AI behaving strangely

[fairline]

That's an excellent point Curt; very few people seem to visit the ToT forum. If people posted ToT stuff here at the SLeague I'm sure that would generate some interest.

All is not doom and gloom on the scenario front, however. Aside from Tech's scenarios, isn't ToT the format of choice now for DarthVeda as well? There is also a classic on the way from Boco in the shape of El Aurens.

There seems to be a surprising number of regulars on this forum who own a copy of ToT, so your fears of no-one ever seeing your scenarios are unfounded Curt.

[techumseh]

Thanks. As for the forum, I think it's mostly used by ToT newbees, rather than for scenarios. I try to answer questions there when I can, but SL is still where I call home.

[Exile]

And we're all glad you do, Brian.

But I'm not convinced that MGE's potential has been exhausted . . . yet.

I'm working on some things too.

[Catfish]

After a night's sleep, a couple more pros and cons immediately came to mind:

Pros
Enhanced Civilopedia - with larger descriptions and improvement graphics.

Cons
Lack of city objective multipliers.

Just had to get that off my chest...

When you say this...

Originally posted by curtsibling
And I hope our 'ToT evangelists' will help by revealing and releasing all the groovy scenarios they are holding back!

always remember this...

Originally posted by Catfish
There's nothing worse than someone knocking on your door trying to tell you what's good for you.

[curtsibling]

Well, we all agree that increased ToT awareness would be a good thing for the CIV community...

No-one is forcing any poster to do anything.

If I recall, Mr. Catfish, you were one of the leading voices of pro-ToT idealism...Isn't that right?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by curtsibling
If I recall, Mr. Catfish, you were one of the leading voices of pro-ToT idealism...Isn't that right?

As long as I'm not shoving it down anyone's throat. That's the point.

It's for purely selfish reasons. I'm sick of converting scenarios.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Catfish

Cons
Lack of city objective multipliers.

Isn't it the same in MGE?

[Catfish]

After wading through all the talk in these posts, this comment grabbed my attention:

Originally posted by techumseh
Frankly, I think the big barrier to ToT acceptability has been that it's somewhat intimidating to work with. Yes, there are no editors, but more important, it's somewhat complex.

This does seem to be the case. Really, it's only as complicated as you want to make it. New designers could forgo the advanced options, but still take advantage of, say, the graphics and extra units. They can then introduce themselves to the other stuff at a later date.

Hell, when I was a Civ2 newbie - way back when - I dived straight into editing game files, ditching the clumsy Civ2 editor. When I got my mits on ToT, my complaint was, Why didn't they make the macro language more powerful?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by techumseh
Isn't it the same in MGE?

Sorry, I forgot. I don't own MGE, so I was comparing it to FW.

[techumseh]

Yeah, I think ToT is based pretty much on the MGE game engine, with some tweaks. It's pretty aggressive.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Just out of curiosity, could one use Civ2 unit sprites with ToT?

I eventually plan to get ToT, and I've been toying with some scenarios + ideas for MGE that I'd do on ToT instead.
Of course, I'd have to actually get motivated and do something first.

[techumseh]

Do you mean Civ3 sprites? AFAIK they're not compatible. You'd have to break down the individual images and reinsert them in the ToT sprite, using Mercator's sprite tool.

[fairline]

If you mean the replace the appalling ToT sprites with civ2-type static unit graphics, then the answer is yes. In fact, with the help of Mercator's ToT tools you also have the option of replacing the ToT sprites with fully animated sprites (requiring 100-150 frames per sprite IIRC) or with a reduced 8-frame 'sprite' (a unit facing N-NE-E-SE-S-SW-W-NW for example).

The stock MPS graphics were ToT's main downfall in the popularity stakes versus MGE, I think; the standard animations are dingy and indistinct. Paradoxically, their format is also potentially a huge asset over MGE; we have seen what can be done with 15(?)-bit gfx versus MGE's 8-bit courtesy of Catfish, and for any-one brave enough to take on the task of full-on animated sprites there is the possibility of creating a game that looks as good as civ3. Even if this never happens, and I doubt if anyone wil take up this particular challenge, then the static unit graphics still face in 2 directions automatically, which is an advance over MGE. The additional height available for each slot also allows far more consistent scalling between units: pikemen and cavalry can be represented more reallistcally, for example.

[curtsibling]

I am tempted by this animated potential of ToT.
Just imagine an animated WW2 scen....

Did I mention that I previously worked in the games industry as a 3D/2D guy...?

Just how easy is it to use Mercator's utility?

[techumseh]

It pops the sprite cells open just like that! I find the whole thing a little intimidating though.

However, if you check out the Civ3 forums, there are lots of artists making multi-view unit files. And they're very good.

Using a graphics program, it SHOULD be possible to extract the appropriate views from a Civ3 sprite and convert it to the ToT sprite format.

This requires a bold and artistic talent to pioneer. It's all yours, Curt....