~ Ketzer's Guide On Mass Recruitment ~

[Ketzerfreund]

~ Ketzer's Guide On Mass Recruitment ~


Greetings.

Yes, you supposed rightly: This is a guide to raising E:TW's men per unit numbers!
And all without a "real" mod!
So, I'll get straight to business now without further ado:


For Windows XP: Open C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME\Application Data\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts\preferences.empire_script.txt

For Windows Vista: Quoted from this post:

Originally Posted by Snapshot

For vista its Users>%yourusername%>Appdata>Roaming>The Creative Assembly>Empire>Scripts

Open preferences.empire_script.txt




Two lines in that file have to be cared for. They are also the only lines in it that contain the term "unit", so pressing Ctrl+F (when using Notepad) should do the trick for easily finding them.

The first line to care for is this one (though the latter one inside the file):

gfx_unit_scale 3; # gfx_unit_scale <int>, Set unit scale. 0 - lowest, 3 - ultra #

Make sure the value is '3' in your file, too. In this guide I provide numbers based on the 160 men per line infantry unit, which is the number of men the "(Not so) Ultra" setting gives you.

Now, the line that does the very trick looks like this and can be found among the first few lines in the file:

campaign_unit_multiplier 1; # campaign_unit_multiplier <float>, Set default unit multiplier for campaign #

All you have to do now is to divide the number of men you want by 160, and you have the value with which you have to replace the '1'.

IMPORTANT: Not all numbers work! For one, I've only tested one decimal place (one position after decimal point).

All numbers up to '4' work except for:

• 1.1
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 2

I have tested every single number up to 4, above that only some nice looking ones.

For your convenience, here's a list of numbers that look good on standard line infantry (the vanilla number of men on "Ultra" being 160, as mentioned):

• 1.5 = 240 men
• 2.5 = 400
• 3.5 = 560
• 4 = 640
• 5 = 800
• 7.5 = 1200 men

For the case that you'd like to test further numbers, there's an easy way to tell if they don't work without even having to load a campaign: The intro movies don't play! Only The Almighty Cosmologist knows why...


Note, however:

- For using this with campaign games, a new game will have to be started, or weird things will happen.

- After changing whichever options in the respective in-game menu, the multiplier you use will be undone, so, after each use of the in-game options menu you'll have to edit your changes into the preference file again.
When you have found the settings optimal for you (both performance tweaks and unit sizes), I'd recommend you set your pref. file to read-only (right-click it, see it's properties).

- The multiplier also affects ancillaries in campaign games. With high values, the number of ancillaries of ministers can hit the top as soon as during the first turn. Same with generals/admirals after a single battle.

- Don't forget that buildings have a maximum number of people they can hold! A large portion of a unit may position itself outside, and it won't always be in front of the entrance.

- You may also try a lower unit scale setting (Thanks Nonopust for the idea and testing it ) for better fine tuning. Remember that the multiplier isn't called that without a reason.
But beware: There may be other multiplier values that do not work than those I've listed above! The numbers not working that I've listed above are for the "ultra" unit scale setting!


~ Have fun with the carnage! ~



Regards,
~ Euer hochergebener Ketzerfreund. ~

...I'll finally get back at playing a bit now.

[Björneborgs regemente]

Made my day.

[Ketzerfreund]

Aww, too bad you can't rep me yet, right?
At least there's one less constantly reoccuring question throughout the E:TW subfora now, I hope.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

1200 men per unit? Wow...

[Ketzerfreund]

That E:TW supports such numbers had been proven before with the demo. Where have you been?

[2-D Ron]

If that's the Case I think i'm going to need a Larger Ram Chip for my next update.

[blinkboy182]

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDe1337

1200 men per unit? Wow...

The horror...the horror!
Bella...horrida bella!

[Running Nose]

1200 men per unit is a bit high no?

[Björneborgs regemente]

Originally Posted by Running Nose

1200 men per unit is a bit high no?

I think so also. Im going to use 600 men units to form line infantry as battallions, its realistic and allows maneuvering also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolines_Battalion

[CheekyKiwi]

may we please have some screenies?

[Giantsfan24]

What's the going rate on Big Blue?

[eddy_purpus]

Originally Posted by Ketzerfreund

That E:TW supports such numbers had been proven before with the demo. Where have you been?

youre such a tease with such a mod...
too bad i dont haz etw and a computer to handle it 100%,...

any screenies of your " mod"
lol

[Juggernaut]

I hope CA fixes the bug that prevents large units from being deployed in thin formation. At the moment line infantry can only form a large block with more than about 300 men.

[Ondaderthad]

Just the info I wanted. Thanks. +rep

[Ketzerfreund]

It's not a mod. Never said it was. It's a bloody config file option. That's why the guide is here and not in a mod thread, but that's where people were asking for this several times, so I had to say hello there.


On a sidenote regarding performance:
I've just tested a custom battle between 2x20 units, the default mix of units, with a multiplier of 3.5 (560 in line inf.) - It was barely playable at the slow-motion speed setting:
Athlon X² 4850, 4 gigs, Nvidia 9600GT/512 MB.

I'll try again with 3x (400 men); you also have to keep in mind that forts and cities may not even have the room for the really huge settings... So, 1200 men is really far off, unless one day campaign battles are modified in some way to reasonably allow for such numbers.

[SuperKyle]

I tried this with 3.5, it was too laggy (though I was on ultra settings) and cannons killed way too much for it to be playable.

I slimmed down to 2.5 & turned shadows down to medium, great graphics improvement (still ultra everything) Cannons still kill an absurd amount (Like 150 per group with canister shot). Wondering how overpowered this could be in campaign, otherwise, I'm pretty happy with 2.5. I might try a campaign with it tomorrow and see how it goes.

Edit: the 150 I mean for the whole battle, was checking out statistics after.
Also to clarify I just tested medium sized armies, 1,600 americans vs 1,100 spaniards. I was americans, I killed 1,000 and lost 500. My 2 24-lb'ers both killed 150 each.

[geala]

It is strange, I cannot even find the correct folder. I'm not sure what the folder name for "application data" is in German (I have the system in German) but may it what it be I don't have a folder "Creative Assembly" anywhere in the folder "I/documents and settings/*my username*/ and its subfolders.

You see, my hard drive is not C: but I:. The game is installed per Steam on harddrive I:. Could that be the problem? Will the folder "Creative Assembly" automatically be installed on C:? It should be on I: but I cannot find it.

Edit: Ok, as usual the solution was very simple; I had some folders hidden and just had to change it in the Windows settings. Shame on me.

[Faris_Elghoul]

Nice
+ rep

[Ketzerfreund]

So, finally, there you are.
Shots made with a multiplier of 3.5, using another Prussian army.


Deployment.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

'Nade rain!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The general's unit. He needs to reach the other end of the raging battle. And it's spread out enough to feel the need to haste...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm sorry that no real good shots of mid-battle state from above are among these. But honestly, those huge settings look awkward sometimes (long stretched units positioned relative to each other in strange angles etc.) and it was lagging so hard that it was difficult to to hit the key and get the intended motive. I wonder if tuning unit detail down would be worth it.

[Bren25]

good work, but i guess it's probably a copypasta from the demo mods.

If graphics can be turned down, and zoom out increased, i wonder if you could change empire into some 18th century battle simulator. You'd moving the blocks around, not troops, could be quite interesting.