Utility: Province Editor v101 - Updated

[Gandalf Parker]

Did you try the Dom3minions link again? I made some changes which might have helped

[DigitalSin]

Nope, the Dom3Minions link still hates me. MediaFire works though.

[DigitalSin]

I've done a little test, just to see what its like, and its very easy to use, very well laid out and comprehensive. I'd make some actual provinces, but I'm afraid you'd just end up with 100+gem income after hacking your way through a 9f9a or somesuch monstrosity.

[Ballbarian]

Thank you for the feedback DigitalSin. It really is appreciated.

I'd make some actual provinces, but I'm afraid you'd just end up with 100+gem income after hacking your way through a 9f9a or somesuch monstrosity.

Well. Seeing the flaw is a huge step to overcoming it.
Design some provinces that are intended to be interesting but not the greatest battle in the history of dominions. Try things that you think would be thematic for a given location. Sometimes in my games I think it is a simple thing that draws my attention the most. In my current game, there is a cave province called "Nether Chasm" which contains simple cavemen, a few dogs with dark vision and a cave drake. No special magic sites or anything super powerful, but it was an interesting encounter nonetheless. Sometimes the province files only change the name of the province and it's population (some of the Faerun provinces come to mind). Every once in a while, it is nice to find a powerful location (like Eden).

Might as well give it a go since you went to so much trouble to download it.

[Gandalf Parker]

Go ahead and do any provinces you want.
I suspect that eventually the offers will get broken into different sets. Those are are only slightly changed to be more themed (suitable for MP games), and those which are more like SURPRISE! (for rarely scattered into SP games). And also theme sets such as Leif used to do (era of Vampires and Werewolves, The Horse Age, Aftermath)

[Ballbarian]

For anyone who had problems with the alternate download links, attachments appear to be working again. (Thanks Mindi!)

[Stryke11]

Changes from ver. 1 already posted: Name, made defenders tougher, unrandomized the items (thanks Ball and Gandalf!) and gave her more nature-y bodyguards in the vine ogres.

Stryke11-2_U_A_N_FST_.gan

--Description:
--First try at a unique province. Basically the idea is a powerfull enchantress has used her magic and beauty to lull a bunch of guys into her servitude so she can live like a queen. I don't know if the Ancient Oaks is the right place, but since she's so "enchanting" I wanted there to be an enchantment bonus there.

#lab
#population 5000
#poptype 50 --Militia, Lt Inf, Hvy Inf, Scout
#feature "Hall of Ancient Oaks"
#feature "Forest of Delights"

#commander 485 --Great Enchantress
#comname "Bellisima"
#additem "Thistle Mace"
#additem "Vine Shield"
#additem "Ivy Crown"
#additem "Robe of Missile Protection"
#additem "Birch Boots"
#additem "Cat Charm"
#additem "Barkskin Amulet"
#mag_nature 3
#mag_astral 1
#xp 500
#bodyguards 2 362 --Vine Ogre
#units 20 29 --Light Infantry
#units 20 39 --Heavy Infantry
#units 20 33 --Archer
#units 10 22 --Knight

[Stryke11]

Hey Ballbarian:

Can a terrain only be listed as one thing? I want a gan that can work in mountains, plains, forests, farm...pretty much everywhere but the sea, swamp, waster, and likely cave.

Also, while I get terrain, I'm not quite sure what the terrain/site box does. Also, pattern and climate confuse me...I wasn't aware each province had a climate...I thought that was based on dominion.

[Ballbarian]

The next release supports an additional flag (_OR_) which will allow your province to appear in a province with any of the selected terrain types. I have already updated SemiRandom and the Province Editor to support this, and will likely have the new versions posted by this weekend.

In Dom3, terrain values in a map file can contain flags for site types. This just means that the selected province has a greater chance of magic sites of the given type. The "many sites" flag in a province means just a higher chance of a magic site appearing in the province.

It is also of note that the Dom3 random map generator places these flags and will sometimes include an icon in the map image indicating (for example) a volcano for a fire site.

In SemiRandom, you can tell it to place your province only in provinces that contain the given site flag.

Patterns are just geographical locations that SemiRandom is able to detect in a map. So if you want your province to appear only next to large bodies of water, you would choose "Coast", if you wanted it to appear only in an isolated water province surrounded by land, you would choose "Lake".

A general description of patterns follows:
Island - land completely surrounded by water.
Lake - water completely surrounded by land.
Volcano - mountain with no mountain neighbors OR firesite.
Peninsula - land surrounded by water with only one land neighbor.
Valley - land surrounded by edgemount or mount with at least two being mountain and at least two being non-mountain.
Coast - land which borders at least one water neighbor.
Lost - land with no neighbors.


Climates are just a SemiRandom thing. The default settings in SemiRandom/RanDom are for the southern 25% of the map to be treated as Hot or tropical climate, and the northern 25% of the map to be treated as Cold or arctic climate provinces. All remaining provinces (in the middle of the map) are considered Mild or temperate.

You can also define climate bands, where there are arctic north & south poles and a central tropical equator with 2 temperate bands separating them.

The climates only affect provinces which have a climate requirement defined. So cold provinces can only be placed in cold climates, hot in hot and mild in mild. If no climate preference is selected, then the province can be placed in any of the climates.


Wow, I just gave a really long answer to a couple of simple questions. Pardon my rambling.

[Ballbarian]

Oh, and btw, I will include your province in the next release. Perfect addition. Not too hard, but still an interesting location.

I agree that is more difficult to resist the temptation to create nightmare provinces with huge rewards. I am guilty of that more often than not. Many times I start with a simple idea, and then as I am browsing the units and sites, I think, "Wow, that would be cool if I just added this & that, and oh, now the defenders need beefed up, I'll just add this guy."