Starting Options

[jasonxfri13th]

 Activate Garrison Script: yes\no
The AI is bad in protecting their settlements with sufficient troop numbers. So this script will spawn additional troops if you siege or assault an AI settlement. It's a simulation of the flooding of threatend settlements by support troops from the countryside just before the siege. The troops will not spawn every siege attempt from yours. They will be spawned even if you attack directly the settlement.
 Activate money support for the AI: yes\no
The AI is bad in economics. It will plunge soon into debt and higher development could stop. So this DLV script gives additional money to small AI factions on the brink of extinction. Although it will give big moneyinfusions every 40 turns (if treasury < 20000) to all AI factions to avoid stall effects.
 Activate Fieldcosts: yes\no
If you say yes to this option you will receive additional costs for having armies and agents in enemy territory as well as addition costs when you siege enemy settlements. This option is to add some realism to game play decisions. It was expensive to wage war in medieval times!
 Activate Settlement Costs: yes\no
Maintenance and repairing your settlement costs additional money
 Activate Military\Governor Point System: yes\no
If you say 'Yes' DLV will require you to use your characters intelligently to acquire Military and Government Points. Without these points you will be unable to upgrade your settlements
 Activate Population recruitement restriction: yes\no
Your ability to recruit troops will be limited to the size of your settlements and the quality of the troops you have already recruited. It makes the campaign considerably more difficult and forces you to make tough decisions regarding which settlements to upgrade and what troops your should be recruiting
 Activate Trait based Cavalry recruitement restriction: yes\no
Any buildings can only be constructed if you have a character (general or governor) in your settlement. Cavalry troops are the most valuable troops on the battlefield, so your general needs the adequate military career trait level in the higher stable buildings (> stables) in castles to recruit the higher cavalry troops.
Calculation is based on the actual real governor in the castle !!!
 Decide Standard DLV Faction Relations : yes\no
If you decide no, all factions will start with neutral relationships
 Decide AI Playstyle: Crazy Total War or standard DLV CIV like

I chose yes on all except for the Cavalry recruitment and Total war.
I swear I saw a thread that recomended what options to choose, but I can't find it.
So I want to know what options should you use? (I don't want total war)

With the field costs, fighting rebels soon causes my treasury to go from around 2-5k down to like -10k after taking 1 settelment, the only thing that saves me is that a noble seems to give me 20k every time I take a settelement and lose lots of money.
I have a question, do the field costs apply to the AI as well? It would seem kind of cheap, because economically it is very hard for me.

Also, are costs for having units in "enemy territories" only for enemies? So if I have diplomats in neutral territory I don't have to pay?

And does the AI have to use the point system and the recruitment system?

[Shadrach]

I choose YES on everything except Total War, but I'm hesitant about cav recruitment... seems strange that if a lord dies and his son does not have the correct trait the castle does not anymore recruit good cavalry? That kind of stuff can be *delegated*

I believe that the AI does'nt have to pay any of the extra costs the player does, including the extra systems. It's there to balance out the stupid AI which is just too easy to defeat in standard game.

And yes you have to pay for diplomats, princesses etc in any region not owned by you

[Taiji]

If you're not in the mood for the depth and hardness of real DLV then I suggest playing without the 2 cost scripts.

But if you seriously want to play the best game of it's kind in the universe... then what Shadrach says is just about right.

I don't like character based recruitment of cavalry.

The 'total war' AI option seems pointless.

Don't play mongols, don't play papal states, don't play aztecs - I think they're playable because people whine when they're not, but that's it. It's not like any special attention has been given to them that brings them up to par with the other factions.

The DLV campaign is better than the historical campaign.

Don't even think of playing on less than VH/VH, even if you are a noob - it's far better to disable the cost scripts, and have way too much money, than to disable the AI's brain. One gives you more options and the other gives you a game.

[jasonxfri13th]

Yeah. I am playing as the tectonic order, and I quickly took 4 rebel settelements.
Now I am in a dept of -30k, and it has been like that for a long time.
Unfortunatly right when I wanted to settel down and make money, Poland and Lithuania declare war on me and now I am constantly losing money again.

Luckily I got a crusade towards one of them, but while I can afford no new units and all I have are 1-2 units in each of my 6 cities and one group of 6 units, I am pretty screwed.

Oh, one other question. Is there a way to change the faction names? I don't know what faction is which due to the names...