[Religion and Revolution]: Mod Development

[raystuttgart]

I saw an interesting feature...settlers as crew for ships...sounds realistic ... the ships currently are sailing without any crews...

Yes it does sound interesting.
(At TAC we also had an internal discussion about it.)

However I must say, that I see massive amounts of potential problems and efforts.
(Especially for AI)

Problem is again, that we do not get the sources from DoANE.
(If we would, I could check the source code and eventually adapt ...)

We would have to completely programm something of our own.
Thus efforts and risks are at a very bad relation compared to benefits,
to my personal opinion.

 

[orlanth]

Yeah I'd agree with Ray. We have so many new features already planned which will already be hard for programming and AI, best to focus on implementing those. (Anyway, the crews are just a few dozen people who always stay with the ship so its not that unrealistic.)

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I have finished the "Rebalancing of Leaderheads".
(It is uploaded to SVN.)

1. I especially leveled out some extremes.

• Getting +10 relations just for sitting next to an opponent peacefully with open borders for some time
• Getting +10 relations just for being at war with the same enemy over a longer period of time
• AIs declaring total war to enemies almost twice as strong
• AIs demanding tributes although being "best friends"
• AIs giving / accepting defensive pacts to easily
• Only being close to European-AI already resutling in -6 relations
• ...

2. I did a finer / improved balancing for our new Native Nations.

3. I changed order of Nations.
(First Europeans, then Natives, then Kings.)

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

we were thinking about showing nationspecific buttons in civilopedia (civ overview).
(see here)

The nationspecific buttons work just perfect on map.

However, they currently do not in this civilopedia screen.

Reasons:

A) The UnitArtStyles are configured for the corresponding professions of Natives
(Profession Brave, Profession Scout, Profession Armed Brave, ...)
But in that Screen, there is no profession. It is only the unit without profession.

B) Even if the UnitArtStyles were configured differently, the Python would still not match.
It would not consider the nationspecific style / button, but the default style / button.

Summary:

Adjusting colopedias here is getting too much effort for too little benefit for my taste.
The most important thing for me is, that it works in game.

But if anybody else wants to do this, go ahead.

 

[Schmiddie]

Yes, it is fine that it works in game (that was not my first intention, but a nice effect! )

 

[raystuttgart]

@team:
I implemented another small DLL-Diplo-Event.

Conquistadores

Conquistadores are rare special units only acquired through a specific DLL-Diplo-Events.

1. They are pretty strong fighting against Melee-Combat Units / Professions.
(Natives without weapons or horses are fighting Melee.)

2. They also get some small bonusses against Native Mercenaries.


The DLL-Diplo-Event

Conditions:

A) You need to be at war with at least one Native Nation
B) You need at least one coastal colony
C) You need to have sufficient money to hire them.
D) There is some randomness in it.

Comments

As already mentioned, they are really great for fighting Natives (without Weapons and Horses).
(For everything else, other units might be a better choice.)

I hope you like it.
(If not, I will remove it. )

 

[Schmiddie]

Cool! And already a fine graphic...maybe I'm allowed trying to pimp it up a little bit?

 

[raystuttgart]

...maybe I'm allowed trying to pimp it up a little bit?

Sure.
(I am simply making a first suggestion when implementing graphics. )

 

[orlanth]

I like the event idea. But how about using the already existing Event system rather than altering DLL, so it can be fully configurable with XML.

in eventtriggerinfos.xml, you could set:
<iMinTreasury>500</iMinTreasury>
<bPickPlayer>1</bPickPlayer>
<bOtherPlayerWar>1</bOtherPlayerWar>
<bOtherPlayerAI>1</bOtherPlayerAI>
<bOtherPlayerNative>1</bOtherPlayerNative>
<bOtherPlayerPlayable>0</bOtherPlayerPlayable>
<iOtherPlayerShareBorders>1</iOtherPlayerShareBorders>

in eventinfos.xml:
<iGold>-500</iGold>
<UnitClass>UNITCLASS_CONQUISTADOR</UnitClass>
<iNumFreeUnits>1</iNumFreeUnits>

You could also add a check for coastal colony in the trigger if you want using PythonCanDoCity, or check for 1 LandingStage/Dock etc using BuildingsRequired. (although actually it's probably safe to say almost everyone has one coastal colony).

 

[raystuttgart]

I like the event idea. But how about using the already existing Event system rather than altering DLL, so it can be fully configurable with XML.

Would have been possible, but it is already implemented.

A) The DLL-Diplo-Event is configurable in XML. (balancing and texts)
B) Chances of Python/XML-Events are influencing each other, Chances of DLL-Diplo-Events are not
C) DLL is more performant, than Python
D) You get a nice diplomacy dialogue, which I really like
E) I check more conditions than I listed, like "Not in Revolution"

So, where is the problem doing this in DLL ?

As I said, DLL-Diplo-Events like this are no big deal.
(I ususally fully implement, write texts and test within 2 hours or so.)

 

[Schmiddie]

Hi gents,

I thought about the treasures...Who would like to pull a treasure by foot through the wilderness? I don't know anyone.

Therefore I have created a new unit graphic for the "treasure".

If the team likes it, I will implement it and will also create one with a native:

 

[raystuttgart]

If the team likes it ...

To be honest, I like the old / current one better.

Just imagine, that you stumble across a treasure with a normal colonist.
Where should the horse suddenly appear from ?

I simply cannot really get friend with this charriot.
Also, treasures are simply a very slow unit.

Please leave the treasure (for Europeans) as it is.

But if you want to create a graphic for Natives, that would be nice.
(But please without horses.)

 

[Schmiddie]

Hehe, correct, you stumble across a treasure. But...where should the carriage suddenly appear from? It is the same problem...

 

[raystuttgart]

It is the same problem...

Theoretically that carriage could be built.
Maybe it is not really realistic either, but a horse appearing out of nothing really is strange to me.
I simply like the current graphics for treasure better.

You definitely did a great job creating these graphics.
But somehow they simply do not fit into the atmosphere to me.

 

[Schmiddie]

Ok, I understand...

I have uploaded a graphic "native treasure". But it still needs to be implemented as graphic for the native nations.

 

[raystuttgart]

I have uploaded a graphic "native treasure".

Looks fantastic.

But it still needs to be implemented as graphic for the native nations.

Do you know how to do that, or should I do it ?
(The easiest way is probably to create a new entry for each Native Civ in CIV4UnitArtStyleTypeInfos.xml.)

But I can do it also, if you want.
(Could you create the entry in CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml in that case.)

 

[Schmiddie]

No, I didn't know how to do it...otherwise I already had done it for test purposes.

It would be nice, if you could do that. I will create the enty in the ArtDefines_unit.xml

 

[raystuttgart]

I will create the enty in the ArtDefines_unit.xml

Ok, I will do the rest then.

Edit:
It is done and uploaded to SVN.

Looks really nice in game.

 

[agaro]

Actually I like the European horse version. And the scout has 50 horses so I expect he could spare 1 to take the treasure back. Also given the Treasures are so big / heavy that they take up 3 bays of a galleon I think we can accept they will still move slowly (1 tile each turn) even if pulled by a horse when there are no roads.

I am not sure why the horse driver has a pick though. I am sure the horse would be intimidated by this, but it does seem a bit cruel for a G rated game.

Also horses escaped from and were released by the Spanish - and then populated America on their own as herds of wild horses. These wild horses spread faster than the European settlers and were then captured, traded and domesticated by natives, particularly in North America. So you had the situation in the plains of North America where the native tribes had horses, and were skilled horsemen, before they themselves had much contact with any European nation.

As far as I am aware no Native American civilization ever had The Wheel - that is something you might want to think about for their carrier.

 

[Schmiddie]

I like your kind of humor! The driver has a pick because he would look a little bit funny/strange without something in his right hand (I cannot angle the right arm to the body). It is no alternative for a whip! I used a pick because I would not give him a weapon. And a pick suits with a treasure...

The wheel should not be a problem...the natives will only capture European treasures...I think the natives are intelligent enough to steer the European treasures after they captured them