Fix to king upgrade name change

I don't know if some of you were already aware of what I'm gonna talk about, but hopefully it can help some of you.

When you make upgrade chains involving all kings, the game messes up and it renames the unit to that civ's leader, for example to 'Brennus' instead of 'Intended name'. Usually when people make an upgrade it involves using a new resource, and this fix is specifically tied to the required resource as you will be using up the technology tab that is required for the upgrade with this trick.

In fact the only reason you will be using a 'king' upgrade is to fill in an upgrade spot if you happen to have an upgrade in the chain that only requires a tech and no new resource.

It goes like this:

-Create a technology and name it w/e you want. Don't select an age for it, and make it not trade-able.

-Give this tech to any civ that will be using the upgrade chain.

-Make this tech the requirement for the units you want that will be in the same chain, but that each require a different resource. Imagine the upgrade chain for the spearman and how it keeps changing with every new resource. Same idea, but the technology required for all the upgrades will be your custom tech.

That's it! What this does is it allows you to upgrade to an unit that will not be in the build list. A unit tied to a tech which does not belong to any era gets removed from the list, but it's available for upgrading just like the king unit.

This works best for auto-produced units as doing this will end the unit chain meaning that unlike with king upgrades, you won't be able to build the previously available unit in the chain. The chain is restored however if you allow it to upgrade to a normal unit in the future, and any units left over from the previous chain will link to that unit for upgrades. However you will never be able to build the units before the unit upgrade which ended the link even if the previous resource requirements were met. The new start point for the chain will be the latest normal unit upgrade right after the link breaking unit upgrade.

If you have many upgrades and not always required a new resource your set up should be:

-Auto-Produced- King(when no new resource)- HiddenTech Unit(with new resource).

From that point alternate between king unit and hidden unit. It's limited if you have countless upgrades in between with no new resources, but most modders don't do that.

Technically you don't need kings if you stick to 1 new upgrade for each new resource.

What this fixes:

1-Annoying name change to that civ's leader when upgrading from king to king as you wont do king to king anymore.

2-Annoying units which were meant to be powerful and take the front lines to defend a stack to cower behind them because they are 'kings'.

3-Clears the build list from any unwanted units. If you ever wanted to permanently end an upgrade chain (obsolete). Ever been annoyed by how Cavalry in the normal game never disappear? Instead of making them upgrade to tanks, just do this and remove them from the build list. The map will not end up with 100s of tanks prematurely or any other more modern units you would have upgraded it to.

Note:

This does not affect buildings the same way. Buildings basically stick to the rules. If they require that tech, then anyone who owns that tech will build that specific building as is the case in CCM.

I hope I was clear and this helps some of you modders. There is nothing more annoying than having a tank named 'Isabella' after an upgrade

ZergMazter, what happens if you use one of the games king's units as a substitute leader unit? I have discovered that if you give a different unit Leader abilities, it is possible to set the unit to be produced like other units, but still have the Leader abilities, as long as you do not call it a Leader unit.

timerover51 that's interesting. It's mind boggling lol. I had to read your comment like 50 times, but not because you didn't make sense, but because civ 3 sometimes doesn't make sense. So just the name change makes the difference?

ZergMazter said:

...but because civ 3 sometimes doesn't make sense.

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Such heresy

The Ways of the Force of Civ III are just and righteous altogether. Who are we to question why? ...ours is only to seek its knowledge.

Hope Vuldacon is reading this thread & will comment on how this compares to the way the named "hero" units in EFZI are handled.

ZergMazter said:

timerover51 that's interesting. It's mind boggling lol. I had to read your comment like 50 times, but not because you didn't make sense, but because civ 3 sometimes doesn't make sense. So just the name change makes the difference?

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Right now, I have both the Japanese Samurai and the Spanish Conquistador set for Leader in different scenarios and have been having a lot of fun. All you have to do is change "Leader" to "Leaders" and viola, Leaders you can build like regular units. In Vanilla and Play the World, they also finish non-Wonder city improvement and even speed up unit production. Quite interesting to see.

ZergMazter... Using Techs and Resources to avoid King Units is a nice work around for upgrading to different units if one has the resources to accomplish it.

King Units keep their same name when upgraded rather than be given the CIV Leader name if the Unit is named on the Map or if the Unit is Not named on the map, the Unit will be named according to the Name placed in the Editor for the King Upgrade Unit. Example: "Sam Hammer" is a not a King Unit and upgrades to "Sam Hammer Armed" that is a King Unit. "Sam Hammer" is named on the map as "Sam Hammer" and when upgraded to "Sam Hammer Armed", the unit keeps the same name "Sam Hammer". IF "Sam Hammer" was not named on the Map, when upgraded the unit would be named "Sam Hammer Armed" as stated in the editor for the King Upgrade Unit.

Leader abilities do not depend on the unit being "The Great Leaders" that are only gained in battle or the name but rather the checked abilities. The Great Leaders that are gained in battle depend on the specific Great Leader slot in the units 32 and as entered in the PediIcons.txt and Civilopedia.txt. Great Leader abilities are simply Flags that are checked in the Editor and can be given to other units regardless of the name.

In EFZI, all factions can gain Great Leaders in battle. The Great Leaders can finish improvements or Upgrade to a Faction specific "Champion". The Upgrade path is a Great Leader upgrades to the Survivor Champion, Survivor Champion upgrades to the Authority Champion, Authority Champion upgrades to the Company Champion, Company Champion upgrades to the Farmer Champion, Farmer Champion upgrades to the Zombie Champion. Each Champion is a different Unit for each Faction.

Each Champion has a different name. Under "Civilizations" in the Editor, Names are placed under "Military Leaders:" (make sure you have no blank spaces between names on the list).
The Great Leaders gained in battle for each CIV have the names that are placed for each CIV and they are gained in the order you place them for each CIV in the Editor. Those names are for the Great Leaders and stay the same when the Great Leaders are Upgraded to the CIV Specific Champion for each CIV. Yes, each Champion is intended to be a special "Hero" unit, that comes from the "Hero" Great Leader that is won in battle.

This differs from pre-placed "Hero" units that can upgrade to stronger "Hero" units such as Sam Hammer to Sam Hammer Armed, Captain Spiff to Captain Spiff Power Packed, King Arthur to Sniper King Arthur, Etc...

The Civ Specific Champions are gained by taking advantage of Great Leaders that are gained in battle and given the ability to upgrade to another unit and one Civs Champion Upgrades to another Civs Champion to allow each CIV to have their own Specific Champion... Very simple.

I increased the appearance of Great Leaders by setting each Faction = CIV with improvements that increase the appearance of Great Leaders set in the Editor.

One other point regarding a King Unit Upgrade. If a unit is set in the Editor as an Upgrade Unit and set as a King Unit, you can only have one of them. Example: Sam Hammer upgrades to a King Unit so if I had two Sam Hammer units, only one of them could be upgraded. This differs from Great Leaders that can upgrade to many of the same King Units such as the Champion Units in EFZI2.

If you flag Units with Great Leader abilities and special actions in the Editor they can finish improvements and do the same as a Great Leader that is gained in battle. The difference is one can be built or auto-produced and the other can only be gained in battle.

Cool man there should be a book written about civ 3. I mean you know how much work it takes to come up with stuff like that ^. More than half of the things I've come up with was a mere accident. I was trying to accomplish something but found out about something different instead.

This is a great post Vuldacon. Thank you very much for writing it!

Here is one small detail to add: If an autoproduced unit has the flag "leader" in the unit abilities but not the leader tactics, this autoproduced unit (that is no leader unit in the sense of Civ 3) can get different names according to the leader names listed for that civ that receives that unit. In the next version of my mod I use this methode for some special autoproduced Greek heroes. Each one is an autoproduced unit of the same type, but also each one of these units has his own name. Of course this methode could also work with ships and planes on a random map.

Mind blown. Civinator are you talking about the 'Military leader' list? So I could make an auto-produced battleship produce with a different name every time like USS Carolina, USS Dakota, USS whaterver?

I'm gonna go mess with what vulcadon wrote, and this too. At some point I wanted to do something like this, but I couldnt.

ZergMazter said:

Mind blown. Civinator are you talking about the 'Military leader' list? So I could make an auto-produced battleship produce with a different name every time like USS Carolina, USS Dakota, USS whaterver?

I'm gonna go mess with what vulcadon wrote, and this too. At some point I wanted to do something like this, but I couldnt.

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The game will only use the names in your Military Leader list for that civilization. If you exceed the number of Military Leaders, the list begins to repeat. You would not have a separate list for Battleships and say Carriers. The names would all be drawn from the same list. Also, any Leaders that you produce draw on that list. You could have a Battleship Wisconsin, a Carrier Wisconsin, and a Leader Wisconsin.

Cool man there should be a book written about civ 3. I mean you know how much work it takes to come up with stuff like that ^. More than half of the things I've come up with was a mere accident. I was trying to accomplish something but found out about something different instead.

Click to expand...

ZergMazter... This Holds True for the majority of us and by posting the information, we can all build upon what is known.

Here is one small detail to add: If an autoproduced unit has the flag "leader" in the unit abilities but not the leader tactics, this autoproduced unit (that is no leader unit in the sense of Civ 3) can get different names according to the leader names listed for that civ that receives that unit. In the next version of my mod I use this methode for some special autoproduced Greek heroes. Each one is an autoproduced unit of the same type, but also each one of these units has his own name. Of course this methode could also work with ships and planes on a random map.

Click to expand...

Civinator... in your post, does "leader tactics" refer to "Special Actions" in the Editor? and do you also flag "Leader" for AI Strategy? I assume you will Not Flag Leader for the AI to prevent Leader type behavior from the AI.
... I am sure you can also Upgrade the auto-produced special Leader units if desired.
The technique should work very well, especially if the Game does not use traditional Great Leaders.

If I understand correctly, the unit is still a Leader but without the Leader abilities Flagged under "Special Actions". This allows the use of the separate names for Leaders as well as preventing the unit from being built directly and it is Not a King Unit.
...The Unit could be called an "Impotent Leader" Unit.

Another point concerning King Units. If you want the AI to use the King Unit as a "normal unit", do Not flag King Unit for the AI Strategy. King Unit is Flagged under Unit Abilities only. It will still fight last in a stack but the AI will use it otherwise as a "normal unit" on the map.

The game will only use the names in your Military Leader list for that civilization. If you exceed the number of Military Leaders, the list begins to repeat. You would not have a separate list for Battleships and say Carriers. The names would all be drawn from the same list. Also, any Leaders that you produce draw on that list. You could have a Battleship Wisconsin, a Carrier Wisconsin, and a Leader Wisconsin.

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Timeover51... Exactly.

This is somewhat Off direct Topic and perhaps minor or already known by some of you but because it can be used in conjunction with "special units" I thought I would post it here.

Many MODDERS use an "Unobtainable Resource" to prevent directly building a unit that is an Upgrade Unit.

In EFZI2, I have a Resource and Civilization Advance actually called "Unobtainable". The Civilation Advance is Not Used.

The problem was that I did Not want that Resource to show in the Civilopedia for Units or the Civilopedia and have to explain about it. I simply use a statement for Units that Cannot be Built in the Unit Entry.

All that needs to be done for such Resources or Advances is to Leave the "Civilopedia Entry" Blank in the Editor for the Resource and or the Advance. All Works as set up in the Editor but will Not show in the game. Examples: the Resource showing for the Unit Requirements or the Civilopedia entries for the Resource or the Advance. The "Unobtainable" Resource or Advance image or entry will Not be seen at all in Units, Resources or the Civilopedia.

Merely a way to avoid having to explain a Modification technique that is otherwise unnecessary

As the issue of Leaders names has come up, I have been doing some testing, admittedly in Play the World, but is should hold true for Conquests and the Vanilla Game as well, based on the Military Leaders names staying constant throughout the 3 versions. I set up a mod with 30 American Leaders, 27 English Leaders, and greatly increased Leaders for Germany, France, Scandinavia, Spain, Rome, and the Iroquois. The mod loaded and is running with no problems. I have discovered that the game MUST HAVE exactly 76 Barbarian tribe names or it will not run. I am guessing that the figure of 76 might be the limit for Military Leaders, but aside from the Americans and the English, and maybe the French and the Germans, it is going to be hard to come up with 76 leaders for every civilization. I might make it with the Greeks if I carefully go through the Iliad and the successors to Alexander.

Side Note: Does it bug anyone besides me that Hector is listed as a GREEK Military Leader? Hector was the TROJAN Leader. He is also much more likeable than that oaf Achilles. With apologies to Kyriakos for my not liking Achilles. Odysseus, on the other hand, is one of my favorite persons in history.

Side Note 2: Is there any interest in my posting Leader lists for the various civilizations where I have more data?

timerover51 said:

Is there any interest in my posting Leader lists for the various civilizations where I have more data?

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Cities, leaders, ... lists are always good to have.

Blue Monkey said:

Cities, leaders, ... lists are always good to have.

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Acknowledged. I will post on a separate thread.

Question - does it ONLY pull from the Military Leaders list, or does it then move to the Scientific Leaders List?

I also want to see if I understand this correctly.

Lets say I have a CivFanatic Civilization, with a Leader named Thunderfall.

Military leaders are:
ZergMazter
timerover51
ronning

Scientific Leaders:
Blue Monkey
Vuldacon
Civinator

The CivFanatics build the Hero College Wonder, which generates a special unit (flagged as a King) every 40 turns.

Would the first unit be called Thunderfall, the second ZergMazter, etc.?

Gojira54 said:

Question - does it ONLY pull from the Military Leaders list, or does it then move to the Scientific Leaders List?

I also want to see if I understand this correctly.

Lets say I have a CivFanatic Civilization, with a Leader named Thunderfall.

Military leaders are:
ZergMazter
timerover51
ronning

Scientific Leaders:
Blue Monkey
Vuldacon
Civinator

The CivFanatics build the Hero College Wonder, which generates a special unit (flagged as a King) every 40 turns.

Would the first unit be called Thunderfall, the second ZergMazter, etc.?

Click to expand...

It will only pull from the Military Leader list. It would go Thunderfall, ZergMazter, timerover51, ronning, then repeat Thunderfall, etc.

Wow great stuff in this thread! I'm going to have to read through it all again though as I'm not sure I understood everything on the first go. Thanks for sharing!

ZergMazter said:

I don't know if some of you were already aware of what I'm gonna talk about, but hopefully it can help some of you.

When you make upgrade chains involving all kings, the game messes up and it renames the unit to that civ's leader, for example to 'Brennus' instead of 'Intended name'. Usually when people make an upgrade it involves using a new resource, and this fix is specifically tied to the required resource as you will be using up the technology tab that is required for the upgrade with this trick.

In fact the only reason you will be using a 'king' upgrade is to fill in an upgrade spot if you happen to have an upgrade in the chain that only requires a tech and no new resource.

It goes like this:

-Create a technology and name it w/e you want. Don't select an age for it, and make it not trade-able.

-Give this tech to any civ that will be using the upgrade chain.

-Make this tech the requirement for the units you want that will be in the same chain, but that each require a different resource. Imagine the upgrade chain for the spearman and how it keeps changing with every new resource. Same idea, but the technology required for all the upgrades will be your custom tech.

That's it! What this does is it allows you to upgrade to an unit that will not be in the build list. A unit tied to a tech which does not belong to any era gets removed from the list, but it's available for upgrading just like the king unit.

This works best for auto-produced units as doing this will end the unit chain meaning that unlike with king upgrades, you won't be able to build the previously available unit in the chain. The chain is restored however if you allow it to upgrade to a normal unit in the future, and any units left over from the previous chain will link to that unit for upgrades. However you will never be able to build the units before the unit upgrade which ended the link even if the previous resource requirements were met. The new start point for the chain will be the latest normal unit upgrade right after the link breaking unit upgrade.

If you have many upgrades and not always required a new resource your set up should be:

-Auto-Produced- King(when no new resource)- HiddenTech Unit(with new resource).

From that point alternate between king unit and hidden unit. It's limited if you have countless upgrades in between with no new resources, but most modders don't do that.

Technically you don't need kings if you stick to 1 new upgrade for each new resource.

What this fixes:

1-Annoying name change to that civ's leader when upgrading from king to king as you wont do king to king anymore.

2-Annoying units which were meant to be powerful and take the front lines to defend a stack to cower behind them because they are 'kings'.

3-Clears the build list from any unwanted units. If you ever wanted to permanently end an upgrade chain (obsolete). Ever been annoyed by how Cavalry in the normal game never disappear? Instead of making them upgrade to tanks, just do this and remove them from the build list. The map will not end up with 100s of tanks prematurely or any other more modern units you would have upgraded it to.

Note:

This does not affect buildings the same way. Buildings basically stick to the rules. If they require that tech, then anyone who owns that tech will build that specific building as is the case in CCM.

I hope I was clear and this helps some of you modders. There is nothing more annoying than having a tank named 'Isabella' after an upgrade

Click to expand...

This is great thinking ZergMazter

I showed a way so the era-none-units can appear in the civilopedia and gave you the proper credits for your great finding.