Making all planets connected to eachother

[KesselRun12]

I'm trying to make all planets in the Reunification GC connected to each other. I find that often in late game you end up just moving huge stacks of units to conquer enemy worlds (a problem with the base game) and thought it would be interesting if you have to think about defending quite remote, unimportant worlds and think about keeping ships in reserve.

Is there anyway to do this? I thought it would just be a case of getting all the planets, doing some Excel stuff to make sure there is no duplication and that every planet is linked to every other, and then putting the text below into the <trade_routes> bit on the Reunification GC .xml file, but it hasn't worked. Anyone have any idea where I've gone wrong? Is there something else that needs changing? Many thanks.

<Trade_Routes>          
         Abregado_Balmorra,
         Abregado_Bimmisaari,
         Abregado_Coruscant,
         Abregado_Hakassi,
         Abregado_Kalist,
         Abregado_Kessel,
         Abregado_Khomm,
         Abregado_Kuat,
         Abregado_Maw,
         Abregado_Metellos,
         Abregado_MonCalimari,
         Abregado_Odik,
         Abregado_Onderon,
         Abregado_Parkrik,
         Abregado_Tsoss,
         Abregado_Yavin,
         Balmorra_Bimmisaari,
         Balmorra_Coruscant,
         Balmorra_Hakassi,
         Balmorra_Kalist,
         Balmorra_Kessel,
         Balmorra_Khomm,
         Balmorra_Kuat,
         Balmorra_Maw,
         Balmorra_Metellos,
         Balmorra_MonCalimari,
         Balmorra_Odik,
         Balmorra_Onderon,
         Balmorra_Parkrik,
         Balmorra_Tsoss,
         Balmorra_Yavin,
         Bimmisaari_Coruscant,
         Bimmisaari_Hakassi,
         Bimmisaari_Kalist,
         Bimmisaari_Kessel,
         Bimmisaari_Khomm,
         Bimmisaari_Kuat,
         Bimmisaari_Maw,
         Bimmisaari_Metellos,
         Bimmisaari_MonCalimari,
         Bimmisaari_Odik,
         Bimmisaari_Onderon,
         Bimmisaari_Parkrik,
         Bimmisaari_Tsoss,
         Bimmisaari_Yavin,
         Coruscant_Hakassi,
         Coruscant_Kalist,
         Coruscant_Kessel,
         Coruscant_Khomm,
         Coruscant_Kuat,
         Coruscant_Maw,
         Coruscant_Metellos,
         Coruscant_MonCalimari,
         Coruscant_Odik,
         Coruscant_Onderon,
         Coruscant_Parkrik,
         Coruscant_Tsoss,
         Coruscant_Yavin,
         Hakassi_Kalist,
         Hakassi_Kessel,
         Hakassi_Khomm,
         Hakassi_Kuat,
         Hakassi_Maw,
         Hakassi_Metellos,
         Hakassi_MonCalimari,
         Hakassi_Odik,
         Hakassi_Onderon,
         Hakassi_Parkrik,
         Hakassi_Tsoss,
         Hakassi_Yavin,
         Kalist_Kessel,
         Kalist_Khomm,
         Kalist_Kuat,
         Kalist_Maw,
         Kalist_Metellos,
         Kalist_MonCalimari,
         Kalist_Odik,
         Kalist_Onderon,
         Kalist_Parkrik,
         Kalist_Tsoss,
         Kalist_Yavin,
         Kessel_Khomm,
         Kessel_Kuat,
         Kessel_Maw,
         Kessel_Metellos,
         Kessel_MonCalimari,
         Kessel_Odik,
         Kessel_Onderon,
         Kessel_Parkrik,
         Kessel_Tsoss,
         Kessel_Yavin,
         Khomm_Kuat,
         Khomm_Maw,
         Khomm_Metellos,
         Khomm_MonCalimari,
         Khomm_Odik,
         Khomm_Onderon,
         Khomm_Parkrik,
         Khomm_Tsoss,
         Khomm_Yavin,
         Kuat_Maw,
         Kuat_Metellos,
         Kuat_MonCalimari,
         Kuat_Odik,
         Kuat_Onderon,
         Kuat_Parkrik,
         Kuat_Tsoss,
         Kuat_Yavin,
         Maw_Metellos,   
         Maw_MonCalimari,
         Maw_Odik,
         Maw_Onderon,
         Maw_Parkrik,
         Maw_Tsoss,
         Maw_Yavin,
         Metellos_MonCalimari,
         Metellos_Odik,
         Metellos_Onderon,
         Metellos_Parkrik,
         Metellos_Tsoss,
         Metellos_Yavin,
         MonCalimari_Odik,
         MonCalimari_Onderon,
         MonCalimari_Parkrik,
         MonCalimari_Tsoss,
         MonCalimari_Yavin,
         Odik_Onderon,
         Odik_Parkrik,
         Odik_Tsoss,
         Odik_Yavin,
         Onderon_Parkrik,
         Onderon_Tsoss,
         Onderon_Yavin,
         Parkrik_Tsoss,
         Parkrik_Yavin,
         Tsoss_Yavin,
      </Trade_Routes>

[Corey]

The list items in that section actually refer to entities in another file (Traderoutes.xml)  which defines the actual traderoutes:

   <TradeRoute Name="Abhean_Centares">
      <Point_A>Abhean</Point_A>
      <Point_B>Centares</Point_B>
      <HS_Speed_Factor>0</HS_Speed_Factor>
      <Political_Control_Gain>0</Political_Control_Gain>
      <Credit_Gain_Factor>0</Credit_Gain_Factor>
      <Visible_Line_Name>DEFAULT</Visible_Line_Name>
   </TradeRoute>

Each of the point names are the names of the planets as defined in the Planet XML files (we have about three in the mod, broken into sections)

[KesselRun12]

Thank you for your reply. I've just edited 'TradeRoutes.xml'  to make the Maw connect to Mon Calamari (bypassing Kessel) to test it and that has worked in the Reunification campaign but not in the others (perhaps because Mon Cal is not always visible to the Remnant/the Maw is not always visible to the NR)?

Ideally I'd like this in every GC to play around with, can I just edit the TradeRoutes.xml or do I have to edit that and every campaign xml file as well?

[Corey]

You have to add the traderoutes to the traderoutes file, and then add the name of the traderoute to that list for whichever GCs you want it in.

[KesselRun12]

Great - thanks for your help.

[kucsidave]

just a friendly advice:
Try to avoid this in huge GCs since if there is too much movement at the same time it might make the game crash, and the AI tends to move it's fleets around A LOT.
Even if it is 100% unnecessary.

[KesselRun12]

Thanks for the advice. I may do something a bit less drastic then and just introduce lots of new trade routes among and to outer rim worlds, rather than making literally every planet connect to every other. This would probably achieve the effect I want - of making backwater worlds less defensible, reducing strongpoints on the map, and draining big fleet stacks to force the player to defend more widely, rather than getting two or three chokepoints in the end game. It would also preserve the Core as a fortress.

Just to tide me over until 2.2 and the Eriadu Authority!