Special Retinues! (New 2.0.2 feature)

[NihilCredo]

There's an extremely interesting modding addition to the latest beta patch update (which should go live this week):

- Retinues are now scripted with a 'potential' trigger rather than simple culture and culture_group fields

That means you can create all sorts of "special troops" now through custom retinues. Some examples:

- a Crannogmen retinue (mix of evasive light infantry / archers with bonus offense) available only if you either are the crannogman-culture Lord of the Neck, or if you are his liege and he has a good opinion of you
- Sworn Swords, somewhat stronger than heavy cavalry, but require a minimum prestige score to be recruited
- Mountain Clans retinue only available to high-intrigue dwarves - ok, just kidding
- Unsullied (heavy infantry with absurd defence and morale) retinues only available to buy if slavery is legal in Astapor as well as in your capital
- The Fiery Hand could be a retinue reserved to the High Priest of Rh'llor (you could make a case for a holy order, but their duties are more like those of a retinue)

Here's the first one as an example:

# Types:
# 0 - Light Infantry
# 1 - Heavy Infantry
# 2 - Pikemen
# 3 - Light Cavalry
# 4 - Heavy Cavalry
# 5 - Archers
# 6 - Horse Archers

RETTYPE_CRANNOGMEN = 
{
	first_type = 0
	first_amount = 200
	
	second_type = 5
	second_amount = 200
	
	potential = {
		d_theneck = {
			holder_scope = {
				culture = crannogman
				OR = {
					character = ROOT
					AND = {
						any_liege = { character = ROOT }
						opinion = { who = ROOT value = 30 }
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
	
	modifier = {
		light_infantry_offensive = 0.2
		light_infantry_defensive = 0.4
		archers_offensive = 0.6
	}
}

 

[Rakdar]

Yes, this makes sense, although I would restrict the maximum cap at 500 men. I've not heard of any household guards with more than this number, except the city watches, which should be included in the garrison and levy anyway.

 

[knuckey]

The new potential scope for retinues could well make them useful for the mod. If we can use them they will most likely be used for Unsullied, and maybe other things.

 

[TankRush]

- Mountain Clans retinue only available to high-intrigue dwarves - ok, just kidding

To late!

You've already convinced me that this should be a thing.

 

[ImPinkAndFluffyBunnyRabbit]

Dont mind me; Just throwing in some ideas.
- Perhaps the master of coin, or whoever controls kings landing could hire a gold-cloaks retinue? (Pikemen??)
- Slave retinues which are large but with small upkeep and low morale?
- And if it is somehow possible, perhaps the wildlings can hire a single Giant as a retinue, maybe it could be a heavy infantry with insane bonuses like 10000% combat ability/morale.
- Summer islanders could possibly hire a retinue of Goldenheart Longbows (Lore-wise, they have longer range and have superior quality to regular bowmen).

 

[NihilCredo]

- Slave retinues which are large but with small upkeep and low morale?
- And if it is somehow possible, perhaps the wildlings can hire a single Giant as a retinue, maybe it could be a heavy infantry with insane bonuses like 10000% combat ability/morale.

Unfortunately I don't believe you can change either the retinues' recruitment costs or restrict their numbers. The only way they can be different from their normal troop types is through combat bonuses (or penalties, though you'd have to remove the generic retinues since they would be strictly superior), and the only way you can balance those out is by making them difficult to unlock, which obviously doesn't help if you want extremely strong options like Giants.

If there were some conditions available to check on your retinues you could at least limit their number (Giant retinue: "Holder must not have any Giant retinue"), or you could have a triggered modifier for some side effects and use the localisation to explain it (Gold Cloak retinue = increase RR in King's Landing since you're taking police off the streets). But I don't think any such scopes or conditions exist atm.