too many cities

[mayshus]

Is there any way to enable civ2 to let you build more cities. I still have loads of land to fill, and it won't let me!!

 

[Smash]

in a word
No



A game can only have 255 (or 256) cities total.Thats a hard coded limit.
Julius Brenzaida(no limits patch) spent a month trying to figure out this one.He concluded the #255 or 256 appeared way too many times to determine which was for cities and which was for other limits.

 

[starlifter]

A game can only have 255 (or 256) cities total.Thats a hard coded limit.
...
the #255 or 256 appeared way too many times to determine which was for cities and which was for other limits.

When the game was programmed, they also stored certain data as 8-bit numbers called Integers. These Unsigned Short Integers return a value of 0-255. Because of this basic assumption, many "short cuts" were taken in coding Civ II where the value was actaully used inside the program. Hence, it is not a matter of redimensioning a matrix & changing a couple constants, or something like that.

With access to the source code, and permission from the copyright holders, a patch could be written. But it is unlikely the source code will be released. If it is, lemme know .

PS, the max cities you can ever have is 255, if an AI (that has never founded a city) has a settler wandering. When you have 255, that AI civ can never found it's first city. If one AI has a "pet city" remaining, you can have 255-1=254 cities, max. You can never have 256 cities because 0 is a the 256th number already (there are 8 bits in a byte, and 2^8=256).

BTW, the reason a city is limited to a size of 127 is because they used a Signed Short Integer to retain the city's size. This allows only 2^7=128 possibilities, including 0: 129-1=127. So a "signed short" has values from -127 to 127. I've never understood why Reynolds chose to do it this way, unless there was an undeveloped plan for giving a special meaning to a city whose size was stored in the program as a negative number.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

As usual, it's a very humbling experience to read Starlifter's post. I thought I know how to play Civ2 (always at deity level and dominates gameworld 99% of the time). Guess still got lots to learn (although I haven't really played much in the last couple of years).

 

[mayshus]

Thanks guys. I had a funny feeling that "no" would be the answer. This was my first visit to this website, and if there was an solution floating about it would be here, or it doesn't exist anywhere. I certainly picked up a few tips browsing the site. It seems I am just a mere amateur, after reading a few of these threads. I am duly humbled!

 

[starlifter]

by mayshus:

I am duly humbled!

by SKM:

As usual, it's a very humbling experience to read Starlifter's post.

LOL, I didn't mean for it to feel "humbling"... but I do hope people can get a "jump" start by reading how the more experienced players do things. There's no magic bullet, and in fact there are many good strategies that exist in almost any situation. Rarely is there and absolute right and wrong, and we all learn from each other anyway! Personally, I still pick things up and make refinements all the time, even from newbies that post.

I often go into detail on stuff, but that's to help people know more than just "Do this: Blahhh." If people know "why" when advice is given, it helps them know "when" and "how" to apply the newfound trinket of knowledge.

BTW, the 254/255/256 thing has been raised so many times in various forums that I figured in this case I'd go into detail about why, and what the actual numbers are. PS, if they'd give me the source code, I'd make a patch for Civ II. In fact, I'd "fix" a lot of the silly nagging issues, LOL.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Starlifter, I'm just kidding. Usually I enjoy reading your posts although sometimes they get a bit too long-winded. Keep up the good work!

 

[starlifter]

Starlifter, I'm just kidding.

WHAT??!?!? You're just kidding?!! Oh, NO! (joking)

Yeah, I knew that you were kidding... I just figured this was a good spot to say why I often make such detailed posts on some things. And I personally like reading other people's detail, as it helps me learn...