[SUBMOD] Ultionem Carthago (DEI 0.96)

[luck_ponte]

Greetings to all! This mod is a small compilation of a bunch of ideas I had for Carthage whilst playing DEI. I felt that Carthage's use of mercenaries were not effective in the context of the mod, were their upkeep is so punishing. Even with the new mercenaries, I felt that Carthage needed a few tweaks so to shine in the mercenary department. So, most of the changes will revolve around tweaks to make Carthage's use of mercenaries more unique . Here is the list of changes:

1. Carthage's second line of barracks was brought back. Though no troops can be recruited there, they offer the following passive bonuses:
   
   • Mercenaries hired in provinces with this building will have a morale boost
   • Mercenaries hiring cost is cheaper in regions with this building line
   • Mercenaries inside a province with this build line will have a smaller upkeep. Note that the upkeep bonus is only applicable in the province where the building is located. Once they step out of it, their upkeep will return to normal. Also, the upkeep discount is only noticeable after the hiring (won't show up in the description);
   
   
2. Buffed Carthage's mercenary army trait to 55%
3. Added a -20% mercenary upkeep effect to the raiding stance
4. Buffed Numidian Cavalry and units of the same kind:
   
   • Added resist fatigue
   • Re-added Parthian shot
   
   

The reason behind the changes are as it follows:

1. I was looking for a way to allow Carthage to actually field mercenary armies without being too much op. This was an idea I had been toying with for a while, and finally got the guts to make it happen. The re-adding of the barracks second line was actually what moved me to do the other changes (except for the Mercenary faction trait, which I had done and actually uploaded previously)
2. For some reason, CA decided to nerf Carthage's factional trait for cheaper mercenary upkeep. Combined with DEI higher mercenary upkeep costs, this severely crippled Carthage's capabilities to field mercenaries properly. The DEI team DID buff it, but I felt it still needed a little buffing
3. This measure is actually to complement the first. With the mercenary camps, you can have cheaper mercenaries in your own provinces, while with this you can still have a good bonus when in enemy territory. Also, it actually makes sense that mercenaries would be payed mostly with their hard-earned plunder, and as such would have a better share of the raided goods.
4. Many people complain about their usefulness in battle. And indeed, they did not resemble much the famously agile cavalry that was the nightmare of the Roman's ala commanders. I added those attributes in the hope they will help making them more tasty to use. However, for lack of expertise, I did not change the unit's animations, so you will see the javelins flying backwards while they shoot "forward" (please, don't hate me for that ugly glitch)

To-do (wish) list:

1. More comprehensive Carthage faction traits overhaul (I have a few ideas, will test them out before updating)

Licensing

I believe in the power of sharing and of open-source development. However, I felt I needed to make some things more clear, hence the fancy following rules for using/sharing this mod. By using this mod you automatically agree to the terms bellow:

1. You may freely use, edit and study the content of this mod and may use/incorporate it in your own work without the need of my permission or share of credits as long as:
   
   • You, in turn, don't ask for credit and mark the mods made with content from this mod as open-source and free to use/edit/study/incorporate. "Freely you have received; Freely give" =)
   • If, for some reason, you don't want to make your mod "open-source" in the conforms stated above, then you need my permission to use the mod AND need to share the proper credits. No excuses.
   
   
2. Even though it is not required (if following the first paragraph of the rule above, that is), credits show that you liked and respect my work, and is always appreciated
3. The author (aka luck_ponte) will not be held responsible of the use of this mod for any evil purposes

About feedback

I want it and I need it to make my work better. As much as I don't like it, I don't have that much time to play/test all the aspects of this mod, so I may not be aware of issues, bugs or even imbalances, so I need your help guys. However, keep in mind:

1. This mod still needs work and by no means is complete yet
2. I'll do my best to update the mod and make it even better and to answer your replies and complaints, but I'm just a man and I have plenty of other stuff to do. So please, be patient with me
3. I'll treat you with the same politeness and respect you treat me
4. Trolls you be treated in the conforms of Skyrim, and hence will be burned without mercy

The Files

Steam link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=296481790
Standalone file: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ia...uck_punic.pack

[UPDATE] List of changes

v0.2.3 (11/15/2014)

• (Finally) Made compatible with patch 15/DEI 0.96. Sorry for the long time out, but I got stuck with this issue and to make matters worse, my University kicked (and hard) back in.

v0.2.2 (8/21/2014)

• Re-balanced the raiding stance, toned the mercenary upkeep discount to 8% instead of the original 20% During play, I noticed that with the buffed mercenary faction trait AND the Mercenaries tech, the 20% bonus made mercenaries almost cost-free (a unit that had an original upkeep of 242 gold/turn only costed me around 30 gold/turn). Tested out, the mercenaries are still way cheaper than common soldiers when raiding, but not so drastically;

v0.2.1 (8/19/2014)

• Re-balanced the mercenary camp buffs. They now offer a greater bonus, but come at the expense of public order (I don't know about you, but I'd be unsettled if I had a band of blood-thirsty mercenaries camped near me =p);

v0.2 (8/7/2014)

• Added the same traits from Numidian cav to the Numidian Noble Cav (for those out there with an older save game);
• Fixed conflict with DEI on the mercenary faction trait (for some reason DEI overwrote it, even though I believed it was loading after my mod, will test to confirm)

Special thanks to Dresden, who helped me clarify some points about what to do; and to ABH2, without this guy I would still be helplessly lost and this mod would still be completely broken. And, of course, big thanks to everyone who may use this mod. May the mighty thunderbolts of Baal turn your enemies to dust!

[ABH2]

You have a lot of my own ideas for Carthage incorporated here. I can't stand that Numidian cavalry are basically just throwaway skirmishers and the reliance on mercenaries (actual mercenaries). It helps with immersion by creating an actual unique experience while playing as Carthage.

On the Numidians - did you consider boosting their melee attack stats?

I like the part about open source development. The more modders work together and collaborate, the better the result for the games and players. And I think it also encourages more people to mod.

[Samraat Mahendra Maurya]

I think this should be integrated into the main DEI build

[Master.Mind]

Looks very interesting espcially the part about the Numedians (it always bugged me that they couldn't even fire while moving)

[Moonflower]

I mainly play Carthage and share most of the OP sentiments regarding mercenaries. These are great ideas, now I will actually want to field mercenaries without thought of breaking my bank or doing lame lightning campaigns (hiring en masse right before a siege/battle). Thanks for this, and for the open source part, would love to contribute if I come up with any ideas or alterations to better this mod.

FOR MIGHTY CARTHAGE!

[luck_ponte]

@ABH2 On the Numidians I didn't thought about buffing their melee stats, though I did considered to add them the scare horse trait to help them thrive in cavalry engagements, but wasn't sure if it would actually helpful or if it would break immersion (since only camel units have that trait). I'll test a little bit and wait for more feedback on them before doing any changes, but thanks for the tip, will try raising their melee in a near future and see how it goes. About the open-source part, those are my thoughts exactly ;D
@Master.Mind @KeenClothMaurya Thanks for the kind words
@moonflower Thanks for your willingness to help, it will be most welcome =D FOR MIGHTY CARTHAGE!!! lol

[Purplzhazy]

Can you do something about the fact that all carthage's generals start with an elephant unit ?
They need to be with cavalry bodyguard, not elephant ...

[luck_ponte]

@Purplzhazy I most likely won't be implementing this because that would involve (or at least I think it would) editing the startpos files, which would be troublesome for me since a) I've never tried to mess with it, so it would probably burn much of my time that I could be using for other things (including improvements to this mod) b) Compatibility would be a pain, since I'd probably have to upload a new version every time DeI updates, which would mean more time consuming and more time people using my submod would have to wait to play DeI with... Plus, I don't personally have anything against Carthage having Elephant generals, it makes sense for me, but that's more of a personal taste. But nevertheless, thanks for your suggestion =) OBS.: As I said, I've never messed with the startpos files, but if you'd like, you could do the tweaks yourself. Who knows you won't be uploading your own submods here sometime? ;D Dresden posted a tutorial in the Stickies on the submod page if you're interested

[Purplzhazy]

Thanks for the information, I'm gonna read it.

[luck_ponte]

New Update. I felt the mercenary camps needed a little more buffing in their stats, and some drawbacks as well. Please, let me know if the balance is alright or if there's any issue
v0.2.1 (8/19/2014)

• Re-balanced the mercenary camp buffs. They now offer a greater bonus, but come at the expense of public order;

[Samraat Mahendra Maurya]

Great + 1

[luck_ponte]

New update. The bonus to mercenary upkeep in the raiding stance was too far off. Toned it down for better balance. Please, do let me know on the impact of these changes

[Ozymandias1989]

I agree, these are great tweaks which definitely address a noted problem playing with Carthage and utilizing their military historically.

Dresden, if you read this please include this in v 1.0 if not earlier

[Master.Mind]

I agree, these are great tweaks which definitely address a noted problem playing with Carthage and utilizing their military historically.

Dresden, if you read this please include this in v 1.0 if not earlier

Seconded

[luck_ponte]

@Ozymandias @Master.Mind Thanks for your kind words, you give a modding noob hope =)

[luck_ponte]

I AM BACK babies!!! Did you missed me? Sorry for the long hiatus, my University came back from a (long-ass) paralyzation and it was finals season, so I barely had time to breathe. To make matters even worse I had no idea what was going wrong after DEI 0.95n. But finally I found out what the matter was and fixed it. Hope you guys can forgive me. Had some new ideas I'll test out, but in the mean time, I hope you enjoy

[Marcus Flavius]

Love the idea of this mod! i´m gonna test it in my actually carthage campaign! no need of re-start right?? Thanks!

[luck_ponte]

@Marcus Should be save compatible (I tested in a new campaign and in an older game, both ran just fine). Hope you enjoy =)

[Maetharin]

Does an AI Carthage make use of these Buffs, eg recruiting more mercenary heavy armies?

I´ll try it out for sure when starting my next Carthage Campaign

[luck_ponte]

Does an AI Carthage make use of these Buffs, eg recruiting more mercenary heavy armies?

I´ll try it out for sure when starting my next Carthage Campaign

Hum, not sure on how the AI manages the buffs...tbh, in most of my playthroughs, Carthage gets obliterated before I can get a good look at what they are doing. From what I saw in some old games they seem to balance out between mercs and regular troops, so in theory they would get some of the bonuses, but I've never seen the AI building mercenary camps or heavily recruiting mercenaries. Which is kind of disappointing considering the new mercenary roster from DEI. If I knew how to mod the AI army build preferences, I'd think about doing so that they got more mercs, but then the AI probably would screw it up anyway... So for now it should only affect the player, but again, not 100% sure either due to my lack of observation on the matter.