Make all factions playable?

[amarok]

XGM is amazing. Thanks to all who have worked on it.

I apologize if this question has been asked before, but I'd really love to know...

Is there a way to make all (or at least more) factions playable?

I'd especially love it if it were possible to play the Independent Greeks and/or the Roman Rebels.

The conflict on the Italian Penninsula/ Sicily in the early game is fascinating. It's so well balanced and engrossing.

Ideally, I'd love it if this only required editing text files, because that's about the limit of my limited abilities :-)

But thanks for any help!

And again thank you Dime Bag Ho and Company for this great work!

- amarok

[Scutarii]

Welcome to XGM.

Its the same as vanilla, just go into descr_strat, and move the factions you want playable from under non-playable to under playable. However, leave at least one faction (slaves) under non-playable, or your game will CTD, IIRC.

[Unknown Soldier]

the non playable factions are unbalanced and may not be feasible to play.

e.g. The ICGS has a massive army spread round the map their income does not match their expenditure, you would have a hard time prospering without severly weakening your far flung empire.

[Stilgar CG]

the non playable factions are unbalanced and may not be feasible to play.

e.g. The ICGS has a massive army spread round the map their income does not match their expenditure, you would have a hard time prospering without severly weakening your far flung empire.

I thought it could be fun. You can choose your priorities, sacrify a few settlements (if playing a wide-spread faction), cut your armies a bit and play a scenario you like. But, the gameplay might be still unbalanced, I guess.

Btw, these provincial compaigns, DBH is working on, seem to promiss great deal of variaty in gameplay. Amarok, I would suggest you to keep an eye on progresses with those provincial compaigns. And welcome to XGM .

[Scutarii]

IGCS might be interesting to play: you could abandon all settlements except Ambracia, Salona and Tarentum and play as Epirus. Of course, the provincial campaigns are basically that with unique units (eventually) and more balanced gameplay. But in them meantime it would be fun.

[Unknown Soldier]

Oh Im not saying its not fun and I have done this with the ICGS but found that being in the Red from turn 2 onwards a bit discouraging.

For a new player it could be overwhelming.

[sentinel37]

Hi, what are provincial campaigns that some of you are talking about? Is this a current feature or is it a work in progress? How is it different from playing regular XGM? What are the unique units?

[amarok]

Thanks for the feedback. You've got a really friendly, active community going here and the rate of updates is truly prodigious.

If I'm guessing right, a provinical campaign would be something like the Teutonic, Crusades, Brittania or New World in MTW2 Kingdoms - basically a smaller but more detailed section of the map with tweaked factions. That would be fun!!! Am I anywhere close?

Can I ask where to find the descr_strat file? I looked in my Rome TW/XGM/Data but couldn't find it there.

Or should I be editing something in the main RTW folder?

(I'm using the alexander.exe from TW: Eras if that helps or makes any difference)

Actually the IGS would be kind cool to play as an especially hard challenge - maybe in concert with a lower difficulty setting or for more experienced campaigners. This may be a bit lowhanded, but could one use a money cheat to keep the IGS afloat at least until they were in the black?

For other noobs like me :-), could someone post just a brief excerpt of a few lines of how to make one faction playable as an example? (I know it sounds simple, but I'm sure I could find a way to mess it up :-), and I wouldn't want to mess up the whole install).

I was thinking to leave the... sorry I'm forgetting the name - what was once the Rebels, the blue guys with the eye flag - as unplayable because that is clearly how they are intended to be...

but I'd love to experiment with other factions.

Thanks again for the amazing work and the warm welcome from the community!

[Stilgar CG]

Hi, what are provincial campaigns that some of you are talking about? Is this a current feature or is it a work in progress? How is it different from playing regular XGM? What are the unique units?

Provincial campaign is sort of historic campaign, which comes pre-balanced and with extra units made specifically for a given campaign. Well, it's work in progress, but you can try the very first provincial campaign already: Massalia in version 5.7.10. This feature seems to have a lot of potential.

Sentinel, see also here

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=174746

an here

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=174744

for some details.

[Scutarii]

My descr_strat is in this path: RTW/XGM folder/data/world/maps/campaign/barbarian_invasion (obviously I use the BI exe, yours will be slightly different, with the last being alexander, most likely)

Here is a section of my descr_strat:

options bi
playable
romans_julii
parthia
egypt
seleucid
carthage
gauls
germans
greek_cities
macedon
pontus
armenia
scythia
spain
thrace
britons
dacia
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
numidia
slavs
slave
end

So, to make all factions playable, just move romans_brutii(IGCS), romans_scipii(roman rebels), Numidia (EK), and slavs to below dacia and above end. It should look like:

options bi
playable
romans_julii
parthia
egypt
seleucid
carthage
gauls
germans
greek_cities
macedon
pontus
armenia
scythia
spain
thrace
britons
dacia
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
numidia
slavs

end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
slave
end

Hope that helps. Since you use alex, yours may not say options bi at the top, don't worry, it doesn't affect the process.

[amarok]

Scutarii,

Thank you!!! You're a life-saver - now I may actually defeat Rome in a campaign - I've always seen Pyrrus and that army on the Italian Penninsula and dreamed of leading it!

If people have feedback, impressions or tips on playing any of these new factions I'd love to hear them!

I'd be glad to post mine - thanks again!!!

- amarok (Tom)

[Scutarii]

No problem amarok Actually, I don't know how many people have played the pseudo-epirote campaign in XGM, so if you posted about your experiences in this thread or in another, it would be good to hear how it went. Its probably very difficult, don't feel like your cheating if you prop yourself up with some add_money cheats at the beginning. But be sure to try and blitz the Italian penensula, you'll need the funds, and you don't need Rome building up any more than they already have.

[Unknown Soldier]

I might give it a go tonight -

Keep Tarentum, Syracuse(allied), Salona and Ambricada (I think)
Only Pyhruss' army,these city garrisons, and any ships will be the armed forces.
All other ICGS - will hopefully rebel - pump the Taxes to max and disband all the garrisons on turn one - Set capital to one of the cities on the Illyrian coast. Set starting gold to 5,000 (maybe 8000 or 10000)

Does that sound like a starting position.

[Scutarii]

That sounds good. Starting gold would be 10000, you'll be bankrupt for a bit even with that much, you'll need to soundly defeat Decus Mus and take Cannae, and continue into Italy, with the Syracusian army (I think theres a 3/4 stack in Syracuse under Heiron) can take Messana and Croton from the RR. Good luck.

[General Decius]

I might try that too, though everytime i screw with descr_strat somethin gets messed up, ill just cross my fingers

[Unknown Soldier]

Decius: I'm only gonna move ICGS to playable.

The rest I'll to in game using the add money cheat.

If it works out I may 'hack' the files and change the start position of the ICGS and Name as Eprios - to make it a provincial campaign and post it up to the forum for download.

[DimeBagHo]

There are a couple of other things to watch out for.(1) Don't play with loyalty on. (2) The non-playable factions all get extra bonuses through the government buildings - take a look at the first five buildings in export_descr_buildings.txt if you want to remove them.

[CaesarVincens]

If it works out I may 'hack' the files and change the start position of the ICGS and Name as Eprios - to make it a provincial campaign and post it up to the forum for download.

I've been working on this as a GCS provincial campaign for XC (wthout too much success; I'm stuck on the families), anyway, good luck.

[Bourne]

Hah perfect topic, as I was wondering if adding the other Roman factions would crash the game. I was intending to play as either the Greeks or Macedonia so a challenging Roman civil war will be fun.

[Unknown Soldier]

Cheers for that DBH. I haven't actually got round to playing it yet.

Just one thing the ICGS still do get to use spartan units? If I remember correctly as they could defect from the GCS when loalty was on.

Rome's days are numbered!