Ohhh, all the pretty colors...

mimi · June 10, 2003, 07:09

With the 400 civs now in the game (ok, maybe not 400, but there seems to be a lot) I have a question about the color of their uniforms...

You know how France used to always be pink and Germany was dark blue and Egypt was yellow, Aztecs green etc... well I don't think it works the same now with PTW (could be wrong I suppose )

Is there any way to set their colors to be consistent? I've never used the editor but could if I had too (ie, I'm not a complete idiot, just with my limited time would rather play than edit - but if it's pretty straight forward I think I could do it)

I just hate looking at the colors on the map and thinking, say, brown is Russia only to find out that it's Carthage after I've sent my troops to rip it up! (Though, since my troops are already there.... hahahaahahahahahaah)...

Thirgaral · June 10, 2003, 08:04

AFAIK, the colors are consistent in PtW as well...
But it shouldn't any major problem to check which civ it is before attacking?

MyOlde · June 10, 2003, 09:29

No, you can figure out who you're facing either by right-clicking on a city defender ... or some unit who's wandering around in the vicinity ... or if you're too far away by the names of some of the cities.

I agree that it's confusing at the beginning. Just something to get used to. There are just too many civs to lock in one colour per civ.

dexters · June 10, 2003, 10:31

I predict they will introduce cheesy neon colours and those 80s leopard skin things.

Matches the kenny G soundtrack in the modern age.

statusperfect · June 10, 2003, 11:31

Quote:

Originally posted by dexters
I predict they will introduce cheesy neon colours and those 80s leopard skin things.

Matches the kenny G soundtrack in the modern age.

cheers

Purple · June 10, 2003, 16:36

There are 32 available "team colors" available in the editor. Some of the choices are so similar that they are hard to distinguish visually during the heat of a game, especially during the non-human turns.

The editor gives both a default and an alternate color for each civ. I believe the alternates are used in games when two civs have the same default color.

Despite a rather awkward interface, it's not that hard to reassign colors. I have compiled a Word document that lists all 24 civs plus the barbs with their default and alternate colors, as well as the custom colors I use in my games (like you, mimi, I just couldn't relate to a brown Russia). It also gives the full palette of 32 colors for reference.

Download it from here. The document is rather long, 800+ KB, because it contains thumbnails of all the leaders.

Purple · June 10, 2003, 16:41

I forgot to make the obvious point that when the next XP comes out, there won't be enough colors to go around, and in that case there will have to be duplicates.

I think it would be possible to modify and replace the current palette file but haven't explored that possibility.

Quasar1011 · June 10, 2003, 17:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Purple
I forgot to make the obvious point that when the next XP comes out, there won't be enough colors to go around, and in that case there will have to be duplicates.

I don't think that is true. TeTurkhan has made some scenarios where there are 31 civs competing from the start, and I have made some maps and scenarios using his modifications (haven't posted any such PTW maps yet). So most of the time I am now playing with 31 civs. There aren't any duplicate colours with 31 civs, though there are some that are very close. Besides, when I was a kid, crayola boxes came with 100 colours, if your momma bought you the big box.

Blaupanzer · June 11, 2003, 10:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Quasar1011
Besides, when I was a kid, crayola boxes came with 100 colours, if your momma bought you the big box.

64 colors was also a big deal with Crayola and only a few of those were close.

mimi · June 11, 2003, 11:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Purple
There are 32 available "team colors" available in the editor. Some of the choices are so similar that they are hard to distinguish visually during the heat of a game, especially during the non-human turns.

Hey - this is what I was looking for. Thanks! (and I'm kinda glad to have their other stats too cause it's annoying to have to keep looking them up and my little brain won't remember all that stuff)

Only problem I see now is that I can't tell the difference between yellow, yellow and yellow (which seems to be a very popular uniform color). Where is the orange? England is always orange and it's not in your palette? Perhaps my eyes are silly and orange looks yellow to me....

I think I'll look through the editor and see if I can't figure out how to go about telling them what color to wear. From now on Germany is going to have to wear pink! no more blue for them, no matter what they wanna babble on about it!

Oh, and that lovely light green (which I've never seen in a real game) I think would look wonderful on the Zulu. Yep... I'm going color-code my games so the bright colors are my target civs and the others, well, they'll be my target civs right after I eliminate the pretty boys!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

Purple · June 11, 2003, 13:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Quasar1011

I don't think that is true. TeTurkhan has made some scenarios where there are 31 civs competing from the start, and I have made some maps and scenarios using his modifications (haven't posted any such PTW maps yet). So most of the time I am now playing with 31 civs. There aren't any duplicate colours with 31 civs, though there are some that are very close. Besides, when I was a kid, crayola boxes came with 100 colours, if your momma bought you the big box.

The 2nd XP's (presumably) 8 more civs would bring the total to 32 + 1 (barbarian) = 33, so at least one pair of civs would have to have the same color.

Purple · June 11, 2003, 13:19

Quote:

Originally posted by mimi

Only problem I see now is that I can't tell the difference between yellow, yellow and yellow (which seems to be a very popular uniform color). Where is the orange? England is always orange and it's not in your palette? Perhaps my eyes are silly and orange looks yellow to me....

I've assigned orange to the Babs and what I call tangerine to the Spanish. I'll always associate England with pink, because it's long been the traditional map color for the British Empire. But as several threads on this topic demonstrate, people have widely varying color associations.

Quote:

I think I'll look through the editor and see if I can't figure out how to go about telling them what color to wear.

It's not hard to find. The editor's Civilizations tab has a pull-down menu for colors. First select the civ (or barbarians), then select the default and (if you want) alternative for that civ. The choices are listed in the order indicated at the bottom of my document, which is helpful, since during the selection process the color selected takes on a different hue, so sometimes you don't know exactly what you are picking.

Now if Firaxis would only key the colors displayed in the Hall of Fame to the modded .bix file!

Quasar1011 · June 13, 2003, 23:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Quasar1011

There aren't any duplicate colours with 31 civs, though there are some that are very close.

I have to retract my statement.

I am playing a game with 31 civs. The CHinese and Arabs are next to each other, and as you can see from the file, they are both the same color...

Purple · June 14, 2003, 03:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Quasar1011

I have to retract my statement.

I am playing a game with 31 civs. The CHinese and Arabs are next to each other, and as you can see from the file, they are both the same color...

This just means that the modder didn't assign them different colors. Although I haven't tried it, I believe you could assign the same color to all civs if you wanted.

Panag · June 14, 2003, 16:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Purple

This just means that the modder didn't assign them different colors. Although I haven't tried it, I believe you could assign the same color to all civs if you wanted.

hi ,

thats correct , ....

but it aint advised

the best is to use different colors for each linked group of civs , this way you tend to have for example the f shades of blue spread out on the map , same for the other colors , .....

have a nice day

bobbo008 · June 15, 2003, 12:54

"I have to retract my statement. I am playing a game with 31 civs. The CHinese and Arabs are next to each other, and as you can see from the file, they are both the same color..."

haha, when i do that, they ALWAYS seem to be together, appearing like one giant civ. I used the editor and now the Arabs have a slightly darker shade, but its still barely noticeable