game time

[Aegrim]

Hi, i used to visit this forum (the civ3 part) ages ago, my old account was Haziedavampire until i fell ill many years back. I recently got civ4 and decided to come back but my old account won't let me post? :/

anyway, i've played a few games of civ4 but find that before i've massed an army to invade, my units are out of date. Could somebody tell me (or make a mod for me) that will increase the time i spend at a tech level, but doesn't increase the build costs at the same time.

atm the only options increase both at the same time, which simply gives me the same problem over an extended period of time.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Play Marathon and reduce the build cost for units by half. Reduce the build cost for structures by 2/3. That should give you the effect you're looking for.

But FWIW, I think you will find that units don't obsolete themselves too quickly on Marathon. Anecdotal evidence suggests that armies can be amassed and marched to an opponent without obsolescence becoming a problem.

And if you reduce the build costs, you'll probably run out of things to build...

[Aegrim]

how do i go about reducing the costs?

[Jaybe]

Many of the "numbers" involved in Civ4 are in XML files. Check out the directory ... Civilization 4/Assets/XML/GameInfo (if memory serves me correctly). Check out other XML directories also. However, you might want to get more experience with the game before you edit stuff.

Edit XML files in Notepad.
IMPORTANT: Save As any changed files into the appropriate folder in CustomAssets, NOT in their original location!
Understand? If not, then don't do it, or on your own head be it.

[MightyTiny]

Before messing with the XML files though, I do recommend that you try the marathon mode as it is. It's very well balanced, methinks, and units becoming obsolete too fast in marathon mode hasn't been a problem, at least for me.

[Willem]

Agreed. At 1200 turns, you'll have lots of time to build up your forces before they become obsolete. Especially since unit builds are only twice as long as in Normal, while everything else is three times.

[snoopy369]

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?file=51359_LongerEras.zip

That should double the tech length without affecting anything else. (I also doubled the length of the game, roughly).

Unzip the folder into your warlords/mods/ directory, and run it by loading it in-game. I haven't tested it but it should work fine. The game ends in or about AD 2100 after 900 turns.

Play the game on "Normal" speed. I didn't add a new speed as that gives some interesting errors, from my previous experience (other files reference the various speeds). Normal speed will be Normal except 2x as long techs.

If you want to adjust times and such, go into the mod folder into the XML directory, open the Civ4GameSpeedInfo.xml file and scroll down into the Normal speed (3/4 of the way down). You'll see some comments (in <!-- brackets) that tell you how to do things to adjust the speeds.

Enjoy, let me know if it works or if you have trouble with it.

[Aegrim]

i don't have warlords, will this work with normal civ4?

[Solver]

Also, you should return to your old forum account . It's currently not working because it doesn't like the email it's registered to. Send me a private message with another valid email of yours, and I'll re-register your old account to that, hopefully letting you post.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Solver
Also, you should return to your old forum account . It's currently not working because it doesn't like the email it's registered to. Send me a private message with another valid email of yours, and I'll re-register your old account to that, hopefully letting you post.

I wish I had known that a few years back, I have an old account I couldn't use as well. Too late now to switch back, no one would know who I was then. Besides, I'm aiming for Deity status now.

[Solver]

A few years back that might have been a problem, actually.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Solver
A few years back that might have been a problem, actually.

Nahhh... we have always been quite friendly helping people re-establish their old accounts. All they had to do was ask... I've been doing it for years

[Solver]

Well, maybe my memory is wrong, but weren't there some problems with that in 2001 or 2002?

[Dis]

Originally posted by Ming


Nahhh... we have always been quite friendly helping people re-establish their old accounts. All they had to do was ask... I've been doing it for years

my old accont is locked (or maybe even deleted). This was back before they could do name changes, so I just created new accounts when I wanted a new name.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Aegrim
i don't have warlords, will this work with normal civ4?

Hrm, probably not.