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  • A list of things never to do!

    I'd like to make a list of things you should never do when making a simple, or advanced mod (Advanced meaning new units, simple meaning change of rules!).
    Please post things in here, like the way people post in Zulu's 'rouge FAQ'.
    Help negate the vegiterian movement!
    For every animal you don't eat! I'm gunna eat three!!

  • #2
    My first one is:
    Never give frigates a cargo slot!
    It really screws their animations! When they are fighting, or bombarding in a certain direction, they look like they are doing it in another direction!
    And when they are fighting, they point the nose of their ship towards the enemt and fire to the north and south (I've only seen this in lateral combat, i havn't actualy got a chance to see them fight north to south or in anyother direction cept for west to east or east to west!)
    Help negate the vegiterian movement!
    For every animal you don't eat! I'm gunna eat three!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Advanced - When renaming or adding units, never forget that the name of the unit folder, game unit and *ini file all have to be the same!
      Up the Irons!
      Rogue CivIII FAQ!
      Odysseus and the March of Time
      I think holding hands can be more erotic than 'slamming it in the ass' - Pekka, thinking that he's messed up

      Comment


      • #4
        Never run with scissors.


        Seriously, though, I hate it when scenarios make a single all-powerful unit that dominates a civ's military. Very boring. We should see some interesting ideas when the scen editor comes out. I'd love to make strategic bombing runs on Germany in a WWII scenario.

        Or blast it across the trenches with my arty in WWI.

        How about a napoleonic blockade of europe? Gibraltar would have real significance in any scenario.

        I especially like the fact that ships must be in port to be repaired- much more realism.


        Oy, I'm getting giddy!
        http://www.ststs.com/CGI_BIN/YaBB/YaBB.pl?board=cut
        Dan Severn of the Loose Cannon Alliance
        ------------------------
        ¡Mueran todos los Reyes!

        Comment


        • #5
          Don't have any more than 8 luxuries. Unless you really want to have the game crash periodically. Also, don't make any changes to the worker jobs in the editor's Terrain screen for the same reason as above.

          PS I guess the 8 Luxuries limit has been solved with the new patch.
          Last edited by Willem; July 18, 2002, 11:23.

          Comment


          • #6
            Don’t give settlers and workers an attack value – crash on start. (Defense OK)

            Don’t give naval units (with the possible exception of transport) the airlift capability – it won’t crash the game but the whole idea is ridiculous!

            Never have a wonder give every city an improvement needed to build other wonders or improvements (Temple, Bank, Library, etc.) or you won’t build it.

            And unless you are fond of uninstalling, re-installing and patching Civ3 and reloading all your mods – Never change the culture group of any civ to “None.” The game will start and run, you will build and improve your cities, but once the palace gets an upgrade, the first time you try to view a city – Death to your game. You might get away with just reloading the patch, but why risk it.

            Edit: Grammar and punctuation - damn you spell check!
            Last edited by miccofl; July 15, 2002, 18:42.

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            • #7
              Don't give the settler worker abilities. This causes a "sometimes" crash when building cities.

              This thread deserves to live; especially with the new patch coming out.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Dan Severn
                Never run with scissors.


                Seriously, though, I hate it when scenarios make a single all-powerful unit that dominates a civ's military. Very boring. We should see some interesting ideas when the scen editor comes out. I'd love to make strategic bombing runs on Germany in a WWII scenario.

                Or blast it across the trenches with my arty in WWI.

                How about a napoleonic blockade of europe? Gibraltar would have real significance in any scenario.

                I especially like the fact that ships must be in port to be repaired- much more realism.
                Expanding on that idea, my recommendation is to make sure and playtest all units, making sure they're balanced between A/D/M, bombardment values, traits and shield cost. And put some variety into units! If a country historically used a variety of units, then building only one of these should be a disadvantage.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Trip
                  make sure and playtest all units, making sure they're balanced between A/D/M, bombardment values, traits and shield cost.
                  Excellent point, I use an accelerated mod just for testing new units. It’s not challenging in game terms but I can get the new units and use them with a minimum time expenditure. Besides how else are you going to see a 69K score.

                  Maybe I should post my test mod for coracle…

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by miccofl
                    Excellent point, I use an accelerated mod just for testing new units. It’s not challenging in game terms but I can get the new units and use them with a minimum time expenditure. Besides how else are you going to see a 69K score.

                    Maybe I should post my test mod for coracle…

                    I doubt you could ever please Coracle with anything related to Civ 3.

                    But seriously, for a scenario to be good, it has to be extensively tested. A unit imbalance makes the scenario much less fun to play.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by miccofl
                      Don't give the settler worker abilities. This causes a "sometimes" crash when building cities.

                      This thread deserves to live; especially with the new patch coming out.
                      On a similar note, don't try to make a specialist Worker, i.e. one who only irrigates etc. You won't be able to automate it, and the AI will never be able to use it once it''s built.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        HazieDaVampire, I think that the Frigate animation problem has to do with the "turn to attack" flag. If it is on, the unit turns around 90 degrees to attack.
                        The difference between industrial society and information society:
                        In an industrial society you take a shower when you have come home from work.
                        In an information society you take a shower before leaving for work.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

                          Oops, my bad. How about...

                          Shop smart, shop S Mart.

                          Seriously, always playtest the scenario ALL THE WAY through and pay attention to any custom graphics you've added. This will save you from having to post several patched editions and won't be as frustrating to the people who play it.

                          EDIT: and will allow you to correct spelling errors.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            everyone mentions the play testing one...so I'll say this...
                            don't forget that you didn't play test your current mod and then accidentally copy it to the backup before you go to sleep.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Don't give units large numbers of hitpoints (10-15 or more). This will make combat take forever. Especially between armies.

                              When placing Barbarian units on the map, remember to set their combat experience to Conscript, otherwise you have to fight off barbarians with Regular experience.

                              If you are increasing the Optimal number of cities to reduce corruption, remember that the AI will get these bonuses as well. I had a Continent game where the Romans owned 30% of all the world's land (most of the other continent) by the time I met them - they were almost unstoppable.

                              Always remember game balance when changing something. While 50-move Galleys might be fun, they are not balanced.

                              When changing what a unit can upgrade to, keep the choice sensible. Pay attention to the AI strategies. For example, Swordsmen work best when they Upgrade to Marines because both are offensive units. Swordsmen to Riflemen will work okay if the AI can use the Riflemen to attack.

                              Units should not upgrade to another unit where any of the A/D/M values for the new unit are lower than the old.

                              Keep an eye on the likely attackers and defenders at each point in the game, and make sure they are fairly evenly matched at all times. For example, a typical game might progress through the Knight/Pikemen era, Knight/Musketman era, Cavalry/Musketman era, Cavalry/Riflemen era, Cavalry/Infantry era and Tank/Infantry era. There should not be the equivalent of the Tank/Spearman era or the Horseman/Infantry era, because combat would be frustrating.
                              None, Sedentary, Roving, Restless, Raging ... damn, is that all? Where's the "massive waves of barbarians that can wipe out your civilisation" setting?

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