How to: Give Roman family members different surnames

Particularly for mods with only one Roman faction, I've always wanted to be able to start the game with characters belonging to more than one family. I've also wanted to be able to start the game with several historical characters who aren't related to one another.

Here's a way to do it:

SUMMARY:
Create a trait for each surname you wish to assign to a character at the start of the game. An epithet can be associated with the trait - you simply define the epithet as the surname. In order for the character's sons to also bear this surname, you must create a trigger which always causes the sons to inherit this trait.


IN DETAIL:

It's necessary to edit the following files:

Data\export_descr_character_traits.txt
Data\text\export_VnVs.txt
Data\world\maps\campaign\(campaign_folder)\descr_strat.txt

As always, create backups before proceeding.


Create a trait for the surname (I'm actually using nomen-cognomen) "Fabius Maximus". Open up export_descr_character_traits.txt and add the following trait:

Code:

---

;------------------------------------------
Trait FabiusMaximus
    Characters family
    Hidden

    Level Fabius_Maximus
        Description Fabius_Maximus_desc
        EffectsDescription Fabius_Maximus_effects_desc
        Epithet Fabius_Maximus_epithet_desc
        Threshold  1

---

I've made this a "hidden" trait so it doesn't show up in the character's list of traits, but for reasons mentioned below it might be wise to make it visible while you're testing.

Now add the trigger which assigns the trait to the character's sons:

Code:

---

;------------------------------------------
Trigger dads_fabiusmaximus
    WhenToTest CharacterComesOfAge

    Condition FatherTrait FabiusMaximus >= 1

    Affects FabiusMaximus  1  Chance  100

---

Next, open up text\export_VnVs.txt and add at the bottom:

Code:

---

¬--------------------

{Fabius_Maximus}        Fabius Maximus

{Fabius_Maximus_desc}
This man is a member of the Fabius Maximus family.

{Fabius_Maximus_effects_desc}
He gains the name Fabius Maximus as an epithet.

{Fabius_Maximus_epithet_desc}        Fabius Maximus

---

I may be superstitious, but it's best to be careful with the tabs between the "}" and "Fabius Maximus" in the first and last lines.

Finally, open up descr_strat.txt and give Quintus Julius the FabiusMaximus trait:

Code:

---

character        Quintus Julius, named character, age 29, , x 96, y 82
traits FabiusMaximus 1 , NaturalMilitarySkill 3 , GoodAttacker 1 , Energetic 1
ancillaries drillmaster

---

That's it.

A few notes:

Unfortunately, when you start the game Quintus Julius doesn't appear as Quintus Fabius Maximus. If you remove the "Hidden" keyword from the FabiusMaximus trait, you'll see it's been assigned but for some reason the effect doesn't show up. However, if you immediately save and reload, Quintus Julius becomes Quintus Fabius Maximus. His minor children will still have the Julius surname in the family tree but are properly named when they come of age - no intervention needed.

Quintus Fabius Maximus still appears in the family tree as a son of Flavius Julius.

If QFM or any of his descendents adopt another character, this character will retain his surname, which how the vanilla game behaves.

Looks good! Probably something that not many people know is possible.

A few notes:
- export_descr_VnVs_enums.txt is not needed; there's no need to edit this file. You can delete it with no ill effects.

- For the "{Fabius_Maximus} Fabius Maximus" issue, if you use anything other than a tab after the '}', the trait will show up offset. I'm not sure what will happen with epithets, but it's probably the same result.

Quote:

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Unfortunately, when you start the game Quintus Julius doesn't show up as Quintus Fabius Maximus. If you remove the "Hidden" keyword from the FabiusMaximus trait, you'll see it's been assigned but for some reason the effect doesn't show up. However, if you immediately save and reload, Quintus Julius becomes Quintus Fabius Maximus.

---

Very useful information! I had some problems with this and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong before!

Quote:

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I suspect (but haven't verified) that if QFM or any of his descendents adopt another character that this character will become a Julius rather than a Fabius Maximus. I'll continue to look into this and if I verify it, will investigate a fix.

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Give a hidden trait to all adopted and suitors like "JoiningFamily". Instead of CharacterComesOfAge for the WhenToTest, use OfferedForAdoption, OfferedForMarriage, and LesserGeneralOfferedForAdoption events, like this:

Code:

---

;------------------------------------------
Trigger Adoptee_joins_family
    WhenToTest OfferedForAdoption

    Affects JoiningFamily  1  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger Lesser_General_joins_family
    WhenToTest LesserGeneralOfferedForAdoption

    Affects JoiningFamily  1  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger dads_fabiusmaximus
    WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

    Condition Trait JoiningFamily > 0
            and FatherTrait FabiusMaximus > 0

    Affects FabiusMaximus  1  Chance  100

---

This will give the character the same epithet on the next turn.

Great worK!

Could you tell the EB or was it RTR mod about this? They included the chance of getting the name 'Germanicus', 'Africanus' etc. It'd be incredible if that could permanently replace his descendants' surnames. (ie a whole line of Africanus children)

nicely done:balloon2:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Malrubius

A few notes:
- export_descr_VnVs_enums.txt is not needed; there's no need to edit this file. You can delete it with no ill effects.

---

I wasn't sure if this was true only for BI or not and neglected to test it. I'll update the Howto a bit later. I'll also verify that the triggers and trait you suggested work as expected.

I'm currently checking how the names of adoptees of renamed characters behave.

Thanks very much for your comments and suggestions, Malrubius, and for your kind words Tiberius and Diurpaneus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tiberius

Great worK!

Could you tell the EB or was it RTR mod about this? They included the chance of getting the name 'Germanicus', 'Africanus' etc. It'd be incredible if that could permanently replace his descendants' surnames. (ie a whole line of Africanus children)

---

We (EB) do this with our epithets Germanicus, Africanus, Parthicus, etc. Sons can get them from their father, or get their own through their victories.

Updated the Howto:

• Removed references to export_descr_VnVs_enums.txt
• Added note that minor children of characters with an epithet surname appear in the family tree with the family surname, not the epithet surname.
• Added note that adoptees of a character with an epithet surname retain their surnames - same behavior as adoptees of any other character in the vanilla game.

Malrubius,

I realized while doing some testing that the normal behavior for adoptees is to retain their surnames after adoption. (I've only rarely had an adoptee show up in my games.) I don't want them to behave differently if adopted by a character whose epithet is disguised as a surname. I'll think about how to use your trigger idea for causing all adoptees to change their surnames. Thanks again.

Hmm, I wonder now can new family members who marry daughters of vanilla roman families gain adittional name, like julii, scipii, brutii and maxentius, so they would be called for example Manius Maximus Maxentius?

a question:

the export_descr_characters.txt I'm trying to edit contains the following note:

;This file is generated from the Spreadsheet VnV,txt
;Please modify the spreadsheet and re-xport the data, rather than editing this file directly

wgat is meant by this? where to find this spreadsheet? how to use it?

That is for CA developers, when they created the game, they didn't edit the text files by hand, they had spreadsheets where they made changes which presumably had macros which would generate the various text files. In other words there is no spreadsheet we have access to from CA, so you can safely ignore this.