question about moding the submarines

[kernok]

Yaaa fellows!


I've still been quite confused with the choice firaxis made with submarines and attack submarines.
In my point of view attack submarines should be able to launch missiles whereas normal submarines could do the job of carrying spies or other special people. Furthermore as I understand the need of having a submarine that actually counters the submarine that launches missiles I also think that normal submarines should get the +50% bonus against attack submarines.

SO, I've decided to mod it my way and this leads me to my question because I need your help:

I've successfully changed the +50% bonus, the name of attack submarine to nuclear submarine, the civclopedia enters, the type of stuff the subs are able to carry (special people for normal subs and missiles for nuclear subs) BUT it seems that I can't change the number of slots in each specific submarine.
To be quite clear I now have WWII submarines that do +50% against nuclear subs and may carry 3 special people and on the other hand I have modern submarines that carry only 1 missile!

I thought the right parameter to be changed was <iCargo/> but I doesn't work.
And last but not least: in civclopedia description of submarines parameters the numbers are good!!
I don't understand what I've missed...

Someone can help me please?


PS: sorry for my english

 

[GooglyBoogly]

You may want to try moving this thread to the modding forums, you are much more likely to get a coherent answer there.

 

[Wolfshanze]

It is <iCargo> that changes the capacity... you also need to ensure you change the <Special Cargo> and <UnitAI> tags as well (so the AI knows how to use these units).

You may consider a different approach then what you are doing however... you should distinguish between earlier non-nuclear WWII subs and modern nuclear subs... simply giving a non-nuclear WWII era sub a 50% bonus against modern nuclear subs is a bit crazy. The best solution, IMHO, is going with THREE sub classes, not two. You need one WWII-era non-nuclear sub (Str-24), probably should come with COMBUSTION+ELECTRICITY (to represent the diesel/electric engines), then have TWO nuclear-age subs... a Str-28 Boomer sub and your Str-32 Attack Sub. The WWII and Attack sub has a cargo of 1-special unit each (Great Person, Explorer, etc), while the Boomer Sub carries the missiles.

I've already done all this (and a lot more) in the Wolfshanze Mod... I also filled the immense warship gap between frigates and modern WWII Destroyers with all the coal fired navies of the 1800s and early 1900s which Firaxis skipped-over, including ocean-going ironclads, pre-dreadnought and dreadnought fleets... but that's another topic.

 

[kernok]

You're right GooglyBoogly (I should have post this elsewhere) and you're damned right Wolfshanze as the best solution is to create a new modern attack-sub that is strong against other subs but doesn't carry missiles... but I don't know how to do that, I will look into your mods to see if I can find a mod that adds just a new sub.

By the way I've finaly found what was wrong: I did my "small" mod in the right way but subs that were already built in my game didn't "see" the new icargo parameter. Only new subs and subs from new games are carrying the right stuff with right numbers!

Thank you anyway

 

[Wolfshanze]

Yeah... I might suggest you look at the Wolfshanze Mod to pull-out the three-sub approach... you're basically talking adding one new sub (the Nuclear Boomer) and changing the default WWII sub from carrying missiles to just carrying one special unit (and push the tech requirement back a bit to Combustion+Electricity)... you essentially leave the Attack Sub as it is in default Civ4.

You really only need to change a couple of XML files (if you re-use existing graphics) to make a new unit... Civ4UnitInfos.xml and Civ4UnitClassInfos.xml... if you use custom graphics, then you're opening up a new line of tutorials!

You can do a lot with custom graphics though... for instance, to fill the HUGE gap between wooden sailing ships like frigates to the "magic jump" to WWII destroyers and battleships, I added the coal-fired navies of the 1800s to the unit list... such as the pre-dreadnought age navies...

The Imperial Japanese Navy ship Mikasa


In-game look of Pre-Dreadnoughts: