I have never modded before but have always wanted to learn, and seeing as Shogun 2 is one of the only games I actually play and has an official assembly kit along with a lot of other resources this seems to be the obvious choice.
I have the kit as well as a number of other programs downloaded, a bunch of tutorial threads and sites bookmarked, and am going to start looking into it this weekend.
Before I start, however, I would like to ask about some of the thing I would like to do. Specifically, how possible and easy these mods would be to create, and also see if I can get any advice or links to applicable tutorials or anything like that. Everything that I am laying out here are just theoretical guess on how I would go about making certain mods. If I am way off let me know, but even if I am right about something, I still just am essentially talking out of my ass, so any advice would still be great.
I will list them in what I think is the order from least to most difficult (just my ignorant assumptions, however).
1. I would like to make a mod that forces a son to be born on the next turn. Also, when a child is born how does the game determine whose it is? Would I be able to make the mod so a specific character, like my Daimyo or his first son is the one to have the child? I don't actually want a new son every turn, but this is something I would turn on and off when I wanted, specifically for testing the next mod.
2. I would like to be able to be able to set the name of the child. Basically, what I want to do is make sure Date Terumune's first son is named Masamune. I have seen a tutorial for adding names into the game to be chosen for agents and characters, but I want to ensure that this character gets this name. As I understand it (and correct me if I am wrong) a child's name selection is based off of what province either the Daimyo or the father (not sure about which if I am right at all) is in when it is born. Would I be able to write a mod that just makes it so in all provinces the only name available for a male child is Masamune and then just turn this mod off after the child is born?
3. I would like to make a mod that alters the chances of a son coming of age. In my last game one of my sons did not become a general until he was 21. His 14 year old brother was on the battlefield before he was. (Kid had a mean mustache for a 14 year old).
Okay, so those ones seem pretty simple. For more difficult ideas:
4. Would it be possible make specific looking generals? What I mean is that I think it would be really cool if i had one general who looked like my avatar from the multiplayer campaign, either by editing an existing general or making it so a newly recruited general has this appearance.
5. I think it would be cool if Ikko Ikki clan generals used mounted nagitana monks as their bodyguards (and then would also use nagitana, themselves).
So any help or comments about any of these ideas would be wonderful. Hopefully I get some replies.