empty queue items: how to/possible?

[Artorath]

Gday everyone. So having semi-recently started playing medieval 2 again, one of the annoyances of the game has started to catch up with me: the inability to preplan buildings and unit recruitment. Now, I know you can queue things if you want them constantly produced, but to minimize upkeep, you normally want to recruit units at the last possible moment (i.e. getting the next free upkeep unit in a city) which becomes tedious when you start hitting the mid-late game, especially if your economy isn't overkill yet (mine is right now, but that's beside the point).

So anyway, I was wondering if anyone has ever added a do-nothing unit/building, just to sync queue times and help a little with planning ahead. Preferably in a way which only the player/player faction can use, or which the AI will ignore.

[Nzg]

Are you playing with auto-management?

[Artorath]

Nope. When I turn auto-management on I find I just spend even more time calculating the turns on governor patrol routes so I keep manual control [do not trust auto construction at all]. Plus with urban planner-architect governors you can save nearly 2k on some buildings i.e. huge walls. Fun for role playing every once in a while but not how I prefer to play.

Maybe auto recruitment would solve the free upkeep problem, although I doubt it would do it at the correct turn or with the correct unit. Honestly it's been too long since I used the feature, I just remember being underwhelmed by what it would select.

[godofhoss]

So what is your question cause I'm perplexed at your question. I'm trying to figure it out, though I might have the slightest idea.

[Artorath]

So what is your question cause I'm perplexed at your question. I'm trying to figure it out, though I might have the slightest idea.

Is it possible to add a "unit" and a "building" to the player faction with 0 cost, 1 turn completion, and which doesn't actually build or recruit anything (infinitely queueable and repeatable). If so, how do I do it.
The rest is just explaining why I want to know.

[eugenioso]

Is it possible to add a "unit" and a "building" to the player faction with 0 cost, 1 turn completion, and which doesn't actually build or recruit anything (infinitely queueable and repeatable). If so, how do I do it.
The rest is just explaining why I want to know.

it is possible, considering the modding capacities of MTW2. but i doubt anyone would want to do that. micromanaging every single city/castle you own is a practical necessity. what you are saying is just bred out of pure laziness.

[UndrState]

It would sort of undermine the challenge of having a large empire, which, you know, shouldn't be easy to maintain. Besides, you have so many tools the AI doesn't.

[Artorath]

Distance to capital simulates the challenge of a large empire. Corruption simulates the challenge of a large empire. Tedious list-checking simulates nothing other than tedium, and if I wanted that I wouldn't be playing a game.
(automanagement also works, but like I said: sometimes do it, don't prefer it every playthrough)

Especially in a turn-based game. If it were EU4 or CK2 multiplayer then yes, having to do everything faster as you grow larger does make being an empire more challenging, since there is a clock to race against. A "my tools vs the AI" argument doesn't really hold up either, because I'm achieving the same result, just putting my plans into the game further ahead than I would otherwise.

And if you want to call it laziness then fine. I want to spend more of my time making strategic decisions and less enacting them. What I am asking for is an increase in convenience with the same level of game complexity. If that is laziness then so be it.

To clarify, I am enjoying the game as is, just being able to delay the queue would help me enjoy it more. It's not like it's going to affect everyone's base game or something. Cheers and rep for the person who gives me a how to or impossibility confirmation.

[UndrState]

I doubt it's impossible to mod this, but I doubt anyone's made such a mod. I'm sure you could whip this up pretty easily, maybe even have "do nothings" of various turn lengths.

I still think you're missing the point that managing many units, familty members, agents, diplomatic relations, building and recruitment queues IS part of the challenge. If you are impatient and don't manage well, you're going to make mistakes, and this time and attention is a natural handycap to you that in some (however small) way makes up for the inevitable weaknesses of the AI. But that's just my opinion.

[Nzg]

I think it's modable. For example, by adding a new building that takes 1 turn to be created and costs 0(if possible). I also doubt anyone tried to do something like that.