tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
This is a quick tutorial on how to use a sub bug technique to start wars in a Civ III mod/scenario.
Using this method is easy if it is required to start a war between civ's very early in a scenario... but what if it is needed 100 or more turns down the road? This can be more of a complex situation, and sometimes may not seem easy to implement.
Well, there is a very simple solution (but does require that the map does have some areas setup properly to accomplish this, which will be shown below). Using this method allows one to make sure a nation declares war on another with absolute certainty and at a specific time in the game.
This example shows how a war will be started 98 turns down the road:
FIRST, the nation that will be declaring war will need to have either:
1. A small lake inside of it's territory with 2 cities near it (1 of these cities needs to be on the edge of the lake, the other needs to be within 1 tile or closer to the lake).
- OR -
2. This can also be done on the coast of a civ's territory, but it is best if it is on a location that will not be traveled upon by any vessels at all.
So to give an example, let's say you need to have Greece start a war with the Persians 98 turns after the start of the scenario, here's an example of how this can be easily accomplished:
For Option #1, the example will show how to do so with the below city placement example.
As you can see, Athens is 1 tile away from the lake, and Sparta is on the lake (this could be accomplished with Athens on the lake also). Note: cities are not in the correct spots, this is just an example!
Now, since this is a lake, the AI will not build ships (I don't think ever) so there is no fear of the war being started early or by another civ.
2 units will be needed to make this work:
1. A unit I will call 'War Starter'. This will be an invisible Barbarian Immobile ship (see below).
2. A unit I will call 'Special Unit'. This will be a Greek immobile land unit (see below).
The Special Unit must have the Unit abilities 'Immobile' and 'Detect Invisible'. You can also give the unit 'Radar' if the War Starter unit is 2 tiles away (If it is only 1 tile, this is not needed). The A/D values can be anything, just make sure to leave the action 'Load' unchecked so this unit cannot load a transport.
The Special Unit will need to have a prerequisite of an Unresearchable Tech (so that the nation cannot build it). A sample unresearchable Tech is shown below:
This tech has no era, so no nation can get it.
NOW, I have placed 2 War Starter Units on the map (in the lake). They are invisible so they will not be seen in the game.
The white colored sub on the right is the Barbarian War Starter. The Light Blue colored sub is the Persian War Starter. Both units cannot be disbanded, so they are safe from the AI/Human Player doing so.
NEXT STEP: Make 2 Pre-placed Wonders, one in Athens and one in Sparta.
The Athens Wonder will create the Special Unit we made above.
The Sparta Wonder will create any ship you wish, the ship it makes MUST NOT be able to detect invisible!!!!!! Very important.
Both Wonders must have the prerequisite 'Unresearchable Tech' so that civ's cannot build it. Now, preplace the Athens Wonder into Athens city, and preplace the Sparta Wonder into the Sparta city. Both wonders create their unit in 98 turns.
And Bravo! The war will be started on that civ's appropriate turn.
Here's what happens on Turn 98:
On Turn 98, Athens Auto-produces the 'Special Unit' and Sparta Auto-produces the 'Galley'. Remember that my Special Unit has Radar and detect invisible, so it's radar will spot the Barbarian sub. NOTE!!! The Special Unit must not be able to see the Persian sub, otherwise the Sub Bug will not occur! So make sure it is not within 'Spotting Range.
Once the AI sees the Barbarian sub, it will use it's Galley to attack it, and will run into the Persian sub on the way.
I have attached the BIQ file here View attachment SubBugStarter.zip, so anyone can analyze it if they need to get a better idea of how to do this. It's pretty easy to setup. This can be used past 100 turns (since auto-production cannot go past 100), but does not always guarentee that a war is started at the perfect time.
So to start a war 200 turns down the road (or even 900 turns down the road if properly setup), You would need to create a resource that 'appears' in a tech likely to be researched by the War Starting AI 100 turns down the road (from the start). Then both the Wonders (Athens/Sparta) would require this resource (so they will not auto-produce until it is discovered; just make sure they have access to it). Then you would hit close to 200 turns, of course you may need to make sure you fine tune it to work.
This same idea can apply to coastal cities (on the ocean), but you need to make sure it is a non-traveled area, to avoid wars starting prematurely.
Hope this helps everyone, that may need to use the good ole sub bug to start wars in a slightly easier and more consistent way.
Tom
Using this method is easy if it is required to start a war between civ's very early in a scenario... but what if it is needed 100 or more turns down the road? This can be more of a complex situation, and sometimes may not seem easy to implement.
Well, there is a very simple solution (but does require that the map does have some areas setup properly to accomplish this, which will be shown below). Using this method allows one to make sure a nation declares war on another with absolute certainty and at a specific time in the game.
This example shows how a war will be started 98 turns down the road:
FIRST, the nation that will be declaring war will need to have either:
1. A small lake inside of it's territory with 2 cities near it (1 of these cities needs to be on the edge of the lake, the other needs to be within 1 tile or closer to the lake).
- OR -
2. This can also be done on the coast of a civ's territory, but it is best if it is on a location that will not be traveled upon by any vessels at all.
So to give an example, let's say you need to have Greece start a war with the Persians 98 turns after the start of the scenario, here's an example of how this can be easily accomplished:
For Option #1, the example will show how to do so with the below city placement example.
As you can see, Athens is 1 tile away from the lake, and Sparta is on the lake (this could be accomplished with Athens on the lake also). Note: cities are not in the correct spots, this is just an example!
Now, since this is a lake, the AI will not build ships (I don't think ever) so there is no fear of the war being started early or by another civ.
2 units will be needed to make this work:
1. A unit I will call 'War Starter'. This will be an invisible Barbarian Immobile ship (see below).
2. A unit I will call 'Special Unit'. This will be a Greek immobile land unit (see below).
The Special Unit must have the Unit abilities 'Immobile' and 'Detect Invisible'. You can also give the unit 'Radar' if the War Starter unit is 2 tiles away (If it is only 1 tile, this is not needed). The A/D values can be anything, just make sure to leave the action 'Load' unchecked so this unit cannot load a transport.
The Special Unit will need to have a prerequisite of an Unresearchable Tech (so that the nation cannot build it). A sample unresearchable Tech is shown below:
This tech has no era, so no nation can get it.
NOW, I have placed 2 War Starter Units on the map (in the lake). They are invisible so they will not be seen in the game.
The white colored sub on the right is the Barbarian War Starter. The Light Blue colored sub is the Persian War Starter. Both units cannot be disbanded, so they are safe from the AI/Human Player doing so.
NEXT STEP: Make 2 Pre-placed Wonders, one in Athens and one in Sparta.
The Athens Wonder will create the Special Unit we made above.
The Sparta Wonder will create any ship you wish, the ship it makes MUST NOT be able to detect invisible!!!!!! Very important.
Both Wonders must have the prerequisite 'Unresearchable Tech' so that civ's cannot build it. Now, preplace the Athens Wonder into Athens city, and preplace the Sparta Wonder into the Sparta city. Both wonders create their unit in 98 turns.
And Bravo! The war will be started on that civ's appropriate turn.
Here's what happens on Turn 98:
On Turn 98, Athens Auto-produces the 'Special Unit' and Sparta Auto-produces the 'Galley'. Remember that my Special Unit has Radar and detect invisible, so it's radar will spot the Barbarian sub. NOTE!!! The Special Unit must not be able to see the Persian sub, otherwise the Sub Bug will not occur! So make sure it is not within 'Spotting Range.
Once the AI sees the Barbarian sub, it will use it's Galley to attack it, and will run into the Persian sub on the way.
I have attached the BIQ file here View attachment SubBugStarter.zip, so anyone can analyze it if they need to get a better idea of how to do this. It's pretty easy to setup. This can be used past 100 turns (since auto-production cannot go past 100), but does not always guarentee that a war is started at the perfect time.
So to start a war 200 turns down the road (or even 900 turns down the road if properly setup), You would need to create a resource that 'appears' in a tech likely to be researched by the War Starting AI 100 turns down the road (from the start). Then both the Wonders (Athens/Sparta) would require this resource (so they will not auto-produce until it is discovered; just make sure they have access to it). Then you would hit close to 200 turns, of course you may need to make sure you fine tune it to work.
This same idea can apply to coastal cities (on the ocean), but you need to make sure it is a non-traveled area, to avoid wars starting prematurely.
Hope this helps everyone, that may need to use the good ole sub bug to start wars in a slightly easier and more consistent way.
Tom