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  • Exciting changes in "THE BALANCER" mod

    Hi there,
    I'm the author of the "The BALANCER" mod, hosted here at apolyton, which I'm pleased to say has just recently reached version 1.3. I feel that my mod offers perhaps the most excting changes of any mod yet, and I know that a lot of you "General" forum guys, don't get around to looking at the files forum very often, so I figure it wouldn't harm to give you a brief lowdown of some of the changes my mod has to offer.

    NOTE! If you have downloaded version 1.3 or 1.31 there was a bug that caused your game to crash if you built Squatter units. That has been quickly addressed in version 1.32, please download it if you have one of the previous versions. I appologize for any inconveinance.

    --- Improves the much maligned Expansionist civs by adding a new unit, the Squatter.
    The Squatter is a slightly-cheaper version of the settler with an extra movement point.
    This should give expansionist civs a much-needed ability to expand.

    ---adds government specific wonders for the three most advanced forms of government, these wonders are powerful but also very
    expensive and limited to being built by certain governments

    -Statue of Liberty, limited only to Democracy, decrease war weariness, when used in conjunction
    with Universal suffrage it can make Democracy a powerful military machine

    -Universal Equality- Gain any two advances owned by any other governemnt, limited only to
    Communism. Useful to gain ground on the scientifically advanced Democratic nations. Lasts until discovery of space flight.

    -Reichstag- Allows Fascist governments to build armies in ANY city.
    This gives the Fascist government that some complained of being
    too weak a considerable advantage.

    ---There are two new Modern-Age Wonders, due to complaints of there being too few in that
    period
    -Dinosaur Park-Available with Genetics, this wonder increases tax, science, and luxory output
    by 50%
    -Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band- Available with Ecology, This wonder simply produces 25 culture a turn.

    -increased number of missiles the Nuclear submarine can carry to 3.
    -cheaper nuclear weapons
    -Adds a new government, Facisim. A great war-time government
    -added Rommel to list of German leaders and Montgomery to list of British leaders
    -Catapult bombard strength upgraded to 6
    -Cannon bombard strength upgraded to 9 and rate of fire to 2
    -Babylonian Bowman upgraded to 2-1-2 rather then 2-2-1
    -Clearing jungles now takes less time
    -tweaked Communism a bit to fit well between Democracy and Fascism
    -Gave Police Stations the ability to quell corruption like Courthouses. Increased their cost to 120 shields, and maintance costs to 3 gold per turn.
    -Man o War upgraded to 4-3-4
    -The chance for Air Superiority interception is increased to 65%, even though this feature seems to be broken at this time.
    -Great Lighthouse upgraded to having 5 culture each turn
    -The Great Wall now reduces corruption and gives 4 culture each turn
    -Magellan's Voyage now also gives a free harbor to all cities on the same continent, along with the normal +1 movement bonus to all naval vessels. Cost was increased to 600 shields.
    -Shakespeare's theatre upgraded greatly by now giving 12 culture each turn, rather than 6
    -The UN gives a Collossus like trade bonus in every tile, due to the unpopularity of the diplomatic victory
    -Cure for Cancer and Longevity each upgraded to giving 10 culture each turn, due to complaints of their
    ineffectiveness in coming so late in the game
    -Artillery upgraded to bombard strength 14
    -Changed harvested-forest bonus shields from 10 up to 20. This is a good way to boost production in ancient times, and also in the later 'post replaceable parts' era via deforestation. Very advantagious to Industrial civs.
    -Changed Wealth shields-to-gold ratio down to 4:1 from the default 8:1.
    -Army Corps of Engineers: Infantry and Mechanized Infantry can perform the Build Forstress, Build Road, and Clear Forest/Jungle commands.
    -All civs now get the corresponding regular units to their unique units.
    -Radar Artillery has 18 bombard; 2 range; and 3 rate of fire. This change (I find these upgraded artillery stats to be much more balanced than the default ones)
    -Cruise Missile now has a bombard range of 6 instead of 2.
    -Transport can now only carry only 6 units.
    -Submarine now attacks at 8 instead of 4.
    --AEGIS Cruiser has the same bombarding attack strength as the destroyer: 2.
    -Nuclear Submarine has the same attack and defense as the modded submarine (8A.4D), but now moves at 4. Even the civilopedia stated that the n-subs were supposed to be faster.
    -Fighter now has a bombard strength of 4.
    -Jet Fighter and F-15 have their bombard strength increased to 8.
    -Stealth Fighter can now initiate the Interception command. Its stats are: 8A.6D and operational range of 7. Bombard is 8 with a rate of fire of 2.
    -The Chinese Rider UU no longer has ZoC
    -Mounted Warrior also has no ZoC; for the same reasons stated for the Rider and Horseman units.
    -Privateers have an attack of 2, defense of 1, and move at 4. This makes them a decent investment for their time.
    -Destroyers upgraded to 14 attack
    -Battleships upgraded to 20 attack

    You can get my mod here http://www.geocities.com/monkspider/BALANCER132.zip
    If you have trouble downloading, try right-clicking and saving target as.

    Last edited by monkspider; November 18, 2001, 22:13.
    http://monkspider.blogspot.com/

  • #2
    Alot of work and thought by you, good job monk. Some notes:

    I hope you upgraded the ironclad to 5/5 if you upgraded the Man O War. The Man O War was a good ship, but still no real match for an ironclad.

    I'd leave the 10 shield for forest bonus alone, 20 sheilds would seem to breed gardeners...

    I'd make a special combat engineer unit to build fortresses and such, giving that to normal infantry unbalances those units quite a bit, and I'm not sure the AI would use htm right. I'm thinking of a 6/6/2 unit that could build fortresses and also be used for advance area pillaging. What do you think?

    Rename radar artillery to rocket artillery. Talk about a gay name...

    Maybe make the galleon transportable for 5 units so they can carry armies...until they fix adding/removing units from armies...

    Good overall job monk, you clearly have a good grasp on the flavor that we savor...

    Venger

    Comment


    • #3
      slightly ot but I renamed the radar arty to MRLS

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Altuar
        slightly ot but I renamed the radar arty to MRLS
        I hope you meant MLRS!

        In my unreleased Civ2 mod pack I created rocket artillery...and the picture was an MLRS. I also had a cool custom sound effect of an MLRS launch followed by an ADM hit (cluster bombs)...not as cool though as my Siege Mech or A-10 Thunderbolt unit sounds, again with real A-10 engine sounds...

        Wanna hear it?

        Venger

        Comment


        • #5
          Wow, good suggestions Venger. You can definitely expet to see many of your suggestions implemented into the next update. I still feel that giving 20 shields for forests seems a bit more fair for completely removing a forest from the face of the earth forever. But if there are numerous complaints I'll defintely change it back.
          http://monkspider.blogspot.com/

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Venger
            I hope you meant MLRS!

            In my unreleased Civ2 mod pack I created rocket artillery...and the picture was an MLRS. I also had a cool custom sound effect of an MLRS launch followed by an ADM hit (cluster bombs)...not as cool though as my Siege Mech or A-10 Thunderbolt unit sounds, again with real A-10 engine sounds...

            Wanna hear it?

            Venger
            Erm, no, I meant MRLS. Multiple Rocket Lauching System.

            About the mod/sound, sounds neat... the effect in Civ III is a bit weak, perhaps you could try importing it?

            Edit: I checked. Both MRLS and MLRS is used. (Multiple-Launch Rocket System)

            Comment


            • #7
              Altuar,

              I believe the acronym really is MLRS - Multiple Launch Rocket System.

              Learn more about it here.

              -Sev

              Comment


              • #8
                A mod already. Shoot! I haven't even mastered the unmodded version of the game yet! I haven't run into any problems that this mod addresses...yet...so I won't downloadit. But good job anyway.
                "To live again, to be.........again" Captain Kirk in some Star Trek Episode. (The one with the bad guy named Henok)
                "One day you may have to think for yourself and heaven help us all when that time comes" Some condescending jerk.

                Comment


                • #9
                  NOTE! If you downloaded version 1.3 or 1.31 there was a bug that may have caused your game to crash if you built squatter units, this has been fixed in the latest version, 1.32. Please download it here
                  Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo!

                  I appologize for the inconveinance.
                  http://monkspider.blogspot.com/

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    i really like the mod except for the two modern wonders, is there any way i can disable them in my game?
                    I spend most my money on Wine, Women and Song.. the rest i just waste.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      This is a really great mod, but how is the AI gonna implement these changes in the game? will it cause unbalance because the AI wont know that these units have upgraded attack, and will treat them as low-attack units?

                      for example will the AI use the privateer more often now that it has been upgraded? what about catapult?

                      will the AI actually switch to fascism when he is at war? will he use the army a lot to take advantage of fascism?

                      will the AI know that he should build Statue of Liberty and Universal Suffrage together?

                      will the AI clear jungles more often?

                      will the AI know police stations can reduce corruption further and build them more often(especially in further cities)?

                      will the AI actually use n-subs to carry 3 nukes instead of 1?

                      will the AI know that ZOC has been taken away from some units, causing him to use those units differently?

                      I think i gave enough examples, basically what im saying is that if the AI doesnt recognize these changes, it will UNBALANCE the game more. If these changes are only beneficial to the player, then it will unbalance the game.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I would just like to point out something. Stealth Fighters are bombers not meant to intercept other aircarft. All they carry are bombs and really on their stealth tech to avoid being dected by other jet aircraft as their only defense. So I dont know why you made Stealth Fighters have the ability to use the interception command when they cannot intercept other aircaft in real life.
                        Donate to the American Red Cross.
                        Computer Science or Engineering Student? Compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup today!.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Great questions persian!
                          for example will the AI use the privateer more often now that it has been upgraded? what about catapult?
                          -That's a tough one, I am unsure of exact AI building ratios of certain things, but I would think so, even if slightly, based on my knowlege of how the AI in this game was created.

                          will the AI actually switch to fascism when he is at war? will he use the army a lot to take advantage of fascism?
                          -Yep, definitely, when an AI is at war a lot in the late game he is almost always in Fascism.

                          will the AI know that he should build Statue of Liberty and Universal Suffrage together?
                          -Yes, in the game I am playing as the Russians France has started construction on both of them. So I think that should put the question to rest.

                          will the AI clear jungles more often?
                          -This I am unclear on, I would imagine so, even if slightly. Even if they would attempt to clear the same number, they would clear them faster, thus giving them time to clear more jungles.

                          will the AI know police stations can reduce corruption further and build them more often(especially in further cities)?
                          -I can't say for sure, this is a question I can look into by investigating AI cities, but I would almost undoubtedly say yes.

                          will the AI actually use n-subs to carry 3 nukes instead of 1?
                          -Another good question I am unclear on, but I would say almost certainly so, simply due to the flexible nature of the AI.

                          will the AI know that ZOC has been taken away from some units, causing him to use those units differently?
                          -Probably, I'm not sure how the AI uses ZOC units as compared to non-ZOC units, but I would imagine so.

                          I think i gave enough examples, basically what im saying is that if the AI doesnt recognize these changes, it will UNBALANCE the game more. If these changes are only beneficial to the player, then it will unbalance the game
                          -You definitely make good points, but Soren Johnson has said that the AI will be able to take advantage of virtually any player modifications. The only change in this mod that the AI is currently unable to take advantage of, as far as I know, is the ability for infantry to build fortresses and so forth.
                          I hope this helps!
                          http://monkspider.blogspot.com/

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Jack_www
                            I would just like to point out something. Stealth Fighters are bombers not meant to intercept other aircarft. All they carry are bombs and really on their stealth tech to avoid being dected by other jet aircraft as their only defense. So I dont know why you made Stealth Fighters have the ability to use the interception command when they cannot intercept other aircaft in real life.
                            I was unaware of this fact Jack, thanks for bringing it up. But in spite of this, I think my change brings about better gameplay balance, it seems silly to have the last aircraft you gain not have the ability to intercept things. Besides, I'm sure that while it may not be their primary function, a stealth fighter could at least, theoretically have a chance to intercept other air craft.
                            http://monkspider.blogspot.com/

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Actually stealth fighters (F-117) cannot partake in a dogfight very well. They were designed for first sight, first shot, first kill. Which means they are supposed to be able to intercept enemy aircraft before the enemy can even detect them. If they don't, however, they are pretty much screwed.

                              The fact that F-117s have been used as bombers...well, lately that is mostly what F-16s and F-15s have done, as well. See Operation Allied Force. The F-22 is expanding on the whole Stealth Fighter concept, as it is designed with dogfights and stealth in mind.

                              Of course they don't have the F-22 in the game, they give the Americans the F-15, the fighter that quite a few nations in the world have nowadays. Given in the 70s it was unique to the US, but seeing as they included Solar Plants. I don't know, I guess they didn't want a Civ getting an end of tech tree unit all its own.
                              Yours in gaming,
                              ~Luc

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