What to change for "correct" scaling of turns per year?

[ziphnor]

Hi,

As many others i find the 2 years per turn in vanilla MTWII very annoying (especially considering the movement rates).

I know how to change the timescale in desc_strat.txt, but obviously this is going to cause a lot of problems with constructions times etc. I was considering writing a small program to automatically scale all relevant parameters when adjusting the time scale, thus hopefully making it possible to change the turns per year easily regardless of installed mods etc.

My problem is that i do not know all the relevant parameters (or in some cases i can guess, but dont know where to adjust them), and i was thinking that most likely someone else does

So here is what i think would have to change (based on reading various threads on this forum):

1. Construction times in export_descr_buildings (easy to change automatically)

2. Growth rates and other similar parameters for cities. I have no ideas how many of these parameters are or in which files they are to be found, but i guess that its quite critical that they are adjusted.

3. Rate at which money is gained and lost, both from merchants, cities and upkeeps.

If no modifications are done, money will be gained way too fast compared to how fast its used on buildings, so either all costs should be scaled up (both unit and buildings) and upkeeps kept where they are, or upkeeps and income should be scaled down. I guess the first of these is the easiest to do, but that would imply that mission rewards involving money should also be scaled up (since one unit of money is now worth less).

I would probably prefer decreasing the tax and trade income and unit upkeeps though, but (again i am not sure where to do that.

4. Historic events? I am not sure about these, the relevant file says events are offsets from the starting date in years not turns, but i have read here on the forum that it is actually turns? Given that i know which case it is, this is also easy to change automatically.

5. Mission times involving constructing buildings. I saw this concern mentioned in this thread. First off i am not sure how to find the missions that have buildings as requirements and secondly i am not sure how best to handle this, scaling the mission time directly is likely to make missions (somewhat) easier since the deadline includes some more time than just the build time.

Regarding the format of the missions. When a missions says:
"buildings { chapel } ; target building levels for mission" does that mean that already having a chapel is required for the mission to be offered, or does it mean that the goal of the mission is to build a chapel?

6. Guilds. According to the thread above, there is some point system involved in getting guild buildings, in particular that you loose 1 point per turn. I suppose the best thing here would be to scale to 1 point per 2 turns for 1 turn per year for example, but i dont know if that is possible.

7. ? Anything else ( i would not scale movement points as they are ridiculously low already). One might consider scaling recruitment times, and i would probably make that an option, but personally i would rather scale down the recruitment times as i think they are too high.

I hope someone is willing to help me out here (just regarding what and where to change, i can do the rest). Of course if someone has already done all the work (for Vanilla MTWII, not a mod) then please point me to it, so i can start playing instead of writing code

[Gigantus]

You will find a lot of your required entries in the data\descr_settlement_mechanics.xml file.

factor name="SPF stands for population growth
factor name="SPO stands for order
factor name="SPI stands for income

At the bottom of the file are the max and min levels for the city levels. But those shouldn't be of any interest in this matter.

Another file is data\descr_campaign_db.xml. The merchant entries might be of interest:

<merchants>
<base_income_modifier float="0.7"/>
<trade_bonus_offset float="10.0"/>

[green tea]

There is just one thing you should know: characters will age one year every two rounds, no matter what you do in those files. This is because they age always in winter. And that seems to be hardcoded. M2TW uses the same engine as Rome, and one of the LOTR-Mods (don´t know the exact name), the makers scripted much so that they had no more winter (So the elves and Sauron did not die of old-age in the middle of the campaign). As far as I know, this works also for M2TW. You could use the normal rate from Rome, that is 2 turns/one year, then they would age correctly. Otherwise you had to write a script to deactivate the winter in each turn.

[ziphnor]

You could use the normal rate from Rome, that is 2 turns/one year, then they would age correctly. Otherwise you had to write a script to deactivate the winter in each turn.

Thanks for the info, i was aiming for 2 turns per year, but its good to know.

[ziphnor]

You will find a lot of your required entries in the data\descr_settlement_mechanics.xml file.

Thanks, but i am not really sure i understand the format of that file

For each factor there is a "<pip_modifier value="1.0"/>", i assume this is what i should be changing?

I am a bit confused by the factor names though, i have SPF_TAX_RATE_PENALTY and SOF_TAX_BONUS and SIF_TAXES for example.

[Gigantus]

Thanks, but i am not really sure i understand the format of that file

I am a bit confused by the factor names though, i have SPF_TAX_RATE_PENALTY and SOF_TAX_BONUS and SIF_TAXES for example.

See my explanation above.

For each factor there is a "<pip_modifier value="1.0"/>", i assume this is what i should be changing?

That is correct

[ziphnor]

See my explanation above.

Sorry to be stupid, but you explanation says that SPF stands for population growth, but i have trouble using that to understand what SPF_TAX_RATE_PENALTY means for example

[Lusted]

It's how much the penalty for tax rate affects population growth.