how can i get dread lords as a selectable race.

The only way to do this is to turn them into a major race. There are two ways to achieve that:

The first is to edit the RaceConfig.xml.

Go to the entry of the Dread Lords (it's the second last), change the CivType tag from 5 to 4, and remove the Ignore tag. The biggest problem doing it this way is, that the game only recognises a maximum of 13 major races within this file. This means, that you have to get rid of one of the others. If you don't play custom races, you can remove that entry (or comment it out by placing it between <!-- -->). If you like to play custom races, then you have to remove one of the stock majors.

The second way is to edit a .raceconfigxml.

Every time you play a race, the game creates a NameOfTheRace.raceconfigxml under 'My Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor' containing all the information about the race. Rename one of the existing .raceconfigxml-files to 'Dread Lords.raceconfigxml', and replace the information within with the one from the RaceConfig.xml. The upsides of doing it this way are, that you don't have to edit a core-file, and that there is no limit in how many .raceconfigxml-files you can have. The downsides are, that it takes more time, and that it is more error-prone.

The biggest downside when playing the Dread Lords as a regular major race is, that several of their features are not available to you, because they are hardcoded. For example, the DL usually start out with all techs already researched, and have a population limit of 20 million per planet. None of that is the case if you play them as a normal race. They also get a big boost to some of their abilities (+100% Economics, +795% Soldiering, +100% Range), but you easily replicate that by increasing the values of your racial abilities.

In other words, playing the DL as a regular race is both UP, because you are missing out on what makes them really powerful, and OP, because of the huge racial abilities and the missing population limit.

Thanks gaunathor, for awhile I got that rejected feeling when no one responses to your post. Lol.

But I was trying to play against the dread lords not as them which seems to be a problem the syntax of the game which doesn't show them on opponent selection and makes a clone/ghost of the custom race/korx's ( I went with the first way and deleted the korx because they died in the dark avatar anyway) which is not good because I like to play as custom race on immense maps in a corner with 5 class72 planets in my home system (not nearly as good as it sounds) which gives them that also in there not isolated star cluster a huge advantage for the AI.

So I made them a minor Race civtype3 and got rid of the snathi(am going to miss those evil-acorn-eaters I'm probably going to get then back and instead delete the paulos or jessuins because they have the same portrait) and that worked.

still need to fully test this for bugs but since we're a team and great pals, can you help answer a question(s). do you know if they still would get money from the computer and start with all the techs? I know the population cap at 20mill is still there. And they probably won't colonize right?

 If not I need to go back to modding school.

EDIT: stupid rhyme removed.

Darn forgot, messed the line up "Helping newbie's make a plan.

(I don't know how to edit replies here...yet) 

No problem. The GalCiv 2 forums are not as frequented as they used to, so don't take it as a slight against you.

If that is the case, then it's even easier to do, with none of the drawbacks. Well, except that the homeworld of the DL will only be a PQ 10 planet, instead of PQ 30+, and that their planets won't be immediately auto-terraformed, but that's already the case with the current approach.

There is a scenario called "Dread Lords Dominion" (file-name is "Dread Lords on parade"), which has you pitted against the DL. It is fully compatible with TotA, includes all of the non-expansion races, but forces you to play as the Terrans. If you want to play as another race, then you would need to edit the scenario. Even more so, if you want to play as a custom race, because you would need to disable one of the other major races first.

Actually, the only downside of that setting is the low amount of starports. You could quickly build ships, but only a maximum of 5 per turn. Otherwise, this is pretty damn good. You just need to use those tiles wisely.

You don't need to remove minor races. The limit only pertains to major races. Also, while you can only start out with  maxiumum of 8 minor races, the DL don't count towards that limit for some reason.

They don't.

That surprises me. I thought the pop cap is based on CivType 5. That's going to be a big problem. An income of around 2bc  just isn't enough to pay for all the maintenance costs.

Yes, they won't. At least with their standard AI. They will, if you change it to one of the major races (AIP 8 is probably the most fitting) and use the quicksave/re-load trick to force the game to update the AI. I'm using this with the minor races in my mod, and the can become quite powerful. Money, on the other hand, is still going to be a problem for the DL.

Move your mouse over one of your posts. Your going to see a few icons appear in the lower right corner of the post. The icon that looks like a notebook and a pen is the edit button.

I use the mobile version of the site so I cant get fancy post editing.

so I'll have to improvise to make them more dread like.

I gave 1000 economics I might change it to 5000

mili/social production 100

soldiering starts at 500

speed 100

range 100

research 500

creativity100 so they can discover multiple te hs a turn( turned there tech values to 5 so it will take them one turn per tech(I once did that for all major races it made tech trading hilarious.)

some luck 100 planet quality and 100 weapons and defense along with other stuff should put them back on the Rader

with the 72 class thing maintenance will put you in debet so I top out at manufacturing centers and save money. And on the mid to late game you can't support a big military without neglecting research(early colonization is over fast). But try it out! Its fun.

A weird thing though I can't speak to them when I see there world (probably because there not supposed to I know) but they are not at war with anyone which defeats the purpose of having them. What do I have to do to make them EVIL warmongers. (fyi I got a great idea give them spore ships!!!)

With "tech value", do you mean AIValue or Cost? The former has no effect on how long it takes to research a tech, but on how much the AI values it. The latter, on the other hand, does. If you set the Cost to 0, then the tech will be automatically known at the start of the game.

As far as the abilities are concerned, I'm not so sure about the values. Especially for Speed, Research, Creativity, Luck, PQ, Weapons and Defence. If you set the Cost of all their techs to 0, then they won't need to research anything, making the bonuses to Research and Creativity unnecessary.
The other bonuses, however, mean, that their ships are unbeatable. Their weapons and defences now have twice the original maximum value (e.g., Nightmare Torpedo now does a maximum 50 damage, instead of 25), while the Luck bonus makes sure, that they always will use their maximum value (e.g., Nightmare Torpedo always does 50 damage, instead of a random value between 0 and 50). The Speed bonus makes sure, that there is nothing you can do to escape them.

That's why I said "you just need to use those tiles wisely". Those planets should provide you with enough money to rush-buy everything you need.

I did, back during DA. That's why I know, that this is completely OP. I also didn't have much fun with it, because there was no challenge at all.

Yes, they are hardcoded to prevent you from speaking to them (same as the Pirates). They also won't talk to you, but if you take control of them, then you can talk to everyone else as usual.

The automatic perma-war state, the DL normally start out with, is hardcoded. They only way to have it and the DL without cheating, is to use a scenario.  

They are already Evil. As for the "warmonger" part, add the following tags to them:

<AIAbilities>100</AIAbilities>
<Aggression>100</Aggression>
<FinancialResources>100</FinancialResources>
<CPUUsage>100</CPUUsage>

The first will make them use better AI algorithms (smarter), the second will make them more aggressive (higher chance of declaring war), the third will give them more money from taxes (you can set it as high as 200), and the last gives them more processing power to make their decisions.

I cannot guarantee that they will go on a war-path, if you add those tags, but it should increase the probability. Even if they don't, they will still be better off than without the tags.

The Korath AI Personality is the only one capable of using spore ships, but, in exchange, it is incapable of using troop transports. If you change the DL to use AIP 7 (the base AI of the Drengin, Korath, and Yor), then they will only use a generic version of it. You have to be able to edit the DL in the Choose Opponents screen, in order to give them the Korath personality.

However, AIP 7 is a terrible AI, if you want the DL to be able to colonise. It doesn't colonise planets, if they are located within foreign influence, or are too close to it. Occasionally, there are some exceptions to this behaviour, but that's how it usually operates.

Also, I'm not sure, if Super Abilities even work for minor races.

Actually I gave them 25 luck because they have better targeting systems being DLs. And I lowered the speed bonus to 20 (because they were to freakishly fast.)

I changed the cost to 5 I didn't know what zero did and I want them to work for planetary invasion so they don't kill everyone to fast. But now I will set it to zero for the rest of there techs to speed that up.

I'll add the tags and have some fun.

With my play style i think it's fun to have what feels like alot of power with 5class72s but its needed to keep pace with krryn and thalan colonization and power which as we know is crazy fast and I play on big maps and the very least, intelligent difficulty AI. Maybe its not fully balanced but I've lost as many as I won doing this.

And THANKS TO YOU I now have the crazy dread lords there as well to make things interesting with there flare. but I noticed that even in there absence of the pirates everyone at war with them if I gave them a home world made them a minor race and (I don't know how to do the following) put the 20mill population cap on them they could be BETTER dread lords with some other stuff and editing.

And remember terror stars are your friends.( if you can afford them).

in game I did switch the Ai personality in the opponent selection area of the korath with drengin to make them colonize better but if that means no spore ships I'll stop that.

I turned the korxs to a minor back when we were trying stuff( I don't know why I hate the korx so much maybe because they were the first race I destroyed without the 72s) and they did have their ability.

And remember terror stars are your friends.( if you can afford them).

Finally what does. OP mean?

Could you please split up that sentence? I have quite some trouble understanding what you are referring to, during half of it.

Hardly. They are a waste of time and money.
You need six constructors to build them, and have to pay 1000bc in total for the modules (unless you're Evil). Then it takes 10 weeks until they are operational. During this time (and afterwards) they need protection, because they have no defences of their own. Then, to top it all off, they only move at 1pc per week, making you take forever to get to the target sun.
If you absolutely have to use them (which is almost never the case), build them next to the target sun, and decommission them once you're finished. In general, you're better off using troop transports (or spore ships, if you have them).

It depends on the context, but usually either "opening-post" or "overpowered". In this case, I meant the latter.

Sorry forgot to use the space bar.

you've been a great help with all this. The pirates I thought could possibly be modded to be dread lords in a since because everyone is at war with the pirates in a normal sandbox game which makes modding things easier.

yes I know Terror stars are nearly impossible to make and not really worth it, but it's a game and they make it fun. ( although there are to many restrictions to actually use them.) they still want to be the players friend.

although I am not doing so here in this forum your like me in real life, only speaking when your right.

I'm not sure, if that is possible. The Pirates are even more hardcoded than the Dread Lords. Even if it is possible, it would be quite imbalanced.
There are two events which add Pirate-ships on the map. A regular random event, and a Mega Event. The ships added by the Mega Event are always superior to the most advanced ships, that any of the races have. Also, if one of the races surrenders or is destroyed, some, or all, of their ships (depending on if they are Neutral or Evil) will become Pirates.
It wouldn't make much sense for anyone to join the "Dread Lords", considering that they want to wipe out all other races. Not to mention confusing, considering that they would be called "Pirates" in one screen and "Dread Lords" in another.

Overall, I'd suggest, get the scenarios working, and use the one called "Dread Lords Dominion". That will make things much easier.

Terror Stars are not that difficult to make. The only problem with them is, that they are useless in almost all situations.

They were pretty good in GalCiv 1 (primarily because you could turn any of your starbases into a Terror Star), but have been nerfed a lot since then.

Thanks I will put some time into doing that.

test avatar

Thanks Gaunathor for helping me create this fun menace!

To be clear for others that want to modd super dread lords here is the final recipe:

REMEMBER TO MAKE A BACK UP FILE as this is a core file.

go to the game file we previously discussed and open it.

scroll to the DLs race name and add the tags.

<AIAbilities>100</AIAbilities>

<Aggression>100</Aggression> <FinancialResources>100</FinancialResources> <CPUUsage>100</CPUUsage>

(I put them in between modularstyle and economics) now the fun begins!

1. 5000 Economics( NEEDED)

2. 100 weapons (if you were to survive it might be needed to keep up the challenge in the late game)

3. 20 defense (optional)

4. 20 speed (optional

5. 200 morale (they get sad with only 20 million persons and it keeps there taxes high)

6. 50 population growth (optional)

7. 100 military and social production ( 50 minimum)

8. 500 or so research (in case you missed something in editing there tech tree. if you want to start the game with them it will be needed. But it doesn't hurt to add it.

9. 750 soldiering (NEEDED)

10. 200 planet quality (100 minimum, I am using 300 so it's possible)

11. 50 repair (optional for even harder games)

12. 200 range (optional)

13. 25 luck (dread lord have better targeting systems:) )

14. 10 logistics (IDK WHY just do it!)

15. ( remove the ignore tag and make them civ type 3 if you want them to start the game with you, also open their tech tree and change all of the techs cost to 0. That makes them free so they have them to start.

I can't say that it's 100% Survivable, especially on small maps. Huge and above works best. ( high population/research are great strategies) and whatever perks you want to give your race outside of the normal points will help. Starting with some allies and being far away from them helps to so pick your maps wisely.

Have fun! And I would like to thank Gaunathor for helping me make this.

DARCA

hey, which program did you guys use to modify those scripts?

I use Notepad++, but you can modify XML-files with any text editor.

thanks for the tip, will look that one up by time.

good hunt