How to disable (and then re-enable) brigands and pirates

Medieval 2 contains several new hidden resources. 2 of them are: no_brigands and no_pirates.

You can see an example of their use in the descr_regions.txt file:

Code:

---

North_America
        Miccosukee
        aztecs
        Native_Rebels
        212 198 206
        tobacco, coal, america, no_pirates, no_brigands
        5
        6
        religions { catholic 0 orthodox 0 islam 0 pagan 100 heretic 0 }

---

The provinces these resources are placed in will not spawn pirates off their coasts or brigand slave armies on land. They can thus be used to keep an area desolate or untouched - such as the Americas in M2 - or if you are a more adventurous modder then the brigands in this area might represent a different type of enemy that will only appear after a particular time or event (perhaps conquering a significant settlement).

You can then reactivate brigands and pirates with the following in your campaign script:

Code:

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                add_events
                                        event        counter        disable_no_brigands
                                date        0
                                        event        counter        disable_no_pirates
                                date        0
                              end_add_events

---

Try enable_no_brigands as well - haven't tested it yet but maybe it will work.

Don't you somehow have to pass the game the settlement you want to enable the hidden resource in?

No, it works on a blanket effect. All the regions marked with the no_ hidden resources are either spawning brigands/pirates or they're not.

Hate to say this, but are you sure?

I just tried it, still getting bloody rebels.

Yes, I played my own Milan campaign without rebels (and quite enjoyed it too!). You'll still get rebel stacks where they're set up at the start of the game, and also where they're actual characters who've rebelled (or lost their faction). This merely stops those randomly spawning rebels.

If you need further convincing, run the vanilla game and look at the Americas (where the designers intended this to be used), you won't see any rebels appearing.

If you'll take a look at my Amerial Wars mod ER, I play tested it many times. I always get rebels. But the no_brigands is there...

My beta testers are telling me that it is not working... Looking at the other values again and setting them up higher to see if that's where the effect might come from.

Is their a way to just cut down on the brigand and pirate spawn rate? I would like to cut them down to about 1/3 of what they currently are.

I am still getting rebels in an existing campaign after making the "no_pirates, no_brigands" change to Smyrna_Province. Does this change have to be done before a new campaign starts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DukeKent

Is their a way to just cut down on the brigand and pirate spawn rate? I would like to cut them down to about 1/3 of what they currently are.

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Go to descr_strat.txt, and there should be a bit right at the start that looks like so.

Code:

---

start_date        1080 summer
end_date        1530 winter
timescale        2.00


marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28

---

Now change the brigand_spawn_value and pirate_spawn_value down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSocialist

Go to descr_strat.txt, and there should be a bit right at the start that looks like so.

Code:

---

start_date        1080 summer
end_date        1530 winter
timescale        2.00


marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28

---

Now change the brigand_spawn_value and pirate_spawn_value down.

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Lowering the values INCREASES the spawn of rebels. To lower the spawn you need to increase the number. If you add 9999 as a value you get no rebels. For 1/3 of the spawn, multiply the default value by 3.