Preventing contact between civs

[Paul Hanson]

This may seem like a pretty simplistic question, but it isn`t (not to me at least).

On the scenario I`m working on, I want several civs to be able to talk to each other, but not to have contact at the beginning of the scenario. However, no matter what I try, the civs that I don`t want to have contact at the beginning are list in the Foreign Minister box, and I can`t prevent it from happening.

So far, I`ve made the Marco Polo`s and UN wonders obsolete, I`ve messed around with the last contact settings, but all to no avail.

Please help! If I get this scenario finished, it`ll be the first one I`ve ever managed to finish out of the many that I`ve started, and I`d like to upload it, but with these problems it means that the scenario is incomplete.

Once again, help!

[Fast_Eddie]

Will certain civs start talking at approximate times? If so, then switching events files will help with this. I'll wait for a reply before I go into detail on this.
[This message has been edited by Fast_Eddie (edited September 28, 1999).]

[benedetti]

Two possibilities come to my mind.

There is an option in cheat mode that sets the relations between the different Kings (contact, peace, cease fire, vendetta, and embassy). Uncheck all boxes and see what happens.

The second possibility will work for sure but it may probably be a pain in the... Start over with a new .sav file and be very careful that none of the civs establish contact among themselves. One way to make sure this will never happen while working on the scenario (ie if accidentally you hit enter and a turn passes) is to "freeze" the units (go into rules.txt and make all units' movement zero).

[Paul Hanson]

Right, I`ll deal with both your replies separately:

Fast Eddie,
What I want is for two civs not have contact at the start of the scenario, but like in a normal CivII game, for them to meet each other later in the game and trade techs, enabling one civ to win the game. I won`t go into any detail on that because it`d spoil the plot if I ever get it finished.

Benedetti,
I sincerely hope that you`re not being serious! There`d better be another way around this, or else I`m going to have to kill my best friend; I`ll be that annoyed!


Afterthought:
Fast Eddie, I see what you`re getting at with the events switching, but I`m not sure it`d work. Benedetti is most likely right; the two specific civs did have contact during the scenario creation, and as far as I know, there`s no way to wipe that contact.
[This message has been edited by Paul Hanson (edited September 30, 1999).]

[Fast_Eddie]

Okay, what you want to do is different than I thought. No need to explain more.

Like benedetti said, going into the cheat menu should help you out

[Paul Hanson]

Believe me, I played around with the cheat menus for ages. I`ve changed the Edit Treaties settings for every civ, messed around with the Last Contact settings; in short, unless it`s something really unobvious, I`ve tried it. It looks like I`m going to have to start again. (Damn, damn, damn, damn x500).

Thanks for your contribution anyway.