Event fixes in Multiplayer Gold Edition?

[Baldyr]

When I designed my Fantastic Worlds scenario, Trakoria – The Rise of the Clavian Empire, back in the day, I found that some of the event triggers simply didn't work for me. So I had to work around those, leaving me without any real victory objectives as a result.

Thus my question is: Are these bugs fixed in MGE and could I make a new and improved version of the scenario as it was originally intended?

[Arthedain]

I think others will agree with this, you should really get ToT (Test of Time), it has alot more advantages when it comes to the events.. And yes, it's available in Sweden. It's very similar to MGE (if you don't like the graphics, do like some of us and download Catfish graphics pack so it looks exactly like MGE).

[Baldyr]

Oh, I've completely missed out on all the ToT stuff. Back when I was modding Civ2 I just thought ToT was some cheap imitation and not moddable in any case. So I stuck with Civ2 FW and later MGE.

Too bad had to come along with its animated graphics and other bells and whistles. Civ used to be a fun hobby until then...

Now I'm not modding much of anything, but I would love to be able to mod , because then I could realize Trakoria II - The Rise of the Trakorian Empire. (I doubt even ToT has the tools to pull that one off!)

[Exile]

The events triggers that you should avoid are the "ANYBODY" and "Triggerattacker" and similar things. The bug with these triggers is that the first civ to trigger them becomes labeled by the game as the "anybody" or "triggerattacker" for the remainder of the game, and therefore no other civ will trip these triggers in the game.

If this is understood, it can be useful. An anybody triggered event can work as intended, but can only be used once, essentially, unless there is only one intended civ designed to be the sole "triggerer" for these events.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Baldyr ...because then I could realize Trakoria II - The Rise of the Trakorian Empire. (I doubt even ToT has the tools to pull that one off!)

I'll take that as a personal challenge. What needs to happen?

[Baldyr]

Well... The one event I know FW couldn't handle would be an act of divine intervention. An island kingdom (not larger than lets say 5-6 map squares) has to be covered in darkness for the reminder of the scenario. (Those squares would preferably be converted into unknown, "black", terrain.) Nothing can travel to or from that island, by sea nor by air.

And if the scenario is to have the grande finale of the role-playing adventures its based upon, that darkness is to be lifted at the very end of the scenario, revealing a born-again holy land armed to the teeth. (They have been contemplating the errors of their ways for a couple of hundred years, preparing to redeem themselves before their God by launching a holy war.)

I really think one needs to pull that one off, don't you? But then again, what do I know? (I've been out of the modding business for almost 10 years now.) You're very welcome to help me make this scenario if you think you can handle it...

[techumseh]

Is the island covered at the start, or must it be covered part way through?

[Boco]

Can you simply have a "Darkness" terrain, and use ChangeTerrain events every turn to change the island to Darkness? IIRC, nothing will survive the ChangeTerrains there. For the awakening, trigger one last ChangeTerrain to the appropriate terrains, and load the island with CreateUnit actions.

[AGRICOLA]

I think that you may have to use TOT to achieve the desired effect. With TOT it appears to be a fairly simple process that uses a combination of impassable terrain and unexplored terrain.

In order to add the Holy Roller civ to the scen:
1. Have a terrain type that is black and impassable [Boco's "Darkness"].
2. Surround the HR island area with a 2 square thick "wall" of this terrain.
3. Place the HR island within the impassable wall, build a city, add units (NONE) and whatever else.
4. The HR must be unable to build either ships, aircraft or helicopters. These can be created by events as needed.
5. If the initial game map is unexplored or only partially explored by the other civs, no additional steps are needed. If the map is completely explored, a bit of hexediting can make the island area appear unexplored to any or all other civs. I suppose that only the Clavians matter in this regard.


To make the area visible:
1. CHANGETERRAIN the impassable wall to passable ocean.
2. Have an airborne unit with 2 square visibilty in the units table . . . . anything from a stealth fighter to a canary will do.
3. Use events create enough of these Clavian air units to reveal the island and the former wall squares
4. Immediately destroy each airborne unit by a CHANGETERRAIN to ocean.

[Baldyr]

Ok, I actually looked this one up last night. What happens is that the island realm of Stegos is an ally of the religious Clavian break-away state of Kishati (the Clavians have all but left the stage by now). The religion is the cult of the God of Truth, Shamasm, and the Stegosi nation has pledged to defend the religious capital of Albarunzia from the Ice Barbarians of Trinsmyra. In the face of an all-out invasion the Stegosi decide to plunder the holy city themselves, before the barbarian invasion force arrives. Thus they bring down the wrath of Shamash upon themselves. (It's all very Old Testament, let me assure you.)

As a result the island of Stegos is covered in darkness for countless years, as the inhabitants lament and repent. They are almost forgotten (even though the reside pretty much in the center of the scenario map) when they finally manage to break the curse (an even longer story...) and arrive once again on the world stage. During this time the Kishati theocracy has become dogmatic and decadent, so the God Shamash appoints the pale faced Stegosi to be his chosen people, who worship him as "White Shamash" (as opposed to the boring and stringent Old Shamash). The Kishati nation crumbles and most of the old Clavian heartland pledge allegiance to this new power.

The interesting part is how this affects the protagonist of this proposed scenario, namely the Trakorian Empire. (A godless and arrogant merchant empire comprising of opportunistic former Clavian colonists.) A prophecy foretells the end of an decadent empire, and both the Trakorians and the Kishati have been betting their money on the other one. (Both empires should pretty much be at war with each other by this point.) Now all bets are off and its time for the end game! (And that's not even about what you all would think it is.)

Dare I tell more?

[Baldyr]

Here's a map of the Trakorian era:

http://www.erebaltor.se/wiki/images/Trakorien.jpg

Stegos would be the largest and southernmost island in the three-island-chain off the coast of the city of Albarunzia, so it stands pretty dead center on the map.

The holy land of Kishati is therefore the land between, roughly, Albarunzia and Frand (the birthplace of the Shamash cult).

The Trakorian homeland is the island of Paratorna - the eastern main island - and the Imperial Capitol is Tricilve. Most of the civilized regions of the map are Trakorian vassal states, protectorates or under military occupation in the year 610 aO.

A Trakoria II scenario would start with the Clavian Empire on the ropes after some ill-fated wars with neighboring peoples. On the island of Palamux (the western one) the Kishati appear from the chaos, while the Clavian colonists of Paratorna (see above) declare independence from the Clavian motherland. From there on its a continuous power struggle between these homegrown nations, with a healthy dose of intervention from continental neighbors (east and south-east of the map).

[Baldyr]

Getting back to the original subject of this thread...

It seems that the following wasn't really working for me designing my scenario in Fantastic Worlds, way back when:

- the MoveUnit action
- the TurnInterval trigger
- the Objectives system (Cities/Wonders)

All this left me a bit crippled as to my scenario design. My question to you all is thus:

1. Do you remember having these same issues with FW?
2. Is there anything one could do in order to get these features to work properly?
3. Are these bugs fixed in Multiplayer Gold Edition?

Thanks in advance!

ps The "get Tot instead" answer really isn't gonna do it for me since I'm looking to fix my scenario, not port it to another game altogether.

[Baldyr]

I have yet another question, regarding the KillUnit trigger:

If my memory serves me right, the values "attacker" and "defender" work if fact as they were the "victorious" and the "vanquished" respectively. Am I correct when I recall that it really doesn't matter who actually attacks, only who wins the battle?

While on this very subject, I also wonder if someone knows if the UnitKilled trigger is triggered by a unit being defeated as part of a stack. ("3 enemy units were killed", you know.)

Furthermore, could anybody confirm whether UnitKilled is triggered for a unit loaded onto a ship, when the ship is being destroyed.

Also, what happens if a unit is disbanded, and there's an event triggered by that unit being killed. Could the player simply avoid loosing an important scenario unit by simply disbanding it? (Like a unit that he can't loose, or he would loose the scenario.)

[Exile]

In order for the moveunit command to work, you must have installed the correct patch.

Don't think the turninterval trigger works. No one uses it.

If you opt for the objectives system, you preclude wonder building in the scenario. You can either build wonders, or they count as objectives, not both.

No, it doesn't matter what unit attacks, ONLY the unit that is KILLED.

Yes, a key unit CAN be disbanded by players. If you don't want that to happen, explicitly forbid with a house rule.

If the unit is killed while on a ship, it still triggers.

Get the MGE patches.

[Baldyr]

So, where would one get the latest MGE patch? And how does one go about ensuring that anyone playing the scenario has the right patch?

Also, in the Cheat menu in MGE, I don't get the option to toggle a city Objective (1p) or not. (It just stays "0") The 3p Objective option is also stuck on a value of "2". This would be a bug, right?

I already asked this in another thread, but how large can the Events.txt file get in MGE? (And how large can it be in FW?)