Space Colonization modmod

[Shadowclaw]

Is V4 save compatible with V3?

 

[pepper2000]

Good question; I haven't tested backward compatibility. If you've gotten far with a V3 game, it might mess up space colonies, since the map category of many of them have been changed. Other than that, I think it should work. It's all XML, after all.

 

[Shadowclaw]

No, I'm in Ancient Era playing on TPEHEP Solar system map with V3 Space colonization modmod. However, I'm not sure that map have all necessary "space" terrains.

 

[pepper2000]

It ought to be compatible, then. You might have to do a recalc. I'm not sure off hand what kind of space tiles TPEHEP used, but to fully play the mod, you need all three. Enough for three cities on Orbit tiles, three cities on Space tiles, and five cities on Deep Space tiles. You could just go into WorldBuilder and edit a few of the space tiles to make it happen.

 

[Harrier]

Thanks Thunderbrd. I think I've had even more fun designing this modmod than playing it.

That is the trap you fall into. Love it.

I have not played a real game since Xmas. When testing my changes (to my Earth maps), or other changes - I use Autoplay.

Then I got side tracked by TB.

An aside.

To the C2C team I am currently working on improving my maps and spawn area's.

But if there is anything else you would like me to consider doing?

Let me know.

 

[Shadowclaw]

Just upgraded to V4. No problems so far. Also there are no Barbarians or Animals spawning on Space and Planets (just Barbarian cities).
Some questions:
- will you add more civics? Espescially for later eras?
- Human mods. It seems they don't give you anything.
- replacing old production buildings by new ones. Because there are so many factories. Maybe make them obsolete in Transhuman era and make bulding, which can make different goods?

 

[pepper2000]

Also there are no Barbarians or Animals spawning on Space and Planets (just Barbarian cities).

I wish I knew how to deal with the Barbarian cities. I know that the core team has been trying to prevent cities from spawning, and for now it's one of those issues that I am ignoring. But I also hope to get some military units in space for V5, and the barbarians might be useful for testing that out.

- will you add more civics? Espescially for later eras?

I plan to, but probably not for V5. Some techs, such as Utopia Destiny and Galactic Federation, cry out for new civics.

- Human mods. It seems they don't give you anything.

Not yet. My original plan was that the bonuses they give would replace some of the prereqs for Transhuman Era buildings, where the build chains are too complex. But overwriting building requirements in XML doesn't work very well. I might delete the human mods if I don't come up with a better plan for them.

- replacing old production buildings by new ones. Because there are so many factories. Maybe make them obsolete in Transhuman era and make bulding, which can make different goods?

That's partially done, with buildings such as Manufacturing District. I haven't done the second part of that plan, which is to make the older factories go obsolete, but I plan to. It's all part of the broader building consolidation project.

 

[Shadowclaw]

Just make Human Mods to add some bonuses. Significant bonuses with huge buildings cost.

 

[Faustmouse]

I wish I knew how to deal with the Barbarian cities. I know that the core team has been trying to prevent cities from spawning, and for now it's one of those issues that I am ignoring. But I also hope to get some military units in space for V5, and the barbarians might be useful for testing that out.

As far as I know, barbarian cities spawn everywhere where you can legitimitlyy build a city. Thus extraterrestrial terrain should be modified so that you can't build a city there unless you have Tech X. Not sure if this is possible, thought. What IS possible is to give all of that terrain a terrain feature (can be "invisible, iE doesn't have any graphics) like "hostile enviroment", which can be cleared by space settler units in one turn. This SHOULD be a way to get rid of barbarian space cities.

 

[Shadowclaw]

There are any problem with that cities. All of them are 1 size and are not growing.
As for space settlers. Why do we need WorldBuilder? Space settlers can't walk through space terrain?

 

[pepper2000]

Initial, cislunar cities shouldn't grow, as they can't work the tiles. Some early buildings, such as Docking Bay and Orbital, give some food, and the cities should be able to grow after that. If not, then something's wrong.

Right now, Spacecraft Settler has a Map Category of Earth, which prevents it from going into space. Before map categories were introduced, it was possible to do that. I'll experiment and see if I can make it work.

 

[Thunderbrd]

Right now, Spacecraft Settler has a Map Category of Earth, which prevents it from going into space. Before map categories were introduced, it was possible to do that. I'll experiment and see if I can make it work.

Add the other map categories to open up more types it can access. The tag can take multiple entries.

 

[Thunderbrd]

As far as I know, barbarian cities spawn everywhere where you can legitimitlyy build a city. Thus extraterrestrial terrain should be modified so that you can't build a city there unless you have Tech X. Not sure if this is possible, thought. What IS possible is to give all of that terrain a terrain feature (can be "invisible, iE doesn't have any graphics) like "hostile enviroment", which can be cleared by space settler units in one turn. This SHOULD be a way to get rid of barbarian space cities.

Ah... that is an interesting issue I'd not considered... city spawning itself. That'll take some special programming. I'll think on that matter.

 

[pepper2000]

Add the other map categories to open up more types it can access. The tag can take multiple entries.

Wow, it was that easy. Now I feel like a jerk for making people hack in cities with WorldBuilder. V5 will have appropriate settlers.

 

[Faustmouse]

Ah... that is an interesting issue I'd not considered... city spawning itself. That'll take some special programming. I'll think on that matter.

My invisible feature solution would allow us to control when you can found martian, space,deep space and orbital cities by giving them all different features that can be removed at different techs. If you go for a smarter solution, could you take this issue into account?
Alternativly, we could have different settler units that can access more and more terrains as they advance. The problem with that is that all settlers have to pass at least orbital and space tiles before they reach mars or the moon; but I'm pretty sure we'll have colonies on these bodies before we have some gigantic space stations.

Wow, it was that easy. Now I feel like a jerk for making people hack in cities with WorldBuilder. V5 will have appropriate settlers.

Cool! Could you reduce the Space Settler's starting population while you are on it?

 

[pepper2000]

Cool! Could you reduce the Space Settler's starting population while you are on it?

I'll try. This is the first time I've looked at units, and there is a lot to figure out here.

 

[Thunderbrd]

My invisible feature solution would allow us to control when you can found martian, space,deep space and orbital cities by giving them all different features that can be removed at different techs. If you go for a smarter solution, could you take this issue into account?
Alternatively, we could have different settler units that can access more and more terrains as they advance. The problem with that is that all settlers have to pass at least orbital and space tiles before they reach mars or the moon; but I'm pretty sure we'll have colonies on these bodies before we have some gigantic space stations.

The problem isn't with founding cities so much as it is with the barbarian city spawning mechanism which does NOT rely on a unit to establish the city. That's what I'd forgotten to consider.

 

[Faustmouse]

Yeah, I know. But IIRC barbarian cities don't spawn on deserts with no fresh water or coast either, so they seem to consider "founding rules".

My comment was on the development of this mod site; it would be nice if we could kill two birds with one stone. But the different settlers solution is fine as well. Maybe there is another solution I haven't thought of.

 

[pepper2000]

I've been still trying to figure that one out too.

My general sense of the order of colonization, based on the tech tree, is Cislunar Space (Astro Environmental Systems) -> Moon (Lunar Colonization) -> Mars and Venus (Planetary Colonization) -> Other planets (Kuiper Belt Exploration) -> Solar System (Orbital Megastructures) -> Interstellar.

The Solar System presents two problems. First, settlers destined to the moons of Jupiter and beyond will probably have to pass through Solar System tiles, but we don't want them to settle. So Solar System settlement should be banned until Orbital Megastructures. Second, the huge O'Neill cylinders that open at Orbital Megastructures cannot be launched from Earth's surface; they have to be assembled and launched from a cislunar colony. So Earth-based settlers should never be able to settle on Solar System tiles.

One option would be to set up maps that have the solar system "beyond" the planets, but aside from looking weird, this is unnecessarily restrictive. I'd like to figure out how to control who settles where and when.

I suspect that solving these problems will require figuring how missions, since this is probably too much to ask from the existing FOUND mission. In the worst case scenario, I'll bar any settler before Orbital Megastructures from entering Solar System tiles.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

There is a tag on the terrain that indicates if a city can be built there bFound. This can be overridden by bFoundCoast which allows founding on the terrain if it is next to an water tile and bFoundFreshWater which allows cities if there is fresh water on the plot.

Set them all to zero and no cities will be placed there. As far as I know that includes barbarian cities.

Unfortunately there is no tech override tag.