Oh good work by the way.

[Heals the III]

Love this idea! Keep it up.

[AragornElessar]

Found a bug i am playing as the dwarves and got a mission from the councill captured the settlement they wanted and got 3 riders of dale as reward

[Withwnar]

Oh. Not good. Never thought of that.

Thanks for reporting this. Not sure what I can do about it but I'll look into it when I can.

[AragornElessar]

Ok I cant upload the picture becouse its a BMP? (i cant choose anything else in fraps as i dont buyed it )

but the riders of dale are ghosts (silver) when i upgrade the armor of them

[Withwnar]

No need for a picture... it's the old "faction has no texture files" trick.

That I can fix.

Keep it up AE. One more find and you win a teddy bear.

EDIT: okay, I think I see the problem (a merge-into-MOS oversight) but curiously I have invisible men not silver ones. The fix below solved my invisibles; hopefully it fixes the silvers too.

[Withwnar]

Fix for MOS 5.1 - Riders of Dale silver/invisible after armour upgrade.

Save game compatible.

1. Download
2. Extract the zip somewhere temporary (doesn't matter where). There is just one file: battle_models.modeldb.
3. Copy that file and paste into the mods\Third_Age_SP\data\unit_models folder, overwriting the one already there
4. Run MOS's File_Tasks.bat file (not sure if necessary but no harm)
5. Try it

[AragornElessar]

Fix for MOS 5.1 - Riders of Dale silver/invisible after armour upgrade.

Save game compatible.

1. Download
2. Extract the zip somewhere temporary (doesn't matter where). There is just one file: battle_models.modeldb.
3. Copy that file and paste into the mods\Third_Age_SP\data\unit_models folder, overwriting the one already there
4. Run MOS's File_Tasks.bat file (not sure if necessary but no harm)
5. Try it

Ok it crashes each time i use the Dwarves of oak shield with armor upgrade

[Nemesis_GR]

Found a bug i am playing as the dwarves and got a mission from the councill captured the settlement they wanted and got 3 riders of dale as reward

Happened to me to.

Also when playing as dale the description of the dwarves of oakenshield building(thorins halls) says it can be built in dorvinion but when i garrison a unit in it nothing happens.(works ok in dale and riverrun).

ps.Maybe it is a MOS bug but Eriador has 2 identical units of elven rangers in custom battles and when i start a campaign(with MOS) it askes about the spawning additional units script twice.

[AragornElessar]

They are 2 elven rangers indeed one without armor piercing and one with

[Withwnar]

Happened to me to.

Also when playing as dale the description of the dwarves of oakenshield building(thorins halls) says it can be built in dorvinion but when i garrison a unit in it nothing happens.(works ok in dale and riverrun).

ps.Maybe it is a MOS bug but Eriador has 2 identical units of elven rangers in custom battles and when i start a campaign(with MOS) it askes about the spawning additional units script twice.

Thanks for reporting these.

Dorwinion: ah yes, good find. A bug indeed.

Elven Rangers: I answered this one in the MOS thread by the way. Not identical but extremely similar: the picture arrow heads are different, the description when you hover over them says one is AP missiles, the missile attack is different. In battle they look identical and have the same name. In the campaign it is not possible to have both at the same time, so being 'identical' is a non-issue there.

The double startup message: oh yes, you are correct. There are two occurrences of this in the MOS copy. Thanks. I'll put it on the list.

[Araval]

Are these new units aviable in costom battles?