[Resource] 12 turns per year with proper aging (2025)

I have reworked my original 12 Turns per Year script into several variations for both M2TW and for Kingdoms. Included are 24 variations of the original script, broken into 4, 6, and 12 turns per year.

Base script:
This is the basic script, just drop it into any working M2 or Kingdoms mod folder and set the start_date and timescale in descr_strat.txt properly and it will run fine. Obviously use the Kingdoms version for Kingdoms and the M2 version for regular M2TW.

12 Turns per Year:
start_date has to be winter
timescale has to be 0.0835

The 12 Turns per Year version is broken into 12 months. Characters age in December.
January - winter
February - winter
March - summer
April - summer
May - summer
June - summer
July - summer
August - summer
September - summer
October - winter
November - winter
December - winter

6 Turns per Year
start_date has to be winter
timescale has to be 0.167

See Also

MedManager - M2TW Mod ManagerEverything you need to know about permanent, stone and/or buildable fortsWhat is Marian Reforms and Gladiator Uprising?Can't Get Medieval 2 Total War to start

The 6 Turns per Year script is broken into 6 periods. Characters age in Jan-Feb
Jan-Feb - winter
March-April - summer
May-June - summer
July-August - summer
Sept-Oct - summer
Nov-Dec - winter

4 Turns per Year
start_date has to be winter
timescale has to be 0.25

The 4 Turns per Year script is broken into quarters. Characters age in the first quarter, Jan-Feb-March
Quarter 1 - Jan-Feb-March - winter
Quarter 2 - Apr-May-June - summer
Quarter 3 - July-Aug-Sept - summer
Quarter 4 - Oct-Nov-Dec - winter

Base script with traits:
This includes traits and triggers to give a movement penalty to all characters in winter. Currently the penalty is 30% but you can change it to whatever you want. Unlike other scripts out there that assign movement penalties in winter, this one only assigns the traits if the character is actually in a region that has winter. A character in a region that never has winter will never have a movement penalty. I believe I got all the regions listed properly in export_descr_character_traits but if you find a mistake be sure to let me know. This is built for the vanilla M2TW map, so if you are using this on a new map you will have to enter your own region ID numbers in the trigger.

See Also

[TW Guide] M2TW: Merchant Guide

To use the traits version, copy the contents of the campaign_script into the campaign script of any working M2TW or Kingdoms mod folder and make the required changes to descr_strat as listed above. Then copy the contents of my export_descr_character_traits.txt into your export_descr_character_traits.txt, and do the same with export_vnvs.txt. Note that you might have to convert this file using Alpacas convertor first. Delete the export_vnvs.txt.strings.bin file and the game will rebuild it.

Currently the traits show up in game for testing purposes. The hidden tag is included in the trait I built, but it is commented out.If you do not want the traits to show up as visible traits then remove the ; in front of the word hidden.

Randomized Winter:
I have included versions that have randomly severe and mild winters. There is an 80% chance of a normal winter, 10% chance of severe winter, and 10% chance of a mild winter. There are also historic_event popups for the severe and mild winters that you can add your own text to or remove entirely if you wish. To use this version install as outlined above then add the text from my historic_events.txt file to the vanilla historic_events.txt file. Note that you might have to convert this file using Alpacas convertor first. Delete the historic_events.txt.strings.bin file and the game will rebuild it.

12 Turns per Year
Mild Winter - Winter in Dec only
Severe Winter - Winter from Sept through April

6 Turns per Year
Mild Winter - Winter in Jan-Feb only
Severe Winter - Winter from Sept through Feb

4 Turns per Year
Since the normal winter is already 1/2 of the year, I didnt include a severe winter, only a mild one. When the mild winter occurs, it will only be winter for the first quarter.

Randomized Winter with Traits:
A combination of all of the above scripts. Copy the text from the files I provided into your files.

All of these scripts will work with any M2 or Kingdoms mod that has the slave faction. The only other requirement is that you have a working mod folder. If you do not have a working mod folder, do not try to run this script as it will not work.

Note:
A hotseat compatible script based on the 'randomized winter with traits' script can be found here.