In M2TW and Kingdoms, the rebels are perhaps the dullest and easy-to-dispose-of faction in the game. Some occasionally wonder why the rebels never do anything to train troops and fortify their settlements from player and AI factions. The answer is quite simple.
They get into -20,000+ debt after turn one, since they start out with 5,000 florins and only get 500 from their King's Purse. Thus they are unable to train troops and rely on brigands, pirates, or other kinds of spawning rebels, which they never use to full affect.
To make a far more challenging and entertaining early-game period, and even worse late-period, turn to descr_strat. There are other guides which explain how to reach it, so use them; I'm focusing on the rebel "challenge".
Scroll down to the rebel faction that contains their starting florins and King's Purse, just below the Mongols' and Timurids' similar information. Change their starting income (should be above King's Purse; east to identify) to a game-changing 90,000,000 florins (type in 90000000 to have it set properly). This amount will ignite the unlit spark that is the great Rebel Empire. Doing this means you won't need to raise the King's Purse, though alternatively you could raise the King's Purse to 20,000 and have a slower, less fast rebel AI. Doing either will mean they will start upgrading their settlements and building each and EVERY building they can get within it, including roads. They will also start pumping out full-stacks at will, starting as soon as they can train troops and sending them either your way or throught their lands. Having the most territories, you will find the rebels having information regarding each and EVERY settlement they have, from Fortaleza to Baghdad, and Oslo to Tunis.
Below this, a list of generals, El Cid and two other Native American dudes who never live to be invaded late-game will be there along with a general for every army and settlement that starts at turn 1, most of which never appear in-game and share the space of garrison information.
El Cid and the other 2 geners will have a part of information called "named character" which makes a general different from a captain. Every other "general" will have the word "general" in "named character"'s position. Change every "general" to "named character", and the next you start a campaign, expect a general in York missing his bodyguard and commanding peasants instead. Convert the Rebel, or "slave" as they appear in descr_strat, to "Playable" and starting a campaign as them will grant you a general in each settlement (including the "German Rebel" army outside Stettin) and the 90,000,000 florin bank or 20,000 King's Purse will appear as well, depending on if you actually changed descr_strat accordingly.
However, if this massive change crashes your games instead (like it did to my Teutonic Campaign and Americas Campaign), then do the reverse of everything above; change it back to 5,000 as starting money and 500 as King's Purse, and each general except for El acid and those two Native American dudes back to "general" (note that Britannia Campaign has Rebels start with 0 florins). A better way would be to replace your "broken" descr_strat with a back-up of it, which I'm sure someone has included in their topic.
As for now, thank you for reading this mega-challenge topic and if you actually got such changes to work, have fun fighting off overpowered rebels!
They get into -20,000+ debt after turn one, since they start out with 5,000 florins and only get 500 from their King's Purse. Thus they are unable to train troops and rely on brigands, pirates, or other kinds of spawning rebels, which they never use to full affect.
To make a far more challenging and entertaining early-game period, and even worse late-period, turn to descr_strat. There are other guides which explain how to reach it, so use them; I'm focusing on the rebel "challenge".
Scroll down to the rebel faction that contains their starting florins and King's Purse, just below the Mongols' and Timurids' similar information. Change their starting income (should be above King's Purse; east to identify) to a game-changing 90,000,000 florins (type in 90000000 to have it set properly). This amount will ignite the unlit spark that is the great Rebel Empire. Doing this means you won't need to raise the King's Purse, though alternatively you could raise the King's Purse to 20,000 and have a slower, less fast rebel AI. Doing either will mean they will start upgrading their settlements and building each and EVERY building they can get within it, including roads. They will also start pumping out full-stacks at will, starting as soon as they can train troops and sending them either your way or throught their lands. Having the most territories, you will find the rebels having information regarding each and EVERY settlement they have, from Fortaleza to Baghdad, and Oslo to Tunis.
Below this, a list of generals, El Cid and two other Native American dudes who never live to be invaded late-game will be there along with a general for every army and settlement that starts at turn 1, most of which never appear in-game and share the space of garrison information.
El Cid and the other 2 geners will have a part of information called "named character" which makes a general different from a captain. Every other "general" will have the word "general" in "named character"'s position. Change every "general" to "named character", and the next you start a campaign, expect a general in York missing his bodyguard and commanding peasants instead. Convert the Rebel, or "slave" as they appear in descr_strat, to "Playable" and starting a campaign as them will grant you a general in each settlement (including the "German Rebel" army outside Stettin) and the 90,000,000 florin bank or 20,000 King's Purse will appear as well, depending on if you actually changed descr_strat accordingly.
However, if this massive change crashes your games instead (like it did to my Teutonic Campaign and Americas Campaign), then do the reverse of everything above; change it back to 5,000 as starting money and 500 as King's Purse, and each general except for El acid and those two Native American dudes back to "general" (note that Britannia Campaign has Rebels start with 0 florins). A better way would be to replace your "broken" descr_strat with a back-up of it, which I'm sure someone has included in their topic.
As for now, thank you for reading this mega-challenge topic and if you actually got such changes to work, have fun fighting off overpowered rebels!