SW: Siege of Cydonia

[Boco]

IIRC, try putting it in the "Original" folder (or whatever version you used to make the scenario).

[techumseh]

Use Boco's amazing program to change skins. It works like a charm. Boco, tell our contestants what they've won!

[Boco]

Tech, I forgot about Skinnydipping

[Sarsstock]

Allrighty, thanks to the help of posters I've now got the custom city screen interface up and running for now. I may brighten it up a bit or add some more appropriate textures between now and the beta release but thats more or less what I hope the city screen will look like.

Now I have a question regarding the tech tree that I'm in the midst of building. I have a somewhat limited knowledge of what tech's trigger what hard coded events in regular game play, such as which combination of tech's allows the most advanced level of city construction, and so on. I've tried looking on Catfish's very helpfull scenario building site but haven't been able to find this particular list.

It would help the later stages of the tech tree design process if somebody could either post which techs have which hard coded functions or direct me to a site which features them. Any help would be greatly appreciated gents!

[Boco]

In case you haven't seen this one...

Have you checked Test of Time Advance Slot Properties, Version 1.3, by William Keenan? Search the page for ".bmp" and you'll find the techs that affect People.bmp and Cities.bmp. It has a wealth of other information as well.

[Sarsstock]

Now this is exactly the kind of utility I was looking for. Thanks for the link Boco.

[Sarsstock]

Alright, its been a little bit of a while since I last posted on my progress so I thought I'd give an update to all those interested. I am still needling through the tech tree making sure these blasted techs can be advanced and awarded as needed, its a little slower going than I thought but all is still moving along.

I've talked with Patrick and Boco on simulating blockade running in space the same way the Murmansk blockade run was simulated in Nemo's Red Front and I'm pretty confident it can be done with the right event writing.

Basically my old foe the RL has slowed down development but shall not stop it. All the magnificent contributions that have been made to this project so far shall not go to waste. Attached below are some graphics I have slated to appear in the icons file as they relate to their corresponding technologies.

Expect many more updates soon.

[Sarsstock]

I have a question, does anyone out there know if its possible for one civ in ToT to be given a choice of researching one of two techs, and by choosing one tech the other tech rendered obsolete? Or at least blocked in some way from being researched by the human player?

I ask because I want to create a scenario where the human player (being the Cydonians) at the height of their desperation, their cities overrun, their armies in retreat and their towns and villages bombed from orbit nightly is ultimately faced with two choices for calling for help, each choice with advantages and disadvantages.

Originally I had wanted to include two outside parties as intervening on the Cydonians side during the conflict, but I think it might add to gameplay if I were able to leave some element of choice up to the player. Any ideas on if and how such a choice could be made possible?

[N35t0r]

I haven't dabbed much into the advanced ToT events triggers, but can't you remove technologies with it?

Simply have both those techs have an unresearchable tech as a prereq, and you take it away as soon as they've researched either of the other two.

[Boco]

Originally posted by Sarsstock
I have a question, does anyone out there know if its possible for one civ in ToT to be given a choice of researching one of two techs, and by choosing one tech the other tech rendered obsolete? Or at least blocked in some way from being researched by the human player?

Yes, I tried a 'menu' with an early version of EAv2. My solution was a convoluted mix of @CIVILIZE2, @LEADERS2, and stuff in Events, but it did work. My memory of the details is dim, but I think I still have the files buried somewhere.

Tech, do you have a simpler solution?

[Edit]Nestor's solution should work, but I'm not sure if it makes the tech obsolete fast enough in the same turn. Like I said, the memory's dim (so's my mind at this hour) .

[techumseh]

It's certainly possible.

@IF
RECEIVEDTECHNOLOGY
receiver=Maroons
technology=01
@THEN
JustOnce
EnableTechnology
Whom=Maroons
technology=02
value=2
@ENDIF

Values are:

0 = Can research and own
1 = Can't research, but can own
2 = Can neither research nor own

Unfortunately, that's not all there is to it. From the manual:

"In rules.txt, advances are separated into modules; keep in mind that changing the permission state for any advance in a module changes the state for the entire module. Also note that for the game to function, every civilization must always have a possible research route to Future Technology (90). Therefore, the module that includes advance 90 and all of its ancestor prerequisites must always have a value of 0 for all civilizations. This action must not appear in the same event with a GiveTechnology or TakeTechnology action."

To find out how to do this, use this tip from the Cradle site: http://coc.apolyton.net/guides/civilize2_leaders2.shtml

[techumseh]

That tip may seem a bit intimidating, so I'm going to try a simple explanation of my own.

In the Rules Text, go to the @CIVILIZE2 section. Divide your techs into three groups: The two mutually exclusive technologies together with their derivative techs (1 and 2), and the ones that every civ can research (0). This must include Future Tech and all techs leading up to it.

Give every tech used in the game a number. Leave all the common techs with a 0. There may be up to eight groups (0-7).


@CIVILIZE2
2 ; AFl (Path of War)
1 ; Alp (Path of Peace)
0 ; Amp (Common Tech)
0 ; Ast (Common Tech)
0 ; Ato (Common Tech)
.........
0 ;FT (Common Tech)

When you run the event, it changes the state of all techs in that group, not just the specific tech identified in the event. You can use events to change the state of each group back and forth if you wish, using any triggers you want.

You can also use the TAKETECHNOLOGY event in ToT.

Is that any clearer than mud?

[Sarsstock]

Well its not quite as clear as mud but its getting there . I think I get the gist of it though, I'm starting with the unit placement and event writing so its good to have that info now to pour over and try to get my head around.

Coming soon are some new screen shots featuring armoured hover trains, panicked masses fleeing, epic battles in space and the possible end results of those two very different choices the player must make.

[Sarsstock]

Alright, its time for a progress report. With a near operation tech tree in place now I've begun placing the cities and units for this project. Now a great many kinks have to be ironed out still (like the easy moving from the ground map to the space map for certain units) but I'm able to post these two screenshots of gameplay events.

With the space over Cydonia cleared of Trade Federation warships the valiant volunteers of the Republic make their final approach to the war ravaged world

[Sarsstock]

.... and the second.

After coming ashore the Skeltrix armies have overrun two coastal towns and are fast approaching the crucial River Front Pass. Only a mercenary force of the Black Sun stand in their way.