Playtest; AP / AAIP / Tradegoods etc

[carlos]

On Friday I downloaded[list=1]
[1.21 Hack]
[Apolyton Pack]
[Awesome AIPS 1.0 Pack]
[New Trade Goods 1.4 (AP)]
[Europa Map]
[C-130 Transport]
[Map Scenario Pack (AP add-on][/list=a]

After a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, playing the 8-player world map within the AP pack, the date is 1190AD and I'm miles ahead of the remaining AIs. I have noticed the following, and would appreciate comments from those in the know;
[list=a]
[When barbarians attack me, I get no battle screen and no centering on the location of the fight. A ghastly scream, obviously someone is dead somewhere, but I've got to scroll to find the bloodied victor. When it's me attacking them, I do get the battle screen. Can this be fixed and if so, how?]
[For some reason I have undersea mines available (in 1190AD!!!). CTBF, AIS,How?]
[I got a message reading "You are in this category on the 4th position (in total 8 zivilised competitors)". How do I change this to improve the grammar and spelling? (Trivial, but it bugs me).]
[Further on the rankings; I'd like to see this comparison on demand; is it possible?]
[I really like the new trade goods, the link to the library when a unit or improvement is built, the way the horse-archer dies (!) and the ranking message.]

I'm looking forward to using more of the new units and following this game through to the end. I would also like to increase the number of cities each government can control , as I've bumped up against the limit already and it's hurting my happiness. How do I do this?

[WesW]

Carlos, what level are you playing on?
If you get attacked in a one-on-one battle, the screen doesn't show it. I wish this was fixed as well. It doesn't show where you get bombarded from, either.
You get undersea mines with Sea Colonies.
The guy who wrote the PowerSLICs, which added the ranking messages, was German, so you have to endure the grammer, unless you get the Med Pack from my homepage, which has corrected this.
The rankings are not available on demand, though you can see the Powergraph on the Rankings screen.
You can change the city limits in the scenario's govern.txt. This is part of the game, though, so you need to try and live with it unless you are on a large map.

[carlos]

Wes; Thanks for the tips. I'm playing Emperor level and have noted the War Walker comments from Skorpion and Gregurabi in the "Disbanding cities over 4" thread - I'm not using 'Bloodlust On', which I assume they are. Perhaps this is a reason for the AI being so passive, allowing me to build a large and safe empire so quickly?

Re the Undersea Mines; now that I think about it, I may have picked up the pre-req technology from some ruins somewhere; I just 'found' cloning in one of them.

I'm now in the mid-1600's and really enjoying the new helicopter unit. Great visibility, good hitting power and range. Very useful for mindlessly sweeping up the AI legions,phalanxes, etc that are sitting out in the open.

I have noticed the AI being more of a challenge in defending it's cities. A couple of small stacks took position between my invading stacks and an AI city; both retreated quickly when my stacks moved adjacent; all four stayed in the city to defend it, rather than being decoyed south towards a feint I made at another city.

I'm allied to two AI empires and all are listed as 'very weak'. The rest of this game will be aimed at maxing out the tech ASAP, then building all the city improvements, space cities, undersea cities, and taking the new units for a spin as they become available.

[carlos]

Siege Engines can sink ships, even though they are described as "tactically useless" in the Library entry.

I think they are a good addition to the game, but I would like to change this feature. How do I say "can_bombard_but_not_units"?

[WesW]

Catapault's are designed to bombard as artillery. They have very poor hand-to-hand values.
You have given me an idea about taking away the catapault's ability to bombard water.

Btw, you should try out the Med pack. I can almost quarantee you that you will not get huge leads on the AIs with it.

[carlos]

Wes; Having received your message (above) I have just read through the Med Mod 2.1 thread, and I'm hooked! I'll mothball my current "test" and download MM2.1 this weekend. You said at one point that 'on Emperor level you're stomach is in knots for the first 180 turns...' I'll let you know!

I'd also like to add Harlan's WW2 units, the slinger, swordsman and whatever other units on the download list catch my eye. I assume the Med Mod 2.1 isn't going to cause me any heartache when combined with the other add-ons?

BTW; I'm humbled at the effort you've obviously put in to get this mod up. I'm looking forward to it!

[skorpion59]

Carlos,

Skip MMv21 and go straight to Wes' MMv3beta. It is stable and close to being released. You cab find it on his MM page.

[Paul]

quote: Originally posted by carlos on 05-21-2000 10:17 PM [Further on the rankings; I'd like to see this comparison on demand; is it possible?]

To get rankings whenever you press the m key add this to ps_scr.slc:

trigger 'SetKeys' when (IsHumanPlayer(g.player) && (g.year == 0)) {
	SetActionKey(1, "m");
}

trigger 'rKeyPressed' when (key.1.pressed) {
	Message(g.player, 'TP_M_Big_Ranking');
}

After that you should also change every instance of player to g.player in the code for alertbox 'TP_M_Big_Ranking'

[This message has been edited by Paul (edited May 26, 2000).]

[Locutus]

quote: Originally posted by WesW on 05-22-2000 12:46 AM If you get attacked in a one-on-one battle, the screen doesn't show it. I wish this was fixed as well.

I know it's a bit late, but better late then never

If you select the "Show all battles" option (it could be called slightly different) in the gameplay option menu, the game does show all battles. It still doesn't show bombarding though but I think CD solved that nicely.

Hope that helps,

Locutus

[MadWoodster]

WesW are you planning to incorporate the two above triggers in your brilliant mod at some point? Thanks

[WesW]

Woodster, I hadn't planned on adding those triggers. Is the *big ranking* any different than that shown on the Rankings screen? (It's on the list at the left side of the screen.)

[Forster]

I installed CTP, 1.2 patch, 1.21 hack, the Apolton pack and the med mod from Wes G's home site three times. Every time I try to play, it goes a couple of turns, then crashes me to desktop. Any ideas what is happening?

Also,I notice the mods show up as scenarios, do we have to select them to play, or will they affect a normal game launch?

[MadWoodster]

Sorry WesW I got a bit muddled up I was on about the above function but more importantly about the function on the cruise missile fix.
The one here isn't of major importance though is a nice feature.

[WesW]

Forster, the mods do show up as scenarios. You do have to select your scenario. Do not start default games if you plan to play a scenario later in the session, as it makes you have to start default games before you can load the scenario thereafter.

As for the crashes; did you get all three components of the mod from my site?

[Forster]

I believe I got all three. Do they have to be loaded in any order? When you say copy to the CCTP directory, do you mean to the overall directory, or do I have to figure out where they go?