Getting rid of the peasants

[Prince Cobra]

How to mod them out of the game so that they appear only in rebellions? I have been considering such a step for a long time. I am slightly tired of the hordes of Egyptian peasants in early/high.

P.S. Is it difficult and does it damage the game mechanics in any way?

[drone]

It's easy enough to do, and it improves the game greatly. Open up the crusaders_unit_prod11.txt file in the top level MTW directory with Notepad (copy it to a backup just in case), and search for "Peasants" (match case). This line and the one underneath should look like this:

Peasants INFANTRY 50 3 1 0 60 100 3 DISCOURAGED "CATH_REBELS(15), CATH_LOYALISTS(5), CATH_PEASANTS(10), CATH_BANDITS(12), CATH_ZEALOTS(10), ORTH_REBELS(15), ORTH_LOYALISTS(5), ORTH_PEASANTS(10), ORTH_BANDITS(12), ORTH_ZEALOTS(10), ENG_BANDITS(2), CATH_HERETICS(15), ORTH_HERETICS(15), PAG_REBELS(10), PAG_LOYALISTS(10), PAG_PEASANTS(10), PAG_BANDITS(10), PAG_ZEALOTS(10)" ID_PROVENCE "POVERTY_STRICKEN(63), DESPERATE_DEFENCE(2.1), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), CATHOLIC_NAVAL_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), CATHOLIC_TRADER(21), CATHOLIC_CRUSADER_TRADER(21), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST_CRUSADER(16.8), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE_CRUSADER(16.8), POPE(10.5), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE(16.8), CATHOLIC_ISOLATIONIST(10.5), ORTHODOX_DEFENSIVE(16.8), ORTHODOX_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), ORTHODOX_STAGNANT(21), MUSLIM_PEACEFUL(21), MUSLIM_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), MUSLIM_DEVOUT(16.8), BARBARIAN_RAIDER(8.4), REBELS(21), CLOSE_TO_SUPPORT_LIMIT(1.05)" { CASTLE} WEAK -2 ALL_PERIODS YES "HEIGHT( 85 ), RADIUS( 25 ), SCALE( 120 ), PROJECTILE_TYPE( NONE ), SAMURAI( NO ), MARCH_SPEED( 6 ), RUN_SPEED( 10 ), CHARGE_SPEED( 11 ), MIN_TURNSPEED( 2 ), MAX_TURNSPEED( 8 ), TURN_TO_MOTION_SPEED( 8 ), MAX_INMOTION_TURN( 96 ), FORMATION_WIDTH_SPACING( 60 ), FORMATION_LENGTH_SPACING( 60 ), ENGAGEMENT_THRESHOLD( 1500 ), CHARGE_BONUS( 4 ), MELEE_BONUS( -2 ), DEFENCE_BONUS( -4 ), ARMOUR_LEVEL( 1 ), HONOUR_LEVEL( -2 ), AMMO( 0 ), FORMATIONS_PREFERRED_NUM_ROWS( 6 )" NO "own_unit_tooltip1, own_unit_tooltip2, other_unit_tooltip1, other_unit_tooltip2" "PEASANT, YES, YES" "FN_ARAGONESE, FN_BURGUNDIAN, FN_BYZANTINE, FN_DANISH, FN_ENGLISH, FN_FRENCH, FN_GERMAN_HRE, FN_HUNGARIAN, FN_ITALIAN, FN_NOVGOROD, FN_PAPIST, FN_POLISH, FN_RUSSIAN, FN_SICILIAN, FN_SPANISH, FN_SWISS, FN_GOLDEN_HORDE" "Missile, Shocktroop, Spear, Cavalry" "SKIRMISH(1), ADVANCE_PARTY(1),
OUTFLANKING_FORCE(0), MAIN_BODY(2), HOLD_TERRAIN(1), RESERVE(2), REINFORCEMENT(2), ASSAULT(1), ASSAULT_COVER(0), ASSAULT_COVER_CASTLE_ATTACK(0), COVER(0)" "CATHOLIC, ORTHODOX, PAGAN" 0 UNFORMED NONE YES 1 NO 0 0 SWORD ALL_PERIODS "FN_ARAGONESE, FN_BURGUNDIAN, FN_BYZANTINE, FN_DANISH, FN_ENGLISH, FN_FRENCH, FN_GERMAN_HRE, FN_HUNGARIAN, FN_ITALIAN, FN_NOVGOROD, FN_PAPIST, FN_POLISH, FN_RUSSIAN, FN_SICILIAN, FN_SPANISH, FN_SWISS, FN_GOLDEN_HORDE"
MuslimPeasants INFANTRY 50 3 1 0 80 100 3 DISCOURAGED "MUS_REBELS(15), MUS_LOYALISTS(5), MUS_PEASANTS(15), MUS_BANDITS(12), MUS_ZEALOTS(10), MUS_HERETICS(15)" "POVERTY_STRICKEN(63), DESPERATE_DEFENCE(2.1), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), CATHOLIC_NAVAL_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), CATHOLIC_TRADER(21), CATHOLIC_CRUSADER_TRADER(21), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST_CRUSADER(16.8), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE_CRUSADER(16.8), POPE(10.5), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE(16.8), CATHOLIC_ISOLATIONIST(10.5), ORTHODOX_DEFENSIVE(16.8), ORTHODOX_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), ORTHODOX_STAGNANT(21), MUSLIM_PEACEFUL(21), MUSLIM_EXPANSIONIST(16.8), MUSLIM_DEVOUT(16.8), BARBARIAN_RAIDER(8.4), REBELS(21), CLOSE_TO_SUPPORT_LIMIT(1.05)" { CASTLE} WEAK ALL_PERIODS YES "HEIGHT( 85 ), RADIUS( 25 ), SCALE( 120 ), PROJECTILE_TYPE( NONE ), SAMURAI( NO ), MARCH_SPEED( 6 ), RUN_SPEED( 10 ), CHARGE_SPEED( 11 ), MIN_TURNSPEED( 2 ), MAX_TURNSPEED( 8 ), TURN_TO_MOTION_SPEED( 8 ), MAX_INMOTION_TURN( 96 ), FORMATION_WIDTH_SPACING( 60 ), FORMATION_LENGTH_SPACING( 60 ), ENGAGEMENT_THRESHOLD( 1500 ), CHARGE_BONUS( 4 ), MELEE_BONUS( -2 ), DEFENCE_BONUS( -4 ), ARMOUR_LEVEL( 1 ), HONOUR_LEVEL( -2 ), AMMO( 0 ), FORMATIONS_PREFERRED_NUM_ROWS( 6 )" NO "own_unit_tooltip1, own_unit_tooltip2, other_unit_tooltip1, other_unit_tooltip2" "BURNOUS, YES, YES" "FN_ALMOHAD, FN_EGYPTIAN, FN_TURKISH" "Missile, Shocktroop, Spear, Cavalry" "SKIRMISH(1), ADVANCE_PARTY(1),
OUTFLANKING_FORCE(0), MAIN_BODY(2), HOLD_TERRAIN(1), RESERVE(2), REINFORCEMENT(2), ASSAULT(1), ASSAULT_COVER(0), ASSAULT_COVER_CASTLE_ATTACK(0), COVER(0)" MUSLIM 0 UNFORMED NONE YES 1 NO 0 0 SWORD ALL_PERIODS "FN_ALMOHAD, FN_EGYPTIAN, FN_TURKISH"

The Bolded sections are the column 50 faction association entries. Delete the text but make sure you keep the tab delimiter. You may be able to replace the text with NO_FACTION, I can't remember.

[gollum]

There is another way too. Simply delete the "{ CASTLE}" entry that means the keep that recruits them. After that they will remain in game for rebellions for the factions designated.

[drone]

Or that. ~:doh:

[Brandy Blue]

Don't the Muslim factions have a virtually identital Muslim Peasant unit or some such? That would have to be eliminated too, right?

[drone]

Yup, it's the line right underneath the vanilla peasants. And if you are going to mod out peasants, you may as well do ballista as well. :yes:

[Ironside]

You can also add the muster field from VI (iirc copy paste the line from the VI files and change the building required to build peasants to the muster field).
The AI can and will still build peasants, but in much, much smaller numbers. The only province that's close to peasant spamming is the one giving a +1 bonus to peasants.

[caravel]

I tend to mod peasants and muslim peasants out but leave them in rebellions. Ballistae I always removed entirely.

[Axalon]

How to mod them out of the game so that they appear only in rebellions? I have been considering such a step for a long time. I am slightly tired of the hordes of Egyptian peasants in early/high.

In case you want more opinons on this, here is mine (for what it is worth)...


Getting rid of peasants strike me generally as a very good idea. Peasants usually swamp raw MTW armies and that is one of the significant factors in why it is so damn easy (I think so anyway). The easiest way to lock down the peasants is to remove the Castle-requirement as suggested already (in crus unit-file).

Keeping peasants in rebellion in not necessarily always a good thing. Rebellions then have a tendency to be more of an exercise in cake-walk slaughter due to massive amounts of peasants – eventually a nuisance rather then some kind of thrill or excitement in the game-experience. Or so at least I think. I have probably killed over a million peasants in raw MTW and few tons as well in 2nd edition Redux.

The 3rd Edition Redux-betas are much better in these regards as I have fairly effective cut out peasants as any major factor in rebellions (they are still available for Poland however and I still allowed them to possibly show up in fairly limited numbers, but that is ok for flavor). This is especially true in the V.1.1 while in VI/V2.01 there is a bug that makes Muslim-rebellions filled with peasants the first 3-4 rebellions – then it disappears (thankfully enough). I have no clue as for why – it is weird alright.

In my experience and speaking in general terms; fewer peasants usually equal a better overall game-experience as the opposition gets more serious (and interesting) as a result. To somehow disallow the AI to build any is the only viable option for me.

- A