The Altera Centauri collection has been brought up to date by Darsnan. It comprises every decent scenario he's been able to find anywhere on the web, going back over 20 years.
25 themes/skins/styles are now available to members. Check the select drop-down at the bottom-left of each page.
Call To Power 2 Cradle 3+ mod in progress: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/call-to-power-2/ctp2-creation/9437883-making-cradle-3-fully-compatible-with-the-apolyton-edition
Yeah thats right! Great Britain has the most messed up politicians! Take that the rest of the world!!!
Personally I vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party whos policies include a free cake for man, woman and child in the realm if they win the election. Bargain!
Originally posted by AGRICOLA
Never heard of George the MP. However, from the Wikipedia, I'd say that he's even more of a fruitfly than our Canadian socialists.
Originally posted by techumseh
Excuse me?
Thanks, I needed that.
I erred grievously in suggesting that Canadian socialists are somehow second-rate. I would like to amend my ill-considered, previous statement to
Never heard of George the MP. Despite what the Wikipedia says, I'd say that he's actually less of a fruitfly than our Canadian socialists.
Excerpts from the Manual of the Civilization Fanatic :
Money can buy happiness, just raise the luxury rate to 50%.
Money is not the root of all evil, it is the root of great empires.
I have just discovered it is possible to realign the map using Mercators MapEdit tool. Would it be worth shrinking the deserts of North Africa a bit and creating more of Norway, possibly at the expense of the British Empore city? Would this accieve much or create an opportunity for Arctic convoys?
Alternatively I could loose a bit of Siberia and enlarge the Atlantic, America is a bit too close after all!
Regarding units, the only ones that matter to players are the Allied ones. You have suggested the following new units:
Jet Fighter
Self-Propelled AT (Leaving towed slot to become 17-pdr)
Self-Propelled AA
Recon Unit
US Airborne (In addition to British)
It seems to me that, unless additional units have greater or different capabilities than existing ones, they are unlikely to be built.
Excepting a couple BB's. the only units that I have built are Brit Heavy Armor [~80, the best defensive unit], Mobile Artillery [~65, the best offensive unit], Engineers [~35] and Freighters [~30]. The first US Fighters [a/c with the longest range] are about to come off the assembly lines.
This approach keeps the game nice and simple and avoids the limitations and unnecessary casualties that result from operating with second-rate units.
The scen does need a recce unit that can investigate cities and has x-country capabilities. Motorcyclists? Right now, the A-bomb is a pretty useless without a unit that can investigate whether a city is worth bombing. At 280 shields to build, the bomb is too expensive to waste on poorly defended targets. Only if attacking a city would result in the loss of 4 or more mobile arty is it cost-effective to use an A-bomb.
In the game, I'm on Turn 33 and will report when I finish Turn 40 [end of Aug 1942] when the west bank of the Rhine from Amsterdam to Belfort and all of central and most of southern France should be in Allied hands. Turkey will have surrendered and Allied forces will have entered Greece and Bulgaria.
Excerpts from the Manual of the Civilization Fanatic :
Money can buy happiness, just raise the luxury rate to 50%.
Money is not the root of all evil, it is the root of great empires.
I see what you mean about not building out of date units, why bother!
When I was building the game I had two big considerations. Number one I wanted it to be fun and challenging to play. Number two I wanted it to be fairly accurate, or at least as accurate as it is possible to make a 2-d strategy game.
Mostly I wanted to build the sort of game that I would like to play myself. One thing I like is organizing my armies into divisions and corps with all the gear, like I did with plastic toy soldiers when I was a wee boy. This means that I will build a certain amount of lesser units, just because they look good and the Allies in 1941 would have been forced to use them too as there was nothing else to hand!
What I could do is alter the stats to make combined arms more nessasary. The AT gun could be tougher in defence. The battle tank would be the mobile punch but less useful holding ground, the infantry could be the go anywhere arm and the artillery can break into cities. This would make it worthwhile for the player to use all the unit types! Some of the more mundane troops could be gifted to the player via events, leaving the choice between Mobile Artillery/Bomber/Armour production ratios up to the player.
I think the veriety of units adds colour to the game and different Axis units will make fighting less samey, especially important in a large game!
(Pause for breath )
Recce units would be very useful indeed. One thing I do not like is bribing cities, I think its ok on the odd occasion but in a wargame its not so good.
Is there a way of making a Diplomat unit that cannot bribe enemy units/cities? I do like the idea but don't want to have to add a house rule!
Re: Use of Nukes. Atomic bombs should never be used in a calculated strategic manor, they should only ever be used for fun! Wuuu Ha HA HA HAA
Turn 33 I wish I hadn't stopped the Soviets and Axis talking now. I think Uncle Jo an Adolf would be best off forming an Alliance against the 'Beast of the West'!
Originally posted by Werd100
Recce units would be very useful indeed. One thing I do not like is bribing cities, I think its ok on the odd occasion but in a wargame its not so good.
Is there a way of making a Diplomat unit that cannot bribe enemy units/cities? I do like the idea but don't want to have to add a house rule!
Edit Game.txt. This example works to limit what spies can do in El Aurens. Note the 6 empty lines (¶ in this post, but leave them empty in your file) where there are normally options to steal, sabotage, poison, nuke, incite a revolt, and an empty line before @SABOTAGEOPTIONS. The first option, "Establish Embassy", cannot be omitted. The option box will allow the player to select option 1 regardless of whether it has a label or not.
I've thought about this and have to ask the question . . .
Why have either trade units or artillery units in a game that is strategic in scope?
This may sound unorthodox, but all the European theatre wargames I've played worked with infantry, armored, and mechanized units, primarily division or corps level. By ww2, only special purpose units were artillery at the brigade or division level. Each of the various division types of ALL nations contained multiple battalions of artillery of different kinds, sometimes (in the case of brits and US,) whole brigades.
If a game is tactical, then I can see the place for 20th century artillery units. But simply including them because it's become traditional to do so . . . ?
Trade units, in a relatively short, warfare scenario, also seem superfluous. While it may sound good, or be traditional to include trade units, perhaps we should ask what they represent? Especially in a ww2 scenario, shouldn't the trade links already be established? This IS the modern world after all. The practical problem is that the tight controls a scen designer places on tech acquisition and the reasonable rate thereof, are circumvented entirely when a number-cruncher gets a grip on it. Gaining a new tech every turn, just guessing here, but that probably is NOT what the designer intended.
The slots vacated by trade and artillery units can used for better choices in units. More planes. More nationalities.
Lost in America.
"a freaking mastermind." --Stefu
"or a very good liar." --Stefu
"Jesus" avatars created by Mercator and Laszlo.
Unrestricted trade can make a Civ2 war scenario 'gamey', which is a lot of fun for some. Depends on your design aim. If you want unrestricted trade, then gear the tech pace assuming that the player will reap max freight benefits. Alternatively, restrict the trade with geographical and/or ZoC boundaries. I chickened out with EA and dispensed with trade.
As a hopelessly historical hex head, I agree with you Exile, but whether it's called artillery or whatever, most players will produce only the unit(s) that give the most bang for the buck. The key is to give the player lots of choices. When Agri focuses on 1-2 units, I'd take it as you did Werd: a suggestion to rebalance the stats. Perhaps give each of your units a weakness that is complemented by another type. If you want to make early war units obsolete, increase the hp/fp of late war units. That's the trick used to make Musketeers so much better than Legions.
Btw, if you give weak units by events, most players will disband them to build better units.
Originally posted by Exile
Why have either trade units or artillery units in a game that is strategic in scope?
I agree with leaving out artillery units and focusing on combined-arms units. For the last few hundred years military units have fought as a mixture of different types of units, with artillery normally playing a (critical) supporting role. Siege artillery and very long ranged artillery are the only forms of artillery which have normally been used to independently spearhead attacks by other (combined arms) units.
'Arguing with anonymous strangers on the internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be - or to be indistinguishable from - self-righteous sixteen year olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.'
- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Originally posted by Werd100
Recce units would be very useful indeed. One thing I do not like is bribing cities, I think its ok on the odd occasion but in a wargame its not so good.
Is there a way of making a Diplomat unit that cannot bribe enemy units/cities? I do like the idea but don't want to have to add a house rule!
Although I don't like one-shot units like Diplomats, Boco is right in that one can specify what a Diplomat/Spy can do. Captain Nemo did it in his Second Front with an innovative jeep-mounted recce unit in the Spy slot.
You can check the following post to see how one operates.
The real downside of that is that even when you edit the files to prevent the player from using the undesired spy powers, the AI can, and does, still use the spy for any purpose.
'Arguing with anonymous strangers on the internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be - or to be indistinguishable from - self-righteous sixteen year olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.'
- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Boco
Thanks for the tips mate, I am learning new stuff all the time. What I really need to do is keep a file with all these ideas in for reference! I think a scout unit will be an essential upgrade for V2
Exile
True! If the game was intended to be a true representation of WWII era tactics I would make just three main unit types and assume the support arms are included. It is an interesting theory although I think it may work better in a smaller scenario.
What I have done is a compromise between realism and playability (as most scenarios are). I do not know if I am ready to go this far in redeveloping the scenario (too chicken ) but I agree with the principal.
What I tend to do when playing is work out organizations of my own and move them together as units (I.e. an Infantry Division may be 9 Infantry, 3 Artillery, 1 Anti Tank, 1 Engineer and 1 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit!). That is just my way of having fun (twisted I know).
Exile + Boco
Trade was central to my plans for the Battle of the Atlantic but thats about it! Trade does make any calculations about tech development that much harder!
My solution may be trade through events. The player cannot build trade but they get given an appropriate amount to send back and forth across the atlantic making the battle with the U-Boats that much more pressing as lost trade cannot be replaced!?!
Boco
Reballancing the units stats will be essential. When I made the first game I started with standard stats for each unit class (I.e. Heavy Armour) and then adjusted them through playtesting. One concern was ensuring the AI build a range of units and did not decide ones with the wrong stats was obsolete. I read a doc about getting this right . What this has led to is armour that is extremely strong both in attack and defence. This will be redressed and some of the problems will be solved by creating production events!
Also the new tech tree will mean there is more development, choice of what to persue and unit obsolescence.
When I said 'weak' units I should have said 'special or unique' units. These special units are for players like me who like pretty armies with lots of diverse unit types and are not so bothered if they are not the most powerful. I have had games where my favorite unit was one I captured (bribed) from the enemy. One example was the Greek Veteran unit, from Paul Mutica's MGE Wars of the Med, that I used as my special lodgement unit to protect engineers while they built a fort next to enemy cities. I think I may well have cried when that one got destroyed!
Case
Again I see your point about artillery and I will think it through. I would be sad to see it go though as I like the idea of the punchey unit that ignores city walls yet is slower than a tortoise and as weak in defence as OJ Simpsons alibi ( does that make sense )
Agri
Thanks for the advice dude. I too am not keen on one shot units. If it is possible to create a limited ability recon unit that should work out quite well all round!
Case (again)
Misuse of Spy type units in AI hands can be avoided by only making them available to the Allies. The Axis Recon units will be mobile, good across country and have good spotting range, ignore ZoC but be weak in attack and defence and most importantly not be given spy functions.
Originally posted by Werd100
Case
Again I see your point about artillery and I will think it through. I would be sad to see it go though as I like the idea of the punchey unit that ignores city walls yet is slower than a tortoise and as weak in defence as OJ Simpsons alibi ( does that make sense )
If including such a unit would make your scenario more enjoyable then by all means include it. Given the limitations of the Civ 2 engine no war-focused scenario is ever going to be as realistic as a dedicated wargame anyway.
Case (again)
Misuse of Spy type units in AI hands can be avoided by only making them available to the Allies. The Axis Recon units will be mobile, good across country and have good spotting range, ignore ZoC but be weak in attack and defence and most importantly not be given spy functions.
That sounds good. The Axis AI may not build any weak units though unless you get its cost spot-on, and I think that the AI doesn't need to scout the terrain anyway so you could even forgo this unit altogether if you don't want to include it for the sake of realism or to add 'chrome'.
'Arguing with anonymous strangers on the internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be - or to be indistinguishable from - self-righteous sixteen year olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.'
- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
In this scen, as in others where an AI civ starts with more than a 1000 units, it really matters little what units the AI can build or will be able to build later in the scen. Only when the AI civ is near death will the AI start to build more units.
For example, in WWII Europa, the Axis start with ~1360 units and all of their 166 cities are building units. However, by turn 8, no more units are u/c. All production has switched to city improvements. Subsequently, when there are no more improvements to build, the AI switches to Capitalization, rather than resuming unit production. The only new units they obtain are through events. That is the situation on my current turn 35 and I expect that it will continue until the Axis have been worn down to 100-200 units.
I first saw this when playtesting Colwyn's Red Front 1.5. In the brief discussion that followed, it was concluded that this is hard wired in the .exe but no one was sure at what point unit production resumes except that it is not a very high number. I suspect that a limit was imposed on AI unit building to try to prevent the dreaded 'Too many units' popup.
The consequences of this are pretty bad. I am no longer concerned about the Luftwaffe in western Europe: no a/c have appeared after the Luftwaffe shot its bolt prior to the invasion. New U-boats are not being constructed and, after 35 turns, experience has shown where and when spawned ones can be located and sunk. Germany can now only conduct a static defense against fast-moving Allied ground forces and an apparently inexhaustible supply of Soviet bombers. The impressive number of Soviet bombers that attack German cities each turn and the number that have been shot down [192] is a lot more than the Allies could build and put in the field.
Scens like Red Front and WWII Europa would be much better if they were in TOT rather than MGE. Flagging the loss of key cities to trigger events that spawn good units in surrounding cities would produce a semblance of an intelligent defense. However, one would have to be very careful not to exceed the units limit because there is not much room. At the end of turn 34, there were only 248 empty unit slots.
Excerpts from the Manual of the Civilization Fanatic :
Money can buy happiness, just raise the luxury rate to 50%.
Money is not the root of all evil, it is the root of great empires.
Case
Civ II is definately more than just a wargame but is not at its best when it is made to purely represent combat. I find the events make a HUGE difference in compensating for AI stupidities. My scenario is a calculated compromise. I think
Some of the extra spaces may well be used for events genorated Axis 'decoration' units! As you can probably tell from the 8-10 different sets of Units I am quite into appearance! Deffinate Chrome!!!
Agri
I also noticed the 1000 units thing but by that time I just wanted to release the damn thing! I tried to compensate somewhat with events and the extra space in ToT should help remedy this, especially near the frontiers of the Axis empire. I normally make a Create unit every 4 turns type event with multiple fallback coordinates to get the most use out of the space!
I need to think harder about the Battle of the Atlantic. I think my new idea about limited trade units through events would make it more vital, now I need to work out how to make the Axis U-Boats more effective. Its a pity it is not possible to set a random spawning location!
I will try to create more Axis a/c in Western Europe through events. Soviet bombers go a bit nuts, especially against Rostov-on-Don! I can't remember if I swapped the Pe-2 graphics over to the Stormovik? I may solve this by making the Soviet armoured units more effective and making soviet bombers an events only unit. As they are not the intended player nation this should not matter. I could also make them a bit stronger if the Soviets do not have 100's to throw away!
WWII Europa V2 will definately be for ToT as I think it is the only way I can remedy many of the problems. Events should help a lot and your input and advice has been invaluable Agri! If V2 gets made it will be thanks to you!
When my Vietnam scenario is at the playtesting stage would you have a go? I am not sure if it will be totally up your street as there is a fair bit of going along with the plot involved. Your input may help me come to a satasfactory compromise! No pressure mind!
)
Wuuu Ha HA HA HAA
I wish I hadn't stopped the Soviets and Axis talking now. I think Uncle Jo an Adolf would be best off forming an Alliance against the 'Beast of the West'!
) but I agree with the principal.
. What this has led to is armour that is extremely strong both in attack and defence. This will be redressed and some of the problems will be solved by creating production events!
)
I can't remember if I swapped the Pe-2 graphics over to the Stormovik? I may solve this by making the Soviet armoured units more effective and making soviet bombers an events only unit. As they are not the intended player nation this should not matter. I could also make them a bit stronger if the Soviets do not have 100's to throw away!
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