Rebel Stacks - Early Game

[musicdemon]

The number of large stacks of Rebels in the early game is out of control. It would be more realistic if the Rebels had the same tier of units as the player instead of having better quality troops AND full stacks. It really makes the Early game frustrating. Can the DLVelopers consider reducing the quality and/or size of the Rebel stacks? There's a difference between having a challenging game and being beaten into the ground...

[Shaxx]

There are a few things you could do to the descr_strat yourself that could help you out.

For myself I make certain nations at Game start neutral to the slave faction (rebels). This is more for realism, as if a Nation was not at war with anyone during the year the game starts (to the best of my knowledge) I feel it is the best option.

I also allied a few nations to slave/rebel faction, like the Holy Roman Empire, Ireland and Lega Lombarda. All of whom had either historical alliances with or loose control of most of their immediate neighbors.

The file is located in your DLV_ext\data\world\maps\campaign\custom\Historical_Campaign or \campaign\imperial_campaign depending on which you campaign you are playing.

Here is the specific code I use:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

faction_relationships england, at_war_with france
faction_relationships france, at_war_with england
faction_relationships hre, allied_to teutons, slave
faction_relationships hre, at_war_with milan
faction_relationships spain, at_war_with moors
faction_relationships spain, allied_to portugal, papal_states
;faction_relationships venice, at_war_with
faction_relationships venice, allied_to milan
;faction_relationships sicily, at_war_with
faction_relationships sicily, allied_to papal_states
faction_relationships milan, at_war_with hre
faction_relationships milan, allied_to slave, venice, papal_states
;faction_relationships scotland, at_war_with
faction_relationships byzantium, at_war_with turks, slave
;faction_relationships russia, at_war_with
faction_relationships moors, at_war_with spain, portugal
faction_relationships turks, at_war_with slave, byzantium, elo
faction_relationships egypt, at_war_with elo
;faction_relationships denmark, at_war_with
;faction_relationships portugal, at_war_with
faction_relationships portugal, allied_to spain, papal_states
;faction_relationships poland, at_war_with
;faction_relationships hungary, at_war_with
faction_relationships hungary, allied_to papal_states
;faction_relationships papal_states, at_war_with
faction_relationships papal_states, allied_to elo, teutons, milan, sicily, hungary, spain, portugal
faction_relationships aztecs, at_war_with slave
;faction_relationships flanders, at_war_with
;faction_relationships ireland, at_war_with
faction_relationships ireland, allied_to slave
faction_relationships mongols, at_war_with slave
;faction_relationships kiev, at_war_with
;faction_relationships lit, at_war_with
faction_relationships teutons, at_war_with slave
faction_relationships teutons, allied_to elo, papal_states, hre
faction_relationships elo, at_war_with slave, egypt, turks
faction_relationships elo, allied_to teutons, papal_states
;faction_relationships armenia, at_war_with
;faction_relationships norway, at_war_with
;faction_relationships timurids, at_war_with slave
;faction_relationships hedjaz, at_war_with
faction_relationships slave, at_war_with byzantium, turks, aztecs, mongols, teutons, elo
faction_relationships slave, allied_to milan, hre, ireland

Just Control-F to 'Faction_Relationships' and copy and replace what you find.

Alternatively, or in-addition too, you can reduce them yourself by taking units from their armies as you see fit. A lot of the armies have tags and general ideas of where they are.

For example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

;fort Vilnius
character sub_faction russia, Sbyslav, named character, leader, age 20, x 327, y 294
traits LoyaltyStarter 1 , NaturalMilitarySkill 1 , GoodCommander 1 , Immobile 1, Fallen_to_Illness 3, Factionleader 1, CharacterAges 1, TurnsAlive 2, PresentAtGameStart 1
army
unit NE Bodyguard exp 3 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 3 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit Peasant Archers exp 3 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit Order Spearmen exp 3 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit Dismounted Mercenary German Knights exp 3 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

Just remove a line under 'army' from 'unit' all the way to 'weapon_lvl 0' and it removes the rebel unit. Make sure that the character and army are under the 'slave_faction' tab, which is easily done since they have the most towns/armies and are at the bottom. Or an easier way to identify them as rebel force is by the 'character sub_faction' tag which is only present on a rebel army in that file.

[Kjertesvein]

How do you get beaten by a passive & static force? Which must also hold against your presence or future military.

-General Ulrich Wille, of the 5th DLV regiment.

[musicdemon]

I know they're not aggressive, which is nice, but weaker Rebels would make getting military points soooo much easier. Turtling for 100 years just to be able to build a military academy isn't really fun.

Thanks for the tip, Shaxx. I was sort of appealing to the DLV developers, though. Is this only a problem in VH/VH? I don't know if this is still applicable in easier difficulties, but I remember discussion awhile ago about DLV not working correctly in other difficulties. Is this still true?

[Shaxx]

How do you get beaten by a passive & static force? Which must also hold against your presence or future military.

I like the added challenge personally. I just always do what I can to make the slave faction more realistic and historically sound where possible.

Is this only a problem in VH/VH?

They are present on all difficulties.

I don't know if this is still applicable in easier difficulties, but I remember discussion awhile ago about DLV not working correctly in other difficulties. Is this still true?

I played a few play-test campaigns on medium/medium (just making sure the game did not crash with certain changes) and nothing seemed awry.