Utility: SemiRandom version 095

[Endoperez]

Gandalf Parker said:
WOW THANKS for figuring out that castle defence thing! Do you mind if I make extensive use of that immeadiately on all my map routines?
(slap head, cant believe I didnt try that long ago).

I don't mind that at all. The original idea I had for this province was just to make an example that would let others create their own castled, double-defended provinces for SemiRandom. It grew a bit from that.

[Ballbarian]

It's in the early stages still, but here are a couple of examples to give a visual of the start distribution.

This one is a 103 province map with 6 players and a 4 province minimum distance buffer.


This one is a 145 province tower style map with 9 players and a 4 province minimum distance buffer.


Both maps were processed using the current default SemiRandom settings of 15 provinces per player & minimum neighbor count of 4 land for land starts, or 4 water for water starts.

Until this weekend, I had been too busy to work on it more than 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there. Very hard to stay focused that way.

[Gandalf Parker]

It looks good. Excellent coding.
Personally Im going to want more of a spread than that.
Will it evenly distribute on larger maps?

[Ballbarian]

You will be able to increase the spread by specifying a smaller number of players. It seems to distribute well on your MegaMap, but I am not happy with the water start consistency. That is being corrected now. I am also working on a little fidgeter to make the start placements less "optimized" and more random on multiple generations of the same map.

[Ballbarian]

It has been hard finding time for coding, but finally have enough working to sit back for a little while and enjoy a test game. Decided to use the Eventide random map that is being used in a multiplayer game. They have 18 players in that game, 16 being land and 2 being water. With the settings that I used, my distribution was a bit looser, so I ended up with 11 land & 2 water starts. Trying out a SC Gorgon with one of my favorite nations... Pangaea.

So pardon my laziness for a little while.

I intend to look more at some method for supporting "kingdoms" or thematic province clusters. The base is there, but I haven't decided quite how I want to approach the format via the GAN files. Then there are those pesky multi provinces for varied terrains.

[Jack_Trowell]

Ballbarian said:
Thank you for the feedback Endoperez.

It feels easy to me, but just because I am so familiar with it. The ideal would be if someone like Jack with skill in programming online tools could provide a web interface which allowed building individual provinces in a SemiRandomizer script format and auto email the submissions for addition to the library. I would be able to do a windows version, but it would not be cross platform friendly. I could look at doing a yabasic province creator, but without a proper gui interface it would be a awkward to use.
[...]

I had already something like that planned for my own map randomizer, and I could indeed make it so it send new submitted province both to you and me, with appropriate formatting. (for myself I plan tu use XML, but if you want something already in your specific format, just send me the specs by e-mail and I will do it)

(I had also started working on a function to select starting province like you do, bu stopped working on it to focus on the editor)

You can contact me to the following e-mail address :
dominions _at_ realites.org

[Ballbarian]

Thanks Jack. I will try to put something together tonight and send it to you. The specs are basically just normal map commands, but the wild card is the random stuff that can be added (and the file naming for terrain matching).

[Jack_Trowell]

Yes, I have been thinking of a way to add you semi-random commands feature to my editor, and I think I found a way to use a similar system in XML.

It will take some work to code it, but it should be useful.

This is an exemple of a province in XML form :
(it's the central province from the map "fourmaggedon")

<PROVINCE killpop="1" poptype="61" population="45000">
<commanders name="Chalidor" mag_earth="5" mag_nature="4" unit_id="Troll King" xp="300">
<units number="35" unit_id="Troll" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Morghal" mag_earth="5" mag_water="4" unit_id="Troll King" xp="300">
<units number="25" unit_id="Troll Moose Knight" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Urgya" mag_fire="5" unit_id="Vaetti Hag" xp="300">
<units number="50" unit_id="Vaetti" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Urgyuur" mag_fire="5" unit_id="Vaetti Hag" xp="300">
<units number="25" unit_id="Wolf Rider" />
</commanders>
<terrain_types>manysites</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>nostart</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>farm</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>somewater</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>large</terrain_types>
</PROVINCE>

The same province, but instead of having all the commanders, you would have one of them chosend randomly, *and* a lone normal troll king with 5 vaettis bodyguards :

<PROVINCE killpop="1" poptype="61" population="45000">
<RANDOM>
<commanders name="Chalidor" mag_earth="5" mag_nature="4" unit_id="Troll King" xp="300">
<units number="35" unit_id="Troll" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Morghal" mag_earth="5" mag_water="4" unit_id="Troll King" xp="300">
<units number="25" unit_id="Troll Moose Knight" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Urgya" mag_fire="5" unit_id="Vaetti Hag" xp="300">
<units number="50" unit_id="Vaetti" />
</commanders>
<commanders name="Urgyuur" mag_fire="5" unit_id="Vaetti Hag" xp="300">
<units number="25" unit_id="Wolf Rider" />
</commanders>
</RANDOM>
<commanders unit_id="Troll King">
<bodyguards number="5" unit_id="Vaetti" />
</commanders>
<terrain_types>manysites</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>nostart</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>farm</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>somewater</terrain_types>
<terrain_types>large</terrain_types>
</PROVINCE>

The "<RANDOM>" tag should be usable, when I've finished coding, with any other tag to make the function generating the map code chose randomly one of the child nodes to use in plance of the random tag.

[Ballbarian]

Looks good!

If you have already downloaded SR, then you already have this, but I will paste the relevant details copied from the included readme below:

Code:

---

How to author GAN scripts (province files):

===========================================

It is assumed that you are familiar with map commands and map editing. The 

format is pretty simple for editing GAN scripts and there are just a few rules 

& suggested steps:

1. Look at existing GANs as a guide.

2. You do not need to add #nostart.  This is added automatically.

3. You do not need to add #setland or #land.  This is handled in the filename. (see below)



GAN FILENAME FLAGS:

-------------------

<Climates>

_HOT_   Hot Zone (southern map)

_CLD_   Cold Zone (northern map)

_TMP_   Temperate Zone (mid map)



<Patterns>

_IS_    ISLAND

_LK_    LAKE

_VC_    VOLCANO

_PN_    PENN

_VL_    VALLEY

_CO_    COAST

_LO_    LOST



<Treatment>

_R_     REPLACE  - (#land)    Set active prov & kill everyone in it. Used to REPLACE randomly placed units.

_A_     ADD      - (#setland) Set active prov.  Units added to existing.

_M_     MULTIPLE - More than one of a single province gan may be added to the map file.

_U_     UNIQUE   - Once a single instance of the province gan is "picked", it can not be picked again.



<Terrain>

_S/L/N_   Small/Large/Normal

_PLN_     Plains

_SEA_     Sea

_WTR_     Some water

_MNT_     Mountain

_SWP_     Swamp

_WST_     Waste

_FST_     Forest

_FRM_     Farm

_MST_     Many Sites

_DEP_     Deep

_CAV_     Cave

_FS_      Fire Site

_AS_      Air Site

_WS_      Water Site

_ES_      Earth Site

_SS_      Astral Site

_DS_      Death Site

_NS_      Nature Site

_BS_      Blood Site

_PS_      Priest Site

_EMT_     Edge Mountain



SPECIAL GAN COMMANDS:

---------------------

@<value> <command>

  ->select a random line from the following <value> lines to follow this <command>.



Example #1:

  @3 commander

  "Minotaur Lord"

  240 -- Priest

  -- no commander

   Result= "#commander 240 -- Priest" <- 1 in 3 chance to be printed in map file.



Example #2:

  @1 landname

  "Icky Swamp"

   Result= "#landname <province#> "Icky Swamp" <- 100% chance to be printed in map file.



Example #3:

  @2 

  #mag_astral 1

  #mag_fire 1

   Result= "#mag_fire 1" <- 1 in 2 chance to be printed. Note the space following "2 ".



Example #4:

  @2 units

  10 17 -- Archer

  -- no Archer

   Result= "-- no Archer" <- 1 in 2 chance to be printed. ie 50% chance of these units.



@RANDOM <command> <name or item list>

  ->select a random name or item to follow <command>.



Example #1:

  @RANDOM landname FOREST

   Result= "#landname <prov#> "Simple Woods"" <- Rnd name from DATA1 + rnd name from DATA2.

     OR

   Result= "#landname <prov#> "Ohmyg Forest"" <- Generated name + rnd name from DATA2.



Example #2:

  @RANDOM comname COMMANDER

   Result= "#comname "Kullray"" <- Generated name.



Example #3:

  @RANDOM comname COMMANDER

  @RANDOM additem HELMET

  @RANDOM additem 1HANDWEAPON

  @RANDOM additem SHIELD

  @RANDOM additem ARMORHVY

  @RANDOM additem BOOTS

  @RANDOM additem MISCITEM

   Result=  <- Random item from the named item list.

            #additem "Starshine Skullcap"

            #additem "Jade Knife"

            #additem "Weightless Tower Shield"

            #additem "Silver Hauberk"

            #additem "Boots of Stone"

            #additem "Bracers of Protection"

   (NOTE: I recommend only 1 or 2 MISC items as duplicates are possible!)

---

In a nutshell there are the flags used in the filename for pattern/terrain matching and flags for add/replace and multi/unique. Plus the following two structures:
@<value> <command>
@RANDOM <command> <name or item list>

A list of the current name & item lists can be pulled from "\LIST_CRATE\NameList.txt". The user should probably be given the option to select from the list or to enter a custom selection to allow for future additions or their own creations.

Oops, I was going to email this to you, but eh. I am a walking zombie tonight.

[Jack_Trowell]

Thanks, I should have all needed informations there.