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Author Topic:   Scripts

Resource Consumer posted 06-19-99 06:00 AM ET
Last night I had an idea (yes, even we Morganites take time off from making money and think now and then). What about scripts?
What I mean is like in Baldur's Gate where you can broadly specify what the AI does in certain situations. You see, I'm lazy and confess to automating formers more than I should. What I would like to do is have something that I could control for each former (or maybe city) that says if rocky build mine else build forest/farm etc. Just to up the level of control over the autoformers would be nice without resorting to manging them yourself.
Is that a good idea (probably damned hard to implement in SMACX though without substantial changes) or does it suck?
Resource Consumer
- remember I'm lazy -
LoD posted 06-19-99 04:16 PM ET
RC, why not ask for more? Have the sripts handle all terraforming duties of a city or area, using pre-made "styles", which would include such parameters as the priority of Formers in the city building queue (meaning the AI would be able, in some cases, override the "manual" building orders).
It's a good idea, but, IMHO, it should be used later in the game (when you have 20+ cities). Activating it early on would ruin all the fun of creating an empire from scratch.
LoD
PS. Just finished a game on TI (as Deirdre) in which I blasted Morgan with two SPBs. *with an Eastern Slavic accent* I have teached your capitalist friends a lesson!
Resource Consumer posted 06-19-99 05:37 PM ET
LoD,
You're right about being more use later in the game but it's lazy people like me who crave these thigs from day 1.
My wife is Russian - so when she goes to bed (albeit about 3:00) I get the "so, you are making all these stupid shup shup noisings again. I never have understandings of you capitalists"
Resource Consumer posted 06-19-99 05:40 PM ET
LoD
Didn't realise you were Polish. Actually she's a mongrel - Polish/Ukrainian on one side Latvian/Russian on the other.
LoD posted 06-20-99 03:33 AM ET
RC: "shup shup noisings"? As in BOOM, "Hahah, there goes Yang's island"?
Interesting what can one find out about fellow posters...
Oh, and I don't know any Russian - except for maybe 15 words or so.
LoD
TheScientist posted 06-20-99 05:21 AM ET
I posted this idea already twice in this forums (into a SMAX-ideas-thread and as a solution for the auto-formers-bug), but nobody reacted on my posts.
There are three kinds of scripting, I can imagin:
First, making your individual former-AI scripts instead of micro-managing every former. Especially in multiplayer you don't have the time to do so.
The second thing is the city governor. If you have 50+ cities, you simply can't administrate them all by yourself (a turn would take an hour!). Perhaps there should be a rule for the number of cities, you can turn over to your governor, depending on the difficulty level, the size of your empire and your efficiency rating in SE.
Finally, you should be able to script scenarios, like in Civ2 after the expansion CD. What makes a scenario more interesting than an enemy army that suddenly appears next to your capital city when you think, you've already won?
I hope FIRAXIS reads this thread and implements scripts in SMACX. It would really be a great improval.
Resource Consumer posted 06-20-99 05:42 AM ET
Sorry.
Didn't realise that this was an old idea and had been posted before.
Doesn't look good for its implementation, does it?
MoSe posted 06-20-99 10:10 AM ET
U mean being able to script the behavior of one individual former at your will?
U know, I NEVER automate, I LIKE micromanaging and I get the satisfaction I had the things done the way I wanted, and if that doesn't work, well, that's my actual rating.
But, if instead of using your human flexible million-years evoluted mind for every single decisional step, you get to write an AI algorythm or script that shows to react correctly, mostly like the way you wanted to, well, I think that would be far more funny and satisfacting.
And I can put the whole money I earned and will, that we're not going to see it. In commerce at least.
TheScientist posted 06-21-99 10:10 AM ET
RC, I only wrote it into threads with hundreds of other ideas for SMACX or V4.0. I think, it was only overlooked. Thank you for starting a thread to this topic. I think, more people will see it now (and hopefully Firaxis, too).
I don't think, that it is impossible that Firaxis will implement a script parser, because the Civ2 expansion CD already supported scripts (I never expected this).
MoSe, I micromanage quite a lot, too. I don't use much auto-formers (only for early fungus-removal) and since in one game my governors built over 500 hydroponic labs, but no energy transmitters at all, I prefer to turn them off. But micromanaging everything can soon lead to turn-times of over ten minutes (impossible in multiplayer/LAN).
Perhaps, scripting other units than formers can be usefull, too. Colony pods which find their way to a suitable site alone. Probe teams could automatically intercept enemy probe teams entering your territory and destroy them.
I hope that people from Firaxis read this thread and put a scripting language on their list.
Resource Consumer posted 06-24-99 06:58 AM ET
TS,
I played Civ2, but never had the expansion CD. What was the nature of the scripting - which units/activities?
MoSe, I agree on one point - I doubt if we'll see it implemented.
Resource Consumer
- lazy capitalist -
TheScientist posted 06-24-99 05:02 PM ET
There were two things implemented:
The first was, well, not really a script. It's a file with a list of items for the city auto-build option (the governor). It was added in a late patch, I think.
The second was a txt file in the scenario's folder. It worked with the trigger and action principle (like the SC editor). For example:
If
Turn
Number=10
Then
Text
Here is some gold!
End
Gold
Amount=100
Player=Americans
End
(I don't remember the exact syntax, but something like this)
Triggers:
Turn reached
City captured
Unit fallen
Random
Point reached
Negotiation
Schism
(last two were special: they automatically prohibit the negotiation or schism)
Actions:
Display text
Give/take gold
Create/Destroy unit
Move unit to (no player-controlled and no nuclear units)
I don't remember more triggers/actions. One other thing is important: Each action was limited to one use in each if-condition. This was problematic, because if you wanted to create five units, you had to copy the condition five times (there was no number-option for units).
I don't know, if more the one trigger or one if-condition in another worked, I didn't try this.
I still hope that somebody from Firaxis reads this and that scripts will be implemented in SMACX. Firaxis, if this is already planned or can't be done (for any reason), please answer to this thread!
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Author	Topic: Scripts
Resource Consumer	posted 06-19-99 06:00 AM ET Last night I had an idea (yes, even we Morganites take time off from making money and think now and then). What about scripts? What I mean is like in Baldur's Gate where you can broadly specify what the AI does in certain situations. You see, I'm lazy and confess to automating formers more than I should. What I would like to do is have something that I could control for each former (or maybe city) that says if rocky build mine else build forest/farm etc. Just to up the level of control over the autoformers would be nice without resorting to manging them yourself. Is that a good idea (probably damned hard to implement in SMACX though without substantial changes) or does it suck? Resource Consumer - remember I'm lazy -
LoD	posted 06-19-99 04:16 PM ET RC, why not ask for more? Have the sripts handle all terraforming duties of a city or area, using pre-made "styles", which would include such parameters as the priority of Formers in the city building queue (meaning the AI would be able, in some cases, override the "manual" building orders). It's a good idea, but, IMHO, it should be used later in the game (when you have 20+ cities). Activating it early on would ruin all the fun of creating an empire from scratch. LoD PS. Just finished a game on TI (as Deirdre) in which I blasted Morgan with two SPBs. with an Eastern Slavic accent I have teached your capitalist friends a lesson!
Resource Consumer	posted 06-19-99 05:37 PM ET LoD, You're right about being more use later in the game but it's lazy people like me who crave these thigs from day 1. My wife is Russian - so when she goes to bed (albeit about 3:00) I get the "so, you are making all these stupid shup shup noisings again. I never have understandings of you capitalists"
Resource Consumer	posted 06-19-99 05:40 PM ET LoD Didn't realise you were Polish. Actually she's a mongrel - Polish/Ukrainian on one side Latvian/Russian on the other.
LoD	posted 06-20-99 03:33 AM ET RC: "shup shup noisings"? As in BOOM, "Hahah, there goes Yang's island"? Interesting what can one find out about fellow posters... Oh, and I don't know any Russian - except for maybe 15 words or so. LoD
TheScientist	posted 06-20-99 05:21 AM ET I posted this idea already twice in this forums (into a SMAX-ideas-thread and as a solution for the auto-formers-bug), but nobody reacted on my posts. There are three kinds of scripting, I can imagin: First, making your individual former-AI scripts instead of micro-managing every former. Especially in multiplayer you don't have the time to do so. The second thing is the city governor. If you have 50+ cities, you simply can't administrate them all by yourself (a turn would take an hour!). Perhaps there should be a rule for the number of cities, you can turn over to your governor, depending on the difficulty level, the size of your empire and your efficiency rating in SE. Finally, you should be able to script scenarios, like in Civ2 after the expansion CD. What makes a scenario more interesting than an enemy army that suddenly appears next to your capital city when you think, you've already won? I hope FIRAXIS reads this thread and implements scripts in SMACX. It would really be a great improval.
Resource Consumer	posted 06-20-99 05:42 AM ET Sorry. Didn't realise that this was an old idea and had been posted before. Doesn't look good for its implementation, does it?
MoSe	posted 06-20-99 10:10 AM ET U mean being able to script the behavior of one individual former at your will? U know, I NEVER automate, I LIKE micromanaging and I get the satisfaction I had the things done the way I wanted, and if that doesn't work, well, that's my actual rating. But, if instead of using your human flexible million-years evoluted mind for every single decisional step, you get to write an AI algorythm or script that shows to react correctly, mostly like the way you wanted to, well, I think that would be far more funny and satisfacting. And I can put the whole money I earned and will, that we're not going to see it. In commerce at least.
TheScientist	posted 06-21-99 10:10 AM ET RC, I only wrote it into threads with hundreds of other ideas for SMACX or V4.0. I think, it was only overlooked. Thank you for starting a thread to this topic. I think, more people will see it now (and hopefully Firaxis, too). I don't think, that it is impossible that Firaxis will implement a script parser, because the Civ2 expansion CD already supported scripts (I never expected this). MoSe, I micromanage quite a lot, too. I don't use much auto-formers (only for early fungus-removal) and since in one game my governors built over 500 hydroponic labs, but no energy transmitters at all, I prefer to turn them off. But micromanaging everything can soon lead to turn-times of over ten minutes (impossible in multiplayer/LAN). Perhaps, scripting other units than formers can be usefull, too. Colony pods which find their way to a suitable site alone. Probe teams could automatically intercept enemy probe teams entering your territory and destroy them. I hope that people from Firaxis read this thread and put a scripting language on their list.
Resource Consumer	posted 06-24-99 06:58 AM ET TS, I played Civ2, but never had the expansion CD. What was the nature of the scripting - which units/activities? MoSe, I agree on one point - I doubt if we'll see it implemented. Resource Consumer - lazy capitalist -
TheScientist	posted 06-24-99 05:02 PM ET There were two things implemented: The first was, well, not really a script. It's a file with a list of items for the city auto-build option (the governor). It was added in a late patch, I think. The second was a txt file in the scenario's folder. It worked with the trigger and action principle (like the SC editor). For example: If Turn Number=10 Then Text Here is some gold! End Gold Amount=100 Player=Americans End (I don't remember the exact syntax, but something like this) Triggers: Turn reached City captured Unit fallen Random Point reached Negotiation Schism (last two were special: they automatically prohibit the negotiation or schism) Actions: Display text Give/take gold Create/Destroy unit Move unit to (no player-controlled and no nuclear units) I don't remember more triggers/actions. One other thing is important: Each action was limited to one use in each if-condition. This was problematic, because if you wanted to create five units, you had to copy the condition five times (there was no number-option for units). I don't know, if more the one trigger or one if-condition in another worked, I didn't try this. I still hope that somebody from Firaxis reads this and that scripts will be implemented in SMACX. Firaxis, if this is already planned or can't be done (for any reason), please answer to this thread!