MOD: The BALANCER

[monkspider]

thanks gentom and Game commander!
Your help is truly appreciated!


Thanks for the kind words Korn! There were some AI issues with some features that were implemented in earlier versions of the patch but those seems to be addressed now. As far as I know, the AI can now take advantage of everything that appears in this mod.

[monkspider]

sorry for letting that scout error slip through, I'm issuing a 1.51 patch in this thread, I reccemend that anyone who has downloaded 1.5 download this file as well.

[ZenCTP]

ACK! Am I being stupid?

I just got the 1.5 version and every time I make my first settler the game crashes.

Some interesting notes: I noticed there are 2 civ3mod.bic files, one in the Civilization III folder, dated 10/2/01 and one in the balancer folder (originally dated 11/29, I just overwrote it with the 12/2 version). It is this one in the balancer folder that keeps crashing.

I tried playing the older one and was doing pretty well, but I started noticing that wonders weren't showing up, etc. and finally figured out that for some reason one of the old versions made it into the new zip file.

Am I missing something? Did I do something wrong?

Thanx!

Mike

[Elucidus]

Hey guys,

I'm not back or anything, I'm just at work. The move went pretty well. I convcinced my wife to buy a new home theater system , since everything was out and it would be a lot easier to set up that way..

It looks like it will be a while before I will be able to do much in the ways of support for this thing. My cable comapny, or any cable or telephone company, does not have infrastructure in my area yet. They have it 50 ft away, but it looks like they are dragging there feet. I won't have internet access for a while it looks like, heck it looks like I won't have telephone or cable tv for a while . Please bare with me.

I feel responsible for the errors in 1.5. I tried to send Monkspider some of the ones I found, you know like the scout thing. It may not have made it out, they were taking my desk apart as I typed the email.

Anyway, I will try to get a copy of 1.51 and start it up. Has anyone had any problems with the civilopedia?

Monkspider, did you update the references in the bic to capitol versions (EX: AAAA_Aaaa)? Also, did you fix the Reichstag, or at least make it do something?

[Slartibartfast]

Re: ACK! Am I being stupid?

Originally posted by ZenCTP
Some interesting notes: I noticed there are 2 civ3mod.bic files, one in the Civilization III folder, dated 10/2/01 and one in the balancer folder (originally dated 11/29, I just overwrote it with the 12/2 version). It is this one in the balancer folder that keeps crashing.
...
Am I missing something? Did I do something wrong?

Mike

...or am *I* being stupid?

I thought that only the civ3mod.bic in the main civ folder ever got used, so I overwrite that with the new version (after first backing it up, clever boy that I am). I don't have a 'Balancer'-folder at all; I just copied all files in the zip into their appropriate folders.

[Elucidus]

If Monkspider packaged them the way I thought, then you should be able to unzip them to the civiii root and it would put them all in the correct folders. There is no balancer floder unless you told winzip (if that's what you use) to unzip it to the balancer subfolder.

[Evil Ankh VIII]

Hey, maybe it is just me or how I unzipped everything, but I still have no pictures or descriptions for any of the new wonders or city improvements. Are they there or do I need to put the unzipped files elsewhere? I put them all in my main civ 3 folder like the read me stated. I have following this thread and was under the assumption that there should be some pictures available. Heck I can even view a picture of some of them on the winzip screen with all the files. I just click on one of the pcx. files and I see a picture of the wonder. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Or am I just doing this all wrong?

[Elucidus]

This is for Winzip as that is what I use:

You don't physically drag them to the root folder, right? You should hit the extract button or right-click (right-drag) the icon to the root and select extract here (or something like that). Then it will set it up correctly.

A lot of the new stuff does not have icons as of yet. I have been moving lately and haven't been able to work on them.

[ZenCTP]

Must be me

The fact that no one else seems to be having this problem and no one else seems to have a 'balancer' folder would seem to indicate that I did something wrong in the unzip. I'll try it again next time I play.

Thanx for the help!
Mike

[TimothyP]

Crashes

I am using this mod (1.51)
and for some reason everytime I get to around 2900BC, the game ALWAYS crashes. I then read this thread and realized that it may be because it had extracted to a balancer folder, I then extracted it again and it seemed to do it properly but the game still crashes!!
This is very frustrating and if there is something else I could be doing wrong please tell me.

[ZenCTP]

I just can't get a break

I looked at balancer15.zip in WinZip and all of the files are under a balancer subdirectory. So....I decided to manually move the files into the CivIII directories and try it out.

Moments after I got the notification that the CD wasn't in the drive I remember my wife IMing me today and telling me that my 14 month old son had found the 'eject' button on the CD-ROM drive and was having fun with it....

After conducting an extensive search all over the house and under all the furniture, I guess I'm going to have to wait for my wife to get back from the health club to tell me if she put the CD someplace out of reach.

Oh well.

Mike

[WesW]

Most all the changes seem great, guys. I am a little disappointed you didn't include some of the other unit changes I suggested, but that will be something for me to fiddle with I suppose.
One thing I think is really essential is that you add zoc to units with greater than 1 movement, plus artillery units, Riflemen and Infantry. It is way too easy for an invading force to simply stroll past your entrenched forces and start pillaging your TI's or attacking your backline cities, since there are no supply lines in the game.
There is a reason that armies don't do this in reality- they would be exposing their flanks to an enemy who can swoop down, split their forces and crush them piecemeal. The current setup makes defense of your territory impossible, and rewards the AI tactic of producing hordes of cheap units and then make you attack them on rough terrain (where your mines are located) where they win the war of production attrition.

Also, do the gov-specific improvements and wonders lose their effect if you change govs? I have heard that the wonders do not.

[dweez]

Originally posted by Mizaq
wow the computer used a nuke, huh, did you nuke them first? or were they dead set against that one city?

No, I didn't. Suddenly they invaded me (without declaring war), so I got protection pact with everyone and then asked them to leave. They declared war and everyone declared war on them. They started to move a lot of units into my territory and I was saying to myself "I will get you for this, I will move just ONE unit into your biggest city, you just wait", but on the same turn that I produced my first nuke they nuked my city. Only one city, the one that won on culture the next turn. They did it from a submarine, I thought it was impressing.

[Yaga]

...woah

Two quick things:

: Just downloaded 1.51, so I havn't played it, but I am a little concerned about a couple things:
- Any improvment that affects culture is destroyed when a city changes hands. This is part of the game functionality, so anything that you've attached a positive culture value to will be destroyed during an attack ordeposement. Don't know about negative culture values, but I'll look into it.
- The 2 gold per turn for Democracy I can understand, but I think that the same support for Republic is a little crippling, especially for early adopters.
- Similarly, if Demo and Rep spies are 'conscript,' there needs to be more ways to boost their status, especially those of Rep's pre-espionage.
- Monarchy immune to spies, while it may be balancing, is grossly innacurate. Court intrigues and intermarriages led to huge cabals. Foreign advisors often hung out in these courts, etc...

But I'll shut up now util I've played more

: Second, I just received the most thorough traucing by the AI civs to date:
- Regent Level, Iroquois, 1895. I've destroyed the Americans, the French the British, the Zulu the Persians. Four other civs remain on the map.
- I'd disabled 'Space Ship' victory, UN elections were 'no majority found,' so I decided to launch a surprise attack on France and Zululand simultaneously in the hopes of razing their Capitols and some other major, culture producing cities.
- Eight transports off their respective coasts *each*, filled with arty, marines, mod armor, and mech inf. Each transport supported by battleships and nuke subs.
- I make my pacts with other civs, then launch my attack.
- Six cities razed over the course of that turn, including Paris, Intombe, Rouen and Swaziland.
- *Eight* Wonders destroyed, including Magellan's, Newton's, Pyramids, Sgt Pepper's, Hoover Dam, and Reichstag.
- Withdraw my troops to single stacks as much as possible. Couple of marine units get trapped on their lonesomes in the middle of France. Oh well; that's why their Marines.

- End of turn.

- France responds with a volley of, and yes I counted, *fifteen* ICBMs. One for each of my cities, save two.
- My naval invasion force off their coast receives two tac nukes, effectivly negating its effectivness.
- Mod Armor, Inf and Marines cut through my 'sentry' marines and plough into the main force. Its ugly. Of the 20+ attacking units last turn, 3 survive, each with one red pip. But they hold their ground.
- A few other nukes are sent to my brothers in arms, the Babylonians and Japanese. They respond with zeal, and make their way through the French colonies.

- Zululand responds with more nukes and cuise missles than I can count. Some at me, most at Germany. Never liked them. They stiffed me on Spice.
- The Zulu fleet of Nuke Subs, which had been lurking nearby, tac nuke my fleet then come in for the kill. A few ships manage to limp away.

1896. The dust settles. I've lost 86 Units in one turn. Pollution covers most of my Civ. Mass starvation and Rioting. Anarchy. The Iroqouis Democracy is poised to fall.

Over the course of the next few turns, Babylon, Germany, and India fall, destroyed by rampaging French and Zulu forces. The Japanese launch a counter attack on Zululand, exchange nukes with them on more than one occasion, and will eventually destroy the formerly No. 2 ranked Civ in the early 1920s.

But hell hath no fury like France with no one to surrender to. They take and raze two of my cities on the northern coasts. We fight hard battles over Mauch Chunk and it's vast oil supplies. I sink to their level and lob eight tac nukes at their fleet and some costal cities. They take Mauch Chunk in the early teens, and it switches hands regularly. Japan spends time mopping up the French Colonies, hardly coming to my defense, but still putting it to the French.

In 1936 I land a small force of Marines on the beaches of Avignon. I take the city, barely. Using it as my key barganing chip, I sue for peace. France agrees. They receive Avignon, I get back Mauch Chunk.

By 1940, half the world is a desert wasteland. Japan demands gold and technology from me, and in my weakened state, I must aquiesce. France doesn't.

1952, Japan wins through Domination, controlling 2/3rds of the world, having occupied most all of France.

So yes, I have seen the AI not only use Nukes, but initiate nuclear holocaust.

Happy Civving,
Yaga

[Cian McGuire]

That's brilliant, Yaga