C3X: EXE Mod including Bug Fixes, Stack Bombard, and Much More Release 17

[Flintlock]

Remember when R16 was a huge update that took forever to get done? Remember when I said I wasn't going to do that anymore? You'll never guess what happened...

Eight months later, another huge update. In retrospect, R17 should have been split up over five releases. It has five big features: sea trade optimization, varying civ & leader names by era, zone of control overhaul, defensive bombard overhaul, and resource generating buildings adding yields. Each one of those is big enough to deserve its own release. That's how I was doing things a few years ago, one big change per update, which is why I was putting them out every one to two months. I really do want to get back to that pace.

The complete changelog for R17 is in the previous post. Here are just the changes since Preview 3:

• Apply perfume to all unit types & buildings with the specified name
  • Fixes perfume only applying to one sub-type when a unit type has multiple AI strategies
• Fix max_ai_naval_escorts setting interfering with group movement of naval units belonging to human players
• Fix modified sea retreat rules interfering with naval combat animations
• Improve accuracy of line numbers on error messages

There are a bunch more things I've been working on, like the Christmas lights and other things mentioned recently in this thread, that are going to go in R18 Preview 1. I'm going to make sure to get that done within a week.

 

[SayHayKid]

Awesome. I just finished my first mod. Woof. A lot of work. Ready to start testing it and C3X for the first time. I was able to use Whisky to install it on a Mac running the Windows version of the game via Wine. I am looking forward to seeing lines on the Diplomatic Screen in addition to all the cool stuff. Now I just need to figure out what to enable. Hmmm....

 

[Airutec]

FYI. I didn't have a problem with anti virus and release 17!

 

[Sakharov]

Hi Flintlock! That colorful indicators look awesome! But what about similar thing for workers?
As we can see, there are two workers on the tile: one is building a road, and the other is idle. I want to make the idle one to join the other one, but I have to guess which one is busy in the stack, and which one is not.
Similar indicators for workers would be great.

 

[Civinator]

Flintlock, one more time a big thank you very much for all your brilliant work!

Another big thank you very much for your decision to release the official R17 version of your mod just now before finishing the work with those "Christmas Lights"! This speeds up the release of the next version of CCM, too!

 

[Flintlock]

Thanks for the gratitude, everyone.

Hi Flintlock! That colorful indicators look awesome! But what about similar thing for workers?
As we can see, there are two workers on the tile: one is building a road, and the other is idle. I want to make the idle one to join the other one, but I have to guess which one is busy in the stack, and which one is not.

Hi! That's a good suggestion, I could put the blue indicator on workers that are working some job. That way blue would mean the unit is busy with something instead of specifically that it's intercepting. The alternative is to add another color but it's probably not worth the added complication.

 

[Chalito]

Every release reminds me of Christmas morning when I was a kid, very much appreciated Mr. Flintlock!!

 

[SayHayKid]

Would it be possible to alter "doubles the happiness of XYZ" to "doubles the effect of XYZ"? For example, a wonder could double the research of libraries or the tax revenue marketplaces.

 

[Erlend Philip Wood]

Hi Flintlock! That colorful indicators look awesome! But what about similar thing for workers?
As we can see, there are two workers on the tile: one is building a road, and the other is idle. I want to make the idle one to join the other one, but I have to guess which one is busy in the stack, and which one is not.
Similar indicators for workers would be great.

Hi! That's a good suggestion, I could put the blue indicator on workers that are working some job. That way blue would mean the unit is busy with something instead of specifically that it's intercepting. The alternative is to add another color but it's probably not worth the added complication.

This gave me a new idea. What about replacing text instead? The game starts every line with one of two words: "Wake" or "Activate". Neither are very informative, and could mean many things each. For example, "Activate" in relation to a Worker could mean it is working, it is automated, has unfinished move orders, or currently has no orders and is ready to be given some. Those two words could be replaced with the current orders instead. Such as: Idle, Expended, Fortified, Sentry, Transported, Automated, Working, Moving, Exploring, or Intercepting.

We probably wouldn't need the blue light then; it would just be necessary for the lights to indicate attack ability and movement left.

 

[Flintlock]

Would it be possible to alter "doubles the happiness of XYZ" to "doubles the effect of XYZ"? For example, a wonder could double the research of libraries or the tax revenue marketplaces.

This is awkward because the logic to compute the research & gold produced by each city doesn't lend itself to this kind of change. It's still doable though. I think the easiest approach would be to replace the entire function that does the computation. It's only about 120 lines so it wouldn't be that hard.

This gave me a new idea. What about replacing text instead? The game starts every line with one of two words: "Wake" or "Activate". Neither are very informative, and could mean many things each. For example, "Activate" in relation to a Worker could mean it is working, it is automated, has unfinished move orders, or currently has no orders and is ready to be given some. Those two words could be replaced with the current orders instead. Such as: Idle, Expended, Fortified, Sentry, Transported, Automated, Working, Moving, Exploring, or Intercepting.
We probably wouldn't need the blue light then; it would just be necessary for the lights to indicate attack ability and movement left.

That's a good idea. Even something as simple as "Interrupt" instead of "Wake" or "Activate" for units that are busy intercepting or doing some worker action would remove the need for the blue indicator. The problem is I've already done all the work for the blue indicator so I'm reluctant to redo it, especially because I don't want to delay the next version with a bunch of last minute changes. My plan/hope is to post R18 Preview 1 this weekend. That'll have the indicators so we can see how everyone feels about them after using them in-game.

 

[Erlend Philip Wood]

That's a good idea. Even something as simple as "Interrupt" instead of "Wake" or "Activate" for units that are busy intercepting or doing some worker action would remove the need for the blue indicator. The problem is I've already done all the work for the blue indicator so I'm reluctant to redo it, especially because I don't want to delay the next version with a bunch of last minute changes. My plan/hope is to post R18 Preview 1 this weekend. That'll have the indicators so we can see how everyone feels about them after using them in-game.

Eliminating the blue indicator isn't important, that was just an afterthought. Can't we have both? The indicators and the text are related, yet separate. I don't mind waiting if you release the indicators now, and the text part later. It's only been five days since we got Release 17, after all.

By the way, I'm happy with R17. Many useful features, just implementing them into my mod now. It was highly anticipated!

 

[SayHayKid]

Anybody experimenting with the disallow trespassing active? I am doing the first play through of my mod, C3C Enhanced, with it enabled. I am currently at the beginning of the Middle Ages and there have been only a couple of wars. I did also remove Military Alliances. I don't know if it is related or not. Just an observation. Seems that the Civs grew with mass settler spamming per usual (CCM auto-producing of settlers is looking better and better by the minute), but then settled into their own territory. I am wondering if that has anything to do with closed borders. Hmmm.

I also went with minimum 3 spaces for cities, but since I limited terrain cities can be built on (no desert, jungle, tundra, or marsh) I might alter it two spaces. I do like the 3 spaces distancing, but with the terrain limitations it has made for some wonky gaps. Making it two will add just a little more flexibility.

The AI is producing a good amount of workers at the default 150 setting and working tiles. That feature is working great!

@Flintlock C3X has a lot of whiz bang features, but sometimes the simple things make just as a big of a difference. I am playing Civ 3 on a MacBook Air via Wineksin. Being able to see the lines on the trade screen again are priceless. Thanks.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

I wonder if it's possible to make Conscript the default experience and Regular with barracks? It could add more nuance to veterancy, and make great leaders a little more work to get.

Anybody experimenting with the disallow trespassing active? I am doing the first play through of my mod, C3C Enhanced, with it enabled. I am currently at the beginning of the Middle Ages and there have been only a couple of wars. I did also remove Military Alliances. I don't know if it is related or not. Just an observation. Seems that the Civs grew with mass settler spamming per usual (CCM auto-producing of settlers is looking better and better by the minute), but then settled into their own territory. I am wondering if that has anything to do with closed birders. Hmmm.

I also went with minimum 3 spaces for cities, but since I limited terrain cities can be built on (no desert, jungle, tundra, or marsh) I might alter it two spaces. I do like how do like the 3 spaces distancing, but with the terrain limitations it has made for some wonky gaps. Making to two will add just a little more flexibility.

I am using these settings (borders closed, 3-tile min distance, limited terrain settlers, no military alliances) and like it so far. You're right about fewer wars, but they are bloody when they start.

 

[Arexander]

I believe the 'disallow trespassing' does limit wars, since AI likes to declare surprise wars by walking into the other civ's territory and attacking a city. Players can often see it coming and block or redirect the AI troops so they have time to prepare for the war, or just avoid it completely with some generous trades, but I think not being able to make these surprise wars does limit AI aggression somewhat, since they don't tend to formally declare wars, unless demanding something from a player.

 

[Civinator]

I believe the 'disallow trespassing' does limit wars, since AI likes to declare surprise wars by walking into the other civ's territory and attacking a city. Players can often see it coming and block or redirect the AI troops so they have time to prepare for the war, or just avoid it completely with some generous trades, but I think not being able to make these surprise wars does limit AI aggression somewhat, since they don't tend to formally declare wars, unless demanding something from a player.

For CCM the "disallow trespassing"-option is not needed, as these trespassing units are comfortable targets for enslavers, holy men and lawyers to convince those "trespassers" to stay in that country and to help the "visited" civ as workers, monks or artists.

 

[Ozymandias]

For CCM the "disallow trespassing"-option is not needed, as these trespassing units are comfortable targets for enslavers, holy men and lawyers to convince those "trespassers" to stay in that country and to help the "visited" civ as workers, monks or artists.

How does "disallow trespassing" differ from disallowing "Right of Passage" treaties.

@Arexander - The "Right of Passage" treaties are usually a Human Player cheat, allowing their stacks to move adjacent to Cities, then declaring war. I always disallow these.

 

[SayHayKid]

How does "disallow trespassing" differ from disallowing "Right of Passage" treaties.

@Arexander - The "Right of Passage" treaties are usually a Human Player cheat, allowing their stacks to move adjacent to Cities, then declaring war. I always disallow these.

With disallow trespassing any Civ can NOT enter another Civs borders at all, without a right of passage agreement. In standard game you can enter, but the other Civ will ask you to remove your forces.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

It would be cool if the 'disallow trespassing' could be enabled by a tech. In the ancient era people could march through each other's territory in total disrespect, but once the concept of borders is formalized then it becomes impossible without a DOW.

 

[Virote_Considon]

I wonder if it's possible to make Conscript the default experience and Regular with barracks? It could add more nuance to veterancy, and make great leaders a little more work to get.

And then perhaps having a second improvement or wonder in the city with the barracks effect could allow them to build Veterans?

 

[ZergMazter]

I really like the latest changes on patch 17. I was wondering how hard would it be to further expand on the building resource generating aspect. I got some questions:

Would it be possible to allow resource generating buildings to generate a resource similar to auto-production, so that they can stack? Example Power Plant generates 1 power (resource) every 5 turns.
Would it be possible to cap the resource at a specified number so that no more can be generated after such number? Example Power Plant generated x20 power during 100 turns and production stops.
Would it be possible for produced resources to be consumed by a building? Example building a Power Plant consumes 1 power and there is x19 power left. Power production resumes in 5 turns to cap at x20.
Would it be possible for produced resources to be consumed by a unit? Example building a Tank consumes 1 power and there is x19 power left. Power production resumes in 5 turns to cap at x20.