SMAN's The Ancient World at War (AWAW) - The Black Swan Companion Mod

[sman1975]

"Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno"

(Latin, translation: "A rare bird in the lands and very much like a black swan")


The phrase was first recorded by 2nd-century Roman poet Juvenal's from his work called, "Satire VI." When the phrase was coined, the black swan was presumed not to exist. Juvenal's phrase was a common expression in 16th century London as a statement of impossibility.

The use of the term "Black Swan" has since became a metaphor used to describe completely unexpected events which have a dramatic impact on how society functions. Uncommon events have happened throughout human history, and indeed further back than that. Some of those events were beneficial to the civs that experienced them, some were quite devastating, destroying wide areas of an empire.

"The Black Swan" companion mod is "SMAN's Ancient World at War" mod's "Events System" - which are random things that a civ must face as it navigates the trials and triumphs throughout their history. Some of these events are quite positive, some can be a nightmare.

While TBS is a companion mod, it can be enabled without using the main AWAW mod.


New Events: In this mod, there are two basic types of events that can occur:

1. Black Swan Events: random acts of God that can greatly impact a civ in various ways:
--> Positive: events that generally benefit the entire civ overall
--> Negative: events that generally bring woe to a specific city or small part of the empire
--> Mirrored: these are similar to the other Black Swan events, but they have a corresponding event of the opposite nature (i.e. a good Mirrored event also has a bad event of a similar nature).

2. In-Game Events: these are events that occur automatically as a response to something that has happened in the game, e.g. taking an enemy capital, eliminating a civ or city state, etc.




Introductory popup - note this isn't the final version - am still looking for feedback on what the popup should look like. See Post #8 for more potential versions.





More to follow...

 

[sman1975]

1. Black Swan Events - General Discussion: The mod uses an extensive process to process events for major civs. City States and Barbarians do not experience events. Here is how the mod processes events for civs:

Every few turns, there is a change a civ will experience an event. The minimum number of turns depends on game speed. At Marathon speed, it is 24 game turns, 18 for Epic, 12 for Standard, and 6 for Quick.

There is also a maximum number of turns, also based on game speed. It is 3 times the number of game turns as the minimum. So, for Marathon, the maximum number of turns before an event must occur is 72 turns.

Once the minimal number of turns has passed, there is a 10% chance on any subsequent turn for an event to occur, unless the civ has passed the maximum number of turns (which is 100% change to occur in this case).

Once the civ beats that 10% random chance, and event will try to occur. First, the mod determines if the event is positive (44% chance), negative (44%), or Mirrored (12%). After that is determined, then the mod selects which type of specific event will occur. There is more-or-less and equal chance for any event of the event type (positive, negative, mirrored).

Next, the mod will attempt to implement the event. I say "attempt" because there are times when the event will simply have no impact. For example, if the negative "storms at sea" event is selected, but the civ has no ships, there will obviously be no impact. If the "volcano" event is selected, but the player has no cities within 3 tiles of a Mountain tile, then there will be no impact.

If there is an impact from an event, the mod updates the "Last Event Turn" counter for that civ. This means they will not experience an event until the minimum number of game turns has passed. If there was no impact from the event, the civ will still have a 10% chance of an event the next turn. This pattern repeats until the maximum number of turns passes, which will guarantee and event the next turn.

If a civ is at or passed the maximum number of turns, they will receive an event attempt each turn until they experience an event that has an impact.

There are many ways to lower the impact of an Event in a city. Various buildings can lower the damages caused by the event, but a few buildings can make those damages even worse.


One thing to note: if an AI civ is in the bottom half of the score table (and therefore struggling), there is a slightly larger chance they will experience positive events more often.

 

[sman1975]

1. Black Swan Events - Positive: These events provide bonuses, which generally benefit the entire empire.

Please note: that while there are more negative then positive events, there is still about a 50% chance of receiving either of these two event types at any time an event occurs.



Below is an example of a positive event message to human players: both a Notification and a popup appear. The popup is intended to provide the most information, while the Notification is issued, so that it will be fed into the Notification Log popup, so a player can refer to that log in the future to get data on the event, after the popup has been dismissed.

The popup has many tooltips to provide even more data. Be sure to hover the mouse pointer over the icons and main text box to review this extra data.

 

[sman1975]

1. Black Swan Events - Negative: These events generally are localized to a specific city/area, and can at times be quite damaging. Having the "mitigator" buildings in a city can lower the damage/impact quite a lot.

 

[sman1975]

1. Black Swan Events - Mirrored: these events can be either positive or negative, depending on the circumstances.

Note: these complicated Events have many outcomes, almost if each one was a separate event. You can think of them as "Umbrella" events, as many different things happen under the same event type (but they all use similar icons in the popup).

 

[sman1975]

2. In-Game Events: Although not fully-developed, these events occur automatically as a result of things that normally happen in a game. However, they are not guaranteed to happen. AI civs will have a slightly higher chance of experiencing positive outcomes, and AI civs in the bottom half of the score table have an even higher chance.

Human civs in the top half of the score table has a slightly higher chance of negative outcomes.



Generally speaking, there are two sides to these types of events:
- If the event impacts only a single civ, it can be either a positive or negative impact
- If the event impacts more than a single civ, each impactee will have either a positive or negative event

If the event is positive, that civ will see it as a "Happy Accident". If the event is negative, that civ will see it as opening "Pandora's Box".


For example, if a capital is taken, then perhaps the losing civ launches a couple of rebel (barb) units (Pandora's Box)? Perhaps the capturing civ goes into a golden age (Happy Accident)?


Possible Events:
- Capturing a capital (both conquering and losing civs experience some kind of event)
- Eliminating a Civ
- Capturing a City State
- Entering a new Era
- Discovering a new type of Resource
- Killing a Barb unit


Note: In-Game Events will not generate a popup window - they are of less importance than Black Swan events in this regard. You will only see a notification when your civ experiences an In-Game event.

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Much work is needed for this, but I think it could make game play more varied, interesting, and challenging.

I anyone has any suggestions on the type of in-game events and/or results, please add them to the discussion.

Thanks!

 

[sman1975]

Reserved...

 

[sman1975]

Hello - am putting the finishing touches on the mod. For human players, when they are impacted by an event, the event will launch a popup to give them more details about the event that just occurred. I've been playing around with how this popup should look. Here are some candidates:
1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


Am currently leaning towards #5 then #3 - the advantage that #5 shows (in the right icon) if the event is positive (green background) or negative (red background). Might help players learn the mod better. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

And yes, the middle picture has flying dragons, not swans. It's hearkening back to the old days when Godzilla invaded your Sim City...

 

[sman1975]

Also, am working on the "branding" slide - the slide that appears first on the steam film role, and sets the tone for the mod. Here are my four candidates, just the background picture - not the finished product. Those will have introductory text, and will be a bit shaded, so the letters appear better. May also have some kind of effects, such as blurring, splashes, etc.






Some possible "brand slides" for the mod:




Again, any thoughts?

 

[sman1975]

Greetings. Appreciate all comments concerning "The Black Swan" on the Steam forum for AWAW (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/comments/2422701461). But, again, due to the irritating character limit there, I've decided to answer them here. Just too hard to express anything deep with such a limit. Here are some thoughts about recent comments:

Am really liking the feedback so far. Here's what I think about them:

General Comment: most of the events you've all described seem pretty good for the causes and responses. After a discussion of your suggestions, I'm adding a selection at the bottom. It's my attempt to "synthesize" the responses into a coherent yet streamlined design I can quickly code in the least amount of time/testing.

"In-Game Events" (man, we need a better name for these - "Acts of God"? "Deus ex Machina"? ???) - are structured in a similar fashion to the Black Swan Events, although the latter are designed with very specific, heavy-hitting impacts. The IGE (forgive me) are more modest in outcomes (in most cases, but not necessarily a requirement).


Here is the 5-step process the mod uses to complete an In-Game Event - each will follow these steps until one step fails or the event is fully processed with an impact.

1. Instigator: this is the in-game event that causes the entire process to start
2. Assessment: this is the "qualifying" process. For example, if we have an event that impacts ships at sea and the experiencing civ has no ships, it is not "qualified" to experience this event.
3. Assignment: this is the decision process used to decide which specific bonus or damage to be imposed - based on various conditions (many Events have several possible bonuses/penalties)
4. Impact: these are the "specific" impacts assessed to the civ experiencing the event - i.e. exactly how much the bonus is or exactly how bad is the penalty. It is possible, even after this step is fully completed, that no "actual" impact is experienced.
5. Response: this is what the mod prints out, pops up, etc. If no "impact" is experienced from step #4, then this step probably won't happen, as "technically" no event took place (no impact = no event)

So, as we seek to expand In-Game Events, we need to be mindful of these steps, particularly #1 and 4.


Another small thing to keep in mind: currently, there are 32+ Black Swan events. In a Marathon speed game, you can expect an event roughly every 30 turns (~10 turns for Quick) - possibly even fewer. So, if the game runs 1000 turns, you can expect to experience about 16 good and 16 bad events (the game's poor random number generator notwithstanding). So, you won't necessarily see even half of these events in a game, as many of them can repeat. As more events are added, this dynamic increases.



Response to Black Swan Event Comments:

From KiwiSteve:
1. Black Death: I believe this is a solid "Black Swan" event. I like the idea of separating this from your everyday plague. It stands out in history in a way that other plagues do not. I like the idea of spreading to nearby cities (and cities attached via trade routes). I'm not 100% on a "multi-turn" event. For example, the original Black Death traveled from the Urals to the Outer Hebrides in about 5 years. Both the Spanish Flu and Covid 19 (both not quite Black Death league, though) traveled the globe in months. Perhaps this event's "reach" should depend on game/player Current Era? So, while I'm not keen on multi-turn events, I can easily see something like this: In Ancient Era, the BD is twice as damaging as the worst plague, but does not attempt to spread to another city. In CLASS, it goes to the nearby cities (any civ owner) with 6 tiles. In MED is goes out to 10 tiles + land trade routes. In REN it goes out 14 tiles, + all trade routes. In Industrial - Modern, 20 tiles + routes. And in Atomic and later, 30 tiles + routes. And by "reach" I mean that each city within this range from the originating city, I mean there is a change the BD strikes there. As the range increase, the chance to infect and damage decreases.
---> Not sure if I want to go the way that if a city at a range from the originator gets infected, it starts the entire process again, although there's an historical argument to be made for that.
---> Am wanting to avoid multi-turn events of any kind but it's not impossible. This is one of the reasons I'm considering the "declining damage" approach described in the main paragraph


2. Positive Omen - "100% combat strength in that turn only." I didn't catch what was the instigator? A DoW? Some kind of "Holy War"? Omens are a unique type of Black Swan event called "Mirrored" event. This is because there are both positive and negative outcomes associated with Omens. Currently there are 9 types of Omens: Comets, Solar Eclipses, Lunar Eclipses, Blood Moons, Ravens, Vultures, Herons, Blood Rain, and Sun Dogs. As Black Swan events, they each have their own icon. Generally speaking, they generally all provide an equal bonus or penalty - which is an adjustment to Food, Production, Culture, and Golden Age points. In Medieval and earlier Eras, Omens are almost always bad (penalties). In Renaissance and later Eras, they are good (bonuses) 75% of the time.

So, if one of the bonuses of an Omen would be a combat bonus, how would this fit into this framework? I can indeed see a similar bonus before the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, where Edward IV used the event to inspire his troops (and to give him a cool personal emblem). Is this what you had in mind?


3. The impacts of the Maunder Minimum are indeed global, but I haven't fully decided if some civs should be hit harder or not. And if so, under what criteria? I.e. do I take advantage of this event and "punish" the top three on the score table, especially if one of those is a human player? Etc.... I had originally decided to never use "multi-turn" events. But, it's quite easy to decide a persistent, residual penalty for a few turns (especially if the event hits in early game). Perhaps a few food per city per turn lost, albeit at a smaller amount than the initial turn - and again mitigating for AI and even more for poorly-performing AI. I'm leaning to fewer turn length in earlier Eras, and longer turn lengths in latter Eras - say 3 turns Ancient, 10 turns Industrial, and 20 turns Atomic and later. Keeping in mind, the penalties - if kept consistent - will be quite painful in earlier Eras, but not necessarily so in later Eras.

I'm also undecided about overall impact: should all cities on the map be hit? Equator hardest? or the Poles hardest? Coastal cities harder than interior or the opposite? The current version of the penalty makes it random across the map as to which city is hit - and with the "mitigators" (buildings that help against drought mostly) much more effective than usual (i.e. the mitigations for having these buildings is much more effective).

As you can see, this particular event needs a little more thought...


4. When the "Great Flood" event is selected, it looks at all the cities in the civ, and if it finds a city either on the coast or if it has more than 0 river plots. If the city fails a "chance of impact" test (usually near 30%), the mod moves on to the next city. Doing this test in this order means that older cities (the list is processed in the order the cities joined the empire - either through settlement of conquest) tend to get hit more often. It's quite possible that no cities fail the "chance of impact" test, meaning this event has no impact, so it doesn't reset any "minimum turns between event" trackers. If the city selects is coastal (bordering a body of water at least 100 tiles in size), then a "Great Tsunami" hits the city. Otherwise, a "Great Flood" does. The damage is the same, even if the icons and verbiage is different.

Now as to tracing a path "downriver" from a flooded city, I'd have to think about that. I can imagine a "brute force" way of doing it, but I'd have to look around for more elegant examples out there. I can imagine the flood downstream would have a chance to damage improvements, and cities downriver also have an impact similar (possibly worse) than the originally-flooded city. I like the idea, but now I need to see if I can actually code it...

5. The version of the mod I'm working on now does indeed have a feature of producing a Notification of an event impacting other civs. Currently, you need a Diplomat/Spy in the capital city of that other civ to get this information.
I've thought about a situation where you civ has a spy in a non-capital city of an impacted civ, and letting that spy send up a Notification that only informs you an event occurred in that other empire, but with no results data other than "mild - bad - catastrophic". I've also thought about making this data "less than 100% accurate" based on vague concepts of how well a civ knows another civ, but haven't taken it any further.

6. The Volcano is set at 4 tiles, with degraded damage to the city/improvements the closer it gets to 4. In other words, being adjacent is catastrophic - where up to 80% of the buildings/people/improvements could be destroyed (the damage is randomly calculated on an "up to 80%" basis - it is often much less). Two tiles away degrades the upper limit to 60%, 3 tiles is 40% and 4 tiles is 20%. Based on how Vesuvius treated Pompeii vs. Neapolis, it only seemed logical to me.

7. Exhausting Resources? I'm not a fan of this for strategic resources, as it seems counter to the game design (strat resources don't exhaust, not matter how many miles the tanks and battleships run). And since sooooo much happiness is tied to luxury resources, this also seems counter to design. I'm fine with some of the thing happening in the "Resource discovered and/or exploited" IGE described below), but I think exhausting resources is damaging to the game balance/design as the game progresses.

8. I like the idea of exposing Trade Units to all kinds of abuse. But, I haven't explored the exact methods to do so. So, yes, Cargo Ships will have a chance to be destroyed by Storms at Sea (if I can figure out how). I suppose I'll need to look at other events and see if the Caravans can also be removed (again, if I can figure out how).

9. Really a continuation of #8. I can see some kind of IGE called "Highway Robbery" or something like that, but again, it depends on how to code it. I have a few ideas, but just haven't tested them yet.


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New In-Game Events: These are the events possibly added as IGE's to the Black Swan mod:

1. Great Fest (similar to a small Jubilee): This common Event has a standard slate of bonuses: Golden Age Award: (2-5 Turns); a WLTKD Launch (5-10 turns). This is my "minor" catch-all impact for minor game happenings that don't merit a more-detailed response like the ones below. Some other random impacts are possible.


From KiwiSteve:
2. Resource discovered and/or exploited: This event can produce many potential impacts/bonuses: If City State within 5 tiles of resource, then City-State Diplomacy Improvement is possible; otherwise a Yield Bomb (+x Gold, depending on game speed and difficulty); If Luxury Resource the Civ did not have before, then Golden Age Boost; If Strat Resource the civ did not have before, then XP Boost To Units (+5 XP to all Land units);

NOTE: This is quite similar to #8 below. Am wondering if we can use it for Gems and Ivory, or other/all map-based luxuries that aren't Gold or Silver? I'm not 100% sure how to code this, but will take a look around for examples.


From mikepalmer71:
3. Wonder Completion Success: It's easier (and about as frequent) of letting this event occur randomly (say 25% chance of happening each time a wonder is completed), which should happen as often as completing every 4 wonders, but sometimes more/less often. I like the idea of launching a "Great Fest" (similar to Jubilee) in the city the wonder was completed in. But if a Great Fest is used, specific additional impacts need to be defined.

4. Victory in War: After winning a war, a Civ would receive a Yield Bomb (Gold - reparations); free Great General; Golden Age Award; Free Building Every City(Monument)

4b. Defeat in War: After losing a war, a Civ would receive a Yield Theft (Gold - reparations, possibly science progress); Golden Age Decrement: (-100%); Golden Age Cessation; Desecrate Building Every City(Monument)

5. City State Relations:
---> Complete Road/Railroad Improvement: City-State Diplomacy Improvement(+3)
---> Complete Road Connection: City-State Diplomacy Improvement(+10); Golden Age Boost(large)
---> Complete Normal Improvement: City-State Diplomacy Improvement(+5)
---> Complete Luxury Improvement: City-State Diplomacy Improvement(+15)
---> City-State Diplomacy Penalty: Steal Worker Unit (-10) - may not work


From james.triggs: Honestly, some quite good suggestions for IGE:
6. War Refugees: I think I can develop a fairly-good implementation of this concept. I'm seeing a chance (50%) when a city takes damage, it can generate a "refugee" (only if population is ~4 or greater; limit once per turn, 1 population removed from city); the refugee is "displaced" to the nearest friendly city (this needs thought, though. Island cities? Nearest city is on different continent? etc.). Friendly city might be limited to the same civ, or perhaps to a closer "allied" city (from only major civs, no city states). City States could send to nearest "allied" city, but again, the problem of island city states or on different continents needs to be decided). If a city is "conquered" then perhaps up to a quarter of the population could relocate using the same criteria. Needs more thought, but I believe the concept is sound.

7. Reconquista: Recapturing a city that you were the original owner of. Happiness boost is possible, but I'm leaning towards an automatic WLTKD Launch, and a Golden Age Award (3 Turns) is more apt. Am also leaning to something like Free Building This City(random choice of 1-3 of these, based on population: Monument, Barracks, Constabulary, Aqueduct, Market, Workshop, not sure if Courthouse is possible). Cities pop 5 or less = 1, 6-10 = 2, 11 or larger = 3

8. Gold Rush: any time a Gold resource is improved, a "Gold Rush" occurs. This causes City Population Boost(100%) - which can be a curse; also causes City Population Loss(1) for each city in the empire (in order) until the boosted population is offset; Free Building This City (One of these - attempted in this order: Market = 50%, Workshop = 40%, Circus = 25%, if possible, Colosseum = 20%); A civs in the bottom half of the score table offset half the population and have +10% chance added to base percent for free buildings); I'll probably have to track each individual gold tile, and only let this event happen once a game, no matter which civ owns the tile later.

8b. Silver Rush: similar to the Gold Rush event, but for silver tiles (remember the Comstock Lode? Tombstone?) - but with half the population gain, and each of the percentages of free buildings dropped by 10%

9. Crisis of Faith: when a civ that founded a religion is eliminated. If any cities in the conquering civ (the one that eliminated the religious city) have the religion as it's dominant religion, then 1-3 Era-appropriate Barb units spawn; spawn max related to population: 1 barb = population 1-4, 2 barbs = 5-9, 3 barbs = 10+ population. These numbers are max (randomized between 1 and the max). Additionally, cities that have this religion as its dominant religion goes through "2-5" turns of resistance (up to 2 turns = [1-4 population], 3 turns = [5-9 pop], 4 turns = [10-14 pop], 5 turns = [15+ pop] -- Keep in mind the actual turns of resistance listed here is the "max" turns, actual turns randomized between 1 and this max number); Cities in resistance will have a random +1-3 turns added to the total if they belong to the conquering civ

9b. The Dark Night of the Soul: When a Holy City is conquered (from its original owner) - Similar to the "Crisis of Faith" event, but no barbs spawn, and the +1-3 turns added in that event are not added to this event - only the basic "resistance" turns

10. Eureka! When a new type of resource is discovered, a Yield Bomb(Science) happens. Amount is random 10-40% of the amount of beakers needed to discover the currently-researched tech. If the new research is strategic, then add +25 to the random amount of beaker bonus.

11. Brain Drain: when a civ advances to a new level, any civs that are at an earlier Era (and in contact with the first civ) has a chance of losing population (33% from capital city, rand 10% pop lost [3 max]; 20% chance from all other cities with a pop of at least 2 - max 1 pop lost; their current tech being researched hit with Yield Theft (Science, 10-50% of existing beakers). Any population lost goes to the capital city of the first/advancing civ; Additionally, there is a similar Yield Theft (Culture - up to 25% of current culture) - this total amount removed from inferior civs is given to the first/advanced civ at 25-75% of the total.



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RESPONSE DEFINITIONS/IMPACTS: These are the types of bonuses/Penalties that can be added on to the "standard" response for each given event. They can be specified within the Event or added on separately. These impacts are structured for ease of reuse, to speed up coding/testing, and to improve the overall quality of the events they support.

The Bonuses/Penalties are separated between those that impact the entire civilization, and those that impact a specific city within that civ. These are Event-specific bonuses/penalties attached to the Responses above, depending on the Event circumstances. They can also be called individually or in various combinations, as needed by the Events



Civ Bonuses: these positive events impact the entire civ; any variables are defined within the Event that awards the bonus
- City-State Diplomacy Improvement: Adds "x" diplomacy points, improving the relationship
- Free Building Every City: adds a specific building in all cities that don't possess it
- Golden Age Boost: Adds points towards the next Golden Age
- Golden Age Award: Instantly launches/adds to an existing Golden Age
- Luxury Resource Boost: provides a "free" known luxury resource
- Strategic Resource Boost: provides a "free" known strategic resource
- WLTKD Launch: Provides this bonus - length determined by Event
- Worker Production Boost: Workers are 10% faster
- XP Boost To Units: can be by UnitCombatInfos (Melee, Mounted, Recon, Armor, etc), or all Land/Sea/Air units
- Yield Bomb (Culture, Faith, Gold, Science): a large gift of all or a specific yield - increases per Era of the receiving civ; Bonus amounts tied to Eras - example: 2/5/5 (Ancient), 5/20/10 (Medieval), 10/50/20 (Info)


Civ Penalties: these negative events impact the entire civ; any variables are defined within the Event that awards the penalty
- City-State Diplomacy Penalty: Deducts "x" diplomacy points, damaging the relationship, but will not lead to automatic war
- Desecrate Building Every City: removes a specific building in all cities that possess it
- Golden Age Cessation: Instantly stops a Golden Age (if civ is in one)
- Golden Age Decrement: Reduces points towards the next Golden Age

- Yield Theft (Culture, Faith, Gold, Science): a large loss of all or a specific yield - increases per Era of the receiving civ; Penalty amounts tied to Eras - examples: 2/5/5 (Ancient), 5/20/10 (Medieval), 10/50/20 (Info)


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City Bonuses: these positive events impact only the city where the event took place; any variables are defined within the Event that awards the bonus
- City Population Boost: a gain of Population, up to given percentage (determined by the Event), but with a minimum of 1 growth
- Free Building This City: adds a free building (type determined by the Event)
- Free Great Person: A Great Person, either random or specific type, spawns near the city
- Great Person Spawn Boost: adds boost towards the spawning of the next great person; can be a specific type of GP or boost all GPs
- Repair City Damage: heals city damage/HP, and any pillaged improvements nearby
- Production Boost: adds hammers to whatever is being produced by the city (up to a percentage remaining, determined by the Event)


City Penalties: these negative events impact only the city where the event took place; any variables are defined within the Event that awards the penalty
- City Population Loss: a loss of Population, up to given percentage (determined by the Event), but with a minimum of 1 lost
- Create City Damage: causes damage and HP loss in the city (up to a random percent determined by the Event)
- Destroy Specific Building: removes a specific building from the city, if it has one (specific building determined by the event)
- Great Person Assassinated: kills a random Great Person near the city (if there is one)
- Gross Inefficiencies: reduces production on whatever is being produced (up to a random percent determined by the Event)
- Production Theft: removes hammers to whatever is being produced by the city (up to a random percent determined by the Event)
- Reputational Destruction: clears towards the spawning of the next great person; can be a specific type of GP or boost all GPs

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Please note: this is all "spit balling" here - many changes possible. Once it stabilizes a bit, I'll post it on Post # 6, and maintain that post as the definitive version of all Events, both Black Swan and In-Game.

Also, sorry - I realize this is more like a book you study before an exam, but at least you'll get a nice overview of what it takes to properly put together an event of any kind, and the kinds of things that are going onto the mod. Can't thank y'all enough for these great ideas. I'll try to use as many as I can.

And forgive the typos. Lots of meds... :/

 

[sman1975]

Sample Earthquake popup - work in progress....

 

[sman1975]

After a long break, I'm back to work on this mod. Hope to have it out soon. Thanks for your patience.

 

[sman1975]

Wrapping up for the day. The "positive" events are update/debugged/tested. Will work on the negative events tomorrow. Slow going trying to relearn the code. But getting there.

 

[sman1975]

Wrapping up for the day. Got through most of the "negative" events. These weren't as developed as the positive ones from the original (unfinished) mod. Some needed complete reworks. Often it's easier/faster to just write new code than it is to fix existing versions. Also spent a lot of time cleaning up and restructuring the mod, so it will work better and allow for easier additions of new events. I haven't reviewed the comments here to see if any can be added now, but will do before publishing.

Anyways, 9 out of 11 of the bad events are updated/tested. Last 2 will be pretty quick.

After that, there are 6 "dual" events (3 pair) - mirrored events that can be good or bad. No idea what shape they're in.

Then, there are 3 "global" events that are fairly complete.

After all that is updated, I'll run quite a few tests to make sure it works like it's supposed to.

No estimate on completion, but it will be more than a few days, assuming testing goes ok and I can keep my cat off my keyboard...

After that, I think I'll move on to the SME, and leave WAW WW2OAM for later. Not getting a lot of feedback on WAW6, so I guess there's not a lot to fix there. I hope!


UPDATE:

Looking over the suggestions here and other places, here is the list of the In-Game Events (IGEs). These occur during a player's turn, not as a result of the normal Black Swan events that occur at the start of the turn. Overall, I expect most of these rewards to be rather modest, so they can't screw up game play too much or be gamed by human players for an unfair advantage. Most of this comes from Post #10 above - look there for details:

 

[SSCnapolicl2023]

SMAN,

I believe you have thought of most of the events that could be relevant to give more interest to Civ V and the scenarios to come.
Bad events are very good.

I hope you will be able to finalize your mod very soon

 

[sman1975]

Thanks. Work continues. The previous (unfinished) version of Black Swan was a bit of a mess. Just not completed, and definitely not even testable. Much of the original design hasn't stood well when further refining the events. So, not only am I having to rewrite the event functions, much of the other supporting code needed complete rewriting. I'm proceeding along OK, and cleaning up the mess. But it's slow work.

Many of the "design decisions" on how the mod was structured look bad to me now, so much of that has evolved as well. One example is the event announcement popup. What the heck was I thinking with the dragons?????


Am leaning towards something like this instead:

Or this, even simpler:



Looking for something a little cleaner, I guess...

 

[sman1975]

OK, enough for today. Finished the negative events, rewrote many of the support functions and most of the mitigation functions, even spent a bunch of time cleaning up the positive events as well. Black Swan is in much better shape than ever. Also completed the City State positive/negative diplomatic dual/mirror events. Will work on omens and global events tomorrow. Hopefully this will go quicker as I spent so much time cleaning up the code today.

After that, in-game events and then a bunch of testing. Doesn't sound like a lot of progress, but believe me the code is in much better shape.

More tomorrow....

 

[SSCnapolicl2023]

SMAN,

Good work !

Big potential for this mod. Lots of good ideas with this companion mod for next scenarios.
I think , the third event announcement popup is better.

 

[sman1975]

Yeah, I agree that one looks the best by far.

Just finished converting the negative event "storms at sea" to a global one. Took a while, as the damage not effects any ships in the area, not just the unlucky/active player. It can be devastating, and will make you look at "amphibious operations" differently in the future. Just can't park ships anywhere forever without consequences. It's even worse for civilian embarked units (who almost always sink) and embarked combat units are almost as bad. Am liking how it looks in testing so far.

But enough fun. Now off to work on the "black death" global event. Not exactly sure how I'll implement it yet, but it will, unfortunately, also take time to develop.

 

[SSCnapolicl2023]

SMAN,

I see that the mod is progressing well and that you have a lot of good ideas. You are doing an incredible job which will make civ v even more interesting. I wish you good luck in solving all the problems.
This mod will allow you to create interesting scenarios and have very different games each time.

Excited to be able to collect information for your future scenarios and play with new custom civs!