Alexanders' Conquests Testing thread

[Keroro]

Thanks, Keroro. And of course you can help playtesting when the time eventually comes. If I work non-stop, and there are no editor-related errors in the way, I should be finnished just in time for the 2012 Olympics

Ah. You see, I might be busy by the time the London Olympics comes round. I hope to be an Olympian in the 'avoiding doing any real work' event. I may very well be in with a real chance of a Gold in that - though there is some good competition.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Yeh. I think I'm part of that competition. Although if you say you're in London, then you have that event in the bag if the competition is there. However, if it is on Portland with the sailing stuff, I'll win flat out

 

[bd41094]

Name added. But do you mind if I call you bd from now on? I thought that R8FXT was bad. There's quite a bit to test, but fortunately only one real civilization. All comments are most welcome.

The patches all need to be downloaded and installed in order, see the post 2 for the order. There is one bit that you'll only need if you have Civ 3 Complete, but the rest are all needed. When I release this officially I will get everything together into a single download.

You can call me bd , and I will install those patches now. I didn't have time to install yesterday because I was busy but I will start testing now.

Finished installing everything from the patches...:suicide: that was confusing, anyway just waiting on 3ddownloads to install the last update.

 

[bd41094]

Ok, I after I installed everything this is what happened:


Maybe I missed a pediaicons update, or maybe I didn't install them in the right order. I'm not sure. You have any idea?

 

[Keroro]

Hi bd - It looks like you might have missed out the 0.9 update. There is the 0.9 update AND the 0.9 fix, then the pedia pics fix to install. That would be my guess.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Hey, Keroro, can I use a slightly altered version of your map for my Greek scenario? (And maybe cities <.< >.> and maybe resources <.< >.>?) I'll still be able to use Var's map(s) for various scenarios and the multiplayer version, but I need an all-encompassing map that isn't way to big!

 

[Keroro]

Hey, Keroro, can I use a slightly altered version of your map for my Greek scenario? (And maybe cities <.< >.> and maybe resources <.< >.>?) I'll still be able to use Var's map(s) for various scenarios and the multiplayer version, but I need an all-encompassing map that isn't way to big!

Go ahead if you like. The map was posted for people to use a while ago, though the thread has been dead for an age. I think that I promised to take a look at your thread the other day while I was drunk. I'll do that now.

BTW, anyone got anything to report on the new version of Alexander?

 

[Blue Monkey]

BTW, anyone got anything to report on the new version of Alexander?

I'm playing and keeping a log re techs, but I've only completed 21 turns so far. I've also taken a couple of screenshots of bugs, I'll post them soon (maybe tomorrow).

 

[Virote_Considon]

Report time! Only a small one, before I got hit by a ctd error (why can't it just crash to the main menu? It would be much easier to pick up where I left off then!)

EDIT: Oops. forgot the report...

-Link wrong in "Theatre". it should link from the word "Agora", not "theatre".
-I'm not with Thrace and Macedonia? *gulp*
-The only civs I know from the start are my enemies? *gulp again*
-"File not Found: art\civilopedia\icons\units\Persian_Horse_Archer_Small.pcx"
-What are the requirements for a library? I can build one in Abydos, and not Maronea, and I don't know why!

 

[Keroro]

I'm playing and keeping a log re techs, but I've only completed 21 turns so far. I've also taken a couple of screenshots of bugs, I'll post them soon (maybe tomorrow).

Great, I'll have some bugs to squish soon.

Report time! Only a small one, before I got hit by a ctd error (why can't it just crash to the main menu? It would be much easier to pick up where I left off then!)

EDIT: Oops. forgot the report...

-Link wrong in "Theatre". it should link from the word "Agora", not "theatre".
-I'm not with Thrace and Macedonia? *gulp*
-The only civs I know from the start are my enemies? *gulp again*
-"File not Found: art\civilopedia\icons\units\Persian_Horse_Archer_Small.pcx"
-What are the requirements for a library? I can build one in Abydos, and not Maronea, and I don't know why!

Good hunting V_C. Thanks.
1 - Will fix.
2 - This is something that I'm hoping to sort out if I can find some way of setting diplomatic relations at the beginning of the game. I'd like players to be in alliance with Thrace and Macedonia for the first 80 turns or so, but after that your allies would get restless and you might even have to remind them of why you shouldn't mess with Alexander.
3 - See above. If you start in a locked war with another civ then you always have contact with them. Another thing I'll try to deal with. I'm thinking maybe a pre-start save might be useful - I could then bribe certain civs into alliances, declare war on the Kyrenaicans (without the sub-bug unit) and could start the game with scout units (that would be disbanded before the game is saved) dotted around the map that give you contact with certain mediterranean civs. I continue to look into possibilities.
4 - Darn, was sure that was there. Will do an update later today, but you should be able to avoid crashes by not clicking on any Persian Horse Archer links.
5 - Can't quite remember, it might require an Agora or a theatre or something. I should update the civilopedia about that.

What CTD bug are you getting. I'm hoping that it is the Persian Horse Archer. If not, then is there an error message?

 

[Keroro]

This should fix the Persian Horse Archer crash. I'm going to put all these fixes and the 0.9 patch together soon so that it's easier to install.

This one should be unzipped to the Art/Civilopedia/Icons/Units folder.

 

[Virote_Considon]

3 - See above. If you start in a locked war with another civ then you always have contact with them. Another thing I'll try to deal with. I'm thinking maybe a pre-start save might be useful - I could then bribe certain civs into alliances, declare war on the Kyrenaicans (without the sub-bug unit) and could start the game with scout units (that would be disbanded before the game is saved) dotted around the map that give you contact with certain mediterranean civs. I continue to look into possibilities.

How about giving all the civs who you want Alexander to know at the beginning embasseys in the scenario properties tab (and Alexandria itself)?

What CTD bug are you getting. I'm hoping that it is the Persian Horse Archer. If not, then is there an error message?

Yeh, it was the Horse Archer one. The Pediaicon ones are the most annoying, because you know that if you play again, then you just don't go near that link, but you still have to re-open civ, etc...

 

[Keroro]

How about giving all the civs who you want Alexander to know at the beginning embasseys in the scenario properties tab (and Alexandria itself)?

Ooohh, is that how the embassies thingy works? I didn't realise. I'll try that sometime. The debug mode can be misleading here sometimes, since you can talk with all the civs in the game from the beginning. I must try to get the time to play this through with debug turned off.

Yeh, it was the Horse Archer one. The Pediaicon ones are the most annoying, because you know that if you play again, then you just don't go near that link, but you still have to re-open civ, etc...

They are the most annoying for testers maybe, but easy for the creator to fix.

 

[bd41094]

Alright here's my report, sorry if any of this has already been said:
1. All Civilization leaders named Alexander III

2. Rome is named 'Roma' is that supposed to be like that?

3. Queen?? It's a guy

4. Flic Error

5. Greeting Entry Only for Greece, this pic is when I started as roma

6. One of the Advisors messed up.

7. Techs are unpositioned.



8. Only two ages, how did you manage that?

9. Arabia, Carthage, Cathay, Eastern Greece, Epirus, Keltoi, Kreta, Lacedaemonia, League of Cornith, Maurya, Nubia, Persia, Phoencia, Roma, Scythia, and Thrace's civilopedia entries all run over the edge and info is cut off. I would of taken pics of all these but is was just too many.

10. Tamil's civilopedia is undone. Plus the pic is errored.


Later reports should be expected.

 

[Virote_Considon]

@bd: I think I can answer a few of these questions.
1. That's because you're only supposed to be playing as Alexander, anyway. When you start the game as Alexandria, all of the leaders will have their normal names
2. Yup
5. See 1
6. How is it messed up? I cannot see...
7. and 8. There are techs positioned if you are playing as Alexandria.

 

[Keroro]

Alright here's my report, sorry if any of this has already been said:
1. All Civilization leaders named Alexander III

2. Rome is named 'Roma' is that supposed to be like that?

3. Queen?? It's a guy

4. Flic Error

5. Greeting Entry Only for Greece, this pic is when I started as roma

6. One of the Advisors messed up.

7. Techs are unpositioned.



8. Only two ages, how did you manage that?

9. Arabia, Carthage, Cathay, Eastern Greece, Epirus, Keltoi, Kreta, Lacedaemonia, League of Cornith, Maurya, Nubia, Persia, Phoencia, Roma, Scythia, and Thrace's civilopedia entries all run over the edge and info is cut off. I would of taken pics of all these but is was just too many.

10. Tamil's civilopedia is undone. Plus the pic is errored.


Later reports should be expected.

Hi bd, good to see that you got things working. Thanks to Virote Considon for the answers to some of these questions. Now my turn:

1 - see Virote's answer. The scenario is designed for one leader really - Alexander. I made all the leaders available for my own testing reasons, I guess I should have changed that before releasing the biq.
2 - Roma was the latin name for Rome. I'm considering whether to change it to Romeoi (the Greek term), but probably won't.
3 - Once I get the graphics sorted out it will be a Queen. And a pretty good looking one too. I'm waiting on a LH to be released.
4 - I think that Virote may have noted that a while back, but it slipped my mind. I'll get that fixed.
5 - See 1.
6 - Not sure what you mean. Looks normal to me. How is it messed up?
7 - Many of the techs are only researchable by Alexandria, so if you play as Roma then you won't get to see them.
8 - Well, all the ages are there, it's just that you start in the third age. The first two are used for background techs and the AI tech trees.
9 - I'll try to get the info to fit for the next release. Thanks for that.
10 - The Tamils were a new race in the last version, and I didn't have the time to sort out that entry. I've got an entry ready now that will be in the next version.

Thanks for trying it out bd. I suggest that you have a go with the Alexandrians though.

 

[Keroro]

Optional music is here [music removed]. Would be glad if someone could give it a go. I think that it adds something a bit extra to the experience, though I struggled to get it all sounding harmonious and really had trouble setting the volumes properly. It's a bit of a mix between gladiator soundtrack and middle eastern arabic music. I don't think that this is entirely realistic, but nevermind.

Any other bug reports?

 

[Virote_Considon]

-Palace of Qin owned by Norsemen in the city of Bastarni
-No 'Pedia for:
--Palace of Suza
--Palace of Babylon
--Memnon's Leadership
--Palace of Side
--Sanctury of Aphrodite
-Music's nice!

 

[Keroro]

I thought I better bump this thread up a bit. I'm not getting that much done at the moment, RL work has taken me away a bit recently. I'm hoping to get a couple of days off at the end of March to work on getting a first proper version of the scenario released. If anyone is sitting on reports or suggestions then I would really need them before I do that. I think I'm aiming to take the 29th and 30th March off. Sorry to give people what must look unpleasantly like a deadline, but I'm finding it impossible to do any real work on this while working.

Some things I'm playing with for the update:
- A few units to go in, hopefully including the beautiful hypaspist that Gaias is working on. Kataphraktoi will be in as a late game unit. I'm going to simulate the decline of the Macedonian army by making the Petzhetairoi weaker in the late game. They will even be vulnerable to the Roman Legions at the end of the game.
- Some improvements to go in.
- Adding some more new city locations in, like the locations of the major Seleucid cities that were founded in the Hellenistic Age like Antioch and Apamea.
- Some beefing up of the Thracian/Celtic and Scythian unit and improvement lines.
- A reworking of the map around Armenia and Thracia to make the mountain chains more realistic - I've been shamed into that by a map that Mirc made recently.
- Some more translation of the unit names to Greek, hopefully without making things too difficult for new players.
- A major update of the Civilopedia.
- I'm Changing the Thracians to 'Thracians and Illyrians' and giving them about three times as many cities. They will now form a proper civilization that surrounds Macedonia and Epirus.
- I'm getting rid of the Kretans (not without misgivings) and giving their cities to Kyrenaica.
- The Civilization slot freed up will be taken up with Pontic Greeks, that will get most of the cities on the Black Sea coast like Chersonesos, Tanais, Sinope, Dioscuritas and Trapezus.
That's what I have in front of me, plus anything that comes out of playtesting reports. I've been hanging round the Pothos website recently and trying to read up on the history around Alexander.

And I left replying to Virote for far too long.

-Palace of Qin owned by Norsemen in the city of Bastarni
-No 'Pedia for:
--Palace of Suza
--Palace of Babylon
--Memnon's Leadership
--Palace of Side
--Sanctury of Aphrodite
-Music's nice!

1 - Oops. Will fix that.
2 - Most of these are just pre-built wonders that enable you to build other stuff later on, like the Sanctuary of Aphrodite allows the Port of Salamis to be built on Cyprus.
3 - Glad the music's OK. I was worried that the different styles would not blend together properly. Feel free to suggest any changes in running order or volumes or stuff like that.

Sorry for the week long wait for that clarification.

 

[Blue Monkey]

If anyone is sitting on reports or suggestions then I would really need them before I do that. I think I'm aiming to take the 29th and 30th March off.

I've had to put this on the back burner while I worked on some other things, both here and in RL. I expect to have the MesoAmerican map I'm editing for SoG done by the end of the week, as well as a couple of Indian city lists I promised, then i will devote my sole attention to completing the game where I've been keeping track of the tech rate, etc. Wherever it stands, I'll post something for you before you get to work on this.