Adding More Ability Points

[Doctor Proteus]

Is there a way to add more Ability points when creating/editing civilizations? I have been contemplating the possibility of making 3-4 Abilities standard for civilizations in my game to further flesh them out.

[grubbie]

Yes, the abilities civs have (as well as what those abilities do) are defined in the xml. You can copy that xml file and place it in your mods folder in the same file path and add more abilities to a race. Make sure you are looking in the DLC folder and then in the crusade dlc for the xml. I believe crusade's xml itself overwrites much of the base games xml similar to mods.

[Airmaster]

Originally posted by grubbie:

Yes, the abilities civs have (as well as what those abilities do) are defined in the xml. You can copy that xml file and place it in your mods folder in the same file path and add more abilities to a race. Make sure you are looking in the DLC folder and then in the crusade dlc for the xml. I believe crusade's xml itself overwrites much of the base games xml similar to mods.

I do not think that is what the OP meant. He wants to add more ability points to be able to choose more abilities when he creates his civ or faction.

One way I have found is to select an ability and choose a negative impact in that ability of either minus 1 or 2 which will add 1 or 2 points, ( depending on the negative impacts of the ability you choose ) to use for another ability.

Hope this makes sense.

[runifoc]

Try Gauntlet's Race Mod (GRM). Ability points for custom races are increased from 2 to 4. It also includes over 20 custom races and over 15 minor races that start with colony ships. GRM is too big for the Workshop, but you can download if from Nexus. See http://www.nexusmods.com/galacticcivilizations3/mods/18/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fgalacticcivilizations3%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D18%26preview%3D&pUp=1

[Doctor Proteus]

Originally posted by grubbie:

Yes, the abilities civs have (as well as what those abilities do) are defined in the xml. You can copy that xml file and place it in your mods folder in the same file path and add more abilities to a race. Make sure you are looking in the DLC folder and then in the crusade dlc for the xml. I believe crusade's xml itself overwrites much of the base games xml similar to mods.

I'll give this a try, thanks. Though I was hoping for a way to simply add the points, which could then be spent in the civ creation menu.

Originally posted by Airmaster:

Originally posted by grubbie:

Yes, the abilities civs have (as well as what those abilities do) are defined in the xml. You can copy that xml file and place it in your mods folder in the same file path and add more abilities to a race. Make sure you are looking in the DLC folder and then in the crusade dlc for the xml. I believe crusade's xml itself overwrites much of the base games xml similar to mods.

I do not think that is what the OP meant. He wants to add more ability points to be able to choose more abilities when he creates his civ or faction.

One way I have found is to select an ability and choose a negative impact in that ability of either minus 1 or 2 which will add 1 or 2 points, ( depending on the negative impacts of the ability you choose ) to use for another ability.

Hope this makes sense.

No you're confused. You are thinking of traits. I'm not so unintelligent that I didn't notice the existence of traits and that I can take them into negative to gain returns.

[Airmaster]

Originally posted by Evil_Lord_Proteus:

Originally posted by grubbie:

Yes, the abilities civs have (as well as what those abilities do) are defined in the xml. You can copy that xml file and place it in your mods folder in the same file path and add more abilities to a race. Make sure you are looking in the DLC folder and then in the crusade dlc for the xml. I believe crusade's xml itself overwrites much of the base games xml similar to mods.

I'll give this a try, thanks. Though I was hoping for a way to simply add the points, which could then be spent in the civ creation menu.

Originally posted by Airmaster:

I do not think that is what the OP meant. He wants to add more ability points to be able to choose more abilities when he creates his civ or faction.

One way I have found is to select an ability and choose a negative impact in that ability of either minus 1 or 2 which will add 1 or 2 points, ( depending on the negative impacts of the ability you choose ) to use for another ability.

Hope this makes sense.

No you're confused. You are thinking of traits. I'm not so unintelligent that I didn't notice the existence of traits and that I can take them into negative to gain returns.

Never said you were not intelligent, I just got traits and abilities confused.

[Guard1an4]

If you want to add more ability points, it is actually pretty easy.

Look in the games files for GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

find this line:
<CustomFactionTraitPoints>2</CustomFactionTraitPoints>

Change the 2 to any number you want. For balance reasons though maybe not too high but it is your game.

i hope this helps. I have mine set to 5 right now and it seems fine. Mainly so i could get some additional tech lines and a couple of abilites.

[Doctor Proteus]

Originally posted by Guard1an4:

If you want to add more ability points, it is actually pretty easy.

Look in the games files for GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

find this line:
<CustomFactionTraitPoints>2</CustomFactionTraitPoints>

Change the 2 to any number you want. For balance reasons though maybe not too high but it is your game.

i hope this helps. I have mine set to 5 right now and it seems fine. Mainly so i could get some additional tech lines and a couple of abilites.

I just tried it out and it doesn't work. Also you are confusing Trait and Ability points. The file I edited was in C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Galactic Civlizations III/data/Game.

I have Crusade, does that matter? Does Crusade have a different file?

[Sylfeyn]

Originally posted by Evil_Lord_Proteus:

I just tried it out and it doesn't work. Also you are confusing Trait and Ability points. The file I edited was in C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Galactic Civlizations III/data/Game.

I have Crusade, does that matter? Does Crusade have a different file?

Yes, the file you want is (by default) in Steam\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III\DLC\EXP2_Crusade\Game. Same name: GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

<CustomFactionAbilityPoints>2</CustomFactionAbilityPoints>
Change the 2 to whatever you want.
However, the "norm" is to not edit the game files directly but rather copy them to your mod directory.

Basically you'd go to Documents\My Games\GC3Crusade\Mods and inside it you'd create a new folder called MyMod. Inside MyMod you'd create a new folder called Game. Inside Game you'd paste a copy of the GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml you took from the EXP2_Crusade\Game folder. You'd then modify that copy instead of the original file.
Also make sure mods are enabled in-game.

[Doctor Proteus]

Originally posted by Nukas:

Originally posted by Evil_Lord_Proteus:

I just tried it out and it doesn't work. Also you are confusing Trait and Ability points. The file I edited was in C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Galactic Civlizations III/data/Game.

I have Crusade, does that matter? Does Crusade have a different file?

Yes, the file you want is (by default) in Steam\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III\DLC\EXP2_Crusade\Game. Same name: GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

<CustomFactionAbilityPoints>2</CustomFactionAbilityPoints>
Change the 2 to whatever you want.
However, the "norm" is to not edit the game files directly but rather copy them to your mod directory.

Basically you'd go to Documents\My Games\GC3Crusade\Mods and inside it you'd create a new folder called MyMod. Inside MyMod you'd create a new folder called Game. Inside Game you'd paste a copy of the GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml you took from the EXP2_Crusade\Game folder. You'd then modify that copy instead of the original file.
Also make sure mods are enabled in-game.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a whirl. I always thought they should exopand the abilities options, my idea was initially to have two kinds of Abilities, with 2 of each per civilization, Minor and Major Abilities. Major ones are ones that give technology trees, buildings, wonders, etc... and Minor ones are more like state boosts and perks, like Vigilant, Warriors, Engineers, etc...

Also I feel Draginol is really going overboard with his buffing of Traders. It just keepts getting more and more stuff added to it. What's his angle?

[Red Earth]

I'm confused now. Which ones are abilities and which are traits?

[the_charch]

abilities are what you can do like colonizer or scavenger ect. at least in what the op described.

traits are the + or - to bonus to production, ship hp or other stats.

it would be nice to be able to view what an ability unlocks at the creation stage, or maybe i missed it. seems to mostly be a guessing game on what things actually do or do not give tech / building unlocks/ citizen types.

[baddicus]

Originally posted by Guard1an4:

If you want to add more ability points, it is actually pretty easy.

Look in the games files for GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

find this line:
<CustomFactionTraitPoints>2</CustomFactionTraitPoints>

Change the 2 to any number you want. For balance reasons though maybe not too high but it is your game.

i hope this helps. I have mine set to 5 right now and it seems fine. Mainly so i could get some additional tech lines and a couple of abilites.

Thank you very much. I've been looking for this file to modify since the original game came out.

[Doctor Proteus]

Now that I have more abilities for my custom faction, I have noticed how a lot of the Ability technologies and buildings are religious or spiritual... why does being "Beurocrats" correspond to having "Temples" and "Oracles" dedicated to Labor? Could just rename them things like "Coordination Centre" and "Oragnization HQ" or something.

And the why does the "Certain" ability confer things like "Healing Pools" and more Temples? The latter sound more like they would belong to an "Enlightened" or "Mystics" ability.

[Dynoe]

For Crusade, Intrigue, and Retribution. If you have a different save games directory look for this file there.

C:\Users\Usersname\Documents\My Games\GC3Crusade\Mods\Custom\Game\GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml

Open file with Wordpad. Search (ctl-f) for CustomFactionTraitPoints, Modify the number.
CustomFactionAbilityPoints is on the next line.

Dinjoe