Corruption in Good Factions

**kahnage** · December 27, 2012, 02:31 PM

Three questions really.

1) Were is the corruption modifier in the game data located so i can reduce it to 1/10th of its current number as it is really over-represented. Its presence in the 'bad' factions i can see to some extent although nowhere near the extent it is at the moment (especially as, lore wise, anyone caught taking things they shouldnt would get the chop). Hell, i can even see some corruption in the good factions, but having nearly 20,000 gold per turn lost to corruption with only 45 provinces is too much. It should be 3000-5000 maximum (as thats what i usually got in vanilla Medieval 2:TW games with the same number of settlements).

If it is there to make the game 'harder' its cheap, 'gamey' and not lore appropriate.

2) How do i reduce the suceptability of generals in all factions to the Corrupt, Embezzler, Epicurean, Arse and Expensive Tastes trait lines? Because at the moment all my governors (which i keep staitonary to try and minitage the massively over-represented corruption to try and claw back some cash) seem to get to the upper levels of at least 3 of these trait lines and i end up losing at least 50% of the income from the settlements in which these S.O.B's are in.

3) How do i make it so that the anti-traits (of the traits listed in question 2) make it impossible for the above traits (in question 2) from ever making an appearence on a character who has the anti-trait?

I've tried, and am currently trying, to keep the bad traits at bay by going around all my generals each turn, checking for the bad traits and, if found, removing them and replacing them with the appropriate anti-trait, but the 'good' anti-traits get reversed or reduced to their lowest level and the bad traits come back.....

This is also time consuming and doesnt work 100% of the time.

Again, if the prevalence of thse traits is to make the game 'harder' it is also gamey, pathetic and massively annoying, not to mention lore inappropriate.

Sorry if this sounds arsy, but i'm fed up of all my generals turning to greedy Ba*t**ds which in turn makes the game unsatisfying to play as, playing honestly, there is nothing i can do about the traits which cause me to lose 50+% of my income (and even when i'm playing with the console, i still cant stop them!).

**DrDragun** · December 27, 2012, 04:02 PM

The worst triggers for these families of traits are keeping more than 50,000 gold in your treasury and having inns/brothels in your settlements.

The hidden statistic *law* reduces corruption. Certain traits, retinues, and buildings can increase law and make a governor into an extremely valuable asset for distant large cities.

From an overall point of view, however, corruption isn't a big issue until you have conquered a large territory. At that point, the game is usually easy, so I believe these mechanics are in place to keep the late game interesting during the steamroll/mop-up portion of the game.

**kahnage** · December 27, 2012, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by DrDragun

The worst triggers for these families of traits are keeping more than 50,000 gold in your treasury and having inns/brothels in your settlements.

The hidden statistic *law* reduces corruption. Certain traits, retinues, and buildings can increase law and make a governor into an extremely valuable asset for distant large cities.

From an overall point of view, however, corruption isn't a big issue until you have conquered a large territory. At that point, the game is usually easy, so I believe these mechanics are in place to keep the late game interesting during the steamroll/mop-up portion of the game.

But i'm not even in the steamroll/mop-up part of the game and corruption is causing me a lot of problems.

and, surely, there has to be a better way to keep the late game 'interesting' (not sure if i like this word being used for corruption, which is determined by things that require fiddly micromanagement to mitigate) than to implement the extremely gamey 'solution' of having corruption at rediculous levels.

Also, i'm not against having corruption show its ugly head in the game, but, compared to vanilla Medieval 2, corruption is about 4-5 times as high for the same number of settlements (in my case, 45).

So, what do i have to do to modify/remove the triggers for the traits i'm trying to not get, and also how can i reduce corruption overall?

**Goth** · December 27, 2012, 04:25 PM

To edit the character traits embezzler and corrupt etc open the file export_descr_character_traits just increase the value of the threshold ie for the negative trait you want to decrease the chance of the character getting it, example for the corrupt trait increase dubious from 1 to 4 and then for the next which is underhanded increase from 3 to 6 until you have done all the thresholds for that trait.
hope this helps

**Deceneus** · December 27, 2012, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by kahnage

Three questions really.

1) Were is the corruption modifier in the game data located so i can reduce it to 1/10th of its current number as it is really over-represented. ...

You can adjust the mechanics all you want in the following file.

...\Third_Age_3\data\descr_settlement_mechanics.xml

I prefer modifying the Town_hall buildings, however, to add more law to each level. That way you have to build something to reduce corruption.

...\Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_buildings.txt

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by kahnage

2) How do i reduce the suceptability of generals in all factions to the Corrupt, Embezzler, Epicurean, Arse and Expensive Tastes trait lines?

...Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_character_traits.txt

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by kahnage

3) How do i make it so that the anti-traits (of the traits listed in question 2) make it impossible for the above traits (in question 2) from ever making an appearence on a character who has the anti-trait?

There is a file on all the traits somewhere on the site. You can google look for it. I don't do it that way. Once the annoying triggers are removed you shouldn't have to worry a bout it.

**kahnage** · December 28, 2012, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by Deceneus

You can adjust the mechanics all you want in the following file.

...\Third_Age_3\data\descr_settlement_mechanics.xml

That file is confusing..... i think i found the figure that controls corruption (its handily called 'Corruption'

), but i dont understand how to change it so that it is less. The current figure is 1. I'm not sure if reducing this would do what i want or whether i'd have to increase it. the file doesnt explicitly state this i dont think.

Originally Posted by Deceneus

I prefer modifying the Town_hall buildings, however, to add more law to each level. That way you have to build something to reduce corruption.

...\Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_buildings.txt

As modifying the actual buildings seem to not always have the desired effects and i'm a novice modder at best, i dont think i'll fiddle with the buildings.

Originally Posted by Deceneus

...Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_character_traits.txt

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Did you delete the whole thing? aka, this:

"Trigger sitting_around_town_vnv_trigger
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100
and RandomPercent > 90
and not FactionType egypt
and not FactionType mongols
and not Trait Aragorn > 0
and not Trait Gandalf > 0
and not Trait Legolas > 0
and not Trait Gimli > 0
and not Trait Ents > 0
and not Trait Aragorn2 > 0
and not Trait Elessar > 0
and not Trait Dain > 0
and not Trait Bard > 0
and not Trait Boromir > 0
and not Trait Faramir > 0
and not Trait Thengel > 0
and not Trait Theoden > 0
and not Trait Ecthelion > 0
and not Trait Denethor > 0
and not Trait Witchking > 0
and not Trait Nazgul > 0
and not Trait Saruman > 0
and not Trait Ugluk > 0
and not Trait IAmPope > 0
and not Trait Sauron > 0
;
; and not Trait Elrond > 0
; and not Trait Cirdan > 0
; and not Trait Glorfindel > 0
; and not Trait Elrohir > 0
; and not Trait Elladan > 0
; and not Trait Thranduil > 0
; and not Trait Celeborn > 0
; and not Trait Haldir > 0

Affects Drink 1 Chance 1
Affects Gambling 1 Chance 1
Affects Arse 1 Chance 1
Affects Girls 1 Chance 1 "

or did you just delete the bottom bit? aka:

"Affects Drink 1 Chance 1
Affects Gambling 1 Chance 1
Affects Arse 1 Chance 1
Affects Girls 1 Chance 1"?

Thanks for the assiatance by the way.

EDIT: I found three triggers called corruption1, corruption2 and corruption4 that seem to stack so that it becomes very easy for your characters to get the bad traits, espcially if you have a lot of money which you most certainly would late game....

and those chance modifiers on the triggers.... i dont understnad them. Is it the higher the chance number is the easier it is for the characters to get said traits, or is it the opposite with the lower the number meaning easier trait gain?

**Deceneus** · December 28, 2012, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Radagast the Brown

I thought it a brilliant idea but after modifying the buildings in the .txt file in game the values don't change accordingly ... any conclusion?

This works fine for me. In the levels Town_hall capabilities section I select "law_bonus bonus" of 5, 10, 15, 20 for the 4 building levels.

Playing Rhun Kyzilkum has a corruption of 328. I add Town_hall to the production queue. Then in the console command I run "process_cq Kyzilkum" and the corruption is now 244. I then add council_chambers to the production queue and rerun the console command. The corruption is now 161.

Originally Posted by kahnage

That file is confusing..... i think i found the figure that controls corruption (its handily called 'Corruption'

), but i dont understand how to change it so that it is less. The current figure is 1. I'm not sure if reducing this would do what i want or whether i'd have to increase it. the file doesnt explicitly state this i dont think.

As modifying the actual buildings seem to not always have the desired effects and i'm a novice modder at best, i dont think i'll fiddle with the buildings.

Did you delete the whole thing? aka, this:
...

or did you just delete the bottom bit? aka:
...

Thanks for the assiatance by the way.

EDIT: I found three triggers called corruption1, corruption2 and corruption4 that seem to stack so that it becomes very easy for your characters to get the bad traits, espcially if you have a lot of money which you most certainly would late game....

and those chance modifiers on the triggers.... i dont understnad them. Is it the higher the chance number is the easier it is for the characters to get said traits, or is it the opposite with the lower the number meaning easier trait gain?

1) The number in descr_settlement_mechanics.xml is a modifier so .1 will give you one tenth the current value.

2) Changing the "law bonus bonus" in EDB for city_halls from increments of 1 to increments of 5 is pretty straightforward and should work for you. But which is easier is up to you.

3) Just delete the whole trigger from the "Trigger line" to the "Affects." I deleted the negative traits in:
Sitting around town
Lifestyles
Family Stuff
Other Stuff

From the Character traits Wiki:
Affect Trait_Name 5 Chance 50 will increase Trait_Name (or decrease it's AntiTraits) by 5 points 50% of the time.

**kahnage** · December 28, 2012, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Deceneus

This works fine for me. In the levels Town_hall capabilities section I select "law_bonus bonus" of 5, 10, 15, 20 for the 4 building levels.

Playing Rhun Kyzilkum has a corruption of 328. I add Town_hall to the production queue. Then in the console command I run "process_cq Kyzilkum" and the corruption is now 244. I then add council_chambers to the production queue and rerun the console command. The corruption is now 161.

1) The number in descr_settlement_mechanics.xml is a modifier so .1 will give you one tenth the current value.

2) Changing the "law bonus bonus" in EDB for city_halls from increments of 1 to increments of 5 is pretty straightforward and should work for you. But which is easier is up to you.

3) Just delete the whole trigger from the "Trigger line" to the "Affects." I deleted the negative traits in:
Sitting around town
Lifestyles
Family Stuff
Other Stuff

From the Character traits Wiki:
Affect Trait_Name 5 Chance 50 will increase Trait_Name (or decrease it's AntiTraits) by 5 points 50% of the time.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Originally Posted by Deceneus

3) Just delete the whole trigger from the "Trigger line" to the "Affects."

So the entire thing? OK Thanks

And as for the corruption1, corruption2 and corruption4 triggers, they needed a certain amount of money in the treasury (50k, 100k and 150k respectivly) so i made it some unobtainable number. I think i made it 500million, 1 billion and 1.5 billion respectively, so there should be no reason to delete them.

I'm guessing thes changes wouldnt be save game compatible?

**Radagast the Brown** · December 28, 2012, 06:27 AM

@Deceneus

I prefer modifying the Town_hall buildings, however, to add more law to each level. That way you have to build something to reduce corruption.

...\Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_buildings.txt

I thougth it a brilliant idea but after modifying the buildings in the .txt file in game the values dont change accordingly ... any conclusion?