The Sea Kings!

[EZRhino]

Tanelorn, I felt pretty much the same way not too long ago. Funny how life works...

I've noticed an interesting twist on the barbarian cities (not) building units phenomena. After a little experimentation I found that cities seem more likely to build units if they were actually physically captured by a barbarian unit rather than simply having ownership transferred to them with civcity, however this isn't an absolute rule.
When I made the new map something interesting happened. On a completely new map the same general regions were the ones to build the barbarian units (even past the supposed ceiling) as on the old map. Specifically Crete and the Cyclades. Perhaps there is some connection that causes the barb AI to only want to build units on small land masses?

Also I've been looking for a more in-depth explanation as to what exactly @INITIAL_SETTINGS does and how it works... does anybody know?

[EZRhino]

A ToT question. I've noticed that trying to changing some things in rules.txt meet with no effect once the game loads. Specifically the tech paradigm and (possible) the civilization personalities. Something similar happens with the in-game editor as well, nothing sticks with any of the "scenario parameters". Any changes I make work until I load the save, even if I save after changing the settings. The seem to revert to some default setting. Is this somehow a related phenomena to the embedded @leaders2 etc.?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by EZRhino
Also I've been looking for a more in-depth explanation as to what exactly @INITIAL_SETTINGS does and how it works... does anybody know?

Initial settings are used for spawning new tribes, so unless you've got the 'Don't Restart Eliminated Players' flag switched off, it's not going to affect your scenario. The 3 fields are: starting map, primary unit (a settler-type unit by default) and secondary unit. It's probably more useful for people modifying the Original, Extended Original, Sci-Fi and Fantasy games, than for scenario designers. I dunno if that's more 'in-depth' than your current info - I'm too lazy to read through the entire thread.

Originally posted by EZRhino
Is this somehow a related phenomena to the embedded @leaders2 etc.?

Nope. The scenario parameters are only saved to file when you save the game as a scenario. They are tacked on to the end of the SCN file. So unless your game is derived from a scenario file, the parameters will be cleared every time you reload. Save your game as a scenario, change the extension of the resulting scenario file to SAV and work on that file. Thereafter you only need to save normally to retain further changes to the scenario parameters.

[EZRhino]

Thanks Catfish Though the starting date still doesn't seem to work Ive tried saving as scenario and then reloading but that had no effect

Btw, is there a way to effect a hawkish republic with out the U.N. wonder?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by EZRhino
Though the starting date still doesn't seem to work Ive tried saving as scenario and then reloading but that had no effect

Is your Turn Year Increment zero? When it's 0 (the default), only the Turns Elapsed value from the game parameters section of the file is used to calculate the date. The Starting Year value from the scenario parameters section is ignored. If the Turn Year Increment ≠ 0, the date is calculated from the Turns Elapsed + the Starting Year. You can change the Turns Elapsed value under 'Set Game Year' (Shift + F4). If you change this value, you'll also need to adjust any turn-based triggers in your events by the same amount.

Originally posted by EZRhino
Btw, is there a way to effect a hawkish republic with out the U.N. wonder?

That's more a question for the strategy guys. I'd search the General forum here and the Strategy forum at CFC for answers to that one. Reputation (the number of betrayals) has some effect. You could try setting it to 8 (the worst) for the Republic's enemies. I think the senate allows you to thump tribes with an atrocious reputation. You can set the number of betrayals during the course of the game using the ModifyReputation event.

[Harry Tuttle]

I believe that the feelings toward one another come into play too. A vendetta might help.

[EZRhino]

Ive been experimenting a bit with variations on 1,-1,1 and:

Hittites /w despotism: ruthlessly conquer, not stopping after they utterly eradicated the neighboring state of Arzawa. And generally acting in a barbaric manner...

Hittites /w republic: switch to despotism with the same results as above.

Hittites /w republic and great wall: make peace with Arzawa after taking perhaps one city, then proceed to play nice with everybody else, save the barbarians, and for some reason the Sea Peoples; trading technologies as the fancy takes them... even with vendetta turned on and attitude 100, and giving Arzawa the reputation equivalent to the integrity of Microsoft's business practices

Ideally I would like the Hittites to conduct war aggressively but to also still be open to diplomacy. Loath though I am to use this sort of solution, what I may do is have events periodically trigger war with other states.

[EZRhino]

I noticed something interesting recently. The food bonus of irrigated grasslands only works for one civ out of seven. For the others receive only the unirrigated worth of the square. This only happens when the bonus is two in the rules.txt, and all civs do get the bonus when it is set at one.

Has anybody had any luck with the Anycity wildcard value?

Lastly with barbarian hordes, there seem to be plenty of pirates but I've yet to see a barbarian uprising. What factors into this?

It's probably about time to post a teaser too...

[fairline]

Somewhat OT....

Erin, bad news: I'm afraid you're going to have to re-do your map again. According to this nut-job Troy wasn't Hissarlik in Turkey, but was in fact located just down the road from me in Cambridge (UK not Mass.!)

http://www.troy-in-england.co.uk/where-troy-once-stood/where-troy-once-stood.htm

I'm just off to see if I can find any wooden horse remains in the Fens...

As for your barbarian question, is there anything in Keenan's barb paper at CIC?

http://sleague.apolyton.net/Guides/sldt_barbtechs.shtml

[Boco]

Originally posted by EZRhino
Lastly with barbarian hordes, there seem to be plenty of pirates but I've yet to see a barbarian uprising. What factors into this?

I believe it has to do with improvements, visibility, and ownership of the square. I'll scan the Apolyton great library for this.

Good luck on your quest, Fairline!

[curtsibling]

Looking very good from that screenie...Nice galleys!



PS
I have heard about the claims of Troy being in England too.
Very interesting stuff, another one I heard was that the
place in France "Troyes" had something to do with it.

PPS
David Icke(!) is a big fan of the the 'Troy in England' theory!

[Gagliaudo]

wonderful screen, indeed
Last year I read "The fall of Hittite Empire and the Troian War - Homer in Aegean Sea", by E.Redi (italian writer: I've translate book's title).
Very interesting theories, original but not so revolutionary like "Troy in England" or "Homer in Baltic Sea" (yes...)

[Boco]

Strategies against Barbarian Attacks has some info on Barb spawning amid the +1 posts.

If I find evidence that Troy was located in New Jersey, could I get tenure at Princeton?

[EZRhino]

Re: Somewhat OT....

Originally posted by fairline
Erin, bad news: I'm afraid you're going to have to re-do your map again. According to this nut-job Troy wasn't Hissarlik in Turkey, but was in fact located just down the road from me in Cambridge (UK not Mass.!)

Lol, not again

The wonderful barbarian papers unfortunately had no additional advice concerning my dilemma. It's set on raging hordes. I've tried deleting all terrain improvements in wide swaths of the map, Ive tried deleting all of the barbarian cities, I have tried rearranging the slots and mixing it up with different trigger technologies to coax the vile barbarians into showing themselves. I even tried loading the map and rules as an original game and still only pirates. The @units_advanced should let the barbarians build the proper units, if that is a factor. Alas, I'm running out of ideas...

[Thoth]

Originally posted by EZRhino


Btw, is there a way to effect a hawkish republic with out the U.N. wonder?

If you set the "Total War" flag in the scenario parameters sub-menu, then Republics and Democracies can declare war at will without Senate interference.

BTW: Any word on a release date yet?