Vanilla Balance Mod v4 for Rome: Total War and BI

[Barbarossa82]

Presenting...

Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0

I am proud to present Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0, the final, complete release of my limited mini-mod for vanilla RTW v1.5 that seeks to enhance the balance and replay value of the campaign. Yes, I know I said that v3.0 was "final and complete", but hey.

VBM reduces the effect where the same factions (Britons, Egypt) storm over the map predictably in almost every game while others (Seleucids, Carthage, Gaul, Germany) are wiped out very early before getting a chance to deploy their best units. This is achieved by fine-tuning faction starting positions, starting denarii and unit rosters.

Please see the Readme document below for full details of the changes made.

Some examples of VBM campaign development around the year 200 BC:





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=======VANILLA BALANCE MOD V4.0=======
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README CONTENTS
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1. Introduction
2. Requirements/Compatibility
3. Principal changes From v1
4. List of Changes to Vanilla Game
5. Installation Instructions
6. Uninstallation Instructions
7. Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
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Vanilla Balance Mod v4 ("VBM") is a mini-mod for Rome Total War, the aim of which is to remove some of the inherent biases in the Imperial Campaign which cause the same factions to quickly become superpowers in every game, while others are eliminated before they get close to deploying their most advanced and characterful troops.

With VBM, the Imperial Campaign is less predictable in its results - the Gauls may rampage through Northern Italy, Carthage may conquer all Sicily and rule the Western Mediterranean, while war in the east could see the Seleucids, Egypt, Armenia or Pontus emerge as a superpower. Naturally the nations which habitually did well in pure vanilla can still end up winning through in VBM, but there is a good deal more variety and it usually takes longer for eventual victors to emerge.

VBM is not a panacea. Many of the factors which cause predictability and repeating history are inherent in RTW and are beyond the scope of my abilities as a modder to rectify. In particular, the Steamroller Effect whereby the "flow" of a war does not tend to change once an early tipping point has been reached, is difficult to remedy. Nevertheless, with Vanilla Balance Mod it is far less predictable which nation will be the beneficiary of the effect, and those that lose out now tend to last a little longer in most cases. A VBM campaign map at 200BC will normally be far more diverse than that of vanilla Rome.

The changes which have been made are minimal in scope and in particular effort has been made to ensure that no faction is either unviable or unduly easy when played by a human player. Inevitably, due to the various boosts and penalties which have been given to various factions, the original campaign difficulties have shifted somewhat - playing as the Gauls, Carthage or the Seleucids is somewhat easier under VBM than pure vanilla, while the British, Scipii, Spanish, Egyptian and Numidian campaigns are harder. However none of the campaigns played with VBM are harder than the hardest campaign under pure vanilla, or easier than the easiest.

With regard to history, VBM is not a historical or realism mod, but every change to faction starting positions and unit rosters has a historical basis. Overall VBM is certainly no less accurate than vanilla 1.5.



2. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
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VBM v4.0 is a mini-mod for vanilla Rome v1.5. Installation over eariler versions of RTW is not supported.

By kind permission of player1, VBM v4.0 includes material from BugFixer, the popular unofficial patch for Rome: Total War that fixes many glaring and underlying bugs with the campaign. This means that you can install VBM straight over BugFixed RTW 1.5, without losing any of the fixes implemented by BugFixer. BugFixer is highly recommended for the best experience from VBM, see https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=55464 for details and download. It is not a prerequisite however, as VBM will install fine over pure vanilla.
If using BugFixer, Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0 is tested with BugFixer v3.36. It has not been tested with other versions, but no problems are anticipated if used with an earlier version.

Q: Is Vanilla Balance Mod compatible with Mod X?
A: Vanilla Balance Mod is, obviously, a mini-mod for vanilla and is therefore totally incompatible with "coversion" mods which change RTW into a different game, for example Europa Barbarorum or Rome: Total Realism. Other mini-mods which affect unit skins/attributes are not generally compatible with VBM as installation of VBM would overwrite the files that describe unit behaviour and attributes. Other mods that do not have this effect, such as those that change faction symbols or AI formations, should be compatible. However, no guarantee is given on the subject - or any other for that matter ;-)


3. PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM v3
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See "full list of changes" for a full description of each of these changes.

* Added changes to Roman recruitment, restricting availability of Praetorian and Urban cohorts to Italy, but adding the ability to train First Cohorts in each Roman faction's starting headquarters.
* Added changes to Nubian Spearmen, preventing them from forming phalanx but increasing their unit size.

Nubians
* Added new Carthaginian units of Libyan Archers and Poeni Archers, complete with unit cards and sprites. (Their models were already in the game but had not been "activated" as units.

Libyan archers...Poeni archers
* Added enhancement to range of women's names for some factions that were particularly short of them, leading to repetitive family trees
* Added extension to area of recruitment for Spartan Hoplites throughout southern Greece
* Added trait reform for less corruption and better education
* Added Medea province name correct spelling
* Modified v3's changes to extermination - new, more appropriate sound with the popup, and renamed "suppression".
* Restored "council table" graphic to faction info scrolls, replacing the poor-quality faction victory condition maps


4. LIST OF CHANGES TO VANILLA GAME
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FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* All factions are now playable except for the Senate and the Rebels
* 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.
* Leader portraits, selection screen maps and campaign descriptions for all factions that lacked them

* Revised faction selection maps for factions whose starting positions have changed
* 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!
* For reasons of personal taste, some province names slightly altered where the original name was the same as that of a faction - e.g. the province of Armenia being part of the Kingdom of Armenia. These provinces now have the suffix "proper", e.g. Armenia Proper, Numidia Proper.
* Spelling of the province of Medea corrected from Media.
* There is a bonus cheat/feature, enabling the "perfect spy". This allows the player to see details of army composition and city details as if you had a spy right next to them, no matter how far away they are. To activate, press F1 while on the campaign map to bring up the keyboard shortcuts scroll. Click on the question mark and when the advisor appears, click the "show me how" button to activate the script. You can deactivate it at any time by repeating this process. For best results, use with the fog of war off.
* The range of names for women in the Pontic, Armenian and Thracian factions has been increased to reduce the problem of repetitive family names. In pure vanilla it has been known for a general from one of these cultures to have a wife and three daughters all with the same name! Thrace and Pontus have gained some carefully-selected and appropriate names from the Macedonian list, while Armenia has received a small number of names from the Parthian list. These are culturally appropriate and historically justifiable (at least no less historic than pure Vanilla).

TRAITS
Under pure Vanilla, it was very easy for characters to pick up bad traits (especially corruption, expensive living and drinking-related traits) purely from living in a highly developed city or an economically powerful faction. This effectively meant that the player was being punished for success. The trait system has been very slightly tinkered with to moderate this, without in any way detracting from the characterfulness of the game (we still want to get hilariously debauched characters every now and then!)
* Treasury thresholds for corruption traits substantially increased
* Probability of picking up expensive living and drink traits slightly reduced
* Added possibility of picking up "Good Administrator" trait from Academy line of buildings
* Increased chance of getting positive skill traits from Academy line of buildings.

NON-ROMAN GENERALS
* All non-Roman factions use the upgraded version of their generals' bodyguards from the beginning of the game. This does not affect the Britons. This compensates for the unfairness of the general upgrade function being dependent on the Marius reforms for all cultures, rather than just the Romans.

FACTION REBALANCING
* Summary: Various factions have been strengthened and weakened by having their starting denarii, starting provinces, armies, and sometimes units tweaked. This has been pretty successful in generating a balanced campaign. Carthage, the Gauls, the Germans and the Seleucids - the four big losers under pure vanilla - now usually survive to 200BC at least, and will expand to powerful empires in 30-50% of campaigns.

Britons
* The Britons have been banished from the mainland and had their navy disbanded. They no longer rampage across the continent immediately. Typically an AI-controlled British faction will cross the channel in approximately 200BC. This leads to longer Gaulish and German survival.
* Morale of British Chariots has been reduced as they were over-valued in auto-calc.

Gauls
* Samarobriva gained from Britons, modest garrison installed

Germans
* German Spear Warband is no longer phalanx-capable. Has same stats, abilities and costs as the regular warbands of other barbarian factions, including warcry ability

German spear warband

Spain
* Carthago Nova lost to Carthage
* Morale and formation settings for Iberian Infantry and Scutarii swapped, since from their descriptions and the levels of barracks buildings required to train them, it seemed inappropriate that Iberians should be more disciplined than Scutarii
* Iberian Infantry defence skill slightly increased

Carthage
* Carthaginian empire now larger at game start, with Carthago Nova gained from Spain and two totally new provinces: Corsica (capital: Alalia) and Numidia Punica (capital: Hippo Regius)

Numidia Punica.........Corsica
* Starting denarii increased
* Forces on Sicily slightly rebalanced
* Carthage can now recruit Scutarii at a City Barracks. Compete with unit cards and sprites (thanks to professorspatula for unit cards and implementation help)

Carthaginian Scutarii
* Carthage can now recruit two new archer troop types - moderate-quality Libyan Archers from a Level 2 missile building, and high-quality Poeni Archers from a Level 3 missile building. Complete with unit cards, descriptions and sprites (unit cards created by Storm_Of_Horus and originally appearing in the "Carthaginian Archers Reloaded" mod at TWCenter).
* Changes to Scutarii and Iberian Infantry noted under Spain apply to Carthage too.

Roman Families
* Amulius Brutus loses Natural Military Skill trait
* Praetorian Guard and Urban Cohorts can now be recruited only in Italy (including Segesta, Mediolanum, Patavium and all Sicilian cities), reducing the unrealistic Praetorian-dominated armies often seen in late game.
* First Cohorts can now be recruited in each Roman family's starting capital, as well as Rome. Early Legionary Fist Cohorts can be trained at an Army Barracks and Legionary First Cohorts at an Urban Barracks in Arretium, Capua, Rome and Tarentum. However, they now take longer to build and are more expensive than in vanilla.

Greek Cities
* Diplomat moved from Sicily to Aetolia
* Spartan Hoplites now have a standard bearer
* Spartan Hoplites can now be recruited in Corinth, Athens and Thermon as well as their original recruitment centres at Sparta and Syracuse.

Pontus
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Trader removed from Mazaka

Seleucid Empire
* Starting denarii slightly increased
* Completely new province of Lycaonia (capital: Iconium) in Asia Minor bridges gap between Sardis and Tarsus, improving empire's cohesion and survivability

....Lycaonia
* Sidon gained from Egypt with modest garrison
* Some other starting garrisons increased, with a unit of cataphracts in Hatra (most nations get a "bonus late military unit" which they can't recuit, the Seleucids originally didn't).
* Better walls around Antioch and Hatra
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1
* In one of the most successful bits of modding, removed the river crossing from the river between Armenia and Assyria, ending the Armenians' manic obsession with Hatra and greatly improving the chances of the Seleucids surviving the first 50 years.

Egypt
* Shrines removed from all cities to make presence of garrison more necessary at start of game
* Sidon lost to Seleucid Empire
* The province of Judaea now has an Eastern culture, creating a cultural penalty for Egyptian control there which reflects the independence wishes of the Jewish population.
* Numerous adjustments to cost of recruiting and maintaining units, to bring them into line with similar sized units with similar stats from other factions.
* Bonuses and immunities of Egyptian troops when fighting in hot conditions removed. Although characterful, this created an unfair advantage over Egypt's enemies, since the faction almost invariably fights in hot conditions. They now suffer the same heat penalties as equivalent units from the Greek and Carthaginian cultures.
* Nubian Spearmen can no longer form a phalanx, but to compensate they now come in a larger 60-man unit. They have identical stats to Eastern Infantry, including cost.
* Chariot morale reduced, and they can now run amok.
* Base farming levels of Nile provinces very slightly reduced. They still collectively constitute the world's most fertile region though.
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Starting chariots disbanded
* A few other starting troops disbanded

Rebels
* Garrisons of Petra, Bostra, Ancyra, Nicomedia and Apollonia increased, within reason

EXTERMINATION AND PUBLIC ORDER
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 populace", you are now given the option to "suppress populace". The text descriptions, graphics and sounds 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. In addition, a law bonus has been added to government buildings, ranging from 5% for a Governor's House to 25% for an Imperial Palace, which should reduce the need for sackings.


Suppression

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 had 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.


5. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
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Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0 now comes with a smart installer. Simply specify the correct directory for your RTW installation, and let the program do its work. The installer will create a backup of your original data so that when VBM is uninstalled, your original files will be restored. However, you are strongly advised to make your own backups for added peace of mind before installing VBM.


6. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
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Simply run the program "Uninstall Vanilla Balance Mod" in your Rome - Total War directory.


7. CREDITS
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Mod Creator and Programmer: Barbarossa82
Scutarii unit cards: professorspatula
Carthaginian archers unit cards: Storm_Of_Horus
BugFixer content incorporated by kind permission of player1.
Additional thanks: Seasoned Alcoholic
Wikipedia (for material used in faction descriptions)
Creative Assembly (for making the game in the first place)


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