Can you load a hotseat campaign save?

[Dooz]

Game crashes when I try to load a save made during a hotseat campaign. Is there a particular method to do this, or is it not possible, or is it just me?

[Gigantus]

You would have to load it in hot seat mode I suppose as the save file will contain info unique to hot seat mode and thus will be incompatible with the regular game mode.

[Dooz]

I didn't think I saw a load option after clicking hotseat from the main menu, but maybe I missed it... Or did you mean load the save while already in a running hotseat campaign? In which case, I'm outta luck cause my hope was to be able to stop and pick back up later instead of fearing a crash or having to let it run for 6+ hours at a time to get deep enough into a campaign to see stuff I need to see.

But I'll give the hotseat starting screen a closer look for a load option after I stop the current sim.

[Gigantus]

There is no 'resume' option in the hot seat set up afaik as it goes directly to the faction selection screen. You will have to start a campaign and then use the in game loading option.
I thought there is an option in the CFg file to load a certain save file at the start of a hotseat campaign but as it turns it only designates a directory for the save file:

gamename = hotseat_gamename            # sub directory name for hotseat save games

[Dooz]

Oh right, start a hotseat just to use for loading a previous one, thanks.

[Gigantus]

One is glad to be of service

If you have any other general hot seat questions best get in touch with the guys here.

[Dooz]

One more question, and it's specific to the mod so can't ask there. Also, it's oddly specific to you, Gigantus, lol.

Is there a way to select "The New Guys" (or maybe it's "The Big Guy") as my hotseat faction? Idea being to select the least intrusive and potentially most stable faction which is more or less guaranteed to survive longer than others so I can see the world unfold with true AI instead of initially selected faction always being hampered for some reason. Ideally as a starting faction selection, but if that's not possible just being able to control f_ would be okay. Though that might still leave the initially selected faction at the same disadvantage.

[Gigantus]

That Easter egg of mine in EBII is a proof of concept for a playable horde. It's a single character with no army or a settlement and he can't recruit or build anything. Rather pointless trying to play him

If you just want to watch the game develop he will however be ideal as he will have no interaction. You can simply move the faction (f_belgai) into the playable section in the descr_strat file. Or use 'control' in hot seat mode.

[Dooz]

Oh my, this is perfect! My current campaign sim was with Pritanoi as starting faction, the closest to isolated one I could think of. Rome was always a disaster when I picked them, were nearly destroyed every time within around 400-500 turns. As Prit, Rome is doing fine.

But this will be ideal, will start up a new sim soon. Hopefully the descr_strat edit makes the faction choosable from the hotseat campaign start screen. I wanna assume that's what you mean by making it playable, but don't wanna get my hopes up before seeing for myself.

Thanks again, "Big Guy"

[Dooz]

Aw it crashes. At least when I move f_belgai from under nonplayable to the bottom of the playable list near the top of the file. Is there anything else I need to edit to make it work, or am I outta luck?

Edit: Wait! I deleted the "undiscovered" line and it works! Wooo

And how's this for an unanticipated added benefit. Turns go by way faster now without having to go through the formerly player faction's turn (even sped up with space bar). I'm on turn 60 at 42 minutes in. It took over 12 hours to get to turn 550 last time. Things might slow down as factions expand and accounting for hording and all, but still. Having pure AI development and faster turns is so huge for testing.

[Gigantus]

Yup, the 'undiscovered' line was there to totally exclude the faction from the game, like the Aztecs in the default game. Can't remember if I 'froze' the AI for it as well, but that won't matter if you play the faction yourself.

[Dooz]

Well, not playing it, setting it to AI control to let the campaign run and taking control back once in a while to stop and look around. He hasn't moved yet, so maybe it is frozen? Or would having started as the faction or taking control at all override that setting or something. In any case, working great so far

[Gigantus]

Most likely frozen as well - although there isn't anywhere he go.

Here is an example how we used this 'auto hotseat' method to track empire developments.

[Dooz]

Nice, yup I'm stopping for map development checks and screenshots every hundred turns on this one. I've simmed so many campaigns like this to test out various tweaks over the years, but they all feel wasted now since I could have had the real deal testing with this trick.

Also, I'm running the turns with fow left on lately because I think fow off actually turns it off for the AI too, and I want a pure test more akin to what a real campaign would be like. In regular campaign play, I often see AI units run into other units or settlements and have their path blocked with the green travel line getting cut short, then correcting for it the next turn. I watched a whole lot of AI movement lately with fow off, and that never happened. Even with long distances traveled, their paths were perfectly calculated to sidestep any obstructions. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but now unless I specifically want to sit down and watch AI movements on a given turn (having to turn on follow AI for that), I just leave fow on. Then I reload the save from the previous turn so AI never got to "see" the world with fow off and taint the experiment :p

[Gigantus]

I only turn the fog off for the screenshots as it slows down turn processing due to all the visible movement otherwise, even with 'follow' turned off. I don't think it matters to the AI whether fog is on or not.

[Dooz]

Any particular reason you think it doesn't? Of course if I see even one instance of AI having it's path blocked with fow off (excluding a hidden army/ambush situation), I'll know my theory is bunk. But going from running into towns all the time to never is something I can't reconcile with there being no difference. Maybe it's happened and I've missed it, but I'll keep looking

[Gigantus]

I honestly have never seen an AI army running into another one, but then it's difficult to observe that anyhow with the FoW on. On the other hand their armies seem to make bee lines to mine when they have an overwhelming strength.

[Dooz]

Really... Well I assume (and sometimes know because they were discovered) they have spies around when they make pointed movements to me for attack and whatnot. But it's strange you've never seen an AI's path blocked and cut short since it seems like such a common occurrence to me. And of course the only cases of that I'm seeing with fow on are either on the peripheries of my own borders and watchtowers, or where I have agents or units out in the world in the course of regular play (and show AI movement on). Idunno!

[Dooz]

Uh oh, The Big Guy died lol

Spoiler for game over: 

I was hoping to get to 1000 turns but was afraid this might happen. My last actually played campaign went 800 turns and I remembered seeing the message that this faction was destroyed not too long before the end there and thinking, huh that's weird. Happened around turn 740 (ai turns were apparently still passing behind the scroll) so there's probably some consistency to when it happens. Is it possible to extend his lifespan to make sure he last even longer? What file would I need to edit if so?

I made a save at this point and am actually able to load and AI is still going. But the experiment might be tainted now because I toggled fow off and AI had a couple of turns without me realizing it (if my theory is correct about fow mattering). Also, I wouldn't be able to stop the game to take screenshots now anyway because don't want to take control of a faction and ruin its scripting and stuff.

[Gigantus]

1000 turns = 83 years + 30 years starting age = 113 years

You will need to spawn a family member after a number of rounds to provide an heir if you wish to extend the 'life' of your test. See the formatting of the spawn in the timurids spawn:

        spawn_army 
            faction mongols
            character    Jebe, named character, age 30, x 292, y 166, family 
            traits EasternWarlord 3
            unit        Mongol Bodyguard        exp 6 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
            --- and so forth ---
            end