Directed War Dogs

Directed War Dogs — point your dog at a target

Unleashed a war dog and watched it sprint past the fleeing necromancer to bite a shieldwall? No more. This mod gives the pawn who unleashed a dog a new command: Direct the Dog. Pick an enemy — the dog hunts that enemy, turn after turn, until the job is done. Under the hood it uses the engine's own "forced opponent" mechanic (the same one vanilla Taunt uses), so the dog still moves, flanks and bites with 100% vanilla AI — it just knows who its prey is.

The command

• []Direct the Dog — appears on the dog's owner while their dog is on the field. Costs 3 AP / 5 Fatigue.[/]

  []Range = your line of sight. The further your pawn can see, the further it can point. High ground helps.[/]

  []Valid targets are highlighted exactly like a weapon attack; while aiming, the standard arrow marker hovers over your dog so you always know who is about to obey.[/]

  []One order at a time: while the target is alive and reachable, the command is greyed out — no re-issuing every turn. It frees up the moment the target dies, escapes the field, or becomes unreachable.[/]

  []The dog is no fool: if it is locked in melee with an enemy that actually threatens it (zone of control), you can only point at something it can bite without stepping away. Enemies that are fleeing or stunned don't hold it back. If the dog panics, the order is dropped — a terrified dog takes no orders.[/]

  []Works with war dogs and warhounds, including all armored variants. Several handlers with several dogs? Each pawn commands only their own dog.[/]

  []Optional MSU setting: "Only houndmaster can command" (off by default) — restrict the command to the Houndmaster background for flavor.[/]

• []Modern Hooks — required.[/]

  []MSU (Modding Standards & Utilities) — optional, only needed for the settings toggle. The mod works fine without it.[/]

• []Save-safe both ways — nothing is ever written to your save games. Add the mod or remove it mid-campaign, even on a save made mid-battle, and the save stays fully vanilla-readable.[/]

  []Game files untouched — the game's own archives are never modified; the mod is one zip sitting next to them.[/]

  []Additive scripting only — no vanilla file is replaced. The mod hooks three vanilla classes (dog leash items, the dog AI agent, the tactical state) through Modern Hooks and adds one new skill; vanilla dog behavior without an order is byte-for-byte untouched.[/]

  []Defensive by design — if some overhaul swaps the dogs' AI agent for its own, the command quietly hides instead of erroring.[/]