Invisible buildings?

[Monkwarrior]

Well, I think I read something related to this in another thread, but I'm unable to find it.

I was thinking in the possibility of defining an "invisible building" (let's say "advanced_technology"), impossible to construct, without card, that doesn't appear in battle map, but that appears through scripting. This would be the requirement for some advanced buildings for barbarian factions, acquired by spying or alliance (I cannot figure out how to make it accessible by shopping).

Could anybody give me a clue about this question?
Or any other method to obtain the same effect.

Thanks in advance.

[Epistolary Richard]

I'm not really up on how buildings work, but the impossible to construct thing can be done requiring a hidden resource which isn't anywhere on the map, I don't think buildings just added to edb appear on the battlemap unless you do some other kind of referencing.

It's the without card thing that's puzzling me. Closest to that is to have a blank, fully transparent card. If no card exists at all you just get the default barracks.

[alpaca]

Well if you want to make it accessible through shopping, you can do that with a triggered show-me script. If you posted the requirements that shoul exist before it can be bought we could probably help you.
About the card: If you don't want a card, how would the player know where he has such a building? Maybe you should create an abstract unit card, e.g. a crane to signify the acquisition of new technologies.

[Monkwarrior]

Thanks for your answers.
You probably are right, and the best way to do with cards is to have one card for the "technology" (invisible building) as the first level of the corresponding real building.
Example: building barbarian_stone_walls
levels walls_tech (invisible building) stone_wall large_stone_wall epic_stone_wall

The first level would require a non-existent hidden_resource, but the building will be created in one of these three occasions:

1- Shopping: as a request of a barbarian diplomat or as an offer of a "civilized" diplomat (would it be feasible?) The possibility to trigger one offer of this type is also interesting, but I can't imagine the required conditions. Perhaps that the civilized faction construct one level (ex. large_stone_wall), and that one diplomat is near the barbarian faction leader.

2- Spying: when a barbarian spy is inside a settlement with building_min_level large_stone_wall, there is a probability to get this technology.
I would prefer that staying several turns (5 for example) in the settlement was the requirement for getting the technology.

3- Alliance: after some years of alliance between the two factions, there is some probability of getting the technology. Perhaps more complicated requirements would be necessary.

The problem is: Where would this wall_tech building be created? Is it possible to build this technology in all the settlements of the given faction? What about the new settlements conquered after the event?
I would prefer some kind of faction_capability only attainable by one of those three methods, but I think they are hard_coded.
Other possibility is to give some trait to all the generals of that faction, enabling them to construct the building, but I don't know if a trait can be used as a requirement for a building.

As you can see, there are many doubts about this subject.

[alpaca]

Hmm I guess this would require quite a lot of rather complex scripting work including a background script and maybe some show_me events.

I'm rather adept at scripting myself so it's possible my ideas won't work, but I'll try to figure something out:

1. This is not possible like you want it. You can't edit diplomatic behaviour.

2. This is probably possible with a show-me script that triggers on CharacterTurnEndInSettlement.

3. This would be possible using a monitor_conditions checking DiplomaticStanceFromFaction and a monitor_event FactionTurnEnd that counts up a counter.

I'd suggest something different:
Check if a spy is in an advanced settlement. If he is, give the game some random percentage to fire a show-me.
This show-me would offer the player to recruit a special ancillary called "Wall Builder" for some amount of money.
You'd also run a background script that checks for every character on turn start if he is in a settlement; if he is, and has the "Wall Builder" ancillary, you'd create your building on turn start.
This would resemble the wall builder teach the locals how stone walls are built, or that he leaves some of his students there.
The clear downside on this is that you can only transfer this ancillary between spies.
You could also give the spy a special trait instead of an ancillary so that he becomes the wall engineer himself.

[Monkwarrior]

Thanks alpaca.
I will think about all those possibilities and I'll try some of them in the campaign.
Of course, I'll report here any advance in this field.

Cheers.