Anyone interested in helping with an Avatar mod?

[dgh64]

This is coming along pretty well (fungus graphics are working acceptably well, and the gameplay is mostly working but needs some fine-tuning), and I'm looking at tomorrow for a beta release so I can get some much-needed player feedback. I have a couple technical questions, though:

You know the Scout Patrol you get at the beginning? Is there a way to change that to a different pre-designed unit? Because right now it's giving AMP Suits to the Na'vi. I've looked through the Spartan faction file to see what makes them get a Rover instead, but couldn't find anything.

Also, my pre-designed Dragon Assault Transport won't hold onto its units. I move a land unit to the same square and click "Board Transport", and on the transport's screen the cargo number goes up by 1, but when I move the transport all the units stay behind.

[vyeh]

I had some trouble with the fungus graphics, but I spent the last 2 hours working with alphax.txt and my faction files anyway. Here's the new system:

Have you been having problems getting onto Apolyton? I have had received the message several times that the server is too busy.

Base Square gives 2/1/1
Recycling Tanks (which Na'vi get free but humans can't have) gives an additional 0/1/1

How did you prevent the humans from getting Recycling Tanks?

Na'vi get 1/1/1 from fungus, and have 4 levels of technology to increase it to 2/2/2, then 3/3/3, and so on to a max of 5/5/5

Uh, 5/5/5 is a lot. Do you still have specialists? Boreholes?

Humans get nothing from fungus, instead they have to use the more traditional terraforming. I changed the fungus coefficient in #WORLDBUILDER to 4, so with native life set to Abundant you get mostly fungus but a few non-fungus squares here and there, so humans will (most likely) have a square or two of no fungus to start with.

Does it still take 6 turns to remove fungus?

Humans also can build roads through fungus by default.

I assume you set alphax.txt to no tech for building road through fungus.

As it is right now, each side has 5 techs:

Na'vi have the 4 fungus resource techs, plus one that branches off from #2 and allows the Flux Vortex special ability (a.k.a. cloaking device) for stealth.

Humans have 2 combat system techs, which unlock the heavier weapons (Gatling Gun, Rocket Launcher, and the Dragon chassis) as well as the perimeter defense and tachyon field (renamed Basic and Advanced Defense Grids), and 2 power generator techs, which let you build generators to feed the large power requirements of the defense grids. The grids use 8 and 12 energy respectively, and the generators produce 10 and 15 respectively, so a base with all 4 buildings will have a surplus of 5. The final human tech is Advanced Chemistry, which requires both Power 1 and Combat 1. It unlocks Fungicide, fuel nanocells, and Nerve Gas, which is very important given the Na'vi growth advantage.

OK. And where will the 5 surplus go? I assume into research and rush building.

This is coming along pretty well (fungus graphics are working acceptably well, and the gameplay is mostly working but needs some fine-tuning), and I'm looking at tomorrow for a beta release so I can get some much-needed player feedback.

I would suggest you release it in all 4 major SMAC forums (Apolyton, CivFanatics, CivGaming and WePlayCiv).

I have a couple technical questions, though:

You know the Scout Patrol you get at the beginning? Is there a way to change that to a different pre-designed unit? Because right now it's giving AMP Suits to the Na'vi. I've looked through the Spartan faction file to see what makes them get a Rover instead, but couldn't find anything.

You need to edit the third slot in #UNITS in alphax.txt. This is the scout patrol, which each faction receives automatically. The Spartans receive a Unity Rover in addition. If they don't get a free unit, then it is hard coded.

Also, my pre-designed Dragon Assault Transport won't hold onto its units. I move a land unit to the same square and click "Board Transport", and on the transport's screen the cargo number goes up by 1, but when I move the transport all the units stay behind.

The Dragon Transport has a gravship chassis, right? Air chassis can only load units in bases and airfields. Try loading unit in a base and see if the unit stays with the transport.

I've been having trouble getting on Apolyton. You should keep the address of my forum off-line if you want some feedback and Apolyton is not available.

I gather the forrest graphics provided by Buster's Uncle worked out. Were all of your graphics needs met?

[dgh64]

Have you been having problems getting onto Apolyton? I have had received the message several times that the server is too busy.

I've had trouble, too, which is where the double post yesterday came from.

How did you prevent the humans from getting Recycling Tanks?

I just set the prereq for the tanks to a disabled tech, so it's unresearchable, but you can still give the Na'vi a free one from the faction file.

Uh, 5/5/5 is a lot. Do you still have specialists? Boreholes?

Yes, there are still specialists. Na'vi can't do terraforming of any kind, but if they capture a human base then they would be able to use the boreholes and whatever else is there. Do you think I should reduce it? I was thinking maybe something like this: Start with 1/1/1, then research leads to 2/1/1, then 2/2/2, then 3/2/2, and finally 3/3/3.

Does it still take 6 turns to remove fungus?

Only 4, and after some research you get fungicide tanks.

I assume you set alphax.txt to no tech for building road through fungus.

Yes.

OK. And where will the 5 surplus go? I assume into research and rush building.

Research, rush building, and also if you build a forward base it'll allow you to build the defenses first and generators later without having to worry about a deficit.

I would suggest you release it in all 4 major SMAC forums (Apolyton, CivFanatics, CivGaming and WePlayCiv).

I haven't gone on CivFanatics or CivGaming yet, but I will when I'm ready to release.

You need to edit the third slot in #UNITS in alphax.txt. This is the scout patrol, which each faction receives automatically. The Spartans receive a Unity Rover in addition. If they don't get a free unit, then it is hard coded.

I think it must be hard-coded. I tried changing slot #3 to something else, but it changes it for EVERYONE (humans as well as Na'vi). As far as I can tell, the only way to change it for one faction and not the others is to start a game and use the scenario editor to create/remove units.

The Dragon Transport has a gravship chassis, right? Air chassis can only load units in bases and airfields. Try loading unit in a base and see if the unit stays with the transport.

I didn't know that about air chassis. I guess it makes sense, though, in the way the "real" vehicles work.

I've been having trouble getting on Apolyton. You should keep the address of my forum off-line if you want some feedback and Apolyton is not available.

I will.

I gather the forrest graphics provided by Buster's Uncle worked out. Were all of your graphics needs met?

The forest works acceptably. Some of the tiles are sideways, but they said there's no way to fix that. I did some graphics myself, putting new faces in for my custom factions.

I didn't have as much time as I thought I would last night, and I still have quite a bit of work to do with the factions (I've made 4 different Na'vi clans, each with a couple of differences) so it'll be ready for beta-testing probably this weekend.

[vyeh]

I just set the prereq for the tanks to a disabled tech, so it's unresearchable, but you can still give the Na'vi a free one from the faction file.

That's need.

Yes, there are still specialists. Na'vi can't do terraforming of any kind, but if they capture a human base then they would be able to use the boreholes and whatever else is there. Do you think I should reduce it? I was thinking maybe something like this: Start with 1/1/1, then research leads to 2/1/1, then 2/2/2, then 3/2/2, and finally 3/3/3.

It depends. They may need the greater productivity to be competitive with the humans.

Only 4, and after some research you get fungicide tanks.

And at that point, it only takes 2 turns to remove fungus, right?

I think it must be hard-coded. I tried changing slot #3 to something else, but it changes it for EVERYONE (humans as well as Na'vi). As far as I can tell, the only way to change it for one faction and not the others is to start a game and use the scenario editor to create/remove units.

Slot #3 goes to every non-aquatic faction. Slot #23 goes to aquatic factions. If you look at Data Angels, you will see the way to assign a free unit to a faction. Put a scout in slot #3 and then give the humans a free unit.

I didn't have as much time as I thought I would last night, and I still have quite a bit of work to do with the factions (I've made 4 different Na'vi clans, each with a couple of differences) so it'll be ready for beta-testing probably this weekend.

Are you running AI simulations. You can set the scenario editor so all the factions are run by the AI. If you hold down the return key, the pop-up messages go away and you can see what happens. Several run-throughs will tell you if the humans and Na'vi are balanced.

[dgh64]

And at that point, it only takes 2 turns to remove fungus, right?

Right.

Slot #3 goes to every non-aquatic faction. Slot #23 goes to aquatic factions. If you look at Data Angels, you will see the way to assign a free unit to a faction. Put a scout in slot #3 and then give the humans a free unit.

If I set the Na'vi to be an aquatic faction, then they'll get the unit that's in Slot 23? Then I could just put the Direhorse Scout in slot 23, right? Does being an aquatic faction change anything else?

Are you running AI simulations. You can set the scenario editor so all the factions are run by the AI. If you hold down the return key, the pop-up messages go away and you can see what happens. Several run-throughs will tell you if the humans and Na'vi are balanced.

I've done a couple of me-versus-AI games part way through. Usually I run into a bug or something that interrupts the game and I have to fix it and try again. Now that I've pretty much solved everything, I'll do what you suggest.

[dgh64]

If I set the Na'vi to be an aquatic faction, then they'll get the unit that's in Slot 23? Then I could just put the Direhorse Scout in slot 23, right? Does being an aquatic faction change anything else?

Okay, just answered my own question. Aquatic factions always land in the water. Duh. The slot #23 thing works, but I need them to land on the land...

[vyeh]

I didn't have as much time as I thought I would last night, and I still have quite a bit of work to do with the factions (I've made 4 different Na'vi clans, each with a couple of differences) so it'll be ready for beta-testing probably this weekend.

I assume you've seen bdanv's offer at the Skunkworks forum to test your mod?

dgh64, do you have some early version that you can release?
i may have some free time this weekend and i would like to test some mods.

You won't get too many volunteers to test (I was concerned that you wouldn't get one), so you should jump on the offer. I believe bdanv is in European time zone, so it would be a good idea to post an early version at the Skunkworks forum (you can note what is incomplete) and a later version here.

[dgh64]

Yeah, just replied to the offer.

Apparently it's way to big to upload all at once, so I'm putting each clan in a different file...

[dgh64]

And now for the final piece:

(and I'm off to the other sites to do exactly the same thing...)

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention, the alphax.txt changes pretty much break the stock factions, so don't be surprised if they die in about 3 turns. I'd just use the scenario editor to eliminate them at the start.

EDIT #2: Couple of bugs in alphax.txt. Use the one in Other (2).

[dgh64]

Okay, kinda having a problem here. I gave all the Na'vi factions FUNGNUTRIENT, 1, FUNGMINERAL, 1, FUNGENERGY, 1, so they could get resources from the "forest", but it apparently only applies for human players. If you start a single-player game against AI-controlled Na'vi, then open the scenario editor and switch sides, the Na'vi get no resources from "forest". Anyone know what's wrong?

EDIT: Weird. It works fine if you advance 1 turn.

[vyeh]

Did you start in MY 2100? There are some funny things that happen for MY 2100 that don't happen for MY2101.

[dgh64]

I changed alphax.txt so the game starts at MY 2154 (which is when the movie takes place).

I'm working on several high-fungus Pandora maps, with modified landmarks and such, and also making scenarios with special rules (no tech trading, no planetary council, etc.) I somehow figured out the scout/scout rover problem (not sure what I did, but whatever it was, it worked) and I also gave the Na'vi their own colony pod with a special icon. I'll release Version 1.0 when I've thoroughly tested everything (like I didn't do last time)

[vyeh]

I also gave the Na'vi their own colony pod with a special icon.

How did you do that?

I'll release Version 1.0 when I've thoroughly tested everything (like I didn't do last time)

I look forward to it.

[dgh64]

How did you do that?

Copied the line in #UNITS and changed the -1 (in the special icon collumn) to a 0. Then set the prereq for the original colony pod to "Human" and the prereq for the new one to "Navi". Also, the costs are different, to encourage humans to have a small number of large, heavily defended bases while the Na'vi have lots of smaller, easier to conquer bases.

Of course, the special icon disappears if you do any reverse-engineering, but I came up with a "quick and dirty" method to discourage that. On special units like the colony pod, or Toruk Makto, which has more powerful weapons and armor than I want to have available for normal units, I just set the cost of the unit in #UNITS to a nice, reasonable number (instead of auto-calculate) and then set the cost of the weapon and armor to a ridiculously high number. So, it's possible to reverse-engineer the equipment onto units that aren't supposed to have them, but the resulting unit will take hundreds of turns to build and you'll never get your money's worth from them.

[vyeh]

Copied the line in #UNITS and changed the -1 (in the special icon collumn) to a 0. Then set the prereq for the original colony pod to "Human" and the prereq for the new one to "Navi". Also, the costs are different, to encourage humans to have a small number of large, heavily defended bases while the Na'vi have lots of smaller, easier to conquer bases.

Assuming the original colony pod is in the first slot and is now the colony pod requiring "human," isn't that the original colony pod(s) for the Na'vi (I suppose it doesn't matter if "flexible starting location" is off (unless the game engine gives you an extra colony pod).

Of course, the special icon disappears if you do any reverse-engineering, but I came up with a "quick and dirty" method to discourage that. On special units like the colony pod, or Toruk Makto, which has more powerful weapons and armor than I want to have available for normal units, I just set the cost of the unit in #UNITS to a nice, reasonable number (instead of auto-calculate) and then set the cost of the weapon and armor to a ridiculously high number. So, it's possible to reverse-engineer the equipment onto units that aren't supposed to have them, but the resulting unit will take hundreds of turns to build and you'll never get your money's worth from them.

This assumes that you don't want to have the weapons and armor available at a later time (when the appropriate tech is discovered).