The best of all worlds...

[SMIFFGIG]

long is better than never

[primemover]

Wow Locutus... this looks like the ultimate mode for CTP. I have just discovered this thread. I read the first two pages... then looked through the rest for the release. Guess its still being worked on.

I've been gone a while... between teaching school and helping out with the Clash of Civ's project where I can. But I have been itching lately to play CTP2 again. Still my favorite of the civ games.

I would like to be able to help with this too... as it is exactly the kind of Mod I have had in mind since I played both Med Pack and Cradle mods... both have things I like and dislike so the best of both worlds sounds great.

Hope it is still coming along. Maybe I could be of some help. But I will need to get the latest first... and help may take some time coming.

[Locutus]

Wow Locutus... this looks like the ultimate mode for CTP. I read the first two pages...

Well, thanks, but don't get too excited. I think you'll want to skip over the other pages and read my last post...

(My new motto: RL is a b*tch, and I can't get rid of her... )

[primemover]

how far did it get? Would it be possible for us to pick up where you left off.... carry it foreward as much as we can till you can do it again?

[Locutus]

Well, see that design doc I linked to at the start? That's about it (I did flesh out some sections, but it's all still on the drawing table - except for the list of civs, but I'm still working on that and still want to finish it, so I'm not sharing that quite yet)

[primemover]

would it be possible for you to finish that design document at least? Then those of us who are interested could get to work... I will have a little time this summer for modding (About a weeks worth or so. But nearly full time... that can add up eh? Lets just say I will have about 30-40 hours to contribute).

[Locutus]

Finishing the design doc is by no means trivial and may actually never happen: at least my ideas on what the ideal game/mod should look like continuously evolve and change. And 'no plan survives contact with the enemy', so a lot of changes would take place once realization of the mod begins.

But it's clear that in it's current state it's more of a concept description than a full design doc, a lot of ideas still need fleshing out: I still envision religion to play a major part in the mod, but I still haven't figured out how I would like to model it (I'm not quite happy with the system Pedrunn and mapfi worked on).
Secondly, I feel it's very important to add more atmosphere and personality to the game, mainly by giving more personality to the civs (that's one thing I have to say Civ3 did well - or better than CtP1/2 at least). I don't know yet what the best way of doing this is either, especially since I also dislike the idea of abondoning the 'all civs are equal' concept (like Civ3 did with Unique Units and Civ Specific Abilities).
Thirdly, the main historic 'mistake' in Civ games is IMHO that trade isn't nearly as important as it should be. Civ3 does a good job with strategic resources but that's still not satisfactory for me. I want this mod to tackle that problem as well but I basically have no clue yet on how to realize that.
Finally, I've always wanted to copy the 'minor nation' concept of Birth of the Federation, as I, as a diplomatic player, believe that to be THE best feature of any TBS game EVER. I'm still having major problems finding a proper implementation though.

These 4 issues are IMHO the most important issues that need to be tackled before implementation can begin (there are plenty of other issues to be worked out but most of that can probably best be worked out by old-fashioned playtesting). Once that's done the implemention could start in two phases: first the structure of the mod would have to be realized (units/wonders/buildings/civs/goods/etc) and balanced out and after that AI and SLIC would have to be added. Since the details of the structure aren't exactly set in stone yet either (and can't realistically be changed too drastically once in place), that creates an additional obstacle.

I'd love to go ahead and tackle these problems so that this mod can actually be realized, but I simply lack the time for doing so. I may have some time to do so this summer, but that's not a certainty. But even if I do, that will probably still only be enough time to finish preparations: implemention probably couldn't start until fall at the earliest, by which time I'll probably have far less time again

Plus, if RoN is as good as it promises to be, many CtPers (including yours truly) may switch to that and give up on CtP modmaking altogether - and I fear this project is simply too big to be realized by just 1 or 2 people...