The Apolyton Standard

[Worthingtons]

Right, i've been playing around with this idea in my mind for some time now. Basically I dont like the values that Civ III ships with, Things like the cost of Espionage, and the Super Corruption. For me (and many others) Firaxis got things wrong,In some ways Historically, and in others the fun in gameplay is simply reduced.

No problem though, There's an Editor right.... well there is a problem. How many people are reluctant to change things in the Editor, because they feel they are 'cheating' and it would somehow take the shine of victory. I know i do, I make many changes in the Editor , but i think twice always before doing so, and havent made many i would like to. I have seen people say before they wish FIRAXIS would make these changes, because they dont want to do it in the Editor.

Well, What i propose is we build a New Standard for Civ III - The Apolyton Standard. Here , a Team of us could take votes on issues, on changes we'd like to make to the game. We should vote according several criteria (I'll list them later) and if the Majority agree with the change, it goes into the standard. We Could then publish the final (although there is no reason why this project cant be ongoing) changes for all to see and attatch a Civ3mod.bic for people to download. Even if one doesnt wish to download this, they can at least look at the changes and, if they wanted to implement some of them, they will have piece of mind it had been voted as fair to do so.

We could perhaps even use this new rule set in Tournement games??? Who knows.

The Criteria on which i think i should an idea should be judged should be
1. Does it unbalance the game
2. Will the change make the game more fun and/or Less Tedious
3. (and least important IMO) How does this affect Realism


Have a think about it.....

[Terser]

There's going to have to be some kind of accord reached when (if?) multiplayer finally arrives, even if it is among the fans of various mods or editor changes. Otherwise, you really will have a Tower of Babel situation: thousands of players with different CivMod files groping in the dark for someone to multiplay with...

I look forward to it, though.

[Dis]

This could be a great idea.

I've thought about this myself. especially if I post on the strategy forum. I use different strategies if I have different mods. So I can't post good answers often. My game is different from their game.

[notyoueither]

Excellent proposal, once they are done the game. Either that or prepare to flush a lot of work every time there is a patch/XP.

Of course someone the likes of Markos or Ming would have to be the *Keeper* of the standard. Can they do more?

Maybe we could nominate one of us mere mortals. How about korn? Or Yin

Salve

[Technoron]

mmmmmmm.

Kinna sounds like the "Apolyton Pack" over in the CTP section.


No idea how that pack became "the standard" (popular feedback, downloads, shrugshrug)

It seems to me that a standard needs to be "established" only if there has been no good solution thus far, and that good solutions naturally become standards all by themselves.

Sooooooooo......If something was good enough to be deemed part of the "Apolyton Standard"....wouldn't it ALREADY BE the standard? It's kinna like officially declaring Mountain Dew the greatest liquid ever invented - everyone already knows it is, so what's the point....

dunno. It's 2:30Am and my brain is going all fuzzy.

Anyway, I'd be a little gun-shy about creating "the apolyton standard" given the diversity of players/styles on a site this populated.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Or Yin

Yin would be a good choice, alas, he doesn't possess the game (anymore/yet).

Rothy, your idea is really good. The features could be chosen by a couple of polls (maybe the admins spend us a forum?! ), and finetuned by some of the experienced modders, elected by a poll too. My vote would be Willem, his ideas are excellent.

[aahz_capone]

Good idea, however difficult to impliment. Especially gonna create hassel when (if? no lets keep it when) the multi (or is it really if?) player (but it SHOULD be when) comes (could they REALLY make it if?) out (DAMN IT!).

Another catch is that on MP everyone should have the same version of the game. With the HUGE amount of mods concerning everything from govs to unit tweaking to new buildings I think civ3 has become a game not made by the few for the masses, but by the masses for the few. When (if/when/ugabooga) MP comes everyone is gonna have to play the original, and I hope to God FIRAXIS tweaks the original by then.

[Bill9999]

I like the idea. It would be terribly difficult to pull off though, as there are many different opinions what would be the best numbers to use.

I would start it all off by adopting the 2 - 3 - 5 - 7 hit point scale

(instead of 2 - 3 - 4 - 5)

[sachmo71]

Uh oh...I guess a decision will need to be made about naval combat one and for all...

"All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill!"

[Rhuarc]

I think this is a wonderful idea! I have been wanting this for quite some time now. Would this "MOD" have new things in it such as new units, governments, or techs, or woud it be soley used for the purpose of changing the balance of thigns already in existence ion the game? I think it would be a good idea to add new things that we feel firaxis left out as well, such as a wider variety of governments, and anything else we can think of! Just my opinion though, thoughts anybody?

[ACooper]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph


Yin would be a good choice, alas, he doesn't possess the game (anymore/yet).

and the fact Yin doesn't know what he is talking about.

Here's an idea: How about a discussion (or poll) on each aspect of the BIC file?

[Harovan]

Right, but nye wrote about the "Keeper", not the "Maker" of the standard. As for the polls, you are right and that was what I wanted to suggest. Perhaps a special forum would be good for this (like for Democratic games), to make sure all polls count and nothing is lost. But there must be somebody (or a team of 2, 3) who puts this thing together and makes the fine tuning. This/these person(s) should be recruited from the modder scene. That was why I voted for Willem. Korn would also be a good choice.

[ACooper]

Willem and/or Korn are very good choices. May I also suggest Gramphos? He seems to have excellent knowledge of the editor.

Not Yin, Lib, Enco or any of the others that enjoy "getting off" on how bad the game is and how they quit playing.

[Ming]

Good luck finding a "standard"...
From reading much of what is printed in this forum, I'm not sure what you are going to get people to "agree" on.

I'm not sure you could get a majority of the people to agree that the sun rises in the East

Good luck... it will be interesting to see if it can be done.

[Rhuarc]

I think that polls would be a good way to do it. Does anyone think that MarkG would post up a new forum so we can keep all the threads about this in one place? I also think taht Gramphos would be a good candidate for teh "Keeper of the Standard" as it were.