Ships for the indians

[Arminius84]

Hi.
Is there any way to give the native factions in the americas campaign ships? Maybe ad ships to the list of mercenaries you can hire?

[SigniferOne]

Sure -- go to export_descr_unit.txt, and assign the availability of some ships to them.

You will also have to go to export_descr_buildings.txt and assign the training of those ships to the port building.

[Arminius84]

Im a real noob then it comes to modding, so I'm not sure how to do this. I cant even find the files you are talking about.

[SigniferOne]

First you have to unpack all of the game files. You do this by going to /Medieval 2/tools/, and running the unpack batch file.

Then you open the .preference file, search for the [io] category, and add this line:

file_first = true

This will make it so that any files you modify will be read by the game first, before going into its own compressed versions of them.

Now you're ready to change game files.

Go into the /Medieval 2/data/ folder, which will be populated with hundreds of files which are used to run the game. Open export_descr_unit.txt, where you will find all of the many units which the game uses. Each unit will have a line that specifies which factions it is available for. Find the ship you want to add to the Indian factions, and dd the name of those factions to the ship's ownership line.

Now you're done with that, and the ship is available to the faction. All you have left to to make it be buildable by the faction.

To do that, go to export_descr_buildings.txt, which contains all of the buildings used by the game. Find buildings under the "port" category. Locate the port building which is available to the Indian factions, and add the name of the ship you just modified. To add it properly, copy the line from another buildable ship, and simply rename that one with yours. Also make sure to specify the ship's availability to point to your Indian factions.

There you go. The next time you start a campaign, the building you modified will have the ship among its recruitable options.

[Arminius84]

The Apaches dont have any ports so i Cant do this.

I found the "merc cog" in the unit list. Any way to make the apaches able to hire them?
Also Im not sure what the apaches "real name" is in then codeing like this. In game they are called "Apachean Tribes", but i see that some other factions have diffrent names in the code.

[SigniferOne]

Go into /data/text and search for "Apachean Tribes". Then you'll know what faction keyword refers to it.

Alright if the Apaches don't have a port, then you have to add that building to them. Without a port you simply cannot build ships, obviously.

If you want that I can explain how to do it; however I have an even better idea! Leave their faction without a port, but then give the apache-recruitable ship to European ports! What this will do is: when the Europeans build their port buildings, if you conquer them you'll be able to build your ships whenever their ports are present, but will be left stranded on your own if that doesn't happen.

[SigniferOne]

I'm sorry, I meant /data/text/expanded.txt. This is where you'll know what "Apachean Tribes" have as their factional keyword.

[Arminius84]

Haveing the Apache recruit ships frpom european ports sounds good to me. How do I do this?

[Eothese]

You need to add ownership of the merc cog to the Apache in EDU, then find the port in EDB and add a line similar to the existing ones for the Apache.

[Arminius84]

You need to add ownership of the merc cog to the Apache in EDU, then find the port in EDB and add a line similar to the existing ones for the Apache.

I dont know what this EDU is. How do I do this?

[Triumvere]

Its the descr_export_units file (EDU for short). Have you unpacked the game as directed? If so it is in your data folder.

[eregost]

Would it be possible to allow natives to recruit ships IF they capture a territory with a port but make them unable to build ports themselves?

[Eothese]

Yes, very possible.