RBPBEM FfH #1 [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Svartalfar

[Sareln]

Looking at the tech tree, I think it is almost deceptive in the appearance of tech flow that it gives. This is because of awkward placement of some rather expensive techs. This was to make the chart more compressible, but if you don't have lots of FfH experience, this tree isn't useful to plan with.

So I took a moment to hack together a small python-only mod which colors the techs based on their tech costs, rather than their status (unresearchable, researched, researching, queued).

I might make this a full-scale mini-interface mod which is more robust if I find the time (definitely after the term ends). Enjoy the heat map. Colors of the Rainbow, with purple being cheapest, red the most expensive.

Differences between tiers are roughly 50% to 90% iCost, rather significant! For example, the difference between the weighted average of Tier 1 & 2 (the very first techs versus the next set) is 140 iCost vs. 80 iCost.

If anyone has a better color scheme, I'm all ears. You have control of the RGB values of each tile, and 17 different tech tiers (18 if you count the black - unresearchable)! I know Tufte says we should try to keep it all one color, and vary the shade, but I don't think that that's possible here.

(Image in Next Post to make this more readable)

[Sareln]

A Heat Map of the FfH Tech Tree:

[Sareln]

More diplo from Selrahc:

Well I can't say I'm not saddened by your exploration of Letum Frigus, a more conservative approach could have given us a wonderful platform for future cooperation. I accept that it has happened however, and the location of the landmark is still useful information. In return let me tell you that I have already met the Kuriotates, and could help the two of you to establish contact.

Stasis is not a personal affront against the Svartalfar or any faction. Turns lost in the beginning of the game are more valuable than those lost later, so to give the Illians maximum advantage it must be used early.

May your envenomed blades strike true
Selrahc

Sounds like he bought the story, now I just need to move my scout appropriately so that he doesn't have any cause to suspect the truth of the matter. All-in-all, this is a small lie, but I figured it was better than the Illians gaining aggressive practically for free (50/50 he heads in the right direction if I say nothing).

I'm debating whether or not to play dumb with FfH mechanics - to be honest, there are a bunch of minutia that I don't know, but I like to think that I know the big ones (religions, magic system, openings, etc.)

Contact with the Kuriotates, I'd like, but don't need right now. And I really do need to keep my scout in the general vicinity of my capital. Unlike other scouts, its str. 3 on the attack and therefore useful against barbarian goblins and weakened warriors. I'll feel out Selrahc on how close the Kuriotates are to see if its worth my while to divert.

Stasis may not be a personal affront, but it still hurts . His reasoning is sound, and I can't really argue with it. Perhaps a joke about the how the AI in FfH will just sit there and take it?

[darrelljs]

A Heat Map of the FfH Tech Tree

Very useful .

Darrell

[darrelljs]

That's actually really interesting, I did not realize that the benefit, or lack of benefit, went only to the first finder.

I have been second to the LF as the Illians and still received the benefit. That might be due to SP, not sure what the mechanics are for MP.

Darrell

[Sareln]

I have been second to the LF as the Illians and still received the benefit. That might be due to SP, not sure what the mechanics are for MP.

Darrell

Tested it in worldbuilder. Only the first finder gets anything. It's probably a SP v. MP thing.

[Sareln]

Very useful .

Darrell

I've got another one for you. This is a full-blown mod, that integrates quite nicely. It's still only python changes, and it's relatively short (definitely less than 60 lines of code).

I took the concept of the heat map and used it to apply a shade to the initial colorset - Red for Un-researchable, Blue for Available, Green for Researched, and Teal for in the Queue.

I'm pretty sure I could put a switch into the code so that with a button it could switch between an absolute heat map and a heat map based on your Civ's current research strength (eg. turns/research). Also, I now have full access to all the colors, so changing the color is very easy - I used a dictionary, so to add another color you just add a normalized definition of the color's RGB (blue is 0,0,1 for instance) and then when you see the word 'Blue' you can switch it to, oh, say 'Purple'.

Colors are nice and vibrant too, see the Cyan "queue" color at the bottom of this post.

If you wanted to have more expensive techs be darker, you just drop two lines of code.

I'm really happy with how this is shaping up, and have written myself a note to get this finalized when I finish the term.

Subtle Heat Map is on a chaser post, to keep formatting woes manageable.

[Sareln]

A more subtle Heatmap:

[Sareln]

Diplo sent to Selrahc:

I have bad luck with animals, even with my str. 3 scouts, so I tend to try
and get as much scouting done as possible in the early game.
I hope your warrior survives his encounter with the lion! It is always
so irksome to lose starting units on the turn animals spawn. To tell
the truth, I'm a bit hazy on some of the minutia of the Mod now (it's
been ages since I've played it with any regularity -- up to about 3
months after the release of shadow). I've been flogging some practice
games for fun, so hopefully I don't get jumped by Orthus before I can
build up some warriors. I believe he is scheduled to show up around
turn 50 on quick speed?

Noted on the Stasis - it's just a touch different preparing yourself
intellectually for boring turns and actually having to face them.
When I play Illians I also tend to pop stasis early.

I would like to make contact with the Kuriotates, how do you propose
such a rendezvous be set up?

Unfortunately, poisons is a rather expensive tech, so I'm not at all
confident that I'll be striking anything, barb or player, with
envenomed blades anytime this summer! But the sentiment is nice.

-Sareln-

[Rowain]

Thanks alot for your posts and explanations of the Civics