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[Vantek]

I've never modded anything :P I might look into it but it could be a long time before I get to it.

My deviant idea was to make the Metalsmith available to all provinces - but with flat yearly expenditure that gets massive on Guild and Master (say, -50, -100, -200, -500). The provinces with Iron would then have the option to build up to four levels of Iron Furnace which would have both the iron resource and a respective level (-1) of Metalsmith as a prerequisite, and would generate the exact income required to cancel the Metalsmith expenditure.

Do you think this could work? I guess it might generate problems for the dumbfounded AI, but could it function that way to begin with?

EDIT a day later: I have developed the idea to a more full form.

Metalsmith line available to all provinces:
Metalsmith: -50 "income"
Metalsmith's Workshop: -100
Metalsmith's Guild: -200
Master Metalsmith: -500

Iron Mine and Iron Mine Complex analogous with Copper Mine and Copper Mine Complex (I think it was 52 and 104 income?).

Smelter: +50 income, requires Keep, Iron Mine
Smelter's Workshop: +100 income, requires Metalsmith
Smelter's Guild: +200 income, requires Metalsmith's Workshop and Iron Mine Complex
Master Smelter: +500 income, requires Metalsmith's Guild

Build times and castle level requirements for the Smelter line analogous with Armourer.

Could this work?

(And what do you think of the idea? :P)

[Raz]

I've never modded anything :P I might look into it but it could be a long time before I get to it.

My deviant idea was to make the Metalsmith available to all provinces - but with flat yearly expenditure that gets massive on Guild and Master (say, -50, -100, -200, -500). The provinces with Iron would then have the option to build up to four levels of Iron Furnace which would have both the iron resource and a respective level (-1) of Metalsmith as a prerequisite, and would generate the exact income required to cancel the Metalsmith expenditure.

Do you think this could work? I guess it might generate problems for the dumbfounded AI, but could it function that way to begin with?

EDIT a day later: I have developed the idea to a more full form.

Metalsmith line available to all provinces:
Metalsmith: -50 "income"
Metalsmith's Workshop: -100
Metalsmith's Guild: -200
Master Metalsmith: -500

Iron Mine and Iron Mine Complex analogous with Copper Mine and Copper Mine Complex (I think it was 52 and 104 income?).

Smelter: +50 income, requires Keep, Iron Mine
Smelter's Workshop: +100 income, requires Metalsmith
Smelter's Guild: +200 income, requires Metalsmith's Workshop and Iron Mine Complex
Master Smelter: +500 income, requires Metalsmith's Guild

Build times and castle level requirements for the Smelter line analogous with Armourer.

Could this work?

(And what do you think of the idea? :P)

I've theorized with negative incomes but never got round to fully implementing them. Jee, I hope that negatives do indeed work because a mod I've been working on is quite dependent on it.
In any case, the idea sounds great! It should work if implemented correctly, but it's unlikely that the AI will be able to comprehend what on earth these contraptions are. You should most definitely try it out!

[Vantek]

In my experience AI doesn't like to build high levels of Metalsmith in the first place, so I actually don't think it would create significant problems.

Thanks for the input! Though I fear I'm too busy to work myself into modding anytime soon ><

[caravel]

The AI will probably not want to build the metalsmith much as there are no units that depend on it, but in my epxerience it does build it and it does upgrade it. Adding the negative income to the building line may discourage it from building it and it may not.

Personally I would rather encourage the AI to build it, as otherwise it will be at a disadvantage against your super upgraded troops. In STW it was the armoury that required the iron deposits and the metalsmith (swordsmith in STW) that could be built anywhere. This makes more sense and gives all units/factions/provinces access to the weapons upgrades but makes the armour upgrades rarer. You can further balance this by ensuring that all factions have at least one province in their starting territory that contains iron deposits. On the other hand you can remove armour and weapon upgrades entirely to achieve the best balance.

[gollum]

originally posted by Asai Nagamasa
Adding the negative income to the building line may discourage it from building it and it may not.

It can and it does.

[O'Hea]

Hey all, I'm looking to start modding but I'm having trouble finding tools- I've read through many, many tutorials and so far every link I've found is broken. Could y'all point me in the right direction?

EDIT: I probably should be a little more specific in what I'm looking for. I'm going to be editing existing factions extensively, possibly adding new ones, creating new buildings and titles, creating many new units, and probably editing the map as well. The Gnome unit editor is a tool I'm looking for in particular, but I've also been having trouble finding the graphics tools used for making units.

[Raz]

Hey all, I'm looking to start modding but I'm having trouble finding tools- I've read through many, many tutorials and so far every link I've found is broken. Could y'all point me in the right direction?

EDIT: I probably should be a little more specific in what I'm looking for. I'm going to be editing existing factions extensively, possibly adding new ones, creating new buildings and titles, creating many new units, and probably editing the map as well. The Gnome unit editor is a tool I'm looking for in particular, but I've also been having trouble finding the graphics tools used for making units.

You can grab Gnome Editor and pretty much every other MTW modding tool from the Mizus server:
http://www.mizus.com/files/files/

Tools can be found in the aptly named subdirectory:
http://www.mizus.com/files/files/Tools/

For Gnome Editor search for the following file name in the Tools link above:
Gnome_UnitBuildProj_Editorv2.0.zip

For editing those ancient BIF files which is most of the graphics in the game you'll want ReadBif, found in the same address:
RSW_read_bif_buf_v22a.zip

Ultimate Paint is used for LBM files which is another kind of rarely used and ancient graphics format:
Ultimate_Paint_2.8_lbm-editor.zip

There's other things you may or may not need. If you plan on editing the campaign map and the provinces and sea regions then you'll need a tool whose name currently escapes me. I'll edit this post with a link as soon as I find it.

Good luck, I hope that helps.