note: This is The Column, a part of Apolyton where anyone can write about whatever he/she wants :) If you feel like writing, submit your article via the article submission page

PREVIOUS ARTICLES

#115 TERRAFORMING ALPHA CENTAURI Alexander shares his future Civ suggestions. #116 WHY CIV IS THE GREATEST AND WORST GAME EVER MisterHungry is taking Civilization head on in debating its historical roots. #117 HISTORICAL APPLICATION OF ALPHA CENTAURI Keith Medlin showcases Alpha Centauri for its historical applications. #118 FREEDOM AND OBLIGATION: CTP2 What does freedom and obligation have to do with a game? MarkG wonders... #119 MODERATION IS A VIRTUE Ken Breggot is worried that trying to make Civ too complex will make gameplay too cumbersome. COLUMN ARCHIVE

PART I - THE RECKONING

It all started when I picked up a copy of Civ2: Conflicts in Civilization. I saw the whole macro language thing, and I started looking for what people had done with it, then I checked out Apolyton.

I found some truly profound scenarios here. I guess ‘Revolutionary War’ was the one that struck me most. There were others that I wanted to try, but I’d already decided that I wanted to make something that interested me. I wanted to make my own post-WW2 set of scenarios.

There were other WW3 scenarios and mod packs available, but none that pushed my buttons. I wanted something that felt just so. A post-WW2 scenario, where the Warsaw Pact would not become an economic cripple, but a powerhouse instead. This was the only way to make major warfare really attractive on a large scale in the modern era.

I'm a big fan of the Harpoon series, and authenticity is a big thing for me. I wanted lots of nice bells and whistles, and good fun tactics mixed in with the strategy. My plan was for an episodic set of scenarios with branches, each branch determined by the outcome of the previous scenario.

I checked out what Leon Marrick and Harlan Thompson and others had written on the subject of mod design (in their excellent FAQ,) and set about designing.

I did a fabulous tech tree, and did all the work-arounds and tweaks that you have to with civ2. Maybe 40 or so advances, and all of them related to a 6 decade period from after the war. All the rest of history was compressed into 3 advances, After this, I worked out a dozen or so balanced modern wonders, using the existing wonders, as you have to do with Civ2.

Then I found all the unit graphics I needed already done, or with slight modifications, made what wasn’t. I even worked out how to have more tightly packed metropolises, without sacrificing their size and prosperity; combine jungles and swamps into a single terrain, so that the swamp could be turned into an ultra-effective terrain, giving big food bonuses, and optionally big trade or production bonuses, I don’t even recall the exact details any more. I modified a world map based on Earth, and placed around 100 major cities, spread over 5 civilizations.

Then when I started to place units, and test the macro language, and force war between the appropriate opponents. Results weren’t as impressive as I’d hoped, and looking at what others had found, there were and are serious deficiencies in Civ2’s capability in scenario creation. This is fine if you’re content to work around these and make do with what you have. I’m just not a person who likes to compromise like that.

Want to comment on this article?

The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of Apolyton CS or GameStats. They are just the personal opinions of the writer.