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I read a lot of the AU for Civ 3 way back when. It was a blast to read and fun to play the games, even if I never really did any writeups. I look forward to AU for Civ 4, and would like to respond to a couple of the original questions...
I love the AU mod for Civ 3 (still use it as default whenever I load back up). I consider it a cut above vanilla Civ 3 while feeling like the same game. It's perfect for what it intends to be.
I don't think, however, than the first set of courses should be run on the mod. If you really want people to learn Civ 4 with AU help, rather than just refine and master it as happened with Civ 3, then you have to start out with a course in Vanilla. After several courses people will have tons of modding ideas that will fit with AU ideals and that work can begin. Then the AU courses can fit the dual purpose of teaching and testing the mod out one or two changes at a time.
About the philosophy... well it's the reason I love the Civ 3 mod so much.
I recall from reading the threads that 1 and 2 are the big ones. A change to reduce micromanagement was only allowed if it helped the AI or was AI netural, right? And as I remember, the goal to preserve historical accuracy was used more as a way to curb other changes than to implement new ones. Assuming that micromangement is not an issue (as we've been led to believe) and there are no huge historical gaffes. The open modding that Civ 4 allows could mean that the AU mod could be nothing more than AI script writing and program refinements? This is because you don't have to do things like make archers more valuable because the AI used to build them too much when they were weaker, or decrease the power of a building that humans always build and AIs never do to help balance.
That just might be my favorite thing to see... an AU mod that changes nothing except the AI. It perfectly fits the two golden AU rules, right? If a human knows that doing this will always win because the AI does that the solution is not to beef or nerf this or that, but write an AI routine to handle both.
If a year from now I can load an AU mod that has leaders mimicing the (non-exploitative - see "preserve the original") behaviors of the best AU players when they have that leader, on that kind of map, next to that kind of neighbor, I'd be very happy.
I love the AU mod for Civ 3 (still use it as default whenever I load back up). I consider it a cut above vanilla Civ 3 while feeling like the same game. It's perfect for what it intends to be.
I don't think, however, than the first set of courses should be run on the mod. If you really want people to learn Civ 4 with AU help, rather than just refine and master it as happened with Civ 3, then you have to start out with a course in Vanilla. After several courses people will have tons of modding ideas that will fit with AU ideals and that work can begin. Then the AU courses can fit the dual purpose of teaching and testing the mod out one or two changes at a time.
About the philosophy... well it's the reason I love the Civ 3 mod so much.
- Improve the AI.
- Present the player with more strategic decisions.
- Change as little as possible, to preserve the unmodded Civ3 flavor.
- Preserve historical accuracy.
- Reduce micromanagement.
- Present the player with more strategic decisions.
- Change as little as possible, to preserve the unmodded Civ3 flavor.
- Preserve historical accuracy.
- Reduce micromanagement.
That just might be my favorite thing to see... an AU mod that changes nothing except the AI. It perfectly fits the two golden AU rules, right? If a human knows that doing this will always win because the AI does that the solution is not to beef or nerf this or that, but write an AI routine to handle both.
If a year from now I can load an AU mod that has leaders mimicing the (non-exploitative - see "preserve the original") behaviors of the best AU players when they have that leader, on that kind of map, next to that kind of neighbor, I'd be very happy.
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