Using BI units in RTW? (and vice-versa)

[morosenoodle]

Hey all, I just started experimenting with unit mods yesterday night. I've been experimenting with the British faction... adding units, tweeking old ones, etc. I was wondering: is there any way to get BI units into regular RTW? I'm not a big fan of chariots, and I'd like to change the British generals to a normal cavalry unit. I want to use the BI Celtic Noble Clansmen as the base model for my British general units... is there any way to do this? And if so, what files do I have to edit/copy and move?

Thanks!

-edit- And, as long as I'm asking about modding, is there any way to tweek the trajectory of archer fire? I've noticed that Cretan archers tend to fire high, making them great for shooting over my front lines without fear of friendly fire. Other long range archers (such as Foresters) seem to have a lower trajectory, and hit my own men more frequently. Am I just hallucinating? Or is this an actual, modifiable trait?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
-edit edit- OK! Nevermind. I got the Noble Clansmen to work. The only problem is, now my game crashes whenever I try and save it during the Imperial Campaign. "-show_err" doesn't seem to work, either... does -show_err generate some kind of text log I have to open, or is it supposed to make a window pop up as soon as the game crashes?

Argghh... maybe I should just go to bed.

[Publius]

show_err is supposed to (I think) make a small screen pop up after CTD showing what caused it. This screen always pops up for me when I use it, but I am not sure how accurate the info is (it is always telling me my archer firing distance is too long, even though this doesnt effect it at all). As far as your game crashing, can you give more detail as to how you implemented the noble clansmen? Did you replace the chariot general files, or did you add the noble files and then take out the chariots, etc. The more specific the more I might be able to help

[HorseArcher]

-edit- And, as long as I'm asking about modding, is there any way to tweek the trajectory of archer fire? I've noticed that Cretan archers tend to fire high, making them great for shooting over my front lines without fear of friendly fire. Other long range archers (such as Foresters) seem to have a lower trajectory, and hit my own men more frequently. Am I just hallucinating? Or is this an actual, modifiable trait?

yes, but you gotta watch it though, it can give you errors if you don't set it right.

go see the descr_projectile.txt to change the trajectory and speed of any missile or thrown spear (universal adjustment)

but if you want to set different archers or peltast then see the export_descr_unit. txt

see the difference why the cretan archers are good:

stat_mental 8, normal, highly_trained

regular roman archers:

stat_mental 4, normal, untrained

the higher the training settings for the missile units, the farther and more precise they shoot.

you need to make sure that the descr_projectile.txt has realistic values (or not too far from the default ones) or you will have errors about not enough distance, not fast enough projectile to reach the distance etc.

[Red Harvest]

Descr_projectile_new.txt is the one that sets the ranges and such. (I'm not sure what the original descr_projectile.txt does.) Potential range and fire arc are primarily determined by the velocity values. Lower velocity = lower range and higher firing arc. Firing angle is determined in battle in order to reach the target with the given velocity. The range setting in the export_descr_unit.txt file is a targeting limit.

The trained/untrained attributes do have some impact on missile units, but the big difference between roman archers and cretans is that the EDU range entry for cretans is 170, while romans are set at 120. Elites archers have the 170 range (cretans, foresters, pharoah's bowmen, archer auxilia, chosen archer warbands, etc) while basic archers are 120 What training levels do is allow the unit to form up more rapidly and more tightly. Loose formations have less effective range, since the rear guys are farther back and therefore out of range. This can keep the whole unit from firing at times.

The way I change archer stats is to copy the particular arrow type, rename it, and work with its stats, then assign it to the unit of interest. I have arrow_long, arrow_short, and arrow_horse with appropriate velocities for each.

Note that you will also need to copy the "flaming" version and assign an appropriate name and velocity if you want to keep the fire arrows attribute. I didn't copy this because I wanted to get rid of the silly things. However, this also gives you a way to alter the fire arrow range independently, you probably *should* set fire arrow velocity low enough to reduce the range below the EDU limit.

The show error messages about velocities being too low don't actually cause trouble, they just warn you that the range you are getting is less than what you actually requested. So they are handy warnings rather than "it won't run" indications.

As for the Brits. They *should* have chariots and some light cav. Convert the chariots to javelinmen and add a unit of light cav to replace the wardogs and you are set. Chariots are what the Brits really used...the big problem is the archers which they shouldn't have. The Brits fought the Romans as a skirmish force. The chariots rushed in and out harasssing the legionaires with javelins. What RTW lacks is the ability of the rider to dismount and fight on foot, which is what they really did once they had disrupted the enemy. Instead we have to use the scythed attack to approximate this.

I can understand why you want to alter the bodyguard unit...although the AI is probably better off with a chariot javelinman. Why? Because the chariot unit will have better auto calc props vs. other AI opponents, and vs. you the AI will be less likely to charge in with its general suicidally because the unit will have skirmish mode.