Dune Wars - the Better BUG AI Edition

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A late Christmas present for you all! :)

A new version of Dune Wars built using Better BUG AI as a base.

On top of this there are a collection of new Dune Wars features and changes:

Homeworld Reinforcements mechanic changes

- there is now an approved list of units for the Homeworld screen including combat units only - not spies and transports
- faction unique and controlled units - such as Sardaukar Legionaries, Trikes and Razzia Raiders can be recruited.
- increased refresh rate (this can be tuned by simply changing the parameters g_iSpawningChance and g_iUnitPoolSizeSpawningDivisor in the file MercenaryUtils.py)
- cosmetic improvements to HW screen - wider unit name column, elite units indicated with a star, better starfield graphics and planet graphic tweaks:

Spoiler :

- better alerts in the main game screen:



Spice Monopoly Victory added

- You need to be controlling 85% of the total spice at all players' capitals plus over a fixed amount of spice scaled by map size (this level works out at 40 unit for Std Arrakis mapscript and 51 for Large Arrakis mapscript):



- this can be tuned by editing the numbers in the functions SpiceVictoryFixedAmount and SpiceVictoryGetPercentage in the file DuneWars.py

Other Gameplay Changes

+ Automated Factory and Automated Research Centre now require Thinking Machines state religion and Thinking Machines in the city.
+ Removed no nukes vote from Landsraad
+ Mentat Civic plus Sapho now gives +3 health/happiness rather than +25 (a classic case of change something for testing and forget to change it back)
+ Fixed bug with flag mouseover not displaying Alia's changed traits.
+ Fixed bug with Fremen Workers getting both Sandrider and Sandworker promos and therefore six moves in desert.
+ Dragonfly does not upgrade to Cielago anymore
+ Removed the limit of 7 World Wonders per city i.e. back to vanilla
+ Changed the global define MAX_TRADE_ROUTES from 6 back to the vanilla value of 8
+ Poorly Maintained promo (given to Botanical Testing Station Vulture Thopter and Quad) now has -60% City Attack and excludes/overwrites the Ixian promo
+ Great Convention civic no longer provides +2 happy with Barracks
+ Tleilaxu Zensufi Shrine no longer provides +1 gold per city with Zensufism
+ INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT increased to 2 - this should make unit maintenance more of a concern
+ Laza Tigers changed as per Ahriman's suggestion to be Strength 3, +100% vs guardsmen and melee, targets weakest unit in stack (code imported from FFH2), no longer hidden nationality:



+ Better BUG AI base includes new AI developments such as improved Civic selection and better building evaluation.


Art/Text

+ Spice is now a terrain which means you can see borders and grids on it - also tweaked other terrain textures. (I have slight performance concerns about this)
+ Tweaked Worm texture and worm animation now cycles when fortified (i.e. after it eats a harvester)
+ Replaced some out of date gameplay hints
+ Changed some of the sillier diplomacy text (cup of tea, rose gardens, Kumbaya...)



The latest version of this is Dune Wars 1.9.1 (executable installer):

>>>>>>>>>>>> Download Here <<<<<<<<<<<

If you've not installed Dune Wars before you may need to do the following:
1. Find your existing directory My Documents/My Games/Beyond The Sword.
2. Underneath that, create a directory Dune Wars. Underneath that create a directory UserSettings (no space between "User" and "Settings")

So the directory My Documents/My Games/Beyond The Sword/Dune Wars/UserSettings needs to exist.

(The installer should do this I thought but it doesn't seem to be.)

This version is compatible with the latest Music Pack.

Looking for feedback on how this version plays with regards to the AI and on the new features. Post any feedback in this thread just so I know which version you are referring to.

The plan is for this to become the new version of Dune Wars provided there are no major issues found. There may be one or two things missed during the merge so let me know if you spot anything strange.

.
 

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A late Christmas present for you all!
Awesome! I am still inundated with family, so might not be able to test for the next week+.

faction unique and controlled units - such as Sardaukar Legionaries, Trikes and Razzia Raiders can be recruited.
Only with the required faction/resource, I'm assuming?

Also: Giedi Prime looks *badass*.

this can be tuned by editing the numbers in the functions SpiceVictoryFixedAmount and SpiceVictoryGetPercentage in the file DuneWars.py
Cool, these numbers will be great to get feedback on. Is it possible to make SpiceVictoryFixedAmount dependent on map size, if we think that's the right way to go?
Otherwise the victory will probably be impossible on smaller maps, and might be too easy on very big maps.

Other Gameplay Changes
Fantastic, thanks so much.
Any playtest feedback on these would be really appreciated, especially the maintenance cost.
 
Is it possible to make SpiceVictoryFixedAmount dependent on map size, if we think that's the right way to go?
Otherwise the victory will probably be impossible on smaller maps, and might be too easy on very big maps.

It already is. The formula is currently number of map tiles divided by 100. As I mentioned above, this means the fixed amount is 40 units of spice for Standard Arrakis mapscript and 51 for Large Arrakis mapscript.
 
So cool, Iain! You rock. Wait, no, actually you're a jerk. There are a bunch of other games I wanted to spend time with that I probably won't be playing now because I'm eager to try some of these changes. I like the sound of the revamped homeworld and the automated factory/research being an incentive for Thinking Machine. But I'm particularly looking forward to the spice victory.

-Tom
 
I am running into this issue.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=336978
I don't really understand what I have to do to fix it.

Hi dommain. Locate the directory Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword and create a folder called Dune Wars (with a spice) then within that create another folder UserSettings (without a space).

When I create an installer for this version it will do this bit automatically.
 
Of course he did
 
Mod runs fine, stable so far.
Fremen Deathstill still saves 50% of water, should only save 30% like the water cache. [We forgot to adjust the Deathstill when we adjusted the Water Cache.]
Alternatively, we could leave the Deathstill at 50%, but remove the +1 water.

I think we're really more balanced if Fremen start with 1 soldier 1 scout, rather than 2 scouts, which can let them pop too many goody huts.

Serious bug:
Fremen worker (which has sandrider, but NOT sandworker) cannot enter desert waste tile. Giving myself Stillsuit tech in worldbuilder didn't seem to change this. Manually adding stillsuit promotion to the unit also didn't seem to change it?

I like the coloring of rugged vs rock, but we seem to have lost the old rugged texturing.
It feels a bit weird that something so flat gives a defensive bonus.

I think the revised religion modifiers have meant that people don't hate Tleilaxu enough. I'm only getting -1 to -3 penalties in the early game.
If we're having lower religion penalties, perhaps we should just add permanent -2 relation vendetta between Tleilaxu and every other faction.
This would also slightly reduce the exploit where the human player doesn't adopt the Tleilaxu religion as state religion.

Philosophical trait might really be too powerful on a Tleilaxu leader.
Maybe organized instead for Scytale?
 
In this latest update, the Ix Spy Drone doesn't have any promotions. This means no suspensor travel and, as far as I can tell, no espionage missions.

Unfortunately, all espionage units can't get promotions right now. The reason is simple, I forgot to change this bit in XML/GlobalDefinesAlt.xml in the rebuilt version:

Code:
	<!-- Super Spies -->
	<Define>
		<DefineName>SS_ENABLED</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>0</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>
	<Define>
		<DefineName>SS_BRIBE</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>0</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>
	<Define>
		<DefineName>SS_ASSASSINATE</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>0</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>

If you change those zeroes to ones then Spy units will be able to receive promotions again. I plan to do some code clean up to make options that are fundamental to Dune Wars un-optional.

Mod runs fine, stable so far.
Fremen Deathstill still saves 50% of water, should only save 30% like the water cache. [We forgot to adjust the Deathstill when we adjusted the Water Cache.]
Alternatively, we could leave the Deathstill at 50%, but remove the +1 water.

I think I prefer the saving more water option - feels more thematic to me.

I think we're really more balanced if Fremen start with 1 soldier 1 scout, rather than 2 scouts, which can let them pop too many goody huts.

Only two of a civs start units are specified in the Civilization Infos XML - I'm not sure how the other one is decided. For example, the Atreides have Settler and Soldier in CivilizationInfos, but always start with two Soliders (even though they start with the Exploration tech) while the Fremen have Settler and Scout in CivilizationInfos, but always start with multiple Scouts. The Fremen don't start with Exploration, but can build Scouts straight away since Fremen Scout doesn't require Exploration unlike the Scout Thopter which it replaces.

I wonder if we should just arrange things so that every civ starts with a Settler, a Soldier and a Scout unit.

Fremen worker (which has sandrider, but NOT sandworker) cannot enter desert waste tile. Giving myself Stillsuit tech in worldbuilder didn't seem to change this. Manually adding stillsuit promotion to the unit also didn't seem to change it?

This is because the Worker unit can't enter Desert Waste until Exploration and Deep Desert until Stillsuits - this is defined in the UnitInfos XML - Sandrider doesn't change this. Do we need to change this?

I like the coloring of rugged vs rock, but we seem to have lost the old rugged texturing.
It feels a bit weird that something so flat gives a defensive bonus.

I'll try and tweak the texture some more - it's quite hard to make something that is clearly distinct from both Rock and Mesa when it also has big black marks in the texture.

I think the revised religion modifiers have meant that people don't hate Tleilaxu enough. I'm only getting -1 to -3 penalties in the early game.
If we're having lower religion penalties, perhaps we should just add permanent -2 relation vendetta between Tleilaxu and every other faction.
This would also slightly reduce the exploit where the human player doesn't adopt the Tleilaxu religion as state religion.

I made tweaks to the XML a while ago to make religious differences cause *more* negative attitude rather than less, so this sounds weird.

Philosophical trait might really be too powerful on a Tleilaxu leader.
Maybe organized instead for Scytale?

Don't see why not. Might be more appropriate anyway.
 
I think I prefer the saving more water option - feels more thematic to me.
Agreed, and its easier for the player to notice the difference.

I wonder if we should just arrange things so that every civ starts with a Settler, a Soldier and a Scout unit.
Thats doable, but I'd prefer to have it tech-linked; exploration is a weak tech to start with (it doesn't allow any improvements) and so I'd prefer civs that start with exploration be the only ones that start with a scout unit, with the exception of Fremen.
When I tinkered with it before though it seemed slightly strange.

This is because the Worker unit can't enter Desert Waste until Exploration and Deep Desert until Stillsuits - this is defined in the UnitInfos XML - Sandrider doesn't change this. Do we need to change this?
Oops. No, its fine, I just forgot I didn't have exploration work. I tested, it works fine.
And here I thought I was so clever, thinking it was a byproduct of the sandrider/sandworker change....

it's quite hard to make something that is clearly distinct from both Rock and Mesa when it also has big black marks in the texture
Understood. I don't know anything about how these work, but I liked the old texture, and the new coloring.

I made tweaks to the XML a while ago to make religious differences cause *more* negative attitude rather than less, so this sounds weird
Perhaps its just because players don't care so much in the early game when they only have 1-2 cities of a particular religion, and care more later when their state religion is throughout their whole empire.
Let me wait and see.
 
Laza tiger should maybe just get the bonuses on attack; they shouldn't be a good stack defender.
Maybe should also get a city attack penalty; they should be for attacking units out in the open, not in cities.
Otherwise, seems to be working nicely.
They are a *huge* PITA to deal with when playing as Fremen.

Zealots are a big too good as defensive units.
Maybe we should make then strength 5, but have them start with a couple of the zeal promotions?

Dune Messiah mouseover text (in the city screen) needs to be clarified to make it clear that it gives +7% military production per city, not +7 military production per city.

Ginaz training promotions should require combat 2 or city attack 2.

Desert warfare promotion should be available to melee units only if they have sandrider (or stillsuit) promotion. Stillsuit promotion should not be selectable as a normal-level up (or should be blocked by sandrider at least).
 
Exploring through the data, I discovered we still have "colonial expenses", the multiplier to city expenses for cities on other continents. As far as I can tell, it doubles city maintenance (from both distance and number of cities).

This really makes no sense in the Dune Wars context; why should you be penalized just because your starting rock was small, and your cities aren't directly connected to your original continent?

I think we should remove colonial expenses.

However, this would have a huge impact on the overall economy; to compensate, we would need to significantly increase other expenses.

One option would be to double city maintenance. This would over-estimate the increase in maintenance, but many people feel that expansion in Dune Wars is too fast, and that economy is too high.
Doubling city maintenance while removing colonial expenses would increase total maintenance expenses somewhat, which would encourage you to slow down slightly in the expansion, and would relax (but not necessarily remove) the need to do a lot of tech cost tweaking.

Another would be to remove colony costs but increase city maintenance by a smaller amount; perhaps 50% or 70%. This would more closely approximate current city maintenance costs.
 
Naib's Chosen are not intended to have Marauder; that's the special ability of the Razzia Raider.

The Razzia Raider is a low-strength roller replacement, the Naib's Chosen is a high strength, mobile, semi-shield trooper replacement. It doesn't need the raider ability too, it has the strength to be a core fighter.

The Raider is *nasty* at blitzing through the enemy harvester farm, a couple of them can rapidly wreck an enemy economy, they might even be too powerful. Maybe they need to be limited to 1 move.

An idea for the shield trooper effect: maybe when standing still the shield should be "off", so we can see the cool uniform the guy is wearing underneath, and the shield effect would be turned on only in the combat animation? That could be quite cool.
 
I don' t know if it' s only my problem or not but looking at the dune civilopedia, since I' ve "installed" this new version, seems that the "death hand" icon, "spice workers" icon and some more are missing...

In addition to that, a bunch of building animations are missing and those lacking their proper animation appear as a "scientific lab" but without texture on it (so is an half red sphere)

Is someone able to explain me why? does not seem to lacking any texture or animation;
I' ve even tried to repack the FPK file with previou one and even to add the lacking texture and interface buttons but... nothing worked....

Suggestions? solutions?

Let me know...
 
Exploring through the data, I discovered we still have "colonial expenses", the multiplier to city expenses for cities on other continents. As far as I can tell, it doubles city maintenance (from both distance and number of cities).

Colony Expenses seems to be zero whenever I hover over City Maintenance in the Financial Advisor for all players. Is that where you are looking? Looking at the code I can't see why it is zero.
 
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