RealFort was designed to deal with the lackluster benefits of building forts in vanilla Civ IV. It provides extra bonuses for units that are within the fortifications.

Fort Bonus I:
+10% healing rate
+10% strength

Fort Bonus II (requires Optics):
immune to first strike
+1 visibility range

Fort Bonus III (requires Steel):
+1 first strike chance
10% withdrawal chance

These bonuses are granted via promotions. Unfortunately, adding (or removing) promotions causes savegame incompatibility. So RealFort will not work with existing games. You need to start a new game to take advantage of it.

RealFort should NOT be installed in your main Civ IV location, as it will overwrite necessary files. Instead, it should be installed at: "My Documents\My Games\Civilization 4".

Bh

sweet idea man, although i still dont know if its worth it. I never build forts mostly cause i dont think the AI will deem it nescisary to attack them, just leaving a stack of units in this stagenent area that is useless, although ive never used them so i dont know if the AI actually does desregard them or not lol

It's important to note that units in the fort get those benefits regardless of their actions. In other words, they get them attacking as well as defending.

So if you know the AI is going to take a certain route into your territory to attack, fort up, and attack from inside the fort.

Bh

cool, ill dl and try it out, maybe this will change my mind about forts :D

Nice idea, but the problem is:
there are only rare places which could be worth to build a fortification - ressources and small passages. The AI hunts down your improvements but moves around the fortifications most of the time.
In the case of a ressource you cant build the fort (or leave the ressource unused) - so leaving only small passages.

The fort is an old relict where units had ZOCs (zone of controls) - it that case they were very good.

That's the point of this mod. Because you can gain benefits while attacking, it gives you a ZoC-like system. Basically, your units can attack any of the 8 surrounding squares at an advantage. This can help prevent the enemy from pillaging, because you've got a secure spot to work from. And because of the accelerated healing rate, your units won't be 'down' long if they get wounded.

Bh

Great stuff.

I think the defence bonus should be boosted too. A hill with a forrest gives you 75% but the fort only 25%... so with the original rules there is really no good reason to build a fort when you have a forrest nearby....

wow - that is a good idea!!
way better than only increasind def bonus or something like that.
:goodjob:

When being in a fort an attacking it would cause the unit to go to the defender's location when the attacker is successful.

However for units like bowmen who will not even leave the fort while attacking it makes no sense to move to the probably unprotected location of the defender.

oh yes, could this be mod that the attacker can chose if he want to go to this new location or to stay in the fort?
some kind of "withdrawal" after winning.

Unfortunately that's not likely possible without the SDK. There's no pre-move event, only a post-move one.

Consider, however, that if you build roads around the fort (it is in your territory, after all), even units with 1 movement can attack out, and then retreat back to the fort.

Bh

I build forts and usually sentry knights / artilery there around important resources.

Hourses early on, copper, iron, gun powder etc. will always usually have a fort near by with a knight in it for killing evil bad people

I think that you should definitely up the heal rate for 10% to 25%, because 10% isnt a great increase. Also, the defense of the fort should be upped to maybe about 60%, because in real life it's easier to defend a for then a city.

The defense can be modified with the XML tables, I didn't touch that, actually. I'm not sure increasing the healing rate that much would be good. Units already heal fairly quickly in friendly territory, so giving them effectively a free "Healing I" seems like it should be sufficient. But because the mod works by attaching Promotions to the Forts, you can actually modify the Promotions yourself, if you wish to. The XML file for them is included.

Bh

Is it possible to make forts buildable on other improvements?

I remember when you could build a City on a fort... mmmm

Is it possible to make forts buildable on other improvements?

Unfortunately, no. Forts are considered 'Improvements', and the game only lets you have one 'Improvement' per square. I don't think there's any way to change that, short of the SDK.

Bh

do the units keep the promotion(s) when they leave the fort?

Nope, units only have the promotion(s) when on the fort square. As soon as they leave the square, they lose the promotions.

Bh

is it possible to improve your fort like it was in the expansion of civ3? and provide the advanced fort an extra 10% def bonus or something like that (not too strong because of balance)?

Forts are considered 'Improvements', and the game only lets you have one 'Improvement' per square. I don't think there's any way to change that, short of the SDK.Well, roads/railroads obviously fall into a second category of stuff that can be built by Workers. You can't create a third?

I'm trying to understand here... do you actually have to use up a promotion opportunity on the Fort Bonus? Or is the Fort Bonus applied to ANY unit that happens to be on the fortified tile?

EDIT: And if its the former rather than the latter, would there be anyway, to have it so that forts simply give said bonuses to any unit that happens to be on their tiles and not just ones with a Fort Bonus?

@Simetrical
If you created a third category the AI's wouldn't know how to use them correctly.

Blast.

I'm trying to understand here... do you actually have to use up a promotion opportunity on the Fort Bonus? Or is the Fort Bonus applied to ANY unit that happens to be on the fortified tile?

It's the latter. With the caveat that "any unit" doesn't apply to air or worker units.

Bh

It's the latter. With the caveat that "any unit" doesn't apply to air or worker units.

Bh

Excellent.. then this shall find a welcome home in my games :)

Hi there. I just wanted to say that you have created a really great mod here. I really like the changes you've made to the anemic forts in CivIVanilla.

I do, however, have a couple of requests...
1. Is it possible to make forts coexist with forest tiles? It seems odd that you have to remove a forest to make a fort. If possible, it would make strategic fort placement more useful in terrain with few hills.
2. Can a fort modify the attack penalty incurred when crossing water? It seems logical that attackers on sortie from a fort would not be impaired by terrain immediate to said fort.

I hope you will address my questions. I sure you get tons of requests. Either way, you've got a great mod. It will continue to be a part of my "Required Mods" list.

What would happen if forts were placed in the same category as roads/railroads? Could the AI then be told to build them on/near resources? As it stands, the ease with which strategic resources are destroyed doesn't ring true to me. I'd like to make these resources easier to defend.

Awaiting word on whether this RealFort Mod is compatible with the Civ 1.09 patch.

I don't know if it's working or not, there realy is no way of telling if this mod works or not?

Awaiting word on whether this RealFort Mod is compatible with the Civ 1.09 patch.

It is!

(ten char)

I think it's a great idea. but when exacty will I will be able to promote to it? because right now my units I build with baracks doesn't seem to able to promote to it.
Can you explain me how to promote to it?

The promotion is automatic for any military unit that enters the fort. It is automatically lost for any unit that leaves the fort.

Bh

Yes units in the fort should not get penalty for attacking over river. Maybe add double movement for all terrains so they easy can get back to the fort after an attack.

Forrest in same tile as fort should not gain extra defence, the higher defence, the longer you see. If attacking units hide/take cover in the forrest it's more like an penalty.

I wish forts could be built like roads and railroads ... *AS WELL AS* the mine/farm/whatever ... I often want to place a fort as added defense to a particularly valuable oil resource or something, and i can't ... Vanilla CIV is just so dumb in this regard.

Hey, I've been using this mod for a while now, and while I like the changes, the fact that the AI never builds forts really gives the human player an unfair advantage.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how we possibly could make the AI not olny build forts, but actually use them as well?

This kinda reminds me of a rather unpleasant arguement I was in before Civ IV was released about ZoC. Anyway, in said arguement I recommended giving a fort a culture bonus, so it is kinda ZoCish kinda colonyish (the loss of colonies in Civ IV is one of the things that I lament the most). Anyway, is there anyway to make it so forts have culture around them, like a city? They would start at 15 culture (so they cast a culture area 1 tile in each direction), and have no way of producing more culture.

Better idea:
Keep forts like you had them for this mod. Add new unit: the Military Engineer. Acts like settler, but founds "Military Base." Bases are a cross between cities and colonies, and aren't as expensive or time consuming to manage. It would work like this: The engineer would move to the tile you want the base on, like one would with a settler. The founding of the base consumes the engineer. The base is a "city" that has a max culture level of one (for reasons I listed above). It would have no science, culture, or great person production. It would have no population. It would have hammer production that is either 1/2 the production of the highest city in your empire or the average of all (I can't decide which), but only military units and military buildings can be produced.

This idea seems to make sense to me, both historically and strategically, but I am afraid it would be too hard to write in to the game. I'm not good with codes and DOS-like programming (I need my GUI!!), but it was hard enough to explain it in this post; I imagine it would be infinately worse trying to explain it to the computer. I don't know, what does everybody else think?

EDIT: Wow, I never realized how old this thread is. Well, I still might get a response (fingers crossed).

A response yes, but probably not the one you want. ;)

Right now, for anything as advanced as that, the SDK would be required. As that isn't out yet, I don't think your idea is doable at this point.

But once the SDK is out, I'll probably revisit the issue. So hold on to that idea. :)

Bh

Bhruic, assuming I can get my Civ IV working again, I'd really like to try your mod, but how does this work in multiplayer games if the other players aren't suing it? Do I pick a mod-only game for single player use? Does it ignore the mod for ongoing pbem games?

I think this mod is absolutely brilliant! Is it possible to create a similar mod for a unit? I've been toying with the idea of a Great General that would give a promotion bonus to stacked units in exactly the same way that you've done here.

i have a problem combining this mod with the random events mod, as both edit the file CvEventInterface in python\entrypoints\

the random events mod has the following code:

import CvRandomEventsEventManager
from CvPythonExtensions import *

normalEventManager = CvRandomEventsEventManager.CvRandomEventsEventMana ger()

def getEventManager():
return normalEventManager

def onEvent(argsList):
'Called when a game event happens - return 1 if the event was consumed'
return getEventManager().handleEvent(argsList)
<snip>


whilst the realfort mod has the following:

import CvCustomEventManager
from CvPythonExtensions import *

normalEventManager = CvCustomEventManager.CvCustomEventManager()

def getEventManager():
return normalEventManager

def onEvent(argsList):
'Called when a game event happens - return 1 if the event was consumed'
return getEventManager().handleEvent(argsList)
<snip>




how can i combine these mods!?!??! HELP!!!

Please!!! Help!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I'd share a modification I made to this mod.

The following changes (in bold) to the CustomAssets\xml\units\CIV4PromotionInfos.xml file will allow units to move back into Fort after an attack - without requiring any roads and regardless of terrain they attacked enemy on. This can also be used to reach deeper into enemy territory from Forts located on a common border - making Forts usefull not only for defence but also for launching attacks.

<PromotionInfo>
<Type>PROMOTION_FORT1</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_PROMOTION_FORT1</Description>
<Sound>AS2D_IF_LEVELUP</Sound>
<PromotionPrereqOr1>NONE</PromotionPrereqOr1>
<PromotionPrereqOr2>NONE</PromotionPrereqOr2>
<TechPrereq>NONE</TechPrereq>
<bBlitz>0</bBlitz>
<bAmphib>0</bAmphib>
<bRiver>0</bRiver>
<bEnemyRoute>0</bEnemyRoute>
<bAlwaysHeal>0</bAlwaysHeal>
<bHillsDoubleMove>1</bHillsDoubleMove>
<bImmuneToFirstStrikes>0</bImmuneToFirstStrikes>
<iVisibilityChange>0</iVisibilityChange>
<iMovesChange>0</iMovesChange>
<iMoveDiscountChange>1</iMoveDiscountChange>
<iWithdrawalChange>0</iWithdrawalChange>
<iCollateralDamageChange>0</iCollateralDamageChange>
<iBombardRateChange>0</iBombardRateChange>
<iFirstStrikesChange>0</iFirstStrikesChange>
<iChanceFirstStrikesChange>0</iChanceFirstStrikesChange>
<iEnemyHealChange>0</iEnemyHealChange>
<iNeutralHealChange>0</iNeutralHealChange>
<iFriendlyHealChange>10</iFriendlyHealChange>
<iSameTileHealChange>0</iSameTileHealChange>
<iAdjacentTileHealChange>0</iAdjacentTileHealChange>
<iCombatPercent>10</iCombatPercent>
<iCityAttack>0</iCityAttack>
<iCityDefense>0</iCityDefense>
<iHillsDefense>0</iHillsDefense>
<TerrainDefenses/>
<FeatureDefenses/>
<UnitCombatMods/>
<DomainMods/>
<TerrainDoubleMoves>
<TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainType>TERRAIN_GRASS</TerrainType>
<bTerrainDoubleMove>1</bTerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainType>TERRAIN_PLAINS</TerrainType>
<bTerrainDoubleMove>1</bTerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainType>TERRAIN_DESERT</TerrainType>
<bTerrainDoubleMove>1</bTerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainType>TERRAIN_SNOW</TerrainType>
<bTerrainDoubleMove>1</bTerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainDoubleMove>
<TerrainType>TERRAIN_TUNDRA</TerrainType>
<bTerrainDoubleMove>1</bTerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMove>
</TerrainDoubleMoves>
<FeatureDoubleMoves>
<FeatureDoubleMove>
<FeatureType>FEATURE_JUNGLE</FeatureType>
<bFeatureDoubleMove>1</bFeatureDoubleMove>
</FeatureDoubleMove>
<FeatureDoubleMove>
<FeatureType>FEATURE_FOREST</FeatureType>
<bFeatureDoubleMove>1</bFeatureDoubleMove>
</FeatureDoubleMove>
</FeatureDoubleMoves>
<UnitCombats/>
<HotKey/>
<bAltDown>0</bAltDown>
<bShiftDown>0</bShiftDown>
<bCtrlDown>0</bCtrlDown>
<iHotKeyPriority>0</iHotKeyPriority>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Promotions/CityGarrison1.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Promotions_Atlas.dds,2,2</Button>
</PromotionInfo>

@Bhruic

Off topic I know... but are you the Bhruic from ISONews?

I thought I'd share a modification I made to this mod.

Unfortunately I have to strongly disagree with this modification. The problem with it (and the reason I didn't choose to add it myself) is that it's too open to exploitation. Simply 'chain' a line of forts across your terrain and you can move across it in a single turn. While that certainly makes forts useful, it's not the sort of 'useful' that I had in mind. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't use it, but I don't recommend it. ;)

Bh

Q. I know that mathmatics is the prereq for forts and I want to change that what file/s do I need to change. I have looked at all the xml files and although you can change the prereqs for just about anything else I cannot find a single line anywhere that give mathmatics as a prerequisite for forts.
Any help would be greatly apreciated -

The problem with it (and the reason I didn't choose to add it myself) is that it's too open to exploitation. Simply 'chain' a line of forts across your terrain and you can move across it in a single turn.Wrong, it doesn't give zero movement cost, it will merely act as were there roads on all terrain - just like an Explorer with Woodsman2 or Guerilla2.

EDIT: While a chain of Forts will essentially work like roads (without roads having to be present) then once you get Engineering(+1 move on roads) roads will offer better movement - and allow for plot improvements also. :)

Q. I know that mathmatics is the prereq for forts and I want to change that what file/s do I need to change.You need to look in the "xml\units\CIV4BuildInfos.xml" file.

I want to merge this into my Composite Mod but with the way it seems to be written I don't know if i can... Looks like it seems to go into a folder other then \Mod\ so I am unsure how to merge it with a normal mod. Any Ideas?

Also is there any way to make the forts like a road where they can be built without interupting any other improvements on that square?

You can put it into mods/YourMod/assets/.... and the rest of the path. No problems there.

do you need to change any of the files cause alot of them look like normal files but have "custom" or something like that in the filename... thats whats throwing me off lol

Thanks bunches CyberChrist, I was starting to see files I know Id checked before..:)

do you need to change any of the files cause alot of them look like normal files but have "custom" or something like that in the filename... thats whats throwing me off lol

As far as I can see there's only the customEventManager-something file. I installed this a long time ago, I didn't do anything to anything and it works for me. That really is all I can tell you!

LMAO about 2min 2 late but thanx :P

I got it working and just uploaded a new version of my mod... I am up to 5 mods + my own changes all rolled up into one. and i have only been working on it 2 days :P

A small note: I changed the icon from City Garrison to Commando. It results in less confusion when glancing at promotions (since it's less common), and is more pictographically representative of a fort (star with a "roof" over it). :)

As he said, having a forest around your fort would actually make it easier to attack; in real life you would almost always clear out all the vegetation around the walls for several hundred feet (if not more).

I also moved the Fort II tech to Engineering (which is on an equal level with Optics), and added the Amphibious promotion to Fort II as well. While it may not be realistic from an offensive standpoint, it improves the benefit of placing forts next to water, which was a big advantage in the real world.

On another note, I've been experimenting with giving the attack bonus solely to Archers and Gunpowder. Instead of immunity to first strikes or strength bonuses, they receive a guaranteed withdraw chance while attacking from a fort's walls. This way they can attack, and be shot back at, but can always pull their heads back down when the losses get too high. This is somewhat like the Bombard or Zone of Control abilities in previous Civs, but the attacker can be severely damaged by counter-fire since withdraws occur on the losing round of combat (near 0 health).

...and added the Amphibious promotion to Fort II as well. While it may not be realistic from an offensive standpoint, it improves the benefit of placing forts next to water, which was a big advantage in the real world.Does this allow land units to attack ships or is it just for the 'ignore river defence bonus'?

Has anyone figured out how to make it so Forts don't destroy improvements they are build over.

Does this allow land units to attack ships or is it just for the 'ignore river defence bonus'?
It just removes the river defense penalty.

I'm now using the following, and it seems to be working very well:

+10% healing (Default)
+1 sight range (Optics)
+10% Strength (Steel)
- Archers and Gunpowder units now withdraw from combat if losing while attacking from the walls of a fort

I tried it with a bonus move after attacking or moving from a fort, but it just added too much of a new gameplay dynamic (the free moves also taking place when you don't attack). Besides, when you attack a stack of units next to a fort, all your units but the last will stay put, like in in real life. If you really want to clear out all the besiegers around a castle you have to come out and fight them hand to hand :)

Great mod Bhruic, forts indeed needed a boost. :cool:

Anyway, I noticed a small bug with it - in the start up screen (when you creat a new game), the gamespeed Marathon is titled instead as TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_MARATHON. Apparently something got messed up in the CIV4GameTextInfos_Objects.xml file. I took a quick look and noticed there were a lot of changes in the default file over the one you had, in particular it seemed they added a bunch of new languages (you probably were working with the 1.09 version, and I have 1.52).
Anyway, I merged your changes into the new file and did a quick test, everything seems to work fine. I've attached the new xml file if anyone's interested.

Also, may I suggest adding a bit more info in the Civilopedia screens. For example in the techs (Optics, Steel), it specifies the bonus but doesn't say that this is done/used by forts. I would also add that info to Fort bonuses, something like "+1 Sight Range with Optics".

@Thalassicus: I like the idea of some units having 100% chance to retreat (it's certainly realistic) but seems to me like it might make them a bit overpowered - put several Infantry in there, one with the Heal promotion and nothing but tanks or a "zerg rush" will be able to take them (or at least that's my initial impression ).

Yeah, the thing is, after units retreat they've only got about 2 strength remaining! So when the attacker comes in with 10-20 units, I've found it actually isn't as useful as first glance, until you reach mech infantry (which can withdraw and move). I wish there was a way I could think of to give ranged units in a fort the equivilant of Civ3 bombardment -- that way you could take potshots from the walls. Right now I'm trying it with an 80% withdraw chance and one first strike. When everything gets the bonus it ends up that mounted units are always the best to station in forts, since they can attack and then move (or attack multiple times with blitz). Limiting it to (primarily) defensive ranged units actually is somewhat of a lesser advantage.

BTW, does the heal bonus from the fort stack with Heal promotion, i.e. would units be healed 20% omre per turn?

I am trying to code having fighters and jet fighters on carriers give a bonus to the carriers strength based on a percentage of each fighters strength on board the carrier. I was told you'd be the one to ask since your mod is similar to what I am trying to accomplish. Any help would be appreciated. Here is the location: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=151232

Has anyone using this mod noticed whether the AI will now use Forts? If not, then this mod serves only to bolster the human player's game.

Has anyone using this mod noticed whether the AI will now use Forts? If not, then this mod serves only to bolster the human player's game.

Has anyone noticed whether the AI uses the vanilla fort?

--Kristine

The AI only uses the fort to block a 1-2 tile land bridge. I have never seen them use it for anything else.

Hi Bhruic, I'm having some problems combining this mod with the Random Events mod. this is because in the CvEventInterface.py file located in the python/entrypoints folder, RealFort defines:

normalEventManager = CvCustomEventManager.CvCustomEventManager()

while Random Events defines:

normalEventManager = CvRandomEventsEventManager.CvRandomEventsEventMana ger()

is there a way around this? thanx in advance for your support! :)

You have to combine the custom event managers into one. A number of mods that use Python code are like this. I used the Sevomod's custom event manager as my starting point personally.

That being said, a CEM is just an auxilliary to the same functions in the standard Event Manager, so everything that mods do in CEMs can be done directly in the CvEventManager.py file instead, it's just a lot more cluttered.

thanks for your kindness LunarMongoose, but luckily I had already solved that issue :) thanx anyway though! ;)

The defense can be modified with the XML tables, I didn't touch that, actually. I'm not sure increasing the healing rate that much would be good. Units already heal fairly quickly in friendly territory, so giving them effectively a free "Healing I" seems like it should be sufficient. But because the mod works by attaching Promotions to the Forts, you can actually modify the Promotions yourself, if you wish to. The XML file for them is included.

Bh

Which file is this? I'd like to start off my modding with something simple, so a little direction to the file would be greatly appreciated.

promotions are located in the file CIV4PromotionInfos.xml in the folder Assets/XML/Units.
the fort itself is located in the file CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml in the folder Assets/XML/terrain

Wow. I can't believe that I had any problems reading those XML files. Well, thanks for showing me the light, Gecko.

Wouldn't it be possible to build forts on other terrain improvements if you made the fort a 'feature' such as forest and jungle? Those can stay in existence, eg lumbermill on forest.

I think Forts should have a zone of control. Basically the same as a level 1 city. Is that possible?

I think Forts should have a zone of control. Basically the same as a level 1 city. Is that possible?

Ha! I suggested pretty much the same thing. It is on page 2 I think of this thread (just look for my first response).

I don't think Bhruic is working on this anymore, though.:cry: No one has really posted for quite some time.

ZOC is a huge problem for the AI. Pathfinding is one of the oldest branches of Artificial Intelligence and there are still numerous mathematical problems that the AI cannot solve as well as a human can. Hence, no ZOC type functions in Civ 4.

I had noticed that Bhruic seems to stopped working on this and seeing as forts, their building, and their use, have always given me great enjoyment I've decided to persue a fort enhancement project.

I started with RealFort's basic idea of giveing promotions to increase the forts stratigic value, but I am going to use the tile, features, and bonuses of the fort, units combat type, and units stats(ie health, first strikes, strenghth) to determine what combinations of promotions are given. I have the archer code about have done on this aspect.

I think Forts should have a zone of control. Basically the same as a level 1 city. Is that possible?
I also have missed ZOC very much, and seeing as I play alot of hotseat games, the AI problem is not such a big concern of mine. With that in mind, I have made good progress in this regard and have implemented a movement reduction to units moving around an enemy fort, aswell as a general harassing attack that damages units slightly each time they move in the eight squares around an enemy fort. I still need to polish osme of the error checking and to tweak the numbers, but this feature should be availabe in the next release of my JFort Mod(see my sig for thread link).

I have watched this thread since I got on these boards and have used this mod in many games, but seeing as Bhruic is around, I'm going to try and take up the banner of improving forts so if anyone has input or ideas, please post them up on my JFort thread. :)