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