I thought about the multiple thing - I think, though, that it looks after itself quite well. It takes a very long time to upgrade a dark knight to a hero, or to upgrade a sword sister. (Or any of the others - Slaver Chief, Black Khergit Guard and Hired Blade) They also have two heroes each, so by the time one has managed to level up that farmer to an NPC, the likelihood of having a third Hired blade ready to upgrade is fairly low. And by the time a player has got all the NPCs, I think that is enough to keep track of, on top of lots of normal troops.
Obviously, a random-NPC generator would be the real answer, but I can't do that.... I don't think it is possible.
As for the link...
http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/visit.php?cid=1&lid=415
still works as of just now...
what I meant is you need to warn the user about it. otherwise they can do it, will eventually do it, and have a bad surprise. I think you may be able to modify the upgrade menu to put the warning there, very evident, that they cannot have multiple copies of the same hero. that's more than sufficient I think.
Nope you can't have random heroes. they need a id. each one of them. and then there is that 24 slots limits.
I'm not sure what you mean by time to upgrade. it's proportional to the level difference. no one said an heroic peasant need to get to levl 30 to be heroic. in fact he would likely become heroic much earlier, maybe just a couple of level, then keep rising on his own one level at a time. no one said a hero was made in one day.
I did a couple of games starting with 24 ymira clones, it's quite fun. it's like upgrading refugees to sword sisters but more personal.
if you were not aware of it, you can create copy of peasant, make a few change to make him hero rather than troups, leave him minimal peasant gear (rather than random) and name him "heroic peasant" then put him up for hire in one of the tavern (only one copy). the same can be done for pretty much any troup. you can also have a quest similar to "raise vaegir knight" but when you meet the lord, instead of just taking the knight, he return you some "heroic knight in exchange".
you can make that quest unique rather than random, much like the pirates quest, it would take care of the problem of creating copies much better than through the upgrade process. Also it is FAR EASIER to upgrade a trop from level 20 to 30 than to upgrade an actual hero, so you may be making it way too easy for the player. Heroes are extremely powerfull. Fisheyes introduced the code to make heroes loose items when defeated to balance out that fact.
Think of it. heroes require no upkeep. they can use any equipment. they never die. if they never loose their gear and you got pathfinding/tactics/wound treatment/first aid, you will be wipping out the map non stop. why ? if you get defeated, first aid push your heroes back to 70%, wound treatment push it from70% to 100% in the blink of an eye, tactics even out the odds and pathfinding let you both avoid and catchup enemies ar your leisure.
24 xerinas of level one with loosy equipment can wipe out a vaegir war party 8D (a test I did). een 10 are very powerfull. in terms of skills# she's about level 15 (despite what her numbers say, additional levls only add hit points)
So be carefull there, troups don't level the same way. Heroes are harder to level up, need to earn every penny. upgrading troups magically to level 30 is much easier. the highest I ever leveled up my ymiras before the game became a joke was level 15. they are equivalent to xerina by that time, despite starting with zero fighting skills, and having lower hit points. that tell you level 30 will totally wipe out the board. (at least if you gave them skills according to their level). if you overdo it with stuff like power strike 10, which should require str 30, then they'll just wipe out the board even faster.
But it's up to you, it's your mod.
I think an upgrade-exchange quest and standard level up would makes it more challenging and avoid bug.
I really don't know a way to fix the duplicate bug. if they do create a duplicate through upgrade, I'm affraid the "dual marnid" will keep being considered as the two-that-are-one. that is leavig or rejoining always ounting as two. I don't think getting a hired blade to experience level 30 is hard at all. you only need to understand how it works. if YOU kill, they level up slower. if THEY kill, they level up faster. that's why so many peoples give up on marnid and borsha. they start with nearly no fighting skills, and if you surround them with knights, they'll neve level up. however, push borsha to 24 with a knight build and come again to tell be he's no good, I won't believe you. with that build he kick ass. you need to start with river pirates.
so how do you get those hired blades to 30 ? you do the exact same thing, except they're already good at fighting, so it's faster.
you just keep those ired blade with you, nothing else. and as few as possible.
Anyhow, good luck with your mod. the upgrade quest is really easy to do. saves lots of headaches for the players. otherwise there is the menu warning option. but ignoring this fact will just frustrate players who will encounter the bug. single non-random quest is he best way to go. transform whatever troup is delivered into it's heroic equivalent (identical except for being a hero). Not only it will be safer, it will be a lot more fun and personal to grow up that heroic peasant or hired blade or anything else. you will feel that you know him.
anyhow, leveling troops and heroes is very easy if your own character have a "commander" build, rather than a "solo knight" build. if you hit hold position and go solo all they ever got is "a share of the experience" which isn't much and splitted among everyone.
if you let them fight against equivalent or lesser troups and back them up with all the commander skills and the right orders and positioning, or sometime join big battles (a nice way to go up fast) they'll level lightning fast
