Modmaking Checklist: Tips & Tricks

[Nishdog]

I recently created 2 new Civs. Everything is working fine with them right now except for the diplomacy screens. Instead of the normal diplomacy text I get when talking to the pre-made civs, I get some weird strings that go something like this:
$ player = Canadians

Any idea on what I can do to fix this? I'm guessing it involves editing the civilopedia.txt or some other file in that directory, but I don't want to edit those files any more without first getting some help...

 

[WildWeazel]

I recently created 2 new Civs. Everything is working fine with them right now except for the diplomacy screens. Instead of the normal diplomacy text I get when talking to the pre-made civs, I get some weird strings that go something like this:
$ player = Canadians

Any idea on what I can do to fix this? I'm guessing it involves editing the civilopedia.txt or some other file in that directory, but I don't want to edit those files any more without first getting some help...

Nishdog, this is not a question thread. I want to limit it to helpful facts only. If you need help, start a new thread.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

I recently created 2 new Civs. Everything is working fine with them right now except for the diplomacy screens. Instead of the normal diplomacy text I get when talking to the pre-made civs, I get some weird strings that go something like this:
$ player = Canadians

Any idea on what I can do to fix this? I'm guessing it involves editing the civilopedia.txt or some other file in that directory, but I don't want to edit those files any more without first getting some help...

Dishofdog, that equation you saw is referring the way Canadians are financially starved by one of the highest tax rates in the world, second only to Finland but with far less public spending to show for it. The $ sign actually refers to a negative integer so that when multiplied by the player, it results in a negative net worth for Canadians to represent maxed out credit cards and empty bank accounts.

 

[WildWeazel]

It has been tested to death, and there is NO reasonable way to make the AI use a land transport, due to the strategy flags.

Remember that no unit with a transport capacity can be transported- no airdrops from carriers

There is no way to unload a unit from an army. The army flag locks all units in.

For more info on Armies, see the new article in the War Academy.

 

[WildWeazel]

If you want a unit to have defensive bombard only, you can set the range to 0, but you still have to check the "bombard" flag under Special Actions. Otherwise the unit will not bombard.

In C3C, rebase missions are limited to 4 times the operational range. AFAIK this cannot be changed.

A unit does not have to be an air unit to execute air missions. This can allow tactical strikes by covert ops on nearby tiles, teleportation, etc. (I have not tested this in depth, but I have made land units rebase and bomb)

I am going to do some testing later today to try out a new idea- combine stealth attack with air missions to see if I can make better precision strikes. If this has been done, somebody please slap me.

If I have time I will also clear up the global warming issues- I can't find the old thread so I'll test all the combinations to see which effects work and which don't.



Oh, and one more tip: Never listen to anything scratchyfoot says

 

[mrtn]

If you want a unit to have defensive bombard only, you can set the range to 0, but you still have to check the "bombard" flag under Special Actions. Otherwise the unit will not bombard...

Eh, no... The defensive bombard works. Adding the bombard flag just give the player the ability to bombard at zero range, which is non-sensical.

 

[WildWeazel]

Hmm... it seems you're right, I assumed that was why my units weren't working.... apparently HN units don't use defensive bombard? Back to testing.....

 

[Colonel Kraken]

If you want multiple resources with the same name but different look, you can use spaces in the name. That will technically give each resource a different name (for editor purposes) but will look exactly the same when you right click on the map.

For example, I thought it would be nice to have different types of "Game" bonus resource for different types of terrain. So, I have "Game" as the normal antelope looking animal for plains and floodplains, "Game_" (the "_" denotes a space) that looks like turkey for the Forest, and "Game__" that looks like a furry little bunny in the Arctic.

Don't use this option for Luxury Resources because each nuance of the same named resource will count as an extra luxury resource for happiness --unless this is what you want to do.

 

[mrtn]

And of course CK's spaces works exactly the same for units; I have 4 or 5 different Spearmen in my mod.

 

[WildWeazel]

Another obvious one I forgot to mention:
BACK UP YOUR FILES!!! This is usually more of a convenience thing, especially with graphics, but the last thing you want to do accidentally overwrite the civilopedia you have worked on for weeks with the R&R version you just downloaded. (not speaking from experience here, but I can imagine )
This is really helpful with graphics- I don't know how many hours I've spent digging through C&C for terrain improvements I overwrote and then decided I still wanted....

 

[mrtn]

Weasel, it's better to make scenarios than modding the original folders, thus you can keep different gfx in different scenarios.

 

[WildWeazel]

True, but I meant replacing the standard game graphics, not just for a scenario. I used to find a terrainbuildings file I wanted and overwrote the old one instead of changing the original to "terrainbuildings_orig".

 

[Plotinus]

If you have sacrificable units, the amount of culture points gained by the sacrifice is equal to the cost of the unit in shields. They don't tell you that!

 

[Dom Pedro II]

If you have sacrificable units, the amount of culture points gained by the sacrifice is equal to the cost of the unit in shields. They don't tell you that!

Wow... I never knew that!

 

[WildWeazel]

I was hoping to get more input in thist thread I'll put a link in my sig and see if anybody else has somethng to share.

Here's another trick I just found in the Peloppenesian War scenario thread:
If you join a no-nationality unit to a city, the new citizen is always unhappy.

 

[RedAlert]

It has been tested to death, and there is NO reasonable way to make the AI use a land transport, due to the strategy flags.

Remember that no unit with a transport capacity can be transported- no airdrops from carriers

There is no way to unload a unit from an army. The army flag locks all units in.

For more info on Armies, see the new article in the War Academy.

... but I believe you are able to disband individual units from armies, in order to make room for new ones, correct?

 

[WildWeazel]

I don't see how, since you can't select individual units in an army... time for testing

 

[Ozymandias]

Maybe it's flogging a dead horse, but anyone who wants some way-too-intense sense of what the AI will build can look here.

-Oz

 

[Dom Pedro II]

And yet you've still not compiled all of the info, ozy... :shakehead

 

[Luddi VII]

I'm working on a WWII scenario. And to make civs "neutral", you can...

...uncheck "Enables Military Alliances", "Enables Mutual Protection Pacts" and "Enables Trade Embargoes".

...and add a immobile defense unit that is the only military unit which the "neutral" civ can build. So it cannot attack other civs, but it can be attacked by other civs.