Mucking around with modding(Alert! Newbie!)

[Carac Caratacus]

Ok Quinn suggested starting a new thread for posting my file changes etc, so here it is.

First up is things i noticed about how poor the wall/gateways/defenses are in general in the game. A few(maybe 4-5?) bangs with the ram and you are usualy through the gate, this didnt seem good to me and building any kind of wall is usualy last on my list of settlement improvements to build.

below are some of the folders i 'think'(newbie) relate to the numbers determining all this stuff:

from the main ExRM\Data directory: 'descr_wall.txt'

four files in the ExRM\Data\desc_building_battle directory:
dbb_walls_eastern.txt
dbb_walls_egyptian.txt
dbb_walls_roman.txt
dbb_walls_greek.txt

I've increased various ratings in most of the files in terms of the strenghts of walls and gateways, and a few other things that i'm not sure really has a real effect on that strength(all the internal_joiner type entires) but just looked too low a default. The outcome is that walls are definately harder to breach now, and you do actualy loose troops in the act of seigeing now. I still think these numbers need some fine tuning, the top tier of walls/gateways for example could probably do with being even stronger, but as is in the files it does already make walls more valuable in the game. I've no idea if autocalc takes these numbers into account, but playing through a seige you will notice a change.

Another thing that might be an error i noticed is if for example you compare 'dbb_walls_roman.txt' with 'dbb_walls_egyptian.txt' you will see right near the top 'battle_stats flammability_none blah blah' is in different loctaions.

Using winmerge or some such program will show you all the differences in these files i've changed compared to the originals trying to improve the various fortification to walls you can build.

[Carac Caratacus]

Realistic resources for Briton

I wont post my descr_strat.txt for this as it also includes unfinished adjustments to starting factions etc.

After checking up on a few sources i feel i have a decent balance between realism and game for the resources of this island now:

Calleva: Ironx1, Leadx1, Textilex1
Cuniento: Potteryx1, Hidesx1
Isca: Goldx1, Tinx1
Delriada: Timberx1, Silverx1
Tara: Copperx2, wildanimalsx1

Calleva: I think 3 resources works ok re balance and historic importance. I would like to have added Grain(as in dogs i note), as this was certainly a very fertile and heavy yield producer of crops, and one of the reasons the Romans came to britain. But i think 4 resources might make it too rich?

Lead - there was a number of large Lead manufacturing sites in the south of england. A recent archeological dig found a new one and it seems with a number of these workshops discovered, lead production was one of southern britains key assests for the Romans.

Iron - sure, i just reduced the present x2 for just the x1 to make room for other resources.

Textiles - well those tartan trousers had to come from somewhere, so i've left this as is.

Grain(optional) - the farming wealth of britain was one of the reasons for the Roman invasion, but in comparison to other grain producing areas of the classical world, there were much bigger and better developed areas.

So the entires in descr_strat.txt for Calleva look like this:

resource lead 53, 131 ; Britanica_Superior
resource iron 55, 133 ; Britanica_Superior
resource textile 59, 130 ; Britanica_Superior
resource dogs 54, 128 ; Britanica_Superior - This is optional, maybe too much.

Cuniento: Pottery and hides for the north of england. Hides because that region was famous for it's developement of heards and the husbandry of them. Huge stone built causeways and enclosures have been excavated in the north of england, the people of the period certainly put a huge ammount of effort into the care of their cattle. Pottery is more of a random allocation, pots were made all over britain and various famous culture types of ancient briton are only known by their pot type, the Beaker People being the most well known.

Entries in descr_strat.txt for Cuniento look like this:

resource pottery 57, 142 ; Britanica_Inferior(Cuniento)
resource hides 56, 137 ; Britanica_Inferior(Cuniento)

Isca:-this region of britain has been a mining stronghold up untill very recently. The romans built their amazing roads into this region for the gold and tin deposits. gold in south wales, tin in cornwall.

Entries in descr_strat.txt for Isca look like this:

resource gold 43, 132 ; Britanica_Inferior(Isca)
resource tin 38, 127 ; Britanica_Inferior(Isca)

Delriada: This was tricky, but i decided to go with Silver and Timber. Silver to add a nice reason for taking on the rather tough army garrisoned there! And i felt like we needed another mine in the briton map area. Timber because scotland has been a timber producer for the rest of the uk for a long time, not so much since the land was cleared in the later iron age and not in the recent move to cattle and sheep grazing of the more recent past, but it's suitability for pine type timbers which are long and straight meant it was a useful resource for building with, and probably why it landscape is so barren now!

Entries in descr_strat.txt for Delriada look like this:

resource silver 48, 160 ; Britanica_Inferior(Delriada)
resource timber 51, 154 ; Britanica_Inferior(Delriada)

Tara: - Copper. Ireland has been known across europe since pre-history for it's copper exports. many copper and bronze items found all across europe have had their copper traced back to some pretty big mines in Ireland. Interestingly the Romans never made it there in a permanent way, but you can be sure they knew about the copper. I think they decided to use copper sources found in wales instead( a famous site is known there), as maybe it was just more logisicaly sound, and to be honest fighting the Irish is never a great idea!
I also felt it needed something more, so decided upon wild animals - to appeal to that far flung, wild and remote image it must have conjured in the mind of any civilised roman.

Entries in descr_strat.txt for Tara look like this:

resource copper 34, 139 ; Britanica_Inferior(Tara)
resource copper 37, 140 ; Britanica_Inferior(Tara)
resource wild animals 30, 145 ; Britanica_Inferior(Tara)

In terms of resource placement i've combined historical accuracy(gold in south wales, tin in cornwall etc) with an eye to where roads pass by and the general geological look of the land(timber near woods, copper and silver near hills etc). The end result is a proper attempt at bringing some historic value to the resource map fo briton, and making less poor, as it was not a poor nation as the romans knew(even if they would write in rather dissparaging ways about the inhabitants).

[Irenaeus]

One thing I turn off is the scorpion launchers on the Medium Siege Towers when you lay seige to Large Stone Walls - I find they cause much more damage to my troops when they're defending large walls. In descr_engines, under medium tower, change the projectile from scorpion to arrow, and then change the stats to:

attack_stat 8, 2, arrow, 100, 100, missile, archery, piercing
attack_stat_attr ap

This makes building larger walls more worthwhile as they're more easily defendable.

[Carac Caratacus]

@ Irenaeus, So this is for when the AI is attacking you right? Sometimes i worry the devs might have been watching too much Gladiator(the film with Russel Crow) and giving ancient artillery near modern artillery effects and capabilities

Realistic Briton Cities Rebel Garrisons: - all the text changes go in 'ExRM\Data\world\maps\campaign\barbarian_invasion\descr_strat.txt'

The aim was to introduce some actual historic realism based on famous troop types from the various regions, I also have changed the starting army for the Briton faction a little.

Cuniento - This region can losely be equated to the area controlled by the Iceni(boudica's lot), if we take into account you as the Briton faction are a related but more southerly based tribe. So for this towns rebel garrison i decided it would be nice to introduce a core element of the briton heavy chariot mixed with some other basic infantry types.

Isca - I went with briton forrester warbands for the core of this garrison. Yew bows have been found dating back to circa 2000BC from the region of wales and this area has a long and proud history of the bow up until more recent times(the longbowmen used by the english armies at Agincourt for example). Again with a mix of basic infantry types. probably the war chariot wouldn't have featured as much in the region of wales due to the mountainous nature of the land. Certain parts of the westcountry(devon+cornwall) may well have seen chariot use, but i feel the strong historic link to the bow would add more flavour to this area.

Dalriada - well this was an easy choice! a core army based around Caledonian warriors with a mix of basic infantry.

Tara - this ended up being complicated. You cant use the briton skirmisher in a rebel town so i used mercenry peltasts. In the end i had to settle on an army made of two core componants to better reflect this regions warring history and traditions. 1 core is the horse, with a mounted general as in the default setup, i added a few more light cavalry to reflect this irish tradition(pre-roman times a special core troop of horse was created to patrol the borders of ireland and each key tribe and petty kingdom contributed to this united warband of horse). Skirmishers are also an important part of traditional irish warfare, the short thrown spear was a favourite weapon of irish warriors and that tradition lasted into more recent times with units like irish kearns etc. I also used a chosen spearman as an elite type troop for this garrison.

I've increased Caratacus's experience to reflect his level of battle knowledge at this time. by the time he had left gaul for briton he had already won battles against rome(if it meant to be that Caratacus). Overall the changes look like this:

Caratacus's army: - copy/paste the text below this line into your descr_strat.txt

unit barb chieftain cavalry briton exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit briton chariot exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton slinger exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton warband exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton swordsmen exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

Vortigerns' army: - again copy/paste the text below into descr_strat.txt

unit barb chieftain cavalry briton exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit briton chariot exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton slinger exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton warband exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton warband exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton warband exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit briton swordsmen exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The bit below is the complete replacement for the rebel briton garrisons in descr_strat.txt:

;briton rebel army, Hibernia, near Tara 
character, sub_faction romans_scipii,    Custennyn,  named character, age 16, , x 36, y 142 
traits Immovable 1, Untouchable 1, Leader_Bonus 1 army 

unit        barb chieftain cavalry briton            exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit        barb cavalry briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb cavalry briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb cavalry briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        merc peltast            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        merc peltast            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        merc peltast            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        merc peltast            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        merc peltast            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton gothic hev inf            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0 
unit        briton gothic hev inf            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0 

;briton rebel Garrison, Dalriada, Caledonia 
character, sub_faction romans_scipii,    Brigomaglos,  named character, age 16, , x 45, y 158 
traits Immovable 1, Untouchable 1, Leader_Bonus 1 army 

unit        briton night fighters            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton night fighters            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton night fighters            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton night fighters            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton night fighters            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        briton night fighters            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0 

;briton rebel garrison(Isca) 
character, sub_faction romans_scipii,    Berdic,  named character, age 30, , x 46, y 129 
traits Immovable 1, Untouchable 1, Leader_Bonus 1 army 

unit        warband huntsman briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        warband huntsman briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        warband huntsman briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        warband huntsman briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        warband huntsman briton            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0 

;briton rebel garrison, Brit. Inferior, Cuniento 
character, sub_faction romans_scipii,    Morirex,  named character, age 32, , x 55, y 140 
traits Immovable 1, Untouchable 1, Leader_Bonus 1 army 

unit        barb chariot heavy slave            exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb chariot heavy slave            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb chariot heavy slave            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb chariot heavy slave            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        barb chariot heavy slave            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton warband            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton swordsmen            exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit        slave briton slinger            exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

If you wish you can add a few more units to the stack. As it is i found the first two battles fun but winnable when taking the chariot heavy town of Cuniento and the massed archers of the Isca. then you need time to lick your wounds and resupply your troops for the eventual push to Dalriada or Tara. You have money this time, due the revamped historicaly accurate resources, but not that much so choose improvements carefuly and know that the battles over Dalriada and Tara will be harder. I've removed as much armour as i can from all troop types(except for main leaders) as none of the town have blacksmiths at game start.

Overall the britons are much more satisfying to play as, they feel like a more fully featured faction and less of an oversight imho(i know they will be gone in later ExRM's, so this is their last farewell!), and while still hard you wont be forced to abandon all your troops artificially as most of them will have been killed taking the territory! The historic resource model and the region prefered units makes it more interesting. Attack the chariots first or the bowmen? etc

Edit: I increased a few of the range weapon heavy garrisons so they have a unit or two more of hand-to-hand units.

[Irenaeus]

@ Irenaeus, So this is for when the AI is attacking you right? Sometimes i worry the devs might have been watching too much Gladiator(the film with Russel Crow) and giving ancient artillery near modern artillery effects and capabilities

It's for all the siege towers that attack the Large Stone Walls (not the Epic walls, but I can't remember if they've been removed from ExRM). It makes the siege towers fire arrows at the defenders on the wall while it's advancing, rather than the scorpion bolts - I find the scorpion bolts make it much harder to defend a wall, so Large Stone Walls are actually harder to defend than normal Stone Walls! This fixes this anomaly. I haven't tried it myself but someone recommended it to me to make things more realistic.

[Carac Caratacus]

cheers for the info. sounds like it may also be too powerfull for the player vs the AI when they build a siege tower also? I'll have to play around with it - it all helps make sieges more realistic

[Quinn Inuit]

Heh, I've actually messed with the artillery very little. It's probably unchanged from RTR-PE.

FWIW, I don't build large walls except as a transition to epic walls because of the (hard-coded) large wall bug.

[Seleukos Nikator]

[...] (hard-coded) large wall bug.

never heard of it. what does it do?

[Quinn Inuit]

Siege towers get stuck in them. Here's a thread on the topic: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54502

[Caligula Caesar]

I've seen that as well. However, I think large and epic stone walls are a bit unrealistic (way too big), so they should be removed, and the top tier of walls should use the normal wall model but with increased stats.

[Carac Caratacus]

I've seen that as well. However, I think large and epic stone walls are a bit unrealistic (way too big), so they should be removed, and the top tier of walls should use the normal wall model but with increased stats.

That sounds like a good idea, lol at that bug mind you! So how would you envision this new system of wall(as in what levels would you use, how many types etc)? I suppose we could use the same models+icon pictures but give it a slightly different title to go with the stats? I didn't know about this bug, and dont mind big walls in general, certainly some cities did build them, but your idea could be used to get over that bug for sure?

Re those changes i made to the wall/gate strengths, it definately has an impact on the game - one of them being that rebel cities now hang around longer; not sure if that is a good thing historicaly speaking, but it slows general AI exapnsion down a little.

[Carac Caratacus]

Oh yeah i forgot this, in my process of trying to get to grips with moding certain things that i can with the game, i tried to allow a few extra levels of buildings for the brition faction(to see if i could really) - i think i allowed 'academy'(first level to see if it made a difference to my younger faction 'leaders' learning/skills), an extra level of wall(so stone wall?), an extra level of mine, an extra level of farm and maybe the sewer(to see if it balanced unhappiness as town population grew).

A number of things that while i'm not looking to be fully implemented i'm interested on their game impact. Anyway while i have been able to build the academy+a higher level farm, the graphic icon used in the build queue is not the same as that used in say the Roman faction(where you get i think the 'irrigated farm' description etc). I get a uniform build icon of some kind of roman barracks(it looks like) for all these extra buildings, with a text description of something like 'warning: you should not see this text'.

So if i want to get the same build icons and building descriptions as if say i was playing as Rome, what should i look to edit for the Briton faction. Again i can actualy build these test buildings, but want the icons+descriptions to be correct also. cheers.

[Quinn Inuit]

This is a very simple problem, don't worry. Here's a page to help you with adding buildings:
link

[Carac Caratacus]

mmmm....sadly that link takes me to a page with no info! but thats cool, i'm sure it must be in the modding threads around here somewhere

(EDIT: it's ok i found the page...maybe some browser issue?)

Is it possible for one faction to completey take over and control the whole map? I ask because that doesn't seem too realisitic to me, but the AI seems able to attempt it without much trouble(not many city rebellions/penalties from capitol distance etc). It seems hard to setup the factions in descr_strat.txt so that one doesnt always run away with the game. What kind of ways can be used to slow AI expansions, is anybody interested in doing so even? I know we messed around with an increase in city rebellions in CTP2, when a certain empire size was reached, this helped curtail a 'rich getting richer' flaw.

[Quinn Inuit]

Oh, sorry about that link. It should work for you now.

Yes, it is possible to slow factions down. HouseOfHam has even written a script for it. Basically, you hit them with money penalties for control of certain numbers of provinces. But accomplishing it with balance rather than scripts is the ideal.

The key, I suspect, is keeping the Seleucids alive without weakening the Ptolies. Still working on that.

[Carac Caratacus]

Oh, sorry about that link. It should work for you now.

Yes, it is possible to slow factions down. HouseOfHam has even written a script for it. Basically, you hit them with money penalties for control of certain numbers of provinces. But accomplishing it with balance rather than scripts is the ideal.

The key, I suspect, is keeping the Seleucids alive without weakening the Ptolies. Still working on that.

I agree it would be prefreble to get the balance right, the less scripts the better really(stability/bug wise etc). Now it's funny as i've noticed a couple of you more experienced players talk about the Selucids falling apart in some way. I've played about 8 games now(to around 230BC ish, so not full games), and in every game(bar one, where i had massivily reduced the starting army of the Seluicids) the Selucids pretty much conquor the world, well start to. On my graphs they are always at the top and atleast twice ahead of the second place faction(normaly the Ptolies), everyone else sits in the bottom quarter of the graph charts. As Rome i usualy stop my game when a few full stacks of Selucids start to cross over into Italy!!

Anyway i've been messing around with reducing starting gold(doesnt have any effect as a turn later they get all that income from their many provinces), reducing troops(can work, but getting the balance so they dont get taken out by the Ptolies is hard) and then i noticed they have quite a few Auxilia stage 2+3 buildings. Now is this to reflect historical accuracy or...? I'm thinking that maybe for the Selucids and Ptolies and any other faction that has a tendancy to steam roll their way through provinces and other factions, maybe we can look at reducing the number of troop raising provinces at game start(or downgrade a few of the Auxilia?). Something like that, to control the speed of army build up they can currently achieve. Good or bad idea?

[despot_of_rhodes]

TSE starts with over 20 territories, so it´s no wonder they can be found on the top of the statistics. But, as you mentioned, it´s the Ptoleys who rival them there, and since those two are the actual enemies, in all of my ExRM campaigns the Egyptians used to wipe out the Seleucids.

I think the problem lies considerably in the fact, that the Ptoleys actually got no other enemy apart from Seleucids, who could threaten them, while the TSE has to defent itself against almoust every faction in the East, and also against the Macs and/or Greeks, once a faction gained controll over Greece ( Thracians might seldom be a candidate too ). Sure, Ptoleys fight against Greeks often for the controll of Kreta and Rhodes, but from my experience it ends in a desaster, where they make peace on every turn after they have declaired war on each other on the previous

If Superfactions are established in the game, a Sabaean, or even Numidian, part of it should be a pain in the arse of the Ptoleys, similar like the latter are for Carthage, because otherwise the Ptoleys would have all their "flanks" covered, while heading strongly into TSE lands as the only one direction to expand.

[Carac Caratacus]

yes i mostly notice the Greek/Selucid love hate flip-flop every turn thing also, it happens quite often! hmm i know there have been some discusions about diplomacy recently, and i was just thinking would it be possible via modding to add some kind of time/turn conditional to any treaty/alliance? sort of like having an Alliance would mean no wars between those factions for x turns etc - or is that beyond modding?

Re the safe situation for the Ptoleys - is the no-mans land in the desert between Numida and Ptoleys mod added or part of the default game? and could we maybe look at that as a means to add extra danger for them from that direction(as the AI seems incapable of seaborn invasion mostly), with an eye to better balancing the factions so one just doesnt steamrole the rest so easily(so i'm guessing upping the power of the Numidians a bit in this situ)?

Also do we know(can we tell) how the AI sets defensive priorities as opposed to attacking ones. I'm wondering if the agreesive push for territory will often leave cities poorly defended, so that encourages loss of territory at the point the AI over extends itself in the push for new territory. Can that be adjusted, so the AI will better garrison it's towns, as that might help stop the sudden unravelling of certain factions.

[Carac Caratacus]

Looking at possible discrepancies between unit text/stat/pictures:

This is going to be something i'll attempt to update as i find more, and is more a guide for the more experienced and knowledgable guys to discuss, not all i'll list here will be an error but maybe worth looking at.

Velites: Picture has large round shield, Unit Descr = '...carry a small round shield..' Shield stat = 4
Also Armour=3, Unit Descr= '...but no other protection...'
Good catch about the armour. I'm going to leave the shield as is, though, since it's recorded as being reasonably effective and is small relative to the full Roman tower shield.

Italic Skirmishers: compared to Velites they cost more and the upkeep is higher, while the stats are lower(apart from Defence). Maybe reduce upkeep to 155-160? to give a reason to use them over the Velities?
There's not supposed to be a reason to use them instead of velites, except to play historically. The goal is to make the faction units slightly better than the AoR equivalents in general.

Picene Hoplite: Weapon type = Light, Unit Descr = '..Heavy infantry..' correct or?
I think it defaults to "light" for all spearmen. *shrugs*

Marsi Spearman: Picture has huge shield(Shield = 5) compared to Marsi Swordsman(Shield = 6), switch Shield stats around?
Good catch. They're both using an aspis, so they should both have 6. Oh, and I should change that to mention it's an aspis, not a hoplon.
...
I just fixed the entire EU. Yay for find/replace.

Mercenry Hoplitai: Picture = no spear! just a sword. (it 'should' be an easy job to Photoshop one in...where are the pictures used in the unit description cards stored?)
True, but I don't know how to make a new picture. I think I'll just leave it as-is unless this really bothers people.

Cretan Archers: Melee Atk = 8 Unit Descr = '..little chance lasting in hand-to-hand..' Their defence is very low, but 8 seems quite high(say compared to a slinger) for a unit that doesn't seem to have a decent backup weapon(none given in Unit Descr text). So lower Melee Atk or add unit descr like '...can use a knife/shortsword to attack hand-to-hand...' ?
These guys actually should be fairly effective, and they should also have a small shield. I may need to get a new unit for them. This one's going to have to go on the to-do list.

Tarentine Light Cavalry: Picture = small shield, Shield = 5(maybe 4 or 3 better for size of shield?).
Darn. They should have something that's nearly a full-size aspis. I'm going to leave the stat as-is to reflect the reality more than the image there.

Leukaspides: Picture = decent sized round shield, Shield = 3(too low? maybe 4 or 5 for the size?)
A lot of the phalangites are like that, actually. A lot of modders do them up with a full-size aspis even though they should have a much smaller shield. Again, I try to have the stats reflect reality. I try to use small-size shields when I can, but not too many units have those available.

Briton Chosen Swordsmen: Picture = very large shield, Shield = 5(Skirmishers+Warband have Shield=6, so maybe should be a 6 also?)
I'm not going to worry about these guys, as they're not long for this game.

Gallic Noble Cavalry: Picture = small shield, Shield=4, Gallic warlord has Shield=4 also but larger shield. maybe Gallic Noble Cavalry should be Shield=3?
Do you mean these guys?
http://home.earthlink.net/~eficitron...alry_gaul.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~eficitron...alry_gaul.html
They look the same to me.

Briton forester Warband: Armour =1, Descr='..Skilled men with bow and spear, thier prefered weapons. They also each wear good leather armour..' - maybe Armour=1 is too low for 'good leather armour' desrciption? Also no spear on unit picture(but they do use one in hand-to-hand on battle screen).
Good catch. All the forester warbands have this problem or a related one. I think 1 is enough for even good leather armour, since it's still just leather. As for the image, it's hard to get two different weapons into the picture, so I'll probably leave it as is.

Briton Woad Warrior: Weapon type = light, but in battle screen they are described as 'heavy infantry' when you mouse over the unit? Is this ok?
I think so.

Briton Slinger: Shield=0, Picture = no shield, Descr='...other than a knife and small shield..' - this should be changed to not mention a shield.
Nah, these guys should probably have a shield. Need to work on that.

Briton Skirmisher: Picture = large shield, Shield=6, Descr='...small shield...' - this should be changed.
Fixed.

Brioton Naked fanatics: Picture= no armour, Armour=1 - maybe it should be 0(increase defence skill+1?).
Not in my EDU. I might've fixed that already, though.

Hoplitari(Levy): Armour = 3, unit Descr = '...these men wear no armour'
Good catch, but again these guys are getting ditched soon. Greece seems to have moved to thureophoroi for the poorer citizen troops, and it looks like the Black Sea colonies did something similar. Massilia and Emporiae are just going to have to stick with local levy spear for their light spearmen, which is probably what they did IRL. (Not that I've been able to find anything about their armies.)

.............More to come.....

[Quinn Inuit]

DoR: I agree. Getting the Nubians in there in one way or another is high on my to-do list. Given how badly that particular bit of map editing went, though, I may just put in the Nabateans via a superfaction.

yes i mostly notice the Greek/Selucid love hate flip-flop every turn thing also, it happens quite often! hmm i know there have been some discusions about diplomacy recently, and i was just thinking would it be possible via modding to add some kind of time/turn conditional to any treaty/alliance? sort of like having an Alliance would mean no wars between those factions for x turns etc - or is that beyond modding?

Sadly, I don't think so. I wish I knew where those two were meeting up with one another so I could make them quit it. I think this situation happens when two factions have a border and want to be enemies, but their nearest settlements are far enough apart that the AI can't find its way from one to another.

Re the safe situation for the Ptoleys - is the no-mans land in the desert between Numida and Ptoleys mod added or part of the default game? and could we maybe look at that as a means to add extra danger for them from that direction(as the AI seems incapable of seaborn invasion mostly), with an eye to better balancing the factions so one just doesnt steamrole the rest so easily(so i'm guessing upping the power of the Numidians a bit in this situ)?

That's one of our oldest landblocks. The Carthaginians and Ptolies would _always_ fight otherwise, and the two actually got along well IRL.

Also do we know(can we tell) how the AI sets defensive priorities as opposed to attacking ones. I'm wondering if the agreesive push for territory will often leave cities poorly defended, so that encourages loss of territory at the point the AI over extends itself in the push for new territory. Can that be adjusted, so the AI will better garrison it's towns, as that might help stop the sudden unravelling of certain factions.

It can, but I'm pretty sure I already set the Seleucids to Fortified. Beyond that, I don't know what I could do.


Edit: Oh, one more thing. How do you want me to respond to the units you're posting? I think the easiest way to do it would be for me to edit your post and put my comments in using another color, but I don't like to edit someone else's post without asking first.