Theory: A script to limit captains and troop disbursement over the course of a game

[The First Triumvirate]

Hi community,
I am working on a historical mod and the CAI's shortcomings are really impacting the level of immersion, namely the masses of captains roving the map and generals without armies in enemy territory. Now, I've been testing some different CAI configurations (SkyNet, some CAI from different mods) and although they've helped, they haven't been able to adequately solve this issue.


Thinking on it, I've had an idea about how to reduce these two issues considerably -- destroying and creating units through the campaign script.


Now before I go into detail, I would like to add a disclaimer that this idea won't work with many mods. It's an extremely controlled script and antiquates a pretty big component of the game -- recruitment. But my mod is limited in scope (handful of factions, short time frame) so the lack of choice and self determination is not a huge sticking point. My aim with posting here is to problem solve this theory. How can I balance the inherent limitations? What are some drawbacks not outlined below? What are some different mechanisms I can incorporate to improve the script?


I haven't written anything yet so this is all theory at this point. But I believe it is all manageable. Here is what I have so far.


What is the goal?
Find a way to reduce the number of roving captains throughout map; Better centralization of troops, reduce number of generals in enemy territory without troops; make sure the appropriate generals have the larger troop amounts than others; ensures the number of troops reflect the faction's appropriate manpower situation


How am I going to achieve this?
Uses the campaign script to destroy all units and replaces them with new units




How am I going to implement?
1) campaign script:
- use destroy_units command to destroy all of a faction's units at a designated and regularly intervaled time
- use create_unit command to assign new troops
- the troop experience can be increased for each subsequent year to offset the lost exp of units being destroyed
- troop numbers given can be relative to the number of owned settlements/ relative to number of settlements owned by the enemy/ relative to the number of local wins/losses?
- create_unit to specific generals
- create trait system to determine which generals are assigned troops
- may require a separate trait that indicates generals w/in settlements?
- create_unit for settlement
- token militia spawn in settlement


2) Traits:
- any character w/ a particular trait will get a certain allotment of troops
- traits and triggers for generals:
- Lt Gen/Full Generals (full stack)
- Major Generals (1/2 stack)
- Brig Generals (1/4 stack)
- not all governors are guaranteed to be in their settlements so this should be assigned with the campaign script to each settlement, not through the trait system
- all local settlements (minimal force)



3) EDU:
- assign unique type to all units except generals bodyguard




What are the issues/concerns/thoughts?

1) How often should the script trigger? (ie every winter destroy troops? fresh troops for spring?)
2) What happens if script triggers while captains or generals are in the middle of a siege?
3) Can I remedy the worthlessness of recruitment? Should i eliminate it completely? Currently only use is emergency mustering
4) Balancing recruitment is an integral component of the economy. How can I make it so the game is not too easy or one dimensional?
5) How can i track and replicate troop strength? Should I tie it to the number of owned settlements? Is it possible to script based on faction battle wins/losses?
6) What if multiple generals are in a stack together? How will this affect the assignment script? (ie will they only receive troops to the maximum of their allowed troop slots, will there be overflow into a neighboring tile, will only the highest command general receive troops?)
7) How intensive is the script? Is it going to make the game unstable or exaggerate turn times?
8) Can I enable this script to be opted in or out at the beginning of the game?




Any ideas or input is greatly appreciated,
TFT

[Withwnar]

6) What if multiple generals are in a stack together? How will this affect the assignment script? (ie will they only receive troops to the maximum of their allowed troop slots, will there be overflow into a neighboring tile, will only the highest command general receive troops?)

create_unit only works on the commander. From memory, attempting to use it on an additional general in the army fails with a log error. Likewise trying to use it on a general who is inside anything, not just another general's army but settlements, ships & forts.

Not sure but I suspect that using it to give more units than there are free slots in the army has the same result as trying to do that on settlements: log error, units do not overflow to an adjacent tile.

[Gigantus]

You may have a better result trying to go the AI way. After all the splitting of armies and movement of characters are based on the calculations there. The guys in the AI workshop might have some ideas.