Shogun 2 Enhanced

[balparmak]

Shogun 2 Enhanced

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2243669601

S2E seeks to improve the gameplay without resorting to drastic changes that change the feel of Shogun 2. It's a compilation of the mods I've done so far, but also includes some other tweaks I haven't released yet, either because they were too small in scope or very similar mods were already on the Workshop. You can click on the submods to see the changes in better detail. All changes are represented in the in-game tooltips.

This is the first part of S2E, the more considerable changes are included in S2E Units Module, while I recommend using both, the parts do not need each other and can be used separately.

Highlights:
AI: Includes an updated version of HedgeKnight's UAI and Yarki's Reduced Cheating, for an AI that better manages its armies, invasions and building orders while cheating less.

Autoresolve: Improved calculation of army strengths for less lop-sided results, with the goal of providing a reliable and reasonable autocalculation, so that you don't have to play every little skirmish by yourself. AI autoresolver bonuses in hard difficulty are removed, those in very hard are reduced to hard levels. New garrisons have increased morale, this represents defender's advantage in autoresolve (from TROM3).

Arts: Slight balance tweaks to boost weaker arts, mostly on the civil line. Town growth bonuses of the later tiers moved up to earlier ones to make them actually useful.

Battles: All unit movement is slowed by %15, engagements also last around ~15% longer (no changes to unit ranges in this most). Includes Freelancerx's Better Ambush Deployment that makes ambushing units deploy closer, making ambushes much more dangerous. (Also includes the Hattori Fix)

Buildings: Market upgrades do not consume food, finally making them viable. Town growth bonus of roads and ports are increased as in RotS, but to a smaller number.

Campaign: Increased zone of control for armies and navies, while minimum unit strength requirement is also increased, making it easier to destroy units. High & very high tax levels are slightly less damaging to town growth. Sons are guaranteed to reach adulthood (and become generals) earlier.

Diplomacy: Alliances become more important in time and can stick with after the Realm Divide. This effect is less pronounced than the other diplomacy mods in the Workshop, I thought they made alliances a little bit too secure, considering the Sengoku period was full with shifting alliances and backstabbing. Marriage with enemies have a lasting effect.

Garrisons : Increased garrison sizes of lower tier Castle buildings to improve AI survivability, dojos also provide one unit per level.

Compatibility:
Should be compatible with almost everything out there. As S2e doesn't include any interrelated redesigns or radical changes, even if some part of it is broken by other mods, it wouldn't alter the balance or have a large effect on your game. I've done what I can to make this mod load earlier, but this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It's anyone's guess whether S2E would overwrite other mods or would get overwritten by them, mod loading order is basically random.


Plans:
Need to flesh out the arts more. I may add custom group formations found in some mods, most famously Darth's. I need to test whether they actually work and then obtain permission though. I'd like to add in more events&incidents&missions for diversity, need to see if there are any out there. TROM3 inspired garrisons may get a submod if there's a demand for that.

Issues:
There's a minor issue for some art tooltips where removed effects show as 0 (ex: Provides 0 additional tarrifs). There's a way to fix those, but it's too much work for too little benefit at this time and it can create problems with other mods, so I'm probably not going do that.

Shogun 2 Enhanced - Dynamic Unit Caps and Unit Progression

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2243747604

This mod aims to diversify the army compositions in game, and to represent the actual evolution of warfare during the Sengoku period while making the least changes as possible. Nothing is done for the sake of historical realism, but rather to differentiate early game and late game combat, which were basically the the same Vanilla. You can click on the submods to see the changes in better detail. All changes are represented in the in-game tooltips (not in the encyclopedia though, that's not moddable through Workshop).

This is the second part of S2E that brings in more considerable changes. While I recommend using both, especially since the first part (or UAI) helps AI to build better armies, the parts do not need each other and can be used separately.

Highlights:
Battles: All unit movement is slowed by %15, engagements also last around ~15% longer. Range of bow units also reduced by %15 to compensate - matchlock range is untouched as they were already too short. Arrows have a slight spread and are slightly less deadly, matchlock ashigaru units are deployed in less rank depth to maximize firepower, this helps the AI considerably.

Dynamic Unit Caps: More provinces/dojos you have (and more you develop them), more you can recruit of the relevant units. The caps are very light though, their effects will be most visible in the early game and on smaller clans, by the late game it will be minimal. The main goal is to prevent samurai and navy spam, especially by the one-province minors. All clans have innate unit caps of +1 to each type of samurai and +3 to each ashigaru at the beginning, this allows minors to still field a full stack (except imported matchlocks) even without significant development. On the other hand, hard capped non-hero units like Great Guard can be recruited in larger numbers if you invest in their building chains.

Traditional Samurai Units: Foot Samurai and Mounted Samurai from RotS are added to provide more options early game. They can be recruited in any province, but capped to one per province each.

Unit Progression: Yari ashigaru start without pike wall ability, but acquire it through arts (Way of the Spear). Matchlock units can be recruited earlier.

Fixes: Hattori & Tokugawa Kisho Ninja are made better than their peers, not worse.

Compatibility:
This mod is less compatible than the first part. If you add new units, for example, they will probably be uncapped and may disturb the balance. You can use the submods instead for better compatibility, I may create a submod for dynamic unit caps if there's demand for that.

Issues:
Tooltips, especially for Port line, are a bit crowded. I'll simplify them when I finalize the caps.

Plans: Make the progression more noticeable - Ashigaru should start weaker and get better through arts/reforms. My initial goal was to have one cap for all samurai (rather than one for each type) and another for all ashigaru, but that doesn't seem possible with just db editing. I may add additional caps through regional specialties (pirate lairs, holy shrines etc.) but caps are already pretty relaxed. I may take a look at naval warfare.

You can find almost every part of S2E and S2E Units module on my workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/...s/?appid=34330

Credits & Thanks:
I learned modding by studying older mods here on TWC, TROM3 and S2TR were particularly informative and inspiring. I tried to reach Yarkis, FreelancerX and HedgeKnight for permissions to include&update their mods, haven't heard back so far, hope they'll be okay with this.

TheHedgeKnight for UAI
Yarkis de Bodemloze & TROM3 team for Yarki's Reduced Cheating, also inspirations for fort bonus in autoresolve and unit movement speed modifiers
FreelancerX for Better Ambush Deployment
Destin Faroda for S2TR

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Reserved for changelog