[Request/Suggestion] Military Service years visible as a trait

[VektorT]

The title says it all. It really bothers me how the military service time is hidden from the player making it very hard to keep track when you have a bunch of FM spread around the map going out for a military career in different ages after receiving education (especially when aiming for Cultured and Erudite trait). I like to pet and roleplay my characters a lot and I see no good reason why this trait is hidden, it just make things harder without any real "simulation" reason behind it, after all the romans had calendars, they know how much time they are serving, putting it on the player shoulders to remember dozens of FM military service time by head or paper is just unneeded and makes roleplaying way harder.

The method for doing it already exists. Myarta Visible Traits submod did exactly that and was once a must have for me, but it's no longer compatible with current EB2 version. I'm not asking him to update his submod or for anyone to create another submod like that, what I'm asking is for it to be regular part of EB2 and that's why I'm requesting it here and not on the submod page. It don't need to be made now, but would be really nice if it could be added in the next update or later on, after all it just made everything easier and more pleasant without any compromise.

EB2 is certanly my favorite TW mod ever, probably my favorite mod ever, and surely one of my favorite video game experiences ever and great part of it is because it's not afraid to go deep (unlike RTW2 that went shallow), but it could be a little bit more user friendly sometimes without making me write stuff down or keep coming to the forum for help in stuff the game isn't telling me but perfectly could.
So... what you guys thinks?
Cheers!

[Cryoshakespeare]

Honestly I'm inclined to agree with you. Information like that has no reason to be kept hidden, it doesn't aid immersion, it's inconvenient, and it doesn't aid in alluding to an underlying game mechanic in-game that a player might not be aware of.

There's always an issue that arises when you have developers and very devoted players designing interfaces and displaying information where they invariably take for granted that most people simply don't have the same level of familiarity with the game and its systems. And while it's fantastic that we now have a manual of some sort, it's certainly not comprehensive, and it's usually far better design practice to teach users a system in game than to require them to read the manual or trawl through the forums, especially since it's the kind of system where they might not even be aware of its existence, and hence, would not think to search for.

[VektorT]

Honestly I'm inclined to agree with you. Information like that has no reason to be kept hidden, it doesn't aid immersion, it's inconvenient, and it doesn't aid in alluding to an underlying game mechanic in-game that a player might not be aware of.

There's always an issue that arises when you have developers and very devoted players designing interfaces and displaying information where they invariably take for granted that most people simply don't have the same level of familiarity with the game and its systems. And while it's fantastic that we now have a manual of some sort, it's certainly not comprehensive, and it's usually far better design practice to teach users a system in game than to require them to read the manual or trawl through the forums, especially since it's the kind of system where they might not even be aware of its existence, and hence, would not think to search for.

Yep, I agree. I don't blame EB devs for it, though. They are doing things no one ever consider when designing the game and now they have to on with what they have. For instance, the popup saying when someone is elegible is great, just imagine having to check manually every time. While I appreciate the effort, still there are tons of things relevant in EB2 that someone who never read the forum or the manual are unaware, and there are no way to give a short "tutorial" of some sort in the current engine and trying to sneak it into the Advisor or the faction description may take development time that would be better used elsewhere. That's the price for going deep like they are doing, and I rather pilgrimage through the forum after bits of information (sometimes info I was not even aware existed) than they going any different. The mod may be confusing at times because of the lack of proper information ingame about certain mechanichs, but it works greatly once you understand it.

Still, there are things like the Military Service trait that I can't understand why are still missing. It's something someone already created the codes for (Myarta submod) and is not even a bigger change, kinda small one but that improves quality of life a lot. I know EB is an ongoing project with lot's to do and a ton of work needed for every step, and they are indeed doing great, but sometimes I think they are so much in the mod that they forget the grunt outside willing to play it and the unshow code wizardry is totally unknow to him. Like, if I didn't bumped into the "Back to School" thread, I would never know how Education traits works, how to get it and when is too late. It's kinda important stuff for a mod like that.

I think one day a "master guide" will come out when the mod actually starts to become "finished", but it's not today and I do not even want to rush it. Today I just want Military Service trait, that's all. After all coming to the forum is also fun! Maybe one day EB will have grew to such a maturity that they will expend a great amount of work just in quality of life improvements.

[myarta]

Yeah, I can add it into the mainline easily if I get approval for it. I already play with it enabled on my local tree.

[VektorT]

Yeah, I can add it into the mainline easily if I get approval for it. I already play with it enabled on my local tree.

That would be great! I hope it goes in!

[Genghis Skahn]

I see no reason to keep it as a hidden trait, honestly.

[myarta]

Made visible in development. You'll be able to see it in 2.3a. Note that it has three tiers: 10 turns, 20 turns, 30+ turns.

[HuoShan]

Made visible in development. You'll be able to see it in 2.3a. Note that it has three tiers: 10 turns, 20 turns, 30+ turns.

When will see the 2.3a patch？

[VektorT]

Made visible in development. You'll be able to see it in 2.3a. Note that it has three tiers: 10 turns, 20 turns, 30+ turns.

I made a suggestion that is going into the main EB2!! Can I have my name in the main screen of the game in flashing bold for credits?? I can send some pictures I took in front of the mirror if you want to display it ingame, too. Also feel free to create an OP general with my name.

Jokes aside... I'm very happy it's going in that soon! Thanks, Myarta!

[myarta]

I made a suggestion that is going into the main EB2!! Can I have my name in the main screen of the game in flashing bold for credits?? I can send some pictures I took in front of the mirror if you want to display it ingame, too. Also feel free to create an OP general with my name.

Jokes aside... I'm very happy it's going in that soon! Thanks, Myarta!

Please record a 20 minute short biopic on your life and we'll replace the intro video for all factions with that.

You're welcome

[myarta]

We want to give people enough time after the main 2.3 release to feel comfortable playing longer campaigns before a new release makes them feel torn between updating or continuing their save. The thinking was something like 4-6 weeks out from 2.3's release, but it depends on what features and ready and what the whole team thinks is a good idea.

My personal guess is it should be out in time for the holidays. There's already plenty of content for it in the dev branch.

[Shylon]

Is there a way to do this in my current SPQR campaign? I'm enjoying it a lot, but it will be even better with that info.

I think the code is:

Trait RomanMilitaryService
    Characters family
    Hidden

    Level Military_Service
         Description Hidden_desc
         EffectsDescription Hidden_effects_desc
         Threshold  10

    Level Half_Service
         Description Hidden_desc
         EffectsDescription Hidden_effects_desc
         Threshold  20

    Level Full_Service
         Description Hidden_desc
         EffectsDescription Hidden_effects_desc
         Threshold  30

         Effect Command  1

But I don't know what should I do or if it's save-game compatible. Maybe just deleting Hidden under Characters family?

Also there is some code (the forum blocks it if and I have no idea why) with a 10% of getting "True Roman" after 30MSP. If I change 10 with 100 at least I'll know when a character gets it the next turn, right? Do you get a message in faction announcements?

[QuintusSertorius]

Unlikely to be savegame compatible.

[myarta]

It's not save game compatible. You need to delete the Hidden line, but then you also need to change the Description at least from Hidden_desc to a unique desc for each trait, otherwise it will just say 'HIDDEN' on the character instead of 'X years of service'. You can steal them from my submod over in the submods thread if you want. They go into the export_vnvs.txt file and then you'll have to remake your strings.bin.

There is no announcement as you progress along this trait. However, Eligible for Quaestor updates when this trait updates if your character is 26+ so I tend to use those to track it instead. I send them to school first and then to military service a bit later, unless they're dumb (in which case they might get pruned from the tree).

[Shylon]

Yeah, I did some tests a few days ago, but thank you anyway.