HoriujiMan
Jan 07, 2007, 11:31 PM
I've been bouncing back and forth between playing the Total Realism Mod and Rhys Mod. With that said, I'll pass along some observations regarding this Mod. (Since I am new in posting here, I know some of these comments have been raised in other threads, so please excuse any duplication on my part.)
In general, the strong point of the Mod has been smoothing the changes in tech with units that really do provide more of a feel for a particular period. It's the one thing that really distinguishes this Mod over other forms of play in Warlords/Civ 4. With this said, there are some things that I wish could be addressed:
Massive Garrisons - It seems to easy for the AI and the player to build up huge garrisons. In the early stages, it is very easy find AI cities with 10+ units. Perhaps there should be severe economic cost penalties for exceeding certain bands of units, that escalate in sizable leaps. I'm not a history expert, but managing the costs of fielding armies was one of the major limitations in any civ. With the exception of the Chinese (and perhaps the Persian armies during the Persian wars), it was tough for anybody to field armies of over 30,000 for a long time.
Those Smart Rebels - "Well done Counsel Germanicus, I am so happy that you have invented Gunpowder." "Yes, Ceasar, we have stored a multitude of new weapons is our Barracks and have left the Barracks keys on the table for any slave to come along and take at their leisure." "Arrgh" exhales Ceasar. I've seen the comments both ways on rebellions. I don't mind them so much, but it does seem odd for the rebels to have the latest tech weapons and to be equal to or better than the civs own forces. I'd let rebels get a notch below current tech (or something to better reflect the slave revolt). This is a bit different than the revolt stuff that happens in Rhys where you do have part of your civ split off and there it seems to make sense.
Those Not So Smart Rebels - I wonder if you could do something to make the rebels actually do something like destroy improvements rather than sit around as fodder giving experience to units. In a lot of situations it seems you can ignore them, they will do nothing or just fade off somewhere.
Interesting Flips - I was wondering whether something was adjusted to the cultural flip aspect of things. It seems to occur a bit easier than in the vanilla game or in Rhys. I've had Rome flip Athens, which I thought was pretty funny. On the other hand, I had a game where Lyon, completed surrounded by Roman pink, never ever flipped - and, it had as much cultural development as a portosan on a parking lot.
Time - I guess my biggest gripe (and I like the Mod), is the time between turns. I'm using a high end machine, but the time between turns is between 15-25 seconds. I play other 18 civ games and nothing approaches this. I guess this is do to the massive number of units?
The Mae West Syndrome - While I agree with Mae West that too much of a good thing is good, perhaps there are a tad bit too many wonders, mini wonders and somewhat wonders in the game? Teacher: "Johnny, can you name the Seven Hundred Eighty-Six Great Wonders of the World?" Johnny: (thinking, damn, I thought there were only Seven.) While I see that the effort was to give a chance, perhaps, for the AI to develop competitive alternative wonders, it doesn't seem to happen. The uber human player can amass far too many and get far too much GP bonus. The flavoring is nice, but perhaps you can downsize the impact.
I hope you guys don't take my comments too negatively. There are many things in the Mod that I wish were in Rhys. As I said, I'm playing both of them with great enjoyment and appreciation to the developers.
Oh, by way of a P.S., can you put a unit inbetween the Treb and the Cannon. Once you get Cannon ahead of the other civs, the game is more or less over on the military side. Since it seems the AI does try to keep pace, giving a weaker early cannon unit might help prevent the human from beating the living daylights out of the other AI civs.
In general, the strong point of the Mod has been smoothing the changes in tech with units that really do provide more of a feel for a particular period. It's the one thing that really distinguishes this Mod over other forms of play in Warlords/Civ 4. With this said, there are some things that I wish could be addressed:
Massive Garrisons - It seems to easy for the AI and the player to build up huge garrisons. In the early stages, it is very easy find AI cities with 10+ units. Perhaps there should be severe economic cost penalties for exceeding certain bands of units, that escalate in sizable leaps. I'm not a history expert, but managing the costs of fielding armies was one of the major limitations in any civ. With the exception of the Chinese (and perhaps the Persian armies during the Persian wars), it was tough for anybody to field armies of over 30,000 for a long time.
Those Smart Rebels - "Well done Counsel Germanicus, I am so happy that you have invented Gunpowder." "Yes, Ceasar, we have stored a multitude of new weapons is our Barracks and have left the Barracks keys on the table for any slave to come along and take at their leisure." "Arrgh" exhales Ceasar. I've seen the comments both ways on rebellions. I don't mind them so much, but it does seem odd for the rebels to have the latest tech weapons and to be equal to or better than the civs own forces. I'd let rebels get a notch below current tech (or something to better reflect the slave revolt). This is a bit different than the revolt stuff that happens in Rhys where you do have part of your civ split off and there it seems to make sense.
Those Not So Smart Rebels - I wonder if you could do something to make the rebels actually do something like destroy improvements rather than sit around as fodder giving experience to units. In a lot of situations it seems you can ignore them, they will do nothing or just fade off somewhere.
Interesting Flips - I was wondering whether something was adjusted to the cultural flip aspect of things. It seems to occur a bit easier than in the vanilla game or in Rhys. I've had Rome flip Athens, which I thought was pretty funny. On the other hand, I had a game where Lyon, completed surrounded by Roman pink, never ever flipped - and, it had as much cultural development as a portosan on a parking lot.
Time - I guess my biggest gripe (and I like the Mod), is the time between turns. I'm using a high end machine, but the time between turns is between 15-25 seconds. I play other 18 civ games and nothing approaches this. I guess this is do to the massive number of units?
The Mae West Syndrome - While I agree with Mae West that too much of a good thing is good, perhaps there are a tad bit too many wonders, mini wonders and somewhat wonders in the game? Teacher: "Johnny, can you name the Seven Hundred Eighty-Six Great Wonders of the World?" Johnny: (thinking, damn, I thought there were only Seven.) While I see that the effort was to give a chance, perhaps, for the AI to develop competitive alternative wonders, it doesn't seem to happen. The uber human player can amass far too many and get far too much GP bonus. The flavoring is nice, but perhaps you can downsize the impact.
I hope you guys don't take my comments too negatively. There are many things in the Mod that I wish were in Rhys. As I said, I'm playing both of them with great enjoyment and appreciation to the developers.
Oh, by way of a P.S., can you put a unit inbetween the Treb and the Cannon. Once you get Cannon ahead of the other civs, the game is more or less over on the military side. Since it seems the AI does try to keep pace, giving a weaker early cannon unit might help prevent the human from beating the living daylights out of the other AI civs.