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[SFO] AI increased recruitment funds

BE AWARE, THIS MOD MAY NOT WORK WITH MOST AI MODS!
It is however compatible with my bad guy buffs mod for SFO



TL;DR: What does this mod do? Well it's a very simple change with a very big impact:


- Gives the AI at all difficulties a 75% recruitment cost reduction


This change should cause the AI to recruit more varied units and stronger armies, while still retaining the same power levels they had from before, since upkeep is untouched. For a better, longer explanation see below.






Now for the longer explanation.

The AI in Total War does not think ahead while recruiting. It simply recruits what is available that turn, with whatever money it has that turn. It doesn't save up to buy better units.

This has become a problem in SFO as recruitment costs and building costs have risen. The AI needs to spend more money on buildings, having less left over for more-expensive units. This often results in the AI spamming low tier, chaff-filled armies for the entire early game and most of the mid-game. When it could be building 2-3 strong, varied armies it instead opts to build 4-5 armies of skeletons and zombies because it doesn't have the treasury to recruit it's stronger units.

This mod fixes that by reducing the recruitment cost of all units by 50%. You should notice changes to AI army compositions within the first 20 turns, with the most notable changes being for non-elf armies (elves already have baseline expensive units, so they aren't affected much early-game). Instead of 20-stacks consisting of entirely spearmen, swordsmen, and crossbows for the Empire, you'll see Empire Knights, Flagellants, and even Greatswords being mixed in, as an example.

Obviously this will make your campaign harder, as you'll have to deal with stronger armies. However AI upkeep is completely unchanged, meaning the AI won't be more powerful per se. They instead will concentrate their power more, opting to instead build fewer armies with better troops instead of spamming armies with chaff troops.








This mod is still very experimental, and i'm looking for feedback. If feedback is positive enough, i'll see with Venris about getting this put into the main mod, but currently I simply don't have enough campaign data to feel comfortable with that. So please send me your feedback in the comments or message me on discord! I'm looking for examples of good/bad AI army compositions, along with preferably what turn and a bit of background. Thank you!



BE AWARE, THIS MOD MAY NOT WORK WITH MOST AI MODS!
It is however compatible with my bad guy buffs mod for SFO