CivStack... utility to add fortresses/airbases to all squares

Mercator · October 19, 2002, 17:14

A nice and simple utility to add fortresses or airbases to your maps. You can pick which terrains to add them to.

This is mainly for those who'd like to see their scenarios allow unit stacks (and don't have entire stacks killed).

Airbases are really only interesting for ToT, since there they don't have the city properties like acting as irrigated/railroaded land etc. And of course, even then only in scenarios without air units.

If you want the details on what use this utility really is, ask techumseh, John Ellis, FMK and others, since they're the ones who asked for it.

Just unzip and run (the program, that is

), it should need no further explanation (and if it does, just ask me here).

If it doesn't run, download the VB6 runtime files from my MapEdit website.

Oh yes... and let me know if you encounter any bugs. It's not entirely unlikely there still are some (so backing up the savegames/scenarios before running them through CivStack is a good idea).

Edit: Updated version, fixed a bug

klesh · October 19, 2002, 22:40

I would like to add that I have used this, and found it to be very easy and extremely helpful. Saves a designer lots of tedious work. Excellent utility Jorrit!

-FMK.

St Leo · October 19, 2002, 23:03

Jorrit, you may want to send an email about this to John Ellis.

P.S. I had nothing better to do, so I added it to SLeague's Files section.

Mercator · October 20, 2002, 06:49

Well, he should have an older version of this already, but I will (if I remember

, I have his e-mail on the PC I'm not using now)...

By the way, if anyone wondered, CivStack works (or should work anyway) with ALL versions of Civ2.

For ToT: If your savegame/scenario has multiple maps, there will appear extra buttons (as many as there are maps). With those you can then switch between the maps and make the changes for each map individually. Clicking Apply/OK will then apply the changes for all maps.

Case · October 20, 2002, 19:05

Does this work on sav files, or just on blank maps?

techumseh · October 20, 2002, 19:27

Sav and scn files. It's great. I find both ancient/medeival army movement (where the army moves as one stack) and modern (with an extended front) seem to work very well with stackable terrain.

Two things are adversely affected: land units on a transport which has been sunk do not sink - they just sit there, and also barbarian units only move one space before forting up.

I wonder if either of these problems would continue if the improvement used was airbasses instead of fortresses?

Mercator · October 20, 2002, 19:53

Yep, land units on sea still remain. Except for the attacker's... That probably hadn't been tested yet, and it's the same as with fortresses. If, say, a fully laden Frigate attacks a laden Galleon, the Galleon's units will remain (if it loses), but the Frigate's units will perish (if it loses).

The good news with airbases on land is that barbarians will indeed move around normally... The bad news is, they also occasionally pillage the airbases.

Case · October 20, 2002, 20:52

Quote:

Sav and scn files. It's great

Wow, this is going to be very helpful.

Thanks a lot Merc

klesh · October 21, 2002, 17:01

Quote:

Originally posted by techumseh
Two things are adversely affected: ..... and also barbarian units only move one space before forting up.

Ouch, I hadn't though of that. Dont think this'll work with Lebensraum, being that there are so many barbarians representing the minor nations. Their role is small, but with all forts, they'll play none.

BTTDB

-FMK.

techumseh · October 21, 2002, 19:47

So far, the only barbarian units in Lebensraum I've come across are neutral garrison units. What will be the problem?

klesh · October 21, 2002, 20:09

Well Jugoslavians and the Finnish troops are meant to be nasty and actually fight. There are partisans in Greece, as well as the Poles (if they aren't destroyed on turn 1). It's not a big deal I guess, but I was hoping to give some of the larger civs a hard time with the Barbs but I guess it'll have to suffer with the more important tradeoff of stackable terrain.

Either way, the utility does its job perfectly.

-FMK.

Henrik · October 22, 2002, 11:07

Actually barbs will still attack in a "raidlike" way from cities, for instance I've noticed that a city with an artillery in it will result in it attacking any troops that hang around outside (atleast in bonaparte 2).

techumseh · October 22, 2002, 12:22

Also, barbarians with a move of 2 or more will attack adjacent units.

Patient English · November 2, 2002, 15:00

Jorrit,

This indeed has been a great boon for me. Thanks again (and ignore my last mail. I have found this thread now.)

Patient English · November 2, 2002, 15:11

Now, do you have a utility to REMOVE fortresses where no no longer want them!

Mercator · November 2, 2002, 18:55

It might be very simple to add. If it is, I'll add it, otherwise, I probably won't (not within the foreseeable future anyway).

Patient English · November 2, 2002, 20:19

Well, if it's a gimmie, then add it. It would make the utility even better, particularly for someone like me who keeps changing his mind.

But if not, I have kept a recent save pre-fort, so I am OK-ish.

Boco · November 7, 2002, 22:36

Merc, this is a wonderful utility. Very useful. What did you decide about removing fortresses or airbases?

When you use this in a scenario, what are you wizards doing with the fortress icon? Leaving it transparent? Or something small and elegant?

techumseh · November 8, 2002, 00:46

transparent.

Patient English · November 8, 2002, 07:40

Transparent, yes. Effectively makes the square stackable, as in Civ3. Unfortunately messes up the barbarian behaviour, so I have had to scale the forts right back in Col IV

Mercator · November 8, 2002, 10:40

Removing them won't be possible yet...

Making the fortresses other than completely transparent isn't recommended, unless you reveal the entire map.
Making improvements visible requires some info in other parts of the savegame. CivStack doesn't touch that part... You can see for yourself if you use the "normal" graphics. The fortresses will only be visible around your cities and units, becoming visible along the way when you move around your units.

Henrik · November 8, 2002, 11:50

As well as for some strange reason any fortresses placed on roads.

Henrik · November 29, 2002, 14:43

How about that version which can remove forts as well?

I'm now in a situation where I'd very much apreciate this feature

conmcb25 · November 29, 2002, 14:49

Yes the scenario creation world or in my case the untalented ones who just help out by stacking or hopefully unstacking squares would like this as well. Thanks

klesh · November 29, 2002, 17:26

Might I be so bold as to suggest this feature with regards to pollution tiles? This is a tough one. I use pollution sometimes to create the visual lookof another terain type, usually the useless desert. I find that Plains with a pollution tile over it supplies a very nice desert effect, with Global Warming turned off, of course.

Only problem being that I of course use that plains slot for actual plains elsewhere on the map. But with a little shuffling of slots using the exchange function, I think one could isolate large swaths of terrain and then pollute them easily.

I think eventually it would be best to have all these types of changes be in this one utility. No need to have a util for stacks, irrigations, pollutions, airbases, roads etc.

[asking too much]
And then you could even include, in the 'add pollution' section, a small toggle window field to 'auto-hexedit' global warming out of the game. This would serve us non-hexeditors nicely.
[/asking too much]

Or I can just get Henrik to do it for me.

-FMK.

Mercator · November 30, 2002, 13:33

I'll have to add that to the to-do list, I'm afraid.
I already had ideas to make an editor that can add and remove every tile improvement in all sorts of ways, but that won't be coming anytime soon...

Good note about switching off global warming, though, I'll remember that.

Before I forget... There's a newer version of CivStack available on my website! It solves a "bug" with the "Apply" button.

Patient English · November 30, 2002, 16:25

Jorrit, is CivEngineer available for public release yet?

Mercator · December 1, 2002, 10:39

Nope... That's the thing I intend to expand on...

Then again, what have you used it for so far? If it actually works quite OK, I could release it just as well.

It wouldn't be able to make any of the improvements visible, though, so you'd need to fly around the map (= rediscover the map) to make it visible first. But then, that sure beats the hell out of placing all the pollution manually.

By the way, Henrik, how come you can use CivStack? Didn't you have a Mac? Or are you just being informed well by your "Windows-program-slaves"?

klesh · December 1, 2002, 13:05

Yes, I am manually placing pollution now... Edit out of my drunken debauchery.

And I have done most of the civstack stuff for Henrik and his Mac. Itrs not really slavery, more of indentured servatude.

-FMK.

Patient English · December 2, 2002, 17:31

CivEngineer works fine.

One thing though, don't place airbases before using it! I have found that if you place airbases, then set some terrain to fortresses, the airbases disappear. But if you then remove the forts again for some reason - the squares that had airbases turn into "black holes".

A unit moving into such a hole will disappear, and the AI seems to lose the ability to move them. You cannot edit the square with Shift-F8 either. The only fix that works for me is to delete all units in that square, then found a city there, then disband it.

You can then re-edit the square properly. You can't see where the black holes are, so finding them is a *****!