I was disappointed when I started playing M2TW that it seemed impossible to bribe rebel generals. I was able to start games playing MTW by bribing El Cid to join my faction. It added an interesting role playing aspect to the game to get a major historical figure as part of my faction - you know, Charleton Heston. In RTW, I was able to scout the campaign screen for promising rebel generals to bribe into my faction. I enjoyed that part of the game, but had no luck in M2TW bribing any rebel generals into my faction.
I had hoped when starting my first campaign I would be able to offer a princess in marriage, but that turned out to not even be an option. It also was not an option to choose how much money to offer in bribe if the rebel general was not receptive to the idea to begin with. This made it seem totally impossible with a rebel general named character like 'EL Cid The Chivalrous' as my many attempts only confirmed. This only made me more determined to see if it was even possible in M2TW. Of course I had to cheat to get it done (I guess that gives me the 'Winning First' trait), but I found out today it is possible.
After reviewing extensively the unpacked 'descr_character_traits.txt' file recently released by CA, I tried any number of combinations of 'give_trait' cheats to change El Cid into being more likely to accept a bribe. I don't know if my faction choice made a difference, but I was starting as Portugal (Spain might have been easier and more historically accurate, but I wanted to play a game where the Spanish aristocracy was the enemy, having accepted and allied with the Moorish presence on the Iberian Peninsula, and the rebels were the true Spaniards). Numerous failed attempts to bribe El Cid as soon as I could get a diplomat to the area left me very discouraged. He wouldn't budge even when I turned him into 'El Cid The Lewd'.
I had already been experimenting modding the basic 'descr_strat.txt' file to automatically start the game with El Cid as a Portugese general and removing some of his army, but those attempts did not work and the game would not even start. The final combination that worked was to mod El Cid's starting position in the game (with a reduced army) to a location right next to Lisbon. Then, during the game, I used 'remove_trait El_Cid' which wiped his entire traits list clean, but left him with his name. I then cheated a diplomat into max diplomatic ability ( the most important diplomat traits for bribing are 'Secrecy 3' and 'SmoothTalker 3'). He responded to my bribe attempt with a request for 18,000 florins which I gladly paid. I gave him back all his traits and more after converting him to my faction so he is still the hero he always was (he even looks a little like a young Charleton Heston). I also threw in an age reduction mod of about 17 years because I intend to marry him into my faction with one of my future princesses and have him "go forth and multiply" at some later date. Right now, he's just a supergeneral.
It might have worked using just the 'give_trait' and 'remove_trait" cheats during gameplay without modding the 'descr_strat.txt' file, leaving him at his original location of Valencia and with his original army units, but I was so happy to finally achieve my goal, I haven't experimented to see if it would work. Besides, I worked so long to find the right combination that worked, and the age reduction was an added bonus from modding the file. It was a simple matter of a couple turns to put El Cid back into his recently Portugese conquered home of Valencia - complete with his newly found super loyalty to his new anti-Spanish, anti-Moorish King. Now I can start playing my game with the scenario I desired.:2thumbsup:
