[WTP] Quick questions

[Cyberian]

Does anyone know why this cities defense does not get reduced lower than 64%. Does not get lower no matter how many arty is bombing it.

 

[jfk899]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say that this is probably my favourite mod for civ 4 colonization. I can literally just sit and play this for hours and its very therapeutic for some reason

However, there are some features that I saw in the other mod i quite like, in particular, Dawn of a New Era.

The trade routes toward the mid to end of a game are just brutal. How hard would it be to literally copy the trade menu from Dawn of a New Era?

Literally, with that one feature, this mod would be perfect.

I know how to code in a variety of languages, so if it wasnt that hard, i'd do it myself for myself lol. But would be nice to hear from those who have been doing the mod what has been preventing them from making that feature a bit better!

Thank you everyone.

That is literally my only complaint. Everything else is soo cool.

 

[raystuttgart]

... what has been preventing them from making that feature a bit better!

Simply lack of time and motivation ...
Not sure which other answer you expect.

There are a thousands things that could make this mod even better.
But there is almost nobody still interested to invest time and work for it in his spare time.

This is one of the main reasons I have completely quit modding myself.
I simply also have a private life and also want to play games sometimes myself.

There are however still a few people contributing a bit in their spare time ... but their time and motivation is limted as well.
So currently it is mostly about improvements to the code base or bugfixing ... in other words maintenance.

Without contributing modders there is not much progress to expect ...
If you feel more should be done .. well there is nothing from stopping you to contribute.

How hard would it be to literally copy the trade menu from Dawn of a New Era?

Maybe a few weekends of work. In total about 40 hours probably for an experienced modder.
So if you are motivated and skilled enough to invest that effort go ahead.

It has been on the todo list for 10 years now ... but until now nobody ever volunteered to invest that effort.
Especially since the people still contributing were usually already busy with modding other things or private life.

That is literally my only complaint.

It is just that complaints to do not solve anything ... they never have.
So sorry that I react a bit negative to naive questions like "Why did you not do this?" ...

To formulate it very clearly:
There are so few contributing modders left that it is almost a wonder that we still get bugfixes ...
So community should be happy that at least these few modders still care.

In the real world things simply only get done if somebody is willing to work for it.

 

[jfk899]

Thanks for the reply!

I totally get it. I would only even ask that question because I like the rest of the mod so much haha. I mean, i could think of other things to complain about, i guess, but honestly, those things are so minor that i could really care less. this mod is simply amazing, so please dont think i want to pick on you guys haha.

I also wondered if maybe there was a political motivation, i.e. not wanting to steal from another group of modders, or something along those lines. Or maybe, the actual work required was a lot more than you'd think to add that one feature.

Have you personally looked at the task yourself and what it would entail within the code base?

If you have, I'd be open to working on this piece if its something I could reasonably handle. It would be a lot for me to just jump in and search for everything, so if you had some resources, knowledge, or whatever else to share, it would help me decide if i could handle this and where i might start.

I actually have a bachelor of computing science, i dont code much these days, but im sure skill wise, i could probably do it. I imagine that it'd be a bit of a time investment to learn the codebase, which is why itd help a lot to have some notes or pointers on where to start with that task

Practically speaking, i know (or can relearn) how to do basic coding in general, but not a ton of experience.

What level of ability with programming/coding or other skills would be required for this endeavor in your opinion?

Thank you, and you give very detailed replies. I like you already

 

[raystuttgart]

so please dont think i want to pick on you guys haha.

No problem, that was not my impression.
I just considered the question a bit naive ...

Have you personally looked at the task yourself and what it would entail within the code base?

No, not really. I had other priorities.
I would also have to start from scratch to implement this.

What level of ability with programming/coding or other skills would be required for this endeavor in your opinion?

It is mostly about having the right mindest ... motivation and perseverance.
Everything else comes with experience from reading the existing code and understanding how it is structured and what it does.

So most importantly really is to take the time to read and understand.
Sure, being able to read C++ is useful.

Start with the understanding the concepts and the structure of the game and its XML.
Then take a look at examples and try to learn which objects and functions the code base offers.

Practically speaking, i know (or can relearn) how to do basic coding in general, ...

That is a good start.

Still there is no easy and fast way to learn modding honestly ... it requires a bit of time invest.
Take your time and the rest will come by itself.

I also wondered if maybe there was a political motivation, i.e. not wanting to steal from another group of modders, or something along those lines

No ... quite the contrary ... most remaining WTP programmers would have been too proud to copy code from another mod these days.
Mostly because we all believe that the code we could implement ourselves would be better and more efficient anyways than just copying what others did.

Whenever something big was implemented it was usually easier and cleaner for us to start from scratch and do our own solution.
It is usually truly easiest to program a big feature in your own style ... especially if you want to maintain it later ... it will ensure you truly understand it.

However it is nothing wrong about looking what other people did in their code ... it is perfectly allowed
At some point however that will be more effort than directly implementing your own solution.

------

But yeah sounds good and new modders are always welcome.
Maybe get in contact with @Nightinggale over at our discord.

Over at discord is where all the modders discuss technical stuff.
So there you can then also ask for help if you need it.

Wish you a lot of fun modding.

 

[Vaulter]

Where can I find more information regarding:

• Many new DLL Diplo Events (e.g. related to Privateers, Wars with Natives or Royal Interventions)

 

[PH2]

Very minor question - if I put a unit in a position (say, an indentured servant to work as a fisherman) and then I discover a village that trains fishermen and send my IS there to finish his training, does he get "credit" for the number of turns he was already working as a fisherman, or does he start at zero in the village? Are they completely separate learning systems, or somehow tied to each other? Just curious.

 

[raystuttgart]

Are they completely separate learning systems, or somehow tied to each other? Just curious.

Completely separate.

Having worked as in a Profession does not speed up the Training in a Native Village for the Expert.
It would be way too much effort to link the 2 systems ("Learning by Doing" and "Native Training") for too little gameplay benefit.

 

[PH2]

Thanks. Makes sense. For some reason the question came to mind after thousands of hours of playing. Just didn't know if there was an advantage to sending a unit already training in the field to a village or getting the same benefit from sending a fresh unit to the village and allowing the other to continue learning "on the job."

 

[VegetableRights]

Ray, is the indentured servant servant working towards free colonist status or straight to fisherman in this case? I know slaves, and a few other units, have to achieve free colonist status first, but I normally put indentured servants into native villages.
I don't tend to work them in my colonies, and maybe I should if they are working towards a profession. I assumed they needed to become free colonists first - am I wrong?

 

[raystuttgart]

Ray, is the indentured servant servant working towards free colonist status or straight to fisherman in this case?

Indentured Servants will become Free Colonists firsts by LbD before they can become an Expert.
They also have a negative on Education Yield when they are put into school so they are slower than Free Colonists.
So sending them to a Native Village is often the best choice ... as they have no negative modifier there.

 

[ipilowe]

Hi everyone. I found about the mod few days ago. I was just wondering if it is possible to grasp the main mechanics just by playing blindly or should I check some tutorial or introduction? If I should, could you suggest some introduction video?

 

[Nightinggale]

Hi everyone. I found about the mod few days ago. I was just wondering if it is possible to grasp the main mechanics just by playing blindly or should I check some tutorial or introduction? If I should, could you suggest some introduction video?

Followup question: do anybody have any idea of how to introduce new players to the gameplay? Ideally in some way, which isn't too hard to update when something changes in a new release (read: no single video where it has to be remade each time)

 

[treedood]

Is it just me or when your king asks you to declare war on a European rival does it always require you to go through/around two other non-warring rivals?

 

[PH2]

I will specifically watch for this when I play tonight or the next night, but I'm certain my indentured servants are going straight to expert because I use this method fairly often. Most often for Lumberjacks because IS get a +1 bonus. I do this often enough that I am 99.9% sure they go straight to expert because I have no memory of an IS as lumberjack turning into a free colonist and then having to put the free colonist as a lumberjack and waiting for them to become an expert. They just turn to Expert Lumberjack. Same thing if I have extra IS and I need a cotton planter or casava planter and there's no village to train them in. They are not turning into FC first.

 

[PH2]

Indentured Servants will become Free Colonists firsts by LbD before they can become an Expert.
They also have a negative on Education Yield when they are put into school so they are slower than Free Colonists.
So sending them to a Native Village is often the best choice ... as they have no negative modifier there.

OK, I knew I wasn't crazy. In the current game I'm playing, I have an IS at both lumberjack and fisherman. It just so happened that both turned expert on the same turn. And when you hover over them as IS, it tells you how many turns until they become experts - not free. See below:

 

[raystuttgart]

It just so happened that both turned expert on the same turn. And when you hover over them as IS, it tells you how many turns until they become experts - not free. See below:

I just checked again the XML and you are correct: They directly become Experts using "Learning by Doing".
We had changed that I think in WTP 4.0 so Indentured Servants, Mestizzos and Mulattos became a bit more useful..

 

[ElMattador666]

Hi all again.

Im looking around to see if there is a way in XML or other way to see and change animal spawn rates? also sea animal spawn rates.
Still trying to adapt to so many professions, and still finding that slaves are way better at land working then specialists.. at least with low patriot percentage.

Best regards and have fun with WTP.

 

[ElMattador666]

Hi all again.

Im looking around to see if there is a way in XML or other way to see and change animal spawn rates? also sea animal spawn rates.
Still trying to adapt to so many professions, and still finding that slaves are way better at land working then specialists.. at least with low patriot percentage.

Best regards and have fun with WTP.

Spawning of Animals:Yes, such settings are in CIV4HandicapInfo.xmlFor each Handicap you can defineiAIAnimalLandMaxPercent --> increase to have more animals per Area Size on LandiAIAnimalSeaMaxPercent --> increase to have more animals per Area Size on WaterAnimal Layers:Destruction of Animal Layers does not reduce the spawning of free roaming animals ... quite the contrary. --> see below(Spawning of Animals on Layers and Spawning of Free Roaming Animals are separate logics.)Layers --> Logic will always try to spawn a stationary defender (until it is destroyed)Free Roaming --> Spawning depends on Animals per AreaSizeRemark:Animals on Layers may reduce the spawning of free roaming Animals(As the spawning of free roaming animals tries to avoid spawning too many animals in a certain area size and stationary animals are also counted.)

 

[ElMattador666]

Spawning of Animals:Yes, such settings are in CIV4HandicapInfo.xmlFor each Handicap you can defineiAIAnimalLandMaxPercent --> increase to have more animals per Area Size on LandiAIAnimalSeaMaxPercent --> increase to have more animals per Area Size on WaterAnimal Layers:Destruction of Animal Layers does not reduce the spawning of free roaming animals ... quite the contrary. --> see below(Spawning of Animals on Layers and Spawning of Free Roaming Animals are separate logics.)Layers --> Logic will always try to spawn a stationary defender (until it is destroyed)Free Roaming --> Spawning depends on Animals per AreaSizeRemark:Animals on Layers may reduce the spawning of free roaming Animals(As the spawning of free roaming animals tries to avoid spawning too many animals in a certain area size and stationary animals are also counted.)

Tested changing spawn percentage and rate, and after a couple turns my game freezes at changing turn. tryed to reload saved games from turns before but i get freezeed at same time.