descr_mercenaries.txt

letovardom

descr_mercenaries.txt controls where mercenaries are recruited in RTW, BI, Alexander and M2TW. The file will be located in each campaign folder, each campaign can have if desired have a different mercenary set up.

Typical Basic Layout

This applies to RTW and BI, further enhancements are available in the other games see topics below.

pool pool_name
	regions region_name_one region_name_two			
	unit unit type name one,	exp 1 cost 1350 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 1 initial 0
	unit unit type name two,	exp 1 cost 825 replenish 0.12 - 0.38 max 1 initial 1

• pool_name - can be any unique name, use underscores and not spaces
• region_name - must be region (province) name and not settlement name. Only include region in one pool, having same region in two pools does not CTD but it only gets the merc's assigned to one of the pools
• unit type name - should be the units 'type' name, the first line in export_descr_unit.txt - units assigned as mercenaries should have the attribute mercenary_unit in export_descr_unit.txt

after each unit comes;

• exp - the experience level of the unit when it is recruited
• cost - the price to purchase the unit (the maintenance cost is still set in export_descr_unit.txt as for other units)
• replenish - range of probability values for the stock of this unit to be replenished each turn
• max - the total number that can be available in the region
• initial - the number available at game start

Differences in Alexander

Alexander allows faction specific recruitment of mercenaries. The unit line has

unit barbarian archer warband,	exp 0 cost 350 replenish 0.05 - 0.09 max 1 initial 0 restrict Scythia

at the end, in the vanilla game only one faction is specified, mods can use

... initial 0 restrict carthage, dacia, britons

etc.

Differences in M2TW

M2TW and the Kingdoms expansion allows years, events and religions to be used to restrict mercenary availability format is

unit ......  max 1 initial 0  events { gunpowder_discovered }

some examples of possible conditions are

religions { islam }

religions { islam } crusading

start_year 1300 end_year 1400

events { gunpowder_discovered }

end_year 1400 events { mongols_invasion_warn }

clearly this allows a great deal of flexibility over when mercenaries can be made available. The use of religion as a restriction can also help to confine the use of certain mercenaries to certain faction groupings. Note that the use of religion here seems to be the nominal religion of the faction and not the percentage value for the religion of the province as used in export_descr_buildings.txt in Kingdoms.