Question about custom factions

[Paul02]

I am creating a faction for the first time and would like someone to check my atributes for the faction. I can't really seem to get it to work. Feedback is appreciated.

TECH,IndEcon, COMMERCE , COMMFREQ, ++Terraform, +Defense, -Offense, Unit , 0

I can get the tech to work , but I don't know about the other stuff. I can't really seem to get it to work.


Thanks,
Paul

[johndmuller]

The 'Special Rules' generally come in groups of 2, the 'Rule' and its 'Parameter'. For example, Commerce would be 'Commerce, 1' for a 1 step increase in Commerce; your string above would be missing the Commerce parameter, so it would definitely screw up the Commerce thing, and possibly everything afterwards, depending on how resourceful the parsing routine happened to be. Some, like 'Comfreq' say that they ignore their parameter; I presume that you need to give it one anyway, but maybe not, depending on how user friendly the programmer chose to be. I imagine that the 'Terraform' thingi works that way too. 'Offense' and 'Defense' each take a parameter which is interpreted as a percentage of normal effectiveness, like 'Offense, 50' for a weakened offense (the + and - things are only for the 'Social' element).

All in all, I think your string would work if it looked like this:
TECH, IndEcon, COMMERCE, 1, COMMFREQ, 1, TERRAFORM, 1, DEFENSE, 150, OFFENSE, 75, UNIT, 0

I put 1's into the presumed dummy parameters for Commfreq and Terraform - It may like zeros better or even do without; you could try out various alternates if you care to.

If you look at the FactionName.txt files that the game creates for the various factions (in the main AC directory with all the other stuff), you can see many of the elements in use and see their syntax in action. Custom factions definitions also available at verious sites like the NetworkNode, etc.

Good luck and have fun with your factions.

[Paul02]

Thanks John , I am going to try that out as I speak.


Thanks,
Paul

[gwillybj]

johndmuller is correct that each rule must have a parameter. For consistency with the original factions and the vast majority of popular custom factions, put a 0 (zero) in for each rule that "ignores" its parameter. Specifically, the original factions have:

• Believers: FANATIC, 0
• Caretakers and Usurpers: ALIEN, 0
• Consciousness: TECHSTEAL, 0
• Planet Cult: WORMPOLICE, 0
• Pirates: AQUATIC, 0
• Spartans: FREEPROTO, 0

The POPULATION rule can be confusing. The number you enter is subtracted from the normal population limit to calculate the new limit. These are 7 without a Hab Complex and 14 without a Hab Dome. Either or both can be changed in alpha.txt and alphax.txt, affecting all factions.

• Morgan: "POPULATION, 3" which means 7-3, making the new population limits = 4 and 11.
• Peacekeepers: "POPULATION, -2" which means 7-(-2), making the new population limits = 9 and 16.

iirc, some rules appear to allow entering a value above 1, but in play do not in fact give more than 1. I don't recall which ones these are. (Possibly the three FUNG---- items?) Perhaps someone could comment on this? And can those values be negative?

[Paul02]

For the offense defense thing , when I attack or defend am I supposed to see like +50% or is it built in the game? I don't start out with a commfreq either.

Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it.

Paul

[SteveB]

In Combat, (the combat "window"?) you will see Alien Offense +50%, in the same way as you might see Veteran +25%. It's labelled as Alien Offense in SMACX because it was a parameter used in the Progenitor faction files, but can be added to any (human) faction.

I have never been able to get COMMFREQ to work with any parameter, and I have tried all sorts of combinations.

Does anyone have a faction file with this ability working?
Please post if you do.