[REL] Historically plausible development minimod (in hibernation now)

[yukishiro1]

I put up some comparison screenshots from DeI with and without the mod. The differences were a lot smaller than in patch 7, which shows that either the minor faction gold nerfs or the better AI is having some effect, especially on the western half of the map. On the eastern half, the submod still makes a huge difference, producing much more historically believable results.

I have fiddled with the values a bit already. I will continue to do so tomorrow and then release a new version with the updates.

[yukishiro1]

Released new version of minimod with tweaks for patch 8. Should produce better results than the old version. Save game compatible, but as always you will get the biggest impact from starting a new campaign so the new values can be present from the start. It is not a dramatic change, so if you like the campaign you're running with the old set of files, I'd just keep using them. But if you're starting a new campaign and plan on using the mod, the new files should produce slightly better results.

Also note that Athens now has its own version of the mod. The AI version of Athens suddenly got much stronger in patch 8 for some reason, and I had to give it the same 40% upkeep penalty I gave Sparta to keep it in check. So if you want to play as Athens, download the Athens version, which removes that 40% upkeep penalty for the player. Of course, if you want the challenge of playing a more historically accurate version of Athens or of Sparta, you can use the generic version instead, but it'll make your game much more difficult.

[Disarray]

I don't suppose you could load these up to the Steam Workshop could you? Maybe do up a mod pack containing all the files so people could get them all and keep them updated easier?

[yukishiro1]

I've thought about it but the problem is that unless I put an a_ in front of the names they won't work using the workshop using the default mod manager and that seems like it might cause a lot of confusion for people. But maybe it makes sense to just put an a_ in front and put it on the workshop?

I was also holding off until DeI itself got put on the workshop in the new version, because it didn't seem like it made much sense to have a submod for a mod that isn't up yet.

[Disarray]

Would a 3 letter designation for which faction it is for work? SPA for Sparta, ATH for Athens, ect. I just put the Sparta one in my data folder without an A in front of the name and was able to find it in the in-game mod manager, I just had to scroll to the right a bit, with a 3 letter designation it shouldn't be to hard to tell what you were activating.

[yukishiro1]

Oh I didn't mean that, I meant that if I put it in the workshop without putting an a_ in front of the name, people won't be able to enable it using the normal mod manager. The normal mod manager loads things up in the order of their alphabet. If you load it using the normal mod manager without changing the name, it won't work right because some of the changes won't override the defaults in dei because dei will load with priority.

For example, you'll get the 3 recruitment slots dei vanilla gives PLUS the extra slots my mod gives, when really the latter is supposed to replace the former, not add to it.

Once I'm happy with what I've got - and I think it's 99% there now, if not there already - and once dei is back on the workshop I will put it on up steam though, probably with the a_ in front. I know it's a pain to have to download multiple files every time I change something.

[tonedog]

you got another download link for this by any chance? those links on the 1st page wont allow me to download the mod without installing a 3rd party app which I aint gonna do.

cheers.

[yukishiro1]

Hmm, works fine for me using chrome.

BTW, I just fixed a bug that was stopping hellenistic iron minor cities from getting their +1 recruitment slot. So if anyone notices that (probably most obvious example is Lilybaeum), it will be fixed when I push the mod to the workshop, probably sometime later today.

That will also clear up any trouble with the download links. I'll try to get that done later today for anyone who is having issues.

[tonedog]

yeah just tried it on chrome as well, same result after clicking 'download this file'.

[yukishiro1]

It doesn't take you to one of those screens where you type in the 4 digit code and then it lets you download?

Strange. Do you use steam? I'll put it up on the workshop shortly and then you can get it that way. Or if you want it now, which specific file do you want? I'll upload just that file to a different site.

[Disarray]

I ran into that problem too. You have to click on the download link in the middle of the screen, not the one at the top. The top one is for some mod manager thing. There is one that says something like Download file a little below the green button at the top.

[yukishiro1]

Sorry for the trouble folks.

I put the generic version up on steam workshop, if you prefer to get it that way.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=205887775

I will add the other versions shortly and update the fixed download links too for those who prefer that method.

Rome version up now too:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=205895315

Let me know if I did anything wrong during the upload process, never uploaded a mod to the workshop before.

Collection available now at

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=205902838

Will add the remaining versions shortly.

[Master Necromancer]

Dude seriously you should be a part of the Dei team. Invite this guy already!

[yukishiro1]

All versions are up on the workshop now, link to the collection page is in the first post.

I am all tuckered out. When I recover I will update the download links in the first post to be the latest version. Right now the steam version is the latest version - I made small tweaks here and there and fixed a problem in the tables that meant hellenistic iron minor cities didn't get their recruitment slot, meaning Carthage couldn't recruit any armies in Lilybaeum.

[Cidalsleepwalker]

I downloaded the Rome version of this, but I seem to be getting an income bonus still when playing as Rome. Is this intended?

[yukishiro1]

The current version has a modest income bonus when the player plays as Rome. The AI gets 5000, the player gets something like 1500 IIRC. I put that in because these changes result in Carthage and Macedon being quite a bit stronger than they otherwise would be. Because Rome tends to get into wars with both of those factions early on, the income bonus seems needed to help counteract the much larger bonuses given to those two factions in this minimod, especially in the early game.

If people prefer no income bonus I can remove it, but I thought it was safer to put it in for now. If testing shows it isn't really needed we can always take it out. If you play a while and it seems like it really isn't needed, let me know.

[Cidalsleepwalker]

Ah, alright. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not so I thought I'd bring it to your attention. I'll let you know when when I get a bit further in my campaign.

[Draikz]

I don't know if it's just me but.. I think the 5 recruitment slot bonus for Rome in Italy seems a bit too much for me. Playing as Epirus I literally can't move away from Apollonia because Rome is sending semi-full stacks every 2-3 turns and I have no time to recover, plus I am containing Spartha and Athens that as usual have allied against me (100% expected) and are spamming agents -.-"

Apart from that, great job.

[yukishiro1]

That's good feedback to get. Epirus definitely has it tough right now. I will give some thought to finding a way to make it not so rough on the player playing epirus without making Rome gimp. The difficulty is that finding a way to keep (the AI) Epirus alive without making Epirus powerful enough to take on Rome is surprisingly difficult. Right now I have leaned on the side of letting Epirus get steamrolled for the sake of making Rome into a major power later in the game. But obviously when the player is involved it isn't much fun if your whole game is just beating back stack after stack of Romans. If the game could support realistic diplomacy we could do something where Rome gives you a peace treaty after the 2nd or 3rd time you smash them, but obviously that's not how diplomacy in this game works.

Is Rome not at war with Carthage in your game? Part of the reason Rome gets the 5 is because it has to fight Carthage and Epirus/Macedon at the same time at the start of the game. But maybe 5 is excessive and 3 would be enough. Another option is maybe to try nerfing the bonus gold, to create a situation where Rome can pump out armies really fast but can't keep doing it forever because it'll run out of cash eventually.

I am somewhat gratified though that the AI is actually making good use of the slots and giving you a hard time. For what it's worth, I can't think of another faction that has it harder than Epirus in the current version of the mod. Also, and I know this may not be much consolation, but one thing I've seen in the sims is that once Rome takes Apollonia it often turns around to go fight Carthage, leaving Larissa and even giving Epirus a chance to get Apollonia back. I do not know if the same thing would happen when the player is playing Epirus, but if so letting Rome get Apollonia for a turn or two might actually be one way to get Rome off your back.

[yukishiro1]

I added a version for Epirus to the steam workshop collection that tries to mitigate the problem by reducing the bonuses Rome gets (from 4000 income/ 5 slots to 2500 income/ 3 slots) and tries to compensate by reducing the bonuses for Carthage, nerfing Garamantia even more, and slightly nerfing the three celtic factions of cisalpina. I haven't had a chance to test this at all so I can't guarantee the balance is right, but it should make it a bit less painful to play as Epirus.

If you don't use the workshop lemme know and I'll put in a download link as I go to redo them.