Realistic Armour Progression mod (eras) for SS4.1 (ver 8.0 beta)

[Caesar Clivus]

The purpose of this mod is to give a more realistic progression of unit availability in Stainless Steel campaigns. This means you will no longer see Gothic Knights being available in 1100 but only much later in the game. The building of higher level unit recruit buildings (i.e. barracks, stables, ranges and militia buildings) is now also conditional on an appropriate level of blacksmith being present in the settlement. So not only are Gothic Knights not available until later in the game, you will also have to be able to manufacture the equipment the knights need first. Details of these requirements can be seen in the building browser (hover the cursor over each level of building).

Note: Knightly order buildings (i.e. Teutonic Knight chapter houses) are exempt from these rules. The Knights of the orders look after themselves and their equipment.

You will now also have to build a ballista maker to build ballista towers and a cannon maker to build cannon towers.


This beta version is available for download from the link below. Playing through every single faction is a bit beyond me so I am looking for all feedback and any suggestions before I release a full version.

Install instructions:

1. Copy export_descr_buildings.txt in your Stainless_Steel_Mod\data folder
2. Copy the historic_events.txt to your Stainless_Steel_Mod\data\text folder
3. Copy the descr_events.txt to your Stainless_Steel_Mod\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign folder.

Voila!
This is my very first proper modding experience, so I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did making it.

- Caesar Clivus.

http://files.filefront.com//;8383828;;/

[Quark]

Have not tried this yet, so sorry if you have done any of these, but a few thoughts.

If you are editing the EDB, then this looks like an eras type change so;

• Have a look at when shipyards can be built
• Stop camel gunners from being recruited in central France etc
• Use an event to limit when large walls can be built
• Look at when pavise crossbowmen first appeared

Thats off the top of my head, will have a peak and try and post a more informed post later.

[Teodosio]

The building of higher level unit recruit buildings (i.e. barracks, stables, ranges and militia buildings) is now also conditional on an appropriate level of blacksmith being present in the settlement. So not only are Gothic Knights not available until later in the game, you will also have to be able to manufacture the equipment the knights need first.

Your idea is interesting, but I see a small conceptual issue that it would be good to discuss. It seems to me that making units conditional to the appropriate blacksmith makes the backsmith useless in every respect. We would get exactly the same effect by adding to the higher barracks the time and gold costs of the barracks, and armor upgrades for lesser units.
For example, now I can have the top barrack with no smith at all: I will get all the units with basic armor. If we make the smith prerequisite, then when I can recruit top knights I will be automatically able to recruit lesser ones with armour upgrades. The bottom line is, since building smiths (and upgrading armor) would be no more a matter of choice, it would be indifferent to remove them completely and add costs and bonuses directly to barracks.

It is not my intention to discourage you! I see that you are doing many good contributions to SS community. I just want to point an issue that could be discussed.

[Caesar Clivus]

Teodosio, you make a good point and I always welcome discussion .

After reading what you wrote, I understand your line of thought. However realistically an army couldn't be recruited or maintained without the technology needed to make and repair armour and weapons: a leather tanner isn't going to be much good if you have a gaping axe-hole in your breastplate It's a game mechanic I put in for a smidge more realism. This way the blacksmith will (hopefully) play a more central role in castle development.

Quark: an event for the pavise shield is something that I will include in a future release. As for the camel gunners, I think I'll let otz handle that in his AoR mod

[aduellist]

Bravo! Seems I'm beaten to the punch once again. +rep.

[Quark]

Could you not give the building a bonus, as the personalities in the Ai look not at the building, but at the bonus they give, so a trader personality looks for trade bonuses etc. That way the Ai is likely to build such buildings becuase they have a higher bonus.

You might also want to look at what they are doing over in PDER http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=437

[pimparel]

The problem will be how to expalin this to the AI, cause I rarely see something better than leather.

[OTZ]

PDER's era system is pulled from tornnight's The Long Road, which is what I was adapting to my AoR mod.

If the AI has such difficulty understanding additional pre-requisite building, I assume that an era-only system would work much better?

[Quark]

Have a look at this thread, you may wish to incorporate this in your mini-mod.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...88#post2098088

[OTZ]

Well, I finished my version of the EDB eras last night, and the gunpowder age is split into four - Hand Gun, Matchlock, Advanced Matchlock, and Cannons.

Very similar to the link you posted I would say.

[Quark]

Could CC,OTZ and Adultist combine into one team/mod please, as I am losing track of who exactly has what bits, but it seems you are all working along the same lines. As OTZ has done the most, he could be team leader.

Just a thought

[aduellist]

Could CC,OTZ and Adultist combine into one team/mod please, as I am losing track of who exactly has what bits, but it seems you are all working along the same lines. As OTZ has done the most, he could be team leader.

Just a thought

Works for me. I'd always envisioned mine as an adjunct to OTZ's work anyway.

[Caesar Clivus]

Yeah I'd be happy with that too.

[delra]

Are there any events saying that certain armour is now available? (TLR like)

[Caesar Clivus]

Yes there are. There are 3: Plate armor, Full plate, and gothic armor.

[Nightbringer]

sounds pretty cool, i would want to know that it worked well with the ai and everything before i tried it, unless for testing help.

[Caesar Clivus]

Well that's why it's a beta release. I need feedback and testing with many factions to see how it goes. Unfortunately I dont have the time to test 20 different late-game campaigns

[Uryens]

welp Ive played an Aragon campaign up till 1135 so far using your add on. One big thing I have noticed is that most of the armies im seeing are very Cavalry and Balista heavy. I see alot of Sergeant Spearmen and Jinettes. Seems more so because possibly the AI doesnt know to build the correct smithing buildings.

I love the concept and Im going to keep going with it. Im curious to see how the AI handles it closer to the 1300's. Nice work on it, it does add a great element to SS.

[Chola_Kingdom]

thnaks caesar i didnt think that you could post a good and interesting mini mod
i will definetly playwith this type this way i hope i can avoid the noble knights knocking my doors while iam in feudal era

[OTZ]

CC, I've had a go at your mod - I like the simplicity of it, but it doesn't seem to be working out for the AI. I knew what I had to build in order to get higher level units, but I don't think the AI was as aware - I think this problem may have been mentioned before.

If there was a way to "easily" alter the AI's build choices, this would work much better. As it is, I think the era system, used by TLR (and now in my mini-mod) seems to work better as the AI's build priorities remain unchanged, and it just takes an event to "unlock" higher level units.

I'd like to know what your next steps are - and what your observations have been as well! Cheers!