Favourite (and innovative) scenario concepts

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by William Keenan

What is the effect of negative bonuses for terrain?

You can control the maximum size of cities by planting the right number of negative bonus squares - the same way you use zero bonus tiles.

In addition, it introduces the concept of trading off one type of bonus for another - like paying money fro extra food. And it forces players to do terrain improvements / transformations even if they normally don't.

[kobayashi]

Re: Favourite (and innovative) scenario concepts

Originally posted by ravagon

Star Trek - Dominion War (Kobyashi) - use of terrain types (ie: Ocean) and change terrain effects to isolate the various civs .........

I was probably not the first to do the above...

but just wondering, was I the first to

1. use a checkered land sea pattern (to simulate the Cardie orbital battle stations in the Chin'toka camapign)?

2. Have more than one map (the search for the aliens inside the wormhole) at a time in the same game?

[Prometeus]

Originally posted by ravagon


So does anybody know the limits of this "neutron bomb" effect? ie: At what attack rating (below 80?) does it come into play? and does it scale up towards a full "nuke" at attack 99 or does it suddenly jump after 98?

Time to have a play ...

Haven't playtested it adequately, but the attack scale seems to be this:

<80 --- conventional weapons attack values

80-84(?) ----- Neutronic nuke bomb - destroys all of enemy units, diminished pollution and changes terrain

>80-84(?) to 99 full nuke effects - same as above except for pollution.

Both of this value attacks need Manhattan to be builded and Rocketry to show up.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Prometeus


Haven't playtested it adequately, but the attack scale seems to be this:

<80 --- conventional weapons attack values

80-84(?) ----- Neutronic nuke bomb - destroys all of enemy units, diminished pollution and changes terrain

>80-84(?) to 99 full nuke effects - same as above except for pollution.

Both of this value attacks need Manhattan to be builded and Rocketry to show up.

I've tried this in ToT, MGE and FW, using a variety of factors from 80-99. In none of my experiments did I get the results listed above. It's just a powerful cruise missile. Has anyone else been able to duplicate Prometeus' results?

I'm puzzled by your results, Prometeus. Can you give us more details?

[Prometeus]

Unfortunately, no. These are the only data i got, but trust me if i say it worked on my PC. As i said before, i tetsted it only once. Maybe was just a lucky shot.

[ravagon]

Prom,

You weren't, perchance, using the nuke "slot" for testing this were you?
Maybe it won't work for any other ...

[Mercator]

I tested your nuke thing too with FW and ToT (in the nuke slot), and I really didn't get anything out of it.
The nuke effect works for attack values 99 - 127. Anything below 99 works just as a normal unit.

The attack value is a signed byte, so as expected at 128 the attack value flips over to -128. Unfortunately that doesn't give any nice effects (like adding health to an attacked unit), it just counts as attack strength 0 (although you don't get the "you can't attack" type message settlers etc. give.

You can increase the attack value practically infinitely, but only the remainder of division by 256 is taken into account... E.g. 890 % 256 = 122, which is a nuke.

Did you perhaps try it with pre-2.42 Civ2? That's all I can think of...

[Prometeus]

Definitely it seems that was a lucky shot, if it doesn't work on your PC. I used the first extra unit slot. Maybe it'as only a weird bug of that ol'scen. As i said before, there were no nuke weapons with more then 80 attack value - read my previous posts to see the whole matter for that Gundam project scen. I abandoned it because Marvel Italy sued me to used name and graphics, so i lost interest on it and destroyed everything...

Anyway, that bug was really interesting... If someone wants to investigate the neutronic bomb mistery, that's all the data i can tell you .

I feel like Maiorana... Who wants to be the newest Fermi? Currently I'm too busy on my S... ahem, nevermind.

[DarkCloud]

The underdark scenario was fairly good
You fight the dungeon creatures and try to get to the surface

[Prometeus]

Neutrobomb

Hey, ask Gelvan!!! He got the same results as me. Just wondering if he has something changed or not.

It's interesting about comparing two points of view.

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by kobayashi
Was Mr Temba the first to use
...
negative bonuses for terrain
...

How can it be accomplished? I tried to edit grassland to -2,-1,0 and it works as 0,0,0 . Shall I use 255 or what?

[Elok]

Grassland is a special case which ignores most instructions. Try it with plains. And he means for special resources, BTW. You can't have a terrain "produce" hunger and corruption that I know of, but you can have a special resource produce less than the normal square of that type.

[curtsibling]

On topic,

I would say that Favourflight produced some of the most stunning graphic effects in his Return of the King scenario.

The use of mountains as units, and the visual design was mind-blowing.

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by Elok
Grassland is a special case which ignores most instructions. Try it with plains. And he means for special resources, BTW. You can't have a terrain "produce" hunger and corruption that I know of, but you can have a special resource produce less than the normal square of that type.

It doesn't look that it is reduced to specials: Kobayashi says it can be used to control city size:

Originally posted by kobayashi
You can control the maximum size of cities by planting the right number of negative bonus squares - the same way you use zero bonus tiles.

In addition, it introduces the concept of trading off one type of bonus for another - like paying money fro extra food. And it forces players to do terrain improvements / transformations even if they normally don't.

[Thoddy]

AI and human detection

events.txt
;example
;Human detection repeat for every civ
@IF
Negotiation
talker=Russians
talkertype=Human
listener=anybody
listenertype=HumanOrComputer
@THEN
justonce
GiveTechnology
technology=0
receiver=Russians
@ENDIF

;AI detection
@IF
Negotiation
talker=Russians
talkertype=Computer
listener=anybody
listenertype=HumanOrComputer
@THEN
justonce
GiveTechnology
technology=95
receiver=Russians
changemoney
receiver=Russians
amount=20000
@ENDIF

the huge amount money is also used to improve AI research abilities amounts over 10000 increase speed of research significantly

rules.txt
@CIVILIZE
Human,-------------0, 0, Cur, Cur, 3, 1 ; AFl 0 not reseachable Tech 0
not researchable,-0, 0, no, no, 3, 0 ; Cur Tech 20
AI,--------------------0, 0, Cur, Cur, 0, 2 ; X3 Tech 95 not researchable

All three techs are not researchable and tradeable but all the following techs are fully tradeable (only Civ2-Multiplayer) ; techs following a no,no tech cannot be researched

the techs enable special techpaths to both - human and AI players, thus requires, that you also forbid trading technologies between AI and human players via changing game.txt.

Separate techpaths also prevents AI from wasting shields for recycling centers and mass transits, since smokestacks within AI cities have no effect, so give the prerequisit tech only to human players.
In this way you can also prevent human player getting the high productive forms of gouvernments. Thus restricts large scale productive advantages every experienced human player has.

this feature is implemented in my upcoming scen, but I need some help for fine adjustment

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99230

Some other specials:
for instance pollution used as anti war demonstrations