Suggestions/Ideas/Proposals

**ahowl11** · November 09, 2014, 03:58 PM

It would work. Trust me, just Give it a chance. RTR 1.0 will feature many nations as well. 45 in total if you want to be specific. Also the same area is covered in RTR as it is RTH.
The process is a bit lengthy, but it worked for us transplanting the entire RTRPE 1.9 roster and merging it with vanillas roster.

Also, I believe just about every nation and mercenary (except maybe a few) is represented in CATW, just look at every unit roster featured on the mod's site! But that's for you determine.
However, since it doesn't seem like my assistance is needed, I wish you luck on whatever you have in mind for units.

**Philadelphos** · November 09, 2014, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by ahowl11

...
4) delete every recruitment entry in your EDB
...
11) add catw unit entries to the EDB.

Your help is always welcome, but you should at least have a look at my EDB, before you propose to delete the continuous work of three years time.

Since that is the most complicated file of the entire mod, here you get just a glimpse:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

This is only one building, but it should be enough to understand why your plan is impossible.

**ahowl11** · November 09, 2014, 05:30 PM

That's insane. Not sure how you'll be able to do anything then

**Philadelphos** · November 09, 2014, 05:54 PM

Believe me, I'm able.

But it has to be done step by step, keeping the unit names wherever possible. If you want to change a unit's name keep the internal name and change only the EU file with the text. That way the whole thing will always remain compatible with previous saves.
The easiest part is the mercenaries, anyway. That's why I want to start with those.

What you see above is only the AOR system with individual entries for almost every mercenary unit. I can make them available in a single region or in a whole cluster, just by requiring and/or excluding certain hidden resources. In pratice I have a specific signature for almost every region.
The faction units are less complicated, but those of the multiple factions are quite similar. If you want to have 40 factions in your mod, you'll probably need similar mechanisms (unless you crack that factions limit).

**Philadelphos** · November 09, 2014, 06:04 PM

To understand how it works look at these lines:

recruit "merc spanish infantry" 0 requires factions { barbarian, carthaginian, greek,
roman, } and hidden_resource iberic
recruit "merc spanish infantry" 0 requires factions { carthaginian, greek, } and
hidden_resource punic and hidden_resource sicily

The first entry is quite simple saying that your garrisons can recruit Spanish Infantry all over Spain.
The second adresses only the city of Lilybaeum, making them available even there, so that they can be recruited to fight in Sicily for the Carthaginians like they actually did.

**Altzek** · November 10, 2014, 05:49 AM

A faction switch system similar to Roma Surrectum would be cool. Playing as Nabatea while Bithynia, Atropatene, Saba and India drain your coffers (even as I put them on automanage and disband their armies) is impossible. Of course we could apply this to the various Greek cities and kingdoms as well, other than Celtic tribes.

Alternatively, specialized provincial campaigns like in Expanded Cultures, that too would work.

**Metaluis90** · November 12, 2014, 01:00 PM

Hey! I was looking at your forts-as-cities add-on here:

Originally Posted by Philadelphos

PERMANENT FORTS:

The following is a nice example on how the computer uses permanent forts to defend his more exposed territories.

This screenshot comes from my Pyrrhus campaign, and you can see how the Galatians have garrisoned the two forts of Gordion in the west and Tavium in the east, to protect their capital Ancyra in the center.

This doesn't happen every time, but when a fort is in a strategic position, it happens quite often, especially when the computer recognizes that it is obstructive to potential invaders.

More information on the Galatian Confederation:
Attachment 316491 Attachment 316492

Another fort held for a very long time by the invading Gauls is Serdica on the border between Paeonia and Thracia. Since it obstructs the connection between Bylazora and Philippopolis, for other factions this is almost like having an additional city beyond the limit of 199 regions.

And I wondered if it's possible to add a building on the region city panel which represents that settlement, so it not only gives you/AI an strategic position on the strat map but also gives economic advantages, maybe due taxation? Also, IF possible, could it be scripted that if that fort is taken by a faction, the building automatically gets damaged until it is recovered?

**Philadelphos** · November 12, 2014, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Samnite Soldier

A faction switch system similar to Roma Surrectum would be cool. Playing as Nabatea while Bithynia, Atropatene, Saba and India drain your coffers (even as I put them on automanage and disband their armies) is impossible. Of course we could apply this to the various Greek cities and kingdoms as well, other than Celtic tribes.

Alternatively, specialized provincial campaigns like in Expanded Cultures, that too would work.

It's a challenge, but I don't think it is impossible to play the Nabataeans. If you disband all other units you come to a point where you lose less than 2500 pieces a month. With a starting capital of 80.000 you can hold out for quite a while.
You should use the time to get rid of the other cities. Putting taxes to the max with no units in city should do the job and after two or three turns your Mauryan, Bithynian and other cities should all have defected to the slaves. Otherwise you can try to use your diplomats to give them as a gift to another faction.
Finally you need to get rid of your Mauryan and Bithynian leaders. That may take a bit more time, but a few suicide attacks against your former cities should do the job. Maybe you should keep at least a few infantry units, because otherwise you won't be able to lay siege on your former cities. In any case, after five or six turns you should be left with only your Nabataean cities and family members (plus a few Mauryan diplomats), so that you can start your scenario for real.
I guess here begins the real challenge, because the Nabataeans are probably one of the most difficult factions to play. They have only two small cities and lots of sand and rebels all around. I think this reflects their real situation, because as an independent power they emerged only some 150 years after the start of our timeframe. So maybe you should not play on the highest difficulty level. However you decide, I suggest that you first conquer Damascus and Palmyra, and this should give you a defendable position with a decent chance to break even.

Your idea regarding a faction switch system or specialized provincial campaigns is certainly valid and one of our options for the future. But our current work imposes other priorities and as long as I get no active support by other modders or followers, I'm afraid that it will take a while, before we can implement something like that.

Originally Posted by Metaluis90

Hey! I was looking at your forts-as-cities add-on here:

And I wondered if it's possible to add a building on the region city panel which represents that settlement, so it not only gives you/AI an strategic position on the strat map but also gives economic advantages, maybe due taxation? Also, IF possible, could it be scripted that if that fort is taken by a faction, the building automatically gets damaged until it is recovered?

Your idea sounds good, but I'm afraid there is no mechanism to address a specific fort in the game. As a consequence I can currently see no way to include the forts in building trees and the economic system. If anybody has an idea or knows a possibility, please let us know! Meanwhile, when your forts are ruled by a governor, you can use them to recruit mercenaries.

**Hudavendigar** · April 11, 2015, 03:43 PM

Hi, I've been playing RTH nearly for two weeks and it's amazing. I've never played such beautiful RTW mod before: Huge map with historically accurate borders, more historical events, beautiful building cards with informative descriptions, detailed family trees, new units, etc. RTH really satisfies my needs, except for one thing:

As for Romans, it is really unrealistic to build arena and hold games, or raise a full Roman legion in a recently conquered barbarian city. I think these kind of things should be available only if there is a significant Roman population in that city. So, is it possible to add XGM's culture/assimilation mechanism to RTH? That feature is a nice adaptation of BI's religion system, and wouldn't it be a nice touch for RTH?

**Philadelphos** · April 14, 2015, 03:33 PM

Thanks for your compliments and your suggestions.

I agree with what you say about building arenas and I have just implemented some restrictions that will make it more difficult to do so. It will be in the next installment then, but it works without a culture assimilation mechanism which would eat too many resources for the number of buildings we got. So what you'll need now is a well developed city before you can build an amphitheatre and I think that is quite realistic, because after a while they built them all over the place.
Regarding the legions I'm still thinking about a solution. We could restrict some essential units to Italy, at least before Marian Reforms. That would make it more realistic for the Roman player, but maybe it would mess up the computer player? I think this needs some more study, but I'm sure that we can make it more realistic without damaging the overall equilibrium.

**Philadelphos** · July 12, 2015, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by Hudavendigar

Hi, I've been playing RTH nearly for two weeks and it's amazing. I've never played such beautiful RTW mod before: Huge map with historically accurate borders, more historical events, beautiful building cards with informative descriptions, detailed family trees, new units, etc. RTH really satisfies my needs, except for one thing:

As for Romans, it is really unrealistic to build arena and hold games, or raise a full Roman legion in a recently conquered barbarian city. I think these kind of things should be available only if there is a significant Roman population in that city. So, is it possible to add XGM's culture/assimilation mechanism to RTH? That feature is a nice adaptation of BI's religion system, and wouldn't it be a nice touch for RTH?

The new version is out and you'll find it much harder now to build an amphitheatre, since I've put a number of prerequisites such as a forum, a palaestra and certain barracks (varying according to the level of your amphitheatre).

**Bohz** · September 03, 2015, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Philadelphos

And I wondered if it's possible to add a building on the region city panel which represents that settlement, so it not only gives you/AI an strategic position on the strat map but also gives economic advantages, maybe due taxation? Also, IF possible, could it be scripted that if that fort is taken by a faction, the building automatically gets damaged until it is recovered?

Your idea sounds good, but I'm afraid there is no mechanism to address a specific fort in the game. As a consequence I can currently see no way to include the forts in building trees and the economic system. If anybody has an idea or knows a possibility, please let us know! Meanwhile, when your forts are ruled by a governor, you can use them to recruit mercenaries.

About this, as Brother-loving said, the game engine is unable to track and identify the forts (or the watchtowers) on the map...
Well, this is not entirely true.
As many modders know, the game allows you to start with forts and watchtowers already placed.

The problem is that they cannot be given a unique tag. But I think I have found a workaround for that.

IIRC, I once achived something like that: first of all, I decided that only a few colonies could exist. I decided their position and noted the coordinates (x,y position on the map).

Then I made a multi-triggers script (in endless checking loop, of course), checking:
- if a family member of my faction (e.g. Romans) was in a 1-tile range from the spot i decided where the colony should have been (using the I_CharacterTypeNearTile condition, or something like that);
- if the player was human (dont remember the condition code, but its very simple)
- if the button "build a fort" was pressed by the human player (again, dont remember the code, but this is simple too. IIRC, there's a breakdown of all codes in this forum)

If all this conditions were met, there where two simple consequences (apart from the fort built):
- a building called "specific_colony_name" was created in the appropriate settlment
- a diplomat with the "specific_colony_name" trait was created just outside the same settlment

All you had to do was to move the diplomat into the fort and he would serve as a governor of the colony (which could then be left ungarrisoned).

I was also about to add another simple feature (similar to what RTH guys have done), which is making the diplomat/governor immovable and immortal once he spent a turn inside the fort, forbiding it from despawning.

Ok, so, I know this method may be not satisfactory: is available only to human player and involves some tricky scripting, but I think its a good path to achive a near-realistic and historical colonial system for the Romans.

I would like to hear some replies from modders. If I'll find the time, I could try to replicate the script in vanilla RTW, to test it and, if it works, to post it here.

Ciao

**Bohz** · September 03, 2015, 08:45 AM

Oh, yes, I almost forgot...

If all this works, its also simple to test if any other faction control the colony (by using the same I_CharacterTypeNearTile condition for any other faction wich is not roman). This would trigger two simple commands:

- destroy (100%damage) the colony (i.e. the "building" representing the colony inside the settlement);
- give a determined amount of money to the faction that conquer the colony (simulating the loot).

**Philadelphos** · September 08, 2015, 04:04 AM

Back from the wilderness (no web), I apologize for the delay of my response.

I have used the I_CharacterTypeNearTile condition too, and as far as I know it is the only way to identify a fort on the map. I have used it to trigger a number of specific ancillaries if you occupy a determinate fort.

So I believe that your proposal is viable and since we have still one free building slot, I'd like to see your scripts.

**Bohz** · September 10, 2015, 05:04 AM

I'll post the script as soon as I get it working (it has been a long time since I last worked on a mod, so it'll take me some time to get back on track)..

**piet10000** · November 24, 2015, 01:01 AM

I've been playing the game for some time and absolutely love it and really appreciate all the work that has been put in. This mod is really something special.

But one thing that I notice now that also annoyed me a bit in the vanilla version is that, although I know the game is called Rome Total War, so the Roman faction has, it seems, more units, possibilities (like building bigger cities and better roads), etc. But when you play for example a 'barbarion' faction and make it to rule most of the then known world and make it to dominate for several hundred years, how come this faction then can't build huge cities, better roads, (more advanced or) artillery in general, ... to just name a few. Of course, a lot of these factions didn't have the possibility to develop as much as for example the Romans but still it would be nice to have a bit more room for development, based on parallels with other civilizations. I know your work has already did this a bit, but still it would be nice to have factions who can be equal in terms of possibilities to develop.

Don't know if this has already been mentioned here but thought it wouldn't hurt to propose

Thanks anyway for all the work, lot of love!

**Philadelphos** · November 24, 2015, 03:27 PM

Thanks for your kind comment and your proposal.

I absolutely agree with your request, that barbarian cultures should have the same possiblities as the more civilized ones. And you are right with your observation that I have already taken a number of steps in that direction. If I haven't done more, this is because it requires a lot of work to put those additional levels in place, and I had other priorities to work on. I'll have a look now what more can be done, and maybe I can expand the Barbarian possibilities some more before the next release, but I can't guarantee.

**BillyGoat91** · December 05, 2015, 07:49 PM

Would it be possible to add a Judea provincial campaign where the faction starts with the Maccabean family tree, Jerusalem, and the forts around it?

**BillyGoat91** · December 06, 2015, 11:40 AM

I am willing to work on it myself, I just need some input from other people. I know it will require modding mostly just the descr_strat file. That said, what faction would be easiest to change over, will I need to modify the export_descr_buildings file to enable recruitment of certain units, etc. Thanks for any advice given! I just downloaded the mod last night and it looks absolutely amazing

**Philadelphos** · December 07, 2015, 12:59 PM

Hi Billy, that's a good idea. But I warn you, because it requires a bit more than just modding the descr_strat.

Anyway, if you like to do it I'd suggest the following:

Eliminate the Dacian faction and transform it into your new Judaean faction.

This requires a lot of work and you have two ways:

You can either keep your Judaeans under the Eastern culture or create a new seventh culture for them.
The latter is more difficult, while the former requires only some adjustments in the temple system.

Let's say you chose the first solution.

Then you need to change the culture of the dacia faction from Barbarian to Eastern.
Afterwards you need to have a look at the temples and units they are able to build in the descr_buildings file.
You certainly will need to adjust all the building descriptions in the export_buildings file. Always have a look at the Armenian faction description of the buildings.
You can substitute all original dacian descriptions with those of the Armenians and that should do for the most.

After that you're at a good point and can have a look at the units.

Finally you turn your attention to the strat file and create your dynasty. Move the Dacian cities, leaders and armies to the rebel faction, but don't forget to put in that little "sub_faction dacia", because otherwise you'll get a CTD.
Then create your dynasty, but to get it working you need to adjust the descr_names file. To do that simply copy the names under armenia to dacia, maybe eliminting those more genuinely Armenian. Now the original rebels with a sub_faction dacia tag won't work anymore and you need to change them all. Best will be to sub_faction thrace, because they have similar names. But if one name is missing, you'll still have a CTD. Then simply copy the original Dacia names to thrace (it doesn't matter if most of them will be double).

Then you can start to extrapolate your leaders from the slave faction. That means messing with the rebels family tree and cause more problems, but you can simplify the process by eliminating the rebels family tree, because it isn't used in the game anyway. Always remember to keep a backup and test often.

I hope this isn't too discouraging. Good luck!