View Full Version : Nation Builder extension (automation for new kingmaker ap for pf1,pf2,5e and more)
sgtwhy
April 25th, 2023, 06:08
Hello everyone, welcome!
I wanted to announce my recent “side quest” … a set of tools intended to automate and streamline game play for the latest nation building rules from Paizo.
Like many others, I sponsored it years ago as a kick starter and have waited patiently for its eventual release in physical format. As well as the later adaption for Fantasy grounds unity.
However, during gameplay we realized the rules are complex, scattered and it requires a lot of record keeping to manage throughout gameplay. Seriously, I tried to manage the campaign for the first few months via a spreadsheet and it was painful. Initially, it was about 2 hours to complete a given kingdom turn and required a lot of digging up/cross references to the various rules. As a result, the players were quickly losing interest.
I picked up the digital version of the AP from the FGU store and was sad to realize, there is zero automation included (or planned) for helping manage the nation's metadata. It’s great for all the updated maps and story content (if running PF2 at least) but falls short imho for nation building.
Since our group regularly plays online via Fantasy Ground unity, I got the crazy idea of building my own automation to streamline gameplay. Both for myself as GM, to minimize the crazy amount of record keeping, as well as to speed up gameplay with my players.
Now, in comparison -- it's almost a trivial effort. We can complete a new kingdom turn in about 15 minutes, without leaving fantasy grounds at all. Plus the toolset is tracking results of every check attempted, calculating all of the bonuses, etc -- which has turned our game around.
For maximum compatibility, I decided to build it from the start using the core RPG ruleset. This means it works the same regardless of the rulesets and includes full support for Pathfinder 1, Pathfinder 2 or even Dungeons and Dragons 5e. In fact, it will work for any ruleset based off of core RPG.
So, just to be clear -- this toolset makes use of the OGL data from the new Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path. However, it is not meant to replace the need for the actual core material. GMs will need all of the actual source materials, while players should be able to get by with the “free” players guide provided by Paizo.
Currently, the toolset supports all of the new nation building rules and methods, while automating as much as is possible behind the scenes. But managing armies will be another, separate toolset … since it's not needed until half way through the AP and others might want to use it outside of kingdom management.
Armies aside, this will automate the majority of efforts from starting your nation, streamlining and tracking each step during the monthly turns and be useful all the way to the late end game.
PS. Here is a quick link to the relevant Forge "store" page:
https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1180/view
sgtwhy
April 25th, 2023, 06:17
Current state (4/24/2023)
The toolset is currently in Beta / QA stage … with full feature set included but some tweaks and bugs to work out.
Toolset is broken up into (3) utilities, each with its own Icon and accessible to the entire party. However, edit permissions are restricted to GM on most fields (except rolling for skill checks).
*Setup Wizard
This colorful popup helps set up new nations, managing all of the math and metadata for you.
Nation Sheet
[Main]
The front page / character sheet of your Nation. Has all of the main metadata at a glance.
[Skills]
Tracks all of the kingdom skills, calculating proficiency bonuses, vacancy penalties, etc.
[Feats]
For the earned nation features as well as kingdom feats recently added just for this AP. The top section also helps track the ongoing state of diplomatic relations with nearby factions.
[Inventory]
This page tracks each of your settlements and all of the buildings constructed within your entire nation.
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sgtwhy
April 25th, 2023, 06:47
Nation Turn
Tracks all of the metadata involved with each kingdom turn.
[Commerce]
Initiates the start of a new turn. Checks for unrest, vacancy, etc and adjust the penalties with each new turn. Automates the resource dice calculations and much, much more.
[Leadership]
All the possible leadership actions, their DCs auto-computed, required skills and best of all - all the contextual data for the various levels of success.
[Region]
The top section can hold any map / image (I dropped the overland map in there for our campaign). It also supports dropping links, tokens, etc.
The bottom section has all of the relevant region related actions, fully automated and with context included.
[Civic]
This section does a TON of work for us. It tracks all of the building construction efforts in progress for your nation. This is invaluable as many structures take multiple turns to gather all the required resources, often exceeding the “max storage” limit of your kingdom.
Once assigned to a settlement and all the steps completed, they are moved into the [Inventory] tab and removed from this section.
[Events]
Nations can have random events occur each month. There is a need to track any of the ongoing events that might occur, especially events that might take multiple months to resolve. As well, “resolving” an event will add the relevant XP to the nation’s total for you based on the event’s difficulty.
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sgtwhy
April 25th, 2023, 06:58
Nation Data
This last set is intended to help the GM with managing the game play.It puts all of the metadata in one location and greatly speeds up prep time.
[Actions]
A full list of all the kingdom actions, so GM can update as they see fit. It's possible to create, delete or modify any of the actions - even the skills they depend upon, etc. This is helpful when dealing with certain feats that do things like “use MAGIC in place of Engineering”.
[Building]
This is a full list of every possible building type in the new system. The popup includes all of the available metadata, prerequisite skill training and build requirements.
There is also a quick button to ADD any of them into the CIVIC section, to make planning out settlements much easier.
[Logs]
This last section was most recently added. During game play, we realized we needed a simple method for tracking what actions were taken each month. Some actions have penalties or cannot be done if you completed them in the previous month.
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damned
April 25th, 2023, 09:52
Well done Sgtwhy
Morenu
April 26th, 2023, 03:46
Nice! bought.
Now could someone put links to the materials that are needed/should be used for PF1e campaign? our campaign is heading this direction so would love to surprise the DM with this.
MrDDT
April 26th, 2023, 06:03
Wow this look epic. Im going to have to try this out.
Trenloe
April 26th, 2023, 10:47
As this is a paid extension I've moved this thread to a "Paid Creations" sub-forum.
Great looking extension @sgtwhy, I may look into it for my PF2 Kingmaker game...
dsaraujo
April 27th, 2023, 16:12
This looks awesome, congratulations!
Atreides Ghola
April 27th, 2023, 22:44
Nice extension! Perfect for Kingmaker.
Is it possible to get support for Sir Motte's Hearth theme? Pretty tough to read.
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sgtwhy
April 29th, 2023, 06:24
Nice extension! Perfect for Kingmaker.
Is it possible to get support for Sir Motte's Hearth theme? Pretty tough to read.
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yeah that dark theme is near impossible to read, which is personally why I have stuck with the defaults themes so far.
But I will keep your request in mind, added it to the "feature request" list ;)
sgtwhy
April 29th, 2023, 06:31
v2023.04.28
* minor updates, testing the update process works
- nation logging : resolved bug on turn 1 causing action checks to not be logged
- nation sheet - abilities : adjusted frame for ability scores
- removed missing / un-used graphics causing errors during initial load
sgtwhy
May 27th, 2023, 07:29
update 5.26.2023
Toolset is nearly feature complete, just a few random bugs to clear up.
this update includes;
* Minor syntax updates and layout changes.
OOB Handlers
Implemented solution to provide clients update permissions in specific cases.
* Clients were unable to update Fame or Resource Points.
* Client skill checks were also not being logged.
Building Details
Added the full descriptions, item bonuses and other effects for possible structures - everywhere the structures are used.
* GM > Buildings tab
* Turn Manager > Civics tab
* Nation Sheet > Structures
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sgtwhy
June 16th, 2023, 06:11
Nice! bought.
Now could someone put links to the materials that are needed/should be used for PF1e campaign? our campaign is heading this direction so would love to surprise the DM with this.
Minimum pf1e
Personally, for my pf1e campaign; I used the original Kingmaker APs and books from the 2022 Kingmaker / Kickstarter.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.php?id=PZOSMWPZO9031FG
Besides the AP content, the kingmaker pf1e bestiary is essential - as it includes all the updated stats for bosses, creatures and traps.
https://paizo.com/products/btq02e0f?Pathfinder-Kingmaker-Bestiary
Everyone can download the updated players guide for free, for kingdom making - so that's about the minimum needed to get started.
Also, if you plan to use the camping rules - recommend lots of ready maps for camping (forest, river, hills, ruins, swamp)
Morenu
June 17th, 2023, 00:37
Minimum pf1e
Personally, for my pf1e campaign; I used the original Kingmaker APs and books from the 2022 Kingmaker / Kickstarter.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.php?id=PZOSMWPZO9031FG
Besides the AP content, the kingmaker pf1e bestiary is essential - as it includes all the updated stats for bosses, creatures and traps.
https://paizo.com/products/btq02e0f?Pathfinder-Kingmaker-Bestiary
Everyone can download the updated players guide for free, for kingdom making - so that's about the minimum needed to get started.
Also, if you plan to use the camping rules - recommend lots of ready maps for camping (forest, river, hills, ruins, swamp)
thx, I own KM AP1&2, downloaded the players guide PDF. and will look at doing the KM bestiary, and we have plenty of FG maps.
should I get AP3-6 as well if we are mainly just using the rules.
sgtwhy
June 17th, 2023, 03:36
thx, I own KM AP1&2, downloaded the players guide PDF. and will look at doing the KM bestiary, and we have plenty of FG maps.
should I get AP3-6 as well if we are mainly just using the rules.
The bestiary is only needed if you want to use the updated content added in the re-release of kingmaker (from the crpg).
Otherwise, yeah to "roll your own" kingdom building campaign -- sounds like you have everything you need.
Good luck with it and let me know if any questions come up with using the toolset.
sgtwhy
June 17th, 2023, 05:32
All of the functionality is implemented and working as expected! Hooray! ;)
Will be releasing an updated / v1.0.0 build shortly.
Meanwhile, here are some demo videos I created to show how the toolset functions.
New Nation Wizard video
New Nation wizard demo (https://youtu.be/JURv2Rntjv4)
Demo of turn 1
Nation builder turn 1 demo (https://youtu.be/9_icBLuL0xs)
Demo of turn 2
Nation builder turn 2 demo (https://youtu.be/28OYzOl-aaQ)
Miloh
June 28th, 2023, 18:25
Sgtwhy,
I got this extention, and was testing out a few things. Now I need to actually create the Nation that the players have, but I cant seem to get the creation wizard to pop back up. Tried reset in the setting, turning it to "on", but not sure how to modify the inital nation settings I selected (which are not correct). Any help appreciated. Also there doesn't seem to be any audio on the help videos. Is this intentional or a mistake?
Thanks!
sgtwhy
June 29th, 2023, 02:49
Sgtwhy,
I got this extention, and was testing out a few things. Now I need to actually create the Nation that the players have, but I cant seem to get the creation wizard to pop back up. Tried reset in the setting, turning it to "on", but not sure how to modify the inital nation settings I selected (which are not correct). Any help appreciated. Also there doesn't seem to be any audio on the help videos. Is this intentional or a mistake?
Thanks!
There are (2) ways to get the "wizard" to pop up.
1 - on loading, if the "nation name" field is empty -- it will pop up the wizard.
2 - any time, by double clicking in the "nation name" field
also, try moving your window around a bit -- just to make sure its not open, but "out of sight".
fantasy grounds has the odd habit of opening the "wizard" window directly behind the first window.
p.s. oh and yes- correct, the videos do not include any sound.
sgtwhy
June 29th, 2023, 03:18
Upcoming holiday Sale! :cool:
To celebrate, the Nation Builder extension will be 40% off from July 1st 7am until July 6th 10pm!
Miloh
June 29th, 2023, 22:56
Thanks, that worked!
We just started using this, I was running homebrew Nation rules in Fantasy Grounds, but really wanted to use Pathfinder, but I thought a little too complicated until they came out with Kingmaker. I will report any bugs and ideas as we go through it here.
Very Minor, it would be better if Civic actions (red) came after Nation actions (green) in the Nation Data Action tab, that way the order matches to order flow of the Nation Turn window. Currently Civic Actions are at the top.
sgtwhy
June 29th, 2023, 23:22
Thanks, that worked!
We just started using this, I was running homebrew Nation rules in Fantasy Grounds, but really wanted to use Pathfinder, but I thought a little too complicated until they came out with Kingmaker. I will report any bugs and ideas as we go through it here.
Very Minor, it would be better if Civic actions (red) came after Nation actions (green) in the Nation Data Action tab, that way the order matches to order flow of the Nation Turn window. Currently Civic Actions are at the top.
Glad its working for you, thanks for the feedback.
The Nation Data/ Action tab is intentional setup "unfiltered".
Try adding a new nation action under any of the Nation Turn phases -
you will notice, any new action "disappears", soon as you add it.
If you then go to the Nation Data : Actions tab; you will see (the new action) directly "on top".
After you assign a category, then shows up under the appropriate Nation Turn tab.
Hopefully that makes sense -- let me know if any other questions or issues come up.
Miloh
June 30th, 2023, 02:41
It does, thanks. This extension is really going to help me. We have been playing a nation building game for over 10 years with 1/month play. I have a lot of data to add.......
Miloh
June 30th, 2023, 18:24
Other than recording on a map placed in one of the image windows, is there any way to record the building of farms, mines, lumberyards, etc. that are out in a hex and not in a settlement?
Miloh
July 1st, 2023, 02:31
I have created my players kingdom. I adjusted their nation level to 9 in the Main Tab (by entering 9 in the level field), and their Size to 11 (by entering 11 in the Size field) because that is how many hexes they control.
When I go to the Nation Data Building tab and add Brewery as a Civic Action it adds it to the "Construction in Progress" list on the Civic Tab. (makes sense)
On the Civic Action line for Brewery is say the Check DC is 16.
On the Civic Action section below it for "Build Structure" it has a DC of 27 when I roll it.
Which DC is correct?
Miloh
July 3rd, 2023, 23:42
This extension is REALLY helping me. Been able to convert my players kingdom and it does 80% of the work for me. I'm running into a couple hurdles, and not sure if I'm missing something, or if this is a Wish List item.
How to record things like Farms, Mines, etc, that are in hexes without a settlement? I feel another tab on the Kingdom summary, or maybe another field in the "Inventory" tab would be a great help.
sgtwhy
July 7th, 2023, 19:42
Other than recording on a map placed in one of the image windows, is there any way to record the building of farms, mines, lumberyards, etc. that are out in a hex and not in a settlement?
Good question - it is important to somehow track the farms and work sites, as they contribute to monthly resource "income and expenses".
I track these "indirectly" using the COMMODITIES section of the main sheet. Simply increase the values in the "Monthly Income" column to account for new farms, work sites, resources... etc.
When the "next turn" button is pressed, it will use the updated values and add the resources to the "Stored Goods" column (up to the relative "Storage Limit")
** will look at adding a feature to track work sites, resources, etc. as a "list", for possible future update.
sgtwhy
July 7th, 2023, 19:59
I have created my players kingdom. I adjusted their nation level to 9 in the Main Tab (by entering 9 in the level field), and their Size to 11 (by entering 11 in the Size field) because that is how many hexes they control.
When I go to the Nation Data Building tab and add Brewery as a Civic Action it adds it to the "Construction in Progress" list on the Civic Tab. (makes sense)
On the Civic Action line for Brewery is say the Check DC is 16.
On the Civic Action section below it for "Build Structure" it has a DC of 27 when I roll it.
Which DC is correct?
some suggestions -
LEVEL(ing) up
first, while you can manually adjust the level (as GM) -- a better approach would be to increase the XP to over 1000xp first.
that will active a "(+)" green button next to the current level field.
click that to "level up"; it will subtract 1000xp and add the feature(s)/feat(s) for level gained.
repeat that until they are up to the desired level.
Constructing buildings / CIVIC DCs
The short answer is, open the "record" in the Civic tab (as GM) ... and it should automatically correct the DC.
(long version)
The DC for all actions defaults to the Nations DC, which varies with level, size, etc.
However, the DC of buildings is static and never increases.
When the record is opened, it does a few checks;
1. checks the related/required skill(s)
a. if it is not "trained" then, it changes the "skill" and "bonus" fields to "untrained" and "0"
b. otherwise, it updates it with the related skill bonus
2. It looks up the correct DC and updates the DC field for the structure.
As GM you can also edit the "paid resources" section for situations like repairing a building or restoring a ruin -
or even simply set them all to the "required amounts", to quickly add buildings to a new town.
After each edit, it will check the requirements (resources, location added) before enabling the "complete construction" button.
clicking it will delete it from the CIVIC tab list and add it to the Main Sheet / Inventory tab - then update the related settlement.
sgtwhy
July 7th, 2023, 20:17
oh and to correct the situation from manually setting level from 1 -> 9
simply ;
set level back to (1)
add 8000 XP
(might need to close/re-open the main sheet)
click the "(+)" level up button to use the automation.
The effects of nation Size is updated dynamically, so changing that does no harm.
When entering an existing nation, simply set it directly to the current number of hexes.
(the number of hexes basically only impacts the nations DC and resource dice)
Miloh
July 11th, 2023, 01:38
Ok, thank you :)
Miloh
July 11th, 2023, 01:47
I have added new actions the players can do successfully and they show up in the correct field. Just needed to hit the enter key after typing something in, instead of just mouse clicking to another field.
I am still having a problem with new structures in the Nation Data. I have added about 4 structures, moat, cistern, dance hall, etc, but I cant get the training field to stick. For example, for Moat, I want it to use the Engineering skill. If I type Engineering into the training required and hit enter, it has it in there. But it doesn't save it. Have tried a few things and might be a bug. It's that same way for the 4 structures I have created.I have already added them to settlements the players have, and thought maybe that is what is causing the issue, but wasn't sure. Wanted to let you know. Looking forward to the Army portion of the extension. Going to wing that for now.
Miloh
Miloh
July 18th, 2023, 20:39
Possible bug with Vested. On the Main Nation tab, when selecting which of the 4 leaders are vested (the circle), it is applying a vacancy penalty if un-selected. I think it is just supposed to just add/remove a +1 bonus to the status bonus for loyalty, stability, economy, culture. Page 15 of the free pdf download "Record a +1 status bonus to the skill associated with each invested roll's key ability.." Kingmaker book is completely disorganized, so who knows.....
You have taken on a daunting challenge.
sgtwhy
July 19th, 2023, 04:50
I have added new actions the players can do successfully and they show up in the correct field. Just needed to hit the enter key after typing something in, instead of just mouse clicking to another field.
I am still having a problem with new structures in the Nation Data. I have added about 4 structures, moat, cistern, dance hall, etc, but I cant get the training field to stick. For example, for Moat, I want it to use the Engineering skill. If I type Engineering into the training required and hit enter, it has it in there. But it doesn't save it. Have tried a few things and might be a bug. It's that same way for the 4 structures I have created. I have already added them to settlements the players have, and thought maybe that is what is causing the issue, but wasn't sure. Wanted to let you know. Looking forward to the Army portion of the extension. Going to wing that for now.
Miloh
I think I understand what's happening -- until patched, here is a work around:
Add the new building like you did
Open the record to enter the appropriate meta data.
Then close the record and find (the new building) on the Buildings "list" --
change "Skill training required" to "Engineering" (or whatever the appropriate skills are).
Then it should work as expected.
sgtwhy
July 19th, 2023, 05:18
Possible bug with Vested. On the Main Nation tab, when selecting which of the 4 leaders are vested (the circle), it is applying a vacancy penalty if un-selected. I think it is just supposed to just add/remove a +1 bonus to the status bonus for loyalty, stability, economy, culture. Page 15 of the free pdf download "Record a +1 status bonus to the skill associated with each invested roll's key ability.." Kingmaker book is completely disorganized, so who knows.....
You have taken on a daunting challenge.
I appreciate the feedback, it's definitely been a challenge making sense of the new rule books.
No doubt it would have benefited from a bit more play testing, re-organizing, etc.
(from what I understand) I sounds like its working as expected;
I will elaborate below, let me know if it makes sense or still seems off.
Vested Leadership positions
At the start, PCs are each allowed to "vest" one of the leadership positions.
Since there are (8) leadership positions -- a starting kingdom will likely suffer some vacancy penalties.
Over time, the PCs should find npcs to fill the other positions, eventually eliminating all of the vacancies.
To assign a PC (or NPC) to a role, drag/drop their icon in the field to left of the leadership position name.
This will also "check" the box on the right side, indicating its "vested".
The check box is there, for GMs to manually over-ride a vacancy (for whatever reasons)
And I think all the check boxes are cleared, each time the window loads.
Otherwise, yes - you are correct on the +1 stat bonus "if the related position is vested".
Events
Another oddity, that I came across with "vested" was when dealing with EVENTS.
If the leadership role associated with the Event is "vested" by a PC;
it grants an additional "+1" bonus to the skill check to end the Event.
This bonus increases to +2 or +3 at higher levels as well.
sgtwhy
July 19th, 2023, 08:07
new sidebar and bug fixes
:rv:
new sidebar Icons -- moved the buttons from "tools" into their own sidebar
Nation Data: Buildings --- fixed bug with required skills on new buildings
Nation Turns : Civic -- set "best skill" value to blue, italics so its not confused with "list of required skills"
Nation Turns : Commerce -- changed button tooltip to "New Turn" (next turn was confusing some)
Nation Turns : Commerce -- fixed bug with default Resource Dice, added "bonus resource points"
Options : reset OGL -- adds an toggle button to clear/reload all nation data with the next FGU reload.
helper functions -- added error checking when updating required skills for new structures.
delay key updates -- many fields were updated to require enter or loosing focus, before it sets the new value. this prevents errors as you enter new data.
Armies update
Working out the meta data and how it all interacts. Starting to build out the toolset for it.
There is a lot of meta data to track and likely need to create a custom combat tracker as well.
sgtwhy
July 19th, 2023, 23:13
oops :p forgot to mention the other new features!
Work Sites and Farms
I added a new section, to keep track of various work sites and farms in the Nation.
(i.e the sources of commodity income)
It tracks the meta data for each;
work site name
work site location
resource types (Food, Lumber, Luxuries, Ore, Stone).
special resource (if true, it doubles the income)
critical success (if true, next turn it provides double -- then resets this to false)
Plus auto-populates (2) remaining fields;
normal monthly income
monthly income, next month
You can access this new list, (2) different ways;
double click in any of the "income" fields, under COMMODITIES
or click the (new) "Work Sites" button on the REGION tab
Region tab improvements
First, we now have a "work sites" button (see above) ... as this is where new sites are established.
Also added up/down buttons to the "size" field, on the REGION tab (of Turn manager)
Since this is the phase where new hexes are claimed (or abandoned).
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JohnQPublic
July 20th, 2023, 21:25
Let's say, hypothetically, that someone saw this thread and read through it and didn't see any links to the ext. And then, hypothetically, they searched for it on the forge and couldn't find it. Where could this purely hypothetical person find the extension? Asking for a friend.
Morenu
July 20th, 2023, 22:04
Let's say, hypothetically, that someone saw this thread and read through it and didn't see any links to the ext. And then, hypothetically, they searched for it on the forge and couldn't find it. Where could this purely hypothetical person find the extension? Asking for a friend.
Hypothetically, I would try clicking the link below and see where it leads you
https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1180/view
JohnQPublic
July 20th, 2023, 22:50
Got it! Thanks.
Miloh
July 22nd, 2023, 20:45
New version is working great. Got all the farms, mines, etc in and no hickups so far. Was also able to add the skills for my custom buildings. THANKS!!!!!!! :)
Miloh
July 22nd, 2023, 20:52
Thanks for looking into it. I don't understand the rules completely yet. Once (if) I do, I'll try and give specific examples of any rule vs. extension conflicts for the leaders/vested part. I have some high brain power in my group and once we start using those functions, I expect to get some "yeah, but on page X it says that ....." type of feedback :) Usually I take all these kind of "Ah" moments and put it into a cheat sheet for myself.
sgtwhy
August 10th, 2023, 04:08
Tooltips for everything
I worked out a method to use the descriptions as "tool tips" for most records.
So far, I focused on the key details that might not be intuitive, such as;
Nation choices (charter, government)
Attribute (culture, economy, loyalty, stability)
Nation Leaders (counselor, emissary, general, magister, ruler, treasurer, viceroy and warden)
(All of the) Nation Skills
(and, biggest effort of all) All the Nation Actions.
So now hovering the mouse over the "name" field for any of these, will pop up a nice tooltip of the stock description.
sgtwhy
August 10th, 2023, 04:23
New background and layouts
My initial approach for a "generic" app resulted in a different "look" for everyone ruleset.
This made it difficult to standardize the layout as it could change based on external factors.
So, I have worked on creating new "sheet" backgrounds and color scheme.
To start, I created a hex based background for all the pages.
Then added some colors that seemed appropriate.
This required making use of custom assets, rather than utilizing the stock "core rpg" graphics.
(in some cases, made use of examples from pathfinder 1e, 2e or DnD 5e)
While I realize its not going to be perfect, for everyone - hopefully this will reduce the issues somewhat.
(And it should now look mostly the same, regardless of what ruleset you are using)
You may notice slight changes in the new layout, such as the giant "box" to hold your bonus resource dice.
sgtwhy
August 10th, 2023, 06:04
Finally, item mod stacking (automated!)
first of all, this an insanely frustrating topic. So I will try to provide enough background data to understand the challenge.
Here is an excerpt, to give context
Maximum Item Bonus
Many structures within a settlement grant an item bonus to specific kingdom activities. Normally, item bonuses do not stack, but if you build multiple structures of the same type in the same settlement, their item bonuses stack up to this limit. In a case where two settlements have overlapping influences from identical structures, only the higher item bonus from a single settlement’s structures applies.
Max. Item Bonus (per settlement size)
Village, Towns = +1, City = +2 and Metropolis = +3
during gameplay, we have endless issues with this...
it discourages MULTIPLE settlements - as there is no benefit to building the same structure, in multiple settlements.
instead, it implies you can only stack (up to 3) of any building if its in the exact same settlement.
many nation skills are lacking a related item bonus from buildings, thus get more difficult as the kingdom levels up. (such as Manage Trade Agreements)
the bonuses are inconsistent. some skills have +1, +2 and +3 bonus items. others have only a single +1 item mod.
some like Hire Adventurers have 7+ ways to modify it, yet in theory only bonuses from the same structure type, in the same settlement would stack.
even if you maximize your settlements and buildings to get the "most possible bonuses" by building (1) of every structure -- its still barely noticeable.
PLUS - we are not tracking the layout of towns (in this app) -- so there is not enough data to even try to add them up as stated.
even with no limits on item stacking at all and a dozen settlements with 80+ structures -- PCs still struggled to succeed at kingdom checks.
the skill system, as written -- only works for the first 5-8 levels, then its impossible to make "untrained" checks.
There are many other posts on these topic already, so I won't bother trying to list all of the issues here.
original method
Originally, I left it "up to the GM" to determine how they wanted to interpret the rules and how/where to apply the bonuses. But this is simply "impossible" at scale - especially a year into the campaign where players have a dozen settlements and 100+ structures built.
However, believe I have found a simplified approach for automating the stacking of item modifiers - at least in the context of this app.
I have settled on a few key points:
bonuses from building can be stacked up to (3) times, as stated in many of the descriptions.
There are (3) tiers of item modifiers for buildings, based on the kingdoms level.
they start at +1 (tier 1), then +2 at 9th (tier 2) and finally, +3 at 15th (tier3).
You can (at most) stack 3 items for a possible (3 x +1) +3 item bonus to a related skill.
then at level 9, you can start building +2 modifier buildings ... so the limit then increases to 6 (3 x +2)
and at level 15, you unlock the +3 modifier buildings ... for a maximum of (3 x +3) = +9 item modifier.
As a means to "make it work" I've implemented (2) solutions -- which you can toggle between.
Item Mod stacking toggle
(off) no limits, just add up all the bonuses
(on) limit by level / tiers ... tier1 = +3, tier 2 = +6, tier 3 = +9
What this means
By default, whenever you open the Nation skills tabs -- the app will count up all the bonuses for each related skill check.
These bonuses are found under each completed structure, on the Main Sheet : Inventory tab.
It then adds the total to each Nation Skill automatically, in the "item mod" box.
(based on the toggle above, using tier limits or no limits)
In our testing so far; this is "sufficient", encourages expansion of settlements and is still not "OP" or resulting in "guaranteed success".
However, it does satisfy the need to auto-calculate the existing data and scales very nicely.
(see attached picture for a visual example of it in action)
Morenu
August 10th, 2023, 15:43
Wow... I am just about to jump into this... amazing work!
and BTW I would suggest putting a forge link in your first post.
sgtwhy
August 11th, 2023, 00:59
Wow... I am just about to jump into this... amazing work!
and BTW I would suggest putting a forge link in your first post.
Thanks, I'm still learning the ropes. appreciate the suggestions
Miloh
August 16th, 2023, 22:17
My group ran through their first monthly turn, and while it was a learning experience, overall we had a good time. What worked really well was the players being able to pull up the appropriate tab and roll the dice themselves. We identified an issue with Farm mechanics.
Per the manual farms lower consumption, but in the extension Farms generate 1 food/month. Mathematically this is a wash, but when it comes to storage its a big difference.
Example
Their pop centers consume 10 food, their armies 5, total 15.
But they have built farms to reduce pop center consumption from 10 to 0.
First way, have to store 15 food per month
Second way, have to store 5 food per month
Big difference
Technically, the only way to GET food is to harvest crops, gather livestock, or go fishing.
Miloh
August 16th, 2023, 22:24
Actually, what I just posted isn't complete. Armies add to nation consumption, and farms should reduce consumption, so they could build 5 more farms and reduce consumption from 5 to 0 and not have to store any food.
The mechanics for mines, quarries and lumber mills is working 100% correct, but mechanics for farms/food is different.
Miloh
August 16th, 2023, 22:31
Sgtwhy has taken on a monumental task :)
sgtwhy
August 21st, 2023, 03:34
My group ran through their first monthly turn, and while it was a learning experience, overall we had a good time. What worked really well was the players being able to pull up the appropriate tab and roll the dice themselves. We identified an issue with Farm mechanics.
Per the manual farms lower consumption, but in the extension Farms generate 1 food/month. Mathematically this is a wash, but when it comes to storage its a big difference.
Example
Their pop centers consume 10 food, their armies 5, total 15.
But they have built farms to reduce pop center consumption from 10 to 0.
First way, have to store 15 food per month
Second way, have to store 5 food per month
Big difference
Technically, the only way to GET food is to harvest crops, gather livestock, or go fishing.
Glad to hear the player aspect of the toolset is working / helping with gameplay - that was definitely my goal.
It was a fair amount of work to allow clients to make rolls as it requires them modifying the server data.
My group just formed their firsts armies, so I have a bit more experience with the meta involved now.
And coincidently, we did some beta testing with the first version of the army combat tracker last week -
:thinking:
Hmm, it sounds like perhaps its an issue resulting from the order of operations ?
I have re-written most of that code while integrating it with the nation armies / army combat tracker efforts.
Will do some testing to confirm I can reproduce what you are describing -it may have already been solved ;)
sgtwhy
August 21st, 2023, 05:22
ok, first I should acknowledge; I have deviated from RAW by treating FOOD as any other resource commodity.
meaning, if your income exceeds your expenses, then any extra is added to your nations FOOD storage.
(and subject to your nation storage limits, which is increased by building a granary, etc.)
58596
See the screenshot -- The Commerce order of operations is corrected with the pending release version.
I made example towns with (10) consumption and (10) farms. plus 5 armies (1 consumption each).
At the start of the turn;
The food storage was (0)
First, the income (from farms) is collected.
Second, it then deducts the town consumption
third, the army consumption - as with your example, resulting in a deficit of (5) FOOD resources.
The nation must either spend 5 resource points / deficit or gain 1d4 Unrest if unable to pay (for towns).
(worse if armies are not fed; all your armies would gain "1 weary" and "1 shaken" … and they disband if either reaches 4+, causing 1d4 Unrest and 1 Ruin as well
Although it's unclear if that penalty "stacks" for armies ... i.e. would it add 1 weary and shaken, for each army not fed ? for all armies?? so not feeding 4+ results in all of them disbanding?)
sgtwhy
August 21st, 2023, 20:31
Rules as written
I have re-worked the methods to calculate structure item bonuses for nation actions, to support "raw" by default.
In the process, decided to add options to toggle the other variant rules we are using in our campaign.
Disabling the variant rules enforces the "rules as written" methods.
Item Mod Stacking
Rather than the stock method of limiting the nation action modifiers by town size - this simpler method looks at all the structures in your nation and adds up the bonuses for specific actions.
Each action is then "capped" based on the actual Nation level; starting at +1, then +3 at 3rd, +6 at 9th and +9 at 15th.
Imho - this encourages more settlements and structures to increase the bonuses for specific nation skills. (sadly many skills still lack associated buildings)
Food Income from farms
This allows excess farm production to be stored as a FOOD commodity, with same limits as other resources. (RAW ignores any excess farm income and its basically lost/wasted)
Jack-of-All-Trade
This allows untrained skills to still get a (Nation Level) proficiency bonus, allowing some chance to succeed at untrained checks. (seems to average a 15 roll needed)
Rogue-like skill progression
Since the nation is basically a "skill monkey character class", another commonly used home rule is to "earn" a skill point at every level (rather than just odd levels)
note: there is a new "earned skill training" number box on the Skills tab -- to make it easier to track.
58598
58600
Ability Boosts
Also, worked on a way to track the various "Stat boosts" acquired at levels 5, 10,15 and 20.
Rather than editing the stats directly, GM can double click on the "scores" to open a new dialog.
Where they can now track the various abilities boosted at each tier - which are computed by the app.
58599
sgtwhy
August 23rd, 2023, 23:30
This is a bit of a "GM QOL" addition.
58617
Under the Nations Data : Buildings tab ...
when you expand the record for a given building, there is a new check box.
This "check box" allows GMs to bypass the CIVIC stages and place buildings directly into existing Settlements.
To add new buildings quickly
1. Nations Data : Buildings Tab
2. Expand a given Building
3. click the new check box, this enables a "location" text entry field
4. enter the name of an existing Settlement
5. the check mark will turn green, hit it and its added directly!
That's its!
sgtwhy
August 23rd, 2023, 23:33
:fingers_crossed: Finished all of the testing for this release (so many new features required extra testing);
now compiling all the changes together into a single list and hope to have the new release uploaded shortly.
(edit)
Ok, v1.8.21 is now uploaded / LIVE :rv:
sgtwhy
September 7th, 2023, 01:56
First, a quick progress update on the Nation Army toolset efforts.
The features are about 80% complete, for a creating and tracking army meta data.
Still sorting out issues with drag/drop actions and how the army tracker will work.
Expecting to be done in the next few months.
Meanwhile, wanted to give back to supporters with another GM quality of life improvement.
Kingdom Events
Originally these were out of scope as I was focused on the players guide as the source.
I since updated the source references to the updated adventure path, which includes Event details.
So, with that out of the way -- I created a new GM tab called "Events", which lists ALL of the nation events.
GMs can review these at their leisure, making changes, deleting or even adding more events as desired.
The best part - it allows GM to "add" them directly to the Nation turn event tab -- without all the manual typing!
It should easily save 5-10 minutes per "game turn", which helps with todays "modern" attention spans.
58802
Miloh
September 7th, 2023, 15:18
The changes to FOOD are working good. We ran another turn, I picked the option to not store excess food, and I took their saved food commodities to zero. The program "made" food, subtracted the consumption, they got no unrest (as they had enough to cover) and it didn't store any of the excess. Thanks!
Like the Events addition.
Like the Jack of All Trades. We decided to use it, otherwise they'd never have enough to even consider training beyond "trained" in anything. They liked it.
Have a question about extra or negative Resource Dice or Points. Sometimes they get +2 dice, or -2 dice, or +1 resource points. Not sure exactly how to add these on the resource dice page, so that it includes in next months roll. I'm a little confused by the different Trade Agreement, Bonus etc. boxes. Tried a few things (2, -2, etc) but didn't seem to do what I wanted, so we just adjusted manually after rolls.
Good luck with armies.
sgtwhy
September 7th, 2023, 22:50
The changes to FOOD are working good. We ran another turn, I picked the option to not store excess food, and I took their saved food commodities to zero. The program "made" food, subtracted the consumption, they got no unrest (as they had enough to cover) and it didn't store any of the excess. Thanks!
Like the Events addition.
Like the Jack of All Trades. We decided to use it, otherwise they'd never have enough to even consider training beyond "trained" in anything. They liked it.
Have a question about extra or negative Resource Dice or Points. Sometimes they get +2 dice, or -2 dice, or +1 resource points. Not sure exactly how to add these on the resource dice page, so that it includes in next months roll. I'm a little confused by the different Trade Agreement, Bonus etc. boxes. Tried a few things (2, -2, etc) but didn't seem to do what I wanted, so we just adjusted manually after rolls.
Good luck with armies.
awesome, sounds like the optional rules are working as expected - glad that resolves your food concerns.
managing bonus resource dice
I'm glad you asked, perhaps others were confused as well - not sure how intuitive it is.
The first page/tab of the Nation Turns has a "Resource Dice" box -- intended to hold those bonus dice.
(Drag / drop dice into the box to add bonus dice)
Double clicking in the dice box rolls the default dice for their nation size, plus any dice added to the box.
When "next turn" button is used, it clears the dice box - resetting it for the next turn.
For example;
Nation turn starts with (4) bonus dice in the Resource Dice box.
PCs double click the dice box to generate their Resource Points.
GM then hits the "next turn" button, to start the new game turn.
this resets the dice box (visually its empty again)
Then, players complete an action that generates "4 bonus resource dice"
GM drags/drops (4) resource dice into the dice box -- (as per the default dice)
Later, players partially fail a check resulting in only "1 bonus resource point next month"
GM enters the "1" into the "Bonus RP" field.
Next Turn button
To clarify; The "new turn" button
- clears the resource dice box
- clears the "Bonus RP" box
and uses both when calculating results of players double clicking on the resource dice box, to generate their Resource Points.
Commerce - Bonus Commodities
note: The "Commodities" box after Bonus RP, if for tracking "get x commodities next turn" ... but not automated.
i.e. currently its there for GM to manually track those situations and not cleared with new turns, etc.
Commerce - Trades
the "Trades" box is not meant to be edited - as its a dynamic count of the number of factions with "trade route established" (checked, on the factions page).
Falco1029
September 10th, 2023, 01:31
Am I missing something or is this extension handling "Vested" wrong? When you have it unselected it's giving Vacancy penalties (Vacancy is for if you lack a ruler there altogether or if they don't spend time doing their job), and it's not providing the status bonus for a Vested position to appropriate skill checks.
Xargun
September 10th, 2023, 20:27
My group and I have started using this extension for our homebrew Kingmaker kingdom and we came across a couple things.
1. Decay and Strike are in the wrong locations - they are no opposite their Abilities.
2. Can we get a Fame/Infamy toggle?
Thanks
Xargun
sgtwhy
September 12th, 2023, 01:07
Am I missing something or is this extension handling "Vested" wrong? When you have it unselected it's giving Vacancy penalties (Vacancy is for if you lack a ruler there altogether or if they don't spend time doing their job), and it's not providing the status bonus for a Vested position to appropriate skill checks.
Thanks for pointing it out, confirmed it was a BUG. Working on a fix for the next patch release version; It will use the token image to determine if the leadership position is vacant or not. (rather than the Vested button) This will let the vested button work as was intended.
sgtwhy
September 12th, 2023, 01:17
My group and I have started using this extension for our homebrew Kingmaker kingdom and we came across a couple things.
1. Decay and Strike are in the wrong locations - they are no opposite their Abilities.
2. Can we get a Fame/Infamy toggle?
Thanks
Xargun
Help me understand something ...
What is the point of having a fame or infamy toggle? is your group tracking or using both ? just curious, as my group saw it as pointless to track - so I haven't bothered focusing any effort on it.
What would the toggle do? replace the <string name> with FAME or INFAMY? or do we need a tracking box for each ?
Let me know, so I can better understand what it is you're asking me to add.
re: Decay and Strife
Think I understand what you meant.
Just checked and confirmed both Decay and Strife are penalizing the incorrect stats.
Again, thanks for noticing the error ... I will get it corrected with next patch release.
Miloh
September 30th, 2023, 17:52
Wish list idea.
My characters are probably going lose settlements, and gain them back due to wars. It would be nice to have a toggle on the settlement to include or not include in all the nations stats. Example, currently if they lose a town with 15 structures in it, I'd have to delete them, remember them, and then re-add them all back if they take it back. Unless I'm missing something.
Xargun
September 30th, 2023, 20:50
Help me understand something ...
What is the point of having a fame or infamy toggle? is your group tracking or using both ? just curious, as my group saw it as pointless to track - so I haven't bothered focusing any effort on it.
What would the toggle do? replace the <string name> with FAME or INFAMY? or do we need a tracking box for each ?
Let me know, so I can better understand what it is you're asking me to add.
re: Decay and Strife
Think I understand what you meant.
Just checked and confirmed both Decay and Strife are penalizing the incorrect stats.
Again, thanks for noticing the error ... I will get it corrected with next patch release.
When you create your kingdom you pick Fame or Infamy. Right now it is hard coded so its Fame no matter what. Why wouldn't your group use Fame/Infamy? Its hero points for your kingdom.
Xargun
Stargrove
October 1st, 2023, 16:30
I am going to attempt to create a tiny extension to replace your sidebar icons so they are readable when using Sir Motte's Hearth theme.
I can see in the vault extension that there are quite a few icons but I am obviously not able to directly view any of them due to protections on the file.
Knowing the names of the icons for Main Sheet, Nation Turns, and Nation Data would really help as the names are not obvious.
sgtwhy
October 3rd, 2023, 00:49
When you create your kingdom you pick Fame or Infamy. Right now it is hard coded so its Fame no matter what. Why wouldn't your group use Fame/Infamy? Its hero points for your kingdom.
Xargun
for now, just use the FAME box to track your FAME or INFAMY as normal.
since there is no functional difference between the (2) options besides the label.
Added a feature request to "toggle the label between FAME and INFAMY" ... for future updates.
sgtwhy
October 3rd, 2023, 00:54
Wish list idea.
My characters are probably going lose settlements, and gain them back due to wars. It would be nice to have a toggle on the settlement to include or not include in all the nations stats. Example, currently if they lose a town with 15 structures in it, I'd have to delete them, remember them, and then re-add them all back if they take it back. Unless I'm missing something.
Interesting. Had not encountered "secondary territories" aka "freehold" in my campaign.
I will work on a feature to toggle "primary / secondary / freehold" on the settlements.
That should account for the (3) possible states of a settlement.
Any territories will cause (+1) unrest at the start of each new kingdom turn.
And it also causes a -4 penalty to all checks related for any given secondary.
Feature request added :+1:
a work around, for now ..
meanwhile, until patched ... a simply solution is to leave the completed structures and just delete the "settlement" from the nation list.
Any buildings associated with a non-existent settlement will basically be ignored ... then later, you just re-add the settlement by name.
And it should auto-recompute all of the meta for the settlement based on the associated structures.
sgtwhy
October 3rd, 2023, 01:00
I am going to attempt to create a tiny extension to replace your sidebar icons so they are readable when using Sir Motte's Hearth theme.
I can see in the vault extension that there are quite a few icons but I am obviously not able to directly view any of them due to protections on the file.
Knowing the names of the icons for Main Sheet, Nation Turns, and Nation Data would really help as the names are not obvious.
it difficult to please everyone all the time, but perhaps can find a decent color scheme / compromise that also works for custom themes.
can you send me a screen shot? perhaps I can improve it on my end, negating the need for over-rides?
in the forum or DM, either is fine. thanks
Stargrove
October 4th, 2023, 23:26
I am not even sure where to start on the override as programming is sometimes a bit overwhelming for me and it was probably just a fanciful thought anyways.
See attached PDF for screenshots of what the extension looks like when using a dark theme like Sir Mottes Hearth Theme.
Some of it stems from the use of various color backgrounds for each of the windows that are part of your extension (which I like by the way) and the fact that all the text in the theme is made either pure white or an off white which make much of the text on the windows hard, if not impossible to read depending on someones monitor settings. I had also thought that just removing the window backgrounds would be enough, but then the red and blue text would not show up properly.
Maybe an easy solution on your end would be to force the use of certain text colors so it does not get overridden by the theme. Or it could be done by controlling the order that an extension gets loaded. Someone had mentioned that in one of the other posts I made regarding overrides so, I assume, there is probably a way to control it.
I did find a theme called "Theme: FG Wood" that will probably suffice but it still has some light areas and since my group and I play at night, we really like the Hearth theme since it is just easier on the eyes. Ideally something can be done so what you have built looks better with darker themes.
I know the folks involved with Sir Mottes Hearth Theme do have a number of specific overrides within their extension for other peoples extensions so they look better with the theme but I am not sure if they develop them by themselves or if they work in concert with the extension developers.
Mythic3434
October 14th, 2023, 23:51
Hi folks!
Every Nation action under each tab (Commerce, Leadership, etc) is duplicated.
As in I have 2 Collect Taxes lines, 2 Manage Trade agreements, 2 Capital Investments, etc.
No clue why. I have closed and relaunched FGU. I have set my theme to base and checked for any extension that my change the UI.
Any help would be appreciated
sgtwhy
October 18th, 2023, 04:35
Hi folks!
Every Nation action under each tab (Commerce, Leadership, etc) is duplicated.
As in I have 2 Collect Taxes lines, 2 Manage Trade agreements, 2 Capital Investments, etc.
No clue why. I have closed and relaunched FGU. I have set my theme to base and checked for any extension that my change the UI.
Any help would be appreciated
Sounds like a data related issue.
Can you create a fresh campaign w/ no other mods selected and see if it repeats?
that should confirm if its due to other factors.
To fix your current campaign though;
I'd first try deleting the duplicates, see if that solves it. (right click, as gm)
or
check under the options tab for a "nation builder debug" option to "reload actions data"
possible cause ... at load time it checks for xx actions.
if the current amount it finds is less than xx it reloads the entire set of actions.
p.s. if possible to DM me the console.log zip file, I could debug further.
vasst
October 22nd, 2023, 14:14
I recently got the Nation Builder extension created by the inestimable sgtwhy. Earlier today it ran without any problems and I was able to use the Main Sheet, Nation Turns, and Nation Data functionality just fine.
At some point today, I started to get this error: turn action log empty, creating new action log.
This happens when I double click to roll for any Activity. I've tested several activities from each of the tabs (Commerce, Leadership, Region and Civic) and each time the dice animation plays but it delivers that error instead of a roll.
I created a fresh campaign and the extension worked fine. So far, this is the only fix that has worked to get Nation Builder acting right again.
I do have a number of Forge modules running, but Nation Builder is the only extension.
I updated FG today as part of my troubleshooting.
Any help would be appreciated.
I have the log files, in case those might help.
thnx!
*Edit
I found the Nation Builder-Debug tools in Options. After selecting all of these and reloading the campaign, things seem to be working!
sgtwhy
October 25th, 2023, 01:11
I recently got the Nation Builder extension created by the inestimable sgtwhy. Earlier today it ran without any problems and I was able to use the Main Sheet, Nation Turns, and Nation Data functionality just fine.
At some point today, I started to get this error: turn action log empty, creating new action log.
This happens when I double click to roll for any Activity. I've tested several activities from each of the tabs (Commerce, Leadership, Region and Civic) and each time the dice animation plays but it delivers that error instead of a roll.
I created a fresh campaign and the extension worked fine. So far, this is the only fix that has worked to get Nation Builder acting right again.
I do have a number of Forge modules running, but Nation Builder is the only extension.
I updated FG today as part of my troubleshooting.
Any help would be appreciated.
I have the log files, in case those might help.
thnx!
*Edit
I found the Nation Builder-Debug tools in Options. After selecting all of these and reloading the campaign, things seem to be working!
Hi Vasst, glad the debug options worked for you.
From your description, sounds like a known bug with a new nation setup;
It seems to happens if you roll actions before ever hitting the "new turn" button.
The new turn button creates your first log entry, if one does not exist.
Doing anything that would be logged would to trigger a console error.
I've since patched it in the "soon to be released" version.
And expanded on the debug options, to help folks like yourself.
For anyone else experiencing the same issue ... after creating your new Nation;
set your starting month/year, roll some resource dice and hit the "new turn" button.
(on the nation turn sheets, first tab)
This will create your first "nation log" ("log" tab on GMs sheet) and avoid any logging errors.
sgtwhy
October 25th, 2023, 01:18
I am not even sure where to start on the override as programming is sometimes a bit overwhelming for me and it was probably just a fanciful thought anyways.
See attached PDF for screenshots of what the extension looks like when using a dark theme like Sir Mottes Hearth Theme.
Some of it stems from the use of various color backgrounds for each of the windows that are part of your extension (which I like by the way) and the fact that all the text in the theme is made either pure white or an off white which make much of the text on the windows hard, if not impossible to read depending on someones monitor settings. I had also thought that just removing the window backgrounds would be enough, but then the red and blue text would not show up properly.
Maybe an easy solution on your end would be to force the use of certain text colors so it does not get overridden by the theme. Or it could be done by controlling the order that an extension gets loaded. Someone had mentioned that in one of the other posts I made regarding overrides so, I assume, there is probably a way to control it.
I did find a theme called "Theme: FG Wood" that will probably suffice but it still has some light areas and since my group and I play at night, we really like the Hearth theme since it is just easier on the eyes. Ideally something can be done so what you have built looks better with darker themes.
I know the folks involved with Sir Mottes Hearth Theme do have a number of specific overrides within their extension for other peoples extensions so they look better with the theme but I am not sure if they develop them by themselves or if they work in concert with the extension developers.
thanks @Stargrove, just wanted to let you know I have done some work on this and its about 80% better in pending release version (when tested with Sir Mottes hearth theme). Mostly just hard coded the font and color in most places. It's not yet 100% as there are some over-ridden elements I haven't figured out how to manage "myself". Also am lacking the artistic skills needed to create my own icons, but I think its a good start.
sgtwhy
November 4th, 2023, 08:39
MAIN SHEET
Nation Ability modifiers
Added a popup list to track the various per turn modifiers to the nation actions.
Its to track results from actions such as Collect Taxes, Improve Lifestyle or Celebrate Holidays.
These can add +1 to the related nation ability until end of this turn.
Or on a critical success, it increases to +2 bonus until end of next turn.
Ability Boosts (popup window / list)
This helps track the (4) nation ability scores and modifiers from ability boosts at levels 1,5,10,15 and 20.
Commodity Work site (popup window / list)
Keeps a list of all the sources of commodity income for the nation.
This data is used for each new turn, to track the various farms and other work sites.
FAME or INFAMY
Updated to allow the GM to choose whether to use fame or infamy for the nation.
To change, GM can double click on the "Fame" label on the front page of the main sheet.
note: its just a visual change and otherwise has no impact on gameplay.
Freehold Territories
As requested, settlements now have a new checkbox for "Freehold / Territory".
If checked, it does not add consumption to the over-all nation expenses.
However, any actions related to a freehold suffer a -4 penalty.
And on a new turn, if there are any freeholds the nation suffers (1) Unrest.
(this is left up the GM to add, as its circumstantial)
NATION TURNs
UPKEEP (new)
This new tab helps highlight the start of each new nation turn.
This is where players would change or update leadership position,
then roll to generate resources and then start the new nation month (turn).
COMMERCE (updated)
I've reworked this tab as well to help visually show the various actions possible.
Added buttons to assist with trading commodities and managing trade agreements.
It also tracks how many/which factions where traded with on this and previous months.
The "coins" button;
reduces the current Resource Point pool to manage trade agreements.
The "shopping cart";
reduces the selected resource commodity, for help with Trade Commodity actions.
Bonus RP, Commodities
This area is for GM to track the bonuses from trading commodities or managing trade agreements.
It tracks the various rewards from commerce actions, in addition to the resource dice pool.
Note: The bonus RP is “included” in any resource dice rolls and it is reset on each new turn.
GM QOL additions
GM : Buildings
GM can now ADD buildings directly to a target settlement, while viewing buildings.
Open the popup and click the checkbox in the center ... this unlocks a text field.
Enter a valid settlement name and click the checkbox again.
The selected building is added directly to the Settlement list.
This bypasses the civic phase and allows GM to quickly build "new" settlements.
GM : Events
This now includes a complete list of all the "stock" Nation events.
It allows GMs to add their own to the list as well.
GM can now ADD events directly from this list, to the Nation Turn : Events tab.
OPTIONS
You can find these under the Tools / Options menu.
Nation Builder - Debug
Added 6 +1 debug options to resolve data related issues.
The first tries to clear ALL the data, so use with caution.
But he other (6) reload only a single "list" - reloading it from source on next restart.
MrDDT
November 4th, 2023, 13:28
EPIC, thank you!
SmackDaddy
November 4th, 2023, 17:01
Has the issue with dark themes been resolved yet? If not, if the OP could provide the extension to Sir Motte for the Hearth Theme and work with him (or Justin) that would be great. If the dark theme issue is resolved, then this is on my "Must purchase" list for next payday! Looks great, thanks!
sgtwhy
November 5th, 2023, 00:49
Has the issue with dark themes been resolved yet? If not, if the OP could provide the extension to Sir Motte for the Hearth Theme and work with him (or Justin) that would be great. If the dark theme issue is resolved, then this is on my "Must purchase" list for next payday! Looks great, thanks!
I have reached out to "Sir Motte" about a possible collaboration on the dark theme support.
currently, imho -- its "mostly working" but "needs more work" before its "fully compatible".
(see the 2 screen shots attached)
sgtwhy
November 10th, 2023, 21:13
To show appreciation for Veterans everywhere, I have setup a 50% off sale from 11-11 through 11-17!!
So if you have been waiting for the "right time", its now! :D
Take the savings and give some love to the Veterans in your life!
Retch
November 11th, 2023, 03:59
Thats awesome. Already own this on my main DM account, but I have a second account for building and messing around. at 50% off I will grab it on the secondary account as well... Thanks!
sgtwhy
December 11th, 2023, 05:37
Summary of additions:
(new features)
Nation XP - added a list for adding/tracking earned nation XP.
Nation Events -- added fields to track the various bonuses for resolving a given event.
(automation)
Civic : on built effects -- automates the various effects to the nation when construction is finished. This includes things such as unrest, ruin and fame/infamy.
Civic: construction -- related skill checks for constructing buildings now include the bonuses to build structures from construction yards and other sources.
Events - resolving -- When attempting the checks to resolve an event; It now includes the full results text, in the chat window results.
(tweaks / visual only improvements)
Percentages - this was inspired by BG3 game play. I’ve since retrofitted all of the skill checks with an additional success percentage read out.
Help system - each sheet and each phase of the nation turns, now has an improved help system added. Including fields for GM to track/add additional notes to assist with gameplay.
Hide on Zero -- implemented this minor visual change to all pages. Basically reduces the “eye wear” by hiding all of the empty fields.
Buttons to reduce clutter -- Added a consistent set of buttons for quick GM access to each of the relevant ”popup” pages. New buttons added include: Setup Wizard, Nation Ability Modifiers, Ability Boosts, Nation XP, Worksites and Resource Dice.
Consumption -- revamped the order of operations and text feedback, so it's more obvious that consumption is handled differently than other commodities. Now provides clear feedback (in chat) for army and nation consumption; what is reduced by farmlands, how much was paid using your stored goods and impact (if any) of any resulting shortages.
Setup Wizard and Fame/Infamy --- the setup wizard now has an additional step for PCs to choose either FAME or INFAMY during creation of their nation. GM can double click the field to alternate between the options; now it only works from the Wizard page. Any other pages using FAME will update, next time they are reloaded.
charros
February 17th, 2024, 21:59
I am missing some kind of setting to turn on a lot of these features like buildings and kingdoms? I am running a DnD 5e campaign and I am not seeing any of most features that keep being described in patches on here. I just see World Builder and Investigator. I am missing where to find these extra things at?
sgtwhy
February 17th, 2024, 23:16
I am missing some kind of setting to turn on a lot of these features like buildings and kingdoms? I am running a DnD 5e campaign and I am not seeing any of most features that keep being described in patches on here. I just see World Builder and Investigator. I am missing where to find these extra things at?
I don't recognize "world builder", hmm ... must be more context I am missing.
Can you double check that the Nation Builder extension is "selected" on the loading screen ?
It should show up as "Feature: Nation Builder"
and/or from within your campaign, try typing "/version" in the chat window ... and let me know what it reports.
You should see a listing for each extension, one of which should be Nation Builder.
Once we confirm its loading correctly ... look to the right side where all the tools and other icons are.
You should see a new category towards the bottom titled "Nation Builder".
Let me know
sgtwhy
April 3rd, 2024, 04:29
Happy April!
Just added a few minor changes, most are "under the hood".
Graphics layouts
cleaned up un-used graphics
moved them to individual folders
all in prep for easier theme compatibility
Math stuff
fixed some math errors with nation skills
skill should now, always update when first opened.
XP tracker
on main sheet, double click on XP to pull up.
GM can add and track new XP for the nation.
clicking the checkbox will add the XP to current total.
CIVICS tab
improved layout of buildings under construction
red indicates full amount of resources needed
orange indicates partial payment of resources
green indicates resources paid in full
rtrm
April 9th, 2024, 21:11
Great extension, thanks!
How do I remove a character from the Nation Leaders?
sgtwhy
April 10th, 2024, 01:41
Great extension, thanks!
How do I remove a character from the Nation Leaders?
sure, to clear the leadership position ...
Just double click on the ICON field, it will reset to "empty".
Then it should update and apply any vacancy penalties.
(you will see the RED text appear under the leader role)
sgtwhy
May 7th, 2024, 01:39
minor update yesterday
* fixed compatibility issues with Nation Armies.
VIDEOs
Sorry the previous videos had such poor audio, working on improving that.
Just created (2) new videos to review the latest changes to extensions.
links to new videos
https://youtu.be/O8irxnFl6MU
https://youtu.be/icx1WiQ7pus
O8irxnFl6MU
icx1WiQ7pus
Falco1029
May 9th, 2024, 02:39
Is there any way to drag/copy the "links" for the different activities (leadership, civic, etc) into a Note or the like? The reason being that my players have a typical array of leadership activities they tend towards, and having them all plucked out and in order ahead of time would be really helpful.
If not, is there any chance of the links being altered in future links to be dragable into notes or stories?
sgtwhy
May 9th, 2024, 06:19
Is there any way to drag/copy the "links" for the different activities (leadership, civic, etc) into a Note or the like? The reason being that my players have a typical array of leadership activities they tend towards, and having them all plucked out and in order ahead of time would be really helpful.
If not, is there any chance of the links being altered in future links to be dragable into notes or stories?
Interesting question. As far as I know, none of it is currently linkable.
One thing that might work ... hit the "?" Help button on each page.
There is a free text box there, where you (gm) can add comments.
(see screenshot for example)
60779
It should at least help you keep track of "the usual actions taken".
(or any notes that might be helpful)
Falco1029
May 9th, 2024, 06:25
Interesting question. As far as I know, none of it is currently linkable.
One thing that might work ... hit the "?" Help button on each page.
There is a free text box there, where you (gm) can add comments.
(see screenshot for example)
60779
It should at least help you keep track of "the usual actions taken".
(or any notes that might be helpful)
It's easy enough to just write them down. The hope is that if I put them in a separate Note entry, I could just put all the specific actions in order and just double click on each instead of finding them every time in the list or data tab. It's a minor QoL thing, not an emergency, admittedly.
sgtwhy
May 12th, 2024, 07:55
It's easy enough to just write them down. The hope is that if I put them in a separate Note entry, I could just put all the specific actions in order and just double click on each instead of finding them every time in the list or data tab. It's a minor QoL thing, not an emergency, admittedly.
Falco1029 -- I gave it some thought and was able to put together a better solution.
You will still want to navigate through each turn page (so the automation works properly)
But now the tagged actions will be at the top of the list(s).
Favorites
If you open any of the Nation Skills (via the popup) ... there is now a favorite button in top left.
when selected, it will visually show a star ... and be listed at the top of any list(s).
(see screenshot)
60801
Falco1029
May 12th, 2024, 08:17
Falco1029 -- I gave it some thought and was able to put together a better solution.
You will still want to navigate through each turn page (so the automation works properly)
But now the tagged actions will be at the top of the list(s).
Favorites
If you open any of the Nation Skills (via the popup) ... there is now a favorite button in top left.
when selected, it will visually show a star ... and be listed at the top of any list(s).
(see screenshot)
60801
That should work perfectly, thanks!
sgtwhy
May 16th, 2024, 05:26
minor patch update:
Only new feature is the "favorite" tagging added for all nation actions.
(If flagged, they will be at top of any sorted lists)
Otherwise, just a few minor tweaks for compatibility with the Nation Armies extension.
Xargun
July 12th, 2024, 17:10
I have a new update kingdom map I am trying to drop into the Region tab but everytime I do it simply makes a pin on the current map - how do I replace the current map with a new one?
Xargun
sgtwhy
July 17th, 2024, 00:44
I have a new update kingdom map I am trying to drop into the Region tab but every time I do it simply makes a pin on the current map - how do I replace the current map with a new one?
Xargun
Sadly, I have found NO method to "clear" the map data ... short of manually deleting it, by hand.
Which involves editing the campaign db.xml file directly, so I would not suggest it ...
But if determined, its stored in the following db block ... and (in theory) removing the data between <layers> wipes it clean.
<nationSheet>
<overland_map type="image>
<layers>
</layers>
</overland_map>
Originally, I had hoped there was a way to open the region map as a full "map asset" with all the bells and whistles ... but was never able to get it working.
So, I have resorted to using that section to hold a link to my groups actual map that we adjust over time as a result of game play.
However, it does work great for dropping "links" to maps - as you noted ;)
sgtwhy
July 17th, 2024, 01:24
actually, after posting that "it cant be done" ... I gave it a fresh look.
If I delete it from the database during load times, it actually works!
So I added a new debug option - Reset REGION map.
If "on" during the loading process, it clears the database entry.
this resets the region map back to its default / empty state.
I know its not as awesome as making the full set of image tools available -
but at least you can now reset it without hacking your files directly!
Hope that helps
sgtwhy
July 19th, 2024, 00:10
SUMMER time sale!
50% discount this weekend
(7-19 1am to 7-22 1am; PDT)
woodscanner
July 24th, 2024, 11:50
Hi there,
First off - this is an amazing wee app that has pretty much made nation building possible for us.
My question is so lame that it shows how good the app is -
Can you manually change the month and season? Just because we are running it in Faerun and it would be great to make it match the Calendar.
sgtwhy
July 25th, 2024, 21:00
Hi there,
First off - this is an amazing wee app that has pretty much made nation building possible for us.
My question is so lame that it shows how good the app is -
Can you manually change the month and season? Just because we are running it in Faerun and it would be great to make it match the Calendar.
thanks for the feedback, glad its working great for you/your group.
The Nation month data is found on the first tab of the turn manager.
So, select the "upkeep" tab and look for the Nation Month area.
GM can manually adjust the YEAR or MONTH number fields.
That will auto-update the relevant golarian month and season names.
(hopefully thats not your concern, as its hard coded to look it up)
Let me know if that helps ...
woodscanner
July 25th, 2024, 21:03
That's very helpful - I can stop trying to fiddle with it and we can just use the Faerun calendar function.
Thanks again!
sgtwhy
July 26th, 2024, 06:15
Adding a few QOL updates, that have been useful to my group as we approach the "end game" of the Kingmaker story.
Nation Action “Ambiguous results”
Fixed the result entries that refer to other results. “As critical success, but” or “as failure but”, etc. so now the results are included rather than forcing you to look them up.
Abandon hex
Collect taxes
Creative Solution
Demolish
Hire Adventurers
Improve Lifestyle
Create Irrigation
Pledge of Fealty
Request Foreign Aid
Supernatural Solution
Tap Treasury
Dynamic building bonuses
The app computes the “nation action” bonuses dynamically, each time the window(s) are opened. This means, the GM can decide to grant special bonuses for things that are not “stock” … such as “Build Roads” or “Go Fishing”.
The GM simply adds the appropriate entry to any structure from the “structures built” list (under Settlements) and next time the window is opened, it will be included in any calculations. The entries need to exactly match the target nation action for it to work.
In my example screenshot, I added “+2 Build roads” to an existing Construction Yard … and reloaded the Nations turn / Region tab. It's now showing the +2 item bonus for the action.
61390
Too many houses cluttering your settlements?
Residential housing is tracked “per lot” and each “lot” of residential buildings provides housing for a city block in your settlement.
It’s now possible to combine the entries for the same residential buildings; Increase the lot size to the new total and remove the duplicate structures from the “structures built” list. (for a given settlement)
Afterwards, check the settlements tab to make sure the correct number of residential lots are reported.
In my example screenshot, I combined (8) separate “houses” listings into a single entry with the same results overall to the settlement.
61391
Refunding resources on Critical success when building
During the CIVIC phase, players are refunded “half the resource cost” when they critically succeed on their attempt to “build structure”. This is a pain to do by hand and happens more frequently as the nation levels up and gets higher bonuses.
To make this easier for the GM; there is a new toggle button on the civic phase building popup window. It only appears when the structure is ready and toggling it enables the refund option. (will see a yellow star to indicate its enabled)
If enabled, when the structure is “completed”, the resources are automatically added back to the nation's stored resource pool.
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