Vragos Campaign - Version 1.2 released! DLC compatible.

[PeaceLove]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=453844 

Vragos Campaign
Version 1.2 released, read the changelog in the bottom of the post for details.
29th of May 2011

Overview

• This is an complete and very extensive overhaul of the campaign, almost nothing remains vanilla.
• The gloves are off, the changes are not just tweaks and fixes but a full rebuild of the campaign.
  
• It is intended for experienced players who want to play the campaigns again, with new possibilities, new challenges and a completely new experience.
• It is not based on any other overhaul or compilation, though some of them have reached the same conclusions that I have.
  
• Testing and balancing is incredible timeconsuming, but remains my top priority. Feedback on anything you find out of balance is much appreciated.

Main features

• Longer campaign, 12 turns per year and Kyoto must be held for two years to become shogun.
• A complete revision of the economy system, including easier access to resources.
• A very comprehensive overhaul of the campaign AI as well as the diplomacy.
• Extensive changes to building effects and some changes to technology effects.
  
• Extensive changes to units stats, unit sizes, garrisons, recruitment and upkeep costs.
• Extensive changes to the battle mechanics.
• The pace of the campaign is slowed down considerably in the beginning - giving both you and the AI a chance to build up your forces and cities - instead of the mass region-swapping that was present in vanilla.
  
• Careful consideration and long term planning will be rewarded, just as doing well on the battlefield will be a must to stay alive and have the power to push back.
• It is carefully balanced, as a stand-alone mod. I strongly recommend you use this mod with only visual and/or audio mods running at the same time. Litterally hundreds of hours of testing and balancing has been put into giving a challenging experience, and to make sure the AI acts realistic.

Major changes from vanilla

• Archers are less accurate, but got more arrows. If left alone they will inflict heavy casualties, but it takes a while. Samurai archers are much more melee capable.
• All samurai units are better armored, they remain low in numbers but have generally had their stats increased. Also more special abilitites available for most samurai units.
• Ashigaru units increased in size, with experience they can be formidable - but are much more prone to routing than samurai units.
• Nodachi got slight anti-cavalry bonuses, and had their defence skills increased.
• Kisho Ninjas increased in stats, size and upkeep.
• Cavalry charges hit deeper and generally melee fighting will be more fractured as units mingle more.
• Movement speed in battle has been reduced for infantry.
• You can upgrade a monestary to a ninja fortress chain, allowing you to build them inside castle cities.
• You can build smiths inside castle cities.
• You can build artisan chains inside castle cities.
• Merchant chains will, when upgraded, give you access to a variety of resources.
• Dojos now add a unit to the garrison very early, and not just at top tier.
• *1.1* Cavalry units are now on par with their infantry counterpart when dismounted.
• *1.1* Hero units increased in size, and all are mounted, with the option to dismount as all other cavalry.
  
• *1.1* Dojos now heavily impact the defence and recruitment capacity and quality of a castle city.
• *1.2* Temples supply monk garrisons.
• *1.2* Katana Ashigaru available for all factions.
  
• *1.2* Matchlock Ashigaru now required a gunsmith. Imported Matchlock Ashigaru still recruitable at Naban ports.

Installation
Just unzip the file and place it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\total war shogun 2\data

Uninstallation
Delete vragos_campaign.pack from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\total war shogun 2\data

Compatibility

• I strongly recommend running this mod alone, the changes are extensive and covers almost all aspects of the game which means it conflicts with most other mods.
• The massive changes in mechanics and unit stats means conflicts with other mods will completely throw off the balance of the game.
  
• It works fine with mods that change unit cards, loading screens and most other visual tweaks. If in doubt, post below and I'll look into it.
  

Before you start

• It is not savegame compatible! You will have to start a new campaign.
  
• It is not multiplayer compatible! If you want to play multiplayer and not risk your avatar, move the vragos_campaign.pack to a backup folder before launching the game.
  
• Do not trust the encyclopedia. I have not updated it to reflect my changes. Read the tooltips - almost nothing is as it was in vanilla.
• It is tested and balanced at hard difficulty.
  
• Approach the campaign as if you never played it before, and be prepared for a long hard struggle to become shogun.
  

Known issues

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

• Your starting units are not updated to the new sizes, I'm working on solving it. Personally I solve it by simply disbanding the ashigaru units and recruiting new ones when I need them.
• One or two great clans will often get destroyed early on, but they often rise again through rebellions. Generally they get destroyed by other great clans though, so I'm alright with it.
  
• Smaller clans sometimes suicide against you when you are defending a castle city. Working on it. Usually they are content to raiding your regions if they are not strong enough to attack though.

My own experiences while testing the campaign

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

• First of all, it is extremely time consuming to test a campaign mod as you can imagine. Your experience of the campaing will depend a lot on which clan you play, if you pick one of the "corner" clans such as Date or Shimazu the start will not be as hard since you can focus your defence on 2 or 3 regions at a time.
• I have based most of my testing on Takeda, as it puts me in the middle of the actions right from the start and force me to be somewhat agressive and in a good spot to watch the AI.
• All testing and balancing has been done on hard difficulty.
  
• I have seen Oda get wiped out, rise again and become my biggest enemy with 20 regions resulting in a 50ish turn war that ended in a stalemate when we were both attacked by other clans.
• I have seen Oda, Mori and Chosokabe ally and dominate over half of Japan, crushing one opponent after another without turning on each other.
• I have only rarely seen grat clans get defeated by minor clans.
• I have lost several campaigns, where I simply failed to stop a clan before it became too powerful.
  
• Naval landings happen much more often, once they even bribed half the army I sent against the landing force.
  
• Not two of my testing campaigns have turned out even remotely the same.

Feedback
Feedback and suggestions are much appreciated, but please be constructive in your critisism.

Work in progress

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

• Testing and bughunting.

Changelog

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

1.2 RELEASE

• Overhaul of Uesegi faction, removing all samurai units from them. Change how this faction in particular recruit monk units, so it is similar to how others recruit samurai units.
• Temples will add monks to the garrison.
• Uesegi naginata monks will gain rapid advance.
• Second wind removed from yari cavalry.
  
• Increased Yari Ashigaru attack and defence slightly.
• Monk hero unit size increased to compensate for them not being mounted.
• Reworked unit collision in battle.
• Added Katana Ashigaru to all factions.
• Heroes slightly reduced in quality, cost and upkeep.
• Ikko Ikki and Uesegi Monk units increased in size.
• Larger accuracy benefits from buildings.
• Increased range and attack speed of towers, but reduced the damage since they were killing off heavy troops way too easy.
• Increased range for all archers and matchlocks.
• Complete rework of missile units, increasing value of armor and making range impact more on accuracy as well as piercing power.
  
• All archer units increased in size. Samurai and monks to 160 on ultra, Ashigaru to 240 on ultra.
  

1.1 RELEASE

• High tier sword, archery and spear dojos now give two units to the defence of the castle city. Lower tiers still give one unit. Garrisons from forts adjusted accordingly.
• Temples now give morale bonus to units recruited, slight reduction in region specialty morale bonuses.
  
• Each dojo now add a recruitment slot. Reduction in recruitment slots from forts/castles.
  
• Reduced income from farms.
• Ports supply 1 food.
• Lowered battle movement speed of cavalry units.
• Cavalry units reworked, increased to 120 in size on ultra. Increased dismounted stats to be slightly better than their infantry counterparts. In essence cavalry is now mounted infantry.
• Heroes are now cavalry units.
• Armor values balanced. Increase in the effectiveness of heavy infantry armor.
  
• Slight reduction in armor gains from smiths.
  
• Reworked bonus for master and legendary dojo bonuses to make them impact the quality of troops as well as the experience.
  
• Increased recruitment time of cavalry to 4 turns (3 turns with master and legendary dojos).
• Minor adjustements to tech bonuses, most importantly more bonuses to fleet campaign movement range.
• Experience levels from dojos reduced, to make experience in battle matter in end game.
  

Special thanks to
spartan_warrior for allowing me to use his larger_garrisons mod, I ended up making my own but was heavily inspired by his mod.
DARTH for his advice on campaign AI.
Ftmch for his less-gloss mod http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=435558
langtutheky for the inspiration to figure out how to edit the campaign file myself.
Lordbaal19 for the support and encouragement.

Attached Files

vragos_campaign_1_2.7z (7.96 MB, 6 views)

Vragos Campaign Mod

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Last edited by Vragos; Today at 05:37 PM. Reason: Version 1.2 released!