Victoria 2 Advisor (a.k.a. Lint)

[badger_ken]

The Victoria 2 Advisor - download version 2.4 here.

What it is, Briefly

Victoria 2 is a great game, but it's pretty complicated, and it's easy to overlook/forget some things (e.g. did I remember to move my military spending sliders up when I went to war?), and difficult/impossible to find others (e.g. which countries have a Casus Belli on me). The Victoria2 advisor is designed to help remedy this. A picture is worth a thousand words - here's a screen grab showing a subset of its output:



You can click on the image to see an example of a complete advisor report.

What it is, in more detail

You supply the Victoria 2 advisor with a save game file. It then looks at that file, in the role of a given country (by default the one you are playing, but you can change this), and does the following:

• It will see if you forgot to research anything.
• It will print out all Casus Belli you have, and all those that others have on you.
• It will see if you have unused National Focii.
• It will see if you have any easily repayable loans.
• [V1.1] It will see if you have too many clergy in any province (beyond 6% is wasted)
• [V1.1] It will see if you have too many clerks-to-craftsmen in any province (there should be no fewer than 4 craftsmen / clerk)
• [V1.1] It will see if you are a Great Power but aren't using any Influence points
• [V1.2] It will tell you your leaders, sorted by a rough value estimate.
• [V1.2] It will tell you if you have armies entirely of support troops (artillery/engineer), and whether they are (a) at home, (b) not at home by escorted (and by which non-support army), or (c) not at home, and not escorted.
• [V1.3] See which countries have the worst rebellions
• [V1.3] See which ships you have in your navy, and how many regiments of each type in your army.
• [V1.4] See which colonies are ready for statehood, and their literacy
• [V1.5] Tell you if you and another country are trying to colonize the same territory.
• [V1.5] Tell you whether you are spending an 'encourage railroad' NF in a territory where the provinces are already at their maximum raiload level.
• [V1.5] Tell you whether you are spending an 'encourage clergy' NF in a territory where the provinces are already at their optimum clergy level.
• [V1.5] Tell you whether you are spending an 'encourage clerk' NF in a territory where the provinces are already at their optimum clerk level.
• [V1.6] Tell you which states are closest to their industrial capacity.
• [V1.6] Tell you if you have military units that are obselete, and suggest an upgrade.
• [V1.7] Tell you which goods are found where
• [V2.0] UI revamp, advisor outputs can now be toggled individually.
• [V2.0] much deeper advice on Clergy.
• [V2.1] much deeper advice on Clerks.
• [V2.1] GUI option added
• [V2.2] Now tells you how much your military is costing you, broken down by unit type.
• [V2.2] Dumps your existing political parties, and flags if any of them are less than two years old.
• [V2.3] Factory advisor added.

[*] V2.4 - Small bug fixes

How to get it

Visit this web page, which has links to the versions to download and examples of program output.

Does it work with version 1.3?

Yes!

[badger_ken]

Wow, the response has been .... underwhelming.

Just thought I'd post to say that I got the parser working, I can suck in save game files and traverse the tree, and while some of the things are very straightforwards (whether or not you're researching anything, whether or not you have loans you could easily repay), the rest requires a lot more knowledge of what-means-what in the save-game file.

If anybody out there has enough save-game-file knowledge that they could sprinkle on this, i'd sure appreciate it.

[The3LeafClover]

What do people think?

Qualifyingly, I think that this is an incredible idea.

Wow, the response has been .... underwhelming.

No kidding.

I'd like to help out however I can, though, I potentially have a small knowledge base, so just give me a wrench and a direction.
What part of the save game gets you all hot and bothered?

[seattle]

Wow, the response has been .... underwhelming.

I'm sorry, but it's easy for a mod to get lost. It merely takes a day to land on page2 and not many people look there (incl. me). The idea is fantastic. If you can get it done properly, I would seriously consider contacting Paradox before releasing it as a mod. They should be interested in a Civ-like advisor tool, maybe for an expansion. This seems to be too good for a free patch/mod.

Sorry, community! Ideas like this should be paid for!

[Unearthly]

Cool idea!

One thing I think would be really nice is if you could calculate the profitability of current goods on the market (calculating input goods price vs output goods price). In the same vein, calculate how many pounds it costs to upkeep each individual unit given the current economy.

I'm sorry, but it's easy for a mod to get lost. It merely takes a day to land on page2 and not many people look there (incl. me). The idea is fantastic. If you can get it done properly, I would seriously consider contacting Paradox before releasing it as a mod. They should be interested in a Civ-like advisor tool, maybe for an expansion. This seems to be too good for a free patch/mod.

Sorry, community! Ideas like this should be paid for!

Oh come off it. Mods in tons of games have a history for not just adding value to products, but having MORE value (Counter-Strike, anyone?). You shouldn't discourage anyone from making a mod because it'd be a great feature for the paid game. If it's really that great, then Paradox can still integrate it into the game for all the masses to enjoy.

[badger_ken]

Qualifyingly, I think that this is an incredible idea.



No kidding.

I'd like to help out however I can, though, I potentially have a small knowledge base, so just give me a wrench and a direction.
What part of the save game gets you all hot and bothered?

wow, thanks for the offer!
Looking up at the "wish list" in my first post, there are very few of them that I can immediately "grok" from the save files. Just to pick a few examples:

"Do you have more than 2% clergy?"
Do you have more than the 'ideal' number of bureaucrats?
Do you have too many clerks in any province?

-- can you see how in a save file you can figure out how many people of profession <X> there are in province <Y>? I can see where it lists how many craftsmen are working at an opened factory ("count" key under "employees" key under "employment" key under "state_buildings" key), but nothing for all the other POPs in the nation.

"Are you at war, with low 'military spending'?
Are you at peace, with high 'military spending'?"

-- oddly, I don't see where in the save file it says whether you are at war, and with whom. Similarly, I don't see where it lists your CBs on others, or others on you.

These two would be a great start - I'm not asking for code, I can do that, just a "this key in this section of the save file has this information" -- like what I did for craftsmen above.

Oh, and for extra credit ...

I can see where it defines the leader traits ("personality="shirker"m background="professor", for example), but not where it defines what those traits mean ("organization +5%", or whatever) - is this in the save file anywhere, or just hardcoded? Anyone got this written down anywhere?

thanks,

[badger_ken]

wow, thanks for the offer!

-- oddly, I don't see where in the save file it says whether you are at war, and with whom. Similarly, I don't see where it lists your CBs on others, or others on you.

thanks,

that's what happens when you post to soon.
1) I found where the wars are.
2) I found where the CBs are, which showed me the following fascinating fact - when in the diplomacy screen, you see the "casus belli" section, that only shows you the CB you have against the current country being shown. that's why if you look at yourself in the diplomacy screen, you always see no cbs.

So I've just added a "CB dumper" to the analyzer, which will tell you all the CBs you have against all other countries, and all CBs all other countries have against you - should be useful

Two checks down, many more to go

[badger_ken]

I have put version 1.0 of the Victoria 2 advisor on the web - see this page for instructions on how to download and run. It's very basic right now, but I hope somebody finds it useful, and at this point I am especially interested in hearing if anybody can download it and get it to run (as it already exists on my only PC, it's a bit hard to test installing it ).

It reads a save file, and outputs an HTML analysis, which does:

• It will see if you forgot to research anything.
• It will print out all Casus Belli you have, and all those that others have on you.
• It will see if either (a) you are at war, but your military spending is below 75%, or (b) you are at peace, but your military spending is above 75%.
• It will see if you have unused National Focii.
• It will see if you have any easily repayable loans.

Here is a snippet of the output:

Advising for Mexico, for 1864.6.2

Did you forget to research something? PASS
You are researching 'Clean Coal'
Casus Belli Table
You own 7 casus belli
# Owner Against Type
0 Mexico Denmark Place in the sun
1 Mexico Nejd Cut down to size
2 Mexico America No war justification
3 Mexico Korea Cut down to size
4 Mexico United States of Central America No war justification
5 Mexico America No war justification
6 Mexico Afghanistan Cut down to size
You have 1 casus belli on you
# Owner Against Type
0 France Mexico Place in the sun


see here for the whole page, in beautiful HTML .

[seattle]

I have put version 1.0 of the Victoria 2 advisor on the web

Why don't you edit your first post and add the link there. It's much easier to see in the long run. A screenshot always helps to raise consciousness.
I would also add the link to this thread into your signature.

Currently I got no time to play Vicky2, but I'll definitely try your fantastic mod next time I play.

[kodiak491]

I love this idea. Would like it a whole lot more if it had a GUI. I'm no idiot with Java but running from the command prompt is just not intuitive any more. Minor quibble aside though its a brilliant idea and a great addition to the game.

[badger_ken]

Why don't you edit your first post and add the link there. It's much easier to see in the long run. A screenshot always helps to raise consciousness.
I would also add the link to this thread into your signature.

Currently I got no time to play Vicky2, but I'll definitely try your fantastic mod next time I play.

excellent ideas, thanks Seattle, will do.

[badger_ken]

this was actually the first post, i moved it down here so i could turn the first post into a marketing blurb:

There are a lot of things in Vic2 tht it's easy to forget/overlook, and/or that the UI makes difficult/impossible to find. What do people think of a simple tool, a la the Civ2 advisor ("the people need a temple"), or for you programmers out there, a la Lint?

I'm thinking of a simple tool that runs either as an in-game mod, invoked by pressing a button and that spits output into a text window, or as an out-of-game mod that analyzes a save file, and runs a number of simple hueristics - no deep A.I. need apply. I'm thinking of simple checks like:

Do you have more than 2% clergy?
Do you have more than the 'ideal' number of bureaucrats?
Do you have too many clerks in any province?
Which provinces are at their RGO maxima?
Are you at peace, with troops over the supply limit?
Do you have troops in enemy territory that are all artillery?
Do you have troops in enemy territory with no leader?
Do you have good unassigned leaders, coupled with bad assigned ones?
Do you have admirals, and no navy?
Are you at war, with un-mobilized reserves?
Are you at peace, with mobilized reserves?
Do you have unused NF?
Do you have NF on railroads in a territory which is already at its railroad max?
Are you spending diplomatic priority on places where your influence is 100?
Are you not researching anything?
Do you have loans you could easily pay off?
Are you at war, with low 'military spending'?
Are you at peace, with high 'military spending'?
Do you have factories that have no craftsmen?
Are you buliding factories where there aren't craftsmen?
Do you have factories that are at their craftsmen limit?
Do you have factories with a lower-than-average infrastructure?
What are your CBs?
(if you are at least a secondary power) For each of your top 3 imported goods, are there any colonizable provinces that provide it?

What do people think? As an out-of-game mod, this should be straightforwards (one hopes ), the hardest part would actually be parsing the save-game file - has anyone written such a tool, perhaps for previous Paradox games?

[badger_ken]

I have just uploaded version 1.1, which adds three checks:

1) According to the strategy guide, it's a waste to have more than 6% clerics in any province. The tool will now tell you if any provinces fail this check, and either way it will tell you the 10 provinces with the highest percentage of clergy:


2) According to the strategy guide, it's a waste to have fewer than 4 craftsmen for every clerk in a province. The tool will now tell you if any provinces fail this check, and either way it will tell you the 10 provinces with the lowest ratios of craftsmen/clerks:



3) The tool will now check to see if you're a Great Power who has forgotten to set any diplomatic influences:



Enjoy!

[chann]

Nice tool, just tried it out on a few saves. I agree a very simple GUI to choose the save file, language etc. would make the tool much more user friendly, but hey, at least it does its job .

Suggestions:
- For colonial powers, a list of all empty colonizable states, perhaps sorted by goods value or life rating? It's easy to miss places like South Georgia as a player
- Is another power contesting your colonial claim?
- SoI details in your cultural union - who are your rivals?

I can see where it defines the leader traits ("personality="shirker"m background="professor", for example), but not where it defines what those traits mean ("organization +5%", or whatever) - is this in the save file anywhere, or just hardcoded? Anyone got this written down anywhere?

thanks,

Did you end up finding this? It's in common\traits.txt

[badger_ken]

Nice tool, just tried it out on a few saves. I agree a very simple GUI to choose the save file, language etc. would make the tool much more user friendly, but hey, at least it does its job .

Suggestions:
- For colonial powers, a list of all empty colonizable states, perhaps sorted by goods value or life rating? It's easy to miss places like South Georgia as a player
- Is another power contesting your colonial claim?
- SoI details in your cultural union - who are your rivals?

Did you end up finding this? It's in common\traits.txt

Thanks for the input chann, and great to hear it worked for you!
Re colonizable places - yes, that's definitely on my list.
Re contesting a colonial claim - great idea! You mean two countries trying to colonize the same place at the same time, right?
Reo SoI details - I don't quite understand. You mean who else has influence on the countries in your SOI? the UI does a decent job of that already.

and no, I didn't know about traits.txt - thanks for the pointer!

[chann]

Re contesting a colonial claim - great idea! You mean two countries trying to colonize the same place at the same time, right?

Exactly, it would be helpful so you know when to send troops in

Reo SoI details - I don't quite understand. You mean who else has influence on the countries in your SOI? the UI does a decent job of that already.

I was sort of thinking on my feet (fingers?) when I typed that - how many countries other GPs hold in their sphere, how many countries you hold, how many countries are up for grabs. Very obvious stuff I suppose.

and no, I didn't know about traits.txt - thanks for the pointer!

No problem!

[sagji]

3) The tool will now check to see if you're a Great Power who has forgotten to set any diplomatic influences:

Will it also warn you if you have forgotten to unset influence - i.e. you are influencing a nation but have 100 influence in it already?
Will it warn you if you are influencing a proto great power - i.e. a nation in the top 8 but that is not yet a great power?

[badger_ken]

Will it also warn you if you have forgotten to unset influence - i.e. you are influencing a nation but have 100 influence in it already?

hi sagji!
It won't do that now, it's easy to add, but i've been wondering if I should - it may be the game is smart enough not to 'waste' your influence in this case, in which case it doesn't hurt. What do you think?

Will it warn you if you are influencing a proto great power - i.e. a nation in the top 8 but that is not yet a great power?

no, and it seems like this might be an incorrect warning - a country could be a "proto great" (nice term ), but never make it to 'true' great power. In that case, influencing it could be the right thing to do.

[sagji]

Will it also warn you if you have forgotten to unset influence - i.e. you are influencing a nation but have 100 influence in it already?

hi sagji!
It won't do that now, it's easy to add, but i've been wondering if I should - it may be the game is smart enough not to 'waste' your influence in this case, in which case it doesn't hurt. What do you think?

OK - I checked the game is smart enough, but don't forget that the not influencing anyone condition needs to disregard nations you have at 100% and nations you are banned from influencing.

Will it warn you if you are influencing a proto great power - i.e. a nation in the top 8 but that is not yet a great power?

no, and it seems like this might be an incorrect warning - a country could be a "proto great" (nice term ), but never make it to 'true' great power. In that case, influencing it could be the right thing to do.

True but an adviser's job if to advise - and saying "Continuing to influence this nation is contra-indicated as they may be a GP soon." is good advice it is up to the advisee to decide if they want to take it.
This isn't a pass/fail test - just a warning.

[Piddyx]

Wow, the response has been .... underwhelming.

Just thought I'd post to say that I got the parser working, I can suck in save game files and traverse the tree, and while some of the things are very straightforwards (whether or not you're researching anything, whether or not you have loans you could easily repay), the rest requires a lot more knowledge of what-means-what in the save-game file.

If anybody out there has enough save-game-file knowledge that they could sprinkle on this, i'd sure appreciate it.

I just found your tool. Fantastic Idea. I cannot wait to try it.