Buff and Shine 2.4: New Factions, Changed Recruitment and more

[WeekendGeneral]

Haven't had a chance to play the mod yet, but there is so much great stuff here, in the preview and in going over the files. I do have a suggestion and a few questions. Suggestion:
Move agent recruitment over to the faction specific barracks. Also make the recruitment contingent on other building present. So a koj1 building can build a priest if a Church is present. This would really help with the agent spam. I did it on my own mod for BC 2.3.
Next, two questions (not only specific to your mod): Why not use movement modifiers in the EDU? That way, archer units without shields can be made a little faster, and spearmen with big shields a little slow? Just surprised this tool isn't used. Lastly, recruitment preferences can be added, which would make the AI more likely to produce the units the mod maker wants them to. I made both of these changes to EDU in my personal mod, and they do add quite a lot to the game, especially army composition.

Forgive me if I am wrong, doesn't unit recruitment requiring a building outside of the building it is produced in lead to CTDs? Or at the very least make the whole mod more unstable?

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll probably include that!

[WeekendGeneral]

Hi All,

The good news is that I have completed the majority of the content for the patch. You will soon be able to challenge the Bavandid ispahbadhs for the sovereignty of Tabaristan.



The Bavandid's are a Shia infantry focused faction drawing heavily upon Daylamite and Buid legacies. With the fragmentation, the Seljuk Empire the dynasty find themselves for the first time in nearly a century without an overlord. Will you be able to exploit this disunity amongst the Sunni? Can you recreate the achievements of the previous great Shia Daylamites the Buids? Or will you be forced to bend the knee to a new Turkic Warlord?

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardash...avandid_ruler)



The bad news is twofold - there are many CTDs and I need to sort them all out before I feel remotely comfortable letting you guys find even more. Also, work-related my senior at work has gone on maternity leave, until we get a replacement (as I work in health this can take months) I will be covering her position meaning my work-load will be doubled. Unfortunately, this will leave less time to mod, I will continue but it will be a bit slower than before.

Thanks,

[A_B]

Forgive me if I am wrong, doesn't unit recruitment requiring a building outside of the building it is produced in lead to CTDs? Or at the very least make the whole mod more unstable?

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll probably include that!

I had my personal mod quite stable, using faction specific recruitment for both units AND agents. Just used 'and building_present_min_level church small_church', or whatever was needed. The one odd thing I remember (this was several years ago) is that it didn't look for that building in just that city. As long as you had the building in any city, the faction specific barracks would recruit. It's worth a shot though, to get rid of agent spam, which is very annoying.


The one new reason for crashes was too many units recruitable from one barracks level, which I posted back on page 5 or 6 (I'd never heard of that issue before, and was quite proud to have discovered it).

[Grauman]

WeekendGeneral

@

Cool News

[phylosopher stoned]

the Eldeguzid town hall line recruitment tree has some inconsistencies, just wanted you to bring it to your attention if you didn't already know.

[WeekendGeneral]

the Eldeguzid town hall line recruitment tree has some inconsistencies, just wanted you to bring it to your attention if you didn't already know.

I know there is a couple but if possible could you list/pm them please

[Jagdtiger92]

Hi, help pls!
How to add Mangonel to this mod?

[WeekendGeneral]

Hi all, still working on this submod. My house was recently flooded in a storm. Which has derailed my life a little bit. Currently addressing some animation issues the plan is to fix that release a beta build fix any bugs and go from there.
Catch you all soon.

[A_B]

That is good news we can General. I'm a big fan of your work.

[AnOriginalName]

So wait, are the Slavic factions removed? The map has many of those provinces removed and none of the factions.....

[Lokeros]

Hey, i dont really know if this was mentioned before, but in my opinion the loyalty trait should be fixed. It sounds very good in theory, however, in practice when i played every single general (out 40 or so) appeared to have his loyalty decreased to 0 no matter what. Of course it took some time but it was no way to change it then, which caused to many troubles.

Wysłane z mojego SM-T280 przy użyciu Tapatalka

[TheEmperor]

Hi, I've made a map about Atabegs that can be useful for this mod and expanding BC like adding factions, rebels and adjustment of territories.
Hope it helps.

HERE

[skiamakia]

how to fix a problem, when choosing a faction in grand campaign and pushing next it returns to main manu

[Macrath]

Going to have to give this a try. Broken Crescent was always one of my favs

[Jurand of Cracow]

Weekend General, from the descriptions is seems you've done a great, great job! I'm stunned!
I've played Broken Crescent last year but was disappointed by a number of issues (unreasonable CAI and diplomacy (no z3n tricks), inferior behaviour - compared to other mods - of the AI and the units in the battles due to lack of RBAI, not meaningful traits, safety from rebellions, redundancies and a kind of mess among the units). From description you've provided it seems you'd fixed most of these issues. I'll give a (unexpected) try to the BC. It's going to be with Armenian Cilicia, which doesn't feature in the other mods, making BC unique (as Makuria and the numeber of the muslim factions). I think it was pretty developed in the past.
For the moment my major concern is the low prices of the upkeep of the units - I fear stack-spam, as it was the case in the HURB. In the past with BC I've also experienced many CTDs. But I'll see how it plays.
Congratulations anyway! Keep on improving it!
JoC

[WeekendGeneral]

Hello everyone,

I've been busy tinkering away for the last few months and are very, very close to releasing Buff and Shine 2.0! This will be a big update
Changes include:
# 2 new factions - The Bavandid's and Seljuks of Kerman (Seljuks of Iraq are also present) which incorporate new units and models.
# Overhauled Building Tree - removed useless/unnecessary buildings. Core units are now recruited exclusively through Fedudal building chain whilst levy and auxialry troops are recurited through militia barracks/slave markets/Farms or Goverment Buildings. New buildings also added.
# New Campaign Textures for all new factions instead of recycling current faction sprites.
# Overhauled the title/royalty system resulting in many new ancillaries and traits.
# Rewrote much of the poorly translated text/info descriptions into English and for the definitions that were either completely incorrect or missing I have researched historical journal articles and books to produce relevant text.
# Tweaks to Unit stats that now reflect armour weight on unit speed, given priority stats to units to reduce AI spam and greater balance to all units.
# Added optional historically inspired missions for extra flavour and challenge - Resolve the Civil War of the Khwarezmid Empire by defeating the upstart for a reward, restore the ERE to trigger new developments or resit Kulchang's Betrayal as the Qara Khitai.
# Addressed many many bugs.

Release is soon fingers crossed.

It will need some bug fixing as I work alone and cannot address all mistakes but hang in there everyone.

[Jurand of Cracow]

Hi WG,
can I have just a few quick questions:
- I understand there's no such thing like a "family blood" (like in Stainless Steel) which may be lost if you adopt a general / marry a non-princes women to a stranger?. Is there any reason for not-to-adopt generals from outside the family? (apart from the intial loyalty trait "Speaks of Loyalty": -1Loyalty)
- why there's +2 Authority benefit in the provincial titles? what purpose does Authority serve in this mod - other than for the FL to keep his general loyal and the FH to become the FL? In general - don' you think that the provincial titels giving +3 law, +2 Authority, +10% tax at the cost of -2 Loyalty are not overpowered?
- there're quite a few units with the "free_upkeep" attribute while I believe there's no free upkeep in the mod (this perhaps doesn't have any impact on the game). Or is there / you're thinking about free upkeep?
- are there traits' benefits (ie. for the generals) from the education buildings lower than university? I understand that there's no educational system for the young generals as it exists in the SS/SSHIP or EBII ? (ie.: it makes no sense to leave young generals in the cities, they can get traits like Mathematical Skills at any age if they spend a whole turn in a city with university (and they're lucky))? I also understand that Castle Library only provides Diplomats, but no education?
- can you just tell what do you think on the stack-spam and endless battles due to low prices of the upkeep of the units and relatively high refilling rates?
- "is_peasant" attribute makes a unit half-effective for garrison purposes. Was it a deliberate decision to get rid of this attribute for all the units?
/I've got some issues with Levy Spearmen and Levy Archers, but I need to explore them/
cheers
JoC

EDIT: I've experienced free upkeep, so it's in the game. The feudal buildings give those free slots. However, I have the impression that some units have this attribute and yet they don't show up free in the game... I need to make more observations.

My opinion on the free upkeep is:
- you should limit it as the AI doesn't know how to use it, and the player may exploit it sometimes (the worst implementation was in the SS-HURB: the buildable forts would give 3 free upkeeps so I'd produce a farm of 20 forts just to have army of 60 units costing nothing in upkeep).
- this is sometimes useful fun for the player, so limited numbers can exists. The BC solution is ok, I think (prompts player to build factional feudalism, provides difference between home and conquered lands).

[WeekendGeneral]

Weekend General, from the descriptions is seems you've done a great, great job! I'm stunned!
I've played Broken Crescent last year but was disappointed by a number of issues (unreasonable CAI and diplomacy (no z3n tricks), inferior behaviour - compared to other mods - of the AI and the units in the battles due to lack of RBAI, not meaningful traits, safety from rebellions, redundancies and a kind of mess among the units). From description you've provided it seems you'd fixed most of these issues. I'll give a (unexpected) try to the BC. It's going to be with Armenian Cilicia, which doesn't feature in the other mods, making BC unique (as Makuria and the numeber of the muslim factions). I think it was pretty developed in the past.
For the moment my major concern is the low prices of the upkeep of the units - I fear stack-spam, as it was the case in the HURB. In the past with BC I've also experienced many CTDs. But I'll see how it plays.
Congratulations anyway! Keep on improving it!
JoC

Thanks, Jurand I'm quite a fan of your own mods for stainless steel.
I'm super happy with the current available build but am working towards a level of satisfaction in my soonish next release. The only ctd that I am aware of is caused by clicking custom battle and then campaign (and vice versa) without starting a battle/campaign.
I really enjoy BC, it engages with so many unique and interesting ideas both thematically and with gameplay. However, it requires some tender loving care which I am trying to provide with my own flair with this submod. PLEASE give feedback I may not agree with your suggestions but whatever you suggest I will reflect on it.
Cheers.

[Macrath]

My opinion on the free upkeep is:
- you should limit it as the AI doesn't know how to use it, and the player may exploit it sometimes (the worst implementation was in the SS-HURB: the buildable forts would give 3 free upkeeps so I'd produce a farm of 20 forts just to have army of 60 units costing nothing in upkeep).
- this is sometimes useful fun for the player, so limited numbers can exists. The BC solution is ok, I think (prompts player to build factional feudalism, provides difference between home and conquered lands).

I agree, any mod that offers free upkeep in forts is pretty much just set on easy mode. WOuld be different if the AI could take advantage of free upkeep forts but as Jurand says, free upkeep in forts allows the player to exploit the mechanic. I remember old versions of Thera that had 5 free upkeep for forts. Just build a bunch of forts in each region and you field forces the AI could never hope to match.

[Jurand of Cracow]

Hi Weekend General,
Some thoughts, observations, bug-spotting and suggestions as you requested.

The provincial titles (an issue I'm quite familiar with )

I'm not very fond of the way the provincial titles are dealt with in the BC for a few reasons:
1) they are too powerful (3 law, 2 authority, 10% tax at price of -2 loyalty). This renders other ancillaries/traits irrelevent (why to bother about Chancellor title if it gives only 1 law?)
2) there're no differences of those benefits while I think they should differ (my extensive argument see here). It should be part of the gameplay for the player to decide which PT is given to which general so that the potential is realized in the best way.
3) since the game engine equalizes the number of characters with the number of provinces, it means each general has +3 law, 10%. Why to bother of having the stuff which doesn't differentiate between generals.
4) the result for Loyalty and tax is quite opposite from what I deem right (again, see here).

I'm also curious to learn what purpose does Authority serve in this mod (other than for the FL to keep his general loyal and the FH to become the FL). In my modding it does (see here, this "minimum authority") and I'm very careful not to throw it around so that only few generals have more than 1. Here every general (see point 3) will have authority - what's the reason? If it doesn't matter, why to keep it?

Free upkeep:

I actually think the Broken Crescent found the sweet spot - 1-4 free upkeep for rather basic units - if the player builds the feudal buildings. That's ok, it removes the feeling that stationing troops is a kind of waste of resources. The counterpart should be garrison script (free additional units in case of a siege) for the AI to compensate for it's inability to keep more forces in settlements (I think it's only for the capitals now).


Issues spotted while playing Cilicia:

*** the major problem
I've had a very easy walkthrough with Cilicia. Diplomacy is very easy in the BC and I made alliance with Byzantium early. Then it attacked Rum, and did it relentessly. I just joined the pack to get half of the Rum spoils. Then Rum actually walked through my lands and attacked Zenghids - again doing a great job for me. It was very easy then to go and take the Zenghids' settlements.
I think is very un-historical since Romaioi were targeting Cilicia hard and actually got rid of its statehood half a century earliers (plus Ani's statehood one-and-a-half centuries earlier). I blame a lame CAI and it's diplomatic attitudes for it.
*** traits and ancillaries
- the provincial title for Kayseri/Mazak: when you take Kayseri from the Rum, the name chages into armenian "Mazak". However, the provincial title says "Bdeshkh of Kayseri". In the other settlement usually the armenian name is used.
- if you autoresolve battles, your general gets Scars very quickly (this is a M2TW issue, I've dealt with this issue here, as far as I remember)

*** units' issues
--- I wonder if it's right that a christian nation can recruit muslim units (like Adath Infantry) from the Walled Village/Town/City line. I think for the christian nations the muslim units should be available only as mercenaries and as AoR they should be able to train units according to own religion;
- there're errors in the description of the Harafisha Volunteers,
--- I wonder why Levy Archers have such high melee values (8?)? Additionally, they're better in melee than Caucasian Mountaneer Archers (5, other features are the same) - I think it's unreasonable, the people from the mountains are hardened and much better fighter. And neither should be effective in melee.
--- - Akinjis Javelin have "shooting circle formation" in the in-game description, but in reality they have "wedge" formation (might be fixed, it's my note from 2016).

*** names of the provinces:
--- the name of a province in Anatolia "Pamphylia" is given to the province around Konya/Ikonion, while it should relate to a province on the coast around Attaleia (what is now Pisidia). This should be changed (perhaps into "Ikonion" province, or maybe Lykaonia - see this map, for instance), while the Attlaleia province should become Pamphylia, although it may stay Pisidia.
--- the name Major Armenia (around Amida) should be Tsopk (gr. Sophene) or even Korchayk (gr. Gogarene) or any any medieval equivalent, I think. Major Armenia is not historical at all, to my mind.
--- province of Taron - area on the upper Euphratus with Karin/Erzurum as the capital. While historically it was indeed west of the lake Wan such a name for the lands so far to the north-west doesn't seem right. But I may be wrong on it, we should ask the Armenians or check in the Armenian maps.
--- province of Lesser Armenia around Malatya - I'm not sure if it was used in this way in the Middle Ages. In the Ancient Times the Armenia Minor would be much more to the north. However, I've seen one map with the term "Lesser Armenia", so it might be right.

Victory conditions (VCs) for Cilician Armenia

In the B&S 1.6 the conditions have been revamped (good work!) and now they make sense. Only small changes could be made. I'd propose for Cilicia something as follows:
- small victory (short game) - should signify uniting of the Armenian lands, from Cilicia to the east, including Marash, Malatya, Amida, Erzerum, Van, Ani, Dvin, but also Edessa and and Tabriz. The number of the settlments could be 20, but usually it doesn't matter (you get more than that due to the concrete province requirements). However, I don't think Mosul should be part of the VC - it's not historical Armenian city or region. I think there's no need to include conditions to destroy factions like Zenghids - it's ahistorical, the rulers wanted to rule their lands, not destroy others.
- large victory (long game) - should signify taking over the rule of the middle-eastern Orthodox world (including most of the holy places) by the Armenians. Additionally to the small victory VCs it should include taking Constantinople, Antiocheia, Hierosolyma and also the Georgian and Albanian lands. The number of the settlments could be 40, but again it's not essential. Total subjugation of Byzantium and Georgia would be required.

Issues spotted while playing Makuria


The marvels of the Broken Crescent

* the map: beautiful colours, not too shiny, precise; but before all: depicting the provinces at a perfect granularity (I find this level much better than vanilla and the mods which followed);
* the units: new and numerous, new pics, new stories, precision and uniqueness - ideal for historical immersion; number and diversity of units is amazing;
* variety of buildings provide also with immersion and ensures economy is ok (even if I prefer bigger differences between cities and castles);
* recruting units mainly from the factional feudal system (buildings) is a very good solution, while stables and ranges provide other benefits for the units;
* Makuria is an extremely interesting and unique faction: never appears in the other mods. Furthremore, it feels like it's finished: all the elements are there. For instance, the names of the settlements in Egypt change into Nubian ones after conquest.
* the music for this faction absolutely fantastic! I want it everywhere!
* the interactive events - eg. it's great to have Perform Charity or Tolerate other faiths choices and see the traits of the generals developing or new buildings available.
* historical events - crusades, baht etc.

A few gameplay issues:

* a killer exploit strategy for Makuria is to keep peace with the Ajjubids by paing baht', take three settlements before they do (Axum, Adhjabad, Massawa), and then develop your infrastructure to the highest levels (and I mean: ylarge cities and citadels). You may also take additional neutral far-away settlements in the meantime. The baht' is bearable (just 4000) and Ajjubids never attack you. You don't need to do anything - just wait, build up infrastructure, then at some point gather the army, and suddenly strike the Ajjubids in the back (they leave very few units in the settlements) and take instantly 3 (Phrim, Swat, Luxor). Then your're in the heart of their lands with your army full. There is no unrest in the 3 settlements (no mechanisms like in the SSHIP, religion likely to be over 50%). Easy.
My thoughts: it' actually easy for a moder to make this exploit harder. Just introduce raise in the baht depending on the number of settlements: the more Makuria has, the higher the bahts), or rising with time (plus 4000 every 20 turns), or rising according to the situation of the Ajjubids (ie: if they lose, they want to squeez out more money out of his vassal). Or just make Ayyubids attacking Makuria after some time. Or any other solution: make a player to find a way dealing with Ayyubids early.

* a related issue,pertinent to all factions: the AI is passive in diplomacy: it rarely attack you, it's easy to strike alliances (it concerns Makuria since it has not other borders than Ayyubids, but also Rum or Cilicia; admitedely with Georgia I had different experience, but it might have been scripted, I've played less 20 turns). No backstabbing and easy peace make the game very easy (and, unfortunately, uninteresting). The only time when somebody attacked me was when an Yemeni fleet blocked my port. But I got ceasefire instantly, so it didn't matter.
My opinion: in general the AI in Broken Crescent is lame on instigating the wars. More wars, more backstabbing, more aggressiveness is needed! It' present in a number of other mods. If you don't change the overall diplomacy, something should be scripted, otherwise it gets boring.

* the civil war mechanism - it works, it's great, it provides for difficulty but it has some deficiencies. At some point my generals started to get the traits "Open disobedience", "You're not my king", "Rebel" etc. This was because my king had 4 Dread and got the feature "Offends Nobility" and "Inspires civil war" plus had 2 Authority. The effects: generals' Loyalty lost, unrest in the settlements 0%, immobile (7 out of 10 generals). This was probably because my FL was 4 Dread, the the majority of the generals Chivalrous. At first I thought to myself: Great mechanism! I want it in the other mods as well! But:
- even the very dreaded generals (= similar to the FL) got the traits. They didn't sided with his king :-(
- some generals woud get a contradictory traits ("Loyal to the liege" and "King's Right Hand" and "Royalist" at the same time "Rebel" and "You're not my king")
- the worst thing: it lasted for decades, I mean: 40 years - throghout the whole life of the FL. I've quickly used the exploit of Next heir ancillary (added 6 Authority so my FL had maximal authority), but it didn't change anything - the new generals would also get Rebel.
- I've put the disobedient generals outside the settlements to avoid them rioty - immobility isn't complete, saddly, I understand it's not possible to achieve in the engine. However, for decades those 0 Loyalty generals didn't rebel! I wonder how it's possible within the engine - 0% chance of rebelling? I think there's something wrong with paramenter if 0 Loyalty doesn't end in rebellion (ie general turning to the Rebel faction).
Anyway, the promises of Weekend General are fullfilled - and I uplaud him!
- what's needed is a better description of the system - for the players to know what is to be expected.
- I'm not sure about parts of the logic in the mechanism. But to assess it rightly it'd be needed to scrutinize the triggers and the relations between them. An example: the triggers for getting Dread from spy/assassin activity are not adjusted to the system. Namely, a Dread FL is really pain in ass (he cannot "unrebel" the rebels). However, you need assassins killing enemy assassing, who appear in numbers. The result is saddly: your FL gets Dread. After some time, even if he was Chivalrous, he quickly gets Dreaded. And this prompts civil war and he cannot unrebel the rebels. (at the extrem it may be helpful, though. A general with a lot of Dread gets Authority as well, what may be helpful in the civil war.
My suggestion for this would be just lower the probability of the FL getting dread from this source.
* sometimes the AI would hire a lot of assassins (I had like 8 after capturing a city in Egypt). I you have a Dreaded FL and you're not concerned with getting even more dread then they're easy to kill with your own assassins. However, if your FL is Chivalrous then we've got a problem - what do do. This is a challenge for the player (maybe a good one, I don't know).
* one turn after death of the FL all the generals lost trait "You're not my King" and regained mobility and abiliy to govern (didn't cause so much unrest).

* merchants have a major impact on your budget. They very easily provide 1000-2000 florins (with 3-5 acumen), almost the same as a castle somewhere. In general they provided 30-40% of my budget. I think it's implausible, and it's also not in line with the other mods thinking. In some (EBII) they're just removed. In some they provide between 10 and 20 %% of the income (see for instance here). It this would be specific for Makuria, then I'd find it historically very implausible: the trade here was in no way comparable to the Oriental or European, and there's already a building Indian Trade in the settlements.
They can be nerfed easily. However, this might be an intentional choice of the authors of the mod: to make the additional income more important then income from the settlements. With the merchants available from higher-tire settlements it makes bigger settlements more lucrative than the smaller ones.
Additionally, I've seen few AI merchants. It seems not to care much, eg the whole Nile Delta was empty of merchants. On the other hand, if there're any AI merchants then they provide an awful lot of money, eg a guy of 5 acumen near Massawa provided AI with 8k florins.

* the money-military balance: [ availability of recruits <> prices of units <> cost of upkeep ] I find the weakest feature of the Broken Crescent: it results in endless battles. There're simply too many units and too many battles. You can lose an army and recruit another one very fast. Yes, there's a problem to have the money to recruit (5x upkeep), but the number of recruits is non-issue. As a result the battles are not decisive.

* the range of movement of the generals and agents is really big (and too big: it eliminates the issue of tactical/operational movement as any army may instantly reach everywhere; it also confuses the AI). For Makuria it's not such a sever problem, but as you get to the Nile delta you can reach everywhere. It spoils the behaviour of the AI since as it's best if it is able to reach one settlement from a neighbouring settlement withinone turn, but not more.

* there's practicaly no unrest in the cities. Also the religious unrest is surprisingly small. You conquer a city, leave three cheap infantry units there, and go further for the conquest. This makes things extremely easy for the player.

* Makuria's units are well-armoured (not only Makurian Knights, but also other units have good defense stats). While this makes Makuria a good match for the Ayyubids and might be good for the AI behaviour in general, I've doubts if it's historical. Overall, in the game all the units usually have 6-8 armour+shield irrespectively if they're coming from hot Africa or cold Caucasus. I think more RR/RC thinking is needed.

Smaller gameplay issues and observations:

* there're no pirates at the Red Sea or around Somali/Sokotra. I've spent there 50 years roaming with 10-people Dhow and nobody appeared. Also blocking a neutral port (I'd expect there're potential pirates inside ;-) doesn't spawn pirates. I'd suggest making something so that the sea is rife with the pirates, as it was in history and what the M2TW engine makes possible. (I've seen pirates at the Mediterreanean Sea, but I cannot tell if they're numerous).
I think one can change it easily by a parameter in a file.

* balistas and catapults have the same speed as infantry. Not sure if it's intentional as in most of the mods they're slower. Since they slow down any army, this situation as beneficial for the player: he can bring siege weapons along and take city-after-city without sieging. Very fast - I could conquer Nile Delta within few turns, without letting the AI to counterattack (and as you know the CAI is lazy, it does something on the map only after some time). For the AI matters less since it usually doesn't use all the movement points.
Also easy to change by parameter, I suppose.

* there're very few rebellions (i.e. independent forces appearing just by chance in the countryside). This lowers the need to keep any forces deep inside your territory. Just one crappy unit is enough (especially given that the unrest is so low). In other mods I'd always keep a few units to combat such rebellions. Furthermore, in some mods (eg. EBII) these guys can be very aggressive and actually take your settlement.
Also easy to change by parameter, I suppose.

* I think taking over the buildings of the unfriendly factions / other religions has not been fully worked out. Makuria can take over muslim Dhimmi community building and benefit from - it definitely should be disabled and Makuria should build it's own Edict of Tolerance. Further more, I took over Ayyubid's factional recruitment center (ie feudal building: Jund system). Although I couldn't produce troops, I go free_upkeep for the Muslim troops (in that case Adath Militia). This is surely an oversight.

Historical issues and glitches:
--- in the Middle Egypt with capital al-Uxour is called "Fajum" - that's terrible, the Faium Oasis is just small part of the province in a far away corner, yes - giving much of the food, but it as simply another area. It gives pain to my teeth seeing the name Fajum describing much of the central Egypt... Just call this provicnce "Middle Egypt", that'd be ok.
--- there're Nubian names for different cities, like Touggoul (Dongola) and Phrim (Kasr Ibrim). If we keep this spirit it should be Phras (or Phrs), not Faras.
--- resource pictured with Camels is called Tar. I'm not sure if it should be like this, maybe these camels carry tar?
--- unit Oromo Riders is called Omoro in the building (Makurian feudalism) and in the title of its card. However, in its text description he name is (rightly) "Oromo". Nowadays, the Oromo people are the biggest folk in Ethiopia, I believe.

Other issues:
--- I'm not sure we should use the name "Coptic Pope" (I had it as Makuria). Afaik, the most important priest was the Archbishop of Alexandria.
--- I have doubts if it's historically plausible that the settlements in Nubia could grow to big sizes. There're little differences with, for instance, Nile Delta. No agricultural base existed in Nubia, but in the game they can grow big. Yeas, there're limits: it's quite difficult for the player to go beyond Minor City, but still it's posible (a Chivalrous general is needed). Anyway, I find it very good for the gameplay, thus a sacrifice of historicity is legitimate.
--- I've got slight doubts about the tolerance system (interactive event). I like it very much as every mechanism which provides both historical chrome and has impact on the game mechanics (I don't like situations when something's only chrome, but has no impact on the gameplay). However, the system is not very much described as the consequences are concerned,. I'd almost always choose Tolerate option sinces it provides growth for the settlements. The benefits of Non-Toleration are not described well, I've seen Piety increased, but I'd say it's absolutely not worth. I think it should be buffed up (f.e. minus Authority for the ruler for tolerance and plus for Non-tolerance). I've seen that following "Non-tolerance" does not prevent the player from building "Edict of tolerance" building.
--- Makuria gets a mission just (1-2) turns after finishing another. I was in peace with Ayyubids and Yemeni. All my missions concerned blocking a port of Sokotra or in Somali. No missions which would prompt the war, like taking a settlement from another nation, or even a neutral one. The benefits of the missions were usually 3-4 thousands florin worth (3 Beja units or 2 Dhow units). Only after starting war with the Ayyubids I got other missions, like diplomatic contacts with the Kypchaks.
No idea if it can be changed, or it's hardcoded.

Traits and ancillaries
Overall, I think that the triggers in the EDCT and EDA should be reviewed to make it more realistic. What I lack is relation between what the generals do and what traits do they get. It feels like they get traits accidentally (apart from the battles, then you know why a trait was gained).
--- the province Alodia with capital Soba provides a general with the title "Sonoj of Meroe". I believe it should be Sonoj of Soba, since Meroe disappeared sometime in 4-5th century.
* Academy trained - they get it even thought there're no education establishments, I believe you'd need to build something beforehand. In general, some information on how to get education would be handy for the new players.
* Ignorant - so many of them, hmm.
* the charity line of the traits given when the ruler "practices charity" (interactive event) (Performing Alms... Protect Windows and Orphans) is overpowered. The third level gives -3 squalor which makes the general a great shepherd of the cities, able for instance to build Large Cities in Makuria (that's too much, see above...)
* (anc) Next Heir mechanics failed to my at least in one instance. The general assigned didn't get the title of FH despite having that +6 Authority, and a young, untalented husband of dauthter of the incoming FL took the title of FH (maybe adopted generals get priority somehow?).
* (anc) Ark of Covenant - I find it really difficult to grasp why +5 Dread and +3 Command. Why? Why such an effect?
* (anc) Overseer: acquired often, but it provides negligible benefits.
* (anc) Swift Steed: all the generals got it, what's probably is intentional given the huge distances in Africa and Arabia. But they also get Black Stallion - in SSHIP they are incompatible together).
* (anc) Priest - I mean Catholic Priest; only one of my generals got it while everybody got Coptic Priest. Anyway a trigger for the Priest should prevent Makurians from acquiring him.
* the overall problem with the provincional titles is discribed above.
* "Poor with Taxes" - as I see in the EDCT the player is requred to keep taxes at least high in BC if people are happy. I think in most of the mods it was different (also in my mod you may see it here, but it's much more complicated as I do with all the traits. In general the mods set abasic rule is: you're a bad taxman if people are happy and taxes are low. But if taxes are normal, then it's ok, nothing bad. However, in the BC - surprise! - if taxes are normal you're still getting bad taxmen points.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trigger governing19
WhenToTest GovernorBuildingCompleted

Condition GovernorLoyaltyLevel > loyalty_disillusioned
and GovernorTaxLevel < tax_high
and SettlementBuildingExists >= wooden_pallisade

Affects BadTaxman 1 Chance 15
Affects BadAdministrator 1 Chance 5

- however, I see that the GoodTaxman is also not perfect - why you need exactly disillusioned population and very high taxes? Is somebody who keeps very high taxes and happy populations not a good taxman?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trigger governing18
WhenToTest GovernorBuildingCompleted


Condition GovernorLoyaltyLevel = loyalty_disillusioned
and GovernorTaxLevel > tax_high


Affects GoodTaxman 1 Chance 75
Affects GoodAdministrator 1 Chance 5
Affects Sane 1 Chance 2