Submod: Slower Cities/Castles Upgrades (TVB 3.3)

[Cokjan]

This submod is made specifically to prevent mid to late game from having to siege huge castles/cities.
Now, taking an important location will matter more, as you cannot easily level up a mere village into a bustling city in few turns. And having many chivalrous generals will prove beneficial to the economy, and no more mass exterminating, eh?

Here's the changes I made to the game.

Original Code

      <!-- city -->
      <level name="village" base="400" upgrade="800" min="400" max="1500"/>
      <level name="town" base="800" upgrade="2000" min="400" max="3500"/>
      <level name="large_town" base="2000" upgrade="6000" min="400" max="9000"/>
      <level name="city" base="6000" upgrade="12000" min="400" max="18000"/>
      <level name="large_city" base="12000" upgrade="24000" min="400" max="36000"/>
      <level name="huge_city" base="24000" min="400" max="72000"/>
      <!-- castle -->
      <level name="moot_and_bailey" base="400" upgrade="0" min="400" max="1500"/>
      <level name="wooden_castle" base="400" upgrade="0" min="400" max="3500"/>
      <level name="castle" base="1500" upgrade="4500" min="400" max="9000"/>
      <level name="fortress" base="4500" upgrade="9000" min="400" max="13500"/>
      <level name="citadel" base="9000" upgrade="18000" min="400" max="18000"/>

Edited Code

      <!-- city -->
      <level name="village" base="400" upgrade="1400" min="400" max="2000"/>
      <level name="town" base="1400" upgrade="3600" min="400" max="3800"/>
      <level name="large_town" base="3600" upgrade="7000" min="400" max="9000"/>
      <level name="city" base="7000" upgrade="14000" min="400" max="18000"/>
      <level name="large_city" base="14000" upgrade="27000" min="400" max="36000"/>
      <level name="huge_city" base="27000" min="400" max="72000"/>
      <!-- castle -->
      <level name="moot_and_bailey" base="400" upgrade="800" min="400" max="1500"/>
      <level name="wooden_castle" base="800" upgrade="1500" min="400" max="3500"/>
      <level name="castle" base="1500" upgrade="5000" min="400" max="9000"/>
      <level name="fortress" base="5000" upgrade="9500" min="400" max="13500"/>
      <level name="citadel" base="9500" upgrade="17500" min="400" max="18000"/>

upgrade=x is the number of population required before you are able to upgrade a settlement.

Any discussions are welcome here! As I have not tested it and balanced it yet.
This is save game compatible, but if you are currently upgrading a settlement without touching the required population to upgrade, cancel it. Always make backups!

Installation :
1) Make a backup of descr_settlement_mechanics located inside mods\totalvanillab\data
2) Just drag n drop it and you are good to go.

Download Link

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/k0qfi2...anics.xml/file

[4zumi]

Thanks and I added it to the submod sticky.
This is interesting, but one thought, is the population happiness an issue withh the increased pop limit?

[Cokjan]

Thank you mate.

Honestly I have no idea about 'squalor', what I did was increase the required population to upgrade, but not the maximum population of a settlement.
But I do think it will only be a bit hard and not too much.

I did this to prevent myself from rushing to upgrade very useful cities like Tripoli, Timbuktu, Trebizond, Damascus, etc that have very crazy good resources (and wonders). Tripoli in particular with it's huge trade fleet!

Anyway, added the original code to the post to show others how much I've changed to the game.

[4zumi]

I think the more population, the more squalor (unrest) you get. So if you set the threshold for the city upgrades higher you might run into unrest problems, due to that you can't build the higher counter-buildings of the upgraded cities yet.
But the effect may be very well of no concern. So if it works fine for you, there should be no reason to worry.

[Cokjan]

I have released a fixed version above, silly me forgot to increase the maximum pop, which makes it impossible to upgrade. Luckily it is save game compatible...

Yes you are right, public order might've become more of a threat now but I like it when you conquer a city, your choices matters more. Whether to exterminate for good PO or Occupy and face rebellions. Also having Chivalrous Generals might've been a more viable option, rather than going full dread (DREAD ARE RIDICULOUSLY OP)


Also I must admit, I just notice that players don't need to only build farms to get population growth... After all this years, I could just build buildings that gives entertainment, health, or trade to get one...

[4zumi]

Yeah, I now you might have to really look after enemy spies having a party in your cities

And do not worry, I have discovered so much making this mod, after almost 10 years of playing this game..

[vic_chan666]

Thank you dude, very good stuff. Do you think you could do something like increasing the training time for units to slow down conquest and expansion?