Modding Q&A

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How does the "requirement buildings" function work? We know that for improvements you need a building within that city. The number set for that is 1 by default. For small wonders the building regardless of number doesn't have to be within that city.

But what if I want to have an improvement that can only be unlocked by a unique civ's tech small wonder? Would setting the requirement building to that small wonder at number 1 result in me being able to build that improvement regardless where it is or does the small wonder have to be in the same city?

 

Hm, is it possible to have events (at least a text of an event) in the following way?
-Have a civilopedia entry for your event
-Force the program to auto-load that civilopedia page when x happens

 

No I dont think so. At one point a tech would bring up a pop window of text but that is no longer read by the game though the lines are still in the script.txt.

 

predator145... is the Tech for the Small Wonder separate from other Civs? IF so, simple use that Tech as a Requirement for the Improvement you want.
If you use the Small Wonder as the Requirement, you would need to build the Improvement in the same City.

Really, I am not sure what you are trying to do but You could set the Tech as a Requirement for a Great Wonder then set the Great Wonder to place the Improvement you want in all cities or all cities on the same continent.

 

I'm pretty sure that -- since it's not possible to build the same prereq-building more than once per town! -- if you set the number of required buildings to be more than 1 to unlock a generic improvement(s), then the game simply counts that number of buildings across your Civ -- just like it would for a Small Wonder like Battlefield Med (5 Hospitals) or Wall Street (5 StockExes).

The difference being, that once that threshold of required buildings has been crossed, you would be able to build the newly unlocked building everywhere.

I would guess that if a generic building requires a Small Wonder as a prereq, you will only be able to build it once, in the Small Wonder town.

IIRC, that's how @Civinator's "Slave Market"* works in CCM: since it requires the Palace**, you can only ever build one.

*I think that's the right one: I mean the building which autoproduces the invisible, HN Enslavers
**Admittedly, the Palace is not a Small Wonder, but I would guess that the same principle would apply

 

The normal building can only been built in the city where the small wonder (SW) or the palace is located. This rule is frequently used in the CCM mods, per example where the normal buildings autoproducing machinegunners and flamethrowers can only been built in the city where the SW Military Academy is located or the building that produces royal garrisons can only been built in the city where the palace is located. To use normal buildings, that can only been built in one place, compared to a SW, that can also been built in only one place, has the advantage, that those 'unique' normal buildings can be bombed away, while the SW cannot been destroyed by bombing.

 

The script text file in Civ 3 Vanilla holds comments for researched techs. These comments are no longer included in the script files of the Civ 3 expansions. I haven´t tested if the triggers for those comments are still working, if those triggers are added again to the C3C script file.



Unfortunately in Civ 3 events can only be created 'indirectly' by using other existing features in Civ 3 like the techtree or some other options in the game that can create reactions (like popup windows).

 

Concerning Improvements being Bombarded away, I like Great Wonders placing Improvements because those Improvements cannot be Bombarded away.
Of course the City that builds the Great Wonder must be strong or guarded to prevent it from being captured or the Improvements are lost.

Concerning the AI building Wonders and Improvements, it is best to set the AI to Build Wonders or Improvements from the start of a Game because when at War and the Cities are being attacked, the AI will tend to build Units rather than Wonders or Improvements. IF the AI has a city that is not being attacked, that city can build Wonders and Improvements later in a game. IF the AI is building a Wonder or Improvement, you can Bombard and attack that city with strong units and that generally will cause the AI to stop building the Wonder or Improvement and build a Unit.

Events where you want an Improvement to start Auto-producing Units later in a game can be handled by having the AI build a Great Wonder that places the Improvements in the Cities. Set those Improvements to require a Resource that will be gained later in the game when you want the Improvements to start the Unit production. The Improvements are there but cannot Auto-produce until the Required Resource is obtained. This provides more control of the Improvements and the AI will build the Great Wonders in the beginning of a Game. If you set an Improvement to build a Unit every 10 turns for example and the Improvement has been placed in the Cities for at least 10 turns before the Required Resource is obtained, the turn that the Required Resource is obtained, the Unit will be produced. So do the math to get what you want.

In order for a Great Wonder to place Improvements in Cities, it Must be Built in the game. If you pre-place a Great Wonder with settings to place Improvements, it will not work.
One work around is to have the Great Wonder immediately start producing a Unit at a slower rate or even a different Unit as well as placing Improvements that will start Auto-producing the same or different Units later with a Required Resource. You can then control the rate of production and or Unit type and when it will happen in a game. Because Great Wonders can place Improvements in ALL Cities on the same continent and in All Cities, this allows you to have the Great Wonder place two different Improvements that can then start auto-producing Units at different times in the game simply by setting different Required Resources for the Improvements.

You have to think of this as the Improvements are there in the Cities but because they do not have the Required Resource to be built, they cannot function to produce Units. Later when the Required Resource is obtained, the Improvements can also be directly built and the pre-placed Improvements will start the Unit production. I will add that although the Improvements cannot start Unit production until the Required resources are obtained, the other settings for those Improvements work from when they are placed.

You can pre-place an Improvement yourself with a Required Resource that will be obtained later to do the same thing a above but unlike being placed by a Great Wonder, the Improvements can be Bombarded away.

This is all AI manipulation to get what is wanted in a game... lets call it "Fun with the AI"

 

I'm trying to do trait specific buildings. Expansionist civs get a 50 shield "Aqueduct (Exp)" and the "Expansionist" tech that is started with and untradeable makes regular Aqueducts obsolete. But I still want to time this cheap Aqueduct with the tech Construction. So I have the Aqueduct (Exp) needing Construction and require a building that can only be obtained with the "Expansionist" starting tech.

So based on your answers if the required building is a SW then this improvement can only be built once in that city with the SW. So my solution will be to have an "Expansionist" tech required SW/improvement requiring Palace that gives all cities an "Expansionist Bonus" improvement. This improvement will be the requirement building for the Aqueduct (Exp).

The challenge will be to attach some kind of benefit to prompt the AI to build this SW/Improvement requiring Palace that is as inconsequential to gameplay as possible. I have no clue about AI building behavior. I've been told they don't build obsolete things. I've yet to test that. But I doubt they'd build something that does nothing either. Would something like "give 1 happy face and 1 unhappy face" or things like "charm barrier, double sacrifice, double happiness of barracks" entice them to build?

BTW, city walls are so cheap and so effective early game. Why doesn't the AI build it right away after finishing the first defender? I want to entice them to build it ASAP as well.

 

I was referring to this:



These lines do not work anymore. Seems you found an additional section though.

 

In the Firaxis Editor, "Edit Rules: Improvements & Wonders" tab, only GWonders have the possibility to "Provide free [building] in [all cities]". When a building is classified as an SW or generic improvement, the GW-section of the Editor-window is (blanked and) greyed out. Also, since a GW can only be built once, the first Expansionist Civ to finish it would be able to build the Aqueduct(Exp), but none of the other Civs would (unless they captured that GW later).

So this solution could only work as described if you gave each Exp-Civ its own unique bonus-building-providing GW — or if you're using a hacked/ homebrew Editor which allows you to assign GW-flags to SW/generic buildings.

An additional/ alternative possibility (though less ideal?) might be to make the Aqueduct(Exp) dependent on a resource revealed by the EXP-Civs' unique starting-tech (e.g. "Freshwater spring"), which you could set to potentially appear on any land tile, and/or at a sufficiently high appearance ratio that most Civs will likely get some, somewhere within their borders. That way, only the EXP-Civs would be able to hook it (and trade it?) and then build their cheap Aqueduct(Exp) once they learn Construction.

 

Even when using the Quintillus editor, where such a function can theoretically be adjusted, such a function unfortunately isn´t working in the game. There would be so much useful setting for it (from giving specified access to different religions up to civspecific buildings and SW ministeries that provide era 1 buildings like marketplaces to every city to cut down the turntimes in the late game) and therefore I tested this some time ago - but even on the 'homebrew' editors, it seems, that such a solution is not working.

 

I have posted, that I haven´t tested this for C3C.

 

Predator145... Yes, Small Wonders cannot provide Improvements. Only Great Wonders can do that.
You can Require a SW as a Requirement for another building improvement (same as Any Building improvement) but that would be only one building Improvement where the SW is built.

I am not sure of all the details you are wanting or dealing with but Because it seems that you have more than one Esp-Civ, it would be better to have an "Exp TECH" given to only the Exp-Civs from the start of the Game (Set Not Tradable). That Tech can then be used as the Requirement to build an "Expansionist Bonus" improvement. IF you need to control when the improvement is built you can set a Resource as a Requirement. Then the "Expansionist Bonus" improvement can be used as a Requirement to build the Aqueduct (Exp). IF needed a Resource can be used to control when the Aqueduct (Exp.) can be built.
Alternatively, if you do not care when the Aqueduct (Exp) is built, you would only need the special Exp Tech only for the Exp-Civs.

As for AI and City Walls, the AI does not tend to build them as immediately as we want but you could try setting Happy Faces and more Culture to have the AI want them more. The AI Loves Food and Gold more because it wants Large Populations (which makes the Cities Stronger) and Gold for Wealth.

 

I don't want to go down the resource road because how unreliable that is. I don't want the map to be covered in high spawning dummy resources either. I guess I'll stick to having an "Expansionist Bonus" requirement building needing the "Expansionist" starting tech and then time the "Aqueduct (Exp) with Construction.

Now the trick is to entice the AI to build that "Expansionist Bonus" improvement ASAP without altering gameplay. That's why I wonder if the AI is gonna be tricked if you give 1 happy face and 1 unhappy.

 

Has anyone ever successfully made a unit, which when auto-produced for the AI, they either simply disband it for the shields, or join it to the city for a population increase?

My first attempt at such they simply let sittin there, gathering dust. I'm not sure the AI will be capable of doing this at all.

 

MeteorPunch... Have not tried to have the AI disband a Unit for the Shields but you could test setting the Auto-produced Unit worth Great Shields and the Attack/Defense/Moves to 1. In other words, the Unit is otherwise worthless except for the Shields when disbanded. It would not surprise me if even then the AI does nothing with the Unit but worth a try.

I have not seen the AI add to their Population. maybe someone else has.

 

Yeah, I feel like there's a possibility that they would do it, if they were coaxed by just the right settings.

 

IIRC, there's a screenshot somewhere — in the "Interesting screenshots" thread? — showing the city-view for a captured AI-town (previously Mayan) with a citizen(s?) whose nationality is "Barbarian": the implication being that a Jav-Thrower must have enslaved a Barb unit into a "Worker (Barbarian)", which was then later added to the town (and never assimilated).

So it can happen, but is probably pretty rare.

(Or I'm mis-remembering again...)