QuintusSertorius
04-01-2008, 14:51
Since I got zero responses over on TWC (which is also pretty dead), I figured I'd give this one a try. Seems to be a lot more active.
What I want to do is start the game in 250BC, instead of 272BC. Rather than simply changing the start date in the descr_strat.txt, I want a meaningful 250BC start, with accompanying changes in province ownership.
I've edited the strat before for other mods, so have a basic idea how it works. But there are some specifics for EB (like interaction with scripts) that I'm unsure of, along with some historical info I don't have.
Why am I doing this?
1) I'm sick of the conquest of Italy (I only play Romans) and Pyrrhic Wars. I want to start in the midst of the First Punic War in Sicily.
2) 22 years is some 88 turns, during which things can often go very ahistorical. In the game I'm playing I don't think Pahlava ever really established themselves, and by 215BC were dead. Hopefully they'll be in a stronger position in 250BC.
It has the advantage of not being too far ahead of the original start - basically a generation. It's also before most of the reform events would kick in, so no trouble there.
Now what I'm short of is information, primarily:
1) Where would the factions besides Rome hold at this slightly later start? Ie what provinces would I need to give to whom? Are many of them changed at all (I know technically Epeiros ceased to exist by then, but I'll leave them alone)? I've been struggling to find decent maps, does anyone have any good ones?
2) Are there any other things I need to consider (eg will those scripted things like the warning about Sicily cause trouble if the Romani already hold Messana?)?
3) Which is the buildings text file I need for reference to add development stuff and government levels to previously rebel settlements?
4) Another question is around client rulers; specifically how you create them in the strat? I'm planning to have client rulers in Taras, Rhegion, Bononia, Segesta and Messana, the holdings I'll add to Rome, along with type IV governments. I won't add much by way of development to them; probably a first tier levy barracks and maybe basic roads. Would I be able to simply use the client ruler some of them already have? I remember Rhegion had one, for example.
5) Another thought, do you have to have your own factional troops to claim a settlement as "yours"? Would locally recruit-able troops make it another faction's? Or does the presence of a client ruler mean it's still yours? How are client rulers represented?
6) If possible through messing around with who holds what, and possibly how developed they are, I'd like to try to make the following factions stronger: Saka, Sauromatae, Pahlav, Saba. I'd also like to make Makedon and Ptolemaic Egypt weaker. In the case of the latter, would changing their AI behaviour "style" help at all? Give them a less aggressive one? I'm also thinking of giving some of their land to the Sabaen, provided it isn't too ahistorical. Maybe start the Hai at war with the Seleukids to stop them running off north (wishful thinking...).
7) Are the details of who is at war with whom in the strat as well?
I don't plan on doing anything severe like mucking around with new factions or units or anything like that, just changing who holds what. I'm also going to put some serious Karthadastim forces on Sicily, along with some Roman ones so there might actually be a First Punic War.
I'm not going full-on with finding out who the family members for everyone should be at this stage, I'll just age the ones there are 22 years and perhaps throw in some additional ones.
What I want to do is start the game in 250BC, instead of 272BC. Rather than simply changing the start date in the descr_strat.txt, I want a meaningful 250BC start, with accompanying changes in province ownership.
I've edited the strat before for other mods, so have a basic idea how it works. But there are some specifics for EB (like interaction with scripts) that I'm unsure of, along with some historical info I don't have.
Why am I doing this?
1) I'm sick of the conquest of Italy (I only play Romans) and Pyrrhic Wars. I want to start in the midst of the First Punic War in Sicily.
2) 22 years is some 88 turns, during which things can often go very ahistorical. In the game I'm playing I don't think Pahlava ever really established themselves, and by 215BC were dead. Hopefully they'll be in a stronger position in 250BC.
It has the advantage of not being too far ahead of the original start - basically a generation. It's also before most of the reform events would kick in, so no trouble there.
Now what I'm short of is information, primarily:
1) Where would the factions besides Rome hold at this slightly later start? Ie what provinces would I need to give to whom? Are many of them changed at all (I know technically Epeiros ceased to exist by then, but I'll leave them alone)? I've been struggling to find decent maps, does anyone have any good ones?
2) Are there any other things I need to consider (eg will those scripted things like the warning about Sicily cause trouble if the Romani already hold Messana?)?
3) Which is the buildings text file I need for reference to add development stuff and government levels to previously rebel settlements?
4) Another question is around client rulers; specifically how you create them in the strat? I'm planning to have client rulers in Taras, Rhegion, Bononia, Segesta and Messana, the holdings I'll add to Rome, along with type IV governments. I won't add much by way of development to them; probably a first tier levy barracks and maybe basic roads. Would I be able to simply use the client ruler some of them already have? I remember Rhegion had one, for example.
5) Another thought, do you have to have your own factional troops to claim a settlement as "yours"? Would locally recruit-able troops make it another faction's? Or does the presence of a client ruler mean it's still yours? How are client rulers represented?
6) If possible through messing around with who holds what, and possibly how developed they are, I'd like to try to make the following factions stronger: Saka, Sauromatae, Pahlav, Saba. I'd also like to make Makedon and Ptolemaic Egypt weaker. In the case of the latter, would changing their AI behaviour "style" help at all? Give them a less aggressive one? I'm also thinking of giving some of their land to the Sabaen, provided it isn't too ahistorical. Maybe start the Hai at war with the Seleukids to stop them running off north (wishful thinking...).
7) Are the details of who is at war with whom in the strat as well?
I don't plan on doing anything severe like mucking around with new factions or units or anything like that, just changing who holds what. I'm also going to put some serious Karthadastim forces on Sicily, along with some Roman ones so there might actually be a First Punic War.
I'm not going full-on with finding out who the family members for everyone should be at this stage, I'll just age the ones there are 22 years and perhaps throw in some additional ones.