Heir Desertion?

[JGeorge]

I'm not sure if I just don't understand this mod's mechanics or what, but my heir just deserted with a full army. He was besieging an enemy town for a couple of turns, and then, BAM, he was gone. The only reason I knew was because my ruler's son-in-law became the new heir presumptive (over the ruler's grandsons through the deserter, by the way). Why would an heir desert?

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

Rule of thumb is terrible authority along with nil loyalty from the heir. Note that base Stainless Steel likes to play around with traits on this subject to an extreme, guaranteeing you will lose characters this way if you're not paying close attention to the traits of the leader and your generals from turn to turn. Exactly why it does this can usually be deduced if you look into them, though you'll need to spy on the old heir - but just looking at the leader may be enlightening.

[JGeorge]

Thanks for the reply. I figured it must have something to do with that. To be honest, I'm not sure I understand those traits reflecting armies, supplies, money, etc. I need to look at them in more detail because this isn't the first general I've lost. It is the most damaging to my campaign, though. I never expected that I'd have to worry about someone in line to inherit everything just saying, 'Screw it.'

[JGeorge]

Where do I actually see the mod features and explanations of what they do in game terms, e.g., these new leader traits? I'm looking for details, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. The only thing I've found are the changes in the latest version. Do I need to look back to an earlier version to see what the mod does?

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

It definitely seems like the faction leader has something very nasty, and that's where I'd look if all else fails - see if he has something exceptionally poor dragging down loyalties across the faction. My guess would be excommunication? That tends to do the most damage. Unfortunately at a quick glance I didn't see a full guide or even something published related to loyalty but I'm sure it exists somewhere...

The supply system iirc is based on an existing "Grim Reality" supply/army state project and that's what I'd look up to get indicators of how that works. SS6.4's installer is not helpful as far as integrated subprojects but you may get some insights if you keep a split 6.3 directory and use its launcher to look at the types of mods build into Stainless Steel which could help you get an impression of other mechanics including AI.

[JGeorge]

Thanks; I'll keep doing some digging and investigating. I really feel I'm at a disadvantage by not understanding what the fancy leader traits do (in game terms). It doesn't help that my Shah just died and his heir has 2 Authority and the Mongols are breathing down my neck. I'm almost paralyzed about moving any of my generals because I don't know what affects if their armies will be fed or if they will turn traitor or what other shenanigans they might get up to.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

What I can say from my limited campaigning experience is your life will be much easier playing it a bit slower and having your armies camp out within your own borders when they start getting iffy, then jump over to enemy territory and knock them out. It's lingering in hostile territory that does the most damage. However if there's more nuance to it I just don't remember well. Having halfway decent generals at the helm is a part of it but obviously you work with what you've got...

[JGeorge]

and having your armies camp out within your own borders when they start getting iffy,

This is where the mod concepts get blurry for me. What would be considered 'iffy'? Is that based on their Loyalty? I'll micromanage them if I have to; I'm just not sure at this point what I should be looking for: low Loyalty, low supplies, disgruntled troops? I will be heartbroken if another high-ranking general absconds with his full army.

[JGeorge]

I just had this happen again with another heir. Screw this mod. I don't understand how people can totally rewrite the game and not document what they've done and how it affects gameplay.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

I might suggest SSHIP as a submod which addresses loyalty with better nuance and, if not decently documented, has a fairly strong group including developers who can explain odd mechanics. On top of being more fleshed out than Stainless Steel in the first place.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of specifics on the supply system but I'm fairly sure it's just byg's grim reality mod (honestly not a mechanism I was ever that interested in). I tend to summarize it as staying in own territory = recovery, staying in enemy territory = debuffs (shouldn't affect loyalty though, and since I never got an impression of the faction leader I cannot guess) and so the best engagement pattern is to run blitz attacks from your borders to accessible targets.

[JGeorge]

I was originally thinking about using the HIP sub-mod, but I became confused when it said that SS wasn't required for the latest version. I didn't understand how it could be a sub-mod but not require a prerequisite, so I went without it. The supply issue is definitely one thing doesn't seem to be well explained. Sure, it tells what your supply level is, but I don't feel it adequately explains the effects of the various conditions. But what really drove me nuts in this attempted playthrough were the desertions. I don't remember if it's that way un-modded MTW (maybe I should play that for a refresher), but I really feel there should be clear documentation of how changed game rules are implemented. I'm involved in software development/modification for a living, and I would have my head handed to me if I didn't provide clear instructions for what new modules do and/or how they've changed existing functionality.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

Yeah, SS is way more aggressive in playing around with loyalty than vanilla. SSHIP is more so too but I think it's more intuitive. I still think there may have been something with the faction leader that was dragging loyalties down though.

SSHIP is such a comprehensive overhaul that it's come to the point of being standalone, it's been the case for a while but I can't honestly tell you how, an SSHIP member is welcome/encouraged to opine on this.

In general documentation tends to go by the wayside in mods, it is rare to find an original dev-made guide or even comprehensive gameplay guides after the fact beyond 'this and that'...