The Ages Of Man II (Yin's Update)

stankarp · November 29, 2005, 20:52

A major update of AOM, to be called The Ages of Man II (Yin's update) will be released within 36 hours.

Shortly after, the AOM website will be transferred to ACS, followed by the AOM forum in January.

stankarp · November 30, 2005, 17:15

Building on the complete overhaul of the entire game (both graphics and gameplay) that AoM delivered, AoM II has incorporated the playing experience of many of the people . New features include:

·The Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now perform cross water invasions in some strength.
·The AI is programmed to coordinate stack movement when Frenzy reaches higher levels.
·Working alliances with the AI including designating a specific target for your allies to attack and for them to ask for gold subsidies if fighting for you.
·Many tweaks and improvements based on feedback including a greatly updated Great Library file.
·More advances from Goods.
·More ways for Frenzy to go up and down.
·New tile improvements, sliding points scale for victory, diplomatic and science victories and the option to continue the game after victory is reached.
·Peaceful AI may ask for PW aid or propose an Arms Reduction Treaty, which will cause your Frenzy level to fall if you agree.
·Fishing fleets to harvest sea resources.
·Religion, including new advances and being able to build a Religious Wonder and found a religion, making converting enemy cities cheaper and giving a special super cleric, the Patriarch.
·The possibility of a religious war if you capture the Religious Wonder of a Religion other than your own.

People who have already downloaded or obtained the original AOM or its Diplomacy Update will only need to download an update folder about 12 MB in size.

The main AOM download from Apolyton should be updated within 48 hours.

This update only includes the main campaign. Within 2 weeks I intend to update the other 2 starting times as well as produce a 10% shorter version of the main campaign.

http://www.theagesofman.net/index.html

The AoM website will be transferred to ACS in early December, followed by the AOM forum in January 2006.

Protra3211 · November 30, 2005, 19:33

Thanks Stan for the work you have done . Ages of Man deserves its on forum as its hands down the best Civ game out.
Im glad I bought a copy of AOM and supported the ongoing effort.
After reading the lastest readme,s that comes with the new download update to AOM2 its hard to believe so much could be done to CtP2 engine.
I hope some of the old CtP2 players look thur the files and pictures posted of late on your site Stan there in for shock.

stankarp · November 30, 2005, 20:44

I had a customer yesterday who has put Civ 4 asided (very disappointed), confessed he had CTP2 but gave it away, so has paid for another second hand CTP2 disc and AOM disc so he can play AOM.

Changmai Beagle · November 30, 2005, 20:56

I was playing AOM again this morning (following some disappointment that Victoria patch 1.04 has been delayed) so very excited to see V2 on its way.

Couple of questions. Why is it called Yin's version? And, how far along are you in porting it into the playtest (if at all - I can't remember how those earlier discussions ended).[Edit - OK, I read the other thread so I know where that's at now]

My understanding of the latest playtest allows for some additional functionality for goods (as being required for various things) so I was thinking that might provide some further interesting options later along the way. Maybe I'll have to take up programming as a hobby yet...

stankarp · November 30, 2005, 22:35

I called it Yin's update because he (Kelly) made many useful suggestions and helped with some play testing.

Next job is to look at the playtest issue after I revise the later starting period files and do the shorter version of the game (as per Albert the White's suggestion).

Ekmek · November 30, 2005, 23:06

Stan,

just browsed the files and it looks great. Wish I had more time to playtest the stuff you sent before but the code always ties me down. hopefully martin will finishup compatibility issues for AoM and the playtest soon.

a recommendation I wanted to place earlier but forget. Since city expansion slows the game so much I was going to recommend that instead have commerce improvements (trade posts), if built in the city radius, would grow to city expansion tiles if either the city changed size or after 50 turns. that way a lot of the calc of looking for a sport is taken out and doesnt slow the game. That and I would have removed the ancient age expansion and made it more of a modern event giving money bonuses but also a problem but removing food and production (using negative values)resources

Changmai Beagle, if you take up the code hobby I'll help as much as I can, we NEED coders!

thanks for your work stan, also here is a AoM Icon I made to separate Ctp2 from AoM on my desktop (before I had the playtest incompatibility probs)

stankarp · November 30, 2005, 23:28

In the Readme I detailed for people how to disable city expansion if they wish. It is not a problem for me and I always use it.

After Civ 4, AOM moves at light speed by comparison, even at turn 350 with 250+ cities and 3000+ uinits in the game.

DanQ · December 2, 2005, 21:48

From the official announcement:

Quote:

Stan "stankarp" Karpinski is officially announcing that he’s almost ready to release the expansion of his hugely successful CTPII mod Ages of Man, to be known as the AGES OF MAN II (Yin’s Update). Karpinski reports he is still amazed at the stability of the CTPII game engine and its ability to absorb huge additions and still remain totally playable, far more playable than more recent more modern games. [..] Building on the complete overhaul of the entire game (both graphics and gameplay) that AoM delivered, AoM II has incorporated the playing experience of many of the people who played AoM.

If you are looking for more information AoMII, we recommend visiting the the official website of the game and elsewhere in this and related threads at ACS. The download link is directly below -- please consult the related information ("NOTES") prior to commencing transfer.

- Download The Ages of Man II: Yin's Update (559MB) -
~ For those who do not have the original AoM installed on their computer ~

- Download Ages of Man-Ages of Man II Update (12.7MB) -
~ For those who do have the original AoM installed on their computer ~

Do not link to one or more of these files directly. Link to this forum thread instead.

Direct linking is a violation of the agreement between ACS and the AoM team.

NOTES

- To download AoM, you will need WinZip (http://www.winzip.com) or a similar compression utility in order to access the files contained within the single ZIP.
- At 559MB in size for the first file available for download above, the ACS administration recommends users connect to the Internet with high-speed (ISDN or greater) access to download.
- In addition or in lieu of high-speed Internet access, ACS also recommendeds that users use a World Wide Web browser or separate program that supports download resume in case the transfer is interrupted for one reason or another.
- ACS recommends GetRight (http://www.getright.com) as a download resuming program.
- ACS' server supports download resuming.

---------
Dan; Apolyton CS

yin26 · December 3, 2005, 07:59

I just wanted to drop by and congratulate Stan on this major release. One of the most striking things to me, obviously, is how seriously Stan takes feedback. I am by no means an elite player, but my feedback was so welcomed that Stan even kindly named an update after me, even if my contributions were very modest in the grand scheme of his and others work.

In other words, if you give AOM2 a sincere try, you have the creator himself ready to discuss any and every idea you might have. He has no profit motive other than to make this a great game even better. It's a game that could become one you continually come back to even after overhyped products from other companies lose their appeal.

My upcoming review of Civ 4 was in many ways much better informed after having given AOM some serious play time. Sure, the graphics are dated, but the core game elements are solid and only getting better with each update.

stankarp · December 3, 2005, 16:05

Hi Yin, thanks and many thanks for your help.

Please don't underestimate the value of an experienced opinion from outside the square if you know what I mean.

Sarxis · December 4, 2005, 16:13

Congrats on this release StanK. Looking forward to finally playing through with the new additions.

Stacked combat, here I come!

stankarp · December 9, 2005, 01:31

Just to let people know, the main AOM website is currently transferring to Apolyton.

Short term technical problems may be experienced in the next 24 hours.

Ekmek · December 9, 2005, 11:08

stan, in this thread you might be able to help

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...hreadid=145095

stankarp · December 11, 2005, 21:19

The transfer is complete and apologies if you were unable to access the AOM web page for over a day.

Apolyton Civilization Site now hosts AOM. Thanks to Dan and ACS.

Ekmek · December 12, 2005, 12:09

stan,

the new frenzy and AI looks great. i was thinking of incorporating the frezy/navy stuff into a regular game. Any chance you know which slic files i need to add. frenzy and navy of course but the counter you have is great. is any of that stuff buried in other slic files?

thanks

stankarp · December 12, 2005, 15:45

Unfortunately there is frenzy stuff buried in at least 6 other files and they have to be in script.slc in the right order or throw up errors.

Navy staff is also in at least 3 files.

Changmai Beagle · December 14, 2005, 10:06

I'm having a bit of trouble with requests from other civilizations for PW. The money is being subtracted either before I can click NO or regardless of if I click NO. I haven't figured out which yet - maybe if I'm quicker on the clicker?

Anyone else having this problem?

stankarp · December 14, 2005, 15:42

My initial check of the code has shown up no problem. I thought I may have forgotten to set to 0 the requested amount if you say no. But that is fine.

The actual adjustment of pw and frenzy occurs at the start of the human turn.

Yes would welcome advice if any one else is having this problem. In many tests and 2 full games I did not observe the problem CB is referring to.

stankarp · December 14, 2005, 21:17

Within 24 hours I will be posting revised files for the later starting times for AOM II.

In addition, I have completed a new later starting time for AOM II, starting at 500 AD. This is after the Dark Ages so there is no major barbarian spawn around 300 AD, no Hun Invasion and no Dark Ages instability. Later, the mongols are much reduced and the duration of the Black Death is nearly halved.

All players start with more resources and most advances up to the Dark Ages. It is more like selecting a later staring age when playing Multi Player in the original game.

I suspect it will play like a completely different game, more cut throat. Frenzy level will rise initially because of certain events/advances the human already has.

HuangShang · December 15, 2005, 02:28

500ad, thats great... really becomes another type of game then

stankarp · December 15, 2005, 03:41

The 500 AD start will be released untested as I do not have time to run a full test.

I am just checking the timeline and making sure it loads without errors.

Will welcome any feedback.

After I post tomorrow, I begin AOM III in earnest.

stankarp · December 16, 2005, 20:24

Due to lightening I had to shut down all computers for 12 hours.

I have uploaded the Later starting Date changes, a new 500 AD start game and a shorter version of the grand campaign (20% shorter). I have done my best to balance the timelines but they will not be quiet as good as the main campaign.

I also made a few other quick changes that are in the readme. Some of them were going to be in AOM III but as they were quick and easy, I included them in this release.

No one will ever say the KING is useless again.

Do not load these files if you want to finish your current game first. Changes to message strings will muck up your existing messages.

Enjoy.

Link; http://www.theagesofman.net/

macishman · December 20, 2005, 16:49

I'm very interested in trying AOM. Is there a help forum specific to that mod? I'd post there if I could find one.

I've installed it, it runs, but then hangs when I try to launch a game after setting the options for my game.

(Out of town for Christmas, but hoping I can find help to run it when I get back home. Thanks and Merry Xmen to all! (My copout greeting to stay neutral in the culturally based War on Christmas exchange. heh)

Thanks.

Ekmek · December 20, 2005, 17:43

stankarp,

I see that you added religion to AOM2. did you see mapfi's religion mod in the apolyton files. I think there might be some feature you'll want to add. but also I think the assigning a settler a "religion" function could be changed to add nationality to population (along with the population counter in the code) it could add yet more diversity to AoM. perhaps a migrant can keep the nationality and you can add the migrant to other cities and add to unhappinness and take money.

stankarp · December 20, 2005, 18:54

macishman

Is this after you have executed your first turn waiting for the AI? There is a hang time if you or ai enter ruins and get an advance or unit early in the game. By turn 250 the hang time is down to 2-3 seconds. But before turn 50 it can be 20 seconds plus or longer on older computers.

E. I did look at that and am developing the religion concept more for AOM III. But I did not want to go to one religion for every AI. There are already more cleric type actions with what I have done so I don't see the need for too involve other units such as migrants (which are ground units and have diplomacy implications if you move them into enemy territory).

Ekmek · December 20, 2005, 21:37

Quote:

Originally posted by stankarp

E. I did look at that and am developing the religion concept more for AOM III. But I did not want to go to one religion for every AI. There are already more cleric type actions with what I have done so I don't see the need for too involve other units such as migrants (which are ground units and have diplomacy implications if you move them into enemy territory).

Stan I agree that each Civ should not be a religion. I lokie your few religions better. The best stuff in the mapfi/pedrunn's stuff is that you can have mixed religion cities, and a message tells you percentages (I'm sure you can make that another button) and using clerics to convert the cities. So I'm looking forward to it.

As for AoM3 I'm really hoping we can get AoM and the playtest compatible. There is a lot in the playtest that can enhance AoM and vice versa. Also with AoM compatible with the playtest we can open some other options but modifying te code to add more to AoM. Maybe Martin Guhmann can help on how the strings can be matched.

macishman · December 20, 2005, 21:51

Stan -

It's before I've even seen the map. Right after clicking on the "launch" button.

stankarp · December 21, 2005, 15:51

"It's before I've even seen the map. Right after clicking on the "launch" button."

I have never seen nor heard of this before.

Can only suggest you re install everything.

Where did you get your version (assuming it is AOMII).

stankarp · December 21, 2005, 15:53

E.

Refining religion to the ultimate and making AOM run on playtest are 2 top priorities with AOMIII, along with fleshing out the modern era, vassal states and proper coordinated stack attacks from the ai.