0.8x AI Faction Progression

[Janius]

Just thought I'd give a small update:

The year is 242 BC:



In 244 BC Bactria was destroyed by the saka, a few turns later they declared war on pahlava.
The averni keep growing and started to invade Iberia. Epeiros has become Macedonia's procterate.

[Oleo]

In 244 BC Bactria was destroyed by the saka, a few turns later they declared war on pahlava. .

awesome!

[Ower]

I havee no idea, what you have done with the NE tent dwelers, but it is awsom . This almowst gave me a heart attack , because I am pahlava and this stack was just a city north from me.
They actualy wentured futher NW, my luck
I newer seen Saka so powerful, it is totaly cool just hope they don't come after me

[Moros]

Moros:
I just removed some of the condition entries when money is to be added to an AI faction and raised its value. Like this:

monitor_event FactionTurnStart FactionType romans_julii
and not FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < 3000
;and I_NumberOfSettlements romans_julii < 4
;and I_TurnNumber < 20
console_command add_money romans_julii, 16000
end_monitor

Same for every other faction, of course.

[Lysandros]

Another very nice Ptolemaioi campaign. For anybody like me who misses the possibility of reemerging factions in RTW and don't want factions to be wiped out too early, I can recommend making the same changes I did to the script. Now an AI faction gets 20000 mnai everytime it has less than 3000 mnai. The result is obvious, I think: much more balanced as weak factions can recover now.

[LordCurlyton]

This is my Romani campaign. Up to 244 BC so far and this is my first ever EB campaign (vanilla RTW convert here). Enjoying the mod immensely, especially the whole slew of new stuff.
Some notes on what's going on in the world:
The Ptolemies and the AS have been going back and forth, Antiochaea (sp?) has changed hands at least 3 times since the AI seems to not demolish the old government structures, which conveniently provides a way to check up on the change of ownership. I also not the the Seleukid cities now have a little Cataphract Reform marker, which intrigues me greatly, and is perhaps the reason of the latest successes.
The Aeudi and Arveni were pretty well going toe-to-toe on an even footing for the first couple decades but it is clearly a one-sided affair by now,
The Sweboz are absolutely exploding all over the place. As of 244 BC they'd knocked the Arveni down to their last city and were mauling the Aeudi pretty badly. I may need to start a war of intervention to keep my allies alive, and to weaken the Sweboz.
The Sweboz must have taken the best MICs from the Aeudi because a quick glance at their armies shows LOTS of Lugoae and only a few units (usually partially depleted) of higher end stuff. On the plus side, the Aeudi have finally started to have a treasury again so there remains hope that they will start putting up a greater fight.
I'm slightly disappointed with the Cathaginians. They have roughly 600k Mnai banked away and only now have I started seeing them get more aggressive with their unit building. Its like I sapped their will after destroying their main fleet in an epic battle, preventing them from reinvading Sicily to try and take Libieo (or however they spell it) back. That also effectively ended the First Punic War in 260 BC (after it had started in 262 BC). True, they did start beefing up their island and Iberian garrisons but they left their mainland (Qart-Hadast and the city right below it) relatively light, albeit it was Elite African Infantry/Pikemen and Sacred Band units. So obviously Roma is not one to pass up on freebies and I took my repleneished fleet and landed two full legions (well one Roman legion and one levy legion comprised of Greek units) and started the Second Punic War off with a bang. Unless they build a new useful fleet in a hurry and ship the couple stacks parked in Iberia over, things are pretty bleak.
A lot of the factions that look like they haven't expanded much should improve greatly in the next couple decades. I know the Lusotani and Getai both have been sending troops out towards some of the Independent towns and the garrisons in them are starting to run low. The Casse should do much better soon as well since when I last checked they had two or so under siege. I'm not so certain about the Sauromatae, though, as they have longer distances to go, but I hold out hope.
I'll continue to update as my game progresses to show you how it goes. Thanks again for this great mod.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

LordCurlyton, Asaak rebeled and didn't go to Parthia? That's sad.

[Dayve]

Romani, 220BC.

Interesting notes... Seleukia is one city away from being destroyed, as is Makedonia and Epeiros. Egypt is a powerhouse... I do not look forward to invading Egypt when i begin recreating the historical Roman empire. I also do not look forward to fighting the Greeks... They have so many armies it's unbelievable, and all their troops are high class types... Lots of Spartans, although they have yet to attack me. Germania is also a powerhouse, pumping out army after army and attacking my two richest provinces... Dalminion and Sagestica, looking to conquer my mines! Although their armies are mostly made up of slingers and crappy infantry, but it stings none the less... I lost my first battle of 0.81 earlier to the Germans, and lost my second best general in the battle too!

Oh and the Getai are all but dead too.

[Dooz]

Whoa, that's an unusual campaign you got there Dayve. Never seen KH do anything like that. And in 0.81, all I've seen Ptollies do are cave to supreme AS. Cool stuff, Sweboz going wild, haven't seen it in any of my campaigns yet but a few others have posted similar ones. How have you resisted temptation to go to war or expand this long? You mostly been spending time building up economy and infrastructure?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Dayve, did you turn off AI monetary assistance or something? Looks like the rebels caved, vanilla style. Ptolemaioi look as though they are completely unstopable.

[Dayve]

Whoa, that's an unusual campaign you got there Dayve. Never seen KH do anything like that. And in 0.81, all I've seen Ptollies do are cave to supreme AS. Cool stuff, Sweboz going wild, haven't seen it in any of my campaigns yet but a few others have posted similar ones. How have you resisted temptation to go to war or expand this long? You mostly been spending time building up economy and infrastructure?

Pretty much... All i have there i conquered early, then just built up the cities... I conquered Dalminion and Sagestica solely for the mines, which i have upgraded to the max... They bring in so much money i have to build huge navies of quadriremes to keep my bank balance below 50k, and that's with my 5 legions. Although once i get the 209BC reforms, i will definately conquer northern Italy, and if Greece starts then they're getting it too. My policy for this campaign is never start a war... Which i have stuck to quite handily.

Marcus - I didn't turn off anything, i'm just playing on H/M and this is how it turned out... Ptolemies are indeed unstoppable.

[Dooz]

Never start a war eh? Jupiter would have hung his head in shame. *now I know there's a "hanging head in shame" smiley, but I can't find it*

But hell, for the sake of gameplay that's pretty cool actually. I'm just kind of surprised the AI hasn't attacked you yet, especially playing on H. Are you allied with them? Giving them tribute?

[Dayve]

Never start a war eh? Jupiter would have hung his head in shame. *now I know there's a "hanging head in shame" smiley, but I can't find it*

But hell, for the sake of gameplay that's pretty cool actually. I'm just kind of surprised the AI hasn't attacked you yet, especially playing on H. Are you allied with them? Giving them tribute?

The AI attacks me plenty of times. Carthage conquered all of Sicily, then sent half a stack into Italy and laid siege to Taras! So, i let them have it, took all of Sicily and their other two islands and made peace.

After i conquered Dalminion and Sagestica, i made an alliance with Epeiros which lasted for around 10 years, then they sent in their armies, which i sent back crying for their mommies. Eventually i offered peace and 10,000 and they accepted, and then they got raped by KH who i now share the border with... But KH so far have been peaceful, although lets face it, it's only a matter of time before their armies start to wander close to my border... It has been about 30 years we have shared the border though and no signs of armies wandering close to me...

Germany on the other hand, they expanded south until they shared a border with Sagestica, and ever since then they've been pounding me with what seems like everything they have... Full stack after full stack... Even my 5 star, seen the elephant, tactical genius, faction heir, vanquisher of Germania, leader of men, extremely confident troops, warmonger general loses 3 quarters of a legion warding off each stack they send at me! I actually have 3 different legions in the area at his disposal... He uses one to fight a battle and then picks up a new one from the area while the old one goes back to Italy to retrain... 15 years... 60 turns of nonstop fighting... They REALLY want Sagestica.

As for Jupiter hanging his head in shame... I'm going down a different path with Rome. A 'peaceful' roleplaying path... We are peaceful yet powerful. We want prosperity, not war. THAT IS UNTIL! I get the Marius reforms... At which point my peace loving senate will be overthrown ushering in a new form of governance... DICTATORNESS! I will personally make sure that my faction leader at that point is the most dispicable, blood thirsty insane inbred general i can find... My legions will be ruthless! It will be I who makes the wars. Cities will be razed to the ground, the first arena's will be built all over the empire, new lands will be conquered and enslaved, perhaps even exterminated if i can find a general who doesn't lose sleep after doing it. We will not subdue new people with kindness and our superior technology, we will subdue them with whips! After conquering many lands and killing many people, i will have this general fall dead in battle at around the age of 50, and the killing spree will be over. There will still be dictators and expansion, but not as aggressive.. We will subdue with kindness once again.

Until a new evil dictator gets on the throne! Muahahaahaahhaa! Yes, the future for my empire will be bright and most interesting. I shall keep you all informed! I'm going to bed soon, but tomorrow we shall see the polybian reforms... AND THE CONQUERAGE OF THE GREEKS! If i can get them to attack me first. :)

[Kugutsu]

Er... I hate to break it to you, but if you stay as you are you wont get the Marian reforms.

You need at least 45 settlements as one of the conditions for them to happen. Just sitting in Italy, you will be stuck with Polybian units forever...

Edit: On the bright side, you still have 50 years to conquer yourself an empire in time for the reform to be triggered in 172BC.

[Dayve]

Er... I hate to break it to you, but if you stay as you are you wont get the Marian reforms.

You need at least 45 settlements as one of the conditions for them to happen. Just sitting in Italy, you will be stuck with Polybian units forever...

Edit: On the bright side, you still have 50 years to conquer yourself an empire in time for the reform to be triggered in 172BC.

Well i've yet to conquer Greece and Carthage... That'll easy take me up to 45.

...I think.

[Kugutsu]

You'll need Iberia too. I am at 47 with all of spain, greece and the balkans, and most of north africa (all except the Ptoly bit and the Sahara).

[Dayve]

Damn it... I wanted to conquer Iberia and other barbarians with my Marian legions...

Oh well, i still have the Gauls and Germans i suppose.

[Gazius]

Why not merely comment out the lines for a regular marian requirement, and add in requires turn x?

[Kugutsu]

Can you do that mid-campaign? Or do you have to do it before you start a new campaign?

[Gazius]

I think it'll work mid campaign, I don't see why not if the turn you want to specify hasn't passed already.

[Gazius]

	; Unconditional Reforms afther {date}BC
	if I_TurnNumber > {turn number}
		set_counter Romanii_Reform 2
		terminate_monitor
	end_if

This should be all you need, if my understanding is correct.

Edit; my understanding, upon further reading through the script would indicate you've got a lot of commenting, ";" to do, which may or may not make it worth it.

[Kugutsu]

Well, heres the state of my game in 205BC. I have managed to get the Casse a foothold in Europe, which should hopefully spice things up a bit...



I am currently at war with ALL my neighbours: Both sets of gauls, germans, greeks, macedonians and ptolemaioi. My only allies are the seleukids.

The germans in particular are monsters. They are protectors of the sauromatae, and not a turn goes by when they dont send a full stack at segestica.
The gauls keep trying to invade northern italy, while the ptolies keep attacking Lepki and Crete. The macedonians have left me alone for ages now, though they wont accept peace, I think they are having trouble with the getai, and their expansion into asia minor.

Gazius: What file do I have to edit to bring the reforms forward? I am simply marking time till they arrive, and its getting a bit repetitive beating back stack after stack of barbarian hordes...

[Gazius]

\EB\Data\scripts\show_me\EBBS_SCRIPT.TXT

ctrl+f for "MARIAN TRIGGER" and insert script. Make a back up of your script file, and your save game, maybe run a test game with it activating the next turn to see if this is all you need, since I've done little work with scripts and am not entirely sure if this will work.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Kugutsu, how did Parthia get India? Those should rebel to them, they should be Baktrian...

The reforms are relatively easy to change... relatively. I have changed them many times and the changes are savegame compatible. I had my Marian in 200BC and I set my Avgvstan to 160BC (but it took ten year to get a guy capable of becoming emporer and then ten years for the current faction leader to die).

[Kugutsu]

Uh, I guess it rebelled to them. i dont think they sent armies across, as the whole of that region is swarming with bactrian and AS armies. Trying to get through unscathed would be impossible...

I managed to get the reforms by changing the number of provinces for an unconditional marian reform from >89 to >48. Since I have 50 provinces it gave them to me at once. Only issue is that the MICs in italy are constantly in the 'repair' queue. And repairing them doesnt shift them. Also, the ones in the repair queue list the polybian units in the description. I can recruit cohorts just fine though. One thing, is there supposed to be no cavalry whatsoever now?

[Dooz]

The reforms are relatively easy to change... relatively. I have changed them many times and the changes are savegame compatible. I had my Marian in 200BC and I set my Avgvstan to 160BC (but it took ten year to get a guy capable of becoming emporer and then ten years for the current faction leader to die).

Cool. Could you post up a relatively easy to understand guide as to how to make such changes?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I managed to get the reforms by changing the number of provinces for an unconditional marian reform from >89 to >48. Since I have 50 provinces it gave them to me at once. Only issue is that the MICs in italy are constantly in the 'repair' queue. And repairing them doesnt shift them. Also, the ones in the repair queue list the polybian units in the description. I can recruit cohorts just fine though. One thing, is there supposed to be no cavalry whatsoever now?

The script automatically damages the Polybian barracks. The script should have placed a new set of barracks for the Marian Era.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Faction creator for indian provinces is indeed baktria, but so that we don't have greek faces and buildings there they are parthian rebel subfaction. So if the city grows a level, then the faction creator baktria part is wiped out and it is entirely parthian rebel subfaction. We have to do that though - nomadic cities is worse. The cities look eastern and the generals have eastern faces (better than greek or nomads). It's just a shortcoming of the engine and the fact that we can't spare a whole culture group and faction for the India region.

[Dumbass]

Two questions: Does Medieval 2 allow more provinces to be included if so how much more?

And if the above is so, then will you expand the map into india and include an indian faction?

[Dayve]

Here we have 215BC... Makedonia, Seleukia and Epeiros are hanging on by the skins of their teeth, although there's absolutely no way they can recover now... There MAY a chance for Epeiros if i send a diplomat over and pump money into them, i do have 150 grand and it could get interesting... I'll think about it. Makedonia and Seleukia however are done for, literally 1 province each left and at war with all of their neighbours.

As you can see, Aediu, Swebos, Egypt, Baktria and Koinin are powerhouses... Aediu has washed over the Averni with ease in the space of 5 game years, and Carthage has started to finally expand in Greece, and are well on their way to beocming one of the big contendors.

As for me, i'm getting sick and tired of having to fight 5 battles every turn. Unless there is a way to stop giving the AI factions 30 grand every turn, only if their balance drops below 5000, then i may stop playing. I have spies and assassins all over the Sweboz, destroying their barrackses every turn as much as i can, but it doesn't make a difference. 1-3 full stacks need to be fought and annihlated by me every turn. They have allied themselves with the Aediu, and now the Aediu are coming at me with half-full stacks every turn. I cannot progress for 1 year takes 4-5 hours of playing, and i haven't the patience. 1 year every 30 minutes or 1 hour maybe, but 4-5 hours, no. I could win, i could easily win... I can defeat their armies crushingly with odds of 20-10 against me, no problem, i've been doing it right from the start, so it's not the challenge i'm whining at, it's the time it is taking me to progress even 1 year.

I have just finished playing after 3 hours of playing, and in that 3 hours i have destroyed 6 Sweboz full stacks, exterminated two of their outer cities and razed them to the ground out of rage and frustration, only to have 3 more full stacks march into my borders as if nothing has happened. Terrible i tell ya.

How do i turn off these handouts?