Common\countries folder
In this folder you will find files defining various aspects about the country, like the graphical look, the historical national ideas ('historical_ideas') and unit types ('historical_units') - in chronological order. We also define monarch names used for generated monarchs ('monarch_names'), and lists of leader and ship names (leader_names and ship_names resp.) for the country to use.
graphical_culture
The graphical culture, or graphical culture type defines the look of soldiers, buildings etc. for each countries. There are eight valid types:
- africangfx - Sub-Saharan Africa
- chinesegfx - East Asia
- easterngfx - Eastern (Orthodox) Europe
- indiangfx - The Subcontinent
- latingfx - Western (Catholic) Europe
- muslimgfx - The Middle East/Muslim world
- northamericagfx - North American natives
- southamericagfx - South American natives
color
This defines the RGB colour used for the specific country on the political map.
historical_ideas
This defines the historical national ideas chronologically. These will e.g. be used when you load a game after 1453.
historical_units
Like ideas above, this defines the historical unit types.
Rulers and leaders names
monarch_names
This is the definition used to define names of new generated monarchs that appear after the first, historically scripted monarch dies.
This could use some explanation. To do this, let's look at an example (this is a trimmed-down, slightly modified version of the list for Foix):
monarch_names = {
"Gaston #4" = 20
"François #0 Phébus" = 20
"François #0" = 5
"Jean #1" = 5
"Jacques #0" = 5
"Cathérine #0" = -5
"Pierre #0" = 5
"Roger #4" = 1
"Roger Bernard #3" = 1
"Bernard Roger #1" = 1
"Aymeric #0" = 0
"Bertran #0" = 0
"Ferrán #0" = 0
"Guilhem #0" = 0
"Jordan #0" = 0
"Xavier #0" = 0
}
As you see, this defines a range of first names. These first names are used to name monarchs that appear after game start. The hash (#) is used to define correct numerals. If we start in 1453, the monarch fo Foix is Gaston IV. When he dies, he will be replaced by a monarch named from our list, and the number after the equation mark defines the chance of that name being picked.
In this case it is four times as likely to be another Gaston as a Jean. And if it is a new Gaston, he will be Gaston V, as the '#4' defines that we have already had four monarchs by that name. These names must be exactly like the names used in the history files, as the historic monarchs are used to adjust the numerals when you start later in the game.
It is also possible to place the numeral between names, as seen for François Phébus. This will give the name as François I Phébus, François II Phébus etc.
As you see there is also a definition for François. This way we can have François I Phébus, François II and then François III Phébus.
Females are defined with negative probability, as Cathérine in the example here.
Lastly, there are a range of names with zero probability. These will not appear for monarchs, but are used in case of a republic. If a country is a republic, the "monarch" (president/stadtholder) is named using a first name from this list and a last name from the leaders list. In the case of a Republic of Foix, the president could be e.g. Aymeric de Baradat or Xavier d'Oreix.
leader_names
This list is used, together with the monarch list above, to name rulers of republics. It is also used to name leaders. In both cases, a first name is taken from the monarch list, and a last name from this list of leaders.
military units names
ship_names
This is a list of possible names for ships. When a country builds a ship, it's name is drawn from this list.
Common for both these last two lists is that single word names can be separated by spaces, while names with more than one word (like de Baradar) must be enclosed in quotation marks.
army_names
This is a list of possible names for armies. When a country create an army from regiments, it's name is drawn from this list.
Common for both these last two lists is that single word names can be separated by spaces, while names with more than one word (like Armée de l'Est) must be enclosed in quotation marks.
fleet_names
This is a list of possible names for fleet. When a country create a fleet from ships, it's name is drawn from this list.
Common for both these last two lists is that single word names can be separated by spaces, while names with more than one word (like Escadre Blanche) must be enclosed in quotation marks.
Artificial intelligence
Most strategic goals of the AI are normally hidden from the player, but can be toggled on from the console with 'view_ai'. The national shield in the diplomacy view then gets a new and very informative tool tip. You will note that the AI has a personality and a number of prioritized goals regarding provinces and other countries. These attributes and goals are normally recalculated when the AI gets a new mission, the ruler dies, a war ends, or it changes form of government. If you examine a saved game file, the relevant entry where this is saved is called 'AI'.
However, the game maintains a second set of 'hard', scripted goals, which are added to the normal strategy every time it recalculates. This is saved under 'ai_hard_strategy'. If you want to hard-wire the AI, it is useful to examine the 'ai' entries of a saved game. Using that syntax, you can set hard AI goals in the country files under 'common\countries', by adding a 'ai_hard_strategy' field.
fixed_ai_strategy
If set to yes, it tells the AI to stop calculating personality and goals, and only use the 'hard' strategy. If you don't set the strategy to fixed, the AI will simply add the 'hard' values to its calculated ones, and ignore the scripted personality. When doing this, the AI will also normalize the values in its lists. So, even if you set a goal to priority 2000, you will never see it higher than 400 in the tool tip or a saved game file (but it will lower other goals proportionally).
ai_hard_strategy
It adds new goals to the hard strategy. Anything you find in the 'ai' entry of a saved game can also be put here. Special cases: 'military_access' and 'colonize_prov' goals are still recalculated, even if the AI is set to fixed. This is necessary for normal AI operation. However. it will still add 'hard' values to the normal ones.
personality = balanced/diplomacy/military/capital/colonial
hre_interest = yes/no
papacy_interest = yes/no
colonize_prov = { id = #province ID value = # }
conquer_prov = { id = #province ID value = # }
cot_prov = { id = #province ID value = # }
explore_prov = { id = #province ID value = # }
convert_prov = { id = #province ID value = # }
building_prov = { key = "building" id = #province ID value = # }
threat = { id = Tag value = # }
antagonize = { id = Tag value = # }
befriend = { id = Tag value = # }
protect = { id = Tag value = # }
convert = { id = Tag value = # }
rival = { id = Tag value = # }
vassal = { id = Tag value = # }
military_access = { id = Tag value = # }
