Moving Civs to Other Color Groups ...

[Gatekeeper]

Everyone:

... is this a relatively easy procedure where one simply has to switch a few numbers around? For example, if I wanted to move the Romans (white) to the purple color group (Mongols, India, Sioux), it'd just be a matter of sending one of the former purple civs to the white group in Rome's place?

I've fiddled rather extensively with the RULES.TXT file and have never had a problem (except for the *one and only time* I played around with a universal value — thank goodness for backups), but have never messed around with color groups before. I did succeed in getting the AI to use cruise missiles on armored divisions and port cities, though, rather than just stocking up on them for use against ships.

I use the Macintosh version of Civ II, but insofar as I can tell, the program operates quite similarly to its PC cousin.

Gatekeeper

[Exile]

You can change the colors by adjusting the "color bars" on the city.gif. There are detailed instructions in the Scenario League tips section. The color bars are located in the small corner with the flags.

Changing one color is dependent on the pixel inside the flags themselves. 4 from the left, and 5 down from the top, if memory serves. Just look at various scenarios and the city.gifs contained within them, and you'll see the altered pixels inside the customized flags. They're not difficult to spot.

Changing the other colors on the map is done by altering the 1-pixel wide "bars" of color that are positioned over the top of each individual flag.

If these instructions are not sufficient, see the Scen League tip.

[Panda]

Gatekeeper:

you can use the method you describe to alter the colour group of the civ. In fact my standard game set-up uses these colours:

Julius Caesar,___Livia Augusta,____0, 1, 1, Romans
Hammurabi,____Ishtari,__________0, 2, 0, Babylonians
Frederick,______Maria Theresa,____0, 3, 3, Germans
Ramesses,_____Cleopatra,_______1, 4, 0, Egyptians
Abe Lincoln,____E. Roosevelt,_____0, 5, 1, Americans
Alexander,_____Hippolyta,________1, 7, 1, Greeks
Mohandas Gandhi,Indira Gandhi,____0, 7, 2, Indians
Lenin,________Catherine the Great,_1, 1, 3, Russians
Shaka,________Shakala,__________0, 1, 0, Zulus
Louis XIV,______Joan of Arc,_______0, 2, 3, French
Montezuma,____Nazca,___________0, 4, 0, Aztecs
Mao Tse Tung,__Wu Zhao,_________0, 5, 2, Chinese
Henry VIII,_____Elizabeth I,_______1, 6, 3, English
Genghis Khan,__Bortei,___________0, 3, 0, Mongols
Cunobelin,_____Boadicea,________1, 3, 0, Celts
Tokugawa,_____Amaterasu,______0, 2, 2, Japanese
Canute,_______Gunnhild,________1, 7, 3, Vikings
Philip II,____Isabella,____________1, 4, 3, Spanish
Xerxes,_______Scheherezade,_____0, 5, 0, Persians
Hannibal,_____Dido,_____________0, 6, 1, Carthaginians
Sitting Bull,_Sacajawea,__________0, 6, 0, Sioux

Exile means you can then change the graphical colours used by the tribe in the cities.gif file, say from white to blood red.

P.S. any modifications to the rules.txt that alter AI behaviour would be well received here, as there is a lack of empirical research in that department.

[Gatekeeper]

Exile:

Hmm ... so if I'm reading you correctly, if I were to switch the Romans to the purple color group, their cities would show up as purple, but the units themselves would retain the white flags?

If I do anything, it wouldn't be more than switching civs among color groups. I'm red-green colorblind, so any further monkeying around with colored .gifs and whatnot probably isn't the best idea.

Thanks for all the detail!

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Panda:

The second number is representative of the color group, correct? (I haven't done much with the RULES.TXT file for the past year or so, hence the trip down memory lane.)

WRT AI-behavior changing alterations to that file, I can post what I did with the cruise missile entry if anyone would be interested. I also created a custom unit using one of the "extra" units (the shogun-looking figure); it became an elite shock trooper. Same with the boat-like extra unit ... it became a "stealth" transport, capable of carrying up to four units. The balloon-like extra unit became a dirigible, usable from mathematics up until gunpowder. It's an offensive weapon, with roughly the same power of a crusader, but a low defense (but also has the "chopper" ability ... i.e., it never has to land).

Insofar as I can tell, none of those changes have made the game unbalanced, but that just might be my perspective.

Gatekeeper

P.S. Oh, one more thing: The AI also uses cruise missiles against the shock trooops I made, as well as spies.

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Hmm ... so if I'm reading you correctly, if I were to switch the Romans to the purple color group, their cities would show up as purple, but the units themselves would retain the white flags?

No. Exile is talking about changing the graphics to change a civ's colours, something a bit different from what you were saying.

Simply swapping the Romans with some purple civ in the @LEADERS section of the rules will do the trick, just like you thought and just like Panda demonstrated.

[Gatekeeper]

Mercator:

Excellent. Hmm ... has anyone reorganized the groupings, or are most satisified with how the programmers organized the civs? Me? Heh. I'd like to get it so China and America can play against each other. Or the Draka (the re-named Zulus; done because S.M. Stirling's dystopia is such a good read) and Japan.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

BTW, if I were to switch the Romans and, say, Mongolia, would the change be reflected in the game set-up screen where you choose which nation you're going to play (i.e. the purple group would be grouped together, ala Romans, India, Sioux and Mongols, Russia, Celts)?

Gatekeeper

[Mercator]

Hmmm, ah yeah, so it's the 2nd number that indicates the colour. I would think that the order in the game setup screen follows the order in the rules. I.e. the first 7 in the first column, 2nd 7 in 2nd column etc.

Or, err, maybe not... I haven't actually changed this.

*looks at Panda*

[Panda]

I've edited the above post to make the groupings slightly easier to read. Yes, I was unhappy with the original groups and did this so that the ancient world civs could all be in play at once, and so could the European civs. The second value in the Rules.txt is for tribe colour.

As far as I can remember, the set-up screen is in the same order as the civs in the rules.txt, so if you swapped the Romans and Mongolians lines over then the Mongolians would be in the top-left. This would still mean that the Mongolians would use the Roman leader portraits, and vice versa.

Choosing the AI opponents is taken by presenting only the first non-human tribe colour, e.g. Green, and only presenting civs of that tribe colour. This means that you could force your opponents in each game by only having one civ for a given tribe colour.

Hope that's what you wanted.

edit: just to make that more explicit for your original question, do not swap the lines over, just give the Romans the value 0, 7, 1. You don't need to replace them in the white group.

AFAIK the AI will use missile unit differently depending on the cost of the missiles and the cost of the defending unit, and I *think* that a/d/m values are pretty much ignored. Just from observation of some scenarios to have used them.

[Gatekeeper]

Panda, et al.:

OK, I think I get what you're saying; let me summarize:

1. If I switch the tribe colors (i.e. white Romans to purple Romans, purple Mongols to white Mongols), the tribe will assume its new color, but will retain its original leader portraits (i.e. Caesar isn't going to suddenly morph into Bortei).

2. Unless I switch the *lines* of the tribes in question, they'll remain in their original position on the tribe selection screen(s) even if they're no longer in that particular color group (i.e. purple Romans will still be in the upper lefthand corner of the selection box).

On a related note, here is what I've done with the "extra" units (note: they have no sound effects ... don't have the right software to properly sample audio files for them):

Shock Troops, nil, 0, 1.,0, 14a,3d, 4h,2f, 8,0, 0, Pla, 000001000000111
Stingray, nil, 2, 7.,0, 0a,6d, 3h,1f, 7,4, 4, Pla, 100000000001001
Dirigible, Fli, 1, 4.,0, 8a,1d, 1h,1f, 5,0, 0, Inv, 000000000000001

The following is the modified missile code:

Cruise Msl., nil, 1, 12.,1, 18a,0d, 1h,3f, 4,0, 0, Roc, 001000000000000

I'm sure it's pretty low-level stuff by SL standards but, hey, a person's gotta start somewhere!

Gatekeeper

[Boco]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
On a related note, here is what I've done with the "extra" units
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I'm sure it's pretty low-level stuff by SL standards but, hey, a person's gotta start somewhere!

There's nothing low level about creating a good unit mix! Developing a varied balance of unit stats is one of the most vital parts of a scenario. I can't think of a better way to learn the ropes than what you're doing here. It's an iterative process.

Your shock troops, for example, address gaps in the vanilla Civ2 unit mix: Marines aren't particularly cost-effective, Alpines can't infiltrate, and partisans are weak. I'm going on dim memory, but these ST's seem like an excellent buy for the money. If, however, they end up being the only unit an advanced civ buys, then perhaps the cost is too low.

Dirigible is an excellent idea, too. A vulnerable attack/recon unit available with Fli. The iterative balancing comes with comparing 8a/1h/1f at 5 gold vs 4a/2h/2f at 6 gold. Will a player opt for both or just pick one 99% of the time?

Keep posting your ideas. Maybe they won't all be masterpieces, but they will stimulate some thought that'll help us all.

[Gatekeeper]

Boco:

Why, thanks for the praise! I've also added a bit to the tech tree, so that it takes longer, for instance, for a nation to acquire nuclear weapons and, coincidentally, SDI improvements.

Insofar as I can tell, each AI nation typically has no more than six to 10 shock troop units at any one time ... but, boy, does it ever splurge on cruise missiles and bombers/stealth bombers (which haven't been modified by me). At least with the missiles, it's *using* them instead of stockpiling them, which is what it did before I cheapened them by 10 shields or so. Before the change, I'd encounter AI cities with up to 10 missiles in them ... nowadays, usually not more than two or three, the rest having been expended against my invading/defending armies!

Gatekeeper

[Elok]

Okay, one last clarification.

Suppose that I start a scenario with the ordinary rules.txt and all (as is usually the case), and have the ordinary white Romans and purple Mongols. I then modify rules.txt so that the Romans are purple and the Mongols white, and put it in the [nameofscenario] folder so Civ2 versions from FW and up will use it instead. But will it use it WRT colors? Will it read rules.txt and change the colors accordingly with each reading, or will it keep the colors the same as their initial value assigned at the start of the scenario under normal rules.txt?

[Panda]

WTF is WRT??

edit: oh, "with regards to" would make sense.

Ahem. No, it's not dynamic, so you'd need to start your base game using the modified rules.txt. Not a problem if you modify the start directory for the civ2.exe file to that of the scenario directory.