How is the "Extended Original Game" supposed to work?

[ShadesOfGrey]

I picked up a copy of Civ2:ToT from a bargain bin because I was bored playing FPS's. And it's a great game when you need a change of pace. But I've run into a bit of a problem.

The Extended Original Game scenario seems to have the same rules for winning as the Original game. That is to say that when I play the game and the year hits 2020, the game is over (my score is no longer recorded anyway). If I destroy all other civilizations, the game is over. If I reach "Centaurus", the game is over.

Anyway, is this normal? I though the goal of the Extended Original game was to conquer "Cenatuarus" or achieve "Transcendence" Is there something I'm missing?

[ravagon]

If you look in the events.txt file you'll see an entry for "Spaceship landed" or something similar.
IIRC this includes a new parameter called ENDGAME OVERRIDE which prevents the game from ending once a ship reaches AC. At this point you should receive several colonist/marine units on the Centauris map and have a new tech enabled (superstring theory? - it may not show up straight away in your next tech selection options either) that, if chosen will eventually lead to the ability to construct inter-map gates and more colonists/other units.

The game does end earlier IF you conquer all of Earth AND did not elect to start with an (Alien) civ on Centauris.

PS: Make sure you have the patch installed. Some of the changes were a little ... "quirky".

[ShadesOfGrey]

I should have mentioned it, but I've patched Civ2:ToT to v1.1.

Thanks for the advice, but the only place that "EndGameOverride" is mentioned is in the documnetation for Civ2's macro language (Macros.txt) and the Civ2 executable. And looking at the "Events.txt" file for the "Extended Original" folder doesn't reveal any reason why the game should end under the same conditions as the first. That is unless the Events file in the "Original" folder some how trumps the Events file in the "Extended Original" folder (though I doubt it since the Fantasy and Scifi games play out as expected).


I'm going to try re-installing the game and see if that doesn't help.

[Mercator]

You do save your games in the extended original folder, no? I can´t think of much else right now...

[ShadesOfGrey]

Yes... Although, I do place them in sub folders. For example, "...\Test of Time\ExtendedOriginal\Cunobelin" or "...\Test of Time\ExtendedOriginal\Alexander".

[Boco]

Hmmm. Since no one else is trying to tackle this, I'll give my two cents. The ExtendedOriginal events file has a a couple of Turn 5 and a lot of AlphaCentauriArrival triggers. My guess is that, just as with scenarios, the events file must be in the same directory as the saved file. Perhaps you can save a pre-arrival file in the ExtendedOriginal directory, reload it and see whether your arrival triggers the creation of colonists and marines. That should give you an answer. Unfortunately, there were some events that 'prepped' the AC map on turn 5. I don't know how important they are.

If you want to keep your directory structure, then maybe copying the events file into Cunobelin, etc. will help.

Anyone with enough experience to say whether this advice is on target or not?

[ShadesOfGrey]

It would appear that the Events file does need to be in the same directory as the save files. After saving a 'new' game in the ExtendOriginal directory, I noticed that Wonders that originally had no expiration Advance (i.e. Isaac Newton's College Expires with Reality Engineering. I'm assuming this indicated that the sceanrio is playing out correctly.

The next test will be to see if copying the Events file into one of my save file subdirectories will allow a new/old game to work properly.

[Mercator]

I'm not sure if that can be the problem, because a game only needs the events.txt at startup. After that, the events space is stored in the savegame.

[Boco]

I noticed that Wonders that originally had no expiration Advance (i.e. Isaac Newton's College Expires with Reality Engineering.

Sounds like ToT reverted to the Rules in the main program directory. I don't think MP anticipated players with good 'housekeeping' habits.

I'd have thought that if you started a game from the menus, it would use the correct files, regardless of where you store the saves, but that's not the case. Merc spotted the evidence: no events embedded in the sav file.

For your test, you'll need to copy 11 files from the ExtendedOriginal to the Cunobelin directory (8 text and 3 bmp files). Otherwise, you'll be missing units, terrain, Alien city names, teleport menu options, Alien pedia info, etc. on AC. There's no need to copy Report.txt.

Let us know how it works.

[ShadesOfGrey]

For your test, you'll need to copy 11 files from the ExtendedOriginal to the Cunobelin directory (8 text and 3 bmp files). Otherwise, you'll be missing units, terrain, Alien city names, teleport menu options, Alien pedia info, etc. on AC. There's no need to copy Report.txt.

Let us know how it works.

I haven't really had a chance to play ToT lately. But I did try copying the text files into the Cunobelin and Alexander directories (since they were game I already completed). Interestingly, the advancements, units, etc. were updated in the Civilopedia, but unfortunately I still retire by year 2020 or 'win' by launching the colony ship. This would seem to bear out what Mercator said, "the events space is stored in the savegame".

I'm going to try and finish my latest campaign today and see if things play out according the the (expected) Extended Original Game rules. I'll also see if copying the BMP files affects the end results of my Cunobelin and Alexander campaigns. Doubt it will do anything, but what harm is there in trying?

Sounds like ToT reverted to the Rules in the main program directory. I don't think MP anticipated players with good 'housekeeping' habits.

No MP most certainly did not anticipate "players with good 'housekeeping' habits." Especailly since there is no warning that games MUST be saved in a specific folder.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Sorry, this was duplicate message.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Well, this time the game doesn't 'end' when I reach Cetaurus... But the behavior of my Colonists/Marines is a bit 'odd'. When I place a Colonist/Marine on the same tile as a Ruin, nothing happens. When playing the Sci-Fi game, the Ruins behaved identically to Huts. How are the Ruins supposed to behave in reaction to Colonists/Marines?

FYI, when I played the Sci-Fi game, I also placed the saved games in seperate subdirectories. If Colonists/Marines are not supposed to 'interact' with Ruins, this may explain why they did when I played the Sci-FI game.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by ShadesOfGrey
Well, this time the game doesn't 'end' when I reach Cetaurus... But the behavior of my Colonists/Marines is a bit 'odd'. When I place a Colonist/Marine on the same tile as a Ruin, nothing happens. When playing the Sci-Fi game, the Ruins behaved identically to Huts. How are the Ruins supposed to behave in reaction to Colonists/Marines?

FYI, when I played the Sci-Fi game, I also placed the saved games in seperate subdirectories. If Colonists/Marines are not supposed to 'interact' with Ruins, this may explain why they did when I played the Sci-FI game.

IIRC, Ruins are a terrain special, not a hut, in ToT Extended Original. The 'hut' on AC looks like a pearl or globe.

Please doublecheck this, as it's been a while

[ShadesOfGrey]

IIRC, Ruins are a terrain special, not a hut, in ToT Extended Original. The 'hut' on AC looks like a pearl or globe.

Please doublecheck this, as it's been a while

Hmm... I do recall the Ruins being the same as Huts in the Fantasy game... Maybe I'm getting elements of the Fantasy & Midgard games mixed up with the Extended Original & Sci-Fi. I'll double check.