Rank Newbie Questions....

Hey guys, I apologize for asking what will probably turn out to be some really basic questions here, but I’ve done some searches on the forum and haven’t found the answers I’m looking for, so…

I’m pretty new to Shogun, but enjoying it a lot. I particularly like the “Start in 1530” campaign, but I find I miss old man Mori. I’ve heard that a few people have created a Mori mod, but I couldn’t find it for download, and I figured hey, I’ll just make my own, how hard can it be?

I downloaded hecose’ beautiful campaign editor, loaded the 1530 map, and gave Aki to Mori with a new troop selection. To compensate Takeda, I beefed up his home garrison and gave him a free mine. I saved it as “alternate 1530” and placed it in my startpos directory. Then I booted up Shogun: WE to give it a try.

Well, I ran into two problems: The first was the documented issue that only the Shimazu logo displays when choosing a Clan. That was annoying, but since you can still choose any clan, ultimately inconsequential. However, a far greater problem was that I could only choose “Conquer every province” as a victory condition. I generally like to play with “Conquer 40 of the 60,” by the time you’ve done that, you’ve pretty much won and the rest is just wrap-up. Frustrated, I returned to the drawing board.

Then I had another thought. Why not just replace the “Start in 1530.txt” with my own version? I made a backup, then renamed some files so that “Start in 1530.txt” included Mori. I booted up the game and gave it another go…

Success! Mori was there, I could choose all the victory conditions, and all the Clans displayed properly. Woohoo! I started a game as Shimazu.

However, after my first turn, I was informed that Takeda had been killed in battle. Oops, I thought, need to do some rebalancing. I quit and beefed up his garrison some more. Again, first turn, Takeda dies. I tinker some more. Takeda still dies every time. Finally I throw up my hands in disgust. Suicidal Diamyos, what is one to do?? I decide to play the game out anyway.

Imagine my surprise, then, when my emissary sails to Suruga and finds none other than Diamo Takeda, alive and well! Well, sort of, anyway. Though he looks like a Diamyo on the strategic map, right clicking on him says that he’s an “Army General and Heir.” And more interestingly, he’s Ronin. I’d never seen a Ronin Diamyo before. At this point, I decide the game has won this round and go to bed. I can only figure that the game somehow knows that this campaign is supposed to have only six clans and Takeda was just the lucky one getting axed.

So what I’m trying to do is create a 1530 mod with Mori while preserving victory conditions and familiar game mechanics. (as in, no Diamyo suddenly going Ronin) This is not turning out to be as simple as I thought. If anyone can give some advice on where I’m going wrong, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks in advance,
LittleRaven