SSHIP ver. 0.98 - April 25th, 2024 - DOWNLOAD HERE

**Belovèse** · September 12, 2022, 02:42 AM

Plans and ideas - also requests for help from fellow modders: for minimods or other work

How to help us in developing the mod:
- write descriptions for the Piazza del Duomo - see here - some historical orientation in the Medieval Italy required.
- re-write description for the Agriculture (Farms) - there's 7 levels, and they should differe between cultures. - some historical orientation in the Medieval economy would be welcome.
- make a proof-reading of many buildings (in the export_buildings.txt) - no need for coding skills, just native-speaking.
- re-code and re-draft the Provicial Titles' ancillaries (only 1/3 is done as for now) - laborious, good command of English needed, but comparatively easy in coding, as the Ancillaries are easy.
- replace the all-factions ancillaries for the ME culture with the Muslim ones. They may be re-used from the Broken Crescent, or just copied with another pic-face (eg. Medic, Musician, ...) - easy in coding, as the Ancillaries are easy.
- review and analyse triggers for the "great people ancillaries" (list if these is in the campaign_scipt.txt) - easy in coding, as the Ancillaries are easy.
- draft the texts and the code for the Conqueror mechanism for other cities - easy in coding, but good orienation in Medieval history needed.
- copy and adjust "Fire" scripts for the other unique buildings (for now, they're coded for 4, but we've got another 10+ possible for coding) - not so much coding skills necessary as it it a replication of the existing code. Good starting point to get orientation in how the script works.
- upload saves from the games you've played.
- we need somebody to manage the mod's website on the Moddb forum. It'd also be good to make an updated presentation of the mod on that forum, mainly by coping and editing stuff from the TWC webpage to the Moddb - good knowledge of the mod required ;-)

NEEDED: MODDERS & MINIMODS

TO DO LIST

Continuous work
- impovements to the units (kostic work).
- AI and diplomacy mechanisms (Macaras work).
- technical improvements and bug-hunting (Belovese improvements)
- factions' historical evolution - now each faction has own part in the script.txt and we code historical events that impact on the game.
- balancing parameters of the game, especially the amounts of money available for various factions. Continous work.
- re-touching icons and pics of the buildings that are in-game.

(I) Near future

(x) Buildings that are in some advanced state of preparation:
- new St Sepulchre - the pics are prepared, but I need to draft desciptions.
- the Pfalz building for HRR - pics are ready, code is not.
- descriptions of the buildings that do not have those (Var, Gniezno) should be drafted - if there's somebody willing to contribute, just write descriptions and I'll introduce them.

(x) Recruitment
- irregularities in recruitment from the Castle Barracs, the Stables and upper levels of Ranges - this needs to be further worked on, they were unfinished, in contrast to the City Barracs that are quite comprehensively re-coded. This is a continous work, recently (July 2023) barracks and ranges for Georgia and Byzantium were reviewed and adjusted.
- the mercenary recruitment should be further worked on, perhaps along with a review of the rosters and making of the AoR units.
- review of the Muslim Landowners' recruitment.

(x) Traits
- traits of the admirals need to be recoded in the EDCT so that no trait is given right after the creation of the ship, but it is only after the first battle. This will enable merging new ships into the existing fleets without a need that already existing ships are docked in a port right when a new ships is built.

(II) In the medium term

(x) Buildings:
- regional buildings for a few factions that still do not have own: Turbe for the Muslim factions.
- pagan temples - all LT will be merged into one building line, and the Tengir will be the same for both castles and cities.

(x) The aggressivity system - based on some reports, it does not work at times or maybe it doesn't work at all. To be worked on, along work on the AI and diplomacy.

(x) The Mongols
- recently we've seen in the games that they behave quite easonably on the map - take over large sweaths in 13c, but they stop where they should.
- a few mechanisms to make the player's life easier were already introduced: (1) the AI / diplomaciy have been adjusted, (2) availability of the troops from the Landowners buildings, (3) massive uprisings once they expand beyond 30 settlements.
- futher work is needed: (A) their invasions should be recoded according to the plan, lowering the number of armies and letting them invade territories more away from the player (eg. if the player is Kiev, then more Mongols go to the Near East, if he is the Turks, the Mongols armies go rather to Russia), (B) possibly review of the units: stats, availability, names etc.

(x) The princesses
- remake of the traits: list of the traits, and the triggers as the NoGoingBack bug still lingers in this part.
- review of the script giving the player possibilities to marry princesses with foreign bloodlines (if it's needed - not sure about it).

(x) The political system
- review of the policies of the FL - there're seven, they do work but a review may show when they don't.
- review of the FL traits to get rid of one sources of crashes due to BecomesFactionLeader bug.
- review of the civil wars mechanisms - it works now, but it should be reviewed, and eg. switching off the system once the player has a large faction.
- the loyalty / authority system (including Regent - Usurper - Civil war) - need deep analysis and revamp, also analysis how it works along the Next Heir system. Currently, the Next Heir works pretty well, so this is not a pressing task, even if this system is / should be the jewel of the SSHIP.

(x) Automatic garrisons
- it has been reported that the AI factions may collapse while the player / another faction undertake a raid behind the lines - this would require introduction of automatic garrisons (ie appearing once a settlement is attacked, but disappearing afterwards). Not difficult to be introduced, as many mods have it, but it'll require devoting like 4 units to this end, and some work of @kostic, then myself.
- four units to be prepared by kostic.
- coding of the script.

(x) Military Orders
- the list of units that are (or should be) recruited at the Military Orders' building will be reviewed, the numbers adjusted.
- the related traits and ancillaries should be reviewed.

(x) Map changes
- moving settlements - in a few cases the capital settlements could be moved and the borders adjusted.
- possibly: replacing certain provinces with those more needed.
- borders of provinces need to be adjusted when issues are spotted.

(x) Debt mechanism adjustments - if decided so.

(III) Long-term projects

(x) Buildings
- many buildings that are currently in the mod are planned to be modified in one or the other way (22 are slated for deletion or fusion with another, recoding, more levels, different icons etc).
- the guilds - they are vanilla and easily obtainable, plus the bugs in the vanilla coding have been identified. Like 5 years ago I've made a blueprint to remake them, but haven't prioritised it since.
- the artillery buildings - fusion of various building chains into one or two.

(x) Units
- a thorough analysis of rosters in conjunction with the historical evolution of factions' events, with significant changes that will lead us away from the base Stainless Steel system.
- thorough analysis and review of the stats of units - comparisons of similar units, adjustments.
- more units will be made AoR (available in particular territories but for all factions) - @kostic is constantly working.
- descriptions of the units updated - they are being updated constantly, but this is a vast task (500 units!) plus needs also cross-checking for consistency.

(x) Traits
- certain categories need to be further worked on (health, psychology of generals). The overall goal would be to limit their numbers.
- probabilities of traits gained after battles should be adjusted to the situation when there're fewer battles over a lifespan of a general.
- assassins - reported to be too powerful in the Middle East, killing off entire armies (reported by one player, to be verified).

(x) Ancillaries
- Provincial Titles - they work (all 199) but only one-third has been reviewed, names adjusted, new texts included etc. - it should be done for the other two-thirds, time permitting.
- unique ancillaries - they need to be reviewed and adjusted. One may also introduce the set for 14th. century we got from a Tsardoms modder.

(x) A project: Religion and conversion
- priests / cardinal / (anti) pope system might be analysed how does it work now.
- the Orthodox Patriarch introduced by VineFynn in 2019 should be analysed as well.
- adjustments in conversion speeds analysed.

(x) A project: Education remastered
- education is quite fleshed-out part of the mod, so there's no pressing need for further work. But I've got ideas.
- merging schools and libraries into one building chain;
- introducing separate building line for Schools for the Muslim - then introducting script removing the non-own-religion buildings (but: the Orthodox and the Catholix share the same schools, so it cannot be done through temple_ prefix, but through the script). This needs, however, to be analysed: should Bait al-Hikhma be instantly destroyed if the player conquers Baghdad, or should it be left for his decision?
- possibly introducing new unique buildings into those chains: univesities in Paris, Bologna, Constantinople; if there'll be separate building chains then also Fes, Kairouan, Corduba, Salerno.
- remake of the triggers for traits and for ancillaries (books!) to take both changes into account. Quite an extensive work.

(IV) In the end-phase:
- a script giving a player a choice to require a general present in the settlement to initiate building/recruitment (similar to those present in SS-BGR or BC-BS mods). It will not make turn-times longer, but should be implemented after all new ideas are encoded in the "Provinces" script.

Post-1.0 theoretical projects:
- the siege system - remaking traits to make a new system, as discussed a few years ago.
- enable High and Late eras (1236, 1390) - changes in factions and map will be necessary.
- add religions - Shiia, possibly also Tengir.
- religion script - enabling Lithuania to change its religion (iirc, it is in Broken Crescent).

COMLAINTS AND REQUESTS FROM THE PLAYERS

Originally Posted by QKuhlmann

Diplomacy mechanics on vh: There is a point system with with reputation-penalties for aggressive explained in a popup-window. I like that too but could not find a possibility to look at my standings. It would be good to have a king's trait to add more transparency. Could not restore my reputation from "dubious" though.

Originally Posted by Gaku

The mod is still doing that incredibly annoying thing where I sally forth successfully, yet my "camp" gets looted, implying that I've lost the siege and my settlement has been sacked when it clearly hasn't been.

How poweful are the assassins

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Disband mercenaries due to debt consequences

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow

Descriptions of the units (and traits and ancillaries) are created by hand, so they have no relation to the coded tags. Many are still from the base Stainless Steel. The tag "mercenary_unit" is visible only in the EDB file.
The issue you're signalling is an important one. We need to think about it in the team. Thanks, it's exactly what we're looking for in playtesting - to tell what's not discernible by the modders (btw, this was also the case with the vassals - something that looked liked a good mechanism turned out to be an exploit of the player at best).

Originally Posted by Gaku

What is the tag or distinction that determines who doesn't get disbanded? "Peasant militia" would seem to be exactly the sort of thing that isn't disbanded, which is why it didn't make sense to me when they all vanished. Is the description incorrect? On the other hand, some of the units that are legit mercenaries were not disbanded - various types of ranged units for example.
9 times out of 10 when my mercenaries disband, it's because my king has died. There's a massive expense for the new king, unrest raises and subsequently drops income in an unpredictable way, and even though I'm making money, I just barely fail to climb out of debt by the next turn. Once the mercs disband, the already high unrest goes through the roof, and it's basically game over. Thanks for considering a change; it'll address a major Death by RNG issue.

Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow

ad.1 - due to a certain mechanics in the Med2 engine (you don't need to make 30 versions of the same unit, what is laborious and we've got plenty units that would require this work which is done by @kostic - and thanks him for this work ;-), they have the attribute. However, they're recruited from the barracks as they are just peasants called to the arms - then it's no. Making them pure mecenaries (ie recruited from land) is excluded because it'd be ahistorical. All in all, the current system is a compromise. I think it depends how do define "mercenaries". In the Med2 engine terms - recruited instantly in the land, not from a building.
ad.2,3 - the current way consists of systematic warnings (for both being below 1000, and below 0), and of possibility to go into debt for 1 turn. It was considered as a kind of alternative of a more extreme way - once you are in debt, your mercenaries disband. Having a threshold not 0, but -10000 is possible, and actually easy to code, but it was decided to follow 0 as it is easy to grasp for the players. There's a few warnings for the player that 0 is really 0, he should be aware of the consequences:
{INFO_WARNING_MERCENARIES_BODY}\n If your treasury runs empty, (most of) the sell swords will abandon you! \n\nOne turn before your mercenaries disband, you will receive a warning. You have to get out of the red immediately. Otherwise, some of the units that you have recruited as mercenaries will indeed abandon you. Even if you had not recruited mercernaries, some of your the units recruited in a "normal" way serve as mercenaries and these will abandon you as well.\n\nThe bottom line: given that there are often unforeseen additional expenses (e.g. weddings, adoptions, funerals), you should always have a few thousands florins sitting in your treasury at the end of turn. Running on deficit can also cause your generals to develop bad traits such as Mean with Money, and morale of your troops will not recover.
{INFO_WARNING_MERCENARIES_TITLE}Soldiers Serve for Money!
{WARNING_DEBT_BODY}My Lord, the situation is most dire! If our coffers run empty, some of our troops will abandon us. In addition, our generals are likely to develop unwelcome traits if they are forced to govern and lead without the necessary funds to do so properly. \n\nTo prevent this from happening, you may raise taxes in the cities, set administratively-minded generals as governors (this will increase revenues), or strike profitable deals with other factions. You should also check your expenses and consider cutting some of them. For example, you may disband some units or cancel recruitment, or you may cancel ongoing building projects, even though this will result in some net loses (you'll get back less money than you've paid). \n\nThe most important point to remember is that armies abroad create significant costs – on the move, at sea, and while besieging. Check your generals' traits to find out how much you are paying for foreign expeditions. Recalling armies home will cancel these costs. \n\nRemember, it is always advisable to have a few thousand florins in your treasury in case you are offered a guild, an interactive event occurs, or rebels show up, forcing you to recruit some troops. Some events (e.g. a new general coming of age, a marriage) may also empty your coffers rather unexpectedly.
{WARNING_DEBT_TITLE}Impending Debt!
{MERCENARIES_COMPLAIN_BODY}\n\nMy Lord, due to our treasury's dwindling reserves, our hired mercenaries have begun to complain that their wages are not being paid on time. We must resolve our financial issues at once, or the situation may grow worse still...\n\nWarning: if you do not get out of debt this turn, all of your mercenary units will disband on the following turn.
{MERCENARIES_COMPLAIN_TITLE}Our mercenaries need payment!
Nevertheless, it doesn mean we cannot go for another threashold, like 2000 or 5000? To allow the player a situation when he cannot recruit anybody anomore but still retain all his troops. The longer I think about it, the more positive I am. Given that it's possible to plunge into debet just because a new general come of age, or that 5000 for the crown is untenable, or any unforeseen even happened, and given your, @Gaku, arguments (the mercenaries are usually paid in the first round, it's rather other expensens that are left unpaid), I'd allow for a lower threashold.

Originally Posted by Gaku

1. Do the Saxons count as mercenaries then? If so, can they get stats suitable for mercs rather than peasant militia?
2/3. They weren't waiting at all, because they got paid both turns that the nation is in debt. The merc upkeep is paid whether you are in debt or not, as is the unit upkeep for all units while you're in debt. The nation being in debt has no bearing on whether they are paid.
So in effect, they got paid both times, and I could have continued paying them, but they disbanded anyway for reasons other than not getting paid?
Alternatively, if the mercs are supposedly not being paid while I'm in debt, then I should be reimbursed 100% of the upkeep costs of all mercs when I go into debt. which will not only allow me to come out of debt faster/easier to thereafter continue paying them, but also put the game into line with what is being claimed.
In reality, the mechanic should be changed. I get that you want to punish players for going negative, but the reasoning behind this event is nothing besides showing the player a middle finger. being 1000 florins in debt causes 15000 florins worth of mercs (who would have continued getting paid regardless) to disband simultaneously. Why? because reasons.

Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow

1. types of units that get disbanded... yes, this is just byproduct of using the mercenary_unit attribute for other reasons. And the Magyar Cavalry uses this attribute, while the Nobles don't. Should probably be better explained, maybe better coded. It's one of the consequences of having not enough modders, and too many hardcoded limits :-(
2. consequences of debt - you're warned before hand, it was enough to disband a knightly unit in this case. The mercs were wating for the whole year (2 turns) for their money, no wonder they dispersed.
3. the threshold - there's already one - it's 0 florins.

Originally Posted by Gaku

All of my Saxons, which are supposedly "peasant militia", disbanded along with the "mercenaries". As did my Magyar Cavalry, which are the backbone of my army and take an eternity to recruit. Wait, hold up... My Magyar Cavalry disbanded as "mercenaries", but my Magyar Nobles didn't? Is that intentional? If so, why did all of my other elite troops disband? In any case, my army is gone, and I'm surrounded by OP warmongering scumbags.
This feels like being hit with an overdraft fee by the bank for being 35 cents in the red, except they foreclose your mortgage, repossess your car, and shoot your dog while they're at it.
Instead of losing your mercs for being in the red for 2 turns, it should be based on a threshold - maybe 10,000 florins. Even if you're in the red, the fact that you're paying back your debt means the mercs are actively being paid. So whether you're in debt or not should have no bearing on the mercs until you reach some critical limit.

Thread: SSHIP ver. 0.98 - April 25th, 2024 - DOWNLOAD HERE

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