TTT - Hellbent's Traits, Talents, and Toadies: A Character Mod Overhaul v.1.6 (Updated Oct. 29th) - (Eastern/Greek/Egyptian Ancillary Overhaul + New Trait Portraits) - Patch 5/Nomad DLC Compatible

[Hellbent]

**V.1.6: Ancillary Spam fixed for Eastern/Greek/Egyptian Factions! New Ancillary Portraits! New Trait Cards!**

Hey all.

Like most of you, I've been wholly disappointed with the way generals and agents have been portrayed in Rome II. The family tree is gone, marriage is currently broken, and characters die much faster with CA's decision to make the game 1 turn per year. Besides those, a lot of their retinues, traits, and skills had very negligible effects; 5% reduction on building temples? How useful is that exactly?!

The aim of this mod is create a more immersive system for character management, in particular by revamping the traits, skills, and household of generals and agents. Family trees might be in CA's hands for now, but I was playing around with the files and discovered that the values for several retinue modifiers can be changed, so that's what I did. In v1.2 I've also come up with a completely new skill tree overhaul that aims to replace the vanilla skill "ladder" for a skill tree with more branching options and more player choices. If there is enough interest, future plans include improving and adding more traits, talents, and toadies.

News!:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hey all,

So the next big project for TTT is the overhaul of how the ancillary triggers work. Basically, I am now in the process of preventing the ancillary spam that has been plaguing Rome II by using more specific and context-sensitive triggers for each and every single ancillary. I am also cutting down on the redundant ancillaries and replacing them with more unique ones. For more information on how exactly I'm doing this, here's a summary:

To illustrate how I'm cutting down on the spam: in vanilla, if you use the general's unit in battle, you immediately have a 10% chance to gain the 'Heroic Saviour' ancillary. As a result, it's pretty much inevitable that you gain this ancillary in the course of a campaign. I've changed the triggers so that you have to lose greater than or equal to 30% of your general's bodyguard unit in battle before you can have a 20% chance of gaining this ancillary. 'Master Armourer' was in the same vein; you only had to research the first tier of the civil tech tree and you immediately gain a 10% chance per battle to gain this ancillary. I've changed it so your general has to be garrisoned in a city with an armory-type building to even have this chance.

Some of the issues I've come across are on the other end of the spectrum - some ancillaries have ridiculous vanilla triggers that ask too much; for instance, one ancillary asks that a general win 20 battles before he has a chance to gain it. With vanilla's 1 TPY, I don't even see how they saw it as possible.

These changes also favor a more active play style in regarding to gaining ancillaries. The chance to gain them are increased, but the triggers are made more specific and context-sensitive.


Here's the issue: this is a painstakingly long process. Editing trigger files is not like editing DB files where you just change number values. Since the trigger files deal with scripts, for each of the 800 different ancillaries, I have to think of a specific trigger to add, type up the code (making sure there are no typos as even a single misplaced character will result in a useless script), then load the game from scratch to test the new triggers. I've also made new ancillary cards so that each one will have a unique look.

Anyway, the reason I'm saying this is because I want to know your opinion in regards to how I'll release this. Would you prefer that I release the ancillary spam fix in increments? Or would you rather wait a longer while for the whole thing to be done? Currently, I am about 600/800 ancillaries done and I can release the fixes incrementally by culture. So far, those 400 are the "all", "barbarian," and "Roman" ancillaries. Next on the list, alphabetically, are the Eastern, Greek, and Punic ones

In the meantime, I still plan on releasing small updates such as the governor experience gain and cursus honorum changes in the following days but the crux of the next major update will be this ancillary spam fix.

Incremental fixes has been decided

Of course, you can also reply with your thoughts.

Let me know what you think!

Current Features:

*ALL 800 retinue/household effects (triggers yet to come) have been changed in some way or another with the following guidelines in mind:

• Most basic combat values from retinues/ancillaries have been doubled from 5% to 7%-10% (morale, melee, defense, charge, etc.). Slight variations exist; for instance, the 'loaded die' gives a much lower morale bonus than a 'barbarian hero' retinue (as it logically should), charge-modifying retinues for Germans are higher than their Roman/Greek counterparts, while Greek defensive retinues are also higher than Roman/Barbarian counterparts.
• If a retinue is highly specialized, as in the case of values that modify temple construction costs or attack values for generals, their values have been upped significantly (sometimes from the meager 5% to upwards of 20%-30%)
• The modifiers that increase chances to evade/wound agents that harm your generals have also been upped significantly from 5% to 10%-20% depending on the quality of the retinue. For instance, the 'slave bodyguard' might have some issues of loyalty in terms of protecting his master, but a 'roman veteran centurion' should be able to lay down his life for his master willingly.
• Most of the retinue that modifies authority, cunning, or zeal (+1 usually) has been left unchanged for the most part (with some exceptions). They already seem powerful enough to me especially with stacking and leveling up with skills. The only exceptions are for those retinues that had some negative effects along with the attribute pluses; for those, I upped both the positives and negatives in order to make them more interesting.
• *NEW (v1.5): Partial Ancillary Spam Fix (WIP)
  *NEW (v1.5): New Ancillary Images (WIP)
• *NEW (v1.5): Dynamic Triggers for Ancillaries!(WIP)
• See here for what's been done so far! (1.5 documentation are WIP)

1. Ancillaries for 'all' factions
2. Ancillaries for 'barbarian' factions
3. Ancillaries for 'eastern' factions
4. Ancillaries for the 'egyptian' faction
5. Ancillaries for 'hellenic' factions
6. Ancillaries for the 'roman' faction
7. Ancillaries for the 'punic' faction

What the heck does this mean exactly?

As you can see, I've further revamped the effects for each ancillary. Although it might look like a lot, the stats are really aimed for flavor while still providing slight bonuses. After all, 'Gallic Bards' tend to increase public order and spread some culture when in towns and taverns and not on the front lines.

To recap, here's the overall goal for each ancillary:

1. Edit scripts/triggers to fix ancillary spam
2. Revamp effects to add more flavor
3. Create new ancillary portraits to cut down on reused pictures

Anyway, as I mentioned before, and since most people here has been in agreement. I think I'll go for the incremental release for the ancillary spam fix. So far, I've managed to script the 'ALL' ancillaries (applicable to all factions) and the 'Barbarian' ancillaries in time for v.1.4. This means that (theoretically anyway) ancillary spam as well as revamped effects is currently fixed for barbarian factions! The only drawback to this is that the new portraits art style might clash a bit with the vanilla ones since they're all not replaced yet, but I don't think it's that much of a bother.

This is a WORK IN PROGRESS and that means balancing changes will happen. And ancillary spam still occurs for non-barbarian and non-Roman factions until I can finish all of them!
So please, bear with me as I finish all of them. You can help me by reporting any ancillaries that tend to be spammed or if those that I've fixed don't trigger.
By my last count, that's 600/800. 200 more to go!

*Completely overhauled the skill tree for generals.

• For specific current skill changes: CLICK HERE!

• Color-coded and unique skill cards for ease of use
• Increased skills per general level from 1 to 2
• Streamlined most skills and combined similar skill effects
• A separate skill tree dedicated to city management and politics
• Took out boring and redundant skills
• More RPG and immersion options!
• The long-ish description:

The problem that I've found with the vanilla skill trees is that it was too limited and becomes redundant across a long playthrough; you start off with the same basic skills, and it wasn't really a skill "tree" as much as it was a skill "ladder." I've tried to remedy that with this overhaul by giving the player more options from the outset.

After ranking up, each general will have access to all the red skill cards. As of now, this only gives the basic authority/cunning/zeal increases. After investing a single skill point in a red skill, all of the branching skills from that will open up to the player. Each skill still has 3 levels each and each rank will yield 2 skill points, with each general at max level theoretically being able to gain 6 full skill cards. Each level 3 skill gives it's corresponding attribute increase along with its powerful bonuses. This new system allows the player to have more options for specialization and RPG purposes. A general might be heavily invested in tactical skills (affecting the battlefield map aspects of war) while another might be more inclined for logistical capabilities (affecting the campaign map aspects of war).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Authority covers a general's perceived ability/right to lead and political skill.
1. Commander of Men: military side of authority

• Booming Voice: (a general's ability to be heard and obeyed) + morale, + unit movement speed (battlefield map), +authority
• Dread Commander: (a general's fearsome reputation) - enemy morale, + slave capture, + looting income, + raiding income, + authority
• Proven Leader: (a general's experience in harsh situations gives him an air of command) + movement range (campaign map), + morale when in foreign territory, + turns siege hold-out, + authority
• Sworn Bodyguards: (an authoritative general can command the best of the best) + agent evade chance, + agent wound chance, + bodyguard morale, + bodyguard melee damage, + authority

2. Rightful Sovereign: political/government side of authority

• Master of Statecraft: (a general's diplomatic ability with other nations - external politics) + diplomatic bonus, + global tariffs, + authority
• Political Animal: (a general's ability to play politics within the state - internal politics) + gravitas per turn, + political family power per turn, + authority
• Unwavering Patriot: (a general's ability to assimilate other conquered peoples) + culture conversion per turn, - disorder due to foreign culture, - disorder due to foreign occupation, + authority

Cunning, which equates to a general's capacity for strategy and tactics
1. Camp Administrator:military recruitment and training

• Drillmaster: (a general's penchant for training his men) + EXP for all units, + morale, + cunning
• Mercenary Connections: - merc. cost, - merc. upkeep, + cunning
• Patron of the Military: (a general's ability to get the nobles to support the army) - normal unit cost, - normal unit upkeep, + cunning

2. Military Logistician: military logistics and equipment

• Master of Scouts: + line of sight, + chance to detect enemy agents, + chance to detect ambushes, + cunning
• Military Conscriptor: (general's ability to bounce back from losses and recruit more people) + replenishment rate, - auxiliary unit cost, + province growth, + cunning
• Quartermaster: + ammunition, + armor, + melee damage, + cunning

3. Skilled Tactician: actual tactics on the battlefield

• Night Commander: (ability to isolate enemy reinforcements) + night battles, + cunning
• Effective Ambusher: + chance of successful ambush, + chance of detecting ambushes, + morale when ambushing, + cunning
• Relentless Attacker: + attack skill, + morale when attacking, + movement range, + cunning
• Tenacious Defender: + defense skill, + morale when defending, + missile range, + cunning
• Siegecraft Expert: - attrition when besieging/besieged, + hold-out time, - enemy hold-out time, + cunning

Zeal, roughly covering a general's personal skills
1. Capable Bureaucrat: skill in organization and city management

• Agriculturist: + food per province, - agricultural building cost, + agricultural income, + zeal
• Adept Tradesman: + income from commercial stimulation edict, + trade income, + industry income, + zeal
• City Governor: + tax rate, + public order, + culture income, + zeal
• Political Reformer: (a general's ability to think ahead of this time) + research rate, - corruption, + zeal

2. Ferocious Warrior: skill in warfare and combat

• Trained Swordsman: + infantry melee defense, + infantry melee attack, + charge bonus, + zeal
• Skilled Cavalryman: + cavalry melee attack, + cavalry melee defense, + cavalry charge, + cavalry missile rate, + zeal
• Veteran Marine: + assault ship attack, + assault ship defense, + support ship range, + support ship missile rate, + ramming bonus, + zeal
• Experienced Archer: + missile range, + missile rate, + missile damage, + zeal

*Governors and Generals!

• To complement the civil skill tree, generals can now be governors! They can gain slow but steady experience just by being in a settlement, facilitating trade, building structures, and keeping the peace!
• Let me illustrate with Governor Lucius Libo, who has been governing Roma for a while now:

Governor Lucius Libo gains a new rank!



Governor Lucius Libo has been developing his skills as a city manager, and has attracted a Master Trader to his cause!

*New Dynamic XP gain for Governors!

1) +1 XP for having the second to the highest tax level
2) +1 XP for having >25 public order in a region
3) +1 XP for just being in a garrison

*Bug fixes from vanilla:

• The 'dancer' retinue used to give +5 cunning (for being 'flexible'). I'm assuming this is a bug/typo by CA, and it has been promptly nerfed.
• Toned down the LikesXfaction traits
• Toned down the 'Loyal' traits
• Removed being an aloholic or religious for the trigger for insanity

*Turns Per Year:

• I've added an optional 2 turn/year mod (tpy) to help with immersion and attachment to characters. You can also use other tpy mods as you wish.

FAQ:
(Please Read)

1. Q: You said the turns per year mod was optional; what exactly did you mean by that?

• A: The included startpos.esf file changes the turns per year (TPY) from the vanilla 1 TPY to 2 TPY.
  
• A: The faction unlocker mod extensively changes the startpos.esf file. If you're using that, disregard my own startpos.esf file and use theirs instead.

2. Q: Is this compatible with mod XYZ?

• A: Short answer: it should be with most mods. Long answer: there's not a lot of mods that edit the traits/ancillaries/skill files so there's not a lot of conflict. The only sources of conflict are the startpos.esf file mentioned above, or the character experience skill DB tables. I've addressed the startpos.esf conundrum above, as for mods that alter the character experience skill table (e.g. Radious's), just download the .MOD version and make sure TTT is loaded last.

3. Q: Is this mod save-game compatible?

• A: Your save game will not crash, but if converting from vanilla (or a previous TTT version with skill changes), your general's skills that were removed will disappear (obviously) and will not be refunded. Otherwise, it should work. But I highly suggest starting a new campaign nonetheless.

4. Q: Rome II UI sucks. How can I see which of your new skills leads to what?

• A: I still have not cracked how to change the online encyclopedia (it's a work in progress), but I do have an excel sheet of the current skill trees with their corresponding effects and an image file for easy view. It is accessible online, so what I suggest is to copy it and paste either one in an open browser using Steam Overlay (shift-tab while in-game) so you don't have to alt-tab all the time.

5. Q: Is this compatible with non-English versions of Rome II?
A: Check out the Unit Compatibility Project (UPC) here.

To-Do List:
*Increase ancillary effects to be more significant
*Overhaul the skill tree to remove redundancy and create unique specialties
*Creating a more logical system for gaining TTT instead of the deluge of 3-5 every turn
1. Ancillaries for 'all' factions
2. Ancillaries for 'barbarian' factions
3. Ancillaries for 'eastern' factions
4. Ancillaries for the 'egyptian' faction
5. Ancillaries for 'hellenic' factions
6. Ancillaries for the 'roman' faction
7. Ancillaries for the 'punic' faction
*Adding historical characters as ancillaries
*Revamping ancillary portraits to cut down on repeats
*Creating a proper promotion system, especially with the Roman cursus honorum
*Moving on to agents (dignitaries/spies/champions)
*Adding a way for generals to gain XP administratively (that lead to the administrative skills)
*IF CA adds family trees, a bloodline system

Compatibility:
Compatible with both CA PATCH 5 and the Nomadic DLC!
*Should be compatible with all mods that don't change any of the traits/skills/ancillary files.
*If you have questions about a specific mod, just post here.

Disclaimer:

*This is my first ever Total War mod. Please bear with me as I learn the ropes and hopefully improve. Feedback and especially suggestions (ideas for possible ancillaries/traits/skills) are very much welcome.

File Links:

For .MOD Format Download Here!

For .MOV Format Download Here!

For the optional 2 TPY Mod, Download Here -- Outdated, use Dresden's version here on TWC or on Steam

To see which skill leads to what, Download Here!

To see the ancillaries that I've fixed and changed so far, Download Here!

Installation Instructions:

For .MOD Format (for better compatibility)
1. If previously using the .MOV format, make sure to delete that version first! If using pre-v.1.4, delete any TTT-related files in the UI (skills and ancillary portraits)
2. Put the file into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\data
3. Use the built-in Rome II mod manager to activate TTT
4. Enjoy!

For .MOV Format
1. If using pre-v.1.4, delete any TTT-related files in the UI (skills and ancillary portraits)
2. Put the file into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\data
3. Enjoy!

Steam Workshop Version (RECOMMENDED)
1. Click "subscribe" on the Steam page
2. Make sure the mod is activated in the Rome II built-in mod manager
3. Enjoy!

*NOTE*: I suggest copying the link for the online excel file listing all the skill effects and branches which you can then paste onto a browser using the Steam Overlay while in-game so you can see where each skill leads without having to alt-tab.

Changelog:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

v.1.6
*Bug fixes:
1) Fixed "Roman Extra Army Rations" to provide proper bonuses
2) Fixed "Superior Wife" to provide proper bonuses
3) Fixed "Experienced Archer" and "Tenacious Defender" to give proper range bonuses
4) Fixed ancillary images for "Tribune of the Plebs" and "Lucky Pilum"

*Finished ancillaries that are Eastern faction specific ('Eastern' category)
1) New portraits for all of them
2) New dynamic triggers for all of them
3) Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam
4) New, overhauled effects for all of them

*Finished ancillaries that are Greek faction specific ('Greek' category)
1) New portraits for all of them
2) New dynamic triggers for all of them
3) Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam
4) New, overhauled effects for all of them

*Finished ancillaries that are Egyptian faction specific ('Egyptian' category)
1) New portraits for all of them
2) New dynamic triggers for all of them
3) Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam
4) New, overhauled effects for all of them

*Miscellaneous
1) Updated quality of images for "Spinster Aunt" and "Slaver"
2) New image cards for "good" traits and "mad" traits, courtesy of anonymous benefactor from TWC
3) Added two new Jewish ancillaries

v.1.5
*Bug fixes:
1) Fixed 'Battle Hardened' army tradition to grant proper XP bonuses
*Balancing Changes:
1) Lowered public order bonuses across the board in accordance to the new dynamic XP system for governors
2) Lowered gravitas and power to political party effects from 'Political Animal' skill
*Dynamic XP system for Governors
1) +1 XP for just being in a garrison
2) +1 XP for having the second to the highest tax level
3) +1 XP for having >25 public order in a region
*Finished ancillaries that are Roman faction specific ('Roman' category)
1) New portraits for all of them
2) New dynamic triggers for all of them
3) Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam
4) New, overhauled effects for all of them
*Finished ancillaries that are for wives ('usable for all' category)
1) New portraits for all of them
2) Added simple effects when appropriate
*Trait changes:
1) Lowered instances of "Like_Xfaction" when making alliances
2) Lowered instances of madness (took out triggers for alcoholism and religiosity)
3) Lowered instances of "Loyal" traits for Rome
*Cursus Honorum Changes (for all factions)
1) Each rank will now retain the bonuses of the previous ranks
2) THIS IS EXPERIMENTAL and is still open for balancing tweaks
3) There is a vanilla bug in which rank 2 of the cursus honorum is being skipped. Have to wait for CA to fix this one.
*Various other little tweaks and typo fixes

v.1.4
*New TTT Team Member: Please welcome Dresden, creator of the following amazing mods! (all compatible with TTT_1.4 by the way!). Dresden has been a big help with the new ancillary portraits, so shoot some +Rep his way to give him a warm welcome!

• City Sack, Liberation and Diplomatic Options Mod
• Build, Research, Recruitment, Cost and Movement Mods for 2TPY/4TPY
• Loose Formation for All Units Mod
• Campaign AI Food Fix Mod
• Qart-Hadast: Carthage Fully Expanded Mod

*Bug fixes:

1. Fixed 'Master of Statecraft' to grant bonuses to diplomacy
2. Fixed 'Master of Statecraft' to grant bonuses to global trade

*Added experience gain for governors who stay in settlements

1. Lowered instances of 'bad' traits from accumulating from staying too long in a settlement (still best to stretch your governor's legs once in a while!)

*Finished ancillaries that are non-faction specific ('all' category)

1. New portraits for all of them
2. New dynamic triggers for all of them
3. Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam

*Finished ancillaries that are barbarian-faction specific ('barbarian' category)

1. New portraits for all of them
2. New dynamic triggers for all of them
3. Took out redundant ancillaries that were causing spam

*Trait changes:

1. Since the various mistress ancillaries are now tied to having certain traits (any adulterer line), the chances of gaining those traits are increased

*Various other little tweaks and typo fixes

v.1.3
*Added 'Commander of Men,' 'Booming Voice,' 'Proven Leader,' 'Master of Statecraft,' 'Political Animal,' and 'Unwavering Patriot' to Authority tree
*Added 'Agriculturist' to Zeal tree
*Added mod installation options (.MOD and .MOV format)
*Removed 'Inspiring Leader' tree and 'Public Speaker'
*Moved 'Dread Commander' to Authority
*Moved 'Sworn Bodyguard' to Authority
*Changed 'Master of Scouts' effects to increase line of sight and agent spotting chance instead of movement range
*Changed graphics for 'Siegecraft Expert' and 'Military Conscriptor' (increased quality)
*Bug Fixes:

• Fixed missing 'Veteran Marine' title
• Fixed bugged EXP effect for 'Drillmaster' (thanks to Mordocai and doom31 for pointing this out)

*Balance Changes:

• Reduced morale increases across the board (with stacking, still quite high)
• Reduced gravitas per turn and political power per turn effects
• Removed + EXP effect for 'Trained Swordsman' as it was a bit overpowered with stacking effects

*Various other small details and typos fixes

v.1.2
*Complete Skill Tree Overhaul

v.1.1
*Internal changes

v.1.0
*Initial Release
*Increased Ancillary Effects
*Bug Fix: Changed 'dancer' ancillary effect from +5 cunning to +1 cunning

Credits:
New TTT Team Member: Please welcome Dresden, creator of many popular mods (all compatible with TTT_1.5 by the way!). Dresden has been a big help with the new ancillary portraits, so shoot some +Rep his way to give him a warm welcome!
*Big thanks to redxavier, Thaetre, and others for helping me figure out how to script the experience gain
*Pnutmaster for the banner image
*Champlain, gwink, and others for skill ideas
*budist for the range increase fix

[JGL]

Looks really interesting mate, keep up the good work

[Hellbent]

Thanks! As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

[Igo]

Thankyou, your saved me so much work.

[Darthvegeta800]

+1 rep for this!

[Efix]

Any chance you come up with a way to remove the unwanted one so we can actually manage the household orgy

[Hellbent]

Any chance you come up with a way to remove the unwanted one so we can actually manage the household orgy

Do you have any specific ones you wanted out of the game? Or do you just want to remove ancillaries from the pool while in-game? Sorry, I think I'm misunderstanding your question.

[Efix]

Do you have any specific ones you wanted out of the game? Or do you just want to remove ancillaries from the pool while in-game? Sorry, I think I'm misunderstanding your question.

Well both... some are really useless like the stick that gave 1% more movement.
Also a way to remove them from the the pool while in-game (Maybe i just don't know how to do it).
I have to delete them one by one each turn hoping the new one will be worth it and i just quit after 40 turn or so when they gave like 3-4 each turn.

[Jarric]

Spiritual successor of the old Blood Broads and Bastards for M2TW? Well done!

I'll definitely try this out and give feedback. For what it's worth though, the reason CA gives all those +3% bonuses instead of, say +30% is because they all stack up. Production bonuses, Army tradition bonuses, experience bonuses, etc etc, can already be gamed to the extent that a single player-controlled Legionnaire can hold off about 5 AI units.

[Pnutmaster]

I am a sucker for the alliteration.

IF CA adds family trees, a bloodline system

That was my plan, too. My only other hesitation with modding traits in Rome II--I don't know how complex Warscape triggers can be. Hellbent, do you know if there any traits/ancillaries that require multiple conditions before they can be acquired? I briefly perused the files back when Lusted released them in XML format.

[Hellbent]

Well both... some are really useless like the stick that gave 1% more movement.
Also a way to remove them from the the pool while in-game (Maybe i just don't know how to do it).
I have to delete them one by one each turn hoping the new one will be worth it and i just quit after 40 turn or so when they gave like 3-4 each turn.

I've sorta addressed the first point by varying the effects so that even the formerly useless ones were somewhat useful, if not specialized for a specific purpose. As for the second point, I'm still learning the ropes of the trigger system for the ancillaries, so that might come at a later date. I might also try culling out the repetitive or similar ancillaries to cut down on the spam. Thanks for the feedback!

Spiritual successor of the old Blood Broads and Bastards for M2TW? Well done!

I'll definitely try this out and give feedback. For what it's worth though, the reason CA gives all those +3% bonuses instead of, say +30% is because they all stack up. Production bonuses, Army tradition bonuses, experience bonuses, etc etc, can already be gamed to the extent that a single player-controlled Legionnaire can hold off about 5 AI units.

Thanks Jarric (also for your reply on the mod workshop forums). I tried to keep the stacking bonuses in mind, but I have not played a full campaign yet so I have no idea how balanced this becomes in the game. I would very much welcome feedback in that regard and am willing to change values around to suit balance purposes.

I am a sucker for the alliteration.

That was my plan, too. My only other hesitation with modding traits in Rome II--I don't know how complex Warscape triggers can be. Hellbent, do you know if there any traits/ancillaries that require multiple conditions before they can be acquired? I briefly perused the files back when Lusted released them in XML format.

Hi Pnutmaster! I would be lying if I said that TTT wasn't inspired by your excellent M2TW mod (I hope you don't mind).

I've only begun digging around and only learned as much about modding as to edit the actual modifier values, but just glancing at the same Lusted XML files:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

<trigger>r2_sp_anc_all_army_hero_saviour</trigger></ancillary_triggers>-<ancillary_triggers record_timestamp="1376409274448" record_uuid="{ae09e6d3-a0b2-436c-ad01-c496a7841c70}"><conditions>char_is_general_with_army(context:character()) and (context:character():faction():has_technology("rom_greek_civil_agriculture_iron_tools") or context:character():faction():has_technology("rom_roman_civil_agriculture_iron_tools")) and context:character():model():turn_number() >= 15 and not context:character():model():campaign_name("prologue_01")</conditions><event>CharacterCompletedBattle</event>

So from what I understand from above, this trigger concerns the 'heroic savior' ancillary. And it triggers when a general is leading an army AND the faction has completed the technology 'civil agriculture' AND it has been equal to or more than 15 turns since the beginning of the game AND the game is the main campaign, not the prologue. As a final trigger, it only fires after said general has completed a battle. If I am correct in assuming so, then I guess this particular ancillary has 4 triggers + 1 event condition. My only question is how to edit this XML file. It doesn't show up as a table using the PFM, so I'm at a loss on which program to use for this...

On that note, I would definitely love some help figuring some of this stuff out and I would welcome any collaboration with you or any other modder brave enough to wade through tons of text.

[Pnutmaster]

Today I went searching for some Shogun II documentation about traits/conditions/events. I found nothing :/ Moreover, I didn't see any mods for Shogun II that overhauled the traits and ancillaries. The impermanent family tree of that game was probably to blame.

In Rome II, the principal files that we would be editing are character_traits and trait_triggers, right? Strangely, like you, I don't see trait_triggers in the /db, which is the only place I assume you'd find it. I'll ask about it in the PFM thread on the official forums and go from there.

[StrikeQ]

There is a trigger_effects_tables->trigger_effects

I'd tried modifying some % on a trait (Likes Successors primarily as it would pop up all the time) and doesn't really seem to have made a difference, then again it was 10% to start with, changed to 2% and still get quite often.

[Hellbent]

Today I went searching for some Shogun II documentation about traits/conditions/events. I found nothing :/ Moreover, I didn't see any mods for Shogun II that overhauled the traits and ancillaries. The impermanent family tree of that game was probably to blame.

In Rome II, the principal files that we would be editing are character_traits and trait_triggers, right? Strangely, like you, I don't see trait_triggers in the /db, which is the only place I assume you'd find it. I'll ask about it in the PFM thread on the official forums and go from there.

There is a trigger_effects_tables->trigger_effects

I'd tried modifying some % on a trait (Likes Successors primarily as it would pop up all the time) and doesn't really seem to have made a difference, then again it was 10% to start with, changed to 2% and still get quite often.

Yes, it seems you're both right. There is a separate trigger file for the ancillaries (found in the Lusted XML files but not in PFM) and another trigger file for traits (called 'trigger_effects_tables' and found in the PFM). As StrikeQ said, the trigger effect table in the PFM has editable chance values, but not the actual triggers themselves. We can't do any real work with ancillaries and traits without first understanding how to edit the trigger files. Another difficulty I encountered is the limited traits a character can gain in R2 (only up to three - two if cursus honorum is taken). I suppose we can create traits that act like skills because that has more spaces, but then that would leave "traits" as a player choice instead of triggered by events...

As a side note, I notice that the value for the 'rome_mad' trait is at a whopping 75%! Probably why every Roman general seems to go mad after a few turns.

[Capitane]

Can you make the player faction character an ability to get marry and have a wife? All men should marry, and married early. So when their age is 30 years, at least they should married, all of them.

[Pnutmaster]

SUCCESS! I think?

I posed the question about 'trait_triggers' to the boys in the Total War.com PFM thread. Daniu and Zowwie responded, the latter revealing (through a hex editor) that 'traits_triggers' is translated into data_rome2.pack/lua_scripts/export_triggers.lua. Said file can be modified via the PFM, as can 'triggers_tables' if you download the latest version of the PFM.

[Hellbent]

Can you make the player faction character an ability to get marry and have a wife? All men should marry, and married early. So when their age is 30 years, at least they should married, all of them.

I agree. I'll take a look again at the files, but if I understand correctly, marriage is currently broken (at least from player perspective), and it'll be up to CA to fix this in the later patches. I think part of the problem is that the player can only initiate marriage for NPCs. The AI has to initiate the marriages for player characters, especially when the player's influence > AI influence, but it's not firing correctly.

SUCCESS! I think?

I posed the question about 'trait_triggers' to the boys in the Total War.com PFM thread. Daniu and Zowwie responded, the latter revealing (through a hex editor) that 'traits_triggers' is translated into data_rome2.pack/lua_scripts/export_triggers.lua. Said file can be modified via the PFM, as can 'triggers_tables' if you download the latest version of the PFM.

Damn fine work Pnutmaster! "export_ancillaries.lua" seems to be in charge of ancillary triggers, while "export_triggers.lua" is for traits. I'll try to test this and create some new ancillaries/traits. Now to deal with the limited traits per character.

[Johan217]

The easiest way to stop the deluge of ancillaries would be to add a percentage trigger to all of them.

In the example, there is a 5% chance that the ancillary will appear if the other conditions are met. Note that this is from ETW, I haven't tried if the same syntax applies to Rome.

--[[ Ancillary_Amazing_Wine_Cellar_Trigger ]]--

events.CharacterCreated[#events.CharacterCreated+1] =
function (context)
	if conditions.CharacterCultureType("european", context) and conditions.RandomPercentCampaign(5, context) and not conditions.CampaignName("episodic_1", context) and not conditions.CampaignName("episodic_3", context) then
		if conditions.DateInRange(1700, 1900, context) then 
			effect.ancillary("Ancillary_Amazing_Wine_Cellar", 17,  context)
		end

Hope this helps!

[redxavier]

This is absolutely superb work so far, and great work too on those making progress on figuring out how it all works. I was wondering, has anyone seen whether the trait limit of 3 can be changed and whether more household slots can be assigned to characters? Expanding these I belive would really open up the gameplay and allow for new modded systems.

Also, looking at that trigger for the heroic saviour ancillary demonstrates how poorly these have been incorporated into this game. You get this for basically doing nothing. No wonder they're flooding 3-4 per turn!

[Johan217]

I was wondering, has anyone seen whether the trait limit of 3 can be changed and whether more household slots can be assigned to characters? Expanding these I belive would really open up the gameplay and allow for new modded systems.

I haven't seen anything in the DB files. Also keep in mind that the UI menus would also need to be changed to accomodate the extra slots.

In my opinion, much of the problem with Rome 2's character skills (and army traditions) is simply caused by the fact that we no longer get the visible skills tree like we had in Shogun, so it is difficult to plan ahead. Lowering the initial tresholds so that there are more skills to choose from at each level would be a good starting point. This way, the player will have more to choose from than just "authority/cunning/zeal" and can make his characters more diverse from the outset.