Space invasion scenario?

[boojumhunter]

Hiya,
As a bit of an SF nut, I was wondering if anyone has created a 'Space invasion' scenario?

What I'm looking for, and might be forced to create myself, is a scenario where an advanced invader lands on Earth. I'd be interested in playing either the invader, or one of the existing Civs.

Here's the skinny... a well populated world, say 90% of the land is already settled by 3-4 Civs. The worldwide tech level is about at Steam level, prelimary rail infrastructure in place. All existing Civs at a stable level of peace. CIVs have developed their military to the best they can, 2-3 units per city.

An invader lands with 1-2 modern armour, a settler, 2 workers. About 20,000 in cash and ALL tech discovered.

I'd like the play balance to be about a 1 in 10 shot of the invader winning in the end.

Landing spot? Either in one of the remote undiscovered parts of the world... or in a sparsely populated area.

Possibilities? ALL CIVs automatically at war with invader... or at peace with them until they show their dastardly plans to rule the world.

Any thoughts? Anyone with anything like that yet?
I'm not looking for technical superiority beyond what the existing tech tree offers. Consider the invader to be the winner of some other game of CIV that built the space ship and unfortunately landed on a world already populated (oh no! not again!)

Cheers

[Ed O'War]

I did something similar to this that I called Alien Earth (it's posted at Civfanatics). I used five alien invaders starting at Future era and the Remnants of Humanity starting at Modern era. I also added new units so the humans could eventually develop advanced futuristic units like mecha, etc. I'm slowly working on an expanded version using the new editor, but it will probably be more complicated than what you are looking for.

One of the virtues of your idea is that it won't be necessary to download a whole bunch of new unit graphics, making it more accessible.

Another possibility is to have a more powerful alien invader, but have each civ start at WWII era technology, ala Harry Turtledove's Balance series. Either way, it sounds like an interesting idea to me.

[dunk]

Make sure the aliens landmass has all the resources necessary to build all the modern units. Otherwise, the scenario won't be much different than just 3-4 civs at an even keel.

Interesting idea. I'd like to see higher odds of the invader winning. Even make it so the invaders are playable. Maybe 1 in 4 or 5 odds.

[boojumhunter]

Originally posted by Ed O'War
I did something similar to this that I called Alien Earth (it's posted at Civfanatics). I used five alien invaders starting at Future era and the Remnants of Humanity starting at Modern era. I also added new units so the humans could eventually develop advanced futuristic units like mecha, etc. I'm slowly working on an expanded version using the new editor, but it will probably be more complicated than what you are looking for.

One of the virtues of your idea is that it won't be necessary to download a whole bunch of new unit graphics, making it more accessible.

Another possibility is to have a more powerful alien invader, but have each civ start at WWII era technology, ala Harry Turtledove's Balance series. Either way, it sounds like an interesting idea to me.

Thanks, I'll try your mod and let you know what I think. I really am looking for something that doesn't introduce new concepts/technologies though. No particular reason, just a personal preference.

We could choose different tech gaps, perhaps that's where we find the right balance in game play.

Cheers

[boojumhunter]

Originally posted by dunk
Make sure the aliens landmass has all the resources necessary to build all the modern units. Otherwise, the scenario won't be much different than just 3-4 civs at an even keel.

Interesting idea. I'd like to see higher odds of the invader winning. Even make it so the invaders are playable. Maybe 1 in 4 or 5 odds.

The more I think of this, the more I see some challenges in 'design'... plonk 2-3 modern armor in the middle of a world with a) railways and b) 40-50 cavalry and you're going to take an immediate beating.

If you place them on a land mass somewhere in the middle of the ocean then it becomes 'interesting' in some ways. There can't be too much space for them to expand without starting a conflict... can't have them building 30 Modern Armor overnight. Then it would just be a killfest.

BUT they can't take too long to build a sizable force either... other wise the other civs will catch up techwise and things even out.

Give them enough space for 2-3 "tight for space" cities. and they're forced to get into conflict relatively soon. ALSO a consideration. Their 'culture' would start at zero... while the other civs are well established. They would be beseiged by culture flips... NOT in their favour.

Also makes sense that all the other civs would be xenophobic and resist most efforts to trade.

Could be interesting.

[Ed O'War]

You could always adjust the tech costs/rates to keep the human civs from catching up with the aliens too fast. The aliens would have other disadvantages as well: no transportation, industrial or economic infrastructure (though I suppose that's what the 20,000 gold is for ). Being able to build Modern Armor when your opponents can only build Cavalry is great, but it takes forever when all you have is a size 4 city with no factories, power plants or manufacturing centers.