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Cradle 1.06 posted
...at http://www.mydocsonline.com
login is hexagonia
password is hextapul
README INFO - CRADLE 1.06
You will need to download the files new pics.zip as this includes all the images for the wonder units. First time users will need to go to my sprites/pics folder and download the images and sprites for this Mod. I will also have a tech tree that will cover the entire expanse of the game from ancient through the default CTP2 tech tree available soon from my site.
I am close to what I feel to be a public release of this Mod. I hope to have this wrapped up in the next few weeks, as I want to be able to move on to other things - some related to CTP2, some not...I will continue to tweak the files, but will probably not devote too much time to posting updates on a regular basis if there is no demand for me to do so from the forums or personal contact. The majority of my gametime over the past 4 months has been in modifying and running playtests to check for crashes and possible AI imbalances, with no thought to strategy issues within the framework of actually playing a game. (like how would I actually approach playing my Mod)
As a sidenote, I have enjoyed getting into the guts of the game and creating a game that I would enjoy and hopefully be challenged in playing. I am hoping that I can also create some scenarios off of this Mod - however, it will be based on how players ultimately use this Mod. If there is little interest in this Mod, there will be no need for me to build anything. Scenarios by their very nature, have limited replayability. As a creator of a scenario, I probably would not play what I have done, as I would know the setup and how to exploit it, so to spend a lot of my time creating something that will not be used would be a waste.
It is unfortunate that CTP2 was met with a lot of resistance in the civ community. I do feel that the foundation is there to make a good game. I had absolutely no experience in tapping into gamefiles, but have found the files in CTP2 to be very easy to modify, and very stable. I have not had a gamefile crash for quite some time now in my playtesting. To those of you who want to be critical of the game, spend some time delving into the files and see what you can accomplish. I am available for advice on many of the files you can get into, and the files you can ignore.
I have gained a bulk of my gaming experience by playing CTP PBEM - there is a saying that once somebody plays Multiplay/PBEM, any single-play game becomes a cakewalk. That is very true to a great extent - and I consider myself to be just an average player too. The quality of players have increased dramatically since Civ was first released - and I do feel that game companies are very hard-pressed to meet the expectations of these players. If you haven't seen it, there is an ongoing discussion in the CIV3 Forum regarding the difficulty of creating a competent AI. It is a fascinating read, and shows to me that the problems perceived in CTP2 are problems that are common to all games.
I have not played CIV2, but I have played Alpha Centauri, and the AI is not any brighter in that game either - given the choice though, I would play my own creation (but I am a bit biased).
I believe that CIV3 will be a good game, but I also believe that there will be a lot of unmet expectations there too. Nevertheless, I will be waiting for that CIV3 package under the Christmas tree.
Some new additions that add some character to the Mod.
NEW WONDERS
Valley of the Kings - free Apothecary for every city
Hanging Gardens - free Aqueduct for every city
Resurrection - (+1) happiness for entire civ
Mecca - (+10%) science for entire civ - 2 scientists for host city
WONDER UNITS
There is a set of Wonder Units that are tied into the creation of certain wonders. They will grant veteran status to any units underneath them. They also operate as ranged units, so they will not be sitting on the front lines taking the early hits. However, the loss of them in battle will inflict a (-5/-6) happiness penalty for your entire empire for 3 turns, so be careful.
The wonder units are as follows;
Hammurabi - Code of Hammurabi
Ramses - Valley of the Kings
Nebuchadnezzer - Hanging Gardens
Alexander - Spartan Philosophy
Caesar - Appian Way
Muhammed - Mecca
Charlemagne - Hagia Sophia
Please refer to the Great Library for more details on these units.
The SLIC code for this was created by the 'Immortal Wombat' aka Ben Weaver - many thanks to him!
Also included is a bit of SLIC coding from Locutus, which will remove buildings from the list when a wonder is completed that gives a building to every city in a civ.
I have dropped the global base wage to 8 from 12, but have also dropped the slider to 1 from 2. There will now be a little more gold available in the game, but once again, you will have to use your sliders to focus on one aspect of your civ at the cost of something else.
If you are one who feels that the pace of this Mod is too slow, simply go into the ...Scenarios\cradle of civilization 1.05\scen0000\default\gamedata folder. There is a folder called 'cheap advances'. Switch out the Advances.txt file in that folder with the existing one. All Advances are (-33%) in cost. You can also use the const.txt file in there, as that will further drop the wages, making more gold available in the game.
login is hexagonia
password is hextapul
README INFO - CRADLE 1.06
You will need to download the files new pics.zip as this includes all the images for the wonder units. First time users will need to go to my sprites/pics folder and download the images and sprites for this Mod. I will also have a tech tree that will cover the entire expanse of the game from ancient through the default CTP2 tech tree available soon from my site.
I am close to what I feel to be a public release of this Mod. I hope to have this wrapped up in the next few weeks, as I want to be able to move on to other things - some related to CTP2, some not...I will continue to tweak the files, but will probably not devote too much time to posting updates on a regular basis if there is no demand for me to do so from the forums or personal contact. The majority of my gametime over the past 4 months has been in modifying and running playtests to check for crashes and possible AI imbalances, with no thought to strategy issues within the framework of actually playing a game. (like how would I actually approach playing my Mod)
As a sidenote, I have enjoyed getting into the guts of the game and creating a game that I would enjoy and hopefully be challenged in playing. I am hoping that I can also create some scenarios off of this Mod - however, it will be based on how players ultimately use this Mod. If there is little interest in this Mod, there will be no need for me to build anything. Scenarios by their very nature, have limited replayability. As a creator of a scenario, I probably would not play what I have done, as I would know the setup and how to exploit it, so to spend a lot of my time creating something that will not be used would be a waste.
It is unfortunate that CTP2 was met with a lot of resistance in the civ community. I do feel that the foundation is there to make a good game. I had absolutely no experience in tapping into gamefiles, but have found the files in CTP2 to be very easy to modify, and very stable. I have not had a gamefile crash for quite some time now in my playtesting. To those of you who want to be critical of the game, spend some time delving into the files and see what you can accomplish. I am available for advice on many of the files you can get into, and the files you can ignore.
I have gained a bulk of my gaming experience by playing CTP PBEM - there is a saying that once somebody plays Multiplay/PBEM, any single-play game becomes a cakewalk. That is very true to a great extent - and I consider myself to be just an average player too. The quality of players have increased dramatically since Civ was first released - and I do feel that game companies are very hard-pressed to meet the expectations of these players. If you haven't seen it, there is an ongoing discussion in the CIV3 Forum regarding the difficulty of creating a competent AI. It is a fascinating read, and shows to me that the problems perceived in CTP2 are problems that are common to all games.
I have not played CIV2, but I have played Alpha Centauri, and the AI is not any brighter in that game either - given the choice though, I would play my own creation (but I am a bit biased).
I believe that CIV3 will be a good game, but I also believe that there will be a lot of unmet expectations there too. Nevertheless, I will be waiting for that CIV3 package under the Christmas tree.
Some new additions that add some character to the Mod.
NEW WONDERS
Valley of the Kings - free Apothecary for every city
Hanging Gardens - free Aqueduct for every city
Resurrection - (+1) happiness for entire civ
Mecca - (+10%) science for entire civ - 2 scientists for host city
WONDER UNITS
There is a set of Wonder Units that are tied into the creation of certain wonders. They will grant veteran status to any units underneath them. They also operate as ranged units, so they will not be sitting on the front lines taking the early hits. However, the loss of them in battle will inflict a (-5/-6) happiness penalty for your entire empire for 3 turns, so be careful.
The wonder units are as follows;
Hammurabi - Code of Hammurabi
Ramses - Valley of the Kings
Nebuchadnezzer - Hanging Gardens
Alexander - Spartan Philosophy
Caesar - Appian Way
Muhammed - Mecca
Charlemagne - Hagia Sophia
Please refer to the Great Library for more details on these units.
The SLIC code for this was created by the 'Immortal Wombat' aka Ben Weaver - many thanks to him!
Also included is a bit of SLIC coding from Locutus, which will remove buildings from the list when a wonder is completed that gives a building to every city in a civ.
I have dropped the global base wage to 8 from 12, but have also dropped the slider to 1 from 2. There will now be a little more gold available in the game, but once again, you will have to use your sliders to focus on one aspect of your civ at the cost of something else.
If you are one who feels that the pace of this Mod is too slow, simply go into the ...Scenarios\cradle of civilization 1.05\scen0000\default\gamedata folder. There is a folder called 'cheap advances'. Switch out the Advances.txt file in that folder with the existing one. All Advances are (-33%) in cost. You can also use the const.txt file in there, as that will further drop the wages, making more gold available in the game.