Samhain wrote:These are the starting levels of each tech for the country in order they appear in the research screen in game so the 3 Infantry then the 3 tank, the 3 air, the 3 naval and then the 3 general. AFAIK these figures do nothing for the major countries as their starting techs are determined in another file but they do effect the minor countries.
They do affect the major powers as well. The major powers will have tech based on this file and not the other. I don't know why but I noticed this while modding.
FWIW I have not found that in my modded test games, except for new majors
above country_id 5. In my tests I have found that...
- Countries 0-5 use the "research_progress.txt" file exclusively for the at start tech, and the game will ignore tech level changes in the *.scn file for these countries.
- If you create a new major country like Poland, Hungary, Finland (etc.), then their starting tech levels are read from the *.scn file just as they would be when they were minor countries. The game will not load if you attempt to add new major countries to the "research_progress.txt" file (or the "labs_bought.txt" file for that matter).
Other recent modding notes...
- I tried a test game with 20 leaders each for new 'major' countries Switzerland and Finland and it worked well, but IMO soon became a micromanagement PITA where the amount of busy work required was not greater than the benefits of separate purchasing, tech tracks, and leaders.
- I have had success starting the game about 8 turns before September 1939 with good results, except that a few early spawned units will spawn twice. One issue that only happened once was a graphic glitch where a spawned French AI unit became frozen in a hex. You could not enter or attack the hex the rest of the game, and the AI never used the frozen unit. I'm sure this was not a GS issue, but instead an issue with starting the game early, I believe it might happen when a second duplicate spawned unit is spawned directly on top of the previously spawned unit.
- Also was successful starting a game in 1936, but if you make a lot of mod changes (like adding new majors or changing the side of a current major) then there can be game hanging issues by 1939. I didn't see a lot of advantages of starting the game very early since all the GS related events will not occur before September 1939 anyway, but it's another modding option anyway.
And some observations of AI play related to GS 2.1...
- The AI (allied or axis) will not buy paratroopers or use existing ones as paratroops if they are added to the start of a scenario.
- The German AI will not convert units to SS either, but USSR AI units will get 'Guard' status through experience.
- The only limit to the amount of new leaders you add seems to be the number of available slots in the "message_eng.txt" file, but if you do add 100+ new leaders and buy a lot of them then expect the game to start
crawling along by around 1942 to the point where it is nearly unplayable. I imagine that is due to the 'best leader' calculations added in a previous GS version, or the original CEAW leader calculations that did not work as advertised.
- The AI will not follow build limits, transport, and amphibious invasion limits at all, so to have a remotely fair game with the AI you need to reduce the number of units with build limits and and make the 'over use' cost of transports and amphib invasions '0' in the general.txt file. Otherwise the AI side will be spending 200+ PP's for a
single amphib attack by 1942 and have no PP's left to replace units or buy anything else after the over use penalties get that high. It would probably be wise to follow some house rules to not take advantage of the lack of over use costs after making this change, especially for naval actions.
- You can cancel any AI amphibious invasion (attack on a beach hex by a transport) by hitting the 'X' option when the amphibious invasion count message pops up, so you probably want to have a house rule for never cancelling the AI's invasion attacks:).
- The AI never follows a amphibious invasion attack with a landing by the same unit, a serious disadvantage for the AI. My house rule to help reduce this impact is to not allow any of my units in beach hexes, except if they contain a city or fortress. If you don't do something like that it's far easier now than in past GS versions to keep the AI from making a naval landing.
- It looks like the lab purchase limits
do impact the AI side (basing this on opening a saved game as the AI side to see what labs they had). I've fooled around with giving the AI side more labs to start with ("labs_bought.txt" file) than GS allows and it can make for a nice challenge.