Tides of Conquest campaign tool - new version with Bronze Age scenarios and icons out April 21 2023

[Nijis]

Glad you're enjoying it, Kronenblatt!

I don't really have any mechanism for changing settings. I looked into diplomacy for the latest update (0.8, which should add scenarios for the Middle Ages and tweaks religion a bit) and I might have fixed that. I'll look into it.

If you want, and can run Unity with C#, I can send you the solution and you can play around with it. Unity and Visual Studio are both free but it takes a little work to set up.

Good to hear about the Run as Admin issue. Is anyone else out there having this problem?

[kronenblatt]

Glad you're enjoying it, Kronenblatt!

I don't really have any mechanism for changing settings. I looked into diplomacy for the latest update (0.8, which should add scenarios for the Middle Ages and tweaks religion a bit) and I might have fixed that. I'll look into it.

If you want, and can run Unity with C#, I can send you the solution and you can play around with it. Unity and Visual Studio are both free but it takes a little work to set up.

Good to hear about the Run as Admin issue. Is anyone else out there having this problem?

Thanks for answer.

I'd love to dig deep into that but I lack the knowledge unfortunately.

Maybe make the concept of alliances optional or even have settings determining the maximum range between countries that can engage in diplomacy or enter into alliances?

I believe the Run as Admin has something to do with my antivirus program or Defender. Will investigate.

[kronenblatt]

Good to hear about the Run as Admin issue. Is anyone else out there having this problem?

I believe the Run as Admin has something to do with my antivirus program or Defender. Will investigate.

I've now deleted my current "version" and extracted once again and now it works with me running as administrator. I recall that my Norton 360 somehow reacted upon those files and maybe blocked and even removed some files.

[Nijis]

That's good to know - thanks!

Alliances in the game are more like non-aggression pacts, so in gameplay terms they won't matter much if two realms are distant from each other. I should still fix that for immersion reasons.

[kronenblatt]

I've got a question for the user interface: instead of provinces being linked through lines and being squares colored with the owner's colors, would it be possible to have outright provinces on the map in whatever shapes or forms and filled with the colours of their owners?

[Nijis]

Making actual provinces that change colors would be quite a bit of work, unfortunately. Each one would need to be a separate 3d object or 2d sprite, I think. I'm pretty bad at art in general.

I have a sentimental attachment to the rectangles as they remind me of the old SPI Empires of the Middle Ages boardgame, but I agree that provinces would be better.

[kronenblatt]

Making actual provinces that change colors would be quite a bit of work, unfortunately. Each one would need to be a separate 3d object or 2d sprite, I think. I'm pretty bad at art in general.

I have a sentimental attachment to the rectangles as they remind me of the old SPI Empires of the Middle Ages boardgame, but I agree that provinces would be better.

Ok, I see: thanks for response. I am just curious at what it takes technically to instead use outright filled "areas" for provinces.

Are the rectangles you use are also individual 2D sprites? Or even 3D objects? Much like the areas would be?

And then the rectangles are connected to each other in the code, visually through lines as well as functionally, for attacks?

I like the rectangles too and it's nice the way you put them on top of a map. The thing I like about areas though is that, when filled with each faction's color, more clearly and beautifully shows the political situation.

Maybe I could be of help in the work, e.g. creating the areas and (objects/)sprites, if you have the time and interest in a small cooperative pilot project with a very limited geographic and historical scope? (I'm thinking only the Mediterranean, for example, something like the red provinces below, probably with some merged such as some of the islands with each other or mainland provinces and the Phoenician city states as well, and without the sea zones that could be applied on different settings; 40-50 provinces in total. Such a map could potentially then expanded to several different eras, e.g., the Punic wars, from a generic setting at outset.)

[Nijis]

That would be great, if you like. I could set up a special scenario with the provinces. I think I would need 3D objects in the shape of each province that fit together, though, so it is a fair amount of work. If you can find away to slice up the original map, that might be the easiest approach, but in practice it's very time consuming.

It occurs to me that one other reason that the points work is that, in a 2000-year scope of time, the borders shift a lot. I use the Upper Seine to represent both the ancient region around Lutetia and the medieval Duchy of Normandy, for example.

[kronenblatt]

Sounds great! I'll PM you about it for further discussions. Maybe we could bring some other technically or artistically minded people aboard!

That would be great, if you like. I could set up a special scenario with the provinces. I think I would need 3D objects in the shape of each province that fit together, though, so it is a fair amount of work. If you can find away to slice up the original map, that might be the easiest approach, but in practice it's very time consuming.

It occurs to me that one other reason that the points work is that, in a 2000-year scope of time, the borders shift a lot. I use the Upper Seine to represent both the ancient region around Lutetia and the medieval Duchy of Normandy, for example.

[Nijis]

That would be great! The more people are willing to help out with UI and art, the better this will look.

[SteveD64]

I've been modding this since Nijis sent me the Monogame code a couple years back. I have not been working with the Unity code at all so take this with a grain of salt. Recently I started on a map with provinces that get "filled in" with the player color and it is tedious but very doable. The way I'm doing it (and my knowledge is very limited) has been to create an image of each separate province that gets placed on the map then it gets colored in. The connectors are then set to transparent so they don't show up. I can post a picture of it when I get home from work. I don't know if this will work in Unity however!

[SteveD64]

Hopefully this image will show up but here's a sample. Bavaria, the checkboard color, is an ally of Austria (Habsburgs). The connectors and squares have not been set to transparent so it looks busy and ugly.

[kronenblatt]

Hopefully this image will show up but here's a sample. Bavaria, the checkboard color, is an ally of Austria (Habsburgs). The connectors and squares have not been set to transparent so it looks busy and ugly.

Looks really nice! So you have that all up-and- running?

[SteveD64]

Thanks! The actual game (set in the early modern period) is not up and running but in terms of provinces and showing control it works. If you guys need some help let me know. Here's what the graphic looks like under the hood - if you wish to show alliances it's double the work.

[Nijis]

Cheers all - just letting everyone know that I've updated it to encompass the medieval era.

It includes two new scenarios for 1100 CE and 1200 CE, as well as a new way to handle religious events.

[toska]

To question, why does the game only allow me to manually enter the results of a single battle? for example, I attack two provinces and can only handle the results of the first action. In defensive battles the game does not leave me the option to put the result. It is normal?

Another thing, what happened to the option to randomly resolve your battles?

[Nijis]

Hi Toska - in SP you're supposed to fight only the battles that your personal commander leads, otherwise a big empire that wage player-led campaigns on multiple fronts would be overpowered. In multiplayer you still fight every battle.

I removed the SIM button because it was supposed to be just a testing feature. I can put that back in future versions.

[MarkShot]

VERY IMPRESSIVE --- FOG2/M users are lucky bunch to have not 1, but 3 campaign options. I don't know any other game that can make that claim!

[toska]

I'm a little confused with the mechanics of uncontrolled after the death of your ruler. Is there a way to avoid it or to make it last less time? The scenario changes so much that it seems that a new game has started.

[barinaX]

Hi,

Unfortunately I seem to have issues with the fonts, everything seems messed up. Any idea on what is causing it? My desktop resolution is 2560 x 1440, might that have something to do with it?

Thanks for all the work, I would really like to test this one, seems like an awesome addition to FoG2!