How to add an animal handler unit (Wardogs)

[leo.civil.uefs]

it susprises us the fact that CA thought about this but if you think again you will reazlie it makes total sense.
Once the animals are dead, the handlers must fight by themselves.

anyway one more reason why handler units with zero animals is perfect for making a infantry unit unable to push engines or climb
walls.

and there is actually 3 lines in EDB, there is stat_TER too, check it out. Though I didnt use it anyway.

[Callistonian]

Have you checked if stat_ter works? My understanding is that it causes the game to crash at launch.

[leo.civil.uefs]

this is the entry for one of the units in my mod.
Its been there for many years and works pretty fine.
And yes, the AI uses it, though I only saw they using it once.

type             Dwarf Catapult
dictionary       Dwarf_Catapult      ; Catapult
category         siege
class            missile
voice_type       Heavy
banner faction   main_missile
banner holy      crusade
soldier          snaga_crew, 24, 2, 1
engine           dwarven_catapult
attributes       sea_faring, hardy, can_withdraw, artillery
formation        1.5, 1.5, 3, 3, 3, square
stat_health      1, 2
stat_pri         11, 5, no, 0, 0, melee, artillery_mechanical, piercing, sword, 25, 1
stat_pri_attr    ap
stat_sec         65, 3, dcatapult, 280, 20, siege_missile, artillery_mechanical, blunt, none, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr    ap, bp, area, launching
stat_ter         65, 3, grape_shot, 320, 10, siege_missile, artillery_gunpowder, blunt, none, 26, 1
;stat_ter_ex      0, 0, 0
stat_ter_attr    ap, launching
stat_pri_armour  15, 3, 0, metal
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        1
stat_ground      0, -1, -2, -2
stat_mental      10, normal, trained
stat_charge_dist 15
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 850, 300, 80, 160, 850, 1, 160
armour_ug_levels 1
armour_ug_models Dwarf_Catapult_Crew
ownership        moors, norway
era 0            moors, norway
era 1            moors, norway
era 2            moors, norway
recruit_priority_offset    5

actualy, trebuchets in vanilla uses it as well

[Callistonian]

Ah, right. This is used for alternative ammunition for siege units. But does it work for units that don't have engines?

[leo.civil.uefs]

just teted it and it didnt crash, though it has no effect in game at all. no new hability, no button

[bitterhowl]

It partly working. They can't hold engines but they can use ladders and rams to climb.

[leo.civil.uefs]

It partly working. They can't hold engines but they can use ladders and rams to climb.

Huuum... I never got that result. I watched your video and as I can see you made them climb the ladders but that was buggy, right? I mean you had to click many times.

[bitterhowl]

Well, video is not my, but I've asked user who made it and he said yes, some more actions needed to force them to climb the ladder. He even thought they wouldn't do that, but finally they climbed.

[leo.civil.uefs]

Well, video is not my, but I've asked user who made it and he said yes, some more actions needed to force them to climb the ladder. He even thought they wouldn't do that, but finally they climbed.

it actually surprises me that someone tried this so hard. like "maybe if I keep clicking..."
it looks more like engine malfunction, anyway the AI wont do it and there is no reason a player should do it while playing.

[bitterhowl]

I think we speak in terms of testing entire possibility of climbing for them at all, so it's correct to find all variables. Like Murphy's law.

And yes, next step is to test it for AI.

[bitterhowl]

Here it is - AI doesn't use this bug and loose the battle.

[leo.civil.uefs]

yes even for the player this bug is mostly undoable unless one spends lots of time clicking frenetically, wich I dont believe anyone will do

[bitterhowl]

One should remember that massive changing to handler in EDU will have multiple effects on CAI behaviour and BAI too.

For CAI - recruit priority for handlers in .exe is 0, same as for ships, according to wiki info.

As for BAI - one should change formation blocks because handler's block is the latest before general's unit block.

As for users ability to use engine bugs - I wouldn't be so optimistic, you know) (No offence from me here, I see good possibilities in this method of additional unit's differentiation).

[bitterhowl]

I'm working hard on my BAI beta (internal testing already started) and got 2 issues. First - we can now make differentiation of very heavy infantry for formation placement using handler for them. handler heavy for dismounted knights and handler spearmen for phalanx. And maybe handler missile for pavise crossbowmen.

And second - using my BAI script I can avoid handlers to involve in melee contact, so we'll prevent CTD this way, because it seems it happens when handler human starts fighting.

[leo.civil.uefs]

I'm working hard on my BAI beta (internal testing already started) and got 2 issues. First - we can now make differentiation of very heavy infantry for formation placement using handler for them. handler heavy for dismounted knights and handler spearmen for phalanx. And maybe handler missile for pavise crossbowmen.

And second - using my BAI script I can avoid handlers to involve in melee contact, so we'll prevent CTD this way, because it seems it happens when handler human starts fighting.

the ctd happnes because there a missing animation. as explained in previous posts.

[bitterhowl]

So why it happens very randomly?

[bitterhowl]

Looks like we've solved CTD issue with handlers - we have stable mod for Westeros universe without CTD on handlers.

The deal is in number of handlers/dogs in unit. 15 handlers/30 dogs haven't CTD in battle. If you set more than CTD will appear during battle but not at the beginning if we use TATW animation set. I think the deal is in proportion of handlers/dogs for engine - when too many handlers died and dogs are not their proportion for engine broke and CTD appears.

[leo.civil.uefs]

nevermind

[leo.civil.uefs]

Looks like we've solved CTD issue with handlers - we have stable mod for Westeros universe without CTD on handlers.

The deal is in number of handlers/dogs in unit. 15 handlers/30 dogs haven't CTD in battle. If you set more than CTD will appear during battle but not at the beginning if we use TATW animation set. I think the deal is in proportion of handlers/dogs for engine - when too many handlers died and dogs are not their proportion for engine broke and CTD appears.

seems like Im facing the same problem. the animals can attack kill and die, anims seem to be ok.
eventually the game crashes during the battle.

I tried different sets in the soldier line but got no fix.

[bitterhowl]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Norvos Wardogs
dictionary norvos_wardogs
category handler
class heavy
voice_type Heavy
banner faction main_infantry
banner holy crusade
soldier norvos_shieldbearers, 10, 30, 1.0
animal wardogs
attributes sea_faring, hide_improved_forest, hardy, can_withdraw, frighten_foot, mercenary_unit, power_charge
formation 2.6, 2.6, 3.8, 3.8, 2, square
stat_health 1, 1
stat_pri 7, 2, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, sword, 25, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 12, 6, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, none, 0, 5
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 2, 6, 2, flesh
;stat_armour_ex 2, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, metal
stat_sec_armour 0, 3, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 13, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 1200, 285, 60, 140, 370, 1, 110
armour_ug_levels 0
armour_ug_models norvos_shieldbearers
ownership byzantium
era 0 byzantium
era 1 byzantium
era 2 byzantium
recruit_priority_offset 0

Try this entry, it's working for me and another mod, no CTD with it.