Branch "Yields" - Base Setup: Yields, Professions, Buildings, Experts, ... [IMPLEMENTED]

[raystuttgart]

@Raubwuerger
If you like to work on the Screens (City, Europe, Port Royal, Africa) you are welcome to do so.

I still need to work on Buildings, Professions and Experts first, before I will turn to UI myself.
Also a lot of the Balancing is not yet done properly. (Terrain, Terrain Features, Bonus Ressources, Improvements, ...)

In the current stage this is easily about 40+ hours of work to be invested.
(Potentially much more if the graphics I have cause issues ... which I do not hope.)

 

[AemonAlCaar]

Hi Ray (and others ;-))

In the course of expanding the goods, did you think about making a "victory" out of it? (if that is possible)
Goal: full supply for X rounds.
We probably need a few more conditions.
- Full supply for all cities and at least Y gold per round through domestic sales.

Many greetings
Aemon

 

[raystuttgart]

... did you think about making a "victory" out of it?

No I have not, because the only Victory Condition I like is "Independence".
Otherwise I more or less prefer to play "endless empire building".

(if that is possible)

Of course it is possible. It is most likely not even that difficult.
(I would estimate the effort to be around 8 hours, depending how interesting you want to make it.)

It could be something like a "Domestic Market Victory".
But as I said, I only really play "Independence" myself.

-----

Summary:
I would most likely not implement it myself, because there is no benefit in it for my own play style.
But if somebody else wants to invest the effort to implement it and then share it, I would of course not mind.

Comment:
It should probably become a thread of its own then to discuss the details if there really is interest in it.
(It would be kind of a min-feature of its own, but first "Yields" base functionality needs to be finished.)

 

[AemonAlCaar]

(I would estimate the effort to be around 8 hours, depending how interesting you want to make it.)

That sounds good
If the implementations go online then I'll have a project to try!

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi, just wanted to assure everybody that I am still working on this.

It is simply that I can currently only invest a couple of hours each weekend due to private life.
(Since I am currently also trying to build a new business I am not modding during the normal working week.)

Also, there are endless small details to think about when adding new Yields.
(e.g. Founding Father Bonusses, "Emphasize Settings" in Civ4EmphasizeInfos.xml, ...)

This project "New Yields + New Economy" is simply incredibly big, even though most of the reamining XML work is basically trivial and grindy repetition.
(But since I want to ensure that nothing is forgotten and also have no time or motivation to coordinate other people, I will simply do it myself.)

-----

e.g. I have spent almost the complete morning taking care of Civ4EmphasizeInfos.xml for the new Yields, which is so trivial that even a monkey could probably have done it.
(But my XML monkey ran away, climbed on a tree an threatens to poop at me whenever I try to convince him to climb down again and do stupid XML work .)

But well, all that boring, grindy XML needs to get done.
(And explaining / coordinating others would be more effort than doign it myself.)

-----

Summary:
My progress is slow, but it is there.
It will take months to finish this "mini-project", but I will do so eventually.

 

[raystuttgart]

I am now working on the Founding Fathers for the New Yields.

This may include:

• Balancing changes of existing Founding Fathers
• Adding completely new Founding Fathers

----------

For some Yields I have already found good FFs.
(In most cases I rebalaced weak FFs and also gave them a Yield Bonus.)

Spoiler :

• YIELD_YERBA_LEAVES, YERBA_TEA ---> taken care of
  
• YIELD_PADDED_FURNITURE,YIELD_DOWNS ---> taken care of
• YIELD_FLAX ---> taken care of
• YIELD_LOGWOOD ---> taken care of
• YIELD_COCHINEAL ---> taken care of
• YIELD_COLOURED_WOOL_CLOTH ---> taken care of
• YIELD_FRUITS, YIELD_HOOCH --> taken care of
• YIELD_GOAT_HIDE_BOOTS --> taken care of
• YIELD_WILD_FEATHERS --> taken care of
• YIELD_MAPLE_SIRUP --> taken care of
• YIELD_HARDWOOD --> taken care of
• YIELD_CASSAVA --> taken care of
• YIELD_RICE --> taken care of
• YIELD_PEAT --> taken care of
• YIELD_PEANUTS, YIELD_ROASTED_PEANUTS --> taken care of

For these Yields I am currently still searching for a suitable FF.
(It may be an existing one or a new one.)

• YIELD_COAL, --> a historical person related to "Coal" ???
• YIELD_PIGS, YIELD_CHICKEN, YIELD_GEESE --> a historical person related to Pig Breeding or Poultry ???
• YIELD_HIDES, YIELD_PIG_SKIN, YIELD_GOAT_HIDES --> a historical person related to "Slaughering" ???
  
• YIELD_LEATHER, YIELD_PIG_LEATHER, YIELD_PADDED_LEATHER_COATS --> a historical person related to Leather Trade ???
• YIELD_OLIVES, YIELD_RAPE, YIELD_OLIVE_OIL, YIELD_RAPE_OIL --> a historical person related to "Plant Oil" ???
• YIELD_VANILLA_PODS, YIELD_VANILLA, YIELD_CHOCOLATE --> a historical person related to South America ???

 

[Cacaso]

For Chocolate and Vanilla Yield:

Joseph Storrs Fry (1769-1835) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Storrs_Fry - he created the first edible chocolate bar.
https://bartalks.net/the-ancient-history-of-cacao/

Hugh Morgan (1530–1613) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Morgan_(apothecary) - introduced vanilla to Queen Elizabeth.


For Peanut yield:

George Washington Carver - Dr. Carver (1864-1943) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver
According to Wikipedia, he was researching techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow other crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life.

 

[raystuttgart]

George Washington Carver - Dr. Carver (1864-1943) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver

He was the first idea I had as well for Peanuts

Problem is, that this is almost already 100 years after the time period of the game.
So I guess I would get lots of complaints about immersion again.

But this one here might also fit for Peanuts and that image is really great for using it as a FF:
Carl Linnaeus
(1707 - 1778)

He researched peanuts and wrote the first "botanical papers" about them.
(Problem is that he has no connection to the Americas. Never travelled nor lived there.)

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I have had a bit of time this evening so I started working on the integration of the new experts.
(I am currently still focussed on getting their graphics integrated and working and not yet on details of balancing.)

This is pretty frustrating to me, because I am no graphical modder and I am not able to make things works as I want.
So everytime something does not work I have to run begging and have to annoy people ...

@Kathy:
The "Cochineal Collector" does not wear the beautiful bag you added for me ...
(I have no idea what I am doing wrong. I simply gave it the NIF and KFM in the folder I got from you.)

       <UnitArtInfo>
            <Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_COCHINEAL_COLLECTOR</Type>
            <Button>Art/interface/buttons/New_Unit_Buttons/Expert_Cochineal_Collector_Button.dds</Button>
            <FullLengthIcon>,Art/Interface/Screens/City_Management/Expert_Cochineal_Collector_Europe.dds</FullLengthIcon>
            <fScale>0.48</fScale>
            <fInterfaceScale>0.88</fInterfaceScale>
            <NIF>Art/Units/Settler/Expert_Cochineal_Collector/Free_Colonist.nif</NIF>
            <KFM>Art/Units/Settler/Expert_Cochineal_Collector/Free_Colonist.kfm</KFM>
            <fBattleDistance>0.35</fBattleDistance>
            <fRangedDeathTime>0.31</fRangedDeathTime>
            <bActAsRanged>0</bActAsRanged>
            <TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIT</TrainSound>
            <AudioRunSounds>
                <AudioRunTypeLoop/>
                <AudioRunTypeEnd/>
            </AudioRunSounds>
        </UnitArtInfo>

Edit:
I also uploaded the Unit again to this post so you do not have to search.

NIF-Scope for comparison:

Spoiler :

Here are first screenshots:

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy:
It is the same problem with the Yerba Planter. No bag ingame.
(The Bag is clearly visible in NIF-Scope but it does not show ingame / in Colopedia.)

       <UnitArtInfo>
            <Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_YERBA_PLANTER</Type>
            <Button>Art/interface/buttons/New_Unit_Buttons/Expert_Yerba_Planter_Button.dds</Button>
            <FullLengthIcon>,Art/Interface/Screens/City_Management/Expert_Yerba_Planter_Europe.dds</FullLengthIcon>
            <fScale>0.48</fScale>
            <fInterfaceScale>0.88</fInterfaceScale>
            <NIF>Art/Units/Settler/Expert_Yerba_Planter/Expert_Sugar_Planter.nif</NIF>
            <KFM>Art/Units/Expert_Sugar_Planter/Expert_Sugar_Planter.kfm</KFM>
            <fBattleDistance>0.35</fBattleDistance>
            <fRangedDeathTime>0.31</fRangedDeathTime>
            <bActAsRanged>0</bActAsRanged>
            <TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIT</TrainSound>
            <AudioRunSounds>
                <AudioRunTypeLoop/>
                <AudioRunTypeEnd/>
            </AudioRunSounds>
        </UnitArtInfo>

Edit:
I added the Unit in the attachments as well.
Maybe somebody more skilled in graphics could take a look.

Bag shows perfectly in NIF-Scope:

No bag however ingame or in Colopedia.

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy
I also added a Unit again where the bag works nicely ingame.
The NIF structure looks different, the bag node is deeper within the tree.

See how it looks e.g. in Colopedia:

This is how it looks in NIF-Scope

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy
This Expert Olives Planter works perfectly though and has the bag.
(It is based on the "Worker Animation".)

Explanation:
I have selected a different Unit than what we discussed today.
(So it is not the Unit you edited just today but one you edited about 2 weeks ago for me.)

Edit:
I also attached the Unit just in case you need it for comparisons.

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy
Sorry for posting so much ...

I really appreciate the effort you already invested.
I just do not know who else to ask to fully finish the graphics.

This Unit here has a shovel you have added for me to the NIF.
(I can see it at least in NIF-SCOPE. It is also based on "Worker" Unit.)

Spoiler :

However, ingame the shovel is gone.

Spoiler :

Edit:
Unit is also added to the post so you might take a look.
If it is easier to give the Unit the bag like this Unit (which is working) that would be perfectly fine as well.
(When thinking about it the bag might actually look better because I would now use it as a "Planter", not a miner.)

 

[raystuttgart]

Those 3 work, but they have been based on already working unit and have had very little cosmetic changes.

 

[Kathy]

I have changed the bags and think, this two are now working.
Concerning the shovel I am looking, however, I am not sure, if this item is not made in some way that it will disapear in others than workers animations.

 

[Kathy]

I changed a bit, just try this one. I hope the shovel is visible now.

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy
First thanks a lot for reacting so quickly.

The Cassava Planter now has the shovel.

Spoiler :

The Cochineal Planter now also shows the bag correctly.

Spoiler :

The Yerba Planter now also has the bag but it is "floating in the air".
(In NIF-Scope it really looks perfectly - just ingame it looks strange.)

Spoiler :

 

[Kathy]

Try this, it should work now with the correct size.

 

[raystuttgart]

@Kathy:
Thanks, it works great now.
Those ladies are beautiful and the colonial men in WTP will go crazy to gain their attention.

 

[raystuttgart]

Ok, here is the next Expert graphic integrated in the game.