Ask Apolyton Anything about Conquer the World

[vovan]

OK, since I haven't won anything, and can't check myself ( ), some more questions.

1) I assume that in the beginning ages, you can only attack the territories adjacent to the ones you own and have armies on. Is that correct?

2) How do you attack other continents? Do you have to build something special in the coastal territories? Or are ships automatically built, just like in the real-time part of the game?

3) In the modern or information age or whatever, is there a possibility to attack very distant territories by sending your armies via airplanes?

Thanks a lot for the answers you already provided, and looking for more.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by vovansim
1) I assume that in the beginning ages, you can only attack the territories adjacent to the ones you own and have armies on. Is that correct?

correct, and it goes for the entire campaign. e.g. you AT ALL TIMES can only attack an adjacent territory

2) How do you attack other continents? Do you have to build something special in the coastal territories? Or are ships automatically built, just like in the real-time part of the game?

i havent found overseas yet(havent finished my first game yet(yes, i'm slow, not much time to play), geting africa now...) europe is connected to north america through greenland i think. south america from west africa i believe. the point is: you have to get some territories in order to then move on to other targets. it's not a "ok, i'll now send my ships to the other side of the world" thing

3) In the modern or information age or whatever, is there a possibility to attack very distant territories by sending your armies via airplanes?

no

[Peter Triggs]

vovansim,

Here's a screenie of CTW's map:

http://www.3davenue.com/reviews/ronpreview/2l.jpg

Markos,

This isn't a question about CTW but about the game in general. Remember when CTP2 came out and they gave you all that documentation for the GameData and AIData files? Is there anything in the RoN Beta file directory that looks like it might correspond to CTP2's AIData? In particular, is there anything that looks like strategies.txt or goals.txt? This would give us a first indication of how modifiable the AI will be.

I asked a similar question on another forum and got the answer "Well, it just looks like a bunch of lists." Is that it, do the files contain just simple lists or is there any mention of priorities (or something like that) in them?

[vovan]

Thanks for the answers. Peter, I have seen this map, (and some other screenies of the CtW), and I see the little punctured line thingies connecting some territories over large bodies of water - the British Isles to the mainland, Europe to Africa (in the left-most part of this pic), etc.. And I realize that these are the only territories that allow you to cross to other continents over water. It's just that I was wondering if to use those you had to do something special - i.e. expend money to build a port or something. I see now that you don't, and can just cross over those.

Also, I think it is cool that there are several "connections" between eurasia, and the americas. If the only one was across the Bering Straight, as it probably actually should be in the stone age, it would have been quite hard to conquer the whole world.

[MarkG]

Is there anything in the RoN Beta file directory that looks like it might correspond to CTP2's AIData? In particular, is there anything that looks like strategies.txt or goals.txt?

there is an AI folder that contains .bhs files which are scripts using the ron scripting language(i had posted on example of a script file back in the beta #1 days)

what's really interesting is that there are also some .log and .bho files which are modified on the date of my last game. whether these are just something for the programmers, or if they are somehow used by the ai on the next game, i'd really like to know

[vovan]

Oooh, that is very interesting indeed. An AI that actually learns the player's style perhaps?

Oh, and Mark, if you put the image after the quote, it won't look that ugly. As it is now, on my computer at least the quote overlaps the image...

[MarkG]

on mozilla it looked fine

[vovan]

Thanks for fixing it. Just FYI, see the attachment for what it looked like in my browser.

Now, I also have a slight question about the AI. In these script files, do they define variables like agressiveness, rushing or some such thing, as well as decision making - if this happens, do that - or are they just pre-written actions, as in the (rather pathetic) C&C Generals, where the AI "script" literally tells the computer what to do (i.e. build so many units, attack this player, rinse, repeat), which might be good for scenarios but is really pretty weak for actual strategy.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by MarkG
europe is connected to north america through greenland i think. south america from west africa i believe.

And kamchatka to alaska?

I mean when they said risk like world map, i didnt realize they meant it so literally.

[CivGeneral]

Does RoN have a Scenario Editor?

[MarkG]

Does RoN have a Scenario Editor?

yes, although it's not in the beta disks
a powerfull scripting language is included

[Tim Train]

Wonders in CtW, misc other answers

Hi all,
Just wanted to supplement MarkG's excellent answers on a couple of points (thanks Mark!):

Wonders do appear in CtW, FWIW. Wonders are acquired through bonus cards--certain cards allow you to build a Wonder from the Age you are currently in or any previous Age.

The effects of the wonder show up in any scenario you play, world-wide. For the final game (but not implemented in the beta) you need to research a certain number of civics techs to "turn on" the Wonder powers in each scenario.

When you construct a Wonder you'll be asked to place it in a certain territory. If you are attacked in that territory the Wonder will appear in the scenario, and defending that Wonder becomes an important secondary goal.

In my experience the CtW game can take anywhere from 10-20 hours depending on the kinds of scenarios you generate. The game plays more quickly if you are intelligent and put together a lot of "overruns" where you automatically take territory without a fight. As Mark mentions, an overrun occurs when you have 2 more armies in an attack than your opponent has. Allied reinforcements count towards your total in overruns, so judicious diplomacy can go a long way toward furthering your goals. Overruns make the strategic positioning of your armies much more important--should you concentrate your forces on one front in order to bring more reinforcements to bear, or spread your armies out to protect against enemy attacks? On the higher difficulty levels, the enemy AI will look for places where it can overrun your territories as well, so you have to be careful about leaving areas unprotected.

We are looking into an editor capability for CtW, but that would be in an Xpack if we can put it together.

We hadn't really thought about setting starting and ending ages in CtW, since the campaign game is meant to be about all of human history, but if after playing CtW for awhile our fans felt that this feature would significantly improve the game then we could probably add it.

There is no "trade route" functionality between provinces on the world map. In general, we wanted to avoid duplicating things on the CtW map that already happen in the inner game. Instead, we wanted most everything you do in CtW to be something fresh and new and not just a re-creation of what happens in the RTS part. That's the same reason why we don't have you constructing individual buildings in territories on the world map (a la Medieval: Total War), or researching technologies, etc. That stuff is all kept inside the RTS part.

Hope this helps! Great thread, Mark.

Tim

[vovan]

Thanks a lot for the clarifications, Tim!

I do have another question related to your explanation, though.

The game plays more quickly if you are intelligent and put together a lot of "overruns" where you automatically take territory without a fight.

Does that mean that you can only fight on one territory per turn, and then the ones you overrun are added to the total?

And also on some of the screens of the CtW victories some folks have already posted on the net, I see stats saying something like "marginal victory", so many per-cent of the world conquered, etc..

Does that mean that there is a limit on the number of turns the campaign takes? Or does it automatically end when a nation conquers, say 75% of the world? In other words, I am curious as to the winning conditions of the campaign.

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Train]

Hi vovansim,
You are correct--you can overrun as many territories per turn as you can manage, but you can only fight a battle in one territory per turn.

The game ends in the Information Age, so there is a set number of turns. After that time, you can choose to continue the game if you wish, but no further score will be recorded. You earn a "marginal victory" if you complete the game and are the largest nation on the board. A complete victory is earned when you conquer the entire world. You can also earn marginal defeats (complete the game but are NOT the largest nation on the board) and allied victories.

Tim

[tniem]

How much is provided at the start of each CtW scenario?