Dictator Tot - Out Now!

[curtsibling]

The final changes have been made, and this beast is ready to roll!



Please clear the scenario data from any Dictator ToT playtest folders and update with the new zip!

http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?p=12802#12802

Check Readme file for credits and faction info.

A dedicated Dictator guide is in the works, so watch this space!

[curtsibling]

I present sections the temporary readme for reference:

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Credits:
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Without these fellows there would be no scenario...They have my salute!

Fairline
Agricola
Catfish
Boco
Jim Panse
Eivind IV
Cyrion
Arthedain
Patine

My special appreciation goes to all the regulars at Poly and Evo CIV2 forums!

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Version info:
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This version has a full compliment of Fairline ToT units at the very finest level.
It has terrain from the tile-master, Catish and cities made by my humble self.
For those who do not just thrive on the looks of a scen, there is a full WW2
tech tree, which was remade about four times, to make sure it was entirely
perfect. There is an events file, maxed out with war data and flags!

Each unit has specific sounds and also incidental sounds have been added too!
Improvement images have also been provided to add more flavour.

If you have played previous MGE versions of this scenario, then you will know what to expect.
Pick a WW2 civ and let loose the dogs of war, causing havoc to your enemies! The final goal
is nothing less that TOTAL DOMINATION OF THE EARTH - or damn well close to that.

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Factions:
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You now have a choice of civs to play, all at different levels of war readiness.

Here is what to expect from each faction:

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The USA:
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Being huge and rich is fun, but the Yanks will be under attack soon,
and will have to plough tons of research into new weapons. America's
mainland is practically invincible, giving them some breathing room.
Also, the discovery of certain advances will lead to this civ
launching some spectacular invasions and attacks...Axis, watch out!

It may alarm some to know that the USA is the only civ that can create the A-Bomb...

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The Third Reich:
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Europe's Germanic conquerors have decided to demolish Britain's old empire,
one bombing raid at a time. This latest victory might not be so easy, however.
That said, the Nazis have used typical Teutonic genius to give themselves the
very best weapons and are honoured to be the scenario's main protagonists.
Hitler absolutely will not stop until the world cowers under a jackboot of iron.

Those who wish to defeat the Reich had best prepare for a long and painful battle.

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The British Empire:
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The land of Hope and Glory is running low on both those commodities. Beset by
angry Germans, with distant allies and with time running out, the plucky Brits had
best rely on their superior Spitfire and Royal Navy to keep Hitler at arms reach.
The best strategy for the UK is to hold out and wait for the Germans to do something
silly, like picking a fight with Stalin...Then break out the Typhoons and kick booty!

Even after huge defeats, the UK never gives up and will fight to the last teabag.

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The Japanese Empire:
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After years of mistreatement by the Western powers, the Japanese have decided to
side with the only civ their current leaders can level with - The 3rd Reich. Even
though these two juggernaughts of evil are far apart, the fate of the world hangs
in them not joining their efforts. This deadly double act makes up the Axis, along
with Italy. Japan's goal is to wipe the Pacific clean of all foreign foes...

Japan will soon let the West meet their world-class navy and endless fanatic troops.

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The USSR:
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Good old Uncle Joe Stalin has been a busy despot in the scenario. Even before 1940,
this nightmare figure of tyranny has been exterminating his own people, declaring
wars and purging the Soviet regime of anyone who blinks the wrong way. Life in this
wonderous dictatorship leads the average Soviet trooper to seek an end to his misery.
As it happens, the new Nazi neighbours may soon be able to help in that regard...

The USSR has the advantage of endless manpower and land to sacrifice in any war.

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The Chinese Empire:
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In a land wracked with war and strife, the Chinese are poised and ready to hurl as many
units as it takes to derail Japan's occupation and rescue their nation from complete Axis
oblivion. Being face-to-face with the Japanese Empire is no advantage, but leads to a
brutal and fun Chinese campaign. Low on tech, but high on violence, that is China.

The Chinese can provide invaluable in the war with Japan if allowed to survive.

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The Neutrals:
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No units, but tons of money...How much fun does that sound? Probably not a lot.
The Neutrals are an island of civilised types, in a sea of boorish bullies.

[Cyrion]

Congrats!

Something tells me that I might get a few comments from my gf regarding my "spending so much time on the bl00dy computer"...

[curtsibling]

Challenge her to a multiplayer game of civ!

[techumseh]

Congratulations, Curt! Are the files lableled improve1 and 2? Are they the complete scenario, or do you need to have the previous ones?

[curtsibling]

The improve zips are for the civlopedia files, and go in the usual place.

[curtsibling]

BTW - I am going to go to Germany for the 2005 Wacken Metal
Music Festival tomorrow, so I will not see you chaps till Monday!

I will be sure to raise a Metal Fist in Scenario League's honour!

[Eivind IV]

A well deserved vacation for you after this brilliant release!

[AGRICOLA]

Congratulations on finally completing the scen.

I'm playing Germany, deity and have reached June '44 after 3+ weeks of play. The scen is so big, the active fronts so many and there are now so many units (~900 German) that I'm doing well to finish a turn in 6 hours. The scen has been tough going and I've had to use just about every trick I know and even had to figure out a couple of new ones. There may be a chance at world conquest if I can wipe the Japanese quickly enough.

I took a brief look at the significant changes that you have made in RULES and EVENTS. Your change from settlers to engineers is absolutely critical for playability. Without engineers (I changed my settlers to engineers at the start), the scen would move at a snail's place. Even with engineers, I was wondering why it was taking them so long to build roads and RR's everywhere except plains and grassland.

The explanation I dug up was news to me, though probably not to designers. Evidently, the number of points needed to build roads and RR is directly proportional to the movement cost for a terrain type. Settlers generate 1 "point" and engineers 2 points per turn towards completing any project. For example, in vanilla CIV2 it takes 6 points to build a road on a mountain square and 12 points to build a RR. The mountain movement cost in CIV2 is 3.

In Dictator, the movement cost for mountains is 8. Consequently, 6 x 8/3 = 16 points are needed for a road and 32 points for a RR. That's 16 turns for one engineer or 8 turns for two. IMO, the scen is too short to spend limited engineer time on building roads/RR in mountains. Even hills, swamps and deserts have such high movement costs that it pays to build around them. With settlers, it would be next to impossible to build roads and RR's to improve shield production and facilitate unit movement.

The change to engineers is really a most important change.


The AI has not been playing the US well at all. The German invasion of the US started in March '43, when the US had the tech for the P-38 Lightning and had just acquired the tech for the B-17 Flying Fortress. All pre-invasion US fighters were gone, having ended their careers in a blaze of glory by attacking German BB's.

Since March '43, the US has researched the P-51 Mustang tech but has not built a single fighter of any type. Instead, it has churned out a steady stream of B-17's which have proven to be next to useless in combat. All that the loss of 152 (so far) B-17's has accomplished is to destroy ~5 German units before German countermeasures took effect. Had the US built 30 fighters in the same time period, good Wehrmacht troopers would not be sitting in Santa Fe, making plans for swimming in the Pacific in July '44.

Unfortunately, the B-17's are automatic kills for any Bf-109 or FW-190 which they encounter.


AI's US transports have decided to become U-boat killers. Hunting in packs, these murderous wolves of the high seas ignore all other ship types and make a beeline for the nearest unwary U-boat and attack it without mercy. The results are gruesome, much too gruesome for a description to get past the Poly censor.


This really is the most interesting WWII global scenario that I have played. Well done.

[Cyrion]

Originally posted by curtsibling
BTW - I am going to go to Germany for the 2005 Wacken Metal
Music Festival tomorrow, so I will not see you chaps till Monday!

I will be sure to raise a Metal Fist in Scenario League's honour!

Up the Irons !

(too bad they won't be there... )

[curtsibling]

@Eivind IV:
@Cyrion:

Many thanks, my friends!
I will soon be back and refreshed, ready for a new CIV2 creation campaign!

@Agricola:

Incredible dedication, dude!
Your advice to change the settler to engineer was a masterstroke.

I am glad the scen has kept you engaged in such an epic game!
You have the Axis under total control and I am sure final victory will be yours by 1946!

Great stuff!

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Downloaded the final version of the scenario last night and am playing as the Germans (Deity/Marshal level). It's Feb '41 and I have liberated all of the British Isles, Gibraltar, and Tobruk.

I'm moving slowly as I always do in a new scenario, but it seems quite well balanced. I was neglecting science in favour of rushbuying improvements (I know, ) and it may yet cost me, as I still can't build Wespes or PkwIV's.

So far so good. No significant flaws noted, but I'm keeping notes.

Well done!

[Kugelregen]

Been playing the final version. Have a question/possible bug... I just researched "improved railroad" but cannot build engineers. When I got the tech, what seemed like a message for when the American player gets the P51 popped up, ie something about long range fighters protecting bombers etc... So, I thought something was wrong. Then the message for "you can now build railroads" popped up. Still, I cannot build engineers. Thoughts? I'm playing as the Nazis...

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I had understood that only the American player could build Engineers. When I check the Engineer unit in the 'pedia, it's notated "You cannot build this unit".

[AGRICOLA]

@Six Thousand Year Old Man

I don't know exactly what Curt intends but the problem lies in the Rules file.

@UNITS_ADVANCED
00100000, 00000000,-1, 0000000000000000,0000000000000000,0000000000000000 , 10000000 ;P-51 Mustang
00000000 , 00000000,-1, 0000000000000000,0000000000000000,0000000000000000 , 10000000 ;Engineers

The latest version has 00000000 so that no civ can build engineers. Change 00000000 to 11111111 and every civ will be able to build them. This was an alteration that I had to make when I changed my settlers to engineers. Curt may have forgotten to do that.

I had understood that only the American player could build Engineers.

Curt knows that I was playing Germany and could build engineers. He has not raised an objection.


@Kugelregen
I believe that the event which causes the popup has been removed from the latest version, I can't find it in the latest Events file. Did you start a new game with the latest version or did you possibly import a previous save and continue. Such an imported save would contain the old version of Events.

I think that you will have to start the scen again, otherwise you will never be able to attack the Soviet Union.