Traits and ancillaries

**Krampus** · November 03, 2017, 10:50 AM

Is there a comprehensive guide anywhere on acquiring traits and ancillaries? It kind of feels like I'm fumbling around in the dark trying to cultivate good FMs.

Example:

How do I stop my FM's progression on the leniency trait tree? What about other bad traits?

Schools: whats the rules for putting young FMs in a settlement with a school so that they don't get "unschooled"? Do FMs continue receiving benefits from staying "in school" after a certain age? What kinds of traits are tied to schools?

What traits are tied to certain ethnicities?

Short of studying the traits and ancillaries edu I don't know what to do.

**Poppis** · November 03, 2017, 12:43 PM

A proper trait/ancillary guide would be pretty nifty. Especially since it seems like 2.3 added quite a lot in this regard.

**Genghis Skahn** · November 03, 2017, 01:08 PM

Traits and ancillaries is an area which is currently understaffed, so rather than write such guides, we are in the process of doing whatever we can to add content to the mod. Besides Spendios, myself and SamueleD, we have very few active trait/ancillary guys. Myarta, Kull and QS help out from time to time, but they don't usually play a large role in this regard. If a fan, or someone else, is up to the arduous task of fully explaining the huge host of trait mechanics we have, then please feel free. The best way to find out how something works is to look in the EDCT or EDA. Being forced to do this isn't such a bad thing IMO, since they are very straightforward files and you might learn a thing or two reading them...You might even take an interest in the code and help out EB or another mod.

1. Ah Warmonger/Lenient/Supervisor/Brutal...They never seem to cease in troubling me. Lenient is gained when Unselfish characters set taxes at low or the populace is very happy. One method of avoiding this is to set taxes higher.

2. You must be under age 28, and spend time in settlement with an academy or above. I haven't touched these triggers in years, so they are not up to snuff like our newest stuff IMO.

3. I'm sorry, I can't possibly answer that question. The only way you'll get a clear answer is to open the EDCT and ctrl+f for the gigantic ethnicity triggers section, and read the affects lines for each ethnicity.

**Krampus** · November 04, 2017, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Genghis Skahn

Traits and ancillaries is an area which is currently understaffed, so rather than write such guides, we are in the process of doing whatever we can to add content to the mod. Besides Spendios, myself and SamueleD, we have very few active trait/ancillary guys. Myarta, Kull and QS help out from time to time, but they don't usually play a large role in this regard. If a fan, or someone else, is up to the arduous task of fully explaining the huge host of trait mechanics we have, then please feel free. The best way to find out how something works is to look in the EDCT or EDA. Being forced to do this isn't such a bad thing IMO, since they are very straightforward files and you might learn a thing or two reading them...You might even take an interest in the code and help out EB or another mod.

1. Ah Warmonger/Lenient/Supervisor/Brutal...They never seem to cease in troubling me. Lenient is gained when Unselfish characters set taxes at low or the populace is very happy. One method of avoiding this is to set taxes higher.

2. You must be under age 28, and spend time in settlement with an academy or above. I haven't touched these triggers in years, so they are not up to snuff like our newest stuff IMO.

3. I'm sorry, I can't possibly answer that question. The only way you'll get a clear answer is to open the EDCT and ctrl+f for the gigantic ethnicity triggers section, and read the affects lines for each ethnicity.

Thanks, I appreciate.

I certainly don't mind digging around in the txt files for answers! Hell, I've done that ever since I started playing EB1 in 2010.

I do appreciate the sheer volume of traits and ancillaries y'all have put into this game, and the updates with each new patch. It certainly never gets boring.

Especially with my Pontic Faction Leader having King Darius from Alexander the movie as part of his retinue ^_^

**QuintusSertorius** · November 03, 2017, 01:25 PM

Yep, I'm a dabbler at best; I copy things Skhan has already coded and tested, and rejig them for specific purposes from time to time.

**melvidh** · November 04, 2017, 03:43 AM

Hello,

Just to clarify ( if even needed) Genghis is talking about the text files ..\Medieval II Total War\mods\ebii\data\Export_Descr_Character_Traits.txt or EDCT to shorten things. Same way with ..\Medieval II Total War\mods\ebii\data\Export_Descr_Ancillaries.txt or EDA. If you arent new to these things , this is kinda "trivial", if you arent.... it took me some time to find this out years ago when i started researching all this when i read in MTW 2 mod forums about EDCT, EDA, EDB and slang like that.

Regards:

melvidh

**QuintusSertorius** · November 04, 2017, 04:26 AM

Also note we always mean the export_descr_ancillaries when shortening to EDA, not the export_descr_advice, which we barely use.

EDB is export_descr_buildings and EDU export_descr_units. They all have linked text files - export_units, export_buildings, export_ancillaries and for the EDCT export_vnvs.

**Airos** · November 05, 2017, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by Krampus

Schools: whats the rules for putting young FMs in a settlement with a school so that they don't get "unschooled"? Do FMs continue receiving benefits from staying "in school" after a certain age? What kinds of traits are tied to schools?

To avoid the "unschooled" trait you should keep "Youthful" FM (under 20 years old) in a city with a school.
Once he is "Man Grown" (20 years old), you can move him.

I didn't look into the file but "Erudite", "philosopher" are tied to school buildings. I guess some ancillary like Mathematician also depends on it.

For ethnicities and traits... well, the descriptions give you some insights.

**mephiston** · November 05, 2017, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Airos

To avoid the "unschooled" trait you should keep "Youthful" FM (under 20 years old) in a city with a school.
Once he is "Man Grown" (20 years old), you can move him.

I didn't look into the file but "Erudite", "philosopher" are tied to school buildings. I guess some ancillary like Mathematician also depends on it.

For ethnicities and traits... well, the descriptions give you some insights.

I'm afraid it's not that simple (as in real life, by the way). The best way to be sure to avoid "Unschooled" is to gain "Scholarly" points, since the two are antitraits. Some buildings such as academies, gymnasia and even temples can help: the education of a family member is given by lots of interlinked factors. But it's entirely possible that he is constantly shying away from study: this is why even with education building it's possible to gain points in the "Unschooled" trait.

If your governor gains the "Unschooled" trait, don't be depressed: if he's energetic and intelligent, he can overcome the disadvantages of being unschooled by self-teaching and practical experience.

The actual threshold age is 28 years for academy education, as Gengis Skahn pointed out. After this age, if your family member has not accomplished anything besides hanging around in a school it's better that he starts thinking about it.

**Krampus** · November 11, 2017, 02:07 PM

Random question,

What the hell happened to geomancers?

They used to give bonuses on mining and construction, now they give penalties?

**Genghis Skahn** · November 11, 2017, 03:53 PM

Basically geomancy is fake "magic" posing as a science. So that's why it was transformed from a positive to a negative, since there's no evidence it would benefit a leader. You could make the argument for an Influence bonus alongside the penalties, since people actually believed in that crap, and it might increase your social standing to have one--that's just IMO though.