How do I get unlimited merchants ?

[Ars Moriendi]

As the title says, I need a way to get past the merchant max number limit.

The reason :

I've kept the game on ice for the last two months, but with the 1.2 patch imminent I plan to start a new campaign. My scenario will be to roleplay Venice as a trader/explorer nation. I set some rules (no land expansion, weak army / strong navy, avoid war at all costs, solve problems with diplomats/spies/assasins, etc.). But the most important aspect of roleplaying this campaign is out of reach : you can't have enough merchants to dominate worldwide trade and wage economic war, and the "no territorial expansion" rule limits their numbers even more. Also, to succeed in the "cold war" strategy I'm planning, I'll need a lot of dinero, which I can only get through merchants, since sacking cities / rich lands are out of question.

A cheat to create agents would be okay, but I'd much prefer a removal of the limit - I'd still like them to take time and money to build. So, anyone knows how to do it ?

[pevergreen]

post it in the modding forum.

[sapi]

I think that you can raise the amount that each market increases your unit cap by.

I'm sure the kind folks in the modding forum can help you out.

Moved.

[alpaca]

Well, can't access the files right now. What you can probably do (if removing the limit isn't possible), is giving buildings the ability to recruit a whole lot of merchants - for balance purposes, I'd go with an additional one per market level and maybe two or three for the bank.
To do this, you need to get a basic understanding of modding first, though. The file you have to edit (after unpacking, check my how-to on setting up MTW2 for modding in the tutorials section) is MTW2/data/export_descr_buildings.txt

[Ars Moriendi]

Thanks for helping me on this.

Modifying this line in export_descr_buildings.txt appears to work :

agent_limit merchant ###



Just put whatever number (I made it 100) instead of ###.
I don't know how this will turn out in the campaign - what the effect will be if the change applies also to the AI - but I will find out soon enough - when the patch is out and I'll start playing again...

@alpaca : great guide, that "how to set up for modding" thing - print it out and it helps a lot to have a reference at hand when trying to mess with the game files.

[alpaca]

Thanks for helping me on this.

Modifying this line in export_descr_buildings.txt appears to work :

agent_limit merchant ###



Just put whatever number (I made it 100) instead of ###.
I don't know how this will turn out in the campaign - what the effect will be if the change applies also to the AI - but I will find out soon enough - when the patch is out and I'll start playing again...

@alpaca : great guide, that "how to set up for modding" thing - print it out and it helps a lot to have a reference at hand when trying to mess with the game files.

Well if you really only want to have loads of merchants with the Italian city states (or only venice even), you may consider adding a new building or changing the bank to give maybe 10 to 15 merchants. Don't use too many merchants or you'll simply destroy the game balance completely.

And it's sure nice to see my guide is understandable enough to allow people who have never modded before to change some basic stuff