Final Fixes Reborn

[Nor'easter]

So, frank discussion about pegasi.

Pegasi are the worst. They have a 100% withdrawal chance, a movespeed of 4, provide no blood, provide no zoo, cannot be ridden except by the Austrin (who are getting a HUGE boost from Subdue Animal now, if they can catch the godsdamned things), and when someone decides it's time to send all the animals into a berserker frenzy every single one of them becomes a city-killer with their ability to blitz-attack three to five times depending on how much Mobility they've had time to purchase. Any (successful) attack throws them outside your civ borders so it's difficult to one-two them.

This is ridiculous. I've gutted them down to 25% withdrawal, 3 movespeed, and griffon blood (renamed "Skyborn" since there's a bunch of non-griffons who have it already) so there's some incentive to clear these things out before they go psychotic and some valid method of doing so without using summons.

The 'pedia entry for the Pegasus says "Can only defend." Is that not true? I haven't encountered a pegasus in one of my games for a very long time, so I don't remember. Preventing them from being able to attack might solve things, although they would need to be blocked from getting the various attack-related promotions they can currently get, such as City Raider.

 

[Viatos]

I haven't encountered a pegasus in one of my games for a very long time, so I don't remember.

Really? They're freakin' everywhere every game for me. Anyway, "can only defend" is overridden by the rage state the same way it is for elephants and mammoths. That said, their ridiculous supremacy as berserkers is for me less of an issue than that they're both annoying and useless otherwise. Dropping their withdrawal and movement speed and giving them a blood promotion makes them much more tolerable. I'm considering letting them build weyrs.

 

[Calavente]

Units shouldn't be able to withdraw twice in one turn. Attack the Pegasi twice and they should be dealt with.

pegasi are also found in EMM and MoM... and there too they have the same features.
I noted many times that I defeated a pegasus 5 times in the same turn, and it always flee.
(I had, due to a bug, a hunter with 7 mvt, and he had blitz... so I could attack as much as wanted and I needed to kill the bastard 5 time to get it at last.)
other times, I kill it 3-4 times before he dies... I often need 4-5 3mvt hunters.

 

[Lplate]

SPELL_ADD_TO_FREAK_SHOW_HAMSTALFAR in SpellInfos should be moved into the Hamstalfar module, otherwise, you get an error message when you disable the module.

 

[Gwannyn]

Are Wyrms supposed to be able to attack into wetlands/jungle/marsh? Their entry only specifies they can't enter grasslands, plains and taiga. I'd thought they were supposed to be desert only but I suppose as it is they can also enter marsh and even tundra, not to mention the more special terrains?

 

[Ronkhar]

Hi,
The wyrm limitations regarding movement are curious indeed.
I intend to split the animal into 3 units:
"sand wyrm" -> desert only
"frost wyrm" -> tundra and glacial only
"marsh wyrm" -> marsh only

If you play the beta version, it should appear next month for testing.

 

[cthom]

Came across a barb city called "StovilleDOES THIS APPEAR?"
I assume that I'm meant to mention it to someone

 

[Nor'easter]

Two more python exceptions, screenshots attached.

 

[Nor'easter]

Two more python exceptions, screenshots attached.

 

[Ronkhar]

@cthom: thanks
Stoville is a curious city indeed. It's:
- the 6th khazad city (TXT_KEY_CITY_KHAZAD_6)
- the 1st and only city for CIVILIZATION_ANIMAL (TXT_KEY_CITY_RANDOM_1)
- the 1st and only city for CIVILIZATION_DEMON (TXT_KEY_CITY_RANDOM_1)
- the 1st and only city for CIVILIZATION_RANDOM (TXT_KEY_CITY_RANDOM_1)

Hence I tested renaming this RANDOM_1 tag.
Now that you've confirmed that it appears ingame, I'll change the city name to something better (edit: town name generator, here I come! Rollrollroll... And let's go for "Farnworth" unless everyone is horrified )

@Nor'easter: These 4 bugs are now bygone (I found the cause and changed the code, but didn't test ingame yet)

 

[Nor'easter]

@Nor'easter: These 4 bugs are now bygone (I found the cause and changed the code, but didn't test ingame yet)

Just so you know, none of the python exceptions I've experienced has been fatal -- they don't cause the game to crash or hang. I still thought I should report them, though, to help clean up the game.

 

[Gwannyn]

This has been mentioned already but it was a year ago almost to the day and it seems there's been no mention of it since so I thought it might be worth it to mention it again. Guardian of Pristin Pass doesn't seem to be spawning regardless of map script or whether the All Unique Improvements setting is on or off. As I understand, this also makes the Triforce promotions unattainable. I'm using the standard version but seeing as this hasn't been mentioned in a year according to the thread search tool I assumed the beta versions wouldn't make a difference.

Edit: Didn't test it multiple times but the Dragon Bones don't seem to be spawning either and I found no mention of it in this thread.

 

[Ronkhar]

Thanks. I hadn't read about this bug. Both unique improvements are now repaired (only 2 lines were missing) and can appear ingame. (as of beta release R97)
If you (or anyone else) find the pristin pass ingame, can you tell me if the spawn mechanism works?

 

[Gwannyn]

I updated to the beta version and have restarted my computer since then. SVN update tells me I'm at revision 98 but I still can't get the two improvements to spawn. Tried with all unique improvements on, different map types, all unique off and on again and neither of them spawn for me. Did you get them to spawn for you? Is there a way to check that everything's updated fine, ingame or otherwise?

 

[Ronkhar]

That's curious, it immediately worked for me. (screenshot here)
Before changing anything, I started a new game with option "all unique improvements".
Guardian was indeed missing, and dragon bones too.
I read the code for improvements
Improvement guardian had "I need to be on a peak"

<bRequiresPeak>1</bRequiresPeak>

but "I am allowed to appear on a peak" was missing

<bPeakMakesValid>1</bPeakMakesValid>

-> added
For Dragon bones, the missing line was "I am a unique improvement"

<bUnique>1</bUnique>

These modifications were sufficient to make them appear in a new game. (map erebuscontinent. Just tried with map earth3. They appear there too)

Can you open the file Ashes of Erebus\Assets\XML\Terrain\CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml?
- lines 6851 and 6852 should show <bRequiresPeak>1</bRequiresPeak> and <bPeakMakesValid>1</bPeakMakesValid>
- line 6664 should show <bUnique>1</bUnique>

 

[Gwannyn]

I did find the line requiring peak terrain but on line 6850 and can't find the one that allows it to be on peaks. Can't find the line tagging Dragon Bones as unique either so it seems my files haven't updated properly for some reason. I tried SVN update again and it's saying that I'm at revision 98. I also tried it for just the .xml file but that made no difference.

Edit: redownloaded the whole thing through the SVN checkout command and that updated the file properly.
Edit 2: Both improvements are spawning now. Bones seem to be fine but the Guardian is spawning on hills. It seems to be in mountain ranges so I wonder if it's replacing the peak instead of spawning on top of it like I believe it used to work.

 

[Ronkhar]

Thanks for your quick answer. At least, we now know the cause of the problem was something with svn and not one of us

And I found easily the reason for hills:
there is a function "assignFlavourfulLocation" that changes the tile to hills pGuardianPlot.setPlotType(PlotTypes.PLOT_HILLS, True, True)

The reasoning behind it is to reward the player who defeats the guardian by allowing him to go through the "pass". (If it was a mountain tile instead of a hill, noone would bother)

 

[Gwannyn]

So it's working as intended? I've last seen the Guardian in the original FfH 2 where it just sat on a peak and spawned the three gargoyles to wander around. I'll have to go test how it works these days now that it's there again.

 

[Gwannyn]

I noticed something a bit curious about the Guardian. When I found it as early as turn 13 (Normal speed) I could approach and capture it without the Gargoyles spawning. I reloaded and approached it again on turn 22 and this time the Gargoyles spawned. Not sure if it not activating early is intentional but that means that it's entirely possible for the Gargoyles to never spawn and making it impossible to get the Triforce promotions.

I think in one game barbarians had captured it without the Gargoyles spawning that time either because no nearby civs had the promotions and the Guardian was held by barbarians and a regular fort commander.

 

[Ronkhar]

/me looks at the code.
Yes it's intentional:

def atRangeGuardian(pCaster, pPlot):
...
if CyGame().getGameTurn() > 20: #fixes a problem if units spawn next to the gargoyle
if not gc.getPlayer(pCaster.getOwner()).isBarbarian():

So someone, some day, decided that the gargoyles spawn only if the turn is 21+ and the caster is not one of the 3 barbarian civs.

Test1: if the barbarian capture the pass, and then you capture it (after turn 20), do the gargoyles spawn?
Test2: if you capture the pass before turn 21, does anything happen at turn 21, either automatically, or if a unit comes nearby?