Tool for calculating ideal place for capital

**asilv** · 12-02-2004, 13:36

I don't think this has been posted here before...

d0t has made a cool tool to test where to put your capital city to minimize unrest penalties.

Originally Posted by "d0t" at totalwar.com forums

i made a javascript script to calculate the best choice for a capitol

you can also check other cities on how they influence unrest in the other settlement.

the url is: bbb.unknownnet.com/rtw/bestcap.htm

it was made by using php-gd to map all the black pixels in map_regions.tga to cities using descr_regions.txt, and saving the coordinates of the cities.
used that data to get version 1 done, which just took the shortest average distance as the best city.
later on i figured out the formula for unrest ( distance-10, rounded to the nearest 5% ) and added the fancy % signs and try other cities.

Original thread at .com forums by d0t

**Grumfoss** · 12-02-2004, 13:51

Cool Tool. I have been having trouble in moving my Capital to the right region for my empire, and now I can get it right

**Didz** · 12-03-2004, 00:46

I'm surprised its needed. Surely the best place for your capital is as near the centre of your empire as possible.

What more does this tool do?

**Medieval Assassin** · 12-03-2004, 01:29

It seems straigforward...I don't think it does do anything else.

**therother** · 12-03-2004, 07:09

Originally Posted by Didz

I'm surprised its needed. Surely the best place for your capital is as near the centre of your empire as possible.

Not necessarily. Corruption is also affect by distance to capital, so it will usually be a good idea to have your capital near your richest cities, even if that makes some poorer cities unhappier.

**Didz** · 12-03-2004, 10:30

Originally Posted by therother

Not necessarily. Corruption is also affect by distance to capital, so it will usually be a good idea to have your capital near your richest cities, even if that makes some poorer cities unhappier.

So, does this tool tkae such things into consdieration. i.e. Do you have to enter the financial details of all your cities into it?

**therother** · 12-03-2004, 16:47

Originally Posted by Didz

So, does this tool tkae such things into consdieration. i.e. Do you have to enter the financial details of all your cities into it?

Not that I'm aware.

**therother** · 12-03-2004, 16:55

These are some discrepancies between the tool and the game - Tarentum is the capital.

Code:

Name	X	Y	dx	dy	dist	Game%	Calc%	Difference	Full Name
									
Antioch	200	55	86	-8	86.37	80	75	-5	Antioch
Londin	57	128	-57	65	86.45	80	75	-5	Londinium
Alesia	66	106	-48	43	64.44	50	55	5	Alesia
Alexan	178	19	64	-44	77.67	65	70	5	Alexandria
Aquin	116	101	2	38	38.05	25	30	5	Aquincum
Arreti	91	80	-23	17	28.60	15	20	5	Arretium
Capua	102	68	-12	5	13.00	0	5	5	Capua
Cherso	175	95	61	32	68.88	55	60	5	Chersonesos
Cirta	55	41	-59	-22	62.97	50	55	5	Cirta
Corin	139	50	25	-13	28.18	15	20	5	Corinth
Messa	106	51	-8	-12	14.42	0	5	5	Messana
Patavi	94	90	-20	27	33.60	20	25	5	Patavium
Salona	118	75	4	12	12.65	0	5	5	Salona
Segest	105	90	-9	27	28.46	15	20	5	Segestica
Sinope	190	80	76	17	77.88	65	70	5	Sinope
V_Gothi	111	136	-3	73	73.06	60	65	5	Vicus Gothi

The tool seems to be underestimating the grace distance as 12.5, whereas it seems to be ~15. Anything within 15 will have no penalty. That accounts for Capua & Messana.

The rest seem to be on the boundaries between two levels, e.g. 77.88 is rounded to 70 by the calculator, but is 65 in the game.

Edit: Looking at the data, it looks as if any city over 85 (or 86 perhaps) is rounded up to 80% penalty.

**therother** · 12-04-2004, 22:47

Just a quick note on this excellent tool - the method of calculating the penalty is a little flawed at the moment. To resolve a couple of the problems, save the tool locally, and then edit the hmtl file in a text editor.

You want to replace this:

Code:

  //dst =  5 * Math.round( ( edst - 10 ) / 5 );
  dst =  5 * Math.floor( ( edst - 10 ) / 5 );

  if(dst < 0)  dst = 0;
  if(dst>=75) dst = 80;

with this:

Code:

  dst =  5 * Math.round( ( edst - 10 ) / 5 );

  if(edst < 15)  dst = 0;
  if(edst>=86) dst = 80;

That should resolve a few of the issues, but unfortunately not all.

**R3dD0g** · 12-05-2004, 01:06

It looks like that code has already been replaced. Is the url above the same as the one that was posted over at the com?

Thanks for the heads up.

**therother** · 12-05-2004, 01:12

Originally Posted by R3dD0g

It looks like that code has already been replaced.

Yes, d0t switched to the code above shortly after I posted it here and linked to it on the .com. So you won't need to make any changes if you download it now.

Is the url above the same as the one that was posted over at the com?

Yes, I believe it is.