State Union Mod <Major New Mod> <Updated 9th June 2008>

03 September 2008 - Version 2 is now available from Cliff’s servers - just follow the download link in this post and you’ll get the latest version. For information about what the latest version contains, see this post.

I’m pleased to announce my latest mod, the State Union mod.

The idea behind this mod is to increase variety, especially with regard to foreign/international relations, in the game. Basically, you get a new mission/country (Scotrasia), plus 12 new events and 10 new dilemmas. These events and dilemmas are related to membership of a State Union, like the European Union. They only apply to this mission, and will not show up on other missions.

You can download it from positech.co.uk/democracy2/ho … ionMod.zip

I plan to add more events and dilemmas to this mod in future.

There’s more information in the Readme, including installation instructions. You may like to read it. (An autoinstaller is also included).

Please add any feedback/questions/comments in this thread. Hope you enjoy it.


My original message introducing this project:

Hi,

I’m working on a special new mission and dilemma and events set. Basically, the concept is that this country is in a State Union (modelled on the EU). While you will still have control of all the policies as normal, there will be new events and dilemmas where the State Union “intervenes” if they do not like what you are doing. So, for example, if your air quality falls below a certain threshold, the SU may intervene and impose a serious fine on you for failing to comply with regulations. An example of an event could be “the State Union notices with concern that you have consistently failed to reach the required air standards as set down in regulation SU-1999/99. As a result, you have been issued with a large fine.” The result would be (obviously) a fine, and also everyone would be unhappy, but, in this particular event, also environmentalists would not be pleased. State Union interventions would also annoy the patriots. In terms of influences, as well as the obvious (air quality in this example), they could all be influenced by international relations (the State Union are more likely to take action if you have annoyed all the other members), and also by the “winning” variable, to make “interventions” more likely as the player did better, obviously increasing long-term playability, and also adding some variety, as this element of the game would only really come into play later on as you became more successful.

I think that this can be done by adding “[modules] stateunion” to the bottom of the mission file and they adding “[prereqs] stateunion” to all of the events and dilemmas - correct me if I am wrong. Obviously, if it is that easy, there would be nothing to stop you adding the “[modules]” tag to the other missions to add a new challenge to them (especially to the UK mission). It will probably take me a few days to have the first version of this ready. However, if anyone has any ideas of events or dilemmas that could be implemented for this new mission, please tell me here. Thanks.

If I’ve coded it right, you should indeed be able to do what you describe using prereqs and modules.

This is just what we need :slight_smile:.

More ‘bigger’ mods like this (and my inflation mod :stuck_out_tongue:) will make the game more deep :slight_smile:.

Good luck, and if you need any help with creating dilemmas\policies feel free to ask.

Sounds good, don’t foget to post it up :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi,

I’m having a go at creating some events for this mod. Basically they will be based around the intervention of the “State Union” (SU) when they are not happy with how things are going. It would be good if there was a State Union logo or flag to go with the events. Is there anyone here graphically minded enough to design such a logo?

Thanks.

Does it have to be like ‘wavey’ or ‘rippley’ like the others, or just a flag/Nation Logo? I could do one if its just normal. I can only make the design but someone else will have to edit it to make sure it fit the requirements to work in the game. :slight_smile:

EDIT: And by the way, does this ‘State Union’ effect all Nations in the game? Because it would be better if it just effected like ones of your choice or you joined the State Union via a dilemma which is rejectable as well as acceptable. Maybe?

Hi,

The StateUnion mod will only affect nations you choose it to affect. It will include one new nation/mission with the mod itself that will be a “member” of the State Union, and the events and dilemmas will only affect this mission. However, you will be able to very easily extend it to other missions if you choose.

As for the logo, it just needs to be an image that will come up when you have a State Union related event. It does not need to be ripply (although, thanks to Cliff, I now have the ability to make any picture ripply like the other flags, so if I had a standard logo I could easily turn it into a ripply flag). I’m thinking something along the lines of the EU flag, although really anything that looks good. It just needs to be a square jpg, preferably 256px by 256px. Thanks.

I made this but I think it is pretty rubbish, but just want to know if this is the type of idea you mean? (the olive leaf is suppose to signify peace or peace)

mediafire.com/imageview.php? … hd&thumb=4

Thanks, noachian, that’s great, but I’m wondering if it’s maybe a bit too EU? On the other hand, I do want players to draw close parallels between the two… Actually, I might have a bit of a play around with that flag/logo you’ve sent me, maybe change the colour, and then it will probably do the job. I’ll credit you in the readme.

Progress update on my mod: I’ve created eight events and one dilemma so far. I hope to have about 15 - 20 of both for release. I’m a bit stalled at the moment while I get clarification on modules and prerequisites, but once I have that, the mod should be released within the next few days.

Edit: Actually, noachian, if I am going to edit the file, is it possible for you to send it me in bitmap, as the jpg starts to look a bit messy once I start editing it. You can E-mail it to me if you want (suflag(at)thomashughes.co.uk). Thanks.

Yes I thought it was maybe a bit to ‘EU-ish’ but you can tweak with it if you want. If you want me to make a different one (one abit more origional) I’ll do that :slight_smile:

Yes I’ll send you it bitmap :slight_smile:

I’ve now done 12 events (may make it 15 for release) a flag, and a mission, and am working on making about the same number of dilemmas. Once these are done, and after a bit of testing, it should be ready to release.

Looks like your mod is coming along very well!

If you need any dilemmas done, I can do one or two.

what’s that Scotrasia place, isn’t that a mission, not a Union of which a mission is apart. How do you become or for that fact not become apart of the State Union.

(By the way, if that Scotasia is a Mission you’ve made, put that up as well so I can download it :stuck_out_tongue: )

Scotrasia is the nation that you play when you join the State Union.

At the moment, the first release will come with a new mission called Scotrasia. The country in this mission will be a part of the State Union, and all your existing nations will not be. Thus the new events and dilemmas will only occur when playing Scotrasia. Yu will not be able to withdraw from or join the State Union at run-time, although you will easily be able to change whether a mission is in the State Union by adding or removing a few lines from the bottom of the mission file.

Once I have sorted it to be played this way, I may release an alternate version, where there is a new uncancellable policy (on all missions) as the whether you want to be in the State Union or not. You will then be able to join or leave at will. The problem with this alternate version is:

(a) it would be impossible to reflect the huge economic and other unheaval that would be caused by joining or leaving the Union.
(b) I think that in the mod, State Union membership will be more likely to bring negative than positive results. The reason for this is that (negative) State Union events and dilemmas are only likely to come up when you are doing very successfully, and so it’s designed to improve the long-term playability. However, it is unlikely therefore that a player would choose to join the Union at run-time if it was optional (especially as the game progresses, as the positive benefits of State Union membership are only likely to occur when the player is doing badly at the start of the game).

Thanks for the offer. I want to get the first set done myself so that I can make sure that they are all consistent and (reasonably) balanced as a set. However, once I have released the mod, then please feel free to create events and dilemmas to mod the mod, as it were.

I’m pleased to announce that the first version of this mod is ready. I shall be releasing it on here within half an hour.

great :stuck_out_tongue:

Will it come with an auto-install, and could you put up which folder i unzip the thing into please?

OK, I’ve uploaded it and you can now download it from the first post in this thread. Hope you like it.

Where do I put the event_su flag because hte auto-installer didn’t work for me?