Best downloads?

[Theben]

I finally decided to download FFHII and had some time to look at other mods, etc. @ cfc.

I know about Dale's Road to War and Combat Mod, Wolfshanze and the Better AI (although HOW it's better I don't know)... are there other mods, add-ons that I should look into? Any that combine several other types? What about Blue Marble or other terrain mods?

Basically I'm looking for something that has better graphics, lots of civs, more units and events and uses Dale's Combat mod or something close to it.

Comments appreciated!

[Jaybe]

HephMod: a mod combo-pack emphasizing balance, realism, and historical flavor!

Don't be aghast at your first game if your civ collapses on you. It isn't that difficult to learn how to avoid it. In fact, in one game I lost 2 cities to civil war, retook them and did quite well overall. Incorporates Better AI (though not the latest version) in its Revolution Mod component.

[Theben]

I take it that it incorporates Rhye's civ stability civics? What else?

[Theben]

TheConglomerate looks close to what I had in mind.

[Jaybe]

No comment on Rhye's CSC, I haven't played Rhye's since vanilla.

From post # one of the thread:

Features:
Longer Epic game with reduced unit costs, giving more time in each era to play with military units
Increased ability to support large armies in the early game
Unique religions and increased unhappiness due to non-state religions
Serious reworking of unit stats (originally based on Wes' Medieval Mod)
A handful of new units: Skirmishers and Light Cavalry in the early and middle eras
More distinctive trait abilities for civs to give playing different civs a more unique feel
Additional flavor units
Civics almost totally reworked based on an advantage/disadvantage model
A Bit More Natural mod (a resource mod that makes resource appearance parameters more realistic)
Includes Revolution Mod by jdog
Inquisitor mod (bmarnz and OrionVeteran) merged, with some changes
StackAid (including the "hero" promotions from Zuul's Promotions&Perks)
A new Civics category (Military) and one new Civic in each category
abbamouse's realistic religions is back (without Zoroastrianism for the time being, however)
Unique shrine wonders with local and global benefits and drawbacks
Reworked traits system

I recently (just hours ago) completed a quest to capture the holy city of my religion and got the shrine as the reward (shrines generally are destroyed when captured). Then I find out that the Hindu shrine not only gives 1 food to each priest specialist, but (ACK!!) newly built troops get 1 LESS experience point!**

Hephmod Beyond is NOT a "gamer's" game. Don't expect a linear progression, it's a bit more "realistic" and dynamic than that.

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Version 0.9b is available at post #196.

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EDIT: ** This was with HB version 0.82, not with the latest 0.9b, which handles shrine bonuses differently.