Varangian Guard unrecruitable

**Little Finger** · May 06, 2012, 01:53 PM

Once i reach huge city with The Byzantine Empire, I cannot get the highest tier barracks, it stops at the one below, and there are no Varangians to be recruited. Is this a bug or do i have to wait for them to become recruitable?
I notice with another faction, Teutonic Order, that their Burgher pikemen unit is not recruitable despite huge city status - do i have to wait for an event?
I have the 4.2 download but not the 4.3 patch, although that should not be an issue.

I absolutely love this mod. Also in custom campaign, i try to fight with a Citadel level on any of the acceptable maps, but when i start the battle it is always a bridge battle. Any information on this is appreciated.

**hbk_123** · May 06, 2012, 03:05 PM

I think you have to wait until the Gunpowder event to be able to recruit pikemen, maybe it is the same for Varangian Guard

**Old Geezer** · May 07, 2012, 11:34 AM

The data's building file shows them recruitable from armouries and the army barracks in large and huge cities and some pikemen do require gunpowder.

I just built every thing available to Constantinople in the game I am playing (turn 47 1203 A.D.). The largest barracks is just a militia barracks. I built an armor factory, too. I did not notice a date or condition with these barracks, but maybe it is hidden somewhere unusual.

Stupid me

. I just scrolled way over to the right in the buildings data file and there is a requirement for gunpowder to construct those buildings. So now I will have to wait - aaargghh!

**Little Finger** · May 07, 2012, 12:29 PM

Thanks for checking that Old Geezer, that's a big help. I think i am on roughly the same amount of turns. Varangians should be recruitable already but it's a nice touch that we have to work for a unit that has 19 attack and 20 defence.

Have you played with cities/castles on custom battles? I tried but it kept going to a bridge battle whenever i tried doing a siege battle.

**Old Geezer** · May 07, 2012, 10:15 PM

I have not played custom battles for years except to ascertain a few things such as speed of horses and pike units and the accuracy of archers with different numbers of chevrons (which do increase accuracy even without color changes). I have just gotten a Greek Fire thrower unit promoted to gold and am curious to see if the increase in accuracy amounts to much. Hopefully there will be less little collateral damage to my units. They are very useuful in an enfilade. But, they have to get so close that they can get stuck in melee so I must always have a good support unit nearby.

**Little Finger** · May 10, 2012, 07:15 AM

I've been so spoiled with the Greek firethrower that i find myself missing it when playing other factions. They are perfect for defending difficult sieges but I usually blend them along the front of a spare infantry unit who can just rush forward while the firethrowers rush back. That's good to know the accuracy actually increases with archers. I wanted to see the different citadel models in custom, and whether the Teutonic ones from the expansion were featured into the game.
Do you know any good Byzantine mods? I.e. different skins/units? The faction is awesome but a few units look very similar, it's not even a problem but just a case of indulgence.

**Old Geezer** · May 11, 2012, 08:43 PM

No, I don't know of any good mods for Byzantium, except IIRC the Crusader mod from Kingdoms has good units for Byzantium. This game has been "difficult" because the Byz spear units are so weak and I still do not have Vards. I would like to entice some faction into attacking a settlement with fire throwers defending it. I guess I will have to set up one as weak bait. The western powers won't attack and the Mongols are strangely full of cowardice and are just letting me take their towns one by one even though they have very strong armies still.

**Little Finger** · May 13, 2012, 07:05 AM

That is in stark contrast to mine. Hungary are bringing the fury and i defend 5 sieges against them to every time i attack them. Using mangonels and firethrowers, it is beautiful. Mongols are busy with Russia but that didn't stop them hammering that city just northeast of Caffa region, begins with V or something, until eventually there was hardly a garrison left inside and support from the neighbour region was a turn too late.

There's an interesting dynamic in this mod where after a certain building or so, you can no longer recruit other units. I cannot recruit spearmen anymore in large cities, and byzantine lancers disappear when the cataphracts become recruitable.

**Little Finger** · May 13, 2012, 07:09 AM

Sorry, i have no idea what IIRC the Crusader is. Could you direct me to it please?
I've seen IIRC written here and there but know not what it is.

**Stylix** · May 13, 2012, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by Little Finger

Sorry, i have no idea what IIRC the Crusader is. Could you direct me to it please?
I've seen IIRC written here and there but know not what it is.

IIRC = "If I recall correctly", like lol = "lots of laughs"
Crusader refers to one of the original campaigns included in the Kingdoms expansion pack for M2TW, not sure if this is the exact name for it though. (Britannia, Americas, etc.)

**Little Finger** · May 13, 2012, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by Stylix

IIRC = "If I recall correctly", like lol = "lots of laughs"
Crusader refers to one of the original campaigns included in the Kingdoms expansion pack for M2TW, not sure if this is the exact name for it though. (Britannia, Americas, etc.)

Thanks for cleaning that up! I thought 'lol' meant 'laugh out loud', though it doesn't matter.
That's the Crusades campaign, Crusader sounds like something else. Yes that campaign adds a few new units and they're present in this mod.

**Stylix** · May 13, 2012, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by Little Finger

Thanks for cleaning that up! I thought 'lol' meant 'laugh out loud', though it doesn't matter.
That's the Crusades campaign, Crusader sounds like something else. Yes that campaign adds a few new units and they're present in this mod.

Yea, I have heard both ways for lol.

The Crusader campaign might be this sub-mod for KGCM.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...0#post11004310

**Dave Scarface** · May 14, 2012, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Little Finger

Once i reach huge city with The Byzantine Empire, I cannot get the highest tier barracks, it stops at the one below, and there are no Varangians to be recruited. Is this a bug or do i have to wait for them to become recruitable?
I notice with another faction, Teutonic Order, that their Burgher pikemen unit is not recruitable despite huge city status - do i have to wait for an event?
I have the 4.2 download but not the 4.3 patch, although that should not be an issue.

I absolutely love this mod. Also in custom campaign, i try to fight with a Citadel level on any of the acceptable maps, but when i start the battle it is always a bridge battle. Any information on this is appreciated.

It is an issue because recruitment was changed in the latest patch. 4.3 makes Varangian Guards available as elite units and also they can be recruited later from the Royal Palace. I highly recommend patch 4.3, its worth it mate

**Little Finger** · May 15, 2012, 06:19 AM

I was ready to download that but it was marked unsafe, will try again. Was your recruitment deliberate? Such as when you progress a few tiers in cavalry building, earlier cavalry disappears, like feudal knights/dismounted feudal knights?
BTW - just a personal thank you for creating such a great mod. Hope you make more stuff!

Also, is 4.3 save game compatible?

**Stylix** · May 15, 2012, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by Little Finger

Was your recruitment deliberate? Such as when you progress a few tiers in cavalry building, earlier cavalry disappears, like feudal knights/dismounted feudal knights?

Yes.

Also, is 4.3 save game compatible?

If you are asking if a game started in v4.2 can be continued after patching to v4.3 then the answer is no.

**Old Geezer** · May 17, 2012, 07:04 AM

Sorry for the confusion over "Crusader" which should have been "Crusades".

The descr_buildings file can be modified to allow these earlier units to still be recruited (and more importantly replenished) after the earlier buildings are replaced. I just copy the line with the code from the lower level building and paste it into the higher level buildings. I did not do this for my present Byz. game and am being annoyed by not being able to replenish Skythikon. I have learned the hard way to make a backup copy of the original file, because if I don't I eventually make some hard to find error or more likely forget what I changed or did not write it down or Microsoft sabotaged me.

But you have to turn off UAC (User Account Control) and delete the map.rwm file in data/world/maps/base folder of the KGCM mod for the changes to take effect. Then start a new game. There are a few units that I really find useful even late in the game and I hate having rather useless gold-chevroned units, especially woodsmen or Scots Pike Militia.