Hey guys,
This is just gonna be a simple tutorial for the events screen manager which is the main screen you must use to setup any invasions from AI armies or events such as time of day change, disease outbreaks or bear invasions when using/making user maps.
It's pretty simple when you get the basics down but there seems to be some easy mistakes to make so I thought I would show you the way I do it.
Please note that this may not the most efficient way to make them work but it’s pretty simple & it always works for me.
Also note that I made the screenshots quite big as the text didn't look all that readable. hopefully it's alright.
First - Map setup:
1. Make map (this is up to you. Make it however you want
) I’ll use the one I use for testing castles & invasions. It’s not finished & pretty yet so easy on the criticism
2. Setup estates. I find that making a small estate for the AI seems to work best for me. I’ve tried it both ways but only using 1 estate with random markers(we’ll get to markers alter) seems a bit dodgy so I always make 2 estates(or how many you want if you’re gonna use a lot of different AI armies.
3. Place markers. This is very important so will elaborate a little more on this point.
Attack/invasion point: first place a marker which will be the entry point for enemy troops(
B1, this should be in the enemy estate), secondly place a marker which will be the point that the AI will move to before actually starting their attack(
B2, this can be anywhere but I like to keep both points reasonably close as AI will not attack until they get here) this will also be the point where the AI will setup a siege camp if you’ve picked siege in the invasion options!
This is a personal thing for me but I always like to place markers(
Y1 &
Y2) beside my keep, which I use to set off fireworks for when I complete my victory condition/conditions. The victory condition is directly tied to this fireworks point.(this will make more sense further down)
Screenshot of simple map with estates & markers setup.
I’ll move onto the events screen now while the marker info. is fresh in your minds.
Events Screen:
Man, I should’ve made a video of this. Gonna take a fair few screenshots & some serious writing)
(although my Scottish accent may have made the video harder to understand than the following steps…..lol)
Each invasion/siege you make, will need 2 events setup. One for a countdown timer & one for the actual invasion. You will also need a final event which will be your win condition.
First tab in scenario editor
In the scenario edit menu, make sure your map type is set to military & you have also setup some your starting goods. I won't go into that here as it's very obvious what you need to do there. Just fill in the boxes.
Event 1 - Countdown timer/icon:
1. Create new event.
2. Pick objective type.(you pick this type in order to be able to display an icon that will show your attack incoming). AKA display graph in HUD which you should check & pick an icon of your choice.
3. Make neutral.(Not sure if this matters if it’s only the countdown timer but I do this anyway)
4. Select countdown timer in the condition & click add. Also note that you should have the “on & after” & have day 0 set. (this means the countdown timer will start as soon as you place your stockpile/granary.
5. Select this from order box & choose attack day you want AI to arrive on.
6. Event complete.
Please note when you pick an objective type of event, you must have a trigger or the event will not work(in the above case, the starting of the countdown timer is the trigger)
Screenshots of completed timer events & event window:
Event 2 – Invasion/siege attack:
1. Create new event.
2. Pick standard type(you can make these objective events but you will need to set a trigger condition like I mentioned above or the attack won’t work. This would allow you not have the last event which is the victory condition but as I just said, it must have a trigger. When I used to do it this way I would set the condition of the human player to have at least 5gold coins. This seemed the simplest condition to choose) Anyway….I don’t do it that way anymore
3. Select the event to start on whatever day you want. This should match the countdown timer setting & should be set to “on” the specific day. Not on & after or you may get one everyday following that…lol…
4. Pick event condition & select start invasion from drop down menu & add this with the select button. Also make sure you pick which player to attack.
5. This will then bring up a screen with all units in the game. You then have a few options. You can either pick invasion or siege.
Invasion – A straight up attack that will head straight for your lord to try to kill him & will kill anything on their way.
Siege – AI army will head to attack marker & setup a siege camp. They will then start the attack with siege units. I always pick siege type but that’s only because I love defending from sieges…lol….
6. You can then either refine your attack to your own personal preference(by typing in the number of units you want), or you can just pick small, medium of large invasion size if have used the siege style.
7.
This is very important! You need to set the points of attack in accordance with the markers you have already placed on the map. In this certain case the initial point will be B1 & the attack point will be B2.
Screenshot of completed Siege invasion & events screen:
Event 3 - Win condition:
1. Create new event.
2. Pick objective type.
3. Choose win/victory condition.
4. Select day you win condition to kick in.(choose on & after to allow the condition to run on after target day if needed) I like to set the day about 5 days after the invasion is due to start. This gives the enemy plenty of time to get their camp up & start the attack.
5. Under condition select “enemy has no troops” & under event select “start fireworks”. Add both of these. On the right, pick what fireworks you want to display & select.
6.----->small side step. In the standard map editor tabs, you will need to go the fireworks tab & setup your markers for the source & target of your fireworks. As my example above, I have Y1 as my source & Y2 as my target. Screenshot below of both fireworks tab & event screen both setup correctly.
Screenshot of completed win condition, events screen & fireworks tab:
Ok, that’s pretty much it I think.
Hopefully your events screen looks like mine
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You can then go on to create more events such as some disease outbreaks or change the time of day. It’s all based around the same rules as above so won’t go into that. Have a play about. I’m sure you guys will work it out easy.
Here's a final screenshot of my events screen once I added some day time changes & some events.
Couple of tips/things to note:
1. Make sure you check disease “on or after” or "on" settings. Set to "on & after" & it will obviously continue until the next change or event. If you only put it to "on" it will last for one day only. You will probably want to do this if you're setting disease events. Day timing events automatically last until the next change if I remember correctly.
2. Double check everything. So many little things to check.
3. Have fun with it! You’ll get it wrong first time. That’s part of the fun
I hope that all makes sense. Please excuse me if I’ve left out anything stupid/obvious. My first guide
Leave any questions below & I’ll do my best to help out.
As I mentioned at the top, this may not be the most efficient way but it’s the way I like to do it.
I actually just found a way to look at FF’s maps so they may use a much simpler method but once you learn the above way, it can be setup in about 5mins.
Don't worry FF. i won't steal any of it!
GLHF!
