Pirates! Mod Scenario

[LaCiencia]

Check out my post of a few days back. It's the one with the two "spoiler" entries. It should give you some idea of what's going on.



I suspect all these Treasure Galleons are sailing out of Cartagena, heading north via San Juan, and then veering northwest toward the exit area along the northern edge of the map, near northern Florida. Basically, to catch all these pesky Treasure Galleons, you need to picket all passages from St Kitts all the way to Florida. Trouble is, later in the game Spain will be sending Flag Galleons and Frigates after your ships. Beware, matie!



You need to pile up more than 100,000 gold (used to score victory points) before 1710 (give or take a few years), After that, Spain will probably win the game. Don't waste money with expensive land warfares or massive research. You'll reach the end of the tech tree soon enough.

Early on, Spain is basically helpless. It's near bankruptcy and can't affort to build troops or research much of anything. You need to hit Spain early and as cheaply as possible. And of course, you can't afford to miss too many of these Treasure Galleons either.

Great help Ambreville, thanks a lot!!!

Anyhow I have the same errors as before, I mean:

1. I can't select Spain to play because the game crash
2. If I select anybody else (Morgan so far yet) the game crash several turns later

Any idea???

I have the last Warlords patch v 2.08, I deleted previous version, downloaded and reinstalled ver 1.1 of Pirates, but still the same behavior

 

[Ambreville]

Great help Ambreville, thanks a lot!!!

Anyhow I have the same errors as before, I mean:

1. I can't select Spain to play because the game crash
2. If I select anybody else (Morgan so far yet) the game crash several turns later

You're welcome. I really don't know enough about the internal workings of CIV to help you with the crashing issue. Is it only happening with this scenario?

 

[Kalderus]

thanks paasky, but the problem stay the same... i have change the settings u show, but nothing happens...

ive warlords 2.08... is this mod/scen for warlords < 2.08?

 

[Dogbeard]

thanks paasky, but the problem stay the same... i have change the settings u show, but nothing happens...

ive warlords 2.08... is this mod/scen for warlords < 2.08?

Yes, this mod is for Warlords Ver. 2.08

Kalderus, be sure that the first define in your GlobalDefine.xml is:

<Define>
<DefineName>CIV4_VERSION</DefineName>
<iDefineIntVal>208</iDefineIntVal>
</Define>

If you installed the 2.08 patch, it should have changed this, however.

Anyhow I have the same errors as before, I mean:

1. I can't select Spain to play because the game crash
2. If I select anybody else (Morgan so far yet) the game crash several turns later

Any idea???

I have the last Warlords patch v 2.08, I deleted previous version, downloaded and reinstalled ver 1.1 of Pirates, but still the same behavior

I really have no idea why it's crashing on you like that.

 

[LaCiencia]

I really have no idea why it's crashing on you like that.

You're welcome. I really don't know enough about the internal workings of CIV to help you with the crashing issue. Is it only happening with this scenario?

Yep only with this one, I have downloaded several scenarios and only this one behaves such a way, very

If anybody find a similar situation and a solution please let me know... meanwhile I will have to leave the brotherhood

 

[Kalderus]

i have installed warlord + 2.08 patch... the defines are ok...

this problem i have in this mod and MaxRigaMod only...

but i have a german version of civ4/warlords... is this an idea for a solution?

i have change the language in the Civ4Config.ini but problem stays...

 

[Morfydd]

After playing a few times, I've noticed that the Spanish ALWAYS seem to win around 1702. Something happens around 1680 and they explode score-wise. The game ends with 60+ turns to go. You might need to tweak the way the Spanish obtain gold to make the scenario a little more balanced.
This is an addictive scenario that could be made into a true classic with a patch or two.

Around 1680 the Spanish start sending two treasure ships at a time from Portabello and Categena ..<silver and gold>

a line of pickets along theeir coast works wonders <theres at least two other cities they could be sailing from but to make a treasure ship a city must have gold or silver in its borders so picket each possibility with at least 6 ships and your good>

 

[Ambreville]

Has anyone tried leaving all theirs sloops near the Spanish exit area on the northern edge of the map, rather than picketing the main straits (Florida, Windward, San Juan...)?

The other European merchantmen work differently in that they need to reach another (foreign) port on the map to generate gold. They can't exit the map like Spain's Treasure Galleons do. Part of the problem with this is they often do not have open borders with another CIV. Excepted perhaps England and the Pirates who seem to get along well. This compounds the problem for France and Holland who are weak compared to England or Henry Morgan.

I haven't played Holland yet. I did play both Henry Morgan and England, and managed to win with both. OK, I played Spain just to get an idea how it works (no fair!). France is a WAY tall order. Its musketeers only move one space rather than the normal two. That could be fixed for a small extra tactical edge. The problem with France (and I suspect Holland too) is that there is very little that can be done, and winning remains very tough.

I also think Henry Morgan needs to be locked in war with Spain. When playing Spain, I think Spain ought to be locked in war with the other four CIVs. Otherwise, the AI will remains at peace with Spain and there is no way to budge it. The AI seems to be very happy to be loosing the game, and that's that!

 

[Dogbeard]

France is a WAY tall order. Its musketeers only move one space rather than the normal two. That could be fixed for a small extra tactical edge. The problem with France (and I suspect Holland too) is that there is very little that can be done, and winning remains very tough.

I also think Henry Morgan needs to be locked in war with Spain. When playing Spain, I think Spain ought to be locked in war with the other four CIVs. Otherwise, the AI will remains at peace with Spain and there is no way to budge it. The AI seems to be very happy to be loosing the game, and that's that!

Good suggestions Ambreville. I'll implement those, but rather than locking the other European powers in war, I might just make them very unfriendly towards Spain. The Pirates should probably be locked in eternal war with Spain though.

 

[Ambreville]

(...) rather than locking the other European powers in war, I might just make them very unfriendly towards Spain.

That's only if the player runs Spain -- otherwise no, of course. I don't know whether that "if" condition can be coded into the game though.

 

[Ambreville]

BTW -- would it possible to add a function allowing the non-Spanish European civs (France, Holland, and England) to hire AI-controlled pirate ships (privateers) after learning the Letter of Marque tech? Privateer ships would be able to attack another CIV's ships without their employer formally declaring war.

Any time a European ship ends its turn next to a pirate ship, there would be a chance of a "For Hire" sign to pop up. If so, the European CIV then has the option of hiring that specific pirate ship. Privateers incur their employer a turn-based cost until sunk or dismissed. The cost would be based on the ship's type and experience. The employer receives half the privateer's booty. Once hired, I'm not sure if privateers ought to be AI- or player-controlled. Any thoughts?

Likewise, I don't think it makes much sense for the European CIVs to have "normal diplomatic" relations with Henry Morgan's CIV. I don't think they ought to have open borders with Pirates ever at all. Instead, I think the non-Spanish Europeans' warships ought to be able to score some points just sinking pirate ships. In exchange for no longer having access to Pirate ports, the non-Spanish European CIVs need to be able to foster better diplomatic relations with each other, so they can still use their merchantmen. Right now, it's very difficult for a European CIV player to maintain open borders with the other Europeans. I've tried and failed consistantly.

I love the idea of the ghost ship. Is there a way to randomize the location of the treasure island? Is it possible to have more than one? Sea monsters anyone?

Ghost ships be not for hire, matie, unless ye pay with yer life! Harrrr!

 

[Paasky]

Making the Pirate civ not able to talk could prob be made throught the map file itself: Make it a minorciv, but still playable. I don't know if that works, but it's worth a try. IIRC minorcivs can't be talked to, nor can they talk to anyone.

 

[Ambreville]

Here's another coding headache...

What are the prevailing seasonal winds in the region, and therefore, in which direction could the ships actually move, or certainly move fastest/slowest? Tactically, this is hugely important, and could make the game more interesting if this were feasable at all within CIV4's context. I'm sure winds blow in different directions depending on the map location and the season.

Oh yeah, what about the Bermuda Triangle, or the Sargasso Sea?

 

[Ambreville]

Making the Pirate civ not able to talk could prob be made throught the map file itself: Make it a minorciv, but still playable. I don't know if that works, but it's worth a try. IIRC minorcivs can't be talked to, nor can they talk to anyone.

Yeah, but in that case player's could not run the Pirates, right? I don't know if it's just me, but the first thing I thought when I saw that scenario was to play the Pirates first.

 

[Paasky]

*cough* Make it a minorciv=1 & playable=1. I don't know if that works, but it's worth a try. *cough*

 

[Ambreville]

*cough* Make it a minorciv=1 & playable=1. I don't know if that works, but it's worth a try. *cough*

What does the above mean???

 

[Paasky]

If you open the worldbuildersave in notepad, every civ has all sorts of options for them. replace the minorciv=0 with 1, then try if you can play as that civ.

 

[Ambreville]

If you open the worldbuildersave in notepad, every civ has all sorts of options for them. replace the minorciv=0 with 1, then try if you can play as that civ.

Hey, Paasky, don't assume everyone knows what you do when it comes to the internal workings of CIV4. I don't, clearly.

Currently, Pirates can be played -- why would that need to be changed?

BTW -- are you Dogbeard under another screenname?

 

[Paasky]

Nope, I'm The Paasky ( http://koti.mbnet.fi/peksoft/wawstuff/sigs/ ) (those are for a random sig that changes everytime the image is loaded @ WaW forums. It's a tournament using Bf1942+FH with 12h battles every saturday, which can be joined & left at any time. I'm a SSgt on the Axis side)

Anyway, as you're still not getting my point, I'll explain it very carefully
I don't know if a minorciv can be played, but hopefully, if you replace minorciv=0 to minorciv=1 (making it a minorciv which can't talk to other civs) and leave playable=1 as is (which makes the civ selectable when you begin the scenario) it could be played by the human. Go ahead, try it if it works. You just have to change 1 number from the .wbs

 

[Dogbeard]

Paasky is referring to the Pirates.wbs file which contains the map information for the scenario. It can easily be edited using Notepad. The Pirates are Team 0. I'm not sure either if a civ defined as minor can be playable.

BTW -- are you Dogbeard under another screenname?

Nope, just Dogbeard.

Here's another coding headache...I'm sure winds blow in different directions depending on the map location and the season.

Major coding headache. Theorically, it might be possible, but I'm not even going to try that one.

BTW -- would it possible to add a function allowing the non-Spanish European civs (France, Holland, and England) to hire AI-controlled pirate ships (privateers) after learning the Letter of Marque tech?

With some creative scripting, it might be possible, but it sounds like another headache to me. I made the decision early on to make the Pirates a seperate, sovereign faction. I played around with having "rogue" pirates (a.k.a. sea barbarians) who attacked anyone and everyone, but ended up scrapping that.

Likewise, I don't think it makes much sense for the European CIVs to have "normal diplomatic" relations with Henry Morgan's CIV.

There's an argument to be made for that. Again, however, I chose to treat the Pirates as their own faction. Besides, without diplomatic relations with Henry Morgan, I wouldn't have been able to make the Captain Morgan skin or had him spouting lines from Pirates of the Caribbean and Treasure Island.

I love the idea of the ghost ship. Is there a way to randomize the location of the treasure island? Is it possible to have more than one? Sea monsters anyone?

Yes, the island/treasure could be randomized and multiplied. I just didn't bother. I simply placed it in a sort of out-of-the-way place inside the Bermuda Triangle. I also didn't want more than one Ghost Ship roaming around at any one time (especially since it respawns when sunk).

On a side note, I originally had zombie pirates that rode around on the ghost ship and attacked settlements, but I ended up scrapping that one too, even though they were pretty cool.

I'll leave it to someone else to add a kraken.