Converting KH bodyguard to Massilian Hoplite for a relocation game

[Morte66]

Hey folks. I've decided to have another go at playing Massilia in EB 1.2. In the past I've done this by migrating the KH there using various cheat codes and pretending that they're Massilia. This time I'd like to do the same, but with a small mod to replace the KH bodyguard unit with a beefed up version of the Massilian Hoplites.

ISTM the Massilian Hoplites are like Classical Hoplites with two weapons and slightly lower ability, and the regular KH bodyguards are like turbocharged Classical Hoplites. So I figured I'd try to make my Massilian bodyguards using regular Massilian Hoplites turbocharged by the same amount.

Looking in export_descr_units.txt I see the following units:

;333
type             hellenistic infantry hoplitai
dictionary       hellenistic_infantry_hoplitai      ; Hoplitai
category         infantry
class            spearmen
voice_type       General_1
soldier          hellenistic_infantry_hoplitai_hellenikoi, 40, 0, 1.22
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_officer
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_standardbearer
mount_effect     elephant -1
attributes       sea_faring, hide_forest
formation        0.7, 1, 1.6, 2.4, 4, square
stat_health      1, 1
stat_pri         14, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 ,0.13
stat_pri_attr    light_spear
stat_sec         0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 0 ,0.1
stat_sec_attr    no
stat_pri_armour  11, 8, 4, leather
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        3
stat_ground      0, 0, -2, -3
stat_mental      12, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 1367, 342, 80, 498, 1367
ownership        thrace, greek_cities, macedon, romans_julii, romans_brutii, numidia, carthage, britons, gauls, scythia, germans, 

egypt, seleucid, parthia, romans_scipii, dacia, armenia, spain, slave, saba

;435
type             greek infantry greek general
dictionary       greek_infantry_greek_general      ; Greek General's Bodyguard
category         infantry
class            heavy
voice_type       General_1
soldier          hellenistic_infantry_epikletoi_hoplitai, 20, 0, 1.22
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_standardbearer
mount_effect     elephant -1
attributes       sea_faring, hide_forest, general_unit, hardy
formation        0.7, 1, 1.6, 2.4, 4, square
stat_health      1, 1
stat_pri         17, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 ,0.13
stat_pri_attr    light_spear
stat_sec         0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 0 ,0.1
stat_sec_attr    no
stat_pri_armour  14, 11, 4, metal
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        5
stat_ground      0, 0, -3, -3
stat_mental      16, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 2077, 0, 60, 504, 2077
ownership        greek_cities

;425
type             hellenistic infantry massiloi hoplitai
dictionary       hellenistic_infantry_massiloi_hoplitai      ; Massiliotes Hoplitai (Massilian Medium Hoplites)
category         infantry
class            heavy
voice_type       General_1
soldier          hellenistic_infantry_hypaspistai_massiloi_hoplitai, 40, 0, 1.2
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_officer
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_standardbearer
mount_effect     elephant -1
attributes       sea_faring, hide_forest, hardy
formation        0.76, 1, 1.6, 2.4, 4, square
stat_health      1, 1
stat_pri         9, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, slashing, sword, 0 ,0.225
stat_pri_attr    no
stat_sec         14, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 ,0.13
stat_sec_attr    light_spear
stat_pri_armour  9, 8, 4, leather
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        3
stat_ground      0, 0, -1, -2
stat_mental      11, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 1479, 370, 60, 90, 1479
ownership        greek_cities, gauls, scythia, slave

I thought I'd use the following for my Massilian bodyguard in place of the exisiting KH version:

;435
type             greek infantry greek general
dictionary       greek_infantry_greek_general      ; Greek General's Bodyguard (Massilian conversion)
category         infantry
class            heavy
voice_type       General_1
soldier          hellenistic_infantry_hypaspistai_massiloi_hoplitai, 20, 0, 1.2
officer          ebofficer_hellenic_standardbearer
mount_effect     elephant -1
attributes       sea_faring, hide_forest, general_unit, hardy
formation        0.76, 1, 1.6, 2.4, 4, square
stat_health      1, 1
stat_pri         11, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, slashing, sword, 0 ,0.225
stat_pri_attr    no
stat_sec         17, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 ,0.13
stat_sec_attr    light_spear
stat_pri_armour  12, 11, 4, metal
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        4
stat_ground      0, 0, -2, -3
stat_mental      15, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 2200, 0, 60, 504, 2200
ownership        greek_cities

So a couple of questions:
1. Am I doing the syntax right with the replacement entry?
2. Do the stats look reasonable for a bodyguard version of the regular Massilian Hoplite?

[Morte66]

Well, for the record my modded bodyguards worked. I upped the mental stat to 16 because all bodyguards have at least that much, but otherwise I used them as above.

However after a while switched back to regular KH bodyguards because I found the Massalians were always using the wrong weapon. If they got charged by cavalry they'd have their swords out, and in an infantry scrap they'd gradually switch over to their secondary spears as they got knocked down. After a few hours of thinking how cool they were, I decided that micromanaging the weapon switches was more trouble than it was worth.

I did try swapping their weapons to make spears primary and swords secondary, but then I could never get them to use their swords at all. The Syracusan hoplites, who have spears with secondary swords, never seem to use the swords either. Can anybody shed any light on this?

[Ludens]

It's due to the design of the R:TW engine. Infantry secondary weapons are intended either for missile-bearing troops or phalanxes. The original programmers apparently haven't tested the system for infantry with two melee weapons. I don't think there is a proper solution for this.