Cold War PBEM - setup

[Modo44]

Well, here is the idea. We play the world after WWII. Cold War means, no big conflicts have started so far, but the arms race (and what an arms race ) is going on nonetheless. Anyone interested?

This game is waiting for a replacement player to take over the NATO. Tracker thread is here.

I have found one scenario, that utilizes very few changes to original game rules. Starts in 1961. It has no new units, techs, etc., only some governments removed. Meaning, you can play it on a reasonable machine, and no additional downloads are necessary. Still, it needs to be modded, because it was made for SP, with 10 civs. You can find the original scenario at CFC:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72461

My mod for this game:

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?file=54803_TheColdWar-1961AD(mod)v3.zip

Players:

• NATO - waiting for a player
• Warsaw Pact - Modo
• China - Beta Xi Jiang
• SEATO - Shogun Gunner
• India - Mickeyj
• Persia / Pakistan - AI
• Arab League - AI
• Scandinavia - AI

Changes to the original SP scenario:

• Split Spain and Korea/Vietnam between other nations, to take the civ count down to 8. Turned finland / Sweden into Scandinavia, giving them the Norwegian cities. There is no way to make this historically acurate, so I will not try to.
• Minor nations get the ability to build Settlers.
• Guerilla unit changed to 10/8/1, Hidden Nationality, no upgrade.
• Normal Submarines (NOT Nuclear) get Hidden Nationality.
• Removed all locked alliances.

Balancing changes to stock game rules:

• Modern Armor defense decreased to 14, so that it makes any sense to build Mech Infantry.
• Infantry attack increased to 8, so you can attack weaker targets with it.
• Battleship bombard increased to 12, Aegis Cruiser bombard increased to 8, so they become useful for bombarding cities.

Victory conditions:

• Domination
• Conquest
• Space Race

To help the AI (if there are any), and to keep the research slower, we will use Emperor difficulty. Also, no trading, and no Alliances with the AI, only ROPs allowed. The only exception is if they come to you, and you accept an offer without changing it.

The Hidden Nationality units are there to allow some skirmishes between players without going headlong into a fight. Bear in mind, that Africa, and South America are without cities to make the loading times lower. Therefore, some fights for resources and luxuries might happen. Hint: most countries have no Ivory. Hint2: Some people have Carriers in the seas.

Obviously, there will be two major powers in the game - the Warsaw Pact, and the NATO. Two other big guys are the SEATO, and China. Those four are prohibited from building Settlers, bacause that would make the other four players all but irrelevant. As the game progresses, the small guys can grow, and become much more important. As far as I can tell, the military balance does not allow any single nation an easy victory.

Civ is turn-based, so the number of nukes in the hands of some bigger nations (Warsaw Pact, NATO) is dangerous to the game balance. Therefore, if either the NATO, or the Warsaw Pact launch a strike, I expect every other player to immediately declare war on them.

Any comments on the setup are welcome!


Attached is a map of the first turn of the scenario, with the currently planned modifications.

[Beta]

I'm in Modo.

I'll take China.

Signed, Chairman Beta Xi Jiang.

(Modo - I would also be Ok with Persia/Pakistan or the Arab League - if someone joins and is dying to play China. But China during the cold war sounds very cool.)

[Beta]

I was wondering if rather than having the small Finland/Sweden civ, maybe split NATO into US/Canada and European Nato. And maybe a locked alliance.

Ditto for Russia and a big chunk of the Warsaw Pact nations.

And I am also thinking that players should try to keep within the 'theme' of their country - circa 1961.

[Beta]

Modo - I have been trying to load an unzipped .biq vesrion of this scenario - but it keeps crashing C3C. Any ideas?

[Shogun Gunner]

If you are accepting players, I'll sign up.

China.

[Modo44]

So, which one of you gets China?

Originally posted by Beta
Modo - I have been trying to load an unzipped .biq vesrion of this scenario - but it keeps crashing C3C. Any ideas?

The start up takes pretty long. I found, that it can crash C3C, when I Alt-Tab out of it. Takes 3-5 minutes to initialize with 512MB RAM, 1.8GHz processor. It requires no files, and did intialize on my PC, although the MP version took even longer.

As to splitting the NATO, that is interesting. I think it could be too good for them, but I will take a look.

EDIT: The possible splitting of NATO looks like this:

• Plus side: Much lower corruption, making the Republic inredibly rich, and Europe much more productive. No War Weariness in America, if Europe gets invaded. Double gains from Military Academy, and Wall Street.
• Minus side: No Airports for easy shipping of land units. No good way to split the existing fleet, as NATO usually works in multinational teams. Possible issues with the availability of luxuries. Most wonders work for Europe only.

Overall, this gives an improvement for the NATO, which is very strong anyway. Yes, corruption and War Weariness play a major role in my opinion. And, it is much more modding, than just changing the ownership of seven cities. I would be worried about missed details as much as about the game balance.

EDIT 2: Perhaps Finland/Sweden should be turned into Scandinavia to make a stronger player? This would take away 3 cities from the NATO - 3 cities it gained by incorporating Spain.

[Shogun Gunner]

Whoops... I didn't see that Beta selected China. Obviously, it's Beta's. I'll take SEATO.

[Beta]

Especially after I worked so hard on the name as well.

Modo- I understand your argument for not splitting NATO.

[Shogun Gunner]

Yes, Chairman Beta Xi Jiang

I'm not sure what to pick for a name...Japanese, Australian, Indonesian....

[Mickeyj]

I'll be happy to take one of the smaller civs - India will do.

[Modo44]

Pick whatever you want. I will change it, once you have decided. Updated the first post with players.

I hope someone will take NATO. Or else, I will switch this to Sid difficulty.

[Moonbars]

i'll go NATO.

[Modo44]

Welcome aboard. You saved some necks there, I think.

It looks like the main players are here. I will wait until tonight, to see if others want to join.

First post updated. The modded scenario is there now.

[Moonbars]

cool.

I note from the CFC thread that the author is about to issue an updated version.. might it be worth waiting for that?

perhaps we might invite him to play in his own Scenario as well

[Modo44]

August 2004 was three months ago. Four, actually. If he was going to make a new version, I think he would have by now...

One thing. There is no easy way to change the difficulty level of a PBEM scenario in Civ3. So, when I get the save, I will have to edit it, to set the difficulty to Emperor. Just to be sure, you should have governors in cities, and be prepared to fight more unhappiness, than you see when playing the turn. Either that, or I would have to mod the Regent difficulty, and I am not even sure if it would work.