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New Balance v1.3a
14 May 06
by Peter Shafer
Works with Civ IV v1.61 Patch
While MOST changes in this mod are not based on other people's work, a few changes are inspired by the work of others, and are noted when they are substantial, use some of their material, or were truly original and worth "stealing!" Thanks go out to those.
FORT changes inspired by RealFort mod at:
PROMOTION changes used a few artworks from Zuul's mod:
How to use:
UNZIP to the civ4\mods\ folder like any other mod. So you should have a "New Balance" folder right under your MODS folder in your main CIV directory.
You WILL NOT BE ABLE to replace the old mod with this one mid-game! WARNING! It WILL CRASH! Back up your old version if you're mid game!
What this mod is about:
I'm not trying to change CIV in any major ways but wanted a few things to be better...
1: This mod makes the NORMAL game about 25%-40% longer. What do I mean by longer? I mean that TECHNOLOGIES drive the pace of the game- they come slower. There are about 25% more turns, so when playing it feels like you stay in each era a little longer. This means you get to mess with units a bit more before the next tech makes them obsolete. Some other things are slowed down a little too for balance reasons: city growth, etc... but in a proportional way that is better than the vanilla EPIC game included in the game.
You'll see more units in the game and have a livlier classical/medieval/gunpowder age experience.
2: The difficulty levels of NOBLE and PRINCE are changed. NOBLE is almost 100% equal now, it is truly you vs. the AI evenly. Prince ups the AI's ability in a few stats- upkeep, war morale, etc...
Based on (Select when playing):
NORMAL SPEED (works with EPIC too- but those games are ridiculously long now)
NOBLE/PRINCE (although other levels are OK too!)
----------
v1.3a minor changes/fixes
----------
Fix: Got the tech splash screen wroking again
Removed mod portion that relaunched jet patrols, as the patch fixes this.
HORSE based units significantly better at WITHDRAWING: IMO, Horses are too unimportant in the game. Historically, they were hugely important additions to a civilization's repertoire of war weapons... without them... things were tough. So I beefed up the horse units a bit.
----------
v1.3 Additions/Changes
----------
GALLEY now costs 25 (was 30). The economy needs them cheaper for them to appear in the right numbers, IMO.
EXPLORER has a combat value of 5 now (was 4).
----------
v1.2 Additions/Changes:
----------
Reworked ENTIRE mod based on the NEW FILES from the 1.61 patch! (Grrrr... took forever!)
Free Speech: +1$ in towns, not +2$.
MISSIONARY differences removed:
I'm STILL unhappy about how religion plays out in the game and STILL thinking about what to do about it. In the meantime, it's pretty much Vanilla CIV style.
GALLEY cost: 30
BANK provides 40% commerce bonus (was 50%).
Reworked Free Speech/U. Suffrage:
Less WW with Suffrage, more with free speech. I STILL think Universal Suffrage contributes to WW becaus, let's face it, women are a bit more anti-violence than men at least in organized ways... history has borne this out.
FORT GARRISON III moved earlier to Chemistry.
--
v1.1 Additions/Changes:
--
Reworked dates to better match technology.
Scaled back to 33% the bonus Industrial gets for making wonders.
FORGE costs 100 not 120
ALL SWORD UNITS gain 25% DEFENSIVE bonus vs. ARCHER (not longbows and x-bows, though).
CARRIERS carry 4 not 3 units, are slightly cheaper (the real cost is the planes).
KNIGHTS/MACEMEN moved to slightly different research track.
SUBMARINES gain 25% attack versus TRANSPORTS. Slightly cheaper too.
BATTLESHIPS slightly more costly.
UNITED NATIONS with FISSION (So a little earlier)
Radio Towers with RADIO
INTERNET with MASS MEDIA
OIL is more clumpy in distribution:
A few nations now will tend to control it- and it's easier to take it militarily- makes it more strategic I think.
NAVY SEAL can board SUBMARINES.
ADDED 2 PROMOTIONS:
DESERT COMBAT and ARCTIC COMBAT: +25% defense in terrains, plus double movement in those terrains. Requires Combat I first.
Updated artwork of FORT GARRISONS with stuff from Zuul.
U.S.A flag changed to Betsey Ross style.
--
OLDER CHANGES:
--
CLEAR JUNGLE with BIOLOGY (instead of being able to do this right away!)
Because jungles are FIERCE scary DANGEROUS places, damnit! It was medicine that allowed the panama canal clearing of jungle, no amount of slaves dieing in great numbers could do it! So jungles stay on the map until the 1800's or so... nice.
Note that you CAN build ROADS, CAMPS and PLANTATIONS and MINES and such in JUNGLE with GUNPOWDER which is earlier than MEDICINE. This is to help get those trade items (Ivory and Bananas) into the game a little earlier than medicine, and to simulate that Conquistadors used the natives to do the work by dominating with guns and forcing them into slavery.
COTTAGES built with MONARCHY (was Pottery):
The economy heats up too fast too early otherwise. I figure you need a slighty betetr knowledge of civics before you have suburbs. This change is hard to deal with if you're used to having loads of $$ in the game- you will need to balance your economy much more carefully now.
FISSION reveals URANIUM (was physics):
Because the stupid AI will trade Uranium and mine it before it can USE it! -sigh- So that's fixed. now the AI will have it when it wants to build bombs and stuff.
WINERIES with POTTERY:
Why? Well, duh!
SPY & SCOTLAND YARD available with NATIONALISM:
Why? Because waiting until COMMUNISM SUCKS.... and besides the plans for textile mills were stolen by "spies" in real life back in the 1700's or so... I figure an earlier tech should get you spies.
SCOTLAND YARD and spies are cheaper:
Spies need to be earlier in the game...
SPY missions are cheaper in general...
MAP TRADING with ASTRONOMY not with paper:
Because I want larger black spots on the map a little longer... give my sailing ships something to DO!
TECH TRADING with GUILDS not with Alphabet:
I think this makes sense to some degreee, plus tech whoring early in the game can ruin it.
GREAT LIBRARY with ALPHABET not literature:
Literature is NOT what was in the great library in real life- it was scientific texts and philosophy, this wonder can be one tech earlier.
DRY DOCKS with ENGINEERING (was steel):
Shipbuilding is an ancient art really, and the concept of dry docks goes back to ancient Greece and the Cartheginians... so we'll compromise- this allows more sailing ships to enter the game if you want to focus that way.
CARAVAL carries TWO special units:
As they were, even with more time to use them, the Age of Discovery wasn't quite as fun as it ought to have been when I played TERRA maps... so I let the caravel be a little more effective at delivering Conquistadores (Explorers and Missionaries if you will).
CANNONS require GUNPOWDER + Printing Press (was steel + gunpowder):
This unit came WAY too late in the game, in my opinion- about 1 tech away from ARTILLERY! So now it can occur in the gunpowder age, but not instantly with gunpowder, you need to have researched the other mechanical branch a little too.
AMBUSH PROMOTION not available until you develop STEEL
ALL SHIPS have +1 movement from vanilla civ iv. (except work boats)
FORBIDDEN PALACE, CITY WALLS, and CASTLE are cheaper to build.
-----
CIVIC STUFF (LOOk over this screen in the game! Many changes to bring a better balance.) I find I actually change governements now and then, and even fret over what to choose at times now.
-----
PAPER needed for Beaurocracy (was civil service- so it's one tech later).
GOODY HUT MAP: Reveals a little more map a little further away.
SHEEP: +1 food, prod. and trade w/pasture (was +2,0,+1).
WHALE: +1 Prod and food as base tile. (was +1 food)
CAVALRY upgrades to Tank OR Gunship: I've no idea why cavalry to gunships was in the vanilla game since all the worlds cavalry was usually dead in the intervening 100 years that tanks and artillery ruled the lands... so, now human and AI have a choice.
CASTLE with CONSTRUCTION (was engineering): so it's earlier
BUNKER w/REFRIGERATION (was electricity): so later by one tech
Reworked TECH REQUIREMENTS for FLIGHT, ARTILLERY, ROCKETRY, and COMBUSTION to make those a little harder to run for without supporting techs. FLIGHT was too easily skipped completely- I didn't like that for the space race.
MARKET is a -1 health building.
It brings in a lot of trade, people, and so disease (like the plague) so this needs to be represented somewhat in the game, IMO. (Besides I want something to slow city growth just a tad.)
---
FORT CHANGES:
three levels, by tech, higher levels inclusive of lower levels:
Basic:
+5% Heal
w/Optics:
+5% Heal
+1 Visibility
w/Steel:
+5% Heal
10% withdraw chance gained
1 first strike chance
Because the AI doesn't build forts and they are more helpful now the time to build them is increased by +66%.
Balanced start locations better at higher difficulties.
Units after Warrior and up to Musketmen are 5 prod. cheaper to produce. This has the effect of making the classical age more populated and bit more "lively."
Workshops come with MACHINERY (one tech earlier)
LOWERED commerce bonus of market/grocer to 20%. (-10% net change)
LOWERED science bonus of universities/observatories to 20% (-10% net change/-5% each)
AI HANDICAP is now truly much closer to EQUAL with the player on NOBLE difficulty.
AI HANDICAP at PRINCE is balanced a bit more in the AI's favor- with slightly grater Barbarian activity.
Observatory requires Astronomy and Liberalism (was just Astronomy)
14 May 06
by Peter Shafer
Works with Civ IV v1.61 Patch
While MOST changes in this mod are not based on other people's work, a few changes are inspired by the work of others, and are noted when they are substantial, use some of their material, or were truly original and worth "stealing!" Thanks go out to those.
FORT changes inspired by RealFort mod at:
PROMOTION changes used a few artworks from Zuul's mod:
How to use:
UNZIP to the civ4\mods\ folder like any other mod. So you should have a "New Balance" folder right under your MODS folder in your main CIV directory.
You WILL NOT BE ABLE to replace the old mod with this one mid-game! WARNING! It WILL CRASH! Back up your old version if you're mid game!
What this mod is about:
I'm not trying to change CIV in any major ways but wanted a few things to be better...
1: This mod makes the NORMAL game about 25%-40% longer. What do I mean by longer? I mean that TECHNOLOGIES drive the pace of the game- they come slower. There are about 25% more turns, so when playing it feels like you stay in each era a little longer. This means you get to mess with units a bit more before the next tech makes them obsolete. Some other things are slowed down a little too for balance reasons: city growth, etc... but in a proportional way that is better than the vanilla EPIC game included in the game.
You'll see more units in the game and have a livlier classical/medieval/gunpowder age experience.
2: The difficulty levels of NOBLE and PRINCE are changed. NOBLE is almost 100% equal now, it is truly you vs. the AI evenly. Prince ups the AI's ability in a few stats- upkeep, war morale, etc...
Based on (Select when playing):
NORMAL SPEED (works with EPIC too- but those games are ridiculously long now)
NOBLE/PRINCE (although other levels are OK too!)
----------
v1.3a minor changes/fixes
----------
Fix: Got the tech splash screen wroking again
Removed mod portion that relaunched jet patrols, as the patch fixes this.
HORSE based units significantly better at WITHDRAWING: IMO, Horses are too unimportant in the game. Historically, they were hugely important additions to a civilization's repertoire of war weapons... without them... things were tough. So I beefed up the horse units a bit.
----------
v1.3 Additions/Changes
----------
GALLEY now costs 25 (was 30). The economy needs them cheaper for them to appear in the right numbers, IMO.
EXPLORER has a combat value of 5 now (was 4).
----------
v1.2 Additions/Changes:
----------
Reworked ENTIRE mod based on the NEW FILES from the 1.61 patch! (Grrrr... took forever!)
Free Speech: +1$ in towns, not +2$.
MISSIONARY differences removed:
I'm STILL unhappy about how religion plays out in the game and STILL thinking about what to do about it. In the meantime, it's pretty much Vanilla CIV style.
GALLEY cost: 30
BANK provides 40% commerce bonus (was 50%).
Reworked Free Speech/U. Suffrage:
Less WW with Suffrage, more with free speech. I STILL think Universal Suffrage contributes to WW becaus, let's face it, women are a bit more anti-violence than men at least in organized ways... history has borne this out.
FORT GARRISON III moved earlier to Chemistry.
--
v1.1 Additions/Changes:
--
Reworked dates to better match technology.
Scaled back to 33% the bonus Industrial gets for making wonders.
FORGE costs 100 not 120
ALL SWORD UNITS gain 25% DEFENSIVE bonus vs. ARCHER (not longbows and x-bows, though).
CARRIERS carry 4 not 3 units, are slightly cheaper (the real cost is the planes).
KNIGHTS/MACEMEN moved to slightly different research track.
SUBMARINES gain 25% attack versus TRANSPORTS. Slightly cheaper too.
BATTLESHIPS slightly more costly.
UNITED NATIONS with FISSION (So a little earlier)
Radio Towers with RADIO
INTERNET with MASS MEDIA
OIL is more clumpy in distribution:
A few nations now will tend to control it- and it's easier to take it militarily- makes it more strategic I think.
NAVY SEAL can board SUBMARINES.
ADDED 2 PROMOTIONS:
DESERT COMBAT and ARCTIC COMBAT: +25% defense in terrains, plus double movement in those terrains. Requires Combat I first.
Updated artwork of FORT GARRISONS with stuff from Zuul.
U.S.A flag changed to Betsey Ross style.
--
OLDER CHANGES:
--
CLEAR JUNGLE with BIOLOGY (instead of being able to do this right away!)
Because jungles are FIERCE scary DANGEROUS places, damnit! It was medicine that allowed the panama canal clearing of jungle, no amount of slaves dieing in great numbers could do it! So jungles stay on the map until the 1800's or so... nice.
Note that you CAN build ROADS, CAMPS and PLANTATIONS and MINES and such in JUNGLE with GUNPOWDER which is earlier than MEDICINE. This is to help get those trade items (Ivory and Bananas) into the game a little earlier than medicine, and to simulate that Conquistadors used the natives to do the work by dominating with guns and forcing them into slavery.
COTTAGES built with MONARCHY (was Pottery):
The economy heats up too fast too early otherwise. I figure you need a slighty betetr knowledge of civics before you have suburbs. This change is hard to deal with if you're used to having loads of $$ in the game- you will need to balance your economy much more carefully now.
FISSION reveals URANIUM (was physics):
Because the stupid AI will trade Uranium and mine it before it can USE it! -sigh- So that's fixed. now the AI will have it when it wants to build bombs and stuff.
WINERIES with POTTERY:
Why? Well, duh!
SPY & SCOTLAND YARD available with NATIONALISM:
Why? Because waiting until COMMUNISM SUCKS.... and besides the plans for textile mills were stolen by "spies" in real life back in the 1700's or so... I figure an earlier tech should get you spies.
SCOTLAND YARD and spies are cheaper:
Spies need to be earlier in the game...
SPY missions are cheaper in general...
MAP TRADING with ASTRONOMY not with paper:
Because I want larger black spots on the map a little longer... give my sailing ships something to DO!
TECH TRADING with GUILDS not with Alphabet:
I think this makes sense to some degreee, plus tech whoring early in the game can ruin it.
GREAT LIBRARY with ALPHABET not literature:
Literature is NOT what was in the great library in real life- it was scientific texts and philosophy, this wonder can be one tech earlier.
DRY DOCKS with ENGINEERING (was steel):
Shipbuilding is an ancient art really, and the concept of dry docks goes back to ancient Greece and the Cartheginians... so we'll compromise- this allows more sailing ships to enter the game if you want to focus that way.
CARAVAL carries TWO special units:
As they were, even with more time to use them, the Age of Discovery wasn't quite as fun as it ought to have been when I played TERRA maps... so I let the caravel be a little more effective at delivering Conquistadores (Explorers and Missionaries if you will).
CANNONS require GUNPOWDER + Printing Press (was steel + gunpowder):
This unit came WAY too late in the game, in my opinion- about 1 tech away from ARTILLERY! So now it can occur in the gunpowder age, but not instantly with gunpowder, you need to have researched the other mechanical branch a little too.
AMBUSH PROMOTION not available until you develop STEEL
ALL SHIPS have +1 movement from vanilla civ iv. (except work boats)
FORBIDDEN PALACE, CITY WALLS, and CASTLE are cheaper to build.
-----
CIVIC STUFF (LOOk over this screen in the game! Many changes to bring a better balance.) I find I actually change governements now and then, and even fret over what to choose at times now.
-----
PAPER needed for Beaurocracy (was civil service- so it's one tech later).
GOODY HUT MAP: Reveals a little more map a little further away.
SHEEP: +1 food, prod. and trade w/pasture (was +2,0,+1).
WHALE: +1 Prod and food as base tile. (was +1 food)
CAVALRY upgrades to Tank OR Gunship: I've no idea why cavalry to gunships was in the vanilla game since all the worlds cavalry was usually dead in the intervening 100 years that tanks and artillery ruled the lands... so, now human and AI have a choice.
CASTLE with CONSTRUCTION (was engineering): so it's earlier
BUNKER w/REFRIGERATION (was electricity): so later by one tech
Reworked TECH REQUIREMENTS for FLIGHT, ARTILLERY, ROCKETRY, and COMBUSTION to make those a little harder to run for without supporting techs. FLIGHT was too easily skipped completely- I didn't like that for the space race.
MARKET is a -1 health building.
It brings in a lot of trade, people, and so disease (like the plague) so this needs to be represented somewhat in the game, IMO. (Besides I want something to slow city growth just a tad.)
---
FORT CHANGES:
three levels, by tech, higher levels inclusive of lower levels:
Basic:
+5% Heal
w/Optics:
+5% Heal
+1 Visibility
w/Steel:
+5% Heal
10% withdraw chance gained
1 first strike chance
Because the AI doesn't build forts and they are more helpful now the time to build them is increased by +66%.
Balanced start locations better at higher difficulties.
Units after Warrior and up to Musketmen are 5 prod. cheaper to produce. This has the effect of making the classical age more populated and bit more "lively."
Workshops come with MACHINERY (one tech earlier)
LOWERED commerce bonus of market/grocer to 20%. (-10% net change)
LOWERED science bonus of universities/observatories to 20% (-10% net change/-5% each)
AI HANDICAP is now truly much closer to EQUAL with the player on NOBLE difficulty.
AI HANDICAP at PRINCE is balanced a bit more in the AI's favor- with slightly grater Barbarian activity.
Observatory requires Astronomy and Liberalism (was just Astronomy)
Would this MOD run ok if i were to stay at the Noble Difficulty?
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