MOD: Long Winded Changes Mod: Improvements increasing Balance, Accuracy, and Fun

[Timeline]

Great! I can't wait

[Plutarck]

It's done! But it's 20.8MB in size thanks to all the new units (trying to figure out a way to get this whole thing working more smoothly, but the unit animations are a bit big and don't compress much at all).


Now how to store the blasted thing...

[Blackadar1]

I've been using the LWC mod, but where can I download the latest version as there is no link in this thread...

[Big Jim Slade]

I like Boredgamer's ideas about Carriers and Subs, and Optimizers suggestion about titanium is a good one... although, subs don't use titanium. They're made of steel.

Subs, at least the fast attack variety (but since there is only one nuclear sub at the moment), need to be able to carry cruise missiles. Submarines and surface ships routinely carry Tomahawk payloads, and have been known to actually launch them from water (remember the Gulf War). I don't know who was in charge of cruise missiles at Firaxis, but why can't they go over water? And what about the movement rate? They move like a land unit! With what I know about cruise missiles, I think I remember that they move at a pretty constant rate, regardless of terrain, because they are basically freakin' rockets!

I've played all the versions of Civ, and don't remember not being able to put cruise missiles on a boat, or fly them over water. Is this somehow fixable?

[shwetty]

Diplomacy Problems

Despite the “improved” diplomacy in Civ 3, I still find other civilizations entering my boarders to establish a new city. Even after repeated requests to remove troops from my territory, the Stubborn AI continues to enter. Though there are many other problems I have found with the game, this is by far the most annoying. Would it be possible to give a Civilization an ultimatum, such as, “If you enter my territory again, I will declare war on you.” If so, it would be great if you placed it in your next patch. Thanks for your time.

[Plutarck]

At first I thought of splitting it into seperate files, but then I realised that it would take 42 files to do that. That wouldn't work

So I uploaded to an account I had on Hypermart, and we'll just use that for the time being.

So here it is! Enjoy!

LWC for Civ3, v0.5

[Blackadar1]

Thanks! Looks awesome, by the way.

[shwetty]

Lockup

I just started a game as the Americans with the new patch (v.05)and every time I select to build a "Pioneer," the game crashes.

[Evil Ankh VIII]

Hey, I had a problem with this in another mod with the game crashing when you select one of those extra expansion units (this one is called a pioneer, mine was a colonist). If you look in your system folder under art/ units you probably will not see a folder for pioneer which means you will have to make a new folder and name it pioneer (if you wish I guess) and then unzip all the files related to the pioneers unit to that folder. At least that was what I was able to do to fix the problem I was having with mine. I hope that helps and plutarck have you thought about combining your mod with the one that monkspider has going? I think combined you two could make the best mod in the game period. I know myself and alot of other people would love to play a mod like that instead of choosing between the two. Just my$.04

[Blackadar1]

I'm getting the same thing. It continually crashes the first time I try to build a settler playing as the Japanese.

[Plutarck]

I'll post a patch ASAP. Sorry about that, overlooked the Pioneer folder when I created the Installer.


There, the patch is available. Just go to the website listed in the first post and download the patch.


Don't you hate it when this kind of thing happens? Sorry again...bleh.

[shwetty]

Incorrect Technology Pictures

Whenever I discover new technolgy, the incorrect picture loads. For example, when I completed research on horseback riding and the screen loads to reasearch a new technology, the picture for economics is displayed.

[Plutarck]

shwetty: Yes, I'm afraid that's normal.

It's entirely due to a hard-coded part of the game, which not only makes it impossible to create new art to add for that menu, but also causes the wrong art to be displayed.

One of the side-effects of adding new technologys, it can only be fixed by someone hacking the game files themselves, or by an official patch.

[Kolyana]

This entire thread makes very interesting reading and I was extremely tempted to download the latest mod and install it.

However, there are a few things that I don't like - swordsmen cutting down jungles and reduced corruption, for instance - and I don't like them enough to not do the download.

Perhaps if certain key areas were optional upon installation???

Additionally, I think the main problematic areas of the game are not specifically unit, mechanics related, but rather:

a) The game ends too soon. I wish it was capable of going into the future more and nano technology became available ::cough::EmpireEarth::cough:: There is just something so cool about going at a 1st world war cavalry man with a laser covered mech.

b) The AI is dumb. I'm not talking about the governments and build planning, I'm talking about the way in which settlers and workers run up and down covering the same path, but not actually doing anything, or how workers swarm enmasse to certain locations ... as if they all have the same thoughts, but they aren't communicating at all. More annoyingly, the AI Units swarm around in the same patterns, years on end ... never going anywhere, never doign anything. It should just know if it wants to do something, and if not just bloody well fortify in a nearby town, just like a human player would.

c) Diplomacy should be expanded some ... sometimes I'd like to be able to say to another country "Just where is this unit, which is in my land, going to?" or "Will you please remove your forces ... and don't come back."

Only a couple of games ago I had the indians move their elephants into my terriorty ... i contacted them, they apologized and moved ... and then came back the next turn. They did this for the entire bloody game. It was tedious and underlined the immense stupidity behind the system here. If the AI can be tweaked, I'd definately like to see it.

Otherwise the additional government types and extra units are somewhat welcome ... if applied in a careful and subtle manner. Sometimes trying to change too much all at once can have a detrimental effect to the whole picture.

My 2 cents.

[Plutarck]

Kolyana: I'm actually considering removing clear jungles in the next version. Along with reducing the time required to clear jungles it'll balance things out, and the AI will be able to take advantage of that too.


Optional changes are alot more difficult than you'd think they'd be, however you can just make a few small tweaks in the mod yourself.

Just go into your Civ3 directory and double-click the civ3mod.bic file and the editor will open up. Go to the World Sizes tab, and there you can just decrease the Optimum City Amount field there to you're liking. You can make corruption REALLY low, or REALLY high - it's totally up to you.

The jungle thing requires you use the Unit tab, select the unit you want to change, and unclick the "Clear Jungles" flag on it. The only units that have this special ability are Swordsman, Legion, and Immortal.


That is one thing that's nice about the Editor, and it's that you can make little tweaks to suit your own playstyle. For instance some people think corruption was fine, others absolutely can't stand it.

However I think you'll find that the mod only minorly decreases corruption so that the game pace is a bit higher and I actually think the game becomes more challenging as more production and commerce is available to all civs.