How to have as many fort custom battlemaps as you want

[leo.civil.uefs]

The limit number of strat map models for forts is 7, one for each culture, and they're set in descr_cultures.txt.

The number of battle map models for forts is infinite though. You can have as many as you want, even for the same culture.

For having different custom battle map models for forts of the same culture, do the following:

Edit the .worldpackage file of the fort, using IWTE. Set watever culture you want (in this example, northern_european) in the culture box, and in the "variation" box type any text you want (in this exaple, orc_variation_1) .

Now in descr_strat.txt, in the forts section, set your fort like this example:

region Mt-Gundabad_Provincefarming_level 0
famine_threat 0
fort     184 298 orc_variation_1 culture northern_european

Thats all.

Assuming that there is no hardcoded limit for the number of forts present in stratmap, and that you can have as many .worldpackage files as you want in your mod, so there is no limit for the number of battlemap model variations for forts you can have.

[Gigantus]

The limit number of strat map models for forts is 7, one for each culture, and they're set in descr_cultures.txt.

Can be extended to one per faction via the faction_variant method, see settlement (castle) models for the teutonic order in the teutonic campaign:

data\models_strat\residences\faction_variants\teutonic_order

Which means that works for towers and ports as well.

[Callistonian]

Is it necessary to put these fort battle maps (worldpkgdesc at least?) in the appropriate culture subfolder in the settlements folder? I.e. northern_european culture goes in settlements/north_european/ambient_settlements? I seem to recall some old threads on this topic that claim this is necessary. If so, might be good info to include.

Also, as we discussed, the limit on the strat models is not 7 since you can have faction variations just like for settlements. But the strat model will be changed instantly when another faction captures the fort. It will switch to the other faction's variation or else revert to the culture default model specified in descr_cultures. I don't know of any way to disable this strat model switching, but the battle map remains unchanged.

[leo.civil.uefs]

Is it necessary to put these fort battle maps (worldpkgdesc at least?) in the appropriate culture subfolder in the settlements folder? I.e. northern_european culture goes in settlements/north_european/ambient_settlements? I seem to recall some old threads on this topic that claim this is necessary. If so, might be good info to include.

No.
You can have your .worldpkgdesc anywhere you want inside your mod folder. The game will always search in all folders everytime it loads a settlement.
As for the rest of the settlement files, the path for them is set inside the worldpkgdesc one.

Also, as we discussed, the limit on the strat models is not 7 since you can have faction variations just like for settlements. But the strat model will be changed instantly when another faction captures the fort. It will switch to the other faction's variation or else revert to the culture default model specified in descr_cultures. I don't know of any way to disable this strat model switching, but the battle map remains unchanged.

Yes thats a bummer and ruins everything.

[AnthoniusII]

Can be extended to one per faction via the faction_variant method, see settlement (castle) models for the teutonic order in the teutonic campaign:

data\models_strat\residences\faction_variants\teutonic_order

Which means that works for towers and ports as well.

What do you mean "towers". Can we simply repleace city walls towers with castle's ones by script?
Also what about ports? I ask because in TGC mod one afction will have two separated lines of ports and it would be nice to make unique strat_map models for the 2nd line as well.
Example:
Port unlocks:
Galey
a)trade Port
b)fortified port
Trade port is like vanilla with atleast two upgrades but no better ships and remains with Galley.Each upgrade adds more trade routs and income.

b)Fortified fport upgrades to naval base and advanced shipyard . Each upgrade unlocks better war ships but the incime remains the minimum of the initial primary port.
How can this portayed on the map? Or even on battlemap since i heard that EBII made some map tiles with coastal villages battlemaps when a battle begins on a strat_map model of a port,.

[Gigantus]

towers = watch towers

separate port lines = you already have the settlement and the castle port line, both of which are core buildings, eg have to be present in EDB, and are thus linked in descr_cultures. Any other port line will not have a model on the strat map. Ports\watch towers do not have battle maps so my comment was meant for strat models.

Which means you can use the faction variant approach in strat model matters only for the models already present in descr_cultures - one model per level.

[Domaje]

The wiki article about .worldpkgdesc file is missing infos about the what the "variant" option does.
Can you elaborate a bit about its use ? Is it for forts only ? And does it allow to avoid the strat model changing when a faction with a different culture captures the fort ?

[makanyane]

if the fort is assigned via pre-placement in descr_strat it will always stay as the named thing that was assigned regardless of who occupies it
(textures might change if they have a variant, not sure)

I can never remember if the relevant bit for assigning forts in descr_strat is the 'name' within the .worldpkgdesc or the 'variant' but if you make them both the same you should get the desired result!