Personal Techniques

St Leo · July 27, 2000, 14:53

Use this thread to share the time-saving methods you have developed over the years. Here's one of mine to start this off:

-For scenarios that change terrains around, the best way to make the map is to create a category in the Modpack Manager expressly for that purpose and simply copy the terrain*.gif files into it's folder

------------------
St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

DarthVeda · July 27, 2000, 16:04

Books. The more the merrier. Helps in making unit graphics and doing last second research. I currently have 43 out from the library for Kyokujitsu.

Panda · July 27, 2000, 18:04

Plan ahead.
Get the map right before you place any cities.
Get the cities completed before you place any units.

I've found a speedy technique for converting pictures into sprites (now that I have Adobe Photoshop).

Paint Shop Pro is not very good at resizing .gifs. Photoshop is no good for palletes, so I use both. Edit the picture in PSP to get rid of the background, then apply the Civ2 unit pallete. Save and load in Photoshop. Work out what the reduction factor will be, then zoom out to reach it rather than re-size. Back in PSP, start a screen capture, and capture the reduced size image in Photoshop. Edit the sprite for final touches.

Here's an example. Two images: the left one took me weeks of work resizing in PSP; the right one took roughly half an hour using the above method.

------------------
"The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on"

BeBro · July 27, 2000, 18:05

With Cross&Crescent I begun to use more and more scanned images for improvements and wonders. Sure, thats no new idea (there´s a SLeague design tip about this), but I´ve seen not many scns using this. But its simple and fast. There are a lot of images for historic scns in the net, so all you have to do is scale them down and then sharpen them. Some corrections with your graphics software - done! Best thing after scaling is that nobody realizes that the most of the available images show only ruins...

However, I don´t use this technique for my units.

Edit: Andrew, just read your post. I think for resizing it´s better to convert a pic into 24bit. Then resize (better results) and reconvert into 8bit gif. I use it with PhotoPaint, works perfectly.
[This message has been edited by BeBro (edited July 27, 2000).]

DarthVeda · July 27, 2000, 23:11

Scanned units are Satan's gift to the Civ2 world. I find self-drawn units to be much more fulfilling and better looking. Most don't take over an hour to create.

Evil Capitalist · July 28, 2000, 03:27

quote:

Originally posted by DarthVeda on 07-27-2000 11:11 PM
Scanned units are Satan's gift to the Civ2 world. I find self-drawn units to be much more fulfilling and better looking. Most don't take over an hour to create.

I agree. However I'm an atrocious artist, and Scanning is about the only way I can get good looking units.

Anyway, there are some 3d models around which look pretty good.

Prometeus · July 28, 2000, 05:18

quote:

Originally posted by DarthVeda on 07-27-2000 11:11 PM
Scanned units are Satan's gift to the Civ2 world. I find self-drawn units to be much more fulfilling and better looking. Most don't take over an hour to create.

Hmmm... i'm not sure about that, DV...
Anyway, while scanning i use the mixed tecnique: first you have to grab ( or scan ) an interesting picture, then resize that pic and modify/redraw wrong details.
This way, i was able to turn the male pornstar Rocco Siffredi into a savage naked celtic warrior...

Another tecnique i use often is "collage": first grab parts of pics, then collect them together into a new one ( this way i created a Sassanid mounted archer ).

------------------
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤ Ave atque vale... ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø

E-mail? Click goddi_diego@yahoo.com

Gothmog · July 28, 2000, 07:06

To save time, learn some of the shortcuts keys. The ones I use most are shift + F1 (create unit), shift + F3 (set human player),
Ctl + shift + F8 (Repeat terrain change). The last one is not documented, but it's handy for irrigating and road building!

When creating events, I only do a few at a time and then test them to make sure those work. Then I feel confident I'm not repeating mistakes. It saves a lot of hair pulling later.

------------------
There is no tiddle-taddle nor pibble-pabble in Pompey's camp.

Evil Capitalist · July 28, 2000, 11:12

While we're on the subject of shift F8, am I the only one who does the entire map with irrigation for the sake of completeness?
BTW, I agree, always plan.

July 28, 2000, 19:02

shift-D to destroy cities. By far the handiest thing in the game (next to cnt-shift-F8).

This is probably the 10th time I've posted it, and there's always at least 1 guy who's never heard of it.

DarthVeda · July 28, 2000, 21:31

I used to fully irrigate maps. I don't do it anymore. It's an exercise in tedium and often isn't necessary if you've got a map that's well built without huge tracts of similar landscape.

DarthVeda · July 28, 2000, 21:32

Shift-D destroys cities? Shiiiit, I was doing it the hard way!

Shadowstrike · July 28, 2000, 22:04

quote:

Originally posted by Fast_Eddie on 07-28-2000 07:02 PM
shift-D to destroy cities. By far the handiest thing in the game (next to cnt-shift-F8).

You can also use this to destroy units in the game even if that unit is move 0.

Allard HS · July 28, 2000, 23:17

I also mentioned it 20x before but for the sake of being complete:

when cheat menu is toggled on:

Y: reveal/cover map
ctrl-shft-T: council cheat (useless)

St Leo · July 29, 2000, 10:21

You can also use this to destroy units in the game even if that unit is move 0.

Ctrl+Shift+D is better for destroying units as it takes care of the whole stack at once.

------------------
St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

Shadowstrike · July 29, 2000, 11:27

Allard, could you please copy your guide on the text boxes and post it here? It would be most helpful.

Allard HS · July 29, 2000, 23:23

Ok, but instead of spoiling this thread, I'll just give a link instead:

http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum18/H...tml?date=20:52

And here's the thread on hex-editing:

http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum18/H...tml?date=17:45

Paul Hanson · July 30, 2000, 07:55

My tip is not to make historical scenarios. It` so much quicker to make everything up rather than research stuff

Shadowstrike · July 30, 2000, 10:32

So, have you discovered anything new yet Allard? Thanks for the text box hints. I'm going to try it in my next (first) scenario.

Gothmog · July 31, 2000, 09:23

Evil Capitalist,
In general I only irrigate,road build, or mine build the actual squares in use by a city. That can turn out to be a lot of the map, but not usually the entire map!

------------------
There is no tiddle-taddle nor pibble-pabble in Pompey's camp.

Kitana · August 15, 2000, 22:35

Well, I have found this thread very useful. I just wish that I could find books with the images I would like.

I'll have plenty to scan for my next scn. Thanks for the tips.

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese

Shadowstrike · August 15, 2000, 23:06

Thank goodness someone brought this up. All the scenario-building tips I need in one place. As to my scenario, it should be ready for playtesting in a couple of weeks.

Shadowstrike · August 21, 2000, 11:44

If you use FrontPage Express with the default empty square as the back ground, then skrink/enlarge the image as needed, you can get the diamond background onto the units. This of course depends on the fact that you saved the units on a .gif file with a pink (Civ-recognized) background. Dunno if this is helpful though.

Kitana · August 21, 2000, 21:36

Does anybody have advice on setting the time line for a scenario in MPG? I've had to do a lot of complex calculations to get it right, then when I changed difficulty level it went haywire.

I couldn't seem to get the start date in the scenario parameters to 2015. It kept going to 4000BC.

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese

Civfan · August 22, 2000, 05:31

Kitana, you have mpg right...To fix your problem just turn your game into a scenario... OPen up scenario parameters.. Change turn year increment to 1....Starting year to 2015..... Maximum turns 300..... NOw open up editor from the main menu....toggle scenario flag and enter a code for your scenario....After that, the year changes to 2015 and you can save the scenario.....

Kitana · August 22, 2000, 15:26

quote:

Originally posted by Civfan on 08-22-2000 05:31 AM
Kitana, you have mpg right...To fix your problem just turn your game into a scenario... OPen up scenario parameters.. Change turn year increment to 1....Starting year to 2015..... Maximum turns 300..... NOw open up editor from the main menu....toggle scenario flag and enter a code for your scenario....After that, the year changes to 2015 and you can save the scenario.....

Thanks for the tip, I got my scenario dates right, now.

It sure is alot easier than what I was trying to do.

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese

Kitana · August 22, 2000, 15:29

Civfan, thanks for the advice. I didn't realize I had to set the turn interval.

But I got it working!

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese

Kitana · August 22, 2000, 21:34

Civfan,

Thanks for the tip, I did figure it out after posting this (and a little bit of hair pulling

). I didn't realize that trying to use civ's standard turn rate meant I had to use the civ timeline. DOH!!!!

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese

Prometeus · August 23, 2000, 16:16

How weird... why haven't you mentioned the barbarian 0 movement settler unit trick ?
A barbarian unit ( with 0 movement points and defense factor more than 0 ), if killed, gives to attacker the same reward of a killed barbarian guide...

BTW, download Chung Kuo sceanrio from SLeague to see it in action...
[This message has been edited by Prometeus (edited August 23, 2000).]

Kitana · August 23, 2000, 23:02

I think I'll have to talk with you about this Prometeus. I'm planning on using A LOT of barbarians in my current scenario. This sounds very appealing...

------------------
Kitana
Shogun of the Japanese