Research unfair?

[Ndrju]

I recently "reactivated" Civ 2: Test of Time. In the sci-fi game, I somehow find it unfair that in order to travel to other planets and orbit only one tribe has to research Forward Vectoring etc. and other instantaneously are given ability to build teleporters, no matter how backward their science might be.

Is there any way (or mod) to change it so that each tribe HAS to research requisite technologies before they will EVER be able to travel from Funestis to Naumachia? (Or Orbit? Or Nona?) This would make the space race more realistic.

I tried to alter 'events' and 'rules' files but with no success.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

I have never played TOT, but regular Civ2 is not much different. The benefits of both Apollo and Manhattan wonders go to everyone not just the player who built them.

 

[Catfish]

Yeah, the standard game for ToT is virtually identical to the standard game for MGE, but in this case he's talking about something unique to ToT: map transport relationships. The Sci-Fi game is an official mod. It uses 4 maps. When any tribe researches Forward Vectoring or Quantum Gravitics, the two engineering unit types in the game automatically gain an ability to build inter-map transporters. The complaint was that tribes who possess the engineering units, but not the techs, also gain the benefit of inter-map transport - unfairly.

Looks like you'll need to create engineer units unique to each tribe slot (there are 7) and write a set of ReceivedTechnology-Transport events for each one (there are 9 such events per engineering unit). There are 21 unique tribes in the game. That's 7 units x 9 events x 3 tribes = 189 events total, ie, an additional 171 events. You've got 18 spare unit slots and plenty of events space, so it seems feasible. Lots of copying and pasting in that events file.

 

[Ndrju]

Yes, I thought about making unique engineer units for each tribe, though I hoped for an easier way to change all that. But I might just do that given some free time.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I just assumed some kind of industrial espionage was going on (that sort of thing happened in ancient times, too...).

But yeah, I always concentrate my game on as much research, as fast as possible. It's irksome to struggle to get to Naumachia or Orbit and discover the aliens got there first.

I don't usually have that problem with Nona, since the aliens have usually killed each other off first, or been offed by the Barbarians (going after barbarian units with Bombii... stupid!).

 

[Ndrju]

But yeah, I always concentrate my game on as much research, as fast as possible. It's irksome to struggle to get to Naumachia or Orbit and discover the aliens got there first.

Well, I just finished changing the events file and added some civ-specific units as Catfish suggested so that Naumachia and Nona are accessible only for those who discovered Forward Vect. and Quantum Gravitics. If you are interested I might upload these modified files for your use (just tell me how). Of course first I'd rather do some testing not to look stupid if something doesn't work... Later on I might add civ-specific settlers so that travel to orbit would be possible ONLY for those with spacecraft.

What is good, is that each new engineering unit cannot be bribed. This way other players without requisite techs will not be able to build teleports just by buying your engineer.

 

[Catfish]

If you are interested I might upload these modified files for your use (just tell me how).

Click the Manage Attachments button below the Message box when you post a reply.

 

[Ndrju]

Yes, but I meant uploading it to the site. Why keep it to myself? If others find this "teleport policy" annoying this small modification might come in handy.

 

[Catfish]

Eh? There are plenty of people who upload mods (minor and major) as thread attachments, without ever utilising the Downloads Database. Anyway, see this page. Because you're a new poster, you'll probably have to wait for moderator approval when uploading files to the Database.