+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Rome : Total War (RTW) | | General/Character Traits | | Explanatory Notes | | | | Release ver: 03 Nov 04 | | www.geraldtan.com/rtw/ | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ CONTENTS ======== 1. Introduction (From the webpage) 2. Annotations to the PDF files/Excel sheets a. Titles/Descriptions b. Effects c. Sorted Effects d. Triggers 3. Release information 1. INTRODUCTION =============== First things first. If you're looking for a Rome:Total War fan site, or discussion board, or forum, or even worse, a crack or cheats, you've come to the wrong place. Neither is there anything on Medieval Total War or Shogun Total War. All this page is, is a collection of Excel and Adobe Acrobat files that summarise generals' traits and ancillaries. None of this stuff is secret - it can all be found in the data directory in plain text files. Next question is, who should use these files? Certainly not the newbie, or the beginner to the game. These files are for those who have questions like: "Is Austere a good or bad trait to have?" "Which is better for my general - to stay in a city, or to walk around the wilderness?" "Is the priest of Bacchus, Ceres, or Jupiter better?" "Do I get better ancillaries if I build a market, academy, or a port?" "How do I get an oracle or mathematician?" The data in the files has already been processed, calculated and sorted. You won't find information like "What is the effect of a level in GoodCommander" - for questions like that, you will have to open up export_descr_character_traits.txt and look for it directly. Granted, I have included some descriptions and information, but bewarned - a lot of it is summarised, which explains why you will see numbers like "Command : +0.6 / level" - in order to make meaningful comparisons, a single weighted number has to be used. Lastly, I have put up the raw data in the form of Excel files. This is really for the "power user" or those amongst you (like me) who really want to play with the inner workings and mechanics of the game engine. The main uses that I can think of are : Correcting errors (which there will be!) in my data entry. For this though, I would appreciate if you can mail me, and I will make the corrections in the main file for everyone to use! Changing the sort order, or hiding or showing extra columns. Changing the weightage of the different attributes (e.g. You feel "Trade" is more important than "Tax"? Just increase the multiplier from 10 to 15!) Changing the numbers to reflect changes to your personal export_descr_ancillaries.txt or export_descr_character_traits.txt files. Please mail me if you spot any mistakes, or have questions about how I got the numbers that aren't in the readme*.txt files. Please DON'T email me to ask me "Do you think X is better than Y", or "How do you get Z", or to suggest patches or mods! I'm in no way related to the Activision or the game designers. Oh! And one last thing, if you can find a better background (i.e. Winnie the Pooh in a centurion outfit, or wearing a roman legionaire costume), send it to me! Enjoy and cheers! 2. Annotations to the PDF files/Excel sheets ============================================ All the information is based on the export_descr_character_traits.txt file. There is no "secret" data that I have used. If my info doesn't tally with the file, most likely I have made a data entry mistake. Do let me know! 2a - Titles/Descriptions ------------------------ This file lists the various "Levels" of a "Trait". "Levels" are what appear when you right click on your character portrait. Not all "levels" are equal - for a given level (eg level 4), some traits have a higher "Threshold", and some a lower one. In order to sort of balance it out, I've tried to equalise the thresholds out. That is why you will see some traits start at level 2, and some skip say, level 3. The exact threshold required is found in the export_descr_character_traits.txt file. "^" marks the NoGoingBackLevel - presumably the point of no return. "`" marks the last beneficial level of a trait - for those traits which are beneficial at low levels, but harmful at higher ones. (Hidden) means the trait will not show on the character portrait. Examples are Divorced and Sane. Antitraits are the opposite of that trait. +1 in an antitrait is essentially -1 to this trait. Culture - I believe there are only 6 large cultures - Roman, Barbarian, Carthaginian, Easterner, Egypt and Greek. 2b - Effects & Calculations --------------------------- Firstly, the effects are a SUMMARY. This is because some traits have different increases at each level. If the increase is constant, then the number is an accurate reflection of the increase in that trait. If the increase is uneven, or even reverses, then I used the following calculation: Average(Level1/1+Level2/2+Level3/3+...+Level6/6) Take for example Drink and the effect on Command Level Command ----- ------- 1 +1 2 0 3 -1 4 -2 5 -3 6 -5 The resultant value is therefore AVERAGE(1,0,-1/3,-2/4,-3/5,-5/6) = -0.2 In other words, I consider "Drink" to have a weighted average of -0.2 on command. Because more generals will have a lower level than a higher level, I've weighted the calculation by introducing a denominator for the higher levels. The choice of "4" for level 4 is purely arbitary and a number I picked out of thin air. Go ahead and change it in the excel file if you want. Secondly, the weightage given to each of the effects (eg management, influence, law) is again totally arbitary. The exact weightage can be found in the excel file under the tab "calculations", highlighted in yellow. Go ahead and change the weights if you want. Lastly, the categorisation into "City", "Combat" and "Personal" is again decided by me. I assume that most of us will divide our generals into City Governors and The Rest That Go Out And Bash Barbarians Up. "Personal" is for the effects I couldn't decided where to fit. :-) Not very important unless you are dying to get your general into the senate or have him make tens of babies or something. The following are detailed explanations of some effects: Squa - Squalor. Note a negative number is good (ie reduces squalor) Unrest - Ditto. PubSec - Public Security Train - Discount on training units (all units). 2=10% discount. 4=20% discount. Train(Mil) - Discount on training a single unit type (eg Infantry) Train(Agn) - Discount on training agents (Spies, Assassins, Diplomats) Cmd(Type) - Includes a large variety of "+1 Command When ". Eg When commanding infantry, when fighting Romans. SgeEng - SiegeEngineering. Bonus points when build siege equipment. (i.e. when siegeing a city) Amb - Ambush Surg - Surgery. Chance of soldiers killed in battle coming back to life. Health - General's health/hitpoints Bodygd - Bodyguard morale BribeR - Bribe Resistance PersSec - Personal Security Don't print the calculations tab, but don't delete it either. 2c - Sorted Effects ------------------- If you want to sort the effects after making a modification in the Excel file, do this: 1) "Select All"(Ctrl-A) in the Effects Tab 2) "Copy"(Ctrl-C) 3) "Select All"(Ctrl-A) in the relevant tab (i.e. Sort-Total, etc) 4) Right Click on any cell -> Paste Special -> Values and Numbers Format 5) Sort 2d - Triggers ------------- I have only included the triggers that are "controllable", ie those you can do something about. Triggers like "coming of age" which are outside your control aren't included. CityTrigger, Character and Trait are the criteria on which the trigger is activated. Unless otherwise specified, for CityTriggers, the general has to be in the city with 100% of movement points remaining. (aren't you glad you read the readme file now? :-) Deg and % are the percentage chance the trait goes up by that degree The first Total, City, Cmbt and Pers are the effect that Trait has. The second Total, City, Cmbt and Pers are the effect that CityTrigger has. Good (2nd column,between City Trigger and Character) is the shortcut representation of the Sum Total (+++ = very good, --- = very bad, etc). Example: City trigger: City Plumbing. Aesthetic : 5% chance of increase by 1 point, which is good(+25), especially for city (+75), but bad for combat(-50). The score is weighted by the % and degree. Epicurean,ExpensiveTaste,Gambling,Girls etc. similarly. Now look at the rightmost column (-35,3,-34,-4). This is the weighted total of all the traits affected by City Plumbing i.e. City Plumbing is overall bad for a general (-35), especially for his combat (-34), and marginally good for his city attributes (+3). Now you see the true power of this database!! 3 - Release information ======================= Well, that's all for now. I'm rushing to get this published, so it looks a bit crappy, do forgive me. Any comments or corrections, please drop me a note at http://www.geraldtan.com/email.html 04 Nov 2004 - First version released.