Creating & Editing Unit Recruitment

[Dresden]

This tutorial will explain how to edit Mercenary recruitment entries in a new startpos created by the kit. Please note the kit is not out yet, but this method works for Attila so I am hoping it will work for Thrones.

If you want to edit existing Mercenary entries without the kit, you can simply use PFM or EditSF to manually change them in the FACTION ARRAYs. Magnar has a tutorial on how to do that I believe. The basics of editing an existing startpos for mercenaries is to open the startpos, find the FACTION ARRAY you want to edit, and find the Factional Mercenaries section. In there you can edit/remove entries and also duplicate an entry to add a new one. I would recommend Magnar's video tutorial on the subject if you are interested in doing these edits now. Here is an example of editing an existing startpos entry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

However, if you want to do mass editing or are creating your own startpos, this is the method to use (once we get the kit):

1. Create a new mod pack with the following tables in it:
- faction_to_mercenary_set_junctions
- main_units
- mercenary_pool_to_group_junctions
- mercenary_pools
- mercenary_units_groups
- province_to_mercenary_set_junctions
(This assumes you want to create new mercenary pools, if you want to use vanilla pools & groups you don't need all of these tables).

2. Add your units to the main units table with their unit keys but make sure the rest of the entries in that table are vanilla (just copy/paste the same entry for every land_unit, caste, audio, etc entry).

3. Create any new mercenary pools and groups you want. Assign the units to the proper mercenary groups. Assign the mercenary groups to the right pools or to your own pool. Assign those pools to a faction or province. (See below for more information on mercenary tables)

4. Here is an example pack with the changes outlined: http://www.mediafire.com/file/g9sr99...enarytest.pack (This pack is for Attila) . It has 3 new test units all assigned to the Sassanids as factional mercenaries. Note that this pack uses table fragments so it doesn't have the vanilla entries, but you can use vanilla tables if you want and just add your changes onto them. I think using table fragments is easier because you won't have to update this pack with any changes made to vanilla entries.

5. Make sure the mod pack you created is saved as a movie type pack (File - change pack type - movie, then save)

6. Put the new mod pack file in the data folder with the other pack files. Make sure no other mod packs are activated in mod manager.

7. Go to assembly_kit/binaries and double click on Bob.AssemblyKit.exe
8. Output a startpos, it should look like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

9. It will take awhile for Attila to output it, probably a few minutes at least. The splash screen will be there for a long time and may seem like it crashed, just let it go.

10. After it completes, go to /assembly_kit/working_data/campaigns and find the startpos.esf file you output. The units should now be in there:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Anytime there is a startpos update or you want to add new units/change units, you can just make your changes to the pack file and then output a new startpos. Individual changes to units are also possible by editing the startpos in PFM or EditSF if its just smaller changes.


Also note you can change the replenishment time, starting amount, total amount, etc in the pack file.


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Mercenary Group tables - Here is how Mercenary groups and pools work:
- Each unit is assigned to a Mercenary group in the mercenary_unit_groups table. You can also change replenishment, etc. in this table.
- Each Mercenary group is then assigned to a Mercenary pool in the mercenary_pool_to_groups_junctions table. These require ID numbers to be unique and also require a reference to the mercneary_pools table (each entry for a mercenary pool must have its ID key in that table)
- Each Mercenary pool is assigned to a faction or province in either the faction_to_mercenary_set table or the province_to_mercenary_set_table.


Note: This method can also be used to change other startpos aspects that normally aren't editable by the kit, such as starting unit sizes (set in main_units), garrisons, etc.