The Black Scrolls Initiative - A Tactical Addon, compatible with other mods (fixes combat mechanics)

[BlackAlpha]

The Black Scrolls Initiative - A Tactical Addon (for other mods and the original game)
By BlackAlpha

A mod for Total War: Rome 2 v1.4


Main Mod File
Version 1.8

Compatibility patches for other mods
Close Combat
Lines of Battle
Magnar Mod
Radious Battle Mod
Radious Total War Mod
Silven Total Improvement Mod


General mod info
This mod was created because no one else had done it yet.
Maybe no one else was willing to do it. Or maybe no one knew how.
Regardless, it had to be done. Someone had to do it.
Someone had to fix the formations, the magic arrows and the other lunacy that no one had fixed yet.
Some of the tactical options that made the old Total War games fun had been taken away from us by the game developers.
These options had to be taken back.
And so, it was done.

Here are the results...

Cross-mod compatibility
- Black Scrolls includes compatibility patches for other popular mods.
- This allows you to run Black Scrolls together with other mods.

Realistic, tactical fire weapons
- Removed fire javelins and horse fire arrows because they are a bit ridiculous and unrealistic.
- Reduced rate of fire of fire arrows (roughly +5 seconds compared to normal arrows to simulate having to light the arrow before shooting).
- Reduced damage of fire arrows so that their damage is similar to normal arrows.
- Added a morale penalty and a very slight rate of fire penalty to units that are hit by fire arrows.

Projectiles that make sense
- All infantry projectile based weapons are now properly affected by armor (projectiles used to pretty much ignore armor).
- Slingers have the lowest armor penetration. Bows have medium armor penetration. Javelins have high armor penetration.
- The more powerful the projectile weapon/ammo is in its class, the more range and armor piercing properties it has.
- Slingers have slightly lower accuracy compared to bows.
- If you shoot at enemies who are in melee with your units, then you might also severely damage your own units.

Armor that works
- All melee weapons are now properly affected by armor.
- Reduced armor penetration on all melee weapons so that armor now gets a higher chance to stop incoming blows.
- Removed armor penetrating properties from melee weapons that should not have them.
- Low quality melee weapons might struggle a bit against enemies wearing heavy armor.
- Units with heavy armor can take more of a punishment, so battles sometimes last a bit longer.

Meaningful fatigue penalties
- Soldiers will get tired faster when running.
- Soldiers will get tired more quickly when in combat.
- Soldiers will get tired much faster when running up hills.
- Increased fatigue penalties a bit to make them noticeable, mostly for very tired and exhausted levels.
- Reduced the fatigue penalty that some abilities give you. They don't make your units exhausted straight away anymore (necessary because the exhausted fatigue level now has severe penalties).

Functioning formations
- Units using the Hoplite Phalanx formation can now use that formation to attack (ie. you can tell a unit to attack and it will retain its formation and bonuses).
- The first two front rows of the Hoplite Phalanx formation will attack enemies at the same time.
- The (solid) Square formation now has bonuses against cavalry and charging units.
- The Testudo formation now protects against incoming projectiles, but is still somewhat vulnerable to armor piercing ammo, like higher tier bows and all javelins.
- Flanking has a bit higher effect on morale.

How to install
1. Extract the ".pack" file to:
(game folder) \ data

Optional: Compatibility patches for other mods also go into that folder.


2. Open the mod manager, select the Black Scrolls mod on the left, and then press the Launch button on the right.


3. Enjoy!


NOTE: The mod manager can be downloaded from the following link:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...36-Mod-Manager

If you are trying to run Black Scrolls together with another mod, then please look at the next section below.

Combining with other mods
Black Scrolls is 100% compatible with a few other popular mods.
You can download compatibility patches from the Black Scrolls' main page.
You can use these compatibility patches to run Black Scrolls together with another mod. You must use the mod manager to do so.


The load order in the mod manager should be: 1. The other mod > 2. Black Scrolls > 3. Compatibility patch.
Remember that in the mod manager, the mod in the bottom is loaded FIRST and the mod in the top is loaded LAST.

Example of how the load list should look like inside the mod manager:
BlackScrollsInitiative_vXX_OtherModName_Patch
BlackScrollsInitiative_vXX
OtherModName


NOTE:
Close Combat must be manually converted to the "mod" format to make it compatible with the mod manager.
Magnar Mod must be manually converted to the "mod" format to make it compatible with the mod manager.
Radious Battle Mod mod must be manually converted to the "mod" format to make it compatible with the mod manager.
If you use Silven Total Improvement Mod, make sure you've installed the mod manager compatible version.
(If you need to do so, see the next section below on how to manually convert mods to the correct mod format.)


UNSUPPORTED MODS:
You can also try running Black Scrolls on top of other mods that currently don't have a compatibility patch,
but then Black Scrolls might might overwrite key features of the other mod. Or it might work just fine.
In other words, you do so at your own risk.
Just don't forget that the other mod must be compatible with the mod manager or bad things might happen.

Making other mods compatible with the mod manager
Some mods don't show up in the mod manager because the mod creator got lazy, so you'll need to fix the mod yourself.
Here's how to manually convert mods to the correct "mod" format to make them compatible with the mod manager:


1. Download the tool called PFM from the following link:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...More-DBE-fixes


2. Extract it anywhere and open the program. If it asks you, choose where Rome 2 is installed.


3. In the top left, go to: File > Open > Choose the mod's .pack file.


4. In the top left, go to: File > Change Pack Type > Then select "mod"


5. In the top left, go to: File > Save
If the mod comes with multiple .pack files, you must repeat the above steps for each .pack file.


6. Done. Now the mod's .pack file will be detected by the mod manager, assuming you've placed the .pack file inside the data folder in the game directory.


7. Optional: Go complain with that mod creator for making you jump through hoops and forcing you to do his job.

Permission / Legal
If you would like to use the contents of this mod in your own project, then please contact me (BlackAlpha) by private message on http://www.twcenter.net/forums/


Changelog

Version 1.8
- Compatible with game version 1.4 (patch 4). Probably won't work with older versions.
- Carefully copied over all the 'good' balancing tweaks that come with the patch.
- Added a bit higher morale penalty for being flanked.
- Made many tweaks concerning to the Hoplite Phalanx formation to make that formation function properly with the new game version.
- Increased javelin damage of melee units to compensate for the low amount of thrown javelins.
- Some minor tweaks.


Version 1.6
- Minor balancing tweaks to some changes made by this mod.
- Compatible with new official game patch.


Version 1.5
- Fire arrows now only affect the unit they hit, instead of the units they fly over.
- The Hoplite Phalanx formation now functions similar to a Pike Phalanx, the first two front rows will attack the enemy at the same time.


Version 1.4
- Increased club damage.
- Increased fatigue gain from running up hills.
- Increased fatigue gain from combat.
- Some minor tweaks.


Version 1.3
- Removed fire arrows from horses.
- All spears now have bonuses against cavalry.
- Increased fatigue penalties slightly.
- Added in a recent minor bug fix from the original game.
- Created a bunch of compatibility patches for other popular mods.


Version 1.2
- Changed filename of the .pack file to avoid a bug with the mod manager.


Version 1.1
- Increased damage of javelins.
- The testudo now protects less when hit from the side.
- Reduced armor penetration on all melee weapons.
- Removed armor penetrating properties from melee weapons that should not have them.
- Non-armor penetrating melee weapons might struggle a bit against enemies wearing heavy armor.
- The general balance of the game should be similar to the original but you will see a larger difference when troops with low quality weapons attack heavily armored enemies.


Version 1.0
- Initial release.

[Jin-]

Thanks, was waiting to get something like this.

I know 100% sure it will conflict with Radious battle mod, but so what, gonna run them both

[BlackAlpha]

Don't forget to provide feedback. I'm always looking for feedback. In particularly, I'm looking for feedback on the balancing of the infantry ranged units because some of the changes to the projectile based weapons are quite game changing.

[Millijac]

Is there any way to make testudos almost invulnerable to missiles from the front and top? Really, only the rear and sides are uncovered by shields. Armor penetration shouldn't really affect a missile's ability to go through shields. A slingstone would have the same chance as a javelin at finding a hole. Food for thought.

[BlackAlpha]

Is there any way to make testudos almost invulnerable to missiles from the front and top? Really, only the rear and sides are uncovered by shields. Armor penetration shouldn't really affect a missile's ability to go through shields. A slingstone would have the same chance as a javelin at finding a hole. Food for thought.

Well, it's kind of a balancing thing. You could argue that the player should be able to choose whether he wants a full testudo with shields covering the side at the cost of speed, or a testudo as we have now which has no protection on the sides allowing the soldiers to move faster. I'll make a compromise in the next version and buff the shields and only increase the soldiers' armor slightly, so you'll still need to watch your sides but your soldiers will have a bit of protection from the sides.

[BlackAlpha]

Version 1.1 has been released. See the first post for the download link. By the way, because I'm a new member I need to wait a week before I can edit my first post. So I will post updates in new posts rather than in the original post, until I get editing permissions. The download link will be in the first post, though.


In version 1.1 I wanted to focus on armor and melee in the same way I already did armor and ranged weapons. In other words, I wanted the armor to play a larger role, to actually have a chance of stopping an incoming blow. I looked at other mods but in my opinion they fail to do this. They simply rebalance other parts of the game in such a way that it creates the illusion that the armor mechanics have changed and hence they don't always work. But I don't want illusions, I want to change the system a bit to something more logical that always works how you would expect it to work. I want good quality spears to cut easily through armor. I want heavily armored troops to shrug off clubs. And so that's what I created, melee weapons are now properly affected by armor.


Here's the changelog:

Version 1.1

More useful armor
- Reduced armor penetration on all melee weapons.
- Removed armor penetrating properties from melee weapons that should not have them.
- Non-armor penetrating melee weapons might have a bit of trouble against enemies wearing heavy armor.
- The general balance of the game should be similar to the original but you will see a larger difference when troops with low quality weapons attack heavily armored enemies.

- Increased damage of javelins.
- The testudo now protects less when hit from the side.


As always, I'm open for feedback. I take people's feedback heavily into consideration when making adjustments. In my opinion, balancing is never 100% done, so don't hesitate to give your opinion. Also, feel free to ask about how or why I mod things in a certain way, I don't mind explaining things.

[Julio-Claudian]

This all sounds great... but do battles last an awful lot longer than vanilla or in the Lines of battle mod and so on? If so I'll download it.

[BlackAlpha]

This all sounds great... but do battles last an awful lot longer than vanilla or in the Lines of battle mod and so on? If so I'll download it.

No, because with this mod I don't want to reinvent the wheel. However, this mod is compatible with Lines of Battle (which I think is pretty cool), so you can play both at the same time. Just make sure that Black Scrolls is loaded last (ie. is in the top of the mod manager).

And remember that the changes to the armor change the dynamics of combat a bit, so some battles might play out different or last a bit longer.

If there's demand for it, I can make this mod compatible with other popular mods...

[Julio-Claudian]

Oh it's compatible. Great, I shall use it.

[lesterthenerd]

hoplite units in phalanx formation still charge the enemy when attacking.

[BlackAlpha]

hoplite units in phalanx formation still charge the enemy when attacking.

It's probably because the mod wasn't running. I found a bug in the mod manager when there's an extra dot in the filename of the .pack file. It then sometimes doesn't load the mod. So I uploaded version 1.2, which has no extra dots in the filename. It's the same as 1.1, just the filename is different. You can get it from the download link in the first post.

Also, if you are running multiple mods, make sure Black Scrolls is loaded last (it must be in the top of the mod manager list).

[BlackAlpha]

Version 1.3 has been released! See the first post for the download link.

Here's the changelog:
- Removed fire arrows from horses.
- All spears now have bonuses against cavalry.
- Increased fatigue penalties slightly.
- Added in a recent minor bug fix from the original game.
- Created a bunch of compatibility patches for other popular mods.

Now, if you go to the download link, you will see a bunch of compatibility patches for other mods. Using the mod manager you can run this mod together with those mods. What will happen in game is that basically the features you see in the first post are added to the other mod.

The load order should be: 1. The other mod > 2. Black Scrolls > 3. Compatibility Patch. In other words, first load the other mod, then Black Scrolls, and then the compatibility patch. Just don't forget that in the mod manager the mod in the bottom is loaded first and the one in the top is loaded last.

Example of how the load order list will look like in the mod manager:

BlackScrollsInitiative_OtherModName_Patch
BlackScrollsInitiative_vXX
OtherModName


Some notes on the compatibility patches
Close Combat and Magnar Mod must be manually converted to the "mod" format to make them compatible with the mod manager.
If you use Silven Total Improvement Mod, make sure you've installed the mod manager compatible version.



Here's how to manually convert mods to the correct format to make them compatible with the mod manager:

1. Download the tool called PFM from the following link:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...v-replace-data

2. Extract it anywhere and open the program. If it asks you, choose where Rome 2 is installed.

3. In the top left go to File > Open > Choose the mod's .pack file.

4. Top left go to File > Change Pack Type > Select "mod"

5. In the Top left go to File > Save

6. Done. Now the mod's .pack file will be detected by the mod manager, assuming you've placed the .pack file inside the data folder in the game directory.

7. Optional: Go complain with those mod creators for making you jump through hoops and forcing you to do their job.

[kanzy]

@BlackAlpha

Will the compatibility patch work with Radious Battle mod only as I am not using the full Totalwar pack, I set everything up as you instructed but something is not right as now Javelin units have fire javelin skill.


Update: I didn't see what you wrote about making sure the Black scrolls was loaded last (top of the mod manager) I did that and now everything is working fine, had a blast in a small skirmish missiles weren't decimating me in a few seconds anymore and I had time to leave all units fighting and turn on slow motion and enjoy the battle with out having to watch a reply to do that.

[Condottiere SOG]

- Slingers have the lowest armor penetration. Bows have medium armor penetration. Javelins have high armor penetration.

Makes no sense as the rock would deliver a bash effect that goes through armor delivering blunt force trama...leaving a large dent in any metal. linothorax would absorb some damage...spolas(hardened leather) would defend the best as it would give and then reflect the object

[versengeteriks]

is this mod and Armour reworked http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ated-28-09-13) compatible?

if it isn't it would be great if you guys got together.

'trix

[BlackAlpha]

@BlackAlpha

Will the compatibility patch work with Radious Battle mod only as I am not using the full Totalwar pack, I set everything up as you instructed but something is not right as now Javelin units have fire javelin skill.


Update: I didn't see what you wrote about making sure the Black scrolls was loaded last (top of the mod manager) I did that and now everything is working fine, had a blast in a small skirmish missiles weren't decimating me in a few seconds anymore and I had time to leave all units fighting and turn on slow motion and enjoy the battle with out having to watch a reply to do that.

The compatibility patch I made works with Radious mod in general. However, keep in mind that while Radious Total War Mod works with the mod manager by default, the Radious Battle Mod does not. That is because the Radious Battle Mod is not in the proper "mod" format, so it won't show up in the mod manager by default. You need to convert it manually to the "mod" format to make it show up in the mod manager. If you don't do that, then Radious Battle Mod will overwrite some parts of this mod. See my previous post on how to convert the mod to the proper "mod" format, if you haven't done so already.

Makes no sense as the rock would deliver a bash effect that goes through armor delivering blunt force trama...leaving a large dent in any metal. linothorax would absorb some damage...spolas(hardened leather) would defend the best as it would give and then reflect the object

Yes, true. But it might also hit a non-vital part of the body, just causing a lot of pain without any serious injury. Or it might do something else entirely. Real life is very complex, in this game we have to dumb it down to a mere probability percentage. Regardless, you'll find that slingers can still do some damage to heavily armored troops, just far less compared to the original game. The highest tier slingers can still be fairly dangerous, though, as they simulate using better (metal) bullets.

is this mod and Armour reworked http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ated-28-09-13) compatible?

if it isn't it would be great if you guys got together.

'trix

Not much point making it compatible because we are both trying to do something similar. I looked through his files and I suspect his goals are different to mine. I want armor to work like in real life. I want weapons that can damage armor in real life to do so in this game too. I want weapons that have problems damaging armor to also have trouble doing so in this game. As simple as that, and so that's what I made. It's actually fairly simple because the game developers created a pretty decent system for it. It's just that they've used settings that make the armor system a bit more arcade/simple by bypassing it for a large part. I basically undid those settings to make more use of the armor system, and tweaked it here and there. Unless somebody can explain to me how technically the system could be further improved, I don't think you can make it any more realistic. You might be able to make a few specific weapons more effective at penetrating armor, at the cost of gameplay balance, but I think that's about it.

[Osbot]

I agree with you on that armor re-worked mod. I think the current armor system mechanics are actually exceptional. However like you the actual implementation by CA is terrible. I did basically the same as you, I removed the majority of AP from weapons based on type of weapon. Slashing swords lost almost all their AP, Gladius' keep a little more. Spears kept about half of their current AP and axes were left as is, 50/50.

(Edit). Just running some tests, and unfortunately the workaround to fix hoplite phalanxes results in extremely buggy combat behavior. It seems like if any part of the frontage of the unit is not in contact with the enemy, it just keeps walking until the unit becomes non-responsive to any orders and can only be fixed by drag moving the unit.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Selea]

Not much point making it compatible because we are both trying to do something similar. I looked through his files and I suspect his goals are different to mine. I want armor to work like in real life. I want weapons that can damage armor in real life to do so in this game too. I want weapons that have problems damaging armor to also have trouble doing so in this game. As simple as that, and so that's what I made. It's actually fairly simple because the game developers created a pretty decent system for it. It's just that they've used settings that make the armor system a bit more arcade/simple by bypassing it for a large part. I basically undid those settings to make more use of the armor system, and tweaked it here and there. Unless somebody can explain to me how technically the system could be further improved, I don't think you can make it any more realistic. You might be able to make a few specific weapons more effective at penetrating armor, at the cost of gameplay balance, but I think that's about it.

I understand what you are doing, but just changing the AP part of weapons will do very little. Read the description in my mod and you will understand why. The problem is the random roll of armour always starting from 0. That make it so that no matter how high the armour there's always a large chance to do some damage and a moderate/little one of doing full damage (as if armour didn't either exist).

You can see this pretty well with my mod. Even with Testudo giving 238 armour to a Praetorian Guard and AP removed from normal arrows altogether I had to increase the shield defense given by Testudo because elsewhere arrows were still too strong.

It is the normal damage the most important aspect given the random roll always starting from 0. Only by reducing the normal damage by much (or similar things that obtain the same effect) then AP really does a difference.

[Lt.Chris]

nice gonna try this out

[Kinjo]

This mod looks very promising + rep

btw BlackAlpha is it possible to make pike phalanx ability enabled by default?