Is there a way to link two custom empires together with the Lost Colony origin (UNE-CoM style)?

[Aëron Dúrr]

I have two custom empires, one with the Lost Colony origin, that I designed as the home empire and the lost offspring empire, exactly like the United Nations of Earth and the Commonwealth of Man. Those two preset empires always spawn together in a game and that is also reflected in the dialogues after first contact. If I force-spawn my two empires those dialogues are unfortunately entirely missing. Because of that I wanted to ask if there is a way to link them in the same way the UNE and CoM are linked.
I have absolutely no experience in modding by the way but would there be a way by changing a few lines in the document "user_empire_designs"? I use that if I want to rename an already existing custom empire without creating an identical one with a different name.

 

[CrabHelmet]

The unique dialogues for the UNE and COM are set by the flags flags = { human_1 custom_start_screen } and flags = { human_2 custom_start_screen } respectively. You can put those flags in your user_empire_design species, but unfortunately they will use the exact wording and sequence of the UNE and COM events, so while you'll get slightly different dialogue it won't really fit anything other than those two.

 

[Cat_Fuzz]

The unique dialogues for the UNE and COM are set by the flags flags = { human_1 custom_start_screen } and flags = { human_2 custom_start_screen } respectively. You can put those flags in your user_empire_design species, but unfortunately they will use the exact wording and sequence of the UNE and COM events, so while you'll get slightly different dialogue it won't really fit anything other than those two.

There is nothing stopping you from copy/pasting these flags and associated code to modify for your own purposes though.

 

[CrabHelmet]

There is nothing stopping you from copy/pasting these flags and associated code to modify for your own purposes though.

Well, there is, because while you can copy/paste those flags and it doesn't affect the checksum, if you want to do any more, you end up having to mod stuff on a level which does not preserve checksum, which may be an issue for the OP, and it's also more complicated/labour intensive at that point, you're adding whole new events to the game effectively.

 

[Cat_Fuzz]

Well, there is, because while you can copy/paste those flags and it doesn't affect the checksum, if you want to do any more, you end up having to mod stuff on a level which does not preserve checksum, which may be an issue for the OP, and it's also more complicated/labour intensive at that point, you're adding whole new events to the game effectively.

Well what do you want - to get achievements, or for your desired outcome of linking two empires together?

Not disagreeing with you, but if the OP wants to achieve this, they can (though yes would very much break Checksum)

 

[Aëron Dúrr]

The unique dialogues for the UNE and COM are set by the flags flags = { human_1 custom_start_screen } and flags = { human_2 custom_start_screen } respectively. You can put those flags in your user_empire_design species, but unfortunately they will use the exact wording and sequence of the UNE and COM events, so while you'll get slightly different dialogue it won't really fit anything other than those two.

My custom empires both use the Human portrait and also the same starting systems as the UNE and CoM, they are practically my own versions of them, although very similar. The biggest difference is that my CoM is a military megacorp. So it should actually work out right.
I looked into the wiki for some information. I can't speak for the first contact communication but for the event chain "The Hunt for the Hyacinth" it doesn't seem like the empire names are never spelled out directly so the texts might still fit, wouldn't they? Is that also the case for the other texts as well, does someone know?
I also found this on the wiki:
"Preset empires can be edited but the edits cannot be applied to them directly. If the player edits a preset empire and saves their edits, the game will instead create a new custom empire and apply the edits to it. The newly created custom empire will, however, inherit any and all flags and events associated with the custom empire it was created from, assuming that the starting system wasn't changed. If one wants to edit the preset empires directly, they will have to edit the game files."
So if I would edit the UNE and CoM respectively to fit my designs (while staying Human and keeping the start systems) and then force them both to spawn while preventing the originals themselves from spawning, I should have my two custom empires in the game functioning exactly like the UNE and CoM, would that be correct?

Also thank you very much for your tipps.

 

[CrabHelmet]

My custom empires both use the Human portrait and also the same starting systems as the UNE and CoM, they are practically my own versions of them, although very similar. The biggest difference is that my CoM is a military megacorp. So it should actually work out right.
I looked into the wiki for some information. I can't speak for the first contact communication but for the event chain "The Hunt for the Hyacinth" it doesn't seem like the empire names are never spelled out directly so the texts might still fit, wouldn't they? Is that also the case for the other texts as well, does someone know?
I also found this on the wiki:
"Preset empires can be edited but the edits cannot be applied to them directly. If the player edits a preset empire and saves their edits, the game will instead create a new custom empire and apply the edits to it. The newly created custom empire will, however, inherit any and all flags and events associated with the custom empire it was created from, assuming that the starting system wasn't changed. If one wants to edit the preset empires directly, they will have to edit the game files."
So if I would edit the UNE and CoM respectively to fit my designs (while staying Human and keeping the start systems) and then force them both to spawn while preventing the originals themselves from spawning, I should have my two custom empires in the game functioning exactly like the UNE and CoM, would that be correct?

Also thank you very much for your tipps.

If you don't mind having the exact same dialogue and events (e.g. The Hunt for the Hyacinth) and can ignore the occasional wrong reference, then yes, you can achieve what you want by editing the UNE and COM empires, saving the templates, and force-spawning whichever one you aren't playing.

You could also edit the localisation files, which don't affect checksum, to very slightly alter the dialogue again if you wanted to make it perfect, bearing in mind that you'd have to fit this to the basic shape of The Hunt for the Hyacinth quest.

 

[Aëron Dúrr]

If you don't mind having the exact same dialogue and events (e.g. The Hunt for the Hyacinth) and can ignore the occasional wrong reference, then yes, you can achieve what you want by editing the UNE and COM empires, saving the templates, and force-spawning whichever one you aren't playing.

I did a quick test and it seems to work. And no, I really don't mind, I haven't really played the preset empires so far. I just wanted my custom empires to really behave like one is the lost colony of the other one. Because so far when I forced that scenario by preventing a randomly generated origin empire to spawn, my custom ones never acknowledged it. The Lost Colony empire had its origin even changed to Prosperous Unification in the game.
So yes, I am pleased. Thank you again.

 

[Aëron Dúrr]

I just did another test run to see how first contact would go. Unfortunately, even though the custom ones would get the same starting texts and events as the UNE and CoM, after first contact they don't recognise each other. The only exception is the final text in the first contact event chain where it said that the other empire speaks in a weird dialect of their own language. Once communications are open however both talk to each other if they were just some aliens.
I assume that custom empires edited from the original UNE and CoM still consider the originals as their origin/offspring empire. Therefore if those can't spawn the speical interactions like between the originals don't happen.

 

[Bezborg]

I just did another test run to see how first contact would go. Unfortunately, even though the custom ones would get the same starting texts and events as the UNE and CoM, after first contact they don't recognise each other. The only exception is the final text in the first contact event chain where it said that the other empire speaks in a weird dialect of their own language. Once communications are open however both talk to each other if they were just some aliens.
I assume that custom empires edited from the original UNE and CoM still consider the originals as their origin/offspring empire. Therefore if those can't spawn the speical interactions like between the originals don't happen.

Damn :/

I thought there was hope for my Asur and Druchii

 

[rollin8]

If you don't mind using a mod, there is a distant origin mod that accomplishes what you're looking for:

Thread '[MOD] Distant Origin - Lost Homeworld Civic and More!' https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...origin-lost-homeworld-civic-and-more.1062776/

I hope this helps.

 

[Mohreb]

If flags are still conserved (was case a few years back) you could also modify CoM and Un. Then force them (the modified saved races) to spawn.
No need to mod.

 

[Aëron Dúrr]

Damn :/

I thought there was hope for my Asur and Druchii

Yeah, sorry about that.

If flags are still conserved (was case a few years back) you could also modify CoM and Un. Then force them (the modified saved races) to spawn.
No need to mod.

That is what I did. Didn't work, unfortunately.

 

[CrabHelmet]

I just did another test run to see how first contact would go. Unfortunately, even though the custom ones would get the same starting texts and events as the UNE and CoM, after first contact they don't recognise each other. The only exception is the final text in the first contact event chain where it said that the other empire speaks in a weird dialect of their own language. Once communications are open however both talk to each other if they were just some aliens.
I assume that custom empires edited from the original UNE and CoM still consider the originals as their origin/offspring empire. Therefore if those can't spawn the speical interactions like between the originals don't happen.

It should be pointed out that the UNE and COM don't "recognise" each other either. Aside from the starting events and first contact, there's nothing special for them, they just use the same same-species dialogue as everyone else. There's actually relatively little content dedicated to their interaction.

 

[Aëron Dúrr]

It should be pointed out that the UNE and COM don't "recognise" each other either. Aside from the starting events and first contact, there's nothing special for them, they just use the same same-species dialogue as everyone else. There's actually relatively little content dedicated to their interaction.

I know. But those were missing as well. There was no recognizing each other at the first communication screen (the one where you can choose between proactive, cautious and aggressive option) and there was no further dialogue in that regard either. The moment where you close the last first contact event chain window (where you are told that the "aliens" speak your language) it resets to the default dialogue.

 

[Mohreb]

Yeah, sorry about that.


That is what I did. Didn't work, unfortunately.

Sorry to hear.
I feel the preset empires are less and less, "usefull" for the game.
We can't reuse them anymore , we can't inactivate them anymore...
I do not get why they are making those worst....