[eWip] Tech Tree Consolidation Mod, version 1.0 (1.1 compliant) unreleased

Do you mind removing [eMOD] from the title? It is to be used for mods ready for download and use. Just trying to streamline it for the users.

I like it. What general kinds of things does the Impartation tree include?

For now, Impartation does two things.

Arcane Studies - Sends your Tech guys over to the Magic guys to help them with Spell research.  For now, that translates to 25 Arcane points, but that can change.  Personally, I like the idea of a first level spell worth's of points out of the gate, so that's where I've started.  I can always break this down into 'multiple levels', i.e. the first one grants 25 points, the second one grants 30, etc. etc. later, but I like the idea of diminishing returns.

Economic Studies - Puts your Tech guys to work in the 'real world'.  For now, generates 50 gildar upon completion.  Again, can be changed as things progress.

Both of these 'Techs' can be researched in an unlimited fashion, just keep in mind that the cost to research goes up as you progress (as in other tech trees), so as it stands now it's a diminishing return (which makes sense to me).

Both of these abilities exist to simulate the 'reallocation of resources' that we see in some other games: i.e. 30% to Research, 50% to Economy, 20% to Military.  While we can't do that directly, this presents options for players in sticky situations: i.e. "If I just had some more Gildar...".

Which gives me an idea for another 'Tech' - Crafting Studies (helps building/production in some way).  Not quite sure how to implement that one yet... I'll get to it later.

Impartation should probably have a 'sister' tree under Spell/Arcane research, but I haven't worked that out yet... Spell learning is handled differently.

Just for Heavenfall, this is now an eWIP instead of an eMod.

Quick update.

After some file jujitsu (was having an issue somewhere that took most of the afternoon to track down), this now works for the Core Kingdom races (will double check later tonight).  I still want to see if I can pare down the number of files I currently have in the Mod folder, though (not that they are that big, but the less files to fix after patches the better).

Also, when testing with Porcipinee, I noticed the Alchemy Spell (25 gildar for 25 mana).  This has me thinking that Economic Studies should grant more Gildar than 50... Arcane Studies still seems about right to me though.

Here's the current ingame Empire Tech tree...

    <DisplayName>Trog Technology Tree</DisplayName>

    <!--** The Five Categories **-->
    <Category>Imperium</Category>
    <Category>Conquest</Category>
    <Category>Sorcery</Category>
    <Category>Domination</Category>
    <Category>Cooperation</Category>


    <!-- ** Empire Conquest ** -->
    
    <Tech>Garrisons_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Armies_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Warrior_Temples_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Warrior_Castes_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Teams_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Zealots_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Shocks_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Raids_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Advanced_Tracking_Trogs</Tech>

   
    <Tech>Tools_Of_War_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Superior_Equipment_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Defense_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>City_Defenses_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>General_Armor_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Battle_Armor_Trogs</Tech>
                            <Tech>Castles_Trogs</Tech>
                                <Tech>Master_Armor_Trogs</Tech>
                                    <Tech>Refined_Armor_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Offense_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Siege_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Mounted_Warfare_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Weaponry_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Crushing_Weapons_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Smithing_Weapons_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Doom_Weapons_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Weapons_Of_Slaying_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Vengeful_Weapons_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Dread_Weapons_Trogs</Tech>
                            <Tech>Refined_Weaponry_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Projectile_Weapons_Trog</Tech>

    <Tech>Navies_Trogs</Tech>


<!-- ** Imperium ** -->

    <Tech>Harvesting_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Agriculture_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Refined_Agriculture_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Mining_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Refined_Mining_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Wood_Working_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Refined_Wood_Working_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Proper_Living_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Bartering_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Money_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Trade_Centers_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Exchanges_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Refined_Economics_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Learning_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Majesty_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Sages_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Refined_Majesty_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Refined_Living_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Academies_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Refined_Learning_Trogs</Tech>



    <!-- ** Sorcery ** -->


    <Tech>Shard_Harvesting_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Spellbook_Earth_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Spellbook_Air_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Spellbook_Fire_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Spellbook_Water_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Enchantment_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Spellbook_Summoning_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Master_SpellBooks_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Book_Of_Mastery_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Refined_Arcania_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Shard_Domination_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Magical_Forging_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Sion_Temple_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Arcane_Armor_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Magical_Equipment_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Spell_Mastery_Trogs</Tech>
            <!--<Tech>Spell_Books_Trogs</Tech>-->

<!-- ???? -->
    <Tech>Refined_Enchantment_Trogs</Tech>
    <Tech>Shard_Mastery_Trogs</Tech>


<!-- ** Cooperation ** -->
    
    <Tech>Reunion_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Legacy_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>ParidensDemise_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>TheOtherSide_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Trading_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Refined_Trading_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Negotiations_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Dynasties_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Persuasion_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Treaties_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Influencing_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Alliances_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Refined_Diplomacy_Trogs</Tech>

<!-- ???? -->
    <Tech>Indoctrination_Trogs</Tech>


    <!-- ** Domination ** -->

    <Tech>Morrigans_Notes_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Umbers_Diary_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Curgens_Journal_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Lost_Resources_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Legend_Of_The_Bane_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Kir_Tions_Codex_Trogs</Tech>
                            <Tech>Refined_Recruiting_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>Mapping_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Destinys_Scrolls_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Myth_Making_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Treasure_Hunting_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Plundering_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Demon_Lairs_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Master_Quests_Trogs</Tech>

    <Tech>The_Old_Order_Trogs</Tech>
        <Tech>Order_of_Zaleth_Trogs</Tech>
            <Tech>Keepers_of_the_Telenanth_Trogs</Tech>
                <Tech>Order_of_Islidar_Trogs</Tech>
                    <Tech>Keepers_of_the_Faith_Trogs</Tech>
                        <Tech>Order_of_the_Emerald_Trogs</Tech>
                            <Tech>Keepers_of_Avarice_Trogs</Tech>
                                <Tech>Order_of_Draginol_Trogs</Tech>

The Empire Magic tree is rather small, which has me pausing for a second.  I'm thinking of moving some of Cooperation into Magic (the Reunion tree), and not sure about Trading and Negotiations...

Not sure what I'd rename the Domination tree... maybe Dominion?  Acquisition?  Procurement? Exploitation? Things that make you go hmmm...

I may have this done by tomorrow, though.

I'm about to take the Empire files for a test drive.  While I'm Starting/Quitting/Restarting/Quitting/Restarting... if you could give me some feedback on something:

Currently, the Empire Tree has 3 starting techs in each of Cooperation/Domination, while the Kingdom Tree only had 2 of each.  I don't like the idea of 6 choices in the initial Consolidated tree aesthetically, so I'm thinking of 'mirroring' the Empire progression for the extra two techs (i.e. add a prerequisite for techs 5 & 6, so they appear one step later).

Also, the Empire currently has one additional level in Notable Locations.  The Old Order raises Notable Locations (GOODIEHUT) as well as the other 5 Techs.  By researching all of these techs, the Empire ends up with N6, while the Kingom only qualifies for N5... is this a problem?

Oh, and Cooperation/Domination are being merged into Exploitation.  Haven't named the new 'Cross' tech yet, although Indoctrination has a nice ring to it...

Enlightenment was a choice I briefly considered, but that sounds so Kingdom...

This mod has been released.

Zip file here:

ConsolidatedTechTrees1.0

Feedback is very much appreciated!!!

Roadmap for the next release.

1) The descriptions under Empire for CoreFlavorText.xml are lacking.  Kingdom has five levels of response, Empire only has two.  I'd like to add additional description levels to Empire just for flavor.

2) The Empire Tech tree seems a little dysfunctional, so I'd like to streamline it in some way.

3) Looking into restructuring Item availability.  Specifically, making items available upon completion of a structure, rather than upon completion of a tech.  This also ties into weapons/armor research/weapons/armor balancing...

4) Making the 'Starting' spell lists (Mobility, Enchantment, etc.) available for research.

5) Removing the Elemental Spell Lists (Fire, etc.) from the research tree, instead making these lists available once an element is harvested.  Or perhaps making harvesting of said resource a prerequisite.

6) Thinking REAL hard about the Magic tree.  I actually like the idea of moving spell list research over to the Arcane/Spells realm, removing it entirely from Tech research.  This would go hand in hand with perhaps reducing Spell research costs (because of the eight or ten new things to research).  Remaining items could be moved around into other trees, or the Magic tree repurposed in some way.  First I need to look over the Spell Research structure, however...

Quick update for this mod.

First off, on the above ideas:

1-3) On the backburner for the moment

4) Making Mobility, Enchantment, Combat and Terraforming available for research.  Done, although I haven't checked to see what happens if you've already picked these spell lists in the Sov creation tree.  I've accomplished this by creating a new list (KeySpellBooks), which points to 'spells' that give you the associated spell lists, plus a cantrip. 

The cantrip is a low power spell that can augment your Sovereign in a small way (example: +1 to Attack for 5 turns, 1 Mana to cast).  This gives Sovs a unique boost over normal units (these spells are Self only), and allow the Spell List Icon in your spellbook to continue to be useful i.e. not just occupying space).

5) Playing around with Spell Lists tied to Shards now.  Haven't decided yet if you'll just gain the list automatically upon successful harvesting, or if this will unlock a 'spell list spell' for Arcane Research.  Thinking...

6)  Haven't decided yet what to do with what's left of the Magic tree (after spell lists are removed).

Sooo, going forward:

a) This mod is 'broken', in that you won't be able to build some structures currently (noticed this today, my bad).  As I am planning to redo some of these anyways, that isn't necessarily a problem.  You can still download it and see what I've done so far, but I would not recommend using it for playing purposes until I upload an updated .zip file.  The baseline changes have been done on my end, I just need to playtest real quick to make sure everything is fixed.  You may be better off waiting for my more extensive changes that are being worked on now.

b. Once the 'hotfix' release is posted, I'll upload the Spell List Migration part of this mod next.  Should be in the next day or two.

c) This mod will include a 'fast start' option, which gives each capital +1 Materials/Tech/Arcane per turn, built into the Beacon Of Hope/Tower of Civilization structures.  This should help a bit with any 'famine' situations that players may encounter, and will make capitals that much more important.

d) After I have migrated the Spell Lists, I'll be working on Materials/Weapons/Armors next.  Essentially, this will tie the availability of various weapons and armor to specific structures.  Equipment will be available anywhere in your kingdom as long as you've built at least one forge somewhere, unless I figure out how to 'check' to see if a specific city has the structure in question.  Once this part of the mod is incorporated, I'll be renaming this mod, as it will have become more of a top down redesign at that point...

Hey guys.  And HOLEY THREAD BUMP JANUSK!

I started tinkering with this again today.  I found a coding glitch that was causing an issue with my Amarian2 tech tree, so it's working better now.

I set this aside a while ago when we kept having revisions, and changes to the underlying mechanics, plus then there was E:FE, and now E:LH...

Interestingly, the Amarian2 tech tree files seems to be E:WOM 1.40 compliant (at least they still show up properly), although I haven't playtested everything as of yet.

I don't know at this moment what I plan to do with this mod, although it still interests me.  It sounds like we still have a few E:WOM players out there occasionally, and I need to research some of the 'final' E:WOM mods to see what Heavenfall and everyone else arrived at before E:FE.

If there is interest in this concept, I wouldn't mind trying to implement it/finish it as a coding exercise.  I'm now a little more comfortable with .xml than I was when I was working with this last.  Plus, as noted above, there are a few questions r.e. relocating spell lists and such that would need to be answered.

If nothing else, it's distracting me while we wait for E:FE 0.85...

OK, I've been working on the new tech tree and such a bit.  I have it working as it should, and am now digging through ALL of the other files trying to fix anything that isn't showing up.  Several items files, kingdom improvement files, and such are all inter-related with the tech files, so it's taking a while. Essentially, I have to add code to each item/structure/etc. mentioning the new tech tree, otherwise the game won't find this stuff under the new tree.

I found it necessary to rename the techs (from _Amarian to _'New Race Name') for the unique tech tree, as I didn't want all of the Kingdom races using the same exact tech tree, and where I changed the orders/interdependencies of techs, I couldn't just re-use the old names, as this would have disabled the old tech trees in the process.

Plus, my tech tree is 1.1 era, and I'm sure a few things were added between 1.1 and 1.4 that I'll need to look over.  Sooo, this ended up being a LOT more in depth than I had thought going in, so it's more of a 'top to bottom' mod at this point.

I'll have to compare notes between LH and WOM, to study the changes in depth, and see which I like more.  Right now, I'm leaning towards WOM as I like a few of the conventions that were abandoned in later versions.  However, the game plays COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY between 1.0 and 1.4 (crashing aside), and as I liked the feel/pacing of 1.0, well that's a whole other can of worms.  Plus I couldn't reactivate mana pools even if I wanted to under 1.4, but that's a side issue.

Plugging away!