Possible New Scenario + Maps

OmniGod · June 4, 2001, 14:39

Okay... I've had a nice break from CTP2 and now I have a little time so I thought that I'd come back, do some scenario designing... my plan is WW2 Pacific Theatre in a 3 or 4 part scenario.... I have just a few questions first...

1) is there any way to import units from a previous game into the next game... say you finish with 3 planes... can you make it so that those 3 planes can be transfered?

2) is anyone willing to create basics units for me... I can get some of the ones I want from what's out there, but I was hoping for some specific ones... example... the USS Arizona and other battleships

3) I will need some scripting done, but will get more into that after I've made the map and begun work... but one thing that I would like to check on... can you set it up so that a unit increases either attack or defense or both when it is on board?

That's about it for now... I'm going to map make now...

Rich.... back with a vengence

hexagonian · June 4, 2001, 15:19

Quote:

Originally posted by OmniGod
2) is anyone willing to create basics units for me... I can get some of the ones I want from what's out there, but I was hoping for some specific ones... example... the USS Arizona and other battleships

What you may have to do is make entries in your units.txt file for each specific unit, use the existing sprites that are available and then differentiate them by changing the tga files. I do have a large collection of units (all the CTP1 and most of the fan created ones) - provided that you use existing sprites, I can color code the tga backgrounds as an indicator of a particular unit.

Quote:

Originally posted by OmniGod
3) I will need some scripting done, but ill get more into that after I've made the map and begun work... but one thing that I would like to check on... can you set it up so that a unit increases either attack or defense or both when it is on board?

Immortal Wombat set up some SLIC coding that was lifted from the Alexander scenario which works as a Leader unit (granting Vet staus) . You may want to look into that as a starting point.

Good to see you back Rich - is your site still up because you can post my Cradle Mod there. And could you see about somehow getting my Mod posted here at Apolyton too??

OmniGod · June 4, 2001, 15:24

I figured the "general" idea was the only way to go about adding the special attributes I wanted... and as for units, I will use the typical sprites that are available at the moment, but what I was hoping for was like Japanese Zeros, and more realistic reps of the Arizona and other ships that were on battleship row... they are only needed for one part of the scenario but it's a starting point.

As for posting things on Apolyton, just give markos a ring, and he should be able to get it up for you

I would if I were still doing it, but I retired from that since there wasn't much to post and I was getting exhausted from all the finals and practicals I was taking... as for my site, I've not checked it since Feb... and have no real desire to update it at the present.

Immortal Wombat · June 4, 2001, 16:04

Ah you just can't beat that civvin' feeling

I'm glad your back. Guess how many maps have been uploaded since you departed...

Clue: Just under one.

1) I dont think so. It is probably possible by using extensive SLIC (locutus level) to find a way of making a messagebox come up at the beginning of the subsequent scenarios where you click the button to input your troop levels, but this would be very open to cheating. Thats all I can think of now.

2) Obviously check out Harlan's WW2 units. I will be able to make some simple boats or planes (no movement animations needed

) if you really need them to distinguish on the map, and you can point me to some good graphics of them ?

3)
a)Scripting... Dale left just after you, so its Locutus or Gedrin to ask really, though I can do a bit, and Peter Triggs helps out sometimes.
b) You can increase (or decrease) hitpoints of units at set times, but access to DB files is readme only, so short of destroying each unit, and replacing them with a dummy boarded-carrier-unit with greater attack/defense when on board I don't think so.

Peter Triggs · June 5, 2001, 14:49

You sure pick the tough ones. So far as I know no one has ever been able to get the CTP2 AI to use Aircraft Carriers and Troopships effectively. However, last December Wes posted an e-mail he got from Darryl (Gemini) which I thought was so interesting that I saved it:

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Wes

Well, I just recently implemented them but so far I have seen the ai attack in stacks of 9 for air and naval units. To do this I set the priority for attack_troops_priority to the highest priority for all the aip files. It seems when other priority's took precedence that the ai would stack very ineffectively, for example you might see a stack of two or three for air and naval units when the explore or seige priority took precedence. Since I set the attack_troops_priority the highest in all aip files it takes cities a lot more effectively and more often.

Also, it seems that adjusting the min_attack ratio and max_attack_ratio to from 9.0 and down(i have 14 different aips for the war settings so I decrease this in each file) tends to have very good results for making the ai more inteligent about where to attack and when. Although I have tested this it is only the attack_troops_priority that seems to really get the ai to stack naval units in 9 a stack.

Also the distance_from_unit as well as the other distance priorities seems to have been interfering with making the ai a tougher opponent. Setting all these priorities to 0 has made the ai attack from farther distances and also made the ai less choosy about the cities it takes. For instance the per_capita modifier would make the ai not take easily taken cities, instead waiting for what appears to be a larger city to come into play. If that larger city doesn't come into play the ai seems pretty stupid and will just pass by or wait??? Crazy, but setting it to 0 has made the ai much more aggressive. I especially enjoyed it when I saw the Japanese attack the US mainland (seeing as my map is 120x240 at first it would only attack it's closest enemies), sending troop transport after transport to the mainland. I have also seen it use the aircraft carriers(but not often, still working on that).There still are some quirky ai behavioral problems going on but hopefully fixable.

Also I have set the num_city_defenders to different integers depending on the aip warsetting. I have randomized the aip files to switch on a random basis. I have created 14 seperate aip files just based on different styles of war to conduct and how many city defenders the ai will prioritize. Anyway, those are the major changes I can think of, sorry about some of the spellings for the priorities, I'm at work right now and I am going by memory.

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Bear in mind this is CTP1 stuff. It sounds like that, roughly speaking, aips = strategies; so that what he's done is to define 14 of his own strategies. But because of the fuzzy logic it imported, CTP1 was essentially incomprehensible and, unfortunately, I don't think that that there's any easy way to translate his results into CTP2. This means starting from scratch, but from what Darryl says it does seem that it *may* be possible to get the AI to fight a largely maritime war. Anyway, it looks like fun.

Darryl was working on this WW2 scenario for ages. I don't know whether he still is but he posts to the CTP1 Creation forum once in a while. As I recall he said he had tons of his own units, but this was a long time ago, not that long after CTP1 came out, and I don't know if he did all the stuff you have to do to make them look animated. (In fact, I don't know anything about graphics.) Anyway, it might be worthwhile contacting him and seeing if he has anything that he'd be willing to pass on. It's a pity he never got CTP2; he was getting pretty good at SLIC and is just the sort of guy who could make a real contribution to modding it now.

MATT:-) C · June 9, 2001, 08:39

Just randomly thinking about the whole importing units from one game to the next. The only way I can see is by having lumping all the scenarios together as one. That way you could get to a certain turn and then do a load of SLIC to change the scenario to the next configuration and still have access to the units/cities etc. Admittedly the amount of SLIC necesary to keep some old stuff, rearrange stuff, create some new stuff, change the map etc. would be a massive and probably riddled with bugs too, but I can see it happening (rather like I can see England winning the World Cup in 2002!). Unless there's some way of doing file Input/Ouput from SLIC (which I haven't come across), then I can see little alternative short of the messagebox idea above.

An insane suggestion I know, but I'm like that!

MATT:-)