MOD: The Balancer 3.0

[Lordprotector]

You want to create an MechCommander Forum? Mmmh there are some english boards for that but many have not much visitors and few have most visitors.

I'm admin in one of the few german BattleTech discussion boards (called BaTCOM ) and we have no MW or MC Forums cause there are not much people who are interested, so there is only a general forum for battletech computer games and programs.

i don't know how known the bt universe is to you but have you ever played with the idea of a battletech mod/scenario for civ?

The bt universe has many different units like rifle and laser troopers, battle armor troopers, aero fighters, tanks and mechs, of course.

I think this would be an interesting idea for a new discussion forum (and so for a very cool topic) and i know sources for information and people who would be interested on something like that.

Ok, that was only a idea which came quick to my mind after i read your response

What do you think?

regards

Lp

[Elucidus]

Well, the BT universe was well known to me, but that is years ago, also the problem with a mod based on it is the grphics there aren't a whole lot of BT units for civ3 around. I am sure if someone started a mod for civ3 based on BT it would be a hit, but I don't have neough time between the forums and the Balancer I got going to start another.

[MiloMilo]

Elucidus, I noticed that your mod has new buildings with new effects, stuff that can't be done with the editor alone. How is this done?

I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of railroads. To this end, I would be interested in how to make a building that would increase food production by one in irrigated squares and shield production by one in mined squares. Can this be made and easily inserted into the game (civ3 1.29)?

For that matter, would it be possible to restrict the airlift ability to cities connected by roads? (and then lift this restriction with discovery of a certain advance, i.e. flight?)

[Elucidus]

Those are all wonderful ideas, unfortuneatly everything I have done was done strictly with the editor. I am sorry to say I haven't figured out much more than what can be done in the editor.

I do like you ideas and will mention them to Firaxis QA if you haven't already. From the looks of the data stored in the bic/x I don't think any of that is doable with or without the editor. There are certain variables/constatnts that would need to exist for that to work.

One last thing you may be able to find another mod maker that has a better idea of how to do any of these or if they are possible. Just visit their forums...

[Elucidus]

Whew, been a long time since we updated this thread. The balancer is still alive and kicking, I just haven't updated this thread about it. I guess I should have. Balancer is up to 3.1 for Civ3 and 3.1J for PTW.

I hope there are no problems with me linking to my site, but you can find both the pure Civ3 and the PTW versions here. Dan, Markos, or any other ACS Staff if there are any problems with me posting a link to my site please let me know right away and I will remove it immediately. I do not want to cause any anomosity here.

[Myrddin]

Some thoughts on 3.1

Expanded tech tree, governments, wonders, goods, all seem to work well and change pace of game - I thought speed of advnces very slow at first, but it speeded up dramatically later

Changes to sea units (earlier availability, greater steps in movement and attack values) work very well

I think large number of AI starting civs weaken their chances, but will play around with this


Some things to change

Splash screen still says 3.0

Some tick boxes seem to have been missed:

Advances
Criminal code required for era advance

Units
Ironclad
Frigate
Bombard Cannon
Upgrade unit box not ticked

Ranger
Operational range of zero, cannot paradrop outside starting city

Governments
City State has required advance Feudalism
Facism has required advance Radio (pre-requisite of Facism advance)

Internet has research labs as a requirement, so is not buildable if you build Einstein's Lab which gives free research labs

There seemed to be no marble in my first game, so several wonders were not buildable

[Elucidus]

Is this for Civ3 or PTW? Just so I know where to go. Thanks.


Luc

[Myrddin]

Civ3 - such an obvious point that I overlooked it

[Elucidus]

Ahh, yes, that does have a few problems remaining. Sorry about that.

[Myrddin]

Having completed a space win at Monarch, a few further points

Guerillas seem too powerful - the AI uses them as their main attacking unit instead of cavalry. Reducing movement to 1 would make sense

Modern age advances - these seem expensive, even leading in population and research labs everywhere, advances were still taking 9 turns min

Space Race - multiple component requirements slow it down nicely, except you can only build 1 of each at a time - I asume that there is no way around this

Naval units - I like this even more - the higher move rates make moving units by sea more feasible and mean that intercepting opposing naval forces needs careful searching of the ocean as they move far beyond visual range

I reduced starting civilisations to 6, which allowed longer for expansion and more solid opponents than starting with 16. It took me to near the end of the industrial age to catch up after starting on an island off the main continent, and a tank war to move into the lead.

[Elucidus]

As far as the space race thing. Our latest rendition, changed that to an increased cost (matching the total of each part) and that seems to be working a little better.

I will definately look at the guerillas. And modern age techs were ment to be expensive. otherwise your units are obsolete too quickly, before you even finished bulding them.

Thank oyu for the excellent feedback. I will post it in our mod's forums shortly.

[Mizaq]

Originally posted by Myrddin
Internet has research labs as a requirement, so is not buildable if you build Einstein's Lab which gives free research labs

So did PTW fix this? This was the other huge thorn in my side a year ago (the first being the tech icon bug which someone already told me PTW fixed).

[Elucidus]

You know...I don't remember if it did fix this, I will check when I get home.

How have you been Mizaq? It has been a while.

[Mizaq]

ahh, well I'm struggling to get a job since I graduated in December from the UW, otherwise I've been good. I'm at my wits end though trying to find a good job.

[barkwaffle]

A quick question? Is there a newer or patched version of the Balancer Mod after the PTW U.S. version? That seems to have a few bugs with crashing while upgrading units? Thanks!