Vanilla Balance Mod v2 Released

[Barbarossa82]

Awesome, thanks dar25! The file is only 7.74MB. Here's the relevant bits of the readme for VBM v3 (just new new stuff - everything else from the old builds is in too). I'm going to see if I can possibly host it at the Org but I don't think they'll let me. In which case I'd be very glad to take up your kind offer.


PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM v2
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* Fixed an unlikely but aggravating bug which could trigger a CTD if a faction captured the city of Nicomedia very early in the game
* Fixed an issue where uninstalling VBM would leave the game unable to display any unit information text
* Added victory conditions enhancement and completion segment (see below for details)
* Added extermination modification segment (see below for details)
* Added traits tooltips modification segment (see below for details)
* Added reintegrated events segment (see below for details)
* Consolidated mod into single version

VERSION INFORMATION
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Unlike previous editions of VBM, v3 comes in one single version, which is compatible with player1's BugFixer. This means you can install VBM straight over a copy of vanilla RTW that has BugFixer installed, without losing BugFixer's enhancements.
Note that uninstalling VBM will restore pure vanilla files, so if you want to carry on using BugFixer, you must reinstall it after uninstalling VBM. There is no longer a separate version designed to be used only over non-BugFixed RTW. VBM v3 will install fine over non-BugFixed RTW and will restore non-BugFixed RTW.


LIST OF CHANGES
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FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* The game no longer revolves entirely around Rome, so factions' victory goals are individually tailored to their likely real-life ambitions. Whilst every faction must still conquer 50 provinces, the specific territories that must be included in those 50 now vary from faction to faction. For example the Spanish must conquer 50 provinces while ensuring that their empire includes Baetica, Taranonenis, Hispania and Celtiberia. Victory goals for the Roman families, the Gauls, the Germans and Carthage still include conquering Rome. The Successor kingdoms represented in the game - Macedonia, the Seleucid Empire and Egypt - share the goal of reuniting Alexander's empire by taking Thessalonica, Antioch, Seleucia and Alexandria. Every non-Roman faction now has a Barbarian Invasion-style map showing its victory conditions on the faction info scroll.
* Completed text for victory and defeat screens for every faction. No more lame generic "You have won, all your people celebrate" text when playing as Numidia, Dacia etc., the victory text for these is now just as specific and stirring as for the main factions!


EXTERMINATION
The problem: In pure vanilla, you have the option to "exterminate" a settlement you conquer, and the game tells you how many people will be killed. Because of squalor, culture penalty and distance to capital, extermination can quickly become the rule rather than the exception as your empire grows. This not only makes it hard to roleplay a faction with any degree of humanity, but is quite unhistorical. Organised mass slaughter of the majority of a settlement's population was historically rare. More likely was a situation where a commander would allow his troops to basically run riot, looting, raping, pillaging and generally brutalising the settlement. The difference here is that a lot of the locals would just flee or be turned out of their homes rather than being rounded up, executed and buried in a mass grave as RTW's text and graphics imply.
The solution: Text, the "exterminator" line of traits and graphics have been changed to make it a bit more ambiguous what exactly is happening in the settlement you decide to exterminate. Instead of the option to "exterminate settlement", you are now given the option to "sack settlement" (not to be confused with the horde-sacking in BI). The text descriptions are now more consistent with the unbridled looting and burning of a victorious army set loose by their commander, rather than the 20th-century-style industrialised genocide implied by the original text. Of course if you're a complete git who loves the idea that your troops go around wiping out entire populations, the new text is ambiguous enough to allow you to believe that.


TRAITS (COMMAND/MANAGEMENT/INFLUENCE)
The problem: In pure vanilla, the tooltips that appear when you hold your pointer over a character's command stars, management scrolls or influence wreaths do not reflect that character's ability. For example, a character with one command star is described as a useless general. However, once the first generation of leaders has died off, you are likely to find that the average character has 0-1 stars/scrolls/wreaths. Therefore having one point of management/command/influence really makes you ever so slightly above average in that department - that's why they affect the game positively rather than negatively!
The solution: Tooltip text has been changed so that the scale between zero points and ten points now runs average - genius, rather than complete idiot - genius. Of course you can still get traits like "useless administrator", "bad attacker" etc., but if you have at least one point of ability in those areas then you are deemed to have a basic grasp of what you are doing rather than being a cretin.

EVENTS
Quite a few of the historical events found in the campaign don't actually happen as no date has been set for them. With a bit of historical research to find out when they happened, they are now back in the game. Look out for espionage in carthage and the completion of the great library at Alexandria. These have no effect on gameplay, they just restore a little flavour that CA put in and then took out for some reason.