Deciphering Leader Ratings

[tbriert]

I have a question for anyone who can provide an answer regarding leader ratings, for the mod I am looking at undertaking.

When you look at the leaders61.txt or the XLS spreadsheet file, I can make sense of any number of things. However, I am baffled as to what the value for 'start' means -- the last one in the column. It does not appear to refer to the starting region, nor does it appear to relate to a particular rank or turn delay either. I am mystified as to what this value means, but it must be important.

I can see where the command ratings in the file are not necessarily the ones the leaders start with, as those are set in the regions.txt file. Rather, they appear to be what the command rating becomes when the leader hits his promotion rank after the delay. The delay is self explanatory as well, but also makes it confusing as to how to make a leader enter at a certain date, and promote him automatically at another date.

For example, take Joe Hooker. He is listed as a command rating 12, with a delay 0f 6205 and a rank of 2. He then has a 'start' value of 224. So, I interpret this as Hooker gets promoted in May of 62 to 2 star rank, at which time his CP goes up to 12. I dont know what the start value is however, or how it modifies any other value. As he is brought in as a reinforcement, perhaps it has something to do with designating which theater he comes in, but I dont see how it is tied to a particular region when I can bring him in as a reinforcement directly to an army.

Continuing with my Joe Hooker example, how would I code him for the 1861 scenario if I wanted him to first be available to the Union player to be selected from the leader pool in January, 1862, and to enter with a 1 star rank and a 5 CP rating. Then, I wanted to have him autopromoted in September, 1862 to 2 star rank and a 9 CP rating?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Joel Billings]

Start is the region number that is where the leader is from (determines whether he is an eastern or western theater leader.

As for your question about Hooker, you'd have to give him a 9 CP rating and a delay of 6209 with a rank of 2. This would meet your 1862 stats. Whether he comes in earlier or not is based on what other leaders are available to come along with Hooker's stats. You can't determine both, exactly when he is first available and when he will reach the higher rank.