AI autopilot command

[Publius Quirinus]

I remember a while ago there was an explanation on how to make it so that the AI plays for the player as well (i.e. when it's the player's turn the AI plays it like another faction). I sort of remember it involved putting a -ai suffix to the mod shortcut, but I tried that and it hasn't worked beyond preventing scrolls from opening in-game.

Can anyone tell me? I've been thinking of, among other things, allowing the AI to make a mess of the Romans or the Seleucids for a while before taking manual control for a more unique game.

[DimeBagHo]

Adding -ai to the shortcut is all you need to do, but IIRC you have to start the campaign in ai mode, so you can't just load a normal campaign, and once started as an ai campaign there is no way to change the campaign back to a normal campaign.

[CaesarVincens]

I know that End of Days 2 uses a script to do what you want (AI runs the faction for a specified amount of time). You should look at how they did that.

[DimeBagHo]

Good to know CV. I tried out something like that a couple of years back but never got it to work right.

[Publius Quirinus]

Adding -ai to the shortcut is all you need to do, but IIRC you have to start the campaign in ai mode, so you can't just load a normal campaign, and once started as an ai campaign there is no way to change the campaign back to a normal campaign.

Ah, that's a pity. Oh well, it was worth a try.

I know that End of Days 2 uses a script to do what you want (AI runs the faction for a specified amount of time). You should look at how they did that.

I do remember that... hm. Thanks. I will check it out.

[CaesarVincens]

You're welcome. The EoD team has some pretty neat stuff, definitely worth checking out for ideas.

[Boriak]

Can anyone tell me? I've been thinking of, among other things, allowing the AI to make a mess of the Romans or the Seleucids for a while before taking manual control for a more unique game.

Yes, that would be a good challenge.

[Publius Quirinus]

I have found a year jump script for vanilla BI by Epistolary Richard, which is pretty similar to the EoD2 one. It requires setting the number of years you want to jump beforehand (before you start up a game) but you can play it after the autopilot lapses. It's amazing, jumping 40+ years into the game really makes for a different experience, I started a game as the WRE in 409AD with Italy and Gaul under barbarian control, great fun. Also, you get more characterful family members with long trait lists. The only limit is the Slav emergence at turn 93. I have tried to port it to XGM, but to no avail, I must be doing something wrong. But I imagine a fairly experienced modder could do it in no time.

[CaesarVincens]

Can you upload the script and export_descr_advice?

[Publius Quirinus]

The files are here: http://www.disko.co.uk/files/bi_extra_hordes_and_factions_v1_3.zip

Credits to professorspatula

If you mean what I added:

;------------------------------------------ ERYearJump




;------------------------------------------
AdviceThread ERYearJump_seleucid_Thread
    GameArea Campaign

    Item ERYearJump_seleucid_Text_01
        Uninhibitable
        Verbosity  0 
        Threshold  1 
        Attitude Normal
        Presentation Default
        Title ERYearJump_Text_01_Title
        Script scripts\show_me\ERYearJump_seleucid.txt
        Text ERYearJump_Text_01_Text1

;------------------------------------------

And the script itself

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;       WELCOME TO YEAR JUMP                         ;;;
;;; Follow the instructions below                      ;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

script
console_command control slavs

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;       BEFORE YOU LAUNCH THE GAME                   ;;;
;;;   Input the _turn_ number you want to jump to      ;;;
;;;   (2 turns in a year) in place of the '5' below    ;;;
;;;                                                    ;;;
;;;  - number cannot exceed 93 (Slavs emerge)          ;;;
;;;  - if your own faction or Sassanids are destroyed  ;;;
;;;     then it will not work, reload campaign         ;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;    DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ABOVE HERE               ;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

;;; INSERT DESIRED TURN NUMBER IN LINE BELOW
while I_TurnNumber < 50


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;       DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW HERE            ;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
end_while
console_command control seleucid
wait 3
console_command control seleucid

monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < -50000
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < -40000
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < -30000
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < -20000
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < -10000
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnEnd FactionIsLocal
and Treasury < 0
console_command add_money 10000
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
monitor_event FactionTurnStart FactionIsLocal
and Treasury > 0
set_counter loop 1
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
while I_CompareCounter loop < 1
end_while
end_script

I just changed the BI faction name to the xgm one, in this case I modified "ERYearJump_huns.txt". Don't know what the slav line does, so I left it.

[CaesarVincens]

Ah, the part about the slavs makes it so you don't control any living faction. The EoD II script probably works in a similar way. If I do end up working on it at all and if I get it to work, I'll be sure to let you know.

[DimeBagHo]

I had a quick play around with it and I got it to work by doing the following:

(1) Add this stuff to the end of XGM_Campaign_Script.txt. The romans_scipii bit should remain unchanged. Change the '50' to whatever number of turns you want to skip. Change 'seleucid' to the faction you are playing.

    console_command control romans_scipii

    while I_TurnNumber < 50
    end_while
    console_command control seleucid
    wait 3
    console_command control seleucid

(2) Replace the romans_scipii entry in descr_strat.txt with this. To keep things tidy you should also transfer their two starting regions to another faction and set up garrisons, but this isn't strictly necessary.

faction	romans_scipii, comfortable caesar
dead_until_resurrected
re_emergent
denari	10000

When you start the campaign it will run for the number of turns you specified and then stop. When I tried it I had to save the game and load it again to regain control of the Selecids, but everything seemed to be working fine after that. Also you might want to play with loyalty off - bad things will probably happen if the Romans have a region go over to the Roman rebels.

[Publius Quirinus]

A couple of questions, do I add these in 'XGM_Campaign_Script.txt' in addition to the original script? It's in a file of its own in show_me under 'ERYearJump_seleucid.txt'. Also, do I need to make any changes to 'export_descr_advice' etc.? Thanks. =]

[DimeBagHo]

You don't need the original script and using this method you don't need to make any changes to export_descr_advice.

You can find XGM_Campaign_Script.txt in the campaign folder along with descr_srat.txt. The main campaign is in: [rtw]xgm\Data\world\maps\campaign\[imperial_campaign/barbarian_invasion/Alexander]

[Publius Quirinus]

Just did a test run, set it to jump 100 turns... but Seleucids got wiped out about 90+ turns in. Dang. Should really try with less turns.

[Publius Quirinus]

I went for 60 turns (30 years) and just managed to catch the Seleucids just barely hanging on: I had Ipsus, Ephesus, Harmozia, Charax and Arbela left, and only Ipsus not actually under siege.

It was a little hairy for the first few turns - the Armenians, Parthians, Ptolemaics and Baktrians were all at war with me, I had to match levy phalangites (often undermanned) against machimoi phalangites and the like in city fights. Greek hoplites were particularly irritating because they would smash through the pikes and my levy phalanx would try to turn to the side (facing the walls), getting butchered in the process. This is particularly bad for this scenario because I was broke, and so could not recruit anything. Another thing that made it difficult was the fact that I had just come back from a stint in vanilla BI.... I quickly relearned that being good at using cavalry in vanilla =/= being good at using cavalry.


I think I've gotten things mostly sorted out though. I got a surplus by exterminating Side, and the Indie Greeks are my ally (for now). I got ceasefires and trade rights from all my enemies but the Ptolemaics. I've also gotten Antioch back, so it should be a lot easier for me from now. Pontus is neutral, as is Macedon.

Definitely a fun experience. I would guess a horde campaign with the beginning decade or two under AI autopilot would also be interesting.

[Boriak]

Does this work with the AI bonuses turned off? It seems to me the script is dormant if they are off.

Do I have to remove the added parts from the script between saving and reloading the game?

Also, I didn't find the line in descr_strat.txt that would start with "faction romans_scipii". There were a lot of lines that started with "sub_faction". What am I looking for?

I want to try trick this with Gauls. Is the Vanilla game name different or are the XGM Gauls also Gauls in Vanilla?

[Publius Quirinus]

Does this work with the AI bonuses turned off? It seems to me the script is dormant if they are off.

They definitely do, I play on half of reduced bonuses and it worked for me. Don't know about the details though, modding noob here.

[DimeBagHo]

Does this work with the AI bonuses turned off? It seems to me the script is dormant if they are off.

It should work, and I recommend using reduced bonuses. Otherwise your own faction is likely to be swamped while on auto-pilot.

Do I have to remove the added parts from the script between saving and reloading the game?

No, the script only runs once at the start of the campaign anyway, so there's no need to remove anything later.

Also, I didn't find the line in descr_strat.txt that would start with "faction romans_scipii". There were a lot of lines that started with "sub_faction". What am I looking for?

It should definitely be in there around line no. 1724.

I want to try trick this with Gauls. Is the Vanilla game name different or are the XGM Gauls also Gauls in Vanilla?

The internal faction names are the same as vanilla except for 'romans_senate' which has been changed to 'slavs' (for reasons relating to the way that the emergent factions code works).

[Boriak]

Well, I tried with Gaul but they got killed somewhere in between and time just kept going until I finally quit the game. I will try again, this time with Germania.