Modding SEV Thread Questions

[Fyron]

1. Take a look at VehicleUnitTypes.txt and weep with joy.

2. They can act like troops and participate in ground combat. Dunno about actually carrying other units though. There isn't anything in VehicleUnitTypes.txt about it, but it would be really easy to test. Somehow, I doubt that units would be able to carry units, however, due to circular capacities and infinite storage space.

[Barnacle Bill]

I'm looking at the AI setup scripts and wondering how the Racial Traits section is used...

Do the "random empires" that get added if you select "Generate random computer controlled players" use this to determine their racial traits?

If so, I would assume that they do so in order as listed in the script, until the point limit of the game is reached. However, you can select 2000, 3000 or 5000 point limits and I've checked 4 races so far and they don't add up. For the Abbidon, Amonkrie & Cue Cappa it comes evenly to 2000 and 3000 if you add them in order, but the total list in the script is less than 5000. For the Drushocka, adding them in order jumps you from 1500 to 2500, and the point total of all the traits listed in the script is 6000. So how does this work -

In a 5000 point game, would the Abbidon, Amonkrie & Cue Cappa take additional traits based on something else (what?)to get to 5000? Or would they just soldier on with <5000 in a 5000 point game? Do they get something else for their unused racial points? In a 2000 point game, would the Drushocka skip over that 1000 pt trait at 1500 to get to the next 500 pt trait on the list, or act as if the list didn't contain enough traits to reach the game point total.

Similarly, do I assume correctly the neutral players use the "default" script? In that, the raciat trait section actually contains formulas - a list of if statements in the form...

if (Sys_Get_Random_Long(1, 4) = 1) then
call Add_Racial_Trait("Advanced Storage Techniques")
endif

How does this work -

Does it go down the list until it fills the point total for the game? Again what if it is 500 points under the limit and the next one it gets is a 1000 pt trait? What if it gets through the whole list without hitting the limit? Do the regular races default to this when their list contains fewer pts worth of traits than the game limit?

Also, I haven't seen any negative point trait being called out in the scripts...

[President_Elect_Shang]

Imperator Fyron said:
1. Take a look at VehicleUnitTypes.txt and weep with joy.

Finally... There’s no “weep” emoticon; that sucks?

Has anyone tested to see if it works though?

[Spectarofdeath]

Are we able to build or mod in a certain structure that can only be built once?

[President_Elect_Shang]

What if I have a ship component and I want the first version of it to be open for development at tech level x1 and tech level y1. However, I do not want the second version to be developed till tech level x12 and tech level y3. Can that be coded? Put another way:

I want to make a ship component “Funky Monkey 1” and “Funky Monkey 2”.

Funky Monkey 1 can be developed at tech level x =1 and tech level y =1.
Funky Monkey 2 can be developed at tech level x=12 and tech level y=3.

I want this to be generational (one component) so I can write the component Maximum Level as 2. At this time I have them written as two components with Funky Monkey 1 set to disappear when research for Funky Monkey 2 has been completed.

[Phoenix-D]

Possible.

requirement 1:
Get_Empire_Tech_Level("x") >= (1 + ([%Level%] - 12))
requirement 2:
Get_Empire_Tech_Level("y") >= (1 + ([%Level%] - 3))

should do it..

[Suicide Junkie]

I think you meant to put multiplication instead of subtraction.

This should work better:
requirement 1:
Get_Empire_Tech_Level("x") >= ([%Level%] * 11 - 10)
requirement 2:
Get_Empire_Tech_Level("y") >= ([%Level%] * 2 - 1)

Level 1 requires X >= (11-10 = 1) and Y >= (2-1 = 1)
Level 2 requires X >= (22-10 = 12) and Y >= (4-1 = 3)

[President_Elect_Shang]

Apologies gentlemen; however, I am just too slow to follow those examples. I have decided to leave them as separate components that phase out. Now how about something a little less complex, how would I tackle this one?

I have the component “Bottomless Fiend Grinder” [BFG] and I want another generation to come available every other level. So for example:

At tech level 1 you get BFG 1.
At tech level 3 you get BFG 2.
At tech level, ya Ok you get the idea…

How would I do that?

[Tampa_Gamer]

President_Elect_Shang said:
Has anyone tested to see if it works though?

Yes and no. It [VehicleUnitTypes.txt] has some issues that are still on Aaron's to-do list (I hope). This file will be incredibly powerful once its working correctly. This file will allow us to create leaders, gunships, and many other things that we have been requesting since 2001. Unfortunately, it's not quite there yet, since Aaron needs to add some more hooks in the actual engine to make the new units behave (and be recognized) like the default units. My fingers are crossed that this can be accomplished easily.