AU502: Celtic Power - Swords and Ploughshares

[ducki]

Ahh, hello there Brennus! Come! Sit! We have much to discuss!
I have decided to create a new world and I need your help. You see, I want to do a bit of an experiment, but I need someone who can report back to me; someone immortal. So I am sending you to this new creation to guide the Celts through the passage of time.
What's that? Alone? No, there will be others to overcome, as well as certain other.... obstacles you will need to deal with. Be not afraid! Seek out these other peoples and become wise in the ways of the world. Keep your people happy and they will serve you well. Use your knowledge of Agriculture to grow your lands and the yoke of Religion to keep your people content and productive.
You can overcome, but this is no fool's errand. Be vigilant and remember the Seven Pillars.

All of the links above were gleaned from the Must Read threads so you may have seen them already, but are generally worth a second look.
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Enough of that silliness, on to the fun!
This world is Standard size.

Both you the player and the AI will be exploring the power of Agriculture.
You, alone, though will be reexamining the Celts as a civ and the Gallic Swordsman as a UU.
Those that have been students of AU for some time might have a sense of deja vu. There was a PtW course titled AU 206: Gallic Glory. This is NOT the same map. The Celts, in light of their new Agricultural Trait and the, now, 40-shield Gallic Swordsman, are arguably more powerful than ever.

Map tweaking was kept to a minimum, though some was needed to help specific AIs and to make certain things interesting - at least I hope it works out interesting. No coal or oil was moved in the creation of this map.

This particular AU course is available in 3 versions - Stock C3C rules, AU Mod rules, and a semi-stock version that implements the Industrial Age tech tree as described in the 1.20 Patch readme that has been distributed. Included in each zipfile are 6 SAV files, one for each difficulty from Regent to Sid, so pick whichever "flavor" and level of the game you want to play.

Stock Rules AU 502 Save Files
Semi-stock 1.20 tech tree AU 502 Save Files
AU Mod v1.04 AU 502 Save Files

More info to come, but for now, I am running late and want to get this to you guys.

Until I get all the DAR threads up, a bit more info about this game can be found in the Spoiler Thread - there is a screenshot near the top of your starting location as well as some basic game settings information.

Unsure what Apolyton University is all about? The AU History 101 thread has some great quotes at the top of the first post and the AU Mod thread has a more detailed explanation as well as information on the Mod many AU students play with.


Many thanks go out to Thoth for testing this map out for a couple thousand years, and to Dominae and Rhothaerill for guidance in creating my first map.

[ducki]

Reserved

[Rhothaerill]

Woo hoo! Game on! Thanks for setting this up Ducki. I can't wait to play it.

[Makahlua]

w00t. Been lurking and reading and looking forward to this Now I just have to decide what flavor!

[nbarclay]

Ducki, I appreciate your putting this together for us, but I'm starting to get a bit upset at your refusal to make information regarding whether this is a Continents or Pangea map available to those of us who want it. Some of us would be inclined to play rather differently depending on which type of map it is and don't like to be left guessing, and the (spoiler) (/spoiler) trick makes it possible to tell those of us who want to know without spoiling the fun for those who don't. Even if you enjoy keeping the secret, is it fair for you to interfere with other people's fun for your own enjoyment?

[vmxa1]

Not sure why it should be a secret. Players know the map settings unless they play random maps.

[Dominae]

Sheesh, just deal with it. Pretend the settings are random. Prented the true nature of the map settings is not known to ducki, and is actually in a quantum super-position of states.

It will make scouting more important, as well as the use of early defensive units (in case of Raging Barbs). Does that not make the game more interesting?

Since everyone is in the dark, everyone is on a level playing field (if that's the worry). So what if you make a mistake due to incomplete information?


Dominae

[ZargonX]

Gotta get started on this tomorrow

[Conqueror]

Tought to play this one, but i could use clarification in one point :

I tought that either in 1.20 tree or AU 1.04 the prerequisite of Electronics was removed from Motorized Transportation ? Was i wrong in this ? I tought i read something of the sort in this forum.

Either i was wrong or my tech tree bugs, as tested both AU and 1.20 tree saves and theres still arrow from Electonics to Tanks in both

[Conqueror]

Aha. I was stupid. Right-clicking the techs shows the real deal My tech tree just seems to have wrong graphics.

[alexman]

If you want the tech tree to display properly for the AU Mod, please unzip the optional tech tree graphics into your scenarios folder.

This will create (or overwrite) an AU Mod directory where AU Mod games look for overriding files. If these graphics are not installed, the default C3C tech tree background is used.

If you are using the pseudo-1.20 version, then you need to replace your Conquests\Art\Advisors\science_industrial.pcx file with the one in the zip, but make a backup of the old file.

You can do the above even if you have already started the game, and the tech tree will display properly the next time you start Conquests.

[alexman]

Ducki, it seems the AU mod files for this game do not look in the AU mod folder for the graphics after all. The mod alone works fine, so you probably imported the rules into your map instead of the map into the AU mod, so the "AU Mod" text from the Scenario Search Folders in the Scenario Properties got lost when you were generating the saves.

No big deal. You can either generate new files, after fix your biq, or you can have people replace their science_industrial.pcx file in their Conquests\Art\Advisors folder.

[ducki]

Actually, one of the things that took so long last night was regenerating the save files to have the text "AU Mod" in the Scenario Properties "Search Folders" field. And my "bug report" about the extra pixels of Motorized Transport where Radio used to be, IIRC, came from checking it with the AU Sid Save(the last one I did.)

I will double check when I get a chance, though.

Edit - in your previous post, did you mean industrial and not ancient?

Edit2 - I just fired up AU502_AUModv1o04__Sid_4000BC.sav and the Industrial tree uses the graphic listed on the AU mod page - Radio is removed, MT doesn't require Electronics. Am I missing something?
Sorry for the confusion, this is more details to manage than a 4-turn pump. Ok, maybe not, but it's still confusing.

[nbarclay]

Dominae, if I hadn't asked Ducki about the map type until the last minute and Ducki just hadn't gotten around to answering before the game was posted, I could accept your reasoning. Similarly, if I were the only one interested in the information, I could accept your reasoning.

But multiple people have asked Ducki for a piece of information that is normally available, that has traditionally been available in AU games, and that would make the game more enjoyable to us. That information could be provided to those of us who want it without forcing it onto those who do not. Ducki has refused to provide the information for reasons that, as best I can tell, add up to little or nothing more than arbitrary whim.

In my view, a matter of principle is thus involved: the principle that Apolyton University should put the enjoyment of players ahead of the arbitrary whims of a particular game's designer. Thus, I am not inclined to let go of the issue either quickly or easily.

I would also point out that a map that has a 100% chance of being whatever its designer wanted is not quite the same thing as a random map for which each possibility is genuinely equal. The human mind is not a random number generator.

Edit: Ducki, I didn't intend this as a personal attack on you, but rather a an explanation of why I view the issue as important. If you have a good reason not to tell us whether the map is Continents or Pangea, I would be interested in hearing it. Otherwise, I think your refusal to tell us is against the interests of Apolyton University and I hope that once you think about it, you willl recognize that too.

Nathan

[alexman]

Originally posted by ducki
Edit - in your previous post, did you mean industrial and not ancient?

Yes, thanks. Fixed.

Edit2 - I just fired up AU502_AUModv1o04__Sid_4000BC.sav and the Industrial tree uses the graphic listed on the AU mod page - Radio is removed, MT doesn't require Electronics. Am I missing something?

Have you installed the 1.18 patch, or otherwise replaced your default science_industrial.pcx? The 1.18b patch has the same tech tree as the AU mod.

From Conqueror's comments above, I suspect people are having the same 'problem' as I saw.