7th (Leap Year!) Edition
February 2012
Editor's Note
February is here and we here at the S&T Times are proud to bring you
the 7th Edition of our humble newspaper.
This month, we have our Story Reviews & Mod Reviews
as well as our recurring Forward to the Backture nostalgia article.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition of the S&T Times.
~Tomorrow's Dawn, acting editor
Story Reviews by Alexius08
Civ 3
Now THIS is a bad start! by
tR1cKy
The story is set on an unmodded version of Civ3, playing as the Romans on a map with two continents.
As the title says, the author started in an awful position, stranded at a peninsula and hemmed in by the Egyptians. Then he invaded Egyptian territory so early, but he sued for peace after capturing some border cities. What he thought to be very powerful were not so powerful at all, as he found out after trading maps with other neighbors. And from there, he began to expand slowly until he won a domination victory.
It started as more of an AAR and less of a narrative. However, every update gradually let him develop a writing style that is more or less in between. He eventually gained a well-deserved 9th place in the Civ3 forums for his attention to details and his consideration for readers.
Score: 85/100
Civ 4
The Pangean Wars by
demokratickid
The story starts at the middle of the game, with the author playing as the French on a Pangaea map.
The war in the story was a war of aggression by France against their English neighbors. The elimination of England came with a twist in the form of their leader being kept alive in their last city. After arranging a marriage between Napoleon XI and Elizabeth IV, attention soon shifted to the increasingly-powerful Americans while there is an understory about the application of recent technological advances to improve Napoleon's health.
The next few chapters detailed a story that is somewhat reminiscent of the Cold War between the two remaining factions until war was finally declared. Both sides were evenly-matched technologically. Every battle was described with sufficient detail, even including an unexpected sword-fight after the opposing armies ran out of ammunition and a few flashbacks to previous battles.
However, the story didn't end with the defeat of Americans, and instead was followed with chapters featuring the trial of hundreds of people for war crimes. It only ended after Napoleon's abdication and later death.
It could be improved through paying more attention with spelling, and some illustrations could be used so that readers could have an idea of what is going on throughout the story.
Score: 77/100
Civ 5
How to lose tragically after approximately 20 turns by
Mzrokks
The story is set on an unmodded version of Civ5, playing as the Egyptians on the Industrial Era.
The author used a mixed writing style, switching from descriptive to dialogue. After barely managing to get a space race victory in total disregard of the title, he added three alternate endings, each ending with defeat in an effort to remain faithful with the original premise of losing. Those alternate endings didn't make up for the story's brevity, however.
Score: 83/100
Mod Reviews by Tycho
Hello again people, and today, we have a special surprise for you! Moving away from the bread and butter mods that we have shown before, we are moving into a niche mod that many people have been found to enjoy, and which you, can turn into a story!
So now, we are presenting to you, Pie's Ancient Europe, or as it is often collectively known, PAE.
PAE is a highly detailed historical mod, much in the vein of Rome: Total War, and Age of Empires. Focusing mainly in Europe (of course) the game allows you to take control of multiple factions jockeying for power over the continent. This leads to a highly interesting and detailed scenario that you can play over, in order to see just how exactly one can take over Europe...
But the features of this fine game? They are as many as they are varied:
-) An authentic, historical correct tech-tree (Arrowheads, Spoke wheels, runes,...)
-) Almost all standard ancient units (ram, slingshooter, skirmisher, threemanchariot,...)
-) Historical ancient special units for almost every CIV you never played in other games before.
-) Almost every unit has its historical based skin. Even some units have their second skin in classical times.
-) Some buildings and wonders depend on historical facts and are related to religions and/or resources
-) An european map with England, Ireland, North-Africa and Asia Minor
-) All resources gather from historical maps, even 4 different types of cereals
-) 10 religions: Celtic, Nordic, Egypt, Phoenician, Sumerian, Greek, Roman, Zoroastrism, Judaism, Christianity
-) 8 cults/cultures (corporations): like Isis, Mithras, Cybele, Hellenism,...
-) Units can defect to other CIVs during fight
-) Plot culture changes during won/lost battles
-) Mercenaries ! Merchants ! Pirates ! Sea peoples !
-) An amazing slave feature!
-) Ranged attack with archers and catapults (1 plot only). AI knows to use!
-) Religious expulsion with consquences !
-) Roman roads (can only be built by legions and mercenary legions)!
-) Terrain tundra and desert can not be settled. Endless barbarians !
-) Rivers, desert and tundra are natural borders (-25%, -50%, -75% defence)
-) Leprosy and plague haunt unhealthy cities
-) Christianity earns importance (slavery revolts)
-) Colony and Province Feature (with Auxiliary units)
-) Lots of wonders!
-) Fog of war gets black again
-) Exciting Sea Peoples, Huns and Viking invasion
-) More promotion steps (up to 5)
-) Lots of historical special buildings, special units and elite units!
-) Different city and unit skins!
-) A great new vassal feature
-) Ship feature
-) Wine distribution!
Storyteller Suggestions
With such things, a historically accurate gameplay story is a good idea, with many ideas to explore! For example, take the reins through a central character, or a character's family, in order to give an interesting presentation story... after all, with how ancient times were, don't you think that grudges and feuds between nations and between people from all different backgrounds and histories would fight one another to the death. Wars were fought between nations, and people often sought to better themselves through the death of their neighbor, so show your civilization, your people, conquering the known world of Europe!
Character based stories, spread out over generations and millenia, centuries even, are a wonderous idea if you plan to have a long and stretching narrative that extends across all of known history. With this, you can stitch in stories and tales from characters and nations, rulers and others as time marches on. Everything that you can think of and incorporate into your story would work nicely as you paint the historical picture that your characters must face. Feel as if Rome is being too unproductive? Have Egypt attack them audaciously!
It is also possible for you to build and construct a textbook story, as this is essentially a new history lesson that you are creating here, in your story, in your thread, in your everything. It is something that you create and manage, and to mess with everything that you see fit is good to go!
As I have said before, changing history to suit your needs can make everything nice and beautiful and gives you a chance to basically do whatever you want within your story.
While the textbook approach may seem like an overrated thing, it is not. Since this is a mod that focuses on ancient Europe, a textbook approach with assorted battles and your own little touches applied to the story, allows you to have a certain kind of interesting freedom when it comes to what you are experimenting with, in PAE.
In the end, it is up to you to decide what sort of story one will experiment with in this mod... feel free to take any path you choose for the route is often open up to change.
Forward to the Backture by General Olaf
WARNING: NEVER bump old, dead or finished stories. These stories have run their course and are best left alone to avoid annoyance to forumites (and especially the author).
This issue's old story is
Gilgamesh's Court by Flouzemaker. Gilgamesh's Court, is probably considered
the classic
Civ4 comedy story. From the works of Flouzemaker - which also include
Suleiman's Harem and
Pacal's (Ball) Court [which remains unfinished, due to Flouzemaker's unexplained departure from these boards] - stem almost the entirety of what have come to be known as the 'comedic', or 'playscript', style of story.
Flouzemaker's irrepressible sense of humour and casual style of writing have some kind of innate magic to them. Gilgamesh's Court has been listed as 'one of the best stories on the forum' by several forumites, along greats such as Sisiutil and Helmling (whose
Philosopher Kings series I covered in this publication's pilot edition).
Then, of course, there are the pictures. Flouzemaker - a graphic artist in real-life if I recall correctly - drew comic-style pictures for every update of every one of his storie. I can only imagine being one of the first to click on the first ever Flouzemaker thread link; to see the pictures must have been to know that this guy was, not only genuinely interested in his writing, but generally awesome as well. ...Unfortunately, you'll have to imagine it too; sadly, Flouzemaker's pictures are no longer supported, either because he took them down or because the image host did. Such things are massive losses to CFC history.
Due to Flouzemaker's unexplained disappearance, of course, we can't expect to see any more of this excellent storyist's work any time soon. But in the meantime, I think it's only appropriate (and incredibly entertaining!) to sit back, grab something to eat or drink and spend a couple of hours laughing at the great works that are the legacy of Flouzemaker.
Thanks, TD, for that article.
Maybe a series?
