Destiny of Empires [Diplo Game] [Organization Thread]

[mzprox]

what error?
the mod files should go into public maps in bts, if you copy them anywhere else you will get error though the game would run.

[America (DoE)]

I'm on W7, and I had the same problems at first as well. This is what I did:

What you do is, go to your program files directory, Firaxis games, then Sid Meier's Civilization 4, then Beyond the Sword, and then Mods, and paste the mod there. Then load the mod in the game, connect, and then it should work. Be sure though that you are in the program files (X86) folder. This is what the path looks like on my computer: C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods.

I use a shortcut on my desktop now with the target set as: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod= Destiny of Empires

Works like a charm.

[The Priest]

I think we need to take seriously the Mongolia/India issue. Its a pain to do anything and it offends against a sense of fairness and an ethos of not messing around with things, but this game has many, many, months to run. If we already have two civs, right in the middle of things, which are falling behind, its better to do something now than let it limp on.

It sounds like Mongols are partly where they are because they made choices (pyramids!), and have something going for them, but once you start getting really barbarianed out, its hard to recover. India sounds like its in a worse situation. Its already lost one city and its land to another civ, and it sounds like can't really throw off barbarians now. There is a danger we have two puppet nations dominated by / dependent on neighbours which skews things and long term it would be hard to get people continuing to play those nations.

Merging might not be possible depending on the map - it could produce crippling city maintence from distance. At least it would do if it happened immediately. It can happen though technically though - all you need is India to move troops out of the capital and mongolia to move a unit in. (it sounds like its that way round that makes sense).

What we could do now is let the Mongolia player (who is back and good) run India as well. It could be a good story about brothers coming to the throne in both etc. This gives Mongol player some encouragement and hope for the future, and then they can merge them when they wish.

It solves a problem and adds some spice. Better to take clear action now than for them to limp on as small dependencies.

[England (DoE)]

If the Mongol player is truly back and able to reliably manage his civ, then it'd perhaps be wise to have him sub for India as well, but I don't like the idea of merging these civs. I think it would do more harm than good. The problem isn't a lack of land that could be solved by having one civ claim central asia from siberia to sri lanka. The problem is lack of attention and the crippling effects of being abandoned for many turns. If competent players were giving attention to both civs this whole time there would be no issue.

The most balanced way of fixing this would be to go back 20 turns or 30 turns or whatever is needed, but that is simply unacceptable to everyone else in the game. So I'd be in favor of a more manufactured solution. Have Robert go in, give them each a unit or two, a settler or two, a worker or two, and then hope that a human being guides them to some kind of success. I am also concerned about the Mali, who seem to only have one city. Have they been played consistently or have they been abandoned as well? As I understand it, the tier system was meant to provide more opportunities and benefits to weaker players, but if those players don't actually play no amount of open land will fix things.

We just need to fix that missed time, artificially or not, and keep a much closer eye on our fellow players to make sure people actually play their turns. This game and this map is very geography dependent. If we have many abandoned civs then the game is forever thrown out of whack and unbalanced.

[France (DoE)]

I don't think so, I'll clock it!

edit:
6 seconds for vanilla BtS
8 seconds for DoE

Interesting. I just time mine and got the exact same laod times. I am running Athlon 64 X2Dual Core at 2.6GHz, 4 meg ram and an older geforce card.

@mzprox .... As to the mod, I am running Vista, and could not get the mod to load from maps. Once I loaded it into the mod file all ran well. I used exactly the mod RP had posted here.

@ The Priest et al ... I think the idea of 'merging' the two civs would be an interesting way to go. It means we need one less player, gives the new 'civ' a fighting chance, and as has already been pointed out, makes for some nice role play material.

Not being here for the initial discussions, I am thinking 'no barbs' may have been a better approach. In crowded places like Europe, barbs are not an issue. Out in the more barren parts of the world they are. Sort of true to history, but also causes issues for those civs which have to continually face them. Just a thought.

[Robert]

Barbarians is indeed the main problem here.
Better players are often better at handling the barbarian invasions.
Give more space to average players and then the barbarians will overrun them.

Maybe we should have played 'no barbarians' indeed.
There are also no huts on this map. That means that the tier 2-4 players have the disadvantage of much space by getting babarians, but not the advantage of having much huts.

@Ozzy; how can I go in and add units etc?

(If I would have known how to do that in DoC then I would have won that game )

[Israel (DoE)]

One word: Great Wall

[France (DoE)]

One word: Great Wall

That's two words. I guess we don't want this Judaism thing after all. They can't even count.

[mzprox]

I don't think there is any way to "cheat" units or anything into the game. I favor that Mongolia subs for India and eventually merge the two civs. India is not just missing 10-20 turns.. remember when the the French player left? I was subbing for them for 10-15 turns. France was in better shape then.. and how many turns ago was that?

[OzzyKP]

I haven't tried it myself, so I don't know if it is actually possible, but perhaps save the game as a scenario somehow? Though if you can't open world builder that may be hard... hmm.. I'm not sure.

I also don't htink merging the civs would really solve much.

[Russia (DoE)]

We need to find a strong player as a replacement for India. And help those destitute nations by donations. All the great powers.

[France (DoE)]

We need to find a strong player as a replacement for India. And help those destitute nations by donations. All the great powers.

I can donate two English galleys and a handful of English swordsmen.

[Russia (DoE)]

Hahah, nice humor, lady

[China (DoE)]

I will send units to help with barbs but, as much as I will not get sympathy, as I have more land claimed, I have more land to defend! The barbs are considerable, it's about 3 axe/spear per 3 turns at this point!

I do feel bad for Mongolia & India but in fairness Mongolia went for pyramids while others built units and walls. That is a conscious choice that has repercussions.

[Germany (DoE)]

I don't think there is any way to "cheat" units or anything into the game. I favor that Mongolia subs for India and eventually merge the two civs. India is not just missing 10-20 turns.. remember when the the French player left? I was subbing for them for 10-15 turns. France was in better shape then.. and how many turns ago was that?

ozzy, I think this is the simplest way out and the least technically fraught.

i suspect that mongolia is a good player but has had issues with access. he also needs an auto-sub (not germany) but a reliable regular from afar - japan, americas.

there is no way that we employ the time machine wonder though.

russia's option of foreign civs offering assistance is the second best idea but must be ooc, i.e. there can be NO story link or any subservience owed.

germany can offer a worker.