Lee_Dailey
Chief Geek & Bottle Washer
howdy y'all,
i liked civassit2 quite a lot. i never used the deeper planning parts of it, but the "what's happening now [or soon]" info was quite helpful. unfortunately, it had a few problems ...
- VERY platform dependent [windows only]
- VERY implementation dependent [requires a VERY specific dot net configuration]
- not open source [no one but the authors can fix or change it]
i finally gave up on it when i went to win7 since the _exact_ dot net setup was so freaking hard to get working - and nearly every dot net update would kill civassit2.
for reference, here's the thread about it ...
CivAssist II - Civilization Fanatics' Forums
*****
so i am suggesting a replacement. for the sake of this conversation, i will call it c3c-helper.
i'm NOT a programmer. the closest i ever come to that is playing with powershell/CMD/batch files and a little bit of python. so i cannot program this. what i can do is test it, critique it and offer suggestions. i'm aware that offering cash here is not allowed, so i aint gonna do that. nor is this a hint to do it elsewhere! [*grin*]
*****
a few things that seem necessary ...
- must be open source
any license that allows folks to modify or fork as desired is ok.
- must be reasonably cross platform
java, python ... pretty much any language that can run on linux, mac & windows without os dependencies.
- must be posted to an openly accessible source code location
github & sourceforge come to mind, but any such thing that is freely accessible is fine.
a few bonus wants ...
- usefully commented code [*grin*]
- help system [or file]
stuff that aint needed ...
- interactivity [ca2 could take you to each polluted tile]
- display on the civ3 screen [ca2 could show a panel floating above the game]
i run a dual monitor setup so i would run civ3 on one monitor and the util on another. for those who run on _only_ one monitor, tabbing to the util seems entirely acceptable.
*****
things i want c3c-helper to do ...
= quick overview panel [allow toggling what to show] {1}
= when stuff is available from the ai {7}
- workers
- tech
- new trade route opens
- new luxury, strategic resource
- new maps or updated map info [buy or sell]
- communications available
- ai has money
= presence in my territory {3}
location info would be nice. a simple "near cityname" would do.
- pollution
- enemy unit
- unconnected resource
= city info {11}
- newly expanded city radius
- city radius tile not worked
- city radius tile not developed
- city radius tile with never-harvested forest
- some way to see what cities do or don't have
- some way to query the above [show me all cities that can build item X]
- what the active influences are [show where ALL the happiness is coming from, including wonders]
- too little food
- when pop growth will exceed food supply
- when city will enter rebellion next turn
- when city is in rebellion now
= research {3}
- when research will be wasted
- how many turns to finish research
- actual research points [this turn & total for the current tech]
= diplomacy {7}
- embassy [yes/no]
- attitude
- agreements & remaining turns for each [a nice big grid showing all civs would be spiffy]
- wars
- when enemy is willing to negotiate
- current ai govt.
- when ai changes govt.
= units {1}
- unit production > what, how many, when
= misc. {1}
- golden age turns remaining
= nifty stuff {2}
- display output in browser window & use CSS to define how [fonts, colors, etc.]
- allow user to manually modify or add a CSS file for custom display attributes [bigger fonts for my bad eyesight]
*****
total as of 2015-12-20 = 36 items
*****
i hope someone is willing to take this on. please, let me know if anyone finds this interesting. i know there are those who would protest this simply because it will make cheating rather easy. what would you rather do?
- lose the knowledge as those who know it drift away
- publish the knowledge so those who care about it can use it
take care,
lee
i liked civassit2 quite a lot. i never used the deeper planning parts of it, but the "what's happening now [or soon]" info was quite helpful. unfortunately, it had a few problems ...
- VERY platform dependent [windows only]
- VERY implementation dependent [requires a VERY specific dot net configuration]
- not open source [no one but the authors can fix or change it]
i finally gave up on it when i went to win7 since the _exact_ dot net setup was so freaking hard to get working - and nearly every dot net update would kill civassit2.
for reference, here's the thread about it ...
CivAssist II - Civilization Fanatics' Forums
*****
so i am suggesting a replacement. for the sake of this conversation, i will call it c3c-helper.
i'm NOT a programmer. the closest i ever come to that is playing with powershell/CMD/batch files and a little bit of python. so i cannot program this. what i can do is test it, critique it and offer suggestions. i'm aware that offering cash here is not allowed, so i aint gonna do that. nor is this a hint to do it elsewhere! [*grin*]
*****
a few things that seem necessary ...
- must be open source
any license that allows folks to modify or fork as desired is ok.
- must be reasonably cross platform
java, python ... pretty much any language that can run on linux, mac & windows without os dependencies.
- must be posted to an openly accessible source code location
github & sourceforge come to mind, but any such thing that is freely accessible is fine.
a few bonus wants ...
- usefully commented code [*grin*]
- help system [or file]
stuff that aint needed ...
- interactivity [ca2 could take you to each polluted tile]
- display on the civ3 screen [ca2 could show a panel floating above the game]
i run a dual monitor setup so i would run civ3 on one monitor and the util on another. for those who run on _only_ one monitor, tabbing to the util seems entirely acceptable.
*****
things i want c3c-helper to do ...
= quick overview panel [allow toggling what to show] {1}
= when stuff is available from the ai {7}
- workers
- tech
- new trade route opens
- new luxury, strategic resource
- new maps or updated map info [buy or sell]
- communications available
- ai has money
= presence in my territory {3}
location info would be nice. a simple "near cityname" would do.
- pollution
- enemy unit
- unconnected resource
= city info {11}
- newly expanded city radius
- city radius tile not worked
- city radius tile not developed
- city radius tile with never-harvested forest
- some way to see what cities do or don't have
- some way to query the above [show me all cities that can build item X]
- what the active influences are [show where ALL the happiness is coming from, including wonders]
- too little food
- when pop growth will exceed food supply
- when city will enter rebellion next turn
- when city is in rebellion now
= research {3}
- when research will be wasted
- how many turns to finish research
- actual research points [this turn & total for the current tech]
= diplomacy {7}
- embassy [yes/no]
- attitude
- agreements & remaining turns for each [a nice big grid showing all civs would be spiffy]
- wars
- when enemy is willing to negotiate
- current ai govt.
- when ai changes govt.
= units {1}
- unit production > what, how many, when
= misc. {1}
- golden age turns remaining
= nifty stuff {2}
- display output in browser window & use CSS to define how [fonts, colors, etc.]
- allow user to manually modify or add a CSS file for custom display attributes [bigger fonts for my bad eyesight]
*****
total as of 2015-12-20 = 36 items
*****
i hope someone is willing to take this on. please, let me know if anyone finds this interesting. i know there are those who would protest this simply because it will make cheating rather easy. what would you rather do?
- lose the knowledge as those who know it drift away
- publish the knowledge so those who care about it can use it
take care,
lee
