Armies Afield = Bankrupt?

[Greenstone11]

I really like the improvements of the new release, my main complaint would be the increase in time between turns.. I'm playing the early campaign, and the big factions like HRE and the Byzantines can take up to 20 seconds each to do their turn. In vanilla it takes about 20 seconds for the whole AI to complete their turn, so this is a little frustrating. I don't remember the previous versions having such a long delay. Aside from that I have 2 questions:

1.) The script that subtracts large sums of money when you have armies afield - is this meant to bankrupt you in 1-2 turns if you have 1 army afield? I can see how it might be realistic but how are you supposed to play like that?

2.) If that is the case, how do you remove that function?

I really like the game, these are just some things that are making it hard to play for me right now. I really like the garrison script as well, although that is probably what is causing the lag..

[SicilianVespers]

I have a pretty fast system, so I have never noticed a lag, but it is most likely the garrison script.

The field cost script basically deducts -1000 for each character in a foreign province, and -500 if in your own territory.

Basically, you just need to ensure you have enough money in the bank to cover the cost of the campaign.

This has always been part of SV.

[DaVinci]

and the big factions like HRE and the Byzantines can take up to 20 seconds each to do their turn.

Just disable the cpu-turn in the campaign menu.

Field money script ...

There are a couple of contents, which shall avoid blitzkrieg campaigns and support historical reflection, and this is one of them.

Before you are going on warefare, you should stabilize your economy, also eventually disband some units if necessary at the start phase, and perhaps as well later in the campaign. In the middleages, standing armies were the very exception.

[Demokritos]

2.) If that is the case, how do you remove that function?

You can adjust the costs to your own liking in the section named "Field costs" in the campaign script file of the era you want to play (located, for example, in the following directory: C:/Program Files/SEGA/Medieval II Total War/SicilianVespers/data/world/maps/campaign/custom/SicilianVespers_Early). Reducing the costs for having units out in the field of your own territory will have the effect, for instance, of better realizing the strategic option to build forts and maintain troops there. Such changes won't take effect until you start a new campaign of the era in question, though.

[Greenstone11]

Hey thanks for the replies - when you say -1000 for each character in the field, do you mean each named character? Or each army? Or each unit? For instance, if i had 1 army with 2 named characters in it, would it be -2000 in a foreign province? and would that price vary if they were in two separate armies? And does it matter at all how many units are in the army? Is it the same price if its an army without a character/bodyguard unit?
Sorry for all the questions, I was trying to find previous explanation for it but must have overlooked it, and i've been losing more than 1000 each turn sometimes, the only problem is that once you go into the negative it usually starts a civil war in my kingdom =P I dont really dislike this feature in the game, i think once i have a better understanding of it I can work around it.
Also - when you say disable the cpu-turn in the campaign menu you mean the 'show cpu moves' option?

[SicilianVespers]

For instance, if i had 1 army with 2 named characters in it, would it be -2000 in a foreign province? and would that price vary if they were in two separate armies? And does it matter at all how many units are in the army? Is it the same price if its an army without a character/bodyguard unit?

Exactly, it would be -2000. The number of units in the army doesn't matter.

Basically, you need to build up your supplies (money) before going on the offensive. Once you think of it this way, it isn't a problem.

It basically helps to slow down the blitzkrieging.

[ivan_the_terrible]

I'm just curious, are the AI factions subject to these costs too?
Because I often see my neighbours having armies in the field, but looking at the faction rankings, they are quite stable financially..

Also, if its just named characters that incur monetary penalties, wouldn't a full stack led by a captain bypass these?

Thanks.

[SicilianVespers]

I'm just curious, are the AI factions subject to these costs too?
Because I often see my neighbours having armies in the field, but looking at the faction rankings, they are quite stable financially..

Also, if its just named characters that incur monetary penalties, wouldn't a full stack led by a captain bypass these?

Thanks.

The field costs only affect the human player, other wise it would defeat the purpose of the money script

I will have to check about the field costs. I added it so long ago I can't remember if it takes captain led armies into account.

[rlilewis]

Hey i'm still using 2.0 atm and recently playing as HRE i noticed i was loosing bucket loads of cash each round. It was adding up to about -8000 per round, i thought it was a bug so i had to end my game.

The thing is these additional costs don't seem to show up on the financial records. According to the records i should have been making 20k a turn but i was going negative 8k each turn.

Though i did have two full stacked armies attacking poland and hungary if that makes any difference? Also are there additional costs for seiging settlements cos i was using blitz tactics going from one town to another...

[Drtad]

Hey i'm still using 2.0 atm and recently playing as HRE i noticed i was loosing bucket loads of cash each round. It was adding up to about -8000 per round, i thought it was a bug so i had to end my game.

The thing is these additional costs don't seem to show up on the financial records. According to the records i should have been making 20k a turn but i was going negative 8k each turn.

Though i did have two full stacked armies attacking poland and hungary if that makes any difference? Also are there additional costs for seiging settlements cos i was using blitz tactics going from one town to another...

Yes, as SV stated above, for every army in the field on foreign territory you have to pay 2,000 florins. This is to prevent what you say you were doing: blitzing. This also prevents ahistorical expansion somewhat.

[rlilewis]

Yes but are there other costs applied such as when sieging?

[SicilianVespers]

It was always -1,000 per character in foreign land, and -500 per character in your own land.

These costs are intended to represent the ost of keeping an army in the field, and I take this to include siege prep.

[Greenstone11]

From testing it looks like the cost applies to armies without a general as well, for whoever asked.

[redeyez]

"The field cost script basically deducts -1000 for each character in a foreign province, and -500 if in your own territory."
Then someone said "Yes, as SV stated above, for every army in the field on foreign territory you have to pay 2,000 florins." Is this referring to the person's comment about having 2 generals or is this what it sounds like?

If I have 5 stacks of 1 peasant each in foreign territory and 1 stack of 1 general, how much do I have to pay? 6 stacks x 2000 + 1general x 1000 = 13K?

[DaVinci]

"The field cost script basically deducts -1000 for each character in a foreign province, and -500 if in your own territory."
Then someone said "Yes, as SV stated above, for every army in the field on foreign territory you have to pay 2,000 florins." Is this referring to the person's comment about having 2 generals or is this what it sounds like?

If I have 5 stacks of 1 peasant each in foreign territory and 1 stack of 1 general, how much do I have to pay? 6 stacks x 2000 + 1general x 1000 = 13K?

Why not taking a look into the FAQ?

[redeyez]

Alright thanks, I looked, and it didn't mention anything about 2K per stack. Just wanted to make sure. Are there gunpowder units?