File editing for long 4tpy campaign

[dahooscarl]

Hey all. I've recently blown the dust off M2TW and was doing some minor tweaks for a long epic campaign. So far I've changed the tpyr to .25, ageing script is changed appropriately, and I've close to doubled the population amount required for the next city/castle upgrade. The AI is still cranking out fortresses by 1120 which is only like like 80 turns in. Anybody have any idea how I can slow that down? I've considered also doubling the cost and time to construct but I don't know if it'll even matter considering the AI bonuses. Any other ideas on how I can slow the general progress of the game down?

[Dekhatres]

in descr_settlement_mechanics.xml you can also tweak growth iirc

otherwise ask the guys in scripting workshop to maybe make a script boosting population only at certain points in the campaign

EDIT: actually now that i think about events there's a very easy solution, the AI bonuses are given through export_descr_buildings.txt so all you gota do is go there and make it require certain events in order to grow

for example in some of the first lines you can read when you open EDB is

population_growth_bonus bonus 2 requires event_counter is_the_ai 1 and not event_counter thinks_of_his_people 1

change it to this

population_growth_bonus bonus 2 requires event_counter is_the_ai 1 and not event_counter thinks_of_his_people 1 and event_counter HEAVY_MAIL_ARMOR 1

now the AI will get that growth bonus only when heavy mail event happens which is 1200 AD more or less, you can see when events happen in descr_events althrough you should prob know if you changed turns per year

[dahooscarl]

Cheers mate! I've actually found a good workaround. I dropped 4tpy to 2 and halved most building pop bonuses and doubled the construction cost for cities and castles. It makes it very intersting because now just pumping farms isn't enough. It encourages chivalrous gameplay to boost your generals chivalry for the pop bonus, which of course slows down progress and makes the game harder as now you're constantly letting troops go only to face them again a couple turns later. So far it's pretty rad.

[Dekhatres]

if you want high chivalry generals you can just let them a dozen turns inside a city with low taxes, far easier and effective

[dahooscarl]

if you want high chivalry generals you can just let them a dozen turns inside a city with low taxes, far easier and effective

Oh I do that too. I just usually win a few battles with war councillor/heir/fl get thier chiv up a few nothces and drop them in a castle while the rest sit in the cities with low taxes. For most factions it's not that big a deal but ones with a different religion or in a difficult starting like Lithuania or Crusaders it forces you to change up your play style a bit. I also play on VH so usually in those factions in the beginning it's best to sack to quell public order, but then you're going to get dread and it's going to be harder to recover the population killed in the sacking. I dig it. I'll make a post with with the files I edited for anyone else who thinks this is more their playstyle than vanilla 6.4.