Modding the Demo, Part 1.

[spedius01]

Ave,

I've been thinking again, always a bad sign of things to come.

Below is a comparison between a line of text from two sources. (arenasides.txt)

Republican 0 0 50 0 7 21 12 12 3 3 17 7 1 0 4 from the Demo

Republican 0 0 50 0 4 21 2 5 15 1 0 91 from the Full Game

I owe this insight into the discoveries made by my fellow modder, miki.

01. Republican = Roman (ditto in the full game)
02. 0 = placeholder (ditto in the full game)
03. 0 = placeholder (ditto in the full game)
04. 50 = starting denari (ditto in the full game)
05. 0 = placeholder ( ditto in the full game)
06. 7 = Number of squads in the start-up army (4 in the full game)
07. 21 = Legates' ID in squads.txt (ditto in the full game)
08. 12 = Legionaries' ID in squads.txt (2 = Toga Militia/Militia's ID in squads.txt in the full game)
09. 12 = Legionaries' ID in squads.txt (5 = Javelinmen/Skirmishers' ID in squads.txt in the full game)
10. 3 = Auxilia's ID in squads.txt (15 = WesternLC/Scouts ID in squads.txt in the full game)
11. 3 = Auxilia's ID in squads.txt (1 = unknown at the moment in the full game)
12. 17 = Auxiliary Cavalry's ID in squads.txt (0 = placeholder in the full game)
13. 7 = Velites' ID in squads.txt (91 = unknown at the moment in the full game)
14. 1 = unknown at the moment
15. 0 = placeholder
16. 4 = unknown at the moment

Can you see the possibilities above, now that we have identified what the numbers mean?

It means nothing is "cast in stone" and everything can be altered.

All we need is a checklist so we can see which numbers relate to which troop type.

See "Squads.txt, a checklist" soon to be posted at a Forum near you.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Redpossum]

Yeah, I was messing with this last night. It is related to the ID line in squads.txt. You can start with pretty much anything you want.

But it's still not what I really want, which is the ability to create a new campaign.

I actually have three ideas for that.

1. Britannicus - Claudius planned to send his son Britannicus to Britain, to save him from the inevitable dynastic struggle to follow on the death of Claudius. In fact, Britannicus refused to go, and was murdered by Lucius Domitius, who would shortly thereafter become the emperor Nero. A fictional saga of Britannicus in Britain, perhaps culminating in his campaign to capture the throne, sounds like fun to me.

2. Rise of Carthage - self-explanatory.

3. The Sunbird - Carthaginian exiles in central Africa, based on the Wilbur Smith novel of the same name.

Anyhow, ideas are cheap...

[spedius01]

Yeah, I was messing with this last night. It is related to the ID line in squads.txt. You can start with pretty much anything you want.
But it's still not what I really want, which is the ability to create a new campaign.
I actually have three ideas for that.
1. Britannicus - Claudius planned to send his son Britannicus to Britain, to save him from the inevitable dynastic struggle to follow on the death of Claudius. In fact, Britannicus refused to go, and was murdered by Lucius Domitius, who would shortly thereafter become the emperor Nero. A fictional saga of Britannicus in Britain, perhaps culminating in his campaign to capture the throne, sounds like fun to me.
2. Rise of Carthage - self-explanatory.
3. The Sunbird - Carthaginian exiles in central Africa, based on the Wilbur Smith novel of the same name.
Anyhow, ideas are cheap...

Ave possum,

You are a deep thinker! I too would like campaigns based on the ideas that you have so thoughtfully expessed in your post.
I would like an expansion on the Roman Invasion of Britain in 43 AD. I have a stack of books about that.

What do we know about the rise of Carthage, do Livy or Polybius write about it in their books about the Punic Wars?
IIRC you're not a big fan of Livy? They began as a Phoenician settlement, didn't they? As I write I'm looking at Peter Connolly's beautifully illustrated "Hannibal and the Enemies of Rome" Macdonald Educational 1978 (ISBN 0 356 05905 7) it cost ??3.50 when I bought it.

I've got the Wilbur Smith book "The Sunbird" too, I have to confess that I've yet to read it. No time, I have to be in the right frame of mind, now. I have, on occasion, just sat in an armchair and read all day, not noticing the time, until the book is finished.

Who knows, perhaps if we can really get stuck into modding Legion Arena some of the things we would both like to see might be achievable.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo