Placement of Permanent Stone Forts

[Gorrrrrn]

Whilst it can be fun watching the AI place its temp forts all over the place, many people have argued that it would be better if permanent stone forts were placed in the descr_strat file and we remove the ability to build forts.

There is extant a Wolfslayer / master Zuma mod that permits that link here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...20#post5993820

and Gigantus had done a tutorial here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...48#post3156148

which also handily shows the range of stone forts that can be placed.
(note there are no eastern european or southern european forts apparently.)

So could people list the forts they have placed (and type) and whether the sites chosen are for purely strategic purposes or whether they represent important castles etc?

I'd also like to hear of any ideas from people who haven't used them yet but who can think of locations to put them.

(If you need the x,y co-ordinates on the strat map bring up the console and use show_cursorstat when you have placed the cursor over the site. Note not all sites can be used, I'd advise not putting them on rivers, in steep mountains etc.)

(Might help if you say which Campaign map you are referring to!!)

[Loose Cannon]

It's late and I'm tired so I'll come back tomorrow with some locations.

Yes, permanent stone forts strategically placed is a much better choice than the ability to build forts. Both Deuce lo Volt and Chivalry 2 have them, and they have Byzantine and Turkish forts in both. Can't remember their apperence (SP).

The Campaign map should be the same in all campaigns in terms of coastlines,rivers, mountains, etc. But maybe different cities & towns-but same name same location. Right now Antioch is slightly different (for some reason) from early to late to the 1450 campaign, for example. You can't move past it in 1450 with an army. And movement paths around Adana are different, too.

[Gorrrrrn]

Humph this isn't as easy as it seems.

using show_cursorstat seems pretty hit and miss, trying to work out what square it actually refers to.

Q: region names - in the descr_strat regions section (which we don't have currently) do we use the region name that show_cursorstat shows or the
name used in the section above?

Using the Zuma/wolfslayer mod - looks like we have some extra editing to do, for example free upkeep forts value.
any other hints appreciated!

looking at the files there's folders for stone_fort_e, holy_fort_b and bz_fort_m
are these also usable?

[impspy]

I did that for my mod. here is my descr_strat (note: i moved some regions, so some of these may not work, i have tried to weed them out. Also the pkh_cliff_c fort can be found here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=310839)

region Caernarvon_Province
fort 49 229 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 49 225 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 56 224 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region London_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 55 224 stone_fort_a culture northern_european
;fort 68 103 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
;fort 49 219 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
fort 87 225 pkh_cliff_c culture northern_european
;fort 68 103 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Nottingham_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
fort 58 225 stone_fort_a culture northern_european
;fort 65 244 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 60 218 stone_fort_c culture northern_european ;;glouchester not working
;fort 87 225 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
;fort 55 241 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region York_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
fort 57 235 stone_fort_a culture northern_european ;;lancaster not working
;fort 68 103 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
;fort 49 219 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
;fort 87 225 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
fort 55 229 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

watchtower 61 233

region Exeter_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 37 206

region Dublin_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 28 235 pkh_cliff_c culture northern_european
fort 28 227 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
fort 9 223 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
fort 20 231 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 24 221 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Edinburgh_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 65 244 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
fort 54 249 stone_fort_a culture northern_european
;fort 65 244 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 55 242 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Inverness_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
fort 57 251 stone_fort_a culture northern_european
fort 38 257 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
;fort 54 266 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
;fort 52 252 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
;fort 32 252 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Winchester_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;;fort 60 218 stone_fort_a culture northern_european ;;lancaster not working
;fort 38 257 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 72 212 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
;fort 52 252 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
;fort 32 252 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Bordeaux_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;fort 68 103 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
;;fort 60 218 stone_fort_a culture northern_european ;;lancaster not working
;fort 38 257 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
;fort 72 212 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
;fort 52 252 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
fort 78 158 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Oslo_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 152 272 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
;fort 52 252 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Lund_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 185 242 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern
fort 178 246 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Hamburg_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 154 236 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Talinn_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 271 272 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Iconium_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 302 121 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

region Vilnius_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 261 250 stone_fort_b culture northern_european

region Corinth_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 243 111 stone_fort_a culture northern_european
fort 239 113 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Thorn_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 198 225 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Breslau_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 189 219 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Hamburg_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 154 229 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Bern_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 141 181
fort 133 191 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Nuremburg_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 147 191
watchtower 168 202

region Metz_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 128 201

region Isfahan_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 184 198


region Groningen_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 135 224

region Worms_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 145 218

region Magdeburg_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
watchtower 151 220

region Arhus_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 148 240 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Toulouse_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 88 163 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Rennes_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 68 194 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Paris_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 90 200 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Dijon_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 108 185 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Clermont_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 88 179 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

region Lyon_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 110 167 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Valencia_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 69 138 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Leon_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 12 156 stone_fort_c culture northern_european
fort 27 144 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Murcia_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 65 125 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

region Badajoz_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 26 130 stone_fort_d culture northern_european
fort 27 123 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern

region Cordoba_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 50 125 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern
fort 37 107 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

region Burgos_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 59 144 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Jerusalem_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 325 72 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern
fort 328 77 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

region Damascus_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 344 94 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern

region Kiev_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 311 191 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern

region Tortosa_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 338 98 stone_fort_b culture northern_european
fort 336 100 knightly_order_fort_b culture northern_european

region Antioch_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 337 105 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Acre_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 334 85 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Isle_of_Cyprus
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 321 100 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Bari_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 189 146 stone_fort_c culture northern_european

region Zagreb_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 183 173 stone_fort_a culture northern_european

region Antwerp_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 111 218 stone_fort_d culture northern_european

region Aleppo_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 345 115 me_fort_b culture middle_eastern

region Adana_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort 334 116 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

I did a bit of research for each one. every one is placed in a historically acurate position (for 1266 AD that is)

[Awellesley]

The general consensus of the problem with PSF's and forts in general is that the AI does not use them properly, can get stuck in them, etc. So, the criteria I use for placing them is this:
1. They are not buildable
2. They are in a location where there are clear and easy paths around them (preferably lots of open space) so the AI can avoid them
3. They are in a location where there was a historic castle or fortification

I put one roughly where Krak des chevaliers was and it worked great. Playing as the CS, I conquered Tripoli, and Krak and put troops in it. The Turks sieged it, took it and continued onto Tripoli.
I tired another one on the border of Scotland and England and both Factions had real difficulty dealing with the pathfinding even though it was off the main path a little.

Anyways, my two cents.

[Lemming69]

free upkeep for certain units in forts???? and how about only local mercenaries can be recruited and the more generic widespread pros like armoured seargents can only be recruited in forts??? is this possible?

[Gorrrrrn]

impspy - many thanks for that I'll try them out tomorrow (things to watch on TV tonight!!)

currently the descr_strat doesn't have anything in the region section regarding farming level and famine threat.
Do they make a difference, what does the farming level relate to?
(The brittania campaign has both set to 0 IIRC)

More important should we have an entry for every region here with the same farming level even if they have no forts?

my list of possibles include:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Pembroke
Glasgow
Berwick (but maybe Roxburgh)
Calais / Dunkirk
on road between Silves and Cordoba
in mountains at the back of Fez near the northern mines
in mountains to south of Algiers
near the slave resource west of AL Madhiya
about halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi
about halfway between Alexandria and Benghazi
about halfway between Sharjah and Al Muminiyah on the arabian gulf
near the border between Urgench and Jaiksk, west of Embi
a couple in Aktobe province and 1 in Kazakh
one the other side of the mountains to Tibilisi
a couple in Don province
One on the road between Moscow and Novgorod (maybe even 2)
One on the road between Vilnius and Palanga
One in Western Pomerania between Thorn and Stettin
One in Brandenburg between Stettin and hamburg
One in Sodermanland north of Skara, on road between Upsalla and Oslo

I avoided Anatolia, Italy and a few other areas where there were already enough settlements or natural barriers.

Anyway I'll see where Impspy's forts go on the strat map and have a re-think after that.

-----------------------------------------
update: after removing the commented out entries, middle eastern forts in the wrong places, and then eliminating forts where the region was wrong,
or an invlaid tile, I managed to get as far as the map.
I eliminated watchtowers as the AI is usually good at placing them in sensible places.
I think I'll probably eliminate quite a few entries where forts are placed where there's no strategic reason to place them there.
I'll probably clear out a few from the Holy Land as they're just going to get in the way.
Others I'll try and relocate to places where they can be more useful.
Once I've done that I'll post the list here.

The basic test for the placements is whether the AI makes use of the forts where we put them.
If it doesn't then maybe they're in the wrong places.

Still thanks once again to impspy, at least it has got the ball rolling.
------------------------------------------------


AW - do you have co-ordinates for Krak de Chev ?
I'd generally agree with your general principles, although there's some I'd place for strategic reasons,
esp in areas prone to rebel uprisings, and where it is several turns march between settlements.

More ideas welcome, especially if you have tested them out and there's no problems with terrain.

--
free upkeep can be added - I'd stick to 2 (too many and the AI gets a nasty shock if they move outside!),
but AFAIK you can't recruit in forts.
Generals can recruit mercs outside forts if any mercs are available in the area.
CORRECTION: generals can recruit mercs inside forts.

don't know if you can position units in them at start of campaign.

yes you can, just make sure the co-ords are correct.

[impspy]

impspy - many thanks for that I'll try them out tomorrow (things to watch on TV tonight!!)

currently the descr_strat doesn't have anything in the region section regarding farming level and famine threat.
Do they make a difference, what does the farming level relate to?
(The brittania campaign has both set to 0 IIRC)

Your welcome!

I have tinkered around with the farming level and it has no apparent effect.

(you will notice the large amount of forts in Ireland--Dublin_Province--; in 1100 none of them would have been there)

don't know if you can position units in them at start of campaign.
(can check that out in Britannia campaign.)

Yes, you can place units in forts the same way you put them in settlements, just make sure the coordinates match up

Also the AI only garrisons forts in enemy territory

[Loose Cannon]

Krak des Chevaliers is located at 34 degrees 45' 25" N 36 degrees 17' 40 " E http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.75...6944,36.294444

And from Wikipedia: The castle is located east of Tripoli, Lebanon, in the Homs Gap, atop a 650-metre-high hill along the only route from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of many fortresses that were part of a defensive network along the border of the old Crusader states. The fortress controlled the road to the Mediterranean, and from this base, the Hospitallers could exert some influence over Lake Homs to the east to control the fishing industry and watch for Muslim armies gathering in Syria

This location seems to be a tight squeeze between Antioch & Tripoli on our map.
Of course, any PSFs put on the map will result in more seige battles.

If you go with a one region Ireland(a great idea) put the land bridge to Scotland back in and put a PSF just southwest of where they connect with a garrison. The AI needs the bridge to invade Ireland and the PSF will make them (or us) fight for it. The AI's still lacks a good naval invasion ability so another land bridge from England to France would help.

[Awellesley]

AW - do you have co-ordinates for Krak de Chev ?
I'd generally agree with your general principles, although there's some I'd place for strategic reasons,
esp in areas prone to rebel uprisings, and where it is several turns march between settlements.

I extended Tripoli's (form. Tortosa) territory a little and put "Krak" at 340, 100, in a nice flat area. Probably not 100% historic, but I wanted to check out the AI pathfinding more than anything.

[Gorrrrrn]

garrison forts - apparently we can spawn a garrison in the campaign script from T1.
but there's no garrisoned_army.

what i really need is a co-ordinate overlay for the strat map. For now i use rough reckoning from known positions.

other problem is that the AI tends to be strategic in its placement of temp forts -mountain passes, river crossings etc.
i.e. it places them where we would place them as that faction for maximum defensive effect.
however those are also the places that cause maximum impact on AI routefinding.
If we place the forts too far from the strategic locations the AI is unlikely to use them.

Ireland - well the regions are wrong so I've scrapped a few anyway for now.
If we implement a 1 region Ireland we can put forts where Cork and Galway are, and maybe Derry and one in the middle.
--
the farming level relates to the population this from settlement mechanics:
factor name="SPF_FARMING_LEVEL">
<pip_modifier value="0.80"/>
<castle_modifier value="0.70"/>

I presume having farming level 4 means population growth is much faster than farming level 0 or 1
(I'll try leaving it out and see what happens!!)

[Gorrrrrn]

Tx Loose Cannon -
I'll have to work out our map co-ords and which region its in, and whether placing it will cause any routefinding problems.

land bridges are beyond my capabilities.

however I've sorted out the console interface so I can get co-ordinates much easier now.

with console open just type show_cursorstat and enter with mouse pointing to correct spot.
to repeat command use the up arrow key and enter to save retyping with mouse pointing to square you need co-ords of.
(did this once and it showed the last line of the campaign script that had used console_command.)

-
looks like we can omit farming level and famine threat from the regions section.
Just type region and fort co-ords and fort type.

---

Update:

having fun (not) testing out places to put forts.
I think I'll give deserts and steppes and mountains a miss -
they either block too much or nothing at all.
It's sort of pleasing to see the AI use forts that one places, but general rule I'm sticking to is that
they shouldn't block all access to any region. there has to be a way round somewhere.
I've got some more editing to do before releasing my suggestions - hopefully tomorrow.

[Gorrrrrn]

Herewith test file of descr_strat with the permanent forts at the end of the file in the regions section.

You'll need to:

1) Install Master Zuma and Wolfslayer's mod
1.5) Now go and download the ‘ME Forts Fix’ by zxiang1983 from here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1695
2) amend the descr_campaign_db.xml file as per Gigantus instructions
Open descr_campaign_db.xml with Notepad and scroll down to the <settlements> sections. The following two lines have to be written exactly like they are here:
Code:
<destroy_empty_forts bool="false"/>
<can_build_forts bool="false"/>

3) delete map.rwm from the data/world/maps/base folder
4) rename old descr_strat file in imperial_campaign folder to old_d_s.txt
5) copy the new descr_strat into the imperial_campaign folder

Attachment 65766

START A NEW CAMPAIGN

I don't think this needs changed campaign script.
mine is a mess at the moment so I won't paste it.

This test version has free_upkeep_forts set to 1 unit to avoid exploits by human player.

Basic idea for placement has been:

1) No region to be completely cut-off from any other by fort/s
2) No forts in mountains, deserts, steppes (with a few exceptions where I've placed them near ports
or on borders a long way from nearest settlement.)
3) The AI should have been seen using them at least once (but not necessarily)
4) No attempt at making these historically accurate -
so I'm not keeping forts in places just because a settlement or castle was there at some stage.

Let me know of any places you think should have forts or where the AI or yourself never use them.
Must comply with condition 1 above. There's still a few more I might remove.

To get location of forts on campaign map:
place cursor on location
bring up console with either the tilde ~ or apostrophe ' key (depends on what sort of keyboard you have)
type show_cursorstat and then press <enter>
location will be shown.
to bring up more just move cursor to new location
press up arrow key to repeat command and press <enter>.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: I have not tested any of these on actual battlefields so you'll need to try them out.
It's possible that some forts are inappropriate for their locations - if so please let us know!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Gorrrrrn]

Krak de chev is an amazing piece of castle design.

I plonked a fort at region Tortosa_Province
fort 338 98 stone_fort_b culture northern_european

might change that to a knightly one.

[Loose Cannon]

Rozanov
Will install, test, and report back as soon as I can. Probably Monday.

[Gorrrrrn]

Hmm

OK the caen fort needs moving back 1 square to 84 199
and the Tortosa fort can be changed to a knightly_order_fort_b

---------I've sorted this out now--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOWEVER - on my first try to do a battle using one of the forts - the one west of Toulouse it came as a wooden fort on the battle map.
That may be down to me not installing something properly.

Let me know if you get the same problem.

OK I sort of assumed the zuma/wolfslayer mod had the Zxiang fix.
I'll try sticking that in and starting a new campaign and trying it out.
I've amended http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...56#post6425256
to do this.

Damn - I installed the Zxiang fix in the SS data folder - still get a wooden fort.
(when attacking the fort west of Toulouse which Raymond likes to sit in and besieging it says -large stone wall defences too.)

I've changed it to a stone fort b from stone fort a to see if that makes any difference.

Duh - I forgot to delete the map.rwm file from base folder after installing the zxiang fix.
changed the toulouse fort to a stone_fort_b and got it on the battlefield!!!

have to change back to a stone_fort_a to check but that can wait for tomorrow.

[Point Blank]

Great work guys!

[Gorrrrrn]

One more thing.
Contrary to what I posted earlier in thread, mercenaries are recruitable IN PSFs.
--

will get back with latest results.

hmm - nope still can't get stone_fort_a to work.
it always comes out as a wooden fort.

However, thinking laterally, to have permanent wooden forts might make a lot of sense in
wooded and steppe areas, instead of stone ones.

So we could use the description of stone_fort_a = permanent wooden fort.

Herewith updated descr_strat to replace one in file above:
Attachment 65878
---

well the jerusalem fort works!! hurrah.

[impspy]

One more thing.
Contrary to what I posted earlier in thread, mercenaries are recruitable IN PSFs.
--

will get back with latest results.

hmm - nope still can't get stone_fort_a to work.
it always comes out as a wooden fort.

However, thinking laterally, to have permanent wooden forts might make a lot of sense in
wooded and steppe areas, instead of stone ones.

So we could use the description of stone_fort_a = permanent wooden fort.

Herewith updated descr_strat to replace one in file above:
Attachment 65878
---

well the jerusalem fort works!! hurrah.

it would be nice if we could figure out how to fix the strat model so it showed up as a wooden fort instead of a stone castle

EDIT: I found something in the north_european folder. There is a "stone_fort_e" in there that is a carbon copy of "stone_fort_a" and it works on the battlemap! so if you still want "stone_fort_a" just use "stone_fort_e" Also there is a "holyr_fort_b" in the folder, but this shows up as a wooden fort on the battlemap. In the middle_eastern folder there is a bz_fort_m, but this also shows up as a wooden fort.
There is also a "pyramids" folder, wonder what that does?

EDIT#2: if you open "stone_fort_a.WORLDPKDDESCR" with a hexeditor you will find that at the end of the file it says "type....default_fort...variant...wooden_fort" instead of what it should say, type....default_fort...variant...stone_fort_a". However, attempts to fix it via hex-editing are so far not proving to be succesful...

EDIT#3 Would it be possible to make the wooden forts belong to the unused mesoamerican culture, so that there strat map fort icon could be used as a wooden one?

[impspy]

Would it be possible to make the wooden forts belong to the unused mesoamerican culture, so that there strat map fort icon could be used as a wooden one?

Success!!!



it worked! you can now have both wooden and stone forts on both the strat and battlemap, and I will explain the process i used to achive it.

after installing stone forts and the fixes, go to models_strat/residences in both your mod folder and your main folder and rename the following:

ne_fort_walls

to

ne_castle_walls

and rename

ne_fort_buildings

to

ne_castle_buildings

remember to do this in both your mod folder and your main m2tw folder.

next, open up descr_cultures.txt and find these lines: (note: they will be under
"culture eastern_european"
and
"culture northern_european"
headings:

fort                data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_buildings.CAS, fort_barbarian
fort_cost            2500
fort_wall            data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_walls.CAS

change this to

fort                data/models_strat/residences/NE_castle_buildings.CAS,                            fort_barbarian
fort_cost            2500
fort_wall            data/models_strat/residences/NE_castle_walls.CAS

(remember to do this for both the northern_european and eastern_european cultures)

next, go to

fort                data/models_strat/residences/aztec_fort.CAS,                            fort_eastern
fort_cost            500
fort_wall            data/models_strat/residences/aztec_fort_walls.CAS

under the mesoamerican culture heading, and change it to

fort                data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_buildings.CAS,                            fort_barbarian
fort_cost            2500
fort_wall            data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_walls.CAS

finally, place the wooden fort in descr_strat like so

region Dublin_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort    28 235 bz_fort_m culture mesoamerican

make sure the "culture" line for your fort is set to mesoamerican, if you set it to anything else it will show up as a stone fort.

Also remember, the wooden forts are

bz_fort_m, 
holyr_fort_b
stone_fort_a

and the stone ones are

pkh_cliff_c (get that here http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=310839) (northern_european)
stone_fort_b (northern_european)
stone_fort_c (northern_european)
stone_fort_d (northern_european)
stone_fort_e( northern_european)
knightly_order_fort_b (northern_european)
me_fort_a (middle_eastern)
me_fort_b (middle_eastern)

place the stone forts under their culture headings in descr_strat so that they show up as stone forts on the strat map.

note that this only changes the look on the strat map, remember to use the wooden forts (bz_fort_m, holyr_fort_b, stone_fort_a) in the entry to put a wooden fort on the battlemap.

region Dublin_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort    28 235 bz_fort_m culture mesoamerican

is a wooden fort on the strat map with a wooden fort on the battlemap.

region Konjikala_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort    35 240 me_fort_a culture middle_eastern

is a stone fort on the strat map with a stone fort on the battlemap.

region Oslo_Province
farming_level 4
famine_threat 1
fort    152 272 stone_fort_c culture mesoamerican

is a wooden fort on the strat map with a stone fort on the battlemap. ( not what you want )

Next thing to do: see if I can use "large town" and "Wooden castle" models as new fort types