Planetfall

[GeoModder]

do you need someone to fill in datalinks entries?[/i]

[self biased]

right. i'll get to work...

also, why can't i build sea units, with the exception of sea formers and suchlike? edit: it seems it's an elevation issue.

[Maniac]

do you need someone to fill in datalinks entries?

[i]right. i'll get to work...[i]

Datalinks/Civiliopedia text has hardly been touched, so help is of course always welcome. But as I haven't yet touched it myself, neither do I have a clear idea myself what needs to be done there. Is there some specific area or part you would like to focus on, or do you need me to tell you what to do?

also, why can't i build sea units, with the exception of sea formers and suchlike? edit: it seems it's an elevation issue.

I don't really know what you're talking about - don't know how elevation could matter. Do you perhaps have a screenshot or so? What unit specifically can't you build? (Since you say you can build sea formers.)

[self biased]

i think i saved over that game accidentally, actually. for the datalinks, just point me in a direction and let me go.

[Maniac]

Almost all game objects have a [Civilopedia] and [Strategy] tag in their XML files. At the moment I'm not paying attention to these at all, so you get completely unfitting pedia text. Something on which people sometimes comment.

I wouldn't know what to put there instead though. There isn't stuff from SMAC to copy over, so we'd have to write stuff ourselves.
If you desire, you could always put a placeholder text "NEEDS PEDIA" in all the mod's and tags. But I can imagine that's rather boring, which is why I haven't done it myself.

One area where stuff can be used from SMAC are facility quotes. Those could be used for the building civilopedia texts. You could take the fac content of the SMAC blurbsx.txt file and put it in Planetfall's TextBlurbs.xml, following the format already used there. (That is, name the tags after the building number, not the building name)

[self biased]

i'm also programming retarded. i hope this isn't going to be too terribly involved.

[Maniac]

If you don't know how to edit an XML file (just a text file format), there isn't really anything you can do.

[self biased]

right. i've already listed what techs need what; i'll find my SMAC planetary edition and install it so i can mine it for information.

[Maniac]

right. i've already listed what techs need what; i'll find my SMAC planetary edition and install it so i can mine it for information.

Cool! Have you checked out Civ's XML files?

i've already listed what techs need what

What what? (That is, what are you planning to do?)

[self biased]

nope. i did it the hard way. i plan to come up with an witty quote, and start to massage the techs with descriptions.

if someone could post the .txt from smax it would speed me along as i won't have to scour my attic for my copy.

[Maniac]

Ah, you're a writer? I thought by saying "fill in datalinks entries" you mainly meant putting already existing stuff in XML. Well, that changes things of course. Hell, if you want you/we could write a script or story for some scenarios after main development of Planetfall is done.

I attached a zip with the SMAC text files that include most of the story, flavour, quotes, background etc.
It also includes an Excel file which shows what SMAC quotes are currently linked to what Planetfall tech/building. It's not entirely up-to-date, but that be done if you find the file useful.

Also a note about techlongs.txt. Some of that stuff could be used for the tech pedia, but also a lot wouldn't fit. The descriptions often refer to specific tech prerequisites, but the Planetfall tech tree, while sharing the same themes, is different from the SMAC tech tree.

as i won't have to scour my attic for my copy.

I'd recommend trying to find it back anyway. You can use the SMAC sound files in Planetfall (see first post for how) and thus get back more of SMAC's atmosphere.

[Maniac]

Patch v7f has been released. This patch needs to be installed on top of the version 7 main file.
It will break savegames from earlier patches.
Reason for this minor patch is the crash mentioned in point 4.

Changelog:

1. The Ruins landmark has been added. Graphics by GeoModder.
2. Edited Gamefont.tga, by Teodosio.
3. Helium resource visible from the start.
4. Fixed crash due to perimeter defenses in barbarian bases.
5. Unity Observation Bay will reveal Unity pods.
6. 'Stealth' special ability makes Submarine invisible while at full health.
7. 'Deep Radar' special ability allows you to see Stealth units.
8. 'Hidden' promotion makes Native Life invisible in fungus.
9. 'Resonadar' special ability allows you to see Hidden units.

[self biased]

on a side note, i must be playing wrong, because the native life just totally keeps kicking my ass. i've not even been able to complete a game, because every time there's a fungal bloom it's almost inevitably outside my base, with just enough to overwhelm my defenses.

[Maniac]

Are you just losing one base, or are you getting entirely eliminated? Haven't heard anyone say the latter yet.

On one side, yeah, fungal blooms are probably a little too annoying now. One future change will be making the fungal bloom spawn start with movement already finished, so you have a turn to attack yourself or reinforce.

On the other hand, it seems you are not aware what causes fungal blooms. It's caused by having a very negative Planet value in a base. So you could try to keep it positive. That's the Planet-friendly way. Fungal blooms can only occur next to plots already containing fungus, so a Planet-unfriendly solution would be to eradicate all fungus in sight. No fungus, no blooms, no matter how negative your Planet rating.

Note that temporarily losing one base is not as big a disaster as in unmodded Civ4 btw. If in unmodded Civ4 you lose and recapture a city, only 44% of your buildings will be left standing. In Planetfall that's 90%.

[self biased]

fungal blooms are rather intense. if you don't have the base to send someone back in to get it, you're going to get screwed. i'd be in favor of having some kind of graded curve as to a bases negative impact depending on technology level, industry, etc. there ought to be a way to offset any sort of negative impact by the use of tiled improvements: maybe make the 'centauri preserve' upgrade over time and provide greater benefits? perhaps include a 'planet' slider?

i would make fungal blooms rarer, but they can appear anywhere. should there be a minor bloom and a major bloom? one could make the minor obey the current rules and be largely an inconvenience; the major one could be rare, but savage.

i like how the borders work in this and the influence of a base isn't really that much, and is modestly difficult to raise. i like how the tech tree progresses, and the mechanics of said tech tree appear to be different enough from regular Civ.

i have some other ideas, but i'll try to get to the datalinks and we'll go from there.