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So, I've been thinking . . .
Y'know what was great about CivII? It was probably the most mod-friendly TBS game ever. It was right at the sweet spot where just about any schmuck could futz around with the .txt files and rework the game to make it into almost anything. The same basic game could be transformed into a Star Trek, WWII, Tolkien, medieval or fantasy game. Or any number of other oddities. But there were limitations; you had to work around the game's limitations, and some effects had to be approximated by hacking or exploiting arcane bugs like Domain Three.
More recent games have been more moddable in theory, but in practice, enhanced modern graphics shut that door. Lots of people can whip up perfectly serviceable static bmps on the CivII level, but they can't make animated Nazgul image files or anything. The idea of mucking around with Python might be intimidating as well, compared to just fiddling with some basic files.
So, my idea: what if there were a sort of skeletal civ "platform" designed for maximum customization, built roughly along CivII lines but with elements of SMAC and IV? I'm thinking something with HUGE reference files with a squillion variables to tweak for everything. So you could have, say, up to a seven-by-seven SMAC-style SE "grid," with user-defined values. Why seven? Because it's bigger than I can imagine any sane person actually wanting to use. Buildings? You can create a building that boosts starting ground experience by two, adds two food, and can only be built by civs in groups X and Y with access to techs A and B, running civic Q, and so on.
The biggest issue I can think of is AI; AI tends to be stupid even without massive amounts of variables it can't weigh. I'm thinking you could compensate by adding AI fields in groups for each tech/unit/building/civic/whatever. So AI personality type 0 ("the rusher") could have a high value set for attack units, maybe a few basic growth-boosting buildings, and supporting civics, while refusing to consider wonders. The idea is: "the AI is going to be a moron; let's make him a moron who takes orders."
Okay, that's it for now. What would you add to this fantasy?
Y'know what was great about CivII? It was probably the most mod-friendly TBS game ever. It was right at the sweet spot where just about any schmuck could futz around with the .txt files and rework the game to make it into almost anything. The same basic game could be transformed into a Star Trek, WWII, Tolkien, medieval or fantasy game. Or any number of other oddities. But there were limitations; you had to work around the game's limitations, and some effects had to be approximated by hacking or exploiting arcane bugs like Domain Three.
More recent games have been more moddable in theory, but in practice, enhanced modern graphics shut that door. Lots of people can whip up perfectly serviceable static bmps on the CivII level, but they can't make animated Nazgul image files or anything. The idea of mucking around with Python might be intimidating as well, compared to just fiddling with some basic files.
So, my idea: what if there were a sort of skeletal civ "platform" designed for maximum customization, built roughly along CivII lines but with elements of SMAC and IV? I'm thinking something with HUGE reference files with a squillion variables to tweak for everything. So you could have, say, up to a seven-by-seven SMAC-style SE "grid," with user-defined values. Why seven? Because it's bigger than I can imagine any sane person actually wanting to use. Buildings? You can create a building that boosts starting ground experience by two, adds two food, and can only be built by civs in groups X and Y with access to techs A and B, running civic Q, and so on.
The biggest issue I can think of is AI; AI tends to be stupid even without massive amounts of variables it can't weigh. I'm thinking you could compensate by adding AI fields in groups for each tech/unit/building/civic/whatever. So AI personality type 0 ("the rusher") could have a high value set for attack units, maybe a few basic growth-boosting buildings, and supporting civics, while refusing to consider wonders. The idea is: "the AI is going to be a moron; let's make him a moron who takes orders."
Okay, that's it for now. What would you add to this fantasy?
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