ToT events chat ...

[William Keenan]

The command syntax is good so that leaves only two posible problems.
1) The AVI file name is wrong
2) The AVI file is not in the scenario directory.

[Hannibal3]

I have to admit I really don't quite understand the whole flags concept. Is their purpose to serve as many triggers at once? The manual is a bit cryptic as to their function. I tried looking at the events files of the different games, and it seemed like the flags represented already created triggers. Am I off on that guess?

Also, it was said that one of the uses could be to have a civ surrender if a certain number of cities were taken... how would that be done?

[John Possidente]

Flags are turning out to be so complex that I'm almost sorry we put them in.

Seriously, though--we've talked about flags in a few threads here in the past, and I don't want to revisit too much of that discussion. Maybe someone will write an article on them....

Anyway, flags are basically markers you can set to record occurrences for later checks. To use the cities example you mention, you could set up events so that when certain cities were captured (you would have to specify the names of the cities, so if the player changed the names, the events would not work), flags were set. When Paris is overrun, flag 1 gets set; when Tours is captured, flag 2 gets set; and so on.

Then, using a CheckFlag trigger and a Threshold parameter, you could make an event that said, in essence, "When enough of these flags are set, trigger this event". OR you could use the Count parameter to say, "When exactly this many flags are set, trigger the event". OR you could use the Mask parameter to say, "When these specific flags are set (i.e. certain vital cities have been taken), trigger the event".

[Civfan]

John, the use of flags in TOT sounds real good. But, is there a strategy guide out there which deals with them? I'm like most of Civ2 players out there and have no real idea about them. The manual that came with TOT just tells you theres so much that can be done with them but theres no examples in it.

So is there a strategy guide by Micropose that deals with them. I heard that someones making a new strategy guide (I believe you mentioned it in a previous thread) about the new ways of Scenario design for TOT.

[Hannibal3]

Thanks, John. I thought that was what the flags did, I just wanted to be sure that was all they did. Actually, the reference to example of capturing a certain number of cities was how would cause a nation to surrender.

[Hannibal3]

Thanks, John. I thought that was what the flags did, I just wanted to be sure that was all they did. Actually, the reference to example of capturing a certain number of cities was how would one cause a nation to surrender.

[ghosh9]

Along the lines of Civfan's question about strategy guides--

There is no further information on flags in the Civ II TOT strategy guide. However, the programmed events in the fantasy and sci-fi games, as well as the Midgard scenario, are described in detail. So you can read these and decipher what you're looking at in the events.txt.

I am glad this discussion about flags is going on. I had an adventure game construction kit once (Forgotten Realms Ultimate Adventures) that used something simular. I'll keep coming back and rereading these tips until I figure these flags out.

[John Possidente]

Mick used flags in his fantasy games much more than I did in the SF games. If you're looking for examples, look in those games' events files. If you want simpler examples, you can check out the SF events files.

It's true that we didn't get into the use of flags in the strategy guide. It's one of those simple systems that you can use to generate complex results, and there just wasn't room in the book to do it justice. Rather than offer a short, poor explanation, we decided to skip it.

I keep hoping one of the clever people here will write up a tip about it...

[tobyr]

John, PLEASE keep the flags in civ3; don't be sorry you put them in!

The lessons to learn from the flags are:
(1) Name features very carefully according to their meaning. If you had called them memoryFlags or StorgaeBits their function would be clearer.

(2) Include a clear example of the basic uses of the feature in the manual, and in a sample file in the release.

- toby robison


------------------
toby robison
criticalpaths@mindspring.com

[valmont]

I agree that flags are a keeper.

I disagree that they should be called something else. I'm not a programmer, but the term was clear to me. I'm still scratching my head over the mask concept, but I'll figure it out eventually.

I haven't seen the manual, so I can't comment on the clarity of the presentation of these concepts, but from others' comments it does sound like this could be improved. The last thing you should do is change a useful feature because it wasn't presented clearly.

Could someone pull up those threads John mentioned and post links?

[John Possidente]

Let me see if I can cover masks simply and briefly...

Say your scenario is going along nicely, and in the course of it, flags are being set. For a particular event, you want to check certain flags--not all of them--but only trigger if all of those certain flags or a certain minimum number of them have been set. That's when you'd use the mask, to control which flags you're checking on.

Example? Hmm... Let's say you have fifteen flags that you're using. Each one is set ON as the result of somebody completing a quest (sounds vaguely familiar...). The quests you've attached to flags 2, 3, 8, and 14 result in the "discovery" of imaginary pieces of an ancient relic--I say imaginary because there's no way for the player to actually have or manipulate these things.

Okay, so you decide that you want this relic to have special powers; when all the pieces have been unearthed, something happens--for our purposes, it doesn't matter what. You need to use the flag mask to trigger an event based on all four of those flags being set. In binary (since I don't do hex), it would look something like this:

@IF
CheckFlag
Who=Everybody
Mask=0b00000000000000000010000010000110
State=ON
@THEN
...and so on
@ENDIF

The mask just tells the CheckFlag trigger not to bother looking at any of the other flag settings--it focuses the trigger on only the flags you care about in this situation.

[Miner]

Why is there a letter "b" in the above binary string? everything else I understand.

[William Keenan]

Binary and hexadecimal numbers each use a prefix to designate the type of number system in use.
0b designates binary
0x designates hexadecimal

Therefore is 0b00000000000000000010000010000110 equal to 0x00002086.

The events parser will accept either of these number systems. Personally I prefer hexadecimal because you don't have to count flag positions as often.

BTW the calculator that comes with Windows can do binary and hexadecimal math and convert between the two.

[Miner]

Thankyou, everything now clear. Binary I understand (2 numbers, how easy can you get?) but hex gives me the willies!

[Archangel]

Sorry for just jupming in here, but I need help (again).

My scenario is supposed to end when Germany conquers 4 key cities, London, Alexandria, Perm and Magnitorsk. Here is the events that I used:

@IF
checkflag
who=Germans
mask=0b0000000000000000000000000001111
count=4
state=on
@THEN
text
^The Third Reich achieves ultimate victory over Europe! The Soviet Union
^has been crippled, England has been smashed, and anything that remains
^is barely a threat. The Führer's dream which he described in "Mein Kampf"
^has become a reality. Long live the fatherland!
endtext
playwavefile
panzersong.wav
@ENDIF

@IF
checkflag
who=Germans
mask=0b0000000000000000000000000001111
count=4
state=on
@THEN
playwavefile
siegheil.wav
endgame
endscreens=yes
@ENDIF

I'm not really sure if that is who I am supposed to use the mask or not... Could that be the problem? Because when Germany conquers those 4 cities nothing happens. When they take london, flag 0 is trigger, Magnitogorsk is flag 1, Perm is flag 2, and Alexandria is flag 3.