Adding NEW terraforming & units for SMAC!!!

[AlexanderIII]

As the author of the Advanced Hydromechanics tech patch and soon to complete a newer version of the complete SMAC remod SNAC 1.0, which will be released soon, I have discovered how to add several new features to the game, making things VERY interesting.

TERRAFORMING

If you check out my tech patch, you will notice I added sea terraforming abilities, such as the Sea Sensor Array, the Kelp Enricher and the Minefield.

I experimented with adding all the others to the sea, and some of them showed up on the map but the base would not recognize them when I would try to use, say a Condensor at sea, and some, like the Airbase, would not show up, renering them useless. The Kelp Enricher does not show up on the map, which is no great loss, and neither does the bunker, adapted for the sea, but I named it a Minefield, so it not showing up on the map is apt. In order to mark your Minefields, you can use the Name Landmark feature, or Put Cursor Here to see them. The AI, though, does not seem to use these new terraforming features.

In the new SNAC I'm creating, I've added a borehole to sea squares, which does show up, and the base does know how to use it. It does look kind of strange, though, so I named it a Geothermal Borehole -- sort of a borehole at the bottom of the ocean floor into the earth (you need to use your imagination for that one).

As for the Monolith, I have tried everything I could think of, from simply modifying the alpha.txt file to adding a new line in the menu.txt file, but to no avail -- there simply is no way for you to terraform a Monolith. Which would be cool with a tech like, say The Secrets of Alpha Centauri. Oh well.

So the only terrain enhancements I've managed to be able to adapt for the sea are the Soil Enricher, the Sensor Array, the Bunker, and the Borehole.

---------------------------------------------
UNITS

Second on my list of neat mods is adding new units to the game. Yes, you heard me right -- new units!!!

In the area of alpha.txt called #UNITS, there is a number under it. That number can be changed to reflect a number of new basic units added. For example, in my SNAC 2.0, that number is at 40. (No I didn't create THAT many new units. What I did was add new units with abilities in innovative configurations that I as a player would think about but the AI never seems to implement, making the AI MUCH samrter at developing innovatively tactical units, such as a Trance Former, a Synthmetal Supply Crawler, or even a Clean Police Unit, among others -- which in turn creates, in my view, a smarter AI)

Now here's the interesting part. When using the unit designer in the game to design new units, you can only add two abilities to a unit if you have the Neural tech. But in the basic units, you can design special units with MORE than two abilities. But I must caution prospective designers out there -- be careful not to unbalance gameplay, as the AIs will also have access to those units, and should not take the place of other, 'legally' designed units. Usually I give a number of '0' in the cost category so that even though the unit is impossibly souped up with features, the cost is incrementally reflected, so as to make the units rarities in the game. Also to consider is when deciding at what tech the unit can be built, be careful not to add abilities that may not have been arrived at on the tech tree -- because if, say you introduce a unit with three abilities, and has the chasis Gravship, but the tech at which the unit appears is before Graviton Theory, all the player would have to do to gain illegal use of the gravship chassis would be to push 'help' in the production allocation screen (from the base screen), and from there design a new unit with only two of the three abilities of its predecessor. (For some reason the designers at Firaxis realised this potential bug and corrected for it, cause if you try that with the Locusts of Chiron, which uses Gravship as chasis, all you get in the design screen is a Rover.)

Adding Abilities:
The string of zeros after the unit descripts at the end of the line represent the abilities the unit has. The trick is to add the correct 1s in the right places representing the right abilities. How to determine that? Well through trial and error I discovered that:

In the 0000... sequence, the first digit represents the LAST ability in the #ABILITIES list, and the last digit represents the FIRST ability in the #ABILITIES list. Then all you have to do is figure out where to put the 1s.

Designating Graphics:
When designing a unit that is not 'legal', or one that is radically different that anything else, sometimes you might want to add a custom graphic for the unit.

In the #ABILITIES list, in one collumn is a bunch of -1s. But some have a different number. These are the Mind Morms and the Isle of The Deep. Take a look at the file 'Units.pcx'. If you look at the first column, the third one down is... the Mind Worm. And the fourth one down the list is... the Isle of The Deep. If one were to designate the first icon as 0, then the third one down would be 2, the fourth 3 -- the very numbers that are indicated as icon numbers in #ABILITIES.

This presents an almost infinity of possibilities. I have, for example used the tornadoe-like icon in that file, no.'5', for a unit I call the Nanite Swarm. And the icon for that monster, no.'4', for a unit I call Horror of the Deep.

Now you would think that for the monster-like icon, that Morale would advance the unit in size, as in the Units.pcx file indicates. Alas this is not so. Any icons you use must be in the first row; SMAC does not seem to recognise any icons in any other row. So what I did for the Horror of The Deep was, with the aid of a paint program that could keep palette integrity (so the colors aren't all screwed up), cut and pasted one of the larger looking monsters into the first row position. And when playing the unit in gameplay, the unit does not pivot to face whichever direction it is facing, so there is also that limitation.

Now with this knowledge you could potentially create any combination of units without a two ability restriction, assign abilities to unit combinations you would not normally be able to create (such as adding psi attack ability to a missile), and through modification of the Units.pcx file (keeping palette integrity), assign any icon/graphic you wish for it.

Let me know if anyone comes up with any good unit ideas. Enjoy!!

------------------

[ProvostB]

You can terraform a monolith. Just change the alpha.txt file to this under #TERRAIN:Monolith, AlphCen, Monolith, Disable, 10, Place Monolith, a, a,

Hope this helps.



------------------
-The Provost

[AlexanderIII]

Thanks! I've been trying to get that one for some time now. It's about the only one that had me totally stumped. I'll try it.

[DaveVegas]

Hey dude,
First, I loved your Hydromechanics patch! When are you going to convert it for SMACX? I was not a fan of your snac though, sorry. You changed the game way to much. I perferred the original game play. I think the techs need improving which is what you do well!
Snac I think you should have not modified the defenses. A few other tidbits. But damn your good dude! I hope you take it right. Not knocking your work, just my personal opinion on your mod snac! Thanks dude, you and a few others have inspired me to create!

Originally posted by AlexanderIII on 10-09-1999 03:46 AM
As the author of the Advanced Hydromechanics tech patch and soon to complete a newer version of the complete SMAC remod SNAC 1.0, which will be released soon, I have discovered how to add several new features to the game, making things VERY interesting.

TERRAFORMING

If you check out my tech patch, you will notice I added sea terraforming abilities, such as the Sea Sensor Array, the Kelp Enricher and the Minefield.

I experimented with adding all the others to the sea, and some of them showed up on the map but the base would not recognize them when I would try to use, say a Condensor at sea, and some, like the Airbase, would not show up, renering them useless. The Kelp Enricher does not show up on the map, which is no great loss, and neither does the bunker, adapted for the sea, but I named it a Minefield, so it not showing up on the map is apt. In order to mark your Minefields, you can use the Name Landmark feature, or Put Cursor Here to see them. The AI, though, does not seem to use these new terraforming features.

In the new SNAC I'm creating, I've added a borehole to sea squares, which does show up, and the base does know how to use it. It does look kind of strange, though, so I named it a Geothermal Borehole -- sort of a borehole at the bottom of the ocean floor into the earth (you need to use your imagination for that one).

As for the Monolith, I have tried everything I could think of, from simply modifying the alpha.txt file to adding a new line in the menu.txt file, but to no avail -- there simply is no way for you to terraform a Monolith. Which would be cool with a tech like, say The Secrets of Alpha Centauri. Oh well.

So the only terrain enhancements I've managed to be able to adapt for the sea are the Soil Enricher, the Sensor Array, the Bunker, and the Borehole.

------------------

[mikejohnson1]

Yes, all this creativity flowing around. Alexander I am implementing some of the awesome features of your Hydr mod into my SMAC2 modpack(which is way overdue I know.) Also SNAC changes are in my mod too. I'll be sure to credit the authors of the ideas I borrowed. Alex, the adding new basic units is a great idea, I might add it to the mod. One of my new factions, The VanScoy, starts with Centauri Psi, but the AI never seems to build Psi units at the beginning of the game, can your adding more basic units technique be used to allow the Ai to produce early Psi units?

[heardie]

Yes I am also making a Mod using this great idea. I am not very crative so the Mod will be called DHAC or Maybe Unity 2: The second coming.

[BusterMan]

AlexanderIII: How would you know if the AI uses the new ocean forming if you can't see the improvements?

[Big Mad Drongo]

Hey, my first post at Apolyton!
Alexander: Great ideas, where can I find this mod of yours then? Also...you registered here on my birthday, how freaky is that!?

[AlexanderIII]

First off, I am not the author of SNAC 1.2. ShiNing1 did. But I am giving him credit for borrowing heavilly from his patch.

And the new module should be out sometime later in November, called SNAX 1.0. Some of the features will include:
- 6 completely new units
- 11 new techs with voices
- 1 new facility
- ICS solved! (unlike SNAC, which merely compensated for it)
- AI more intelligent in unit design choices
- complete tech tree, viewable from within the game itself

I was not satisfied, on the whole with SNAC either, but not becsause it changed too much. But ShiNing1 should be commneded for such an awesome effort -- designing my own mod pack, altering almost every .txt file in the game and many of the graphics as well and adding new .mp3's is a lot of work. I now have an increased respect for what the Firaxis team had to go through in term s of effort to put out this game.

[AlexanderIII]

The Advanced Hydromechanics tech patch is available in Apolyton file section, or @ SidGames (whenever they solve their DNS problems and get online again).

I will be making a patch for SMAC-X as soon as I get it, which is not a high priority for me right now. Should be sometime in December. With a bit of fiddling with alpha.txt, following the instructions with the patch, you should easily be able to adapt it for yourself. Bear in mind for the tech0xx.pcx file, that the xx is the correct row number corresponding to the alpha.txt file, so that you don't overwrite any existing tech graphics and line up the graphic and tech correctly.

As far as seeing the new terraformings the AIs might build, I have not yet seen the AIs make use of the new terraformings. If they do, and you want to know where they are, simply right-click 'move cursor to here' and the lower screen will tell you if they have a Kelp Enricher or Minefield (minefields are hard to see anyway, so it makes sense that they are invisible anyway).

[heardie]

AlexanderIII you are brilliant. Can I put this in a guide annd post it at Chiron Creators
Let me know.

[AlexanderIII]

By all means, heardie, add it to your guide. Keep in mind proper nettiquette in this is to "quote" the relevant text and indicate the orginal creator of the idea, whomever they may be.

Since I've put a lot of effort into solving the .pcx/.mpg problem and not a small amount of hours designing mods, I'm thinking about putting together a design guide. What do think? Would such a thing be worth while, or are the forum posts sufficient?

[heardie]

Sure AlexanderIII you will be credited
I design guide sounds like a good idea.
I already started a guide on "How to create a modpack" and I did a section on ACEdit and on graphics anf factiontion.txt, maybe wew ccould combine some stuff and come up with something really good.

[heardie]

Sorry about posting here but you had no email address.
This may seem like a starnge stateement but:
The other day I saw you had no homepage.
I thought 'what an untapped resource this is'
so that is why I am offering you the position of reviewer(optinal)/co-host person, becuase you and I seem to be on the same wavelength with files, and you seem to have some good ideas.
I think this is off topic so respond to
dheardie@hotmail.com
Heardie

[Timexwatch]

If you have them written, would you mind posting the combonations that cause certain abilities.......Thanks.....

[AlexanderIII]

My e-mail address is ay527@torfree.net

As far as certain combinations that cause certain abilities, well, any combination is possible. The #UNITS section allows one to create custom units which violate the two-ability-only rule of unit design... read the beginning of this thread and follow the instructions. Be aware of the potential of unbalancing the game with such units, though (also at beginning of this thread.) If you want specifics, you'll have to wait till my modpack SNAX 1.0 comes out sometime next month (...just in time for christmas!

[DaveVegas]

okay, I am waiting on it! I miss not having that Hydro. patch installed. It should be part of game. Thanks for checking out my faction. V2.0 is done. Updating text! Had to change it to be little stronger middle game.

Originally posted by AlexanderIII on 10-09-1999 03:46 AM
As the author of the Advanced Hydromechanics tech patch and soon to complete a newer version of the complete SMAC remod SNAC 1.0, which will be released soon, I have discovered how to add several new features to the game, making things VERY interesting.

TERRAFORMING

If you check out my tech patch, you will notice I added sea terraforming abilities, such as the Sea Sensor Array, the Kelp Enricher and the Minefield.

I experimented with adding all the others to the sea, and some of them showed up on the map but the base would not recognize them when I would try to use, say a Condensor at sea, and some, like the Airbase, would not show up, renering them useless. The Kelp Enricher does not show up on the map, which is no great loss, and neither does the bunker, adapted for the sea, but I named it a Minefield, so it not showing up on the map is apt. In order to mark your Minefields, you can use the Name Landmark feature, or Put Cursor Here to see them. The AI, though, does not seem to use these new terraforming features.

In the new SNAC I'm creating, I've added a borehole to sea squares, which does show up, and the base does know how to use it. It does look kind of strange, though, so I named it a Geothermal Borehole -- sort of a borehole at the bottom of the ocean floor into the earth (you need to use your imagination for that one).

As for the Monolith, I have tried everything I could think of, from simply modifying the alpha.txt file to adding a new line in the menu.txt file, but to no avail -- there simply is no way for you to terraform a Monolith. Which would be cool with a tech like, say The Secrets of Alpha Centauri. Oh well.

So the only terrain enhancements I've managed to be able to adapt for the sea are the Soil Enricher, the Sensor Array, the Bunker, and the Borehole.

------------------

[SEE]

Originally posted by AlexanderIII on 10-09-1999 03:46 AM
In the new SNAC I'm creating, I've added a borehole to sea squares, which does show up, and the base does know how to use it. It does look kind of strange, though, so I named it a Geothermal Borehole -- sort of a borehole at the bottom of the ocean floor into the earth (you need to use your imagination for that one).

Note: In SMAX, Geothermal Boreholes take much of the challenge out of playing the Pirates, since they solve the mineral deficiency problem rather decisively.

Adding Abilities: The string of zeros after the unit descripts at the end of the line represent the abilities the unit has. The trick is to add the correct 1s in the right places representing the right abilities. How to determine that? Well through trial and error I discovered that: In the 0000... sequence, the first digit represents the LAST ability in the #ABILITIES list, and the last digit represents the FIRST ability in the #ABILITIES list. Then all you have to do is figure out where to put the 1s.

Unfortunately for SMAX creators, initial inspection shows that the alphax.txt file has 26 0's after each unit, but 29 abilities on the list, breaking this correspondence. If and when I get around to experimenting here, I'll tell y'all what #s correspond to what SMAX abilities...

-- ADDENDUM: In SMAX, the first zero corresponds to ability 26; the last number corresponds to ability 1. You can add three zeroes to the beginning of each line of numbers to have the first zero correspond to ability 29 and the last correspond to ability 1. --

Now you would think that for the monster-like icon, that Morale would advance the unit in size, as in the Units.pcx file indicates. Alas this is not so.

But in SMAX, it apparently does work like that -- at least in my initial test using the fungal tower graphic.
[This message has been edited by SEE (edited November 27, 1999).]

[AlexanderIII]

quote:
Now you would think that for the monster-like icon, that Morale would advance the unit in size, as in the Units.pcx file indicates. Alas this is not so.

quote: But in SMAX, it apparently does work like that -- at least in my initial test using the fungal tower graphic.

Glad to hear that; good news for when I port my SNAX mod for SNAC-X.

[AlexanderIII]

Came up with a great idea for a hovering base; check out the 'Flying Mountains...' thread for details.

[Jasonian]

AlexanderIII,

After reading this thread I started to get hopeful. I went back to my old Star Wars stuff and decided to make a new unit: The AT-AT. Basically, it's a 4-4-1 with Air Superiority, Non-lethal methods, and Deep Radar. I added the following line to alphax.txt:

AT-AT Walker Infantry, Impact , Silksteel 0, 0, 0, Disable, 7, 00010000100000000000100000

When I loaded up Crossfire, it said something like this:

A bad CHASSIS key was found in the following file:

alphax.txt

The key that could not be read was:

Impact

It appeared in this line:

AT-AT Walker Infantry, Impact , Silksteel 0, 0, 0, Disable, 7, 00010000100000000000100000

It is probably the attempt of some idiot to modify the file. You moron! If you don't know what you're doing, don't mess with the files.


Or SOMETHING like that. Anyway, I wasn't aware that "Impact" WAS a chassis... huh. Seeing as you probably had this problem, can you, or anyone else, help me out?

[Jasonian]

Ugh!! Never mind. Somehow, a comma was deleted from after the word "Walker" so it assumed "AT-AT Walker Infantry" was the name, and "Impact" was the chassis.

Let this be a lesson to the rest of you: pay attention to stupid commas!

[AlexanderIII]

Jasonian, you also forgot the comma after "Silksteel". You REALLY need to watch out for those commas!! And unless you're giving the unit away free to a faction at the start of the game, you'll need to associate a Tech with it or it'll never appear in the game.

So the correct unit would read:
AT-AT Walker, Infantry, Impact , Silksteel, 0, 0, 0, [insert tech abrev. here], 7, 00010000100000000000100000

[Jasonian]

AlexanderIII,

Yeah... I found out about that one next. But the little "you screwed up" message was better at telling me about it, and I fixed it.

The way things work, the Empire gets two of them at the begining of the game. I'm thinking of making a tech "Empire Ethics" that gives you access to them later on, but I haven't put it in yet, so I left it as "disable."

Thanks for pointing that out though.

[heardie]

New Unit Here:
Stegausorus, Speeder, Fusion, Plasma, 1, 400, 0, User2, 6, 000001100001100100100000
Comes from new Tech "Jurrasic Engineering".
Is there anyway to set what reactor each unit has?

------------------
-Chiron Creators-
"http://members.xoom.com/acchiron"

[Jasonian]

Heardie,

400? That's twice the cost of the accent to trancedence, I believe. That had better be one HECK of a fusion speeder!

Oh, by the way, could you list the abilities below the line. It's annoying to have to go into alpha.txt and match all those 1's with the chart.

About the reactors, I have no idea. In fact, I've asked the question myself on another thread.

[Jasonian]

I figure we're posting our new units here now, so I'll share a couple.

Death Star,Gravship,Planet Buster,Stasis,5,0,5,EmpEth,-1, 00000000000000000010000000
Special Ability: Carrier Deck.

This is basically just a heavly armored air-unit carrier with a nuke. The idea was for it to wander around Planet (moving 12 spaces a turn) and shoot Planet Busters it can carry (i.e. it's superlaser) at enemy bases. Of course, it can sacrifice itself for one last nuke bang.

Comes from the "Empire Ethics" technology (Empire faction starts with this!) The high cost reflects the cost of building one in the movies, so you'd better be willing to keep a base busy for a while or fork over a LOT of credits!


Sith Lord,Infantry,Psi,Psi,-1,0,0,None,-1,10000001100100100000000100
Special Abilities: Cloaking Device,Empath Song,Blink Displacer,Hypontic Trance, Dissociative Wave

The ultimate PSI unit! Combined with the Empire's +25% in PSI combat, this guy is about as hard to kill as Vader. It's also amusing to see it go up against it's counterpart, the Jedi Knight (lacks Empath Song and has only +20% PSI, but has high-morale and non-lethal methods) because he is the only unit that really has a chance against him!

The Empire starts with 2 Sith Lords and the Jedi Council starts with 2 Jedi Knights. Neither can be created during the game.

[AlexanderIII]

Sith Lord,Infantry,Psi,Psi,-1,0,0,None,-1,10000001100100100000000100
Special Abilities: Cloaking Device,Empath Song,Blink Displacer,Hypontic Trance, Dissociative Wave

Jasonian, if you put 'None' in the prerequisite tech, then all factions will be able to build this at the start of the game. I think you are looking for 'Disable', and then give the unit to the faction as 'UNIT, x,' as a part of faction.txt.

-------------------

And heardie that stegasaurus is a great idea. Along with the 'Jurrasic Engineering' tech. My thought would be to call it Jurrasic Genetics, personally. WAYYY too expensive though. Bear in mind that for whatever number you put there, the true cost in minerals will be 9x that number (I thought it would be 10x that, put aparently not I discovered).

And do you have unit graphics for it/them? Love to see them. IDEA: make a few 'Jurrasic' techs complete with units and come out with a small mod for SMACX -- there are all too few small mods out there.

[heardie]

Originally posted by AlexanderIII on 12-11-1999 04:29 PM

Sith Lord,Infantry,Psi,Psi,-1,0,0,None,-1,10000001100100100000000100
Special Abilities: Cloaking Device,Empath Song,Blink Displacer,Hypontic Trance, Dissociative Wave

Jasonian, if you put 'None' in the prerequisite tech, then all factions will be able to build this at the start of the game. I think you are looking for 'Disable', and then give the unit to the faction as 'UNIT, x,' as a part of faction.txt.

Sorry, the cost is not 400!, my mistake.
The Jurrasic Mod is a good idea might think about that.
I do have new unit graphics, if you want to find them go to apolyton.net/civ2 and find the file stoneup21.zip, which is the upgrade for the Civ2 Stonehnege mod. Thi is what I have used.


------------------
-Chiron Creators-
"http://members.xoom.com/acchiron"

[Jasonian]

Both of you,

I'm aware of the "None" for the tech name. I had origionally put it as "EmpEth" (Empire Ethics), but changed it to "Disable". Now it's on "None" so I can build some Jedi in case mine get whacked, and also so I can see how much they would cost. Just a little testing thing.

Just out of curiousity, if it doesn't cost 400 for that dino-of-a-fusion-speeder unit, what does it cost?