AU AC Mod

[Arrian]

T, have you played with the tech tree at all?

There are four eras to work with in all. I think the ideal end point for a scenario such as this would be the historical fall of Constantinople - 1453... late middle ages.

So perhaps divide the "ancient" age into the bronze and iron ages, and divide the "medieval" age into the "dark" and "medieval" ages? This probably also requires new buildings.

I know that's above and beyond what AU is really about (minimal changes, keeping a largely "stock" feel), but this is a scenario, after all...

-Arrian

[Theseus]

I toyed with that idea, Arrian, but for just the reason you pointed out, I have kept it more true to stock, i.e., you start with a Settler, a Worker, and maybe a Scout, and play through as an epic game.

BTW, I have been working on the scenario throughout the last week, having played through about 20 debug games and tweaking all sorts of stuff to get somewhat balanced AI performance. I'm on my last debug for the moment, and will be posting version 0.98 for people to review in a little bit. It's actually been a lot of fun!!

[Arrian]

Cool.

I'm going to download The Ancient Med mode and give that a shot at some point to see what they did with the tech tree and whatnot. It's entirely possible I'll find it too far removed from the Civ I know and love.

-Arrian

[Theseus]

OK, here it is!!!

For anybody interested, or for that matter anybody who has more experience with mods and scenarios, PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT AND COMMENT!!!

As a reminder, this is meant for use in SP epic play, and also a possible AU PBEM course.

There are three files in the zip attachment:

1) AU Ancient Civs Mod 0.98 - I have not actually played as any of the civs yet... that's what I'll be doing next.

2) AU Ancient Civs Mod 0.98, debug version - America is on a one tile island in the middle of the Atlantic. This is what I've been using to playtest the AI civs.

3) A first turn save using the debug version and playing as America - If you've never debugged a game (I hadn't!), you should check this out. You get to see everything that the AI civs do throughout the game. I suggest leaving the research, economic, and happiness sliders alone; turn off all animations except maybe battle; then start turning off the various 'show movement' options... it's cool to watch what's happening, but can get boring after a while; find something heavy to put on your ENTER key (I use a metal file)... then watch the AI civs go at it!!

Once I get a bit further, I'll add a README FAQ... for the moment I'll just put what I have in terms of notes so far in the next post.

I still don't know what to do about the Civilopedia.

Have fun!

[Theseus]

DONE:

* Combined AU Mod 1.06 with Rise/Fall of Rome map (one thing I like about this map, in addition to generally good geo-detail, is that many of the then-current trade routes are already in place, as well as some representive land development by lesser-developed and unnamed civs).

* Time line is 2000BC to 2050AD:
25 turns at 25 years
25 turns at 20 years
25 turns at 15 years
65 turns at 10 years
100 turns at 10 years
100 turns at 5 years
100 turns at 3 years
100 turns at 1 year

* Researched and placed start locations:
Babylonians - Babylon
Egypt - Memphis
Hittites - Hattusas
Phoenicia (Byzantines) - Tyre
Persia - Persepolis
Greece - Aegai
Carthage - Carthage
Romans - Rome
Celts - Entremont
Germanic Tribes - Gothiskandza
Scythia (Mongols) - Kameneskoe Gorod

BTW, the above is sort of my representative historic order.

* No settling on desert or forest; longer time to clear forest. Added marshes where needed to slow down certain REXes. Clear forest is 6 turns, and forests are worth 15 shields.

* Placed ruins of Troy.

* Added a HUGE number of resources all over map. This was generally a judgement call based upon my understanding of the historic RW, and also with its own internal logic (e.g., furs in the north versus more spices and incense to the south and east). Included everything EXCEPT up through uranium... there were a number of uranium resources on the base map which I assume were placed for AI desires. Needs review. AI only debug games generally ended via domination or culture win in late Industrial or early Modern eras.

* Added many more barb huts, east to west, cutting Iberian peninsula, and miscellaneous. First level Barbs from huts are Archers; second level are Kurqan Riders at 3.1.1 with one extra HP and enslave (producing Archer).

* Placed various Barb units in various locations.

* Turned on plague.

* Increased aggression for most AI civs. Decreased AI-AI trade rate for all difficulty levels. Changed a number of 'build never' and 'build often' settings.

* Changed various city and leader names for Phoenicia.

* Gave Germanic Tribes a new UU: Gothic Raider, available at Iron Working, 4.2.1 with one extra HP, amphibious, cost 25g, uses Berzerk animation.

* Gave Scythia The Wheel at the start. Keshiks have one extra HP.

* Changed Statue of Zeus to produce War Elephants at 4.2.1 with one extra HP (gave Carthage the only ivory), ignore mountains and hills.

* Subs and Nuclear Subs are hidden nationality; Nuclear Subs have stealth attack against Subs and Nuclear Subs only.


TO DO:

* Test human play of each civ.

* More goody huts?

* Changes to Civilopedia.


GENERAL:

* Consider SP vs. MP... what tweaks for each? Which 8 civs for MP?

* Playtesting?

* Objectives other than standard win types? For all? Per civ? SP vs. MP?

[Aqualung71]

I still think Sumeria should be in there.....very important ancient civ, pre-dating Babylon.

Check out this or this out for a couple of interesting overviews.

[Theseus]

Yep, I agree that Sumer was incredibly important... but:

1) I could only fit so many civs into the Fertile Crescent.

2) The starting point for this, in my mind at least, is a bit later in history.

3) Babylon and the Hittites, and further, in another civ-generation, Persia, are certainly good proxies for all those that came before. That said, I've always thought that it would be cool if certain techs were in some way tied to certain civs... in this case Code of Laws.

Anyway, the rest of you laggards, download the damn thing and give me some feedback!!!

[Aqualung71]

Fair enough. I've been heard - that's all one can ask

I'll try to get around to having a look at this, since Theseus has put a lot of work into it.....not that I'm particularly qualified as a scenario judge! As you know, PBEM commitments make it hard to find time to play SP games these days

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by Theseus
...I've always thought that it would be cool if certain techs were in some way tied to certain civs... in this case Code of Laws.

In the Conquests, certain tech tree paths are restricted to some civs.....is this what you mean? If so, there may be a way to do it in the editor.

[Aqualung71]

Another thought.....if you want to start up a PBEM game using this scenario I'd be happy to participate.....even though I don't have time to play the ones I'm already in

[Theseus]

Yeah, in the process of setting up this mod, I've noticed that there are a whole bunch of techniques that have not yet been exploited.

Tying the tech tree to certain civs is one... also, there is something called "Landmarks" that I haven't seen anyone use much as of yet.

Hey, I am just happy to have taken a running start at this AC thing... we'll see where to go from here!!

[Harovan]

Landmarks are used in the Conquests, for special versions of ordinary terrain types, for example the "Cedar of Lebanon" forest variation. You can give them different economical statistics, while sharing the graphical appearance with their origin.

[Arrian]

Theseus,

Check out The Ancient Med (TAM) mod. It might give you some ideas.

I downloaded it last night and starting playing with it... and went to bed at 2am.

-Arrian

[Theseus]

I did, Arrian... it's very very cool, well researched and considered, and did in fact inspire me in a few ways.

Too far from stock for my purposes here, however.

IMHO, though, Firaxis should get the TAM guys to do a scenario for Civ4.

[Arrian]

Ok, cool. I know it's way out there from stock, but I just wanted to make sure you had seen it.

I was playing around with it on random standard maps (like I usually play). I'm pretty much going in blind, and it's been interesting.

I'm not sure I like the unit balance (early defenders suck, barracks show up LATE) and the barb strength is something I'm adjusting to (yikes, 9.3.1 advanced barbs!).

What I think I'd like to see is a composite of the stock game, AU Mod, and TAM (with an eye toward an ancient/early medieval themed epic game designed for random maps, not just focused on the med). Lots of work, though.

-Arrian