The synthesis method list specifies which methods will be run, and in what order. After they have all been run, Xconq runs a consistency and completeness check. For instance, there should be a world with terrain everywhere. Failure at this point is fatal; Xconq will either exit or return to a game setup dialog.
GlobalVariable: synthesis-methods method-list
This variable is a list of synthesis methods. If the list is empty, no synthesis methods will be run.
The list of synthesis methods is ordered, and many contain duplicates, so that a method can be run multiple times during setup. Note that most of the existing methods will simply return if they detect that their work has already been done, so multiple runs will have no effect.
The default synthesis method list is effectively
(make-fractal-percentile-terrain make-countries make-independent-units make-roads make-rivers make-weather init-supplies name-geographical-features )
The synthesis method list may also contain items of the form
("program" forms...)
For each of these items, Xconq will attempt to find and run
an external program named "program",
giving it as input the result of evaluating the forms,
and then reading the output of the program, which must be a valid
game module.
The program must be capable of interpreting two arguments;
the first is the name of the input file it is to read from,
and the second is the name of the output file it must write to.
If successful, it should return with a result code of 0;
otherwise, Xconq will issue a warning to players.
Any further details will depend on your system, since each will use different conventions. Note that this is NOT a portable construct; you cannot assume that everybody will have built and installed the program you're using.
The fractal world synthesizer can make a variety of natural-looking terrain. It relies on a number of parameters to govern a single algorithm.
SynthesisMethod: make-fractal-percentile-terrain
This method generates the terrain layer of a world. It works by generating two distinct layers of random blobs, known as the "alt" and "wet" layers, then decides on a terrain type for each cell. If elevations are defined, then this method will use the "alt" layer to produce elevations.
GlobalVariable: alt-blob-density n
GlobalVariable: wet-blob-density n
These variables are the number of blobs to put down,
expressed as number per 10,000 cells.
Defaults to 500.
GlobalVariable: alt-blob-size n.f%
GlobalVariable: wet-blob-size n.f%
These variables are the average number of cells in a blob,
expressed as number per 10,000 cells.
Defaults to 100.
GlobalVariable: alt-blob-height n
GlobalVariable: wet-blob-height n
These variables are the amounts by which to increment or decrement within a blob.
Defaults to 1000.
GlobalVariable: alt-smoothing n
GlobalVariable: wet-smoothing n
These variables specify the number of averaging steps
to perform after the blobs have been generated.
Defaults to 2.
TerrainTypeProperty: alt-percentile-min n%
TerrainTypeProperty: alt-percentile-max n%
TerrainTypeProperty: wet-percentile-min n%
TerrainTypeProperty: wet-percentile-max n%
These properties are
the percentiles of elevations and moistures that result in the given
terrain type.
Percentile ranges may overlap, in which case the earlier-defined
terrain type will be used.
If a cell has a alt and wet that does not fall in any of the ranges,
then terrain type 0 will be used there and players will be warned.
Mins defaults to 0, maxes to 100.
After the terrain has been assigned types, the method will give a single type to all the cells on the edge of the area.
GlobalVariable: edge-terrain
This variable is the type of terrain to fill in on all the edges of a world. The edges of a world have little or no effect on the game, but the terrain type should be something distinctive, so that players can recognize the edges easily. (For instance, ice is usually a good choice for edges, but probably not on a map of Antarctica!) Defaults to terrain type 0 (the first defined type).
A maze consists of a set of randomly placed "rooms" connected by random passages.
SynthesisMethod: make-maze-terrain
This method creates terrain that looks like a maze.
It starts by randomly assigning terrain according to its occurrence,
similarly to make-random-terrain below, then carves
out rooms and passages, filling each of those with terrain
types according to their respective occurrences.
TerrainTypeProperty: maze-room-occurrence n
This property is the weighted amount of this terrain type in rooms in the maze.
TerrainTypeProperty: maze-passage-occurrence n
This property is the weighted amount of this terrain type in passageways in the maze.
GlobalVariable: maze-room-density n
This variable is the fraction of the maze that is room,
expressed as the number of cells per 10,000 cells in the area.
Defaults to 1000.
GlobalVariable: maze-passage-density n
This variable is the fraction of the area that is passageway,
expressed as the number of cells per 10,000 cells in the area.
Defaults to 3000.
This method will apply edge terrain as a last step.
The random world generator just assigns terrain and elevations randomly.
SynthesisMethod: make-random-terrain
This method generates completely random terrain. It uses a simple weighting to govern how much of each terrain type appears, and makes random elevations as well.
TerrainTypeProperty: occurrence n
This property is the percentage of the world that will be of this type,
if the terrain is cell terrain.
If the terrain is border or connection, it is the probability
(expressed as .01% increments) that any direction of any cell
will have that border or connection.
Defaults to 1.
Earthlike generation uses algorithms that more closely approximate realistic terrain.
SynthesisMethod: make-earthlike-terrain
This method generates terrain that approximates what actually appears on Earth.
Rivers are borders or connections consisting of "watery terrain" that run downhill to regions of water.
SynthesisMethod: make-rivers
This method looks for a border or connection
terrain type with a subtype-x of river-x.
then uses the world's elevation data to run rivers downhill
(always choosing the lowest of possible adjacent locations)
until they reach cell terrain with a subtype > 0.
This method will not run if there are no appropriate terrain types,
nor if there is no elevation data.
TerrainTypeProperty: river-chance n%
This property is the chance that a river will start in or around a cell of this terrain type.
GlobalVariable: river-sink-terrain t
If the value of this variable is a terrain type, then a cell completely
surrounded by river will be changed to be this type.
Defaults to non-terrain.
Note that the algorithm computes rivers in a deterministic way,
so high values of river-chance do not result in tangled rivers.
The road generation method makes networks of connection terrain between particular unit types, usually those resembling cities.
SynthesisMethod: make-roads
This methods synthesizes roads for an area.
For any connection type of terrain, if no layer has been created for it
already, and the type has a subtype-x of 3,
put down roads between any pair of units whose
road-chance is nonzero.
The method will attempt to share road routes whenever possible,
and choose terrain according to road-into-chance.
In addition, the method may also generate spur roads connecting
units to existing roads, and run roads from one edge of the
area to another.
Table: road-chance u1 u2 -> n%
This table is the chance that a road will be laid, running
from a unit of type u1 to one of type u2.
Note that is not a symmetrical relationship;
since roads follow random paths, if the road-chance
causes a road to be laid from u1 to u2,
and another from u2 to u1, it is quite possible
that the result will be two different roads connecting
the two units.
Table: road-into-chance t1 t2 -> n%
This table is the chance that a road will be chosen to pass
from terrain of type t1 into terrain of type t2.
Defaults to 100.
UnitTypeProperty: spur-chance n%
This property is the percentage chance that the unit will get a spur road running from the unit to the nearest existing road.
UnitTypeProperty: spur-range dist
This property is the radius of the area that will be searched for an
existing road.
Defaults to 1, which results in spurs connecting only to
roads in adjacent cells.
UnitTypeProperty: road-to-edge-chance n%
This property is the percentage chance that the unit will have a road running from the unit to some edge of the area.
GlobalVariable: edge-road-density n
This variable is the density of roads that run from one area edge to another, expressed as the number per 10,000 cells in the area. (note, not counting just edge cells).
The make-countries method sets up the starting units for
each side, placing them in a confined area, separated from the
starting units of other sides and taking terrain preferences
into account. If requested, this method will also expand the
country outwards by a specified amount, possibly placing additional
units in the process.
SynthesisMethod: make-countries
This method works by looking for a likely place for the country, randomly places a basic set of starting units within that area, then expands the country outwards. The parameters give you control over the mix of terrain types in the country, as well as the size and relative positions of the different countries. This method runs on any side with fewer units than it is supposed to start with, as given by the parameters below. It places groups of units at locations separated from each other by specified distances.
GlobalVariable: country-radius-min dist
This variable is the radius of the country's initial area.
Defaults to -1, which allows the algorithm to calculate a "reasonable"
country size appropriate to the given number of units.
GlobalVariable: country-separation-min dist
GlobalVariable: country-separation-max dist
These variables are the minimum and maximum
distances of country centers from each other, in cells.
If small, countries will mostly overlap;
if very large, then attempts to use small worlds will fail;
if the max and min are too close to each other, placements can also fail.
For both of these, a value of -1 disables their effect.
Both default to -1.
The max separation bound needs to be satisfied for a country with respect to only one other country, so for instance the final layout may involve a long "string" of countries where the first and last countries are very far apart from each other. The minimum bound must be satisfied for all pairs of countries.
TerrainTypeProperty: country-terrain-min n
This property is the minimum amount of terrain that must be within the country's initial radius.
TerrainTypeProperty: country-terrain-max n
This property is the most terrain of the given type that may appear.
If -1, then any amount may be present.
Defaults to -1.
UnitTypeProperty: start-with n
UnitTypeProperty: independent-near-start n
These properties set the number of units of the given type in a player's country.
These units are randomly scattered within the initial radius,
and the favored table (see below) decides which terrains
will be used. Units may be placed inside each other; in fact,
units with no favored terrain will be made into occupants if possible.
The independent units will be placed after the ones belonging to the side, so on the average they will get the less desirable locations in the country. Both independent and the side's units will be named using the side's namers.
Both default to 0.
Table: favored-terrain u t -> n%
This table sets
the probability of the unit type being on the given type of terrain at the
outset. A value of 0 is an absolute prohibition against placing
the unit on that type of terrain, thus every game must specify at least
one non-zero value for some terrain type and some initial unit type.
Defaults to 100.
Once the initial country area has been set up, then you can allow the countries to expand outwards. Expansion occurs at the same rate for all countries. Countries may expand into and through each other. Expansion occurs as a number of steps, each step increasing the radius of countries by 1 all around.
TerrainTypeProperty: country-growth-chance n%
This property is the chance that a country will expand onto an unclaimed cell
of the given terrain type.
Defaults to 100.
TerrainTypeProperty: country-takeover-chance n%
This property is the chance that a country will expand onto another country's cell of the given terrain type.
UnitTypeProperty: unit-growth-chance n.f%
This property is the chance that a unit of the given type will be placed
when the country expands onto a cell.
The unit will only be placed if the favored chance is also true.
UnitTypeProperty: independent-growth-chance n.f%
This property is the chance that an independent unit of the given type will be placed
when the country expands onto a cell.
The favored chance is also evaluated.
UnitTypeProperty: unit-takeover-chance n.f%
This property is the chance that a unit of the given type in another country and belonging to another side will be given to the growing side.
UnitTypeProperty: independent-takeover-chance n.f%
This property is the chance that an independent unit of the given type in another country will be given to the growing side.
GlobalVariable: country-radius-max dist
This variable is a cap on the country growth process.
Values between 0 and country-radius-min
prevent country growth entirely,
while a value of -1 allows growth to encompass the entire world.
UnitTypeProperty: country-units-max n
This property is a cap on the number of units given to the side's country.
Defaults to -1, which disables any limit.
GlobalVariable: growth-stop-chance n%
This variable is the chance that a country's growth will stop, if during the current step no new cells were added to the country.
TerrainTypeProperty: country-people-chance n%
This property is the chance that the people's side will be changed to
match that for the country they are in.
Defaults to 100.
SynthesisMethod: make-independent-units
This method scatters independent units randomly over the world. This method will not run if the specified density of independent units has already been achieved, for instance from a predefined world or from country placement. Independent units that should be inside other independents will be handled correctly.
Table: independent-density u t -> n
This table is the total number of independent units appearing throughout the world, at the rate of n per 10,000 cells of the given terrain type. Any independent units already placed are counted first, so this value represents final density. If the sum of values for a given unit type on all terrain types is nonzero, then at least one unit of that type will be placed, even if the world is very small (i.e. the calculation of numbers rounds up not down).
This method uses the favored-terrain table as the chance that a given
unit will be placed at a randomly-chosen position,
and it will keep trying different positions until a suitable one is
found.
TerrainTypeProperty: independent-people-chance .01n%
This property is the chance that the people of a cell with this terrain type will be made independent.
Weather synthesis sets up an initial state for the weather.
SynthesisMethod: make-weather
This method sets up weather-related layers, including temperature, winds, and clouds.
By default, all units start out empty of materials. The supply initialization method gives each unit a starting supply, according to the stockpile tables.
SynthesisMethod: make-initial-materials
This method fills unit and cell supplies to specified levels. It will fill all units in existence at the moment it runs, including units that have not appeared yet. Similarly, all cells will be filled.
Table: unit-initial-supply u m -> n
This table is the amount of each material that each unit will start out with. If the initial supply is greater than unit's capacity, then the unit will just be filled to capacity.
Table: terrain-initial-supply t m -> n
This table is the amount of material m that each cell with terrain t will start out with. This will be limited by the cell's capacity.
Although named geographical features don't affect the outcome of a game in any way, they are useful for "color" and for identifying locations more readably.
SynthesisMethod: name-geographical-features
This method identifies and names regions as geographical features, such as mountain ranges and islands.
GlobalVariable: feature-namers feature-namer-list
This variable is a list of feature types and their associated namers.
This is used for features not intersecting any country
with a namer for the feature's type.
Defaults to ().
GlobalVariable: feature-types feature-expr-list
This variable is a list of feature types that may be identified.
Examples: ("lake" (group (sea shallows) 1)),
("peak" (high-point 1 1))
Defaults to ().
[need to document recognized feature types]
SynthesisMethod: name-units-randomly
This method gives names to previously-unnamed units, using their usual namers.
For extra color, games can be set up to start at a random date within a given range. If day or year effects are defined, this also has the effect of making the game start at a random time of day or year.
SynthesisMethod: make-random-date
This method generates a random starting date, within specified bounds.
GlobalVariable: initial-date-min date
This variable is the earliest possible date for the game.
Defaults to "".
GlobalVariable: initial-date-max date
This variable is the latest possible date for the game.
Defaults to "".