This file contains the army HEX file format for the IBM version of Warlords II (and the HEX data structure for DAT resource in the Mac army files). On the IBM, the default army file is called ARMYTYPE.DAT (there is also an ARMYTYP2.DAT with a slight variation of army names) and is located in a subdirectory TERRAIN0 off of the Warlords II main directory.
Note:The Warlords II Deluxe ARMY.DAT file is IDENTICAL to the Warlords II ARMY.DAT file, so the information below on HEX editing the WL2 ARMY.DAT file applies to the WL2D ARMY.DAT file as well.
The data for each army consists of 62 spots where information can be stored. The file does not use all of these positions. It's laid out similar to what you would see in a HEX editor.
(10 11 12 13 14 15)
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 (00) PI 00 Name-------------------------------- 00 00
10 (16) 00 00 00 00 00 00 ST 00 TI 00 CO 00 MO 00 Estab
20 (32) CG 00 OG 00 FG 00 HG 00 CS 00 OS 00 FS 00 HS 00
30 (48) AT 00 -Modi SP 00 FL 00 FM 00 HM 00 NA 00
Here are want the codes mean:
Using 00 as the first one and all numbers need to be in HEX, i.e. movement
PI (00) = Picture Identification
0B = Scouts 0F = Giant Bats
02 = Light Inf. 0E = Orcish Mob
0D = Light Cav. 0A = Catapult
01 = Heavy Inf. 06 = Archers
03 = Dwarves 10 = Pikemen
04 = Heavy Cav. 07 = Wolfriders
05 = Navy 00 = Giants
11 = Minotaurs 0C = Spiders
08 = Pegasi 09 = Griffins
15 = Unicorns 12 = Elephants
17 = Wizards 14 = Giant Worms
18 = Ghosts 1A = Demons
16 = Elementals 1B = Devils
13 = Archons 19 = Dragons
1C = Hero
Name (02-13) = Name of Unit, try not to go past 12 characters
ST (22) = Strength, have not tried values greater than 9
TI (24) = Time to build (5's the limit in SB)
CO (26) = Cost to build (99's the limit in SB)
MO (28) = Movement (99) don't forget 16 movement is 10 in HEX
Estab (30-31) = Amount it costs to establish that army type at a city. For
non-allies Bit 30 works like this: whatever the number is in HEX convert it
to Decimal i.e. HEX DC = 220, and bit 31 works like this: take whatever
number is there and multiply by 256, i.e. HEX 05 so take 5 x 256 = 1280.
Then add the two, 220 + 1280 = 1500. For Allies it works slightly different:
for bit 30 take that number convert to decimal and subtract from 256, i.e.
HEX 48 = 72 so 256 - 72 = 184; and for bit 31 take that number and convert
it to decimal and substract from 255 (yes 255) so HEX F4 = 244 and 255 -
244 = 11 now multiply that number by 256, 11 x 256 = 2816 now add the
two 184 + 2816 = 3000! There are your costs to establish. Take note that FF
for both bits 30 and 31 is the Hero designation.
CG (32) = City Individual Strength bonus 00 = None, 01 = +1 Strength in
cities, etc. I haven't tried going past 03 (+3) because that's the limit in SB
OG (34) = Open Individual Strength bonus same as CG
FG (36) = Forest Individual Strength bonus same as CG
HG (38) = Hill Individual Strength bonus same as CG
CS (40) = City Stack Bonus 00 = None, 01 = +1 to all creatures in that city
stack, 03 is again the limit in SB
OS (42) = Open Stack Bonus same as CS
FS (44) = Forest Stack Bonus same as CS
HS (46) = Hill Stack Bonus same as CS
Note: If the army has +1 (or more) in all of CS, OS, FS, HS then they have
the general stack bonus that a Unicorn would have for instance.
AT (48) = Ally Type 00 = None, 01 = regular ally, 02 = Temple Ally (this
means that this army can be given as a reward for completing quests, and
according to the SB manual Temple Allies must be given flight capability)
Note: If you make an army an ally don't forget to give them bonuses in CS,
OS, FS, and HS of at least +1
-Modi (50,51) = Negative modifier bit 50: FF = -1, FE = -2, FD = -3; bit 51:
FF = Identifies whether army has a negative stack bonus, 00 = no negative
stack bonus
Note: In SB armies cannot be allies and have a negative stack bonus
SP (52) = Special Army Bonus 00 = None, 01 = Cancel City Bonus, 02 =
Cancel Hero Bonus, 03 = Cancel Non-Hero/City Bonus, 04 = Fortify Bonus
FL (54) = Fly 00 = No, 01 = Yes (note: Temple Allies must be given flight
capability otherwise they will not be awarded for completing quests
according to SB manual)
FM (56) = Forest Movement Bonus 00 = None, 01 = Yes use only 2
movements points for each forest square
HM (58) = Hills Movement Bonus same as FM
NA (60) = Navy 00 = No, 01 = Yes
All other bits with 00 are not used by the game. Take note that Estab uses
two bits and that armies that cost less than 255 GP will only use bit 30.
Okay, Lets look at an example!
Here is how it looks like for the first two armies in the default army set:
(10 11 12 13 14 15)
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 (00) 0B 00 53 63 6F 75 74 73 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
| S c o u t s
Picture I.D. = Scouts picture
10 (16) 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 02 00 10 00 0A 00
| | | | |
Strength = 1 | | | |
Time to Build = 1 | | |
Cost to make = 2 (upkeep = 1) | |
Movement 10H = 16 |
Cost to Establish 0AH = 10 GP
20 (32) 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Nothing here no specials or anything (crossbow fodder)!
30 (48) 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 0F 00
| | |
Forest Movement Bonus | |
Hills Movement Bonus |
Start of next army 0F = Giant Bat Picture
40 (64) 47 69 61 6E 74 20 42 61 74 73 00 00 00 00 00 00
G i a n t B a t s
50 (80) 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 05 00 10 00 1E 00 00 00
| | | | |
Strength = 1 | | | |
Time to Build = 1 | | |
Cost to make = 5 (upkeep = 2) | |
Movement 10H = 16 |
Cost to Establish 1E = 30 GP
60 (96) 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
more crossbow fodder!
70(112) 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 . . .
| |
Fly |
Start of next army 02 = Light Inf. Picture . . .
This format is followed for all the armies including Navy and Hero although
for the Navy anything placed in the 62 bits along with the Navy identifier
(60) is ignored (except for picture and name) and for the Hero after FF FF is
specified for bits 30 and 31 you can only change strength (22) and
movement (28)
Things that you can try that I haven't done:
1. Make the Strength larger than 9 (i.e. 0A)
2. Make two Hero or Navy armies
3. Make a Super Army i.e give it +3 for all terrain individual strength and
stack bonuses make it have -3 enemy stack bonus and then one of the
special bonuses i.e. Cancel Hero bonus.
4. Make a powerful army that can "polymorph" and look just like a less
powerful army (use that lesser army's Picture I.D.) like a Light Inf. unit or do
the opposite.
5. Put your own here
Things that I've done to enhance the default army set:
1. Make catapults strength 6 or 7 and bump up their cost statistics that way
computer players will use them more often (I found that 4 turns for a piddly
2 was hardly ever made by computer players).
2. Give wolfriders a hills movement bonus (how can you add +1 to a stack
in hills if you have problems moving through them?).
3. Change the griffin's city individual strength bonus to a city stack bonus.
4. Change the pegasi's stack bonus to a fortify bonus.
5. Add two moment to all armies.
6. Make the (d)orcish mob's time to build to 1 or make them stronger (who
wants to wait 2 turns for a 2!).
7. Make light cav. units have 3 strength.
8. Make pikemen take only 2 turns to produce (3 turns for a 4 even though
it's +1 in the open - blach!).
9. Make heavy cav. strength 5 (makes them tougher).
10. Make spiders, elementals, devils, archons, and the hero faster (maybe
+2-4 to movement).
11. Give elementals forest and hills movement bonuses (they travel on the
elemental plane and obstructions in this plane don't slow them down, except
marshes - can't do anything about that!).
Things that don't show up properly in the army bonus menu (IBM)
1. Fortify bonus does not appear at all (a simple - instead)
2. If a unit has an individual strength bonus in all terrains it shows up as
a hills individual strength bonus, stack bonuses for all terrains show up
properly (+1 stack)
*3. If you give an ally a negative enemy stack bonus and take away its
stack bonuses it shows up as +0 (I like allies with negative stack bonuses)
*4. If you give an army strength bonuses in more than one category but not all
(see 2 above) it will show up as a strength bonus of the last bonus in the
list (the order is city, open, forest, hills), i.e. if a unit has +1 forest and
hills bonuses it will show up as a +1 hills bonus (this applies to individual
or stack)
* = This can only be achieved through the use of a HEX editor