new-culture

name	new-culture
description	Author or revamp a DOTS culture's armor set, troop tree, and recruitment wiring end-to-end. Use for new cultures or troop-tree revamps. Follows docs/ai-includes/new-culture-authoring.md.
argument-hint	["culture-id"]

New Culture — Armor + Troop Tree + Recruitment

End-to-end authoring of a culture's visible-in-game armor + troops + recruitment. Read the authoritative guide first: docs/ai-includes/new-culture-authoring.md. This skill is the entry point + checklist; the guide has the full per-phase detail (modeled on the Dale session, ~11 commits).

GoT re-skin (2026-06-13): DOTS is now Game of Thrones (Robert's Rebellion). Culture model is region = culture, great house = clan — use the GoT StringIds in ADR-011 / .claude/rules/xml-data.md (e.g. the North's culture= value is sturgia, not north/stark). The armor half of this flow (Phases 0–1) below still describes the retired LOTRLOME pipeline (generate_dale_armor.py, LOTRLOME_items/). The new armor source is A Dance of Dragons Armory (ModuleData/ADOD-Assets/ region files); the ADoD armor-wiring pipeline is re-established in the conversion's Phase B. Until then, the culture definition + troop tree + recruitment steps (Phases 2–4) are the live, GoT-ready parts.

When to invoke

• Solus delivered a new culture's .tpac armor pack to wire in, OR
• An existing culture needs a fresh troop tree (revamps like #99 / #211 / #212 / #224 / Dale).

If creating a net-new dots_spcultures.xml Culture object, read docs/cultures.md FIRST (the ~80 culture attributes + 16 NPC files). This flow picks up after the culture definition exists.

Phases

0. Prereqs — decide culture ID (custom vs vanilla-base — check ADR-011 / .claude/rules/xml-data.md, NOT a lore name for vanilla-base cultures); decide tier cap; pick 3–4 ASOIAF/Westeros lore citations; identify the culture's ADoD item folder (North.xml, Dorne.xml, …).
1. Armor — harvest mesh IDs (tools/tpac_skeleton_scan.py --all-types) → clone tools/generate_dale_armor.py → emit XML → register the <culture>/ folder in LOTRLOME_Armory/SubModule.xml.
2. Troops — lore + tier design on paper → generator → troops_<culture>.xml → register in Main/_Module/SubModule.xml.
3. Wire — spcultures.xslt (every CultureObject template/troop attr), dots_partyTemplates.xml (9 templates), VolunteerRecruitmentService.cs (culture + optional settlement/clan pools), add tests.
4. Validate — python tools/validate_all_troop_refs.py (underwear-bug gate), then /ship.
5. Iterate — expect 5–10 follow-up commits (renames, equipment swaps, balance, settlement-specific recruitment, colors). The first ship is a draft.

Gotchas (cost rework if skipped)

• Mesh typos are load-bearing — the engine binds by exact mesh name; preserve Solus's typos verbatim (Dale's chivlary/infrantry).
• Canonical Armory folder — grep ALL LOTRLOME_items/*/ for the item prefix before authoring; first folder with that prefix wins (CLAUDE.md per-prefix table). Wrong folder = duplicate-ID shadowing.
• Cover attributes — leg items need covers_legs="true", gloves covers_hands="true", or the mesh doesn't render (bare legs/hands).
• <Flags UseTeamColor="true" /> on every armor item for banner tint.
• Run /xslt-check after editing spcultures.xslt.