Random Question about a Custom Race...

I am toying around with the custom race options in TA, and wanting to recreate some of my old ones, but have much more potential thanks to the various editors. I had a random thought though:

 

Is there anyway to make a custom race (for enemy AI purposes) completely non-diplomatic? I am recreating an old enemy race, and would like, if possible, to set them so that they cannot be communicated with. Is there a way to do this, such as editing the files for the race in some way?

10,239 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top

No. You could remove all Diplomacy techs from this race, preventing it from talking to others. However, as long as the other races have Universal Translator, they will always be able to talk to it.

Reply #2 Top

You could limit all its techs to be untradeable, but once again, it can still purchase techs from other civs as long as they contact it. Completely cutting them off seems impossible without extensive messing with the hardcoded game.

Reply #3 Top

Hmm... alright then, thanks guys. Any idea how to minimize their ability to trade techs and be willing to deal with others, or am I out of luck there as well? =\ Other than setting their techs to untradeable, of course

.

Reply #4 Top

I'm not certain, if the AI takes the Diplomacy-ability into account when trading amongst itself, but I would guess so. Therefore, removing all Diplomacy-techs from this race would be my first choice, because a low Diplo-ability will make all trades much more expensive. You could also further reduce their Diplo-ability by editing their .raceconfigxml. Just open the file in a text editor, search for Diplomacy, and put in a negative number.

Another possibility is to reduce the WillingnessToTrade value of all techs for this race. However, this will be a lot of work. Plus, there is no guarantee it will work, because there are several more things that factor into how willing the AI is to trade something (AIValue, type of tech, current relations, militarisation, etc.).

Reply #5 Top

Remove Universal Translator from their tech tree, and turn off Tech Trading in the setup screen.  Be aware that you are *severely* handicapping a Race though as they will not be able to engage in Trade, Research/Economic Treaties, Peace Treaties (an important issue), getting others to declare War, etc etc.   

You may be better off altering a Minor Race (there's a modding guide floating around on here) as they don't engage in any major Diplomatic issues, at least not at the level the Major Races do. 

Reply #6 Top

^

actually that would be an interesting thing to do in ToA with all races, and then seeing how well the different techtrees + ai personalities play out