QuoteFarming and Growth:
Income from farms was historically the major source of income for most states, yet the RTW engine heavily privileges trade (especially sea trade). As a result of this, in a well-balanced mod, you won't be able to recruit and sustain a major army from inland regions. If you could, then you'd have to be able to recruit huge armies from the coastal regions.
We've fixed this by leveraging the game's "tax income" feature into a farm-based income system. Regions are given tax income multipliers based on both their base fertility and the level of farming improvements there. Many improvements also give minor income tax penalties to represent maintenance and/or pollution costs, but they always make up for it in other ways. This forces players to be careful to build infrastructure only where they actually need it.
This ensures that farming (in most regions) is a more important source of wealth than trade, but that trade remains important to your overall income stream. This system allows inland regions to support troops just as well as coastal ones, or at least nearly as well. (A new "river ports" system that increases trade bonuses in regions with great rivers also helps.)
As you can imagine, this system required us to tackle growth, as well. Astute players will have noticed that growth in most RTW mods (to say nothing of the unmodded game) is heavily weighted toward the early game, since a base fertility level of 6 is equivalent to L2 farms + L2 sewers + L2 trader. We thought this made games too quick while simultaneously deprecating the importance of proper region management. So we set up a system of slow, balanced growth that relies more on buildings and less on base fertility.
This allows for the measured growth of regions, and rewards careful management by players. It should also reduce the occurrence of population-growth-induced rioting, since such growth cannot get out of control now. Your people may still have reasons to riot, but displeasure at ahistoric population growth rates will no longer be one of them.
We've also added a Herding building tree for nomadic cultures that they can choose instead of the agricultural tree. This allows them to develop their populations in a more realistic fashion.
You'll see a few new trade resources in the game, such as salt and fish. We thought these were more important than some of the existing ones, and allowed us to more accurately portray the strategic significance of some cities.Here are the rest of the changes:
Much more has changed "under the hood" with the trading system. Fewer buildings provide trade bonuses now, and many of those that do provide such bonuses only boost land trade. This allows us to keep trade income from become the main source of income for almost all factions, like it is in the unmodified game, and it also prevents the income from sea trade from completely overshadowing land trade income. Trade is still very important, of course, but it's now just one part of a balanced budget.
We also went through and carefully documented the major trade routes and centers of the time, then added them to the game with an eye to making in-game trading behaviors map as closely as possible to real-life ones. For instance, the amber resource is placed in-game such that the Amber Road will replicate itself as you play.
Heavy shock cavalry are well-known to us now, but at the time this game takes place they were still a relative novelty in the world. These men and their trained mounts were a valuable resource, warriors more grown than made. A key factor in the decline of the Seleucid Empire’s dominance was its access to the great cavalrymen of Media, Bactria, Cappadocia, and Syria, and its gradual loss of those possessions rapidly accelerated the decline in its military fortunes. However, the basic game gives us no way to replicate the strategic significance of such major sources of cavalrymen.
As a result, we’ve added a “horses” resource to the map. Wherever this resource is visible, you’ll be able to train heavy cavalry. Elsewhere, you’ll only have access to your generals’ bodyguards, to represent the relatively few nobles in these regions that could be called upon to act as heavy cavalry.
Spartan: The ancient Spartan way of life required constant and rigorous military training. Those who keep up the ancient ways are much harder to kill, and armies led by Spartans have much higher morale. Limited to members of the Spartan sub-faction.
Rhetorical Skill: The Greeks invented the arts of rhetoric and logic. Those who master them gain added influence. Acquired from schools and in various other ways.
Political Skill: Increases influence and reduces unrest. Acquired by engaging in political activity.
Demagogue: Increases influence and increases unrest. Acquired by not taxing enough or allowing riots and rebellions.
Kleptocrat: Increases tax income and risk of assassination. Acquired by taxing too much.
Stoicism: Stoicism is a school of philosophy that teaches strict control of the emotions. Mastery of this school of philosophy will improve bribe resistance and law bonus, and protect against a variety of vices. Acquired from schools.
Epicureanism: Epicureanism is a school of philosophy that teaches the rational pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. Mastery of this school of philosophy improves management and squalor bonuses. Acquired from schools.
Legendary Conqueror: This is a special set of traits. If a Greek general achieves great victories on three continents then he gets the Legendary Conqueror trait, and "the Great" added after his name. For "Victor in Europe" you must win a great victory against a Roman faction, or a Barbarian faction, or against the Greek Cities, Macedon, Thrace, or Spain. For "Victor in Africa" you must win a great victory against Carthage, Numidia, or the Ptolemaic Empire. For "Victor in Asia" any Eastern faction, or the Seleucid Empire will do. A win counts as a great victory if the odds are worse than 3:2 and the result is a clear victory or better.
There are now significant virtues associated with all temples, and the vices associated with some temples have been toned down. So, if you have a governor in a settlement it is safe to build any temple type, and it is a good idea to build at least a second level temple to take advantage of the positive effects that this will have on your governor.
All temple types can now be upgraded by all factions, and all of the Olympian gods are now represented. In vanilla RTW it was usually a good idea to demolish existing temples in captured settlements, and to start building your own. In XGM you should always consider whether upgrading might be a better option.
Schools also have a strong positive effect on governors, so it is a good idea to build them anywhere that you expect to have a governor for long periods of time.
- 27 Ethnicities featured to enhance game play
- Many subgroups of clans, tribes, and city-states to give a more in-depth experience
- New imperial titles for faction leaders who are accomplished in power and glory
- Every temples' priest available to all factions
- New traits and ancillaries which give more depth to Barbarian and Eastern Factions
- Health system, now family members can fall ill.
- Supply system, now fighting in enemy territory will be harder than before
- Mentor system, now ancillaries will influence what traits your character gains in the same way as academies do
- Ancillaries weight system, Now characters will have a limited amount of space for ancillaries and could prevent characters from gaining new ancillaries once retinues are full
- New governing system which make the same action give different outcomes based factions and cultures
- Vice from becoming an empire, outcomes differ via cultures
- Leadership bonus from faction leader to effect overall faction's generals
-->Management will have an affect on family members tendency on corruption
-->Influence will have an affect on family members tendency to be bribed
- Harder to gain Main 3 attributes, Command, Management, Influence. Now characters will become specialized in their roles.
Force Diplomacy Script This allows you to force any faction to accept any diplomatic offer you make to them. You can access this by clicking on the help button on the diplomacy scroll (the question mark in the top right corner) and then clicking on the "show me how" button when the advisor comes up.Other Features and Fixes
This option is included so that you can correct for certain weaknesses in the AI. Here are some suggestions for how this option can be used to make the game more realistic and more interesting:
(1) The AI doesn't know when it's beaten. You can use this option to force a faction to accept a ceasefire or protectorate status when they have been beaten down to the point where you could crush them easily. My own house rule is that I can use this option when a faction has been reduced to three regions, I have their capital under siege, and I have enough forces available to crush them easily within a few turns.
(2) The AI often doesn't know a good deal when it sees one. You can use this option to force the AI to accept an offer that is clearly to their advantage.
(3) The AI won't keep an alliance, even with a reliable ally, and even when breaking the alliance would be foolish. If you want to role play a lasting alliance, you can use this option to keep the AI from staring wars that don't make any sense.
If you do use this option it is a good idea to come up with sensible house rules, at the start of your campaign, that govern how and when you can use it. Your game will be a lot less fun if you use this option as a cheat to make the game easier.
Peace with the Dead Script A faction will not form an alliance with you if you are at war with one of its allies. Unfortunately, due to a bug in RTW, this is true even if the ally has been destroyed. This script allows you to make peace with the dead, so that you can form alliances with the living.
To activate this script (1) open the overview scroll, (2) go to the diplomacy tab, (3) click on the help button, and then when the advisor pops up (4) click on the show me how button.