I think at long last I understand how these work. It has always been a bit hit and miss for me in the past using these. I have usually used enemy troop numbers killed to trigger messages from the bad guys.

e.g. Enemy Troops killed (Any) 100 ----> message from Snake "Oh er..."

But if I added another then things seemed to get a little random. But not any more:-

Well I was working on the map6, The Pilgrims' Progress in the community campaign. I was setting up some messages from the wolf (who plays the evil Lord Daynon). This map has small, discrete, forces and I was able to see clearly what was happening and when.

Say we have three events
Jan 1066 - Enemy troops killed (Any) 10 - Message Snake "Oh Er..."
Feb 1066 - Enemy troops killed (Any) 5 - Message Pig "Wahh..."
Mar 1066 - Enemy troops killed (Any) 20 - Message Snake "Maybe I have underestimated...."

Now assume the game play date is June 1066 and the player starts to kill the enemy.

First
The engine sorts the events based on enemy troops killed into order with smallest troops killed quantity first. It ignores date as long as the date had come and gone (I assume).
So the first event triggers when the first 5 troops have died (not 10 like the earliest date event, but 5 the smallest killed event).

Second
A further 10 enemy have to die to trigger the next message. And finally a further 20 enemy have to die to trigger the last message. So that last event triggers after a total of 35 troops killed (not just 20)

Third
Engineers manning siege equipment do not get counted as troops killed.
Troops killed on traps do not count as troops killed.

Fourth
I found no variation due to play difficulty level. The numbers triggering events remained the same whether on Normal or Very Hard.

[This message has been edited by ericgolf (edited 08-19-2007 @ 07:11 AM).]