Trakoria Scenario 10th Anniversary!

[civ2units]

For me Civ2 is one of the greatest games I ever played. First started with MGE in 1998, than changed to TOT. There is one special thing of Civ2, you can change most of the game easily without nearly any problems. This will give you the ability to create great historical and fictional scenarios. You can create a new gameplay with the scenarios.
I see it now with the dll files which I changed for my current ACW scenario. It´s not difficult and gives the scenario a better look.
Btw, if anyone needs help by changing the dll files, please feel free to ask me. I would be happy zo help

Also those great graphic designers here on Apolyton will give all scenarios their final, graphical superb touch.

[Baldyr]

Well, since everyone is professing their love for I might add that it's, historically, the game I've played the most and the only game I've actually had as a hobby in itself. Also, and most importantly, it's the only game I have been able to mod all by myself, since the graphics aren't overly complicated.

I often lament the transition to animated and later 3D graphics in the Civ franchise. Even if I would learn Python or XML or what have you, I still wouldn't be able to do professional graphics design work. So there you have it. It's just too bad I never got ToT - and stuck with it... (Now I'm just too accustomed to having an improved AI, and features like culture or religions.)

Plus, we (me and my fiancée) have several playable yet unfinished mods on disc somewhere, along with literally thousands of units and other work. So this scenario of mine was the only thing I ever could call "finished". Then again, it never was the finished result that mattered - the creativity in itself was always the driving force me. I really miss that.

[Elensar]

Was playing the Clavians. Maybe I'm just used to scientific discovery being more important.

As to happiness...I think its a little too harsh as is.

Also, are the graphics drawn (from scratch), or are they based on something?

For some reason, I get the impression that they're a scaled down version of pictures or screenshots.

Thanks for the response. I'll try again and see what its like.

[Baldyr]

Try switching to Clavian State (Republic) for a higher tech rate. But then you might wanna up the luxuries rate to 20% (three happy with marketplace, right?). There should be a wonder or two that can counter unhappiness, if I recollect it correctly.

The graphics are a mixture of several things, not too cohesive at all, I'm afraid. Some of the stuff is of course taken from Microprose scenarios, some is scaled down images, but yet other things are modded units (copy/paste, alteration, et c) or simply drawn from scratch (not by me, unfortunately). I did get some help with the graphics for this second version of the scenario, luckily, otherwise it would have looked much messier, I think. Some stuff was somewhat of a challenge to create.

Also, as the Clavians, try not to build cities with poor production potential, since you pretty much need that Temple in every city. (You might just have to buy it, but there really isn't any point in maxing your tech rate either, so... Also note that the Temple costs like 3 gold.).

There is also a lot of expansion opportunities on the eastern and southern main islands, once you have exploited the free space of your home island. It's not really meant to be a scenario of conquest either, but that is of course a fully viable strategy if you opt for it. (You would need to focus on military technologies in that case, to gain an edge.)

If you want a different kind of challenge (not just expansion until the scenario ends), you might wanna give the Lasemosi Civ a try or two. The goal here is to unite the different cities in your vicinity by force, and not loose the King unit in the process. (You need to research Trocuspas Banzika in order to get that one in the first place.) It is also possible to stop the spread of the ashes by defeating the colorful city unit to the west.

Once you have managed to create a unified Lasemos, new problems will arise. You might wanna build a defensive line to the north and north east. If you manage to build more wonders than the Clavians and stay ahead in research that would be considered as a feat, historically. (Lasemos descended permanently into civil war and instability, never to fully recover.)

As you can see, I'll be glad to blabber on about this scenario and about the source material.

[Elensar]

The scenario seems to have very interesting source material, just not necessarily the best execution of it into Civ (though I've no ideas offhand on how to do better).

If you don't mind, I'd love to know more about the history. History, even "fantasy" history, is fascinating.

[Baldyr]

Elensar: I think you could ask more specific questions, and I'll be happy to answer them. Have you read the background information and geographical information on the website yet?

http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-75716/manual/

Links to even more resources:

http://apolyton.net/forums//showthread.php?s=&threadid=179941

For about ten years ago, I had a lengthy mail discussion with a English speaking player about the source material. He was very intrigued, I might add.

Edit: So I guess at least you would be interested in a walk-through of the scenario, played "historically" (city placement, expansion, wonders, et c)?

[Elensar]

Yeah. Also, the history of Lasemos (and what "all of Lasemos is united" would involve, city wise.) in general.

Constant civil war had to happen for some reason,.

No specific questions come up offhand beyond that history.

Did read the background information, but I want to know more.

[Baldyr]

Uniting Lasemos: basically capture all cities from Krild to Hasmah. These are divided into three different fractions from the beginning, and the AI never manages to capture all of them. The player could however do this, altering history.

The trouble in Lasemos is a consequence of the ancient empire of Jorpagna (the Rome equivalent) collapsing. The Lasemosi cities consist of former Jorpagnan colonies. Since there isn't any functioning government in place (no capitol), the different warlords and leaders all try to grab as much power as possible for themselves.

The threat of the Grey Eminencies of Laabne (another former Jorpagnan colony) provided a common eneny and the warrior of Banzika, Baskimer Brushane, did manage to unite the land by defeating these mad wizards. He and his dynasty was however wiped out, returning the realm to a state of constant power struggle and in-fighting.

Also, the feared skull crusher plague didn't help. In this scenario it can actually cause the player to loose the King unit, igniting the spawning of hostile units.

The Clavians are basically refugees from the fighting in Lasemos. They crossed the elven forest of Gwondel Leigu and found new lands to the east. As they reckoned they had opened the gateway to a new promised land, they began to call themselves Clavians, after the word Clavius or "key".

The lowlands of Moskoria and Fokale weren't uninhabited though. Besides the nomadic Hueli people and the occasional tribes of orcs, the Clavians immediately clashed with the Kargomite mountain lords of Nastrol. The Clavians did triumph in the end though, and this scenario is basically the story of how they came to dominate the entire North Sea - at least for a period of time.

When the Clavians finally had over-extended themselves and become decadent, their colonies on the island of Paratorna (to the east) declared independence and later came to inherit all Clavian lands and colonies. These colonists reckoned that they were finally able to breath more easily, so they dubbed themselves the Trakorians, from the word Treakor or "to breath".