Modding Q&A

[tjs282]

That might be too technical for me.

All my .biq files have different names: 126, 127, 127A, 127B, etc.

What Civinator is talking about has nothing to do with your .biq file names, it has to do with where they're being stored.

Civ3 and its Editor pre-date WinVista, like other programs of that era, by default installs into the C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/ directory, where your essential operating system files are (also) installed. Unfortunately for Civ3 players, modern Windows versions (Vista and above), are specifically designed to protect that location from potential malware damage, by preventing all unauthorised (non-Admin) programs -- such as the Civ3 Editor -- from writing files into it.

This means that if you've installed Civ3 in its default location, any changes to .biq files made by the Editor are not actually stored in the 'official' Civ3 directory (i.e., where the game 'expects' them to be), they're quietly shoved into the 'VirtualStore', a harmless mirror-location elsewhere on your HDD (or SSD, these days!). Windows knows where the 'mirror' files are, so e.g. you can open them from your desktop, or in the Editor, but the game itself only looks at the 'real' installation location, and your edited files won't be there.

 

[MeteorPunch]

That still sounds complicated unfortunately, as far as how to go about with a possible fix. This is a very big mod, and everything else to my knowledge works fine.

In more testing I deleted every resource, then added a few strategic resources back in, and the number still can't go below 2 minimum, so I think it's cause is something else entirely. Lots of testing of different world sizes settings and number playable civs, but no improvement yet.

I have an alternate workaround which will have to do in the meantime. Thanks for the suggestions - it's a tricky one.

 

[jarred!]

I have map finder and mapstat on my PC and they both are able to determine the domination limit from a .sav file, how would I find that information manually?

 

[Bungus]

So AI Artilery has been beated to death and back. But. Giving arty Offensive flab and bombard value= ????

Quote from ___ (earlier in thread):
"The AI does know how to use land-bombardment: if it captures (or enslaves) foreign bombardment-units, it will use them "offensively" on the battlefield. Similarly, if a dedicated 'Offensive-unit' also has a B-value with R>0 — even if that unit-type does not have the 'Bombardment' strategy — the AI may/will still use that unit to offensively bombard nearby enemy(s) that it might not be able to defeat in a straight fight (i.e. A-value vs. D-value). The drawback here, is that the AI can then also use its 'Offensive' unit to bombard tile-improvements."

Say Catapult is 1-1-1 B-4. Will the AI build them as offensive units (which seems unlikely because you and it are always going to have better, "real" offensive units available, unless for some reason it values Bomb strength in an offensive unit), then march it in -stack into enemy territory and bombard once there?

 

[Vuldacon]

Bungus... Concerning Artillery, perhaps you have observed the captured or enslaved Artillery bombarding on the Map due to having Defensive Units with them at the time. Will the Artillery Units stay and Bombard on the Map alone?
I do know that IF you Pre-place artillery Units on the Map with a Defensive Unit, the AI can use the Artillery Unit on the Map rather than go to and stay inside a city.

Pre-placing Units in a Game overrides the normal AI programming because all Settings are already there for the Unit. When the AI builds a Unit that has different settings such as Terraform, Offensive, Defensive settings, the Human can use any of the settings while the AI has to select one of the settings for the Unit when building it.

An example of this is my Farm Tractor ... it has multiple settings...When Pre-placed in a Game, the AI uses it for all settings the same as a Human Player can. It will Irrigate, Clear Pollution, Build Roads, Attack and Defend.

 

[Bungus]

Right. My question is specifically regarding assigning arty the offensive flag and giving it some perfunctory A/D values. Will it build them and will it use them?

 

[Vuldacon]

Bungus... Again, the AI will select one setting or the other. IF the Artillery is set for both Artillery with Bombardment settings and also Attack/Defense settings, the AI will choose Artillery with the programed way Artillery is used or IF the AI chooses Attack/Defense, the Artillery will not Bombard but act as any other Attack/Defense Unit.

 

[Bungus]

Some other dude pages back in this same thread said the opposite: that Offens flagged unit with bombard ability will bombabrd, but the search funct here is a useless sack of **** and its 20 pages deep, so I guesss those sleeping dogs will lie.
maybe one day soon I'll try playing around for myself

 

[Wolfhart]

I have a question about tradeable units and the no-unit-limit patch:

Has anyone else noticed that some units that are tradeable still don't show up in the diplomacy trade menu despite being in the capital?
My theory is that units beyond the regular 8192 in-game unit limit won't show up. ​

 

[Bungus]

Damn is that the limit? How do you even reach that?

 

[r16]

would it be possible with the cracked editors or something , to mark artillery as offensive , needs an escort , but 0 as the attack value , but bombard values positive ?

 

[Bungus]

Try it. Byt if I remember right you cant set a unit to offense without an attack and defense value greater than zero

 

[Kirejara]

KI players will often use artillery of foreign origin outside of its cities and will even land them via ship in a naval invasion.

The problem is, that one has to find a way to distribute foreign artillery among the KI.

My solution are Combat Engineers, who ehm... salvage artillery from defeated enemies (Scenario editor settings are enslave and as result the artillery).

A few games ago the Maya wheeled a full dozen Artilleries next to one of my cities to bombard it.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/smart-ai-artillery-usage-suggestion.543861/#post-14307604

Also it seems that they are more willing to use artillery if they have got defense points.

 

[Civinator]

The problem is, that one has to find a way to distribute foreign artillery among the KI.

Yes, it is a pitty, that until now no editor has the ability to set a nationality to a unit, differing from the nationality of the civ it belongs to - so such a setting in C3C must exist when looking at the enslave option or the resistors of a conquered city.

 

[Bungus]

Hey, got one for you guys.

Why does the AI almost always build a library than university as its first improvement in its far-flung new cities?

And what "build often" flag encourages the ai to build courthouses and police stations/? I get civs founding cities in the americas and oceania with 90% of everything lost to corruption and the first two improvements they choose are .. libraries and universities..

 

[Vuldacon]

Bungus... The AI wants Science and perhaps they do not have Code of Laws to be able to build Courthouses. Perhaps deselect Science for the Civ.
Flag build often: Happiness should help and perhaps Culture.

 

[Nanuk]

Also keep in mind that if you set too many build often/build never flags, the AI will just ignore them. I keep mine limited to 3, max. I don't know if it's a combination or each, so I play the safe side and assume combination.

 

[Bungus]

No science flag set and we're well into middle or industrial ages. No one else has noticed this in epic mods? Its a little bizare..
Does anyone know what flag if any, the courthouse falls under?

 

[Vuldacon]

Bungus... It is Not that Any Improvement "Falls Under" or is dictated by particular Categories in the Editor but rather that the tendency to build particular Improvements are influenced by the Settings Flagged.
Example: IF you want the AI to build Courthouses and the AI is experiencing Corruption and certainly Unhappiness, building a Courthouse will help correct that. The AI "Knows" this and will tend to build the Courthouse if Flagged with build often Happiness...then set Courthouses to make X number of the Population Happy in the City.
Temples are also Very Important for Happiness.

In other words, there are No simple answers for exactly what you are asking but rather influences for the AI.
As far as I know, there is NO specific Flag that will make the AI build Courthouses but you can analyze what is going on in your Game and take steps to correct it.

The Flags in the Editor are really there more as influences rather than any dictation.

IF you are talking about a Scenario and you want the AI to build Courthouses, you could add "Perks" or extras to the Courthouse so the AI will want to build them. Then because the Courthouse Reduces Corruption and the population will be happier, you solve your problem. The "Perk or Perks" could be any number of things that the AI Civs Want. Experimenting will show what those are.

The AI Loves Food, Population, Gold and Happiness. These things with the ability to have Strong Units and Many of them.

 

[Bungus]

How does a reduction in corruption correlate to increased happiness? Or are you referring to the scenario you mentioned where courthouses are modified to also give a smiley?
Theres no logical additional ability I can think of adding to the courthouse. Culture and it gets razed on take over. Cant think of the last time I been happy to go to court..

It'd be nice not to have to bastardize an improvement to encourage the ai to play smart. Not the first time tho