Chance race traits...

[Hawkeye_BF]

Hi,

I really have no idea how to mod race traits or anything else in that game but i have a little problem.

In my last 3 or 4 games I've played against the YOR. I like that race to play against them but there is a big problem I think.
The YOR are really slowly in their development. They don't expand!!! After 100 or 120 years with difficulty "very hard" they already have one colony (in every game I played against them). Its to easy to kill them.

Question: It is possible to change the race traits in this way, that they expand faster, earlier and more aggressiv ??? And if yes... how???

Thank you very much in advance


Hawkeye

[Darkspire]

Question: It is possible to change the race traits in this way, that they expand faster, earlier and more aggressiv ??? And if yes... how???

Yes you can do most, if not all, of the things you want. Have a read of the modding guide, it explains how to do most things regards customizing a theme. It is a wonder you missed it, it is stickied second from the top of this forum (Design and Modding)

Shadows Modding Guide

Start by reading / understanding the section with Race file information in.

Darkspire

[Hawkeye_BF]

Oh yes I become a modder^^ (joke)

yes I see there are some points wich can change that the race will more and faster expand.
At the point "expand" its only "yes" or "no" choosable but I changed the following values:

Races (yor.txt)

colonyconstructiondesert: from 1.0 to 2.5
researchcolonizationcostfactordesert: from 1.0 to 0.7

Race policy (yor.txt)

researchpriority: from 1.0 to 2.0
Colonizedesertpriority: from 2.0 to 3.0
Explorationpriority: from 1.0 to 3.0


Do you think this changes are usefull to make the YOR more expandable??? I think thats the points wich have effect to the expand trait of a race. I will read more and try to understand the modding guide. Its really usefull.

Thank you very much

Hawkeye

[Haree78]

ORIGINAL: Hawkeye_BF

Oh yes I become a modder^^ (joke)

yes I see there are some points wich can change that the race will more and faster expand.
At the point "expand" its only "yes" or "no" choosable but I changed the following values:

Races (yor.txt)

colonyconstructiondesert: from 1.0 to 2.5
researchcolonizationcostfactordesert: from 1.0 to 0.7

Race policy (yor.txt)

researchpriority: from 1.0 to 2.0
Colonizedesertpriority: from 2.0 to 3.0
Explorationpriority: from 1.0 to 3.0


Do you think this changes are usefull to make the YOR more expandable??? I think thats the points wich have effect to the expand trait of a race. I will read more and try to understand the modding guide. Its really usefull.

Thank you very much

Hawkeye

I don't really notice the lack of expansion with the Yor, the only thing I see them have trouble with is getting involved in too many wars which can stunt them. Do you by chance have very busy/packed Galaxies in your games?

colonyconstructiondesert: from 1.0 to 2.5
That will make them make colony ships 2 and a half times faster, that's a big deal and will make them considerably more powerful than other races and make them expand the fastest of all races early game.

researchcolonizationcostfactordesert: from 1.0 to 0.7
Obvious effect, not a big deal overall but does help them expand in a subtle way.

researchpriority: from 1.0 to 2.0
I wouldn't do this for the Yor, I'm not sure it will affect much but they want to concentrate on conquering/expanding, with extra population research will come faster.

Colonizedesertpriority: from 2.0 to 3.0
Will help them meet their victory condition a little better but actually will probably be mostly meaningless.

Explorationpriority: from 1.0 to 3.0
They don't need this at all, they will steal maps fast enough anyway.

I am rebalancing now for a Universe version of the Extended mod, the Yor are doing fine in the development version.

[Darkspire]

Well done Sir, welcome to the wonderful world of modding Distant Worlds [:)]

You covered the parts I would consider the factors that cover expansion for a race.

The only other ones that might be worth a tweak are:

ReproductionRate Be very careful with this value, to high and the Yor independents will be turning into empires to fast.

MigrationFactor This value will cause them to move between planets a bit more, thus helping to spread the planet populations.

Once you have made these sort of changes it is best to monitor the results and adjust accordingly.

Hopefully someone else will chime in as there may be things we both have missed.

Darkspire

[Hawkeye_BF]

@ Haree78: Thanky you for "translation" of my settings. Now I think its to much (colonyconstructiondesert: from 1.0 to 2.5). I will change that to a lower value.

@ Darkspire: I will change this two other points you show me. And than I plan a little Testgame against the Yor to take a look what me changes do with them.

Its a really great thing. I think I will do more with and learn how the modding working. I really like this and can't await DW-Universe in this context.

Hawkeye

[Hawkeye_BF]

My current game is an full automated test game.
7 races in a 100 star galaxy.
After 60 years the YOR are the last of seven with only 1 colony (Yoran System):(
(ok the position of their home system is really not good)




UPDATE:

In this test game the YOR needs 79 years to start expanding...
All 6 other races starts 20 years earlier...
I will check the settings, change them and start a new test game to see what happens

[Bingeling]

Don't generalize too much from one test game, it could be random. Good location with both potential colonies and pirates helps a lot...

[Hawkeye_BF]

A few minutes ago I started the 6th test game with only a little different settings. (Full automation)
I follow you that only one test game is not enough.
But first I want to understand what my changes doing in the game and so I change a little bit (one or two values)
and than test it with a small automate game.

[Bingeling]

But if it is very random, it is hard to know if observed behavior is random or due to what you tweak.

But sure, you won't have time to run the game enough to remove the randomness...

[Haree78]

Also you have 6 empires with a hand full of systems between them, very strange test settings.

[Hawkeye_BF]

@ Haree78
I just want to test ONE thing. For that I dont need a 1400 star galaxy with 38 empires I think
Only want to see when the yor starts colonizing And sorry thats my first steps in the "modding business" so I can't be perfect not yet [:D]

[Bingeling]

But you could need to give them enough space to expand a bit without bumping. There are lots of races that get nowhere if they start brushing influence circles with the gizureans, for instance.

If you only want to see when they start colonizing, manually add a few empires that you are sure are far enough from each other that they won't bump into each other. And probably without pirates. Or easier, make sure to delete empires that are too close to another one...

One way to "subtly" screw a race is having few colony options, especially if a nearby empire claim some of them first. Or have the AI waste time on an independent bullied by pirates being a drain of funds by ship replacements.

[Hawkeye_BF]

Ahhh thank you for this tip, I will try to test it like this way
And what about this way: testing only with this one empire without competition (alone in the galaxie)?
Yesterday night I played 3 test games in a 400 star galaxy with 6 empires but with pirates.
How do you testing your mods???? To test a komplete gameplay mode, it needs a lot of time I think...

[Bingeling]

I don't mod [:D]

How would I test a mod? Testing anything you want to isolate what you are interested in. I am not sure if it possible (since I don't use the editor either...), but to test "into space" factor, I would try to:

1: Start a game with 1 empire and no hostiles.
2: Save it.
3: Run it and see how long it takes to achieve something (like get a second colony).

Then reload the start of game same, and replace the start colony with an equal quality colony of a different race. So they run in the exact same spot.

To test if "The Yor sucks", I would run a bunch of automated games involving the Yor, and see how they perform. All races are not the same, from running quite a lot of automated games, I would be surprised if there is a giant Atuuk empire once the galaxy has matured. I would also be a bit surprised if the gizureans are wiped.

There are of course a lot of variables in the starting conditions. How much area is available, and are there natural allies at a fitting distance? Also, the gizurean can be prone to independents starting competing empires, since they breed so fast, for instance. But I am not sure if there are enough possible good conditions to save the Atuuk