Recruitment Pools

**Augustus Lucifer** · March 30, 2009, 08:51 PM

Is it hardcoded? I'm looking for a way to make it so that units can't be re-trained in a region, even though they can be recruited in the region. Or maybe it does what I want without this, I haven't actually played the game in a long time.

So I have this unit, it can only be recruited lets go with once every 20 turns. This means every 20 turns only ~32 of them are produced, or whatever. What I'm seeking to prevent, is units of that type being re-trained in this region despite the fact only 32 pop up every 20 turns, since through re-training you'd technically be exploiting a non-existent pool of hundreds of these units.

So what I want to know, is does the engine account for this and subtract re-trained units from the same replenishment pool as recruited units, not let them be re-trained before a unit is available, etc. Or does it not account for it, and if so, is there a way to prevent a unit from being re-trained in a certain area, even though it can be recruited there?

**Tsarsies** · March 30, 2009, 09:18 PM

From the limited testing ive done regarding training units and recruited units they both use the same pool. So if you recruit the unit once and have to wait 32 turns before recruiting it again then you also need to wait that many turns to retrain. With that said, i think it may also be based on percentages, where as if your unit to be retrained is at 50% its maximum then it can retrain when the unit pool has has refreshed half way (the 16 of 32 unit pool) - yet you cant train a new unit as you need the pool to completely refresh. This would explain why a unit with 65/75 units can be retrained but a unit with 30/75 can't.

I know they both use the same pool, and im pretty confident retraining works based on percentages (retraining a unit will also reset the pool refresh by that percent delaying the possibility of training a fresh unit).

I did some testing on the unit pool refresh in regards to retraining a unit when writing my Recruitment Limitations script so my observations are based on that. Hope that helps...

**Augustus Lucifer** · March 30, 2009, 09:47 PM

Thanks Tsarsies, that does help. I knew I recalled that they worked off the same pools, but I wasn't sure if it was fluid. The example of not being able to re-train the unit if it requires a certain number has given me hope that it should work out just fine.

Since we're on the topic of recruitment pools, there's another thing I've been meaning to look into but have not gotten around to, which is whether or not 'pools' of the same unit in the same city and building all work unto each other, or if they are handled separately?

What I mean by this. Let's say I have pool A. Pool A requires Level 3 Barracks. Pool A recruits Monkey Infantry. Now in that level 3 Barracks I also have Pool B. Pool B also recruits Monkey Infantry. But Pool B requires that a certain event is happening at the time(let's call it military training boom). Military training boom is temporary, so when it happens Pool B will be active, and when it isn't, it won't. This presents a few questions about pools that use the same unit and can happen in the same city.

- When Pool B is activated, if Pool A is not de-activated, will they both show up? Will one supersede the other? Will they compile? Or will it CTD?
- Do "not" statements work in recruit pools, so that Pool A and B can be anti- each other? (ie. not military boom)
- Do Pool A and Pool B act on the same unit store? This is to say, if Pool B is activated and Pool A deactivated, will the units from Pool A carry over?
- Do the pools retain their integrity even when they are inactive? This is to say, if they don't act on the same pool, do the separate pools maintain whatever stock they had when they were deactivated, for the next time they are activated?
- Lastly, will a unit recruited while Pool A is activated, but it is deactivated during recruitment, still build? And if so, will it have the attributes(mainly experience) of Pool A or Pool B?

This shouldn't be that hard to test in any mod. You just need two entries of the same unit in recruit pools, requiring an event counter for one and either requiring it not to be there for the other, or requiring a separate counter that is set when the first counter is 0. For instance:

Code:

recruit_pool "Monkey Infantry"  2   0.1   4  0  requires factions { monkey, } and event_counter military_boom_inactive 1
recruit_pool "Monkey Infantry"  5   0.5   8  0  requires factions { monkey, } and event_counter military_boom 1

And then just a simple testing method for setting and unsetting the counters. Best way for it to work so it can be changed at leisure for testing purposes is using a scroll and an accept/decline or similar, so you can switch between them fluently.

Any help with this is much appreciated.

**Gigantus** · March 31, 2009, 06:13 AM

The pools work together, at least where the max amount of units available is concerned. Haven't checked about replenishment rate. (Happens in PDeR, especially in England)

**Theodotos I** · April 09, 2009, 02:28 PM

Is it possible to set the recruitment pool low enough that units can be retrained, but almost never trained?

**Eothese** · April 09, 2009, 02:54 PM

Sure, just set the limit at 0.99

**Theodotos I** · April 09, 2009, 02:56 PM

Okay, thanks, I'm thinking of scripting in units to emerge that will not be trainable, but retrainable.

**SigniferOne** · April 09, 2009, 09:07 PM

Yes the replenishment rates combine too (if specified twice, or from different buildings). it's a very neat and flexible system.

To make units retrainable the best solution is, strangely, the opposite of what was posted above. You want the replenishment pool be 0.001, which means it'll take 1000 turns for one of these units to appear in recruitable form.

**konny** · April 10, 2009, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by SigniferOne

To make units retrainable the best solution is, strangely, the opposite of what was posted above. You want the replenishment pool be 0.001, which means it'll take 1000 turns for one of these units to appear in recruitable form.

But you also would have to wait 500 turns to be able retraining a unit that is down to 50%.

**Gigantus** · April 10, 2009, 04:15 AM

I thought in the required case the required replenishment rate doesn't matter? Shouldn't it be a case of "max units available = 0.999"?
At least that's how they did it in the campaigns (with the replenishment rate set to that low value):

recruit_pool "Spear Militia" 0 0.000001 0.999 0 requires factions { .......

**Gigantus** · April 10, 2009, 05:51 AM

That's why I think the blue number should be set to 'normal' values.

recruit_pool "Spear Militia" 0 0.000001 0.999 0 requires factions { .......

**SigniferOne** · April 10, 2009, 11:46 AM

Ah, the max available number can be set to 0.99, meaning that the recruitment pool will never reach one. But at that point I wonder why set it to 0.99 and not to 0.1, or even to 0.

**Gigantus** · April 10, 2009, 12:04 PM

If you have a unit that has originally 100 men and it is down to 10, then it will require 90% of an available unit to be retrained. If the availability is less then that, you will not be able to retrain. Hence 0.9999 would cover even units of higher basic quantity (120 for example).

**SigniferOne** · April 10, 2009, 12:19 PM

Ohh, wasn't aware that that's how it worked. Noted! I really like the med2 recruitment pools system.

If the max availability is 0.999, then why make replenishment be 0.001? Heck, make it 100, so that the availability pool is always full at 0.999.

**Gigantus** · April 10, 2009, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by SigniferOne

If the max availability is 0.999, then why make replenishment be 0.001? Heck, make it 100, so that the availability pool is always full at 0.999.

See post #11 and a thought: If a player is aware of that, then he will use that unit without mercy or regards to losses. He can refill it indefinitely. Hence 'normal' replenishment rates is my suggestion.