[REQ] In-Game Civ Color Changer

[Psyringe]

I've played a couple of rather huge games now with up to 34 civs on the map. I found out that in each game there seems to be at least one spot where the civ colors don't work well. For example, in my current game, there is France next to America, both are north of Greece and west of the Maya and the Khmer, who also shared a border with Sumer. To make the chaos complete, Korea was west of Greece and got inveded by Greece and Persia. All these civilizations are blue, and it's often hard to determine who owns what. In other games I had similar problems with Mali, the Celts, and the Incas sharing one spot.

I know that there are mods that try to improve the standard colors, or add more colors, but I think with 30+ civs to choose from, I think there will always be combinations that don't work well.

So, instead of trying to make 30+ distinct colors which are all easily distinguishable from every other color in the set (which is not possible imho), wouldn't it be better to be able to switch the colors in-game? For example, in the "blue" game I described above, some civilizations are long gone: the Dutch, Russians, Chinese and others don't exist anymore. So some colors (orange, pink, red) aren't even on the map anymore, while blue is excessively overrepresented. Likewise, in the game with Mali / Celts / Incas, there wasn't any red color at all on the map.

I'd be very grateful for a mod that allowed me to simply change a civ's color from within the game, so that I could adapt the colors to the situation that develops in the game. But can this be done? And is there a kind soul who likes the idea and would like to do it?

 

[MqsTout]

Honestly, with leader/civilization no longer tied to one another, the game really shouldn't force a nation to be a particular color anymore. It'd be nice if it assigned colors -- contrasting colors -- based on starting order. (ie, If you always play on 8-civ maps, you'll always have 8 high-contract primary colors.)

 

[weregamer]

I see plusses and minuses to that idea. While it would greatly reduce the confusion of multiple blue or brown or orange civs, it would lose a little flavor.in a couple of ways. Most importantly, having my own civ color be the same every time would reduce the feeling of uniqueness on each game. After finishing a game as the Mongols that took a week, coming home, starting up the game, and seeing my territory is blue reminds me that this is a new game.

Hehe, it also drives home some of the wonderful cognitive dissonance. Ghandi of the Mongols/Aztecs. Elizabeth of France. Kaiser Wilhelm of Russia. Shaka of the Netherlands...

 

[Psyringe]

Well, that's why I suggested to give the user the ability to change colors in-game. This way you can correct agglomerations of similar colors when they happen, and you are free to keep (or change) your own "flavor" color.

However, it seems that people aren't exactly flocking to the idea. What's the reason - do other people have less problems with color similarity, or is it simply too hard to mod a color choosing screen into the game?

 

[ClassicThunder]

Setting up a mod that lets you change things in game usually gets a little complicated.

 

[Nelgirith]

I was bothered too by some too similar colors, especially since BTS' release. Mongols and Native Americans or Incans and Holy Roman Empire are kinda hard to distinguish.

I don't see any other solution than doing what I did : modifying yourself the XML files. It's a rather easy process, even though it's a bit tedious, but tbh ... trying to find 34 distinct colors is VERY hard !

 

[Thorn]

I don't see any other solution than doing what I did : modifying yourself the XML files. It's a rather easy process, even though it's a bit tedious, but tbh ... trying to find 34 distinct colors is VERY hard !

So to help us avoid that tedious work maybe you could post your XML files as a small graphics mod

 

[MqsTout]

So to help us avoid that tedious work maybe you could post your XML files as a small graphics mod

I second that!