Terrain

[GeoModder]

Nah, the "turn amount" was a huge score instead.
Might have been me keying a wrong key-combo. My IE popped up on it's own too after the CTD, and it is not set to do so.

Okay, no yields from terrain seem to go well. One unexpected problem: resources still give a yield prior to an improvement on them. Not what I wanted but will do for the moment.

 

[GeoModder]

I PM'd you a link with my modified files, Woodelf.

BonusInfo and TerrainInfo.

Have a test at it, I put all the terrain yields at zero, switched in the resources all to , and added a whereever there was one in the yield to negate the loss of on the terrain.

I think I might manage to decrease the yield of terrain AND resources to zero in unimproved terrain, but have to check first in another file to be sure. I'm a bit too dizzy now to think clearly.

 

[woodelf]

Thanks. Once I get 6 more units added I'm going to test this baby out.

 

[GeoModder]

Okay, that completes the testing.

The moment I put 0 or -1 on every single (used) terraintype in the mod, I got a huge score from turn 1, and will have a CTD for sure when I reach the edge of the map. And since mosttimes the first base is founded near the edge, this could be when I press "end turn".

Any response from Kael yet, Woodelf?
PS: the only way around it I can see is if we manage to put the focus on hammers (or commerce) instead of food. For whatever reason the game needs at least a single plot yield output of food.

 

[woodelf]

Okay, that completes the testing.

The moment I put 0 or -1 on every single (used) terraintype in the mod, I got a huge score from turn 1, and will have a CTD for sure when I reach the edge of the map. And since mosttimes the first base is founded near the edge, this could be when I press "end turn".

Not good.

Any response from Kael yet, Woodelf?

Nope, but his BtS expansion deadline is soon.

 

[GeoModder]

Nope, but his BtS expansion deadline is soon.

What's this supposed to mean? He can't respond on mod issues as long as his involvement with Firaxis on BtS is running?

If it is completely impossible to have a food yield of 0, I guess I'll read up on experimental ways to what field laboratory can do (representing the 'worked' plot hut) with mere moonrocks.
Btw, this is good to know for the SMAC mod too.

 

[GeoModder]

Back to topic:

Sofar, I adjusted the terrain yields a bit.

• Maria Basalt has 1 , 1 . The underlying reason is that this terrain type is supposed to hold at least half of the He³ supply of the moon and extracting it would be a side-effect from ore-extraction from the regolith (read: soil).
• Polar terrain got 1 . I *have* to give at least one terrain type a food yield, otherwise the game crashes after a short while. Polar seemed the closest to a food producing tile I could think of. I think I will limit glasshouses to this type of terrain at first.
• Dust Plains seem the best plot to put solar panels on, in a fashion. This because of its natural electrostatic charge. So 1 and as improvement a solar panel.
• Crater Rims have 2 for starters. Best chance to find a higher ore-content in these rocks.
• Cratered will receive a 1 output. Same as Crater Rims, but from a lesser quality because the craters are smaller.
• The remaining terrain types are left blank. Bare rock, dust lake -and sea thus.

The underlying reasoning for these starting yields is that if a citizen "works" a moonplot, in reality it is a bunch of scientists conducting experiments and putting a test-facility online.

 

[woodelf]

Those changes sound good to me Geo. We can do lots of later tech modifications as well if we need to.

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

I wanted to pose the posibility of adding more terrain features into the moon map. If craters were made into a feature instead of another base type I think it would make the map more interesting.
See attached screenshot for quick craters feature version:

This might be an idea for the BtS version, as making the graphics look good will take time, as would balancing the new feature and modifying the mapscript to use it.

 

[snipperrabbit!!]

Use octogon, it will be better !

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

For any version I would make for actual use I would vary the number of polygons for the size of the crater. So the smallest might have as few as four sides while large craters could have 20. And I'd spend more than five minutes texturing it as well.

 

[snipperrabbit!!]

Ah, OK ! I'm sure it will be good. As always with a solid plan.

 

[GeoModder]

Also, if you plan to go for making craters a feature (good suggestion by the way), there should be more variation. It's a bit dull having the same craters show over and over again...

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

I agree, I think we can hijack the Ice terrain feature or the forests from vanilla(neither of which we use) to allow variation between tiles similar to that which forests have.

 

[GeoModder]

I agree, I think we can hijack the Ice terrain feature or the forests from vanilla(neither of which we use) to allow variation between tiles similar to that which forests have.

Mmm, better hijack the jungle feature. Who knows some smartass will come up with the splendid idea of growing forests under domes.
And I've been thinking of keeping the ice feature xml-wise but replacing the graphic with a greyed version to show proper moon terrain in the global view ingame.

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

The ice visible only in the globe view (worldcap) is different than the ice feature that exists in the polar oceans on earth maps (icepack); so we can change one without changing the other.

The reason i wasn't sure if the forests or jungles would work is that in game they are swaying in the wind and since we can't modify that part of the code (afaik) any craters replacing them might sway too!

 

[GeoModder]

The ice visible only in the globe view (worldcap) is different than the ice feature that exists in the polar oceans on earth maps (icepack); so we can change one without changing the other.

I prefer to cover the mapedges with "ice" again, for the better look of the mapedges. Therefore the greying of ice feature.

The reason i wasn't sure if the forests or jungles would work is that in game they are swaying in the wind and since we can't modify that part of the code (afaik) any craters replacing them might sway too!

Well, as long as there's no .kfm files linked I don't see how they would be swaying?

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

Mmm, better hijack the jungle feature. Who knows some smartass will come up with the splendid idea of growing forests under domes.
And I've been thinking of keeping the ice feature xml-wise but replacing the graphic with a greyed version to show proper moon terrain in the global view ingame.

Forests under domes you say? might be possible to do graphically.

 

[GeoModder]

I knew it would come up.

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

I prefer to cover the mapedges with "ice" again, for the better look of the mapedges. Therefore the greying of ice feature.

Well, as long as there's no .kfm files linked I don't see how they would be swaying?

The trees are swaying but we don't see a kfm for them either. It's in the .exe file somewhere that we can't change.