I always treated 1.5 as a modification which is supposed to work on a core, a skeleton, a frame provided by MTW VI.
This way PMTW inherited many but often rather useless stuctures.
Useless, because to be honest who needs those high level swordmakers or spear manufacturers? This period was mostly moving towards larger production of fairly similar weapons mass armies needed and only elite/specialised units required special treatment.
There is another problem with high level buildings - if a province is lost if reconquered it is usually so devastated it takes years to recover it as a unit recruitment area, especially with more advanced units.
Frankly I wanted the main techtree simplified and provide more entries for other structures such as cultural/political 'buildings' usually supposed to rise happiness and give more flavour for this mod.
My main objection was that this way it might be too easy to create a snowball effect with a rising faction able to steamroll through opposition. Second was that modern buildings are possible to erect regardless of the time period they are supposed to be from simply because all what is defining their availability are the building requirements and nothing else.
This way the map would soon be crowded with the most modern of structures because everything what they required is easy to build.
Thanks to the discovery of @Stazi we finally have the events to use as a requirement for various buildings, this means more advanced structures can be disallowed from appearing too early.
I believe it is the right time to think and to discuss the changed techs in the game.
1580 and 1630 are right now the dates we can use to limit certain structures from appearing so structures in the game can be divided into at least three categories - from the XVIth century, from the age of between both centuries and from the later early-modern period i.e. the most advanced and absolutely not possible to create a century or so earlier.
Another issue is the recruitment.
Already factions are limited by the concept of homelands and in general are forced to rely on local troops, mercenaries or massive fleets when moving away from their 'home base'.
In many ways it is sufficient, but I wondered about using a different approach - the recruitment camps.
They use the tested concept of 'mirror' units i.e. copies of existing units but with much different recruitment areas, even unlimited in range - but without any risk of appearing as rebels or loyalists so that Tartars in France suddenly do not receive massive support from local peasants who for some reason learnt how to ride horses and shoot bows like experts.
Recruitment camps as relatively easy to erect, but limited in numbers (even to one) which can provide access to certain units even very far away from the home countries. This way factions kicked out of their recruitment zone could create armies and try to come back.
Perfect for nomadic factions, but might be too good for the majority of countries in the game.
On the other hand recruitment camps INSTEAD of the usual, current ways to recruit forces - say three per faction so bigger factions would be forced to use smaller armies. Unfortunatelly I am afraid that the AI would quickly decide to build them all in one province and this way lose access to larger armies.
I believe that I'll simply use this idea for certain units (usually semi-nomadic and nomadic) and for units which were more likely to receive support or were much easier to recruit in certain areas.
That included nomadic camps for nomadic faction, a Landsknecht camp (better name?), a Swiss camp and possibly more.
All either give access to full sized units of a certain type even far away from their homelands or to smaller numbers of soldiers useful as replacements or fully sized, but easier to recruit units which are simply more likely to be available in densely populated/richer areas but only in this one, single camp.
Obviously whatever is decided it is meant for 2.0, not for 1.6, though some features will be available to test them and to provide a taste of things to come.
If you have any ideas what to add and what to remove please post them.
I personally am inclided to remove high level sword/spear makers perhaps with the exception of a single structure of this kind (could be done by setting requirements to specific, unique structures) probably only for certain factions.
Bookmarks