Davane's Daily Mod Release Thread

Thanks!

Regarding Catapults, I am referring to the damage cap for collateral damage that has been present since Vanilla. Units that cause collateral damage attacked in combat normally, dealing up to 100% damage (which was the combat limit that was later reduced in BtS for catapults). In addition, it dealt additional damage to a number of additional units (up to 6 units for Catapults, for example). It is the limit for this additional collateral damage that has been removed (or more accurately, increased to 100%). Previously this additional damage was capped to prevent collateral damage from killing units (such as 50% for the catapult). Collateral damage is determined independantly of the actual combat results between the catapult and the defending unit, and applies whether the catapult wins or loses, as long as their are additional units to be affected by the collateral damage.

What my mod has done to catapults has increased (removed) the limit on collateral damage, so that it can kill units affected by collateral damage if their combat strength is low enough before collateral damage is applied. I have also reduced the amount of units affected by collateral damage from 6 to 3, all of which are in addition to the defending unit of the stack. The actual mechanics for determining collateral damage themselves have remain unchanged. Thus, the catapult can actually kill up to four units per turn. However, bear in mind that just as the strongest unit is chosen as the defender, the next three strongest units are chosen to recieve collateral damage, so unless the stack consists of only weak units or units weakened by combat, collateral damage is not likely to kill these units on their own. Of course, multiple catapults causing collateral damage to the same stack could easily wipe out that stack completely. This forces players to either consolidate their forces into larger stacks so more catapults are required to wipe them out, or to spread their forces out so they are unaffected by collateral damage - simply using a single archer or spearman to defend a stack of attacking units has reduced effect defensively. This tactic is often used to defend cities and to defend Siege units - and the Catapult and other Siege units were designed to counter this strategy.

The Maceman (Released 21/01/10)

Up until the advent of gunpowder rendered armor obsolete, improvements in the technology of weapons and armor deveolpment resulted in the creation of the Maceman. Macemen wielded large, heavy weapons with strong spiked heads, designed to penetrate the increasingly thicker armor of their melee-weapon-wielding foes. Even if the spikes failed to penetrate, the sheer mass of the mass threatened to crush bones and armor alike, or failing that knock heavily armored foes off-balance, leaving them open to deadly follow-up attacks.

There's not many changes needed for the Maceman. This unit keeps it's Combat Strength of 8 and it's +50% combat bonus against Melee units. The main changes are the removal of the unit's resource requirements, and the addition of the Musketman as one of the unit's upgrade options.

The Pikeman (Released 22/01/10)

Just as military advancement demanded a new unit to counter attacking melee opponents in the medieval era, there was also demand for a new unit to tackle the growing use of mounted units on the battlefield. The Pikeman evolved from the Spearman to take up this role, and was a formidable defense against Mounted Units, even after the advent of gunpowder.

The Pikeman has a Combat Strength of 8 and gains a +50% bonus against Mounted Units (giving them an effective combat strength of 12). This increase brings them in line with Macemen, and gives more reason behind that units +50% bonus against Melee Units, as defensive bonuses could easily sway the combat in favour of the Pikeman without it. In addition to these changes, Pikemen also upgrade to Musketmen, just like the Maceman.

The Longbowman (Released 23/01/10)

As warfare improved, the demands on increasing the strength and range of archers became important. This was acheived through the evolution of the longbow - a bow almost as tall as a man that could propel arrows much further than had previously been possible. These advantages allowed the longbow to continue to be important after the advent of gunpowder up until the rifle was invented, increasing the range of firearms to a comparable distance, rendering the longbow obsolete once and for all.

The Longbowman is simply an upgraded Archer - it serves the same role on the battlefield, and recieves the same defensive bonuses: +50% City Defence and +25% Hills Defence. The improved range of the Longbowman allows it an increased Withdrawal chance of 20% (compared to the Archer's 10%). It has a Combat Strength of 6 (compared to the Archer's CS of 3). It retains the Archer's 1 First Strike ability.

Bien, comme toujours dans ce mod
Nice, like always in this mod

Thanks for the positive feedback, Lachlan. Without further ado, I present...

The Crossbowman (Released 24/01/10)

Advancements in bow technology not only focused on increasing the range and accuracy of archers, but also in increasing their power, speed, and simplicity. A major breakthrough came as a result of the development of machinery. By using a simple mechanism to draw and fire a bow laid crosswise atop a hand-held platform, achers were able to fire a an arrow with greater speed and power than before, and requiring minimal training. The mechanisms invented in the creation of the crossbow would go on to form the fundamental basics of firearms with the discovery of gunpowder.

The Crossbowman has a Combat Strength of 8. They no longer recieve a bonus against melee-units, but retain thair first strike ability, and gain a 10% Withdrawal chance (like the earlier archers). While Longbowmen are more suited to City Defense, Crossbowmen are more suited towards attack, thanks to their higher Combat Strength. Since they are archery units, not melee units, they fight on mostly equal terms with Macemen and Pikemen, although their First Strike can shift the combat in their favour, and if not, their Withdrawal Chance might just save them. These are best used to soften up enemies before commiting melee attackers to the fray.

I have added archives with the Units so far sorted out into Era and by Unit Type, so if you want to use the mods for all the Melee units, or use the mods for all the Ancient Era Units, you can now download all of these at once in a single archive, rather than have to download each of these units individually. Now, on to today's daily mod...

The Knight (Released 25/01/10)

The Knight is the iconic unit of the Medieval Era. With an increase in the use of Archery and Siege units on the battlefield, particularly in the taking of cities and other defensive positions, a fast striking unit was needed to counter these forces. Knights are heavily armored shock troops on powerful warhorses, who used lances to punch through through melee and ranged opponents alike, serving to break up many of the common defensive formations used in war.

The Knight has a Combat Strength of 8, but gains a 20% chance of Withdrawal, a +25% bonus against Archery Units, and a +50% bonus against Siege Units. The Knight no longer ignores First Strikes, but the bonuses will serve to allow the Knight to tip the odds in their favour despite this fact.

The Caravel (Released 26/01/10)

The medieval era saw early advances in sailing and navigation technologies that allowed early navals vessels to be constracted that were capable of braving the open oceans. This led to the discovery of new continents that would drive technological advances though the renaissance and the so-called "Age of Sail".

The Caravel has a Combat Strength of 6. It can explore rival territory, and carry one special unit. In addition, it gains a 20% Withdrawal chance when attacking due to it's speed and mobility. The Caravel can be upgraded to Frigates and Submarines (in BTS, they can be upgraded to Attack Submarines and Privateers).

The Musketman (Released 27/01/10)

Warfare in the Renaissance Era was dramatically changed forever by a single technology - the creation of Gunpowder. This explosive was able to fire projectiles with much more power than a crossbow, with a greater range and accuracy then a longbow, and with a greater rate of fire than both. It rendered archery units and melee units alike obsolete. Gunpowder was adapted to use in many different areas of warfare, from Siege units like Cannons to becoming the primary weapon aboard Galleons and Frigates giving birth to the 'Age of Sail' and the era of colonialism the ensued. But while the changes brought about by Gunpowder were fast, they did not happen overnight, and early gunpowder units were short-ranged and unreliable at best.

Just as the Axeman, Spearman, and Archer are essentially Warriors with new weaponry, the Musketman is best defined as a Crossbowman with a gunpowder-based weapon. As such, the Musketman has all the traits of a Crossbowman - a Combat Strength of 8, 1 First Strike, and a 10% chance of Withdrawal. The Musketman no longer ingores the defensive bonus of Walls and Castles. The main advantage of the Musketman is that it has no real counter; it serves in the same way as a Crossbowman would, but without the drawbacks and counters that being a Archer unit would suffer from. They upgrade to Riflemen and Grenadiers.

davane said:

The Musketman (Released 27/01/10)

The Musketman no longer ingores the defensive bonus of Walls and Castles.

Click to expand...

You didn't elaborate on this so I've gotta ask, what are your plans regarding the defensive bonus of walls & castles? I assume you'll make them obsolete soon, otherwise you should think about increasing walls build cost.

Walls and Castles do not obsolete (at least in vanilla, Castles lose their economic bonuses in Warlords and Beyond the sword) - rather modern units simply start ignoring the defense bonus provided by buildings. This, however, seems to be highly unrealistic - even the most powerful modern personal firearms would have difficulty penetrating the kind of solid stone Walls and Castles used in the Classical and Medieval periods. Additionally, Walls and Castles had as much trouble with Catapults (and Trebuchets) as they did with Cannons, Artillery, and Missiles - and these are represented by the range of abilities that Siege units already have, such as reducing city defensive bonuses, city attack bonuses, and causing collateral damage. As such, it seems moot to allow units to bypass building defenses "just because". That said, it does allow for special "assassin"-type units that can ignore builidng defenses as they slip inside city walsl before attacking... I'll let you ponder the significance of that for a while...

The Rifleman (Released 29/01/10)

As the Renaissance era advanced, technological advancements helped to refine the basic firearm principle and establish gunpowder units as the military force of the future. One prime technology came in the form of rifling, which helped give newer rifles increased accuracy, range, and firing rate.

The Rifleman is an improved Musketman in essence, with a higher Combat Strength of 12, and a greater withdrawal chance of 20%. Like the Musketman, it is still affected by the defensive bonus of Walls and Castles. It has 1 First Strike, but also gains the chance to make a second First Strike thanks to the rifle's higher rate of fire. Riflemen upgrade to Infantry units.

The Grenadier (Released 30/01/10)

Along with firearms such as muskets and rifles and, later on, artillery pieces like cannons, gunpowder itself could be used as a weapon. By compacting a large amount of gunpowder in a case and feeding in a fuse, powerful bombs were created which could be lit and thrown, causing widespread damage to multiple targets within a small area. Troops trained in these weapons became known as the grenadiers, a moniker which remains in use in modern military forces, despite the eventual obsoletion of grenadiers thanks to automatic weaponry.

The Grenadier has a Combat Strength of 10, and has 1 First Strike. However, they also have a 30% Withdrawal rate, and cause Collateral damage to up to 2 additional units when attacking. Grenadiers do not ignore city defenses, and no longer get a bonus against Riflemen. Despite this, they still make great strike troops for dealing with stacks of Musketmen and Riflemen, and their ability to use the defensive bonus of terrain allows them to become superb hit and run attackers. Grenadiers upgrade to Infantry.

Update (03/03/10): Grenadiers can now be upgraded directly to Anti-Tank Infantry (BtS only).

The Cavalry (Released 30/01/10)

The advent of gunpowder on the battlefield rendered melee weapons obsolete, along with the units that wielded them. In addition, firearms adapted the technology of the crossbow as a basis for it's firing platform, which was much more compact, and thus easier to use on horseback compared to the previous bow technology. With increased accuracy thanks to the development of rifles, the Knight was out, instead replaced with Cavalry-mounted riflemen.

Cavalry have a Combat Strength of 12. Like the Rifleman, they have 1-2 First Strikes thanks to the range and accuracy of their weapon. They also have a 40% Withdrawal rate, thanks to their mounts. Like Riflemen, Cavalry doesn't ignore defense bonuses from Walls and Castles, but unlike them, Cavalry also do not get any defensive bonuses for terrain, just like other mounted units. Cavalry no longer recieve a bonus against Cannons. Finally, Cavalry upgrade to both Tanks and Gunships. Cavalry requires Horseback Riding and Rifling in all three versions now (they only required Horseback Riding and Gunpowder in Vanilla and Warlords).

Update (30/03/10): Cavalry require Military Science in BtS, in addition to Military Tradition, Horseback Riding, and Rifling (note that I forgot to mention that Cavalry require Military Tradition in the above post - I accidently assumed that this was already a given).

The Galleon (Released 31/01/10)

The Renaissance era is also known as the Ageof Sail, when civilizations around the world started developing large-scale naval vessals capable of transporting people and goods around the globe, following the routes to new lands discovered by Caravels in the bast. The Galleon was the most common transport vessal of this time, and while unremarkable in combat, it's ability to carry goods and passengers, including land-based armies, across the ocean was second to none during this period.

The Galleon has a Combat Strength of 8, a Move of 4, and can carry 3 Land Units. It can enter ocean tiles. The Galleon isn't all that remarkable, but does set the baseline for other naval vessals of the period, including the Frigate.

It's been a month, and I have covered just over half the units in the Vanilla version of the game. I am finding this rate too slow, so as of this month, I will be releasing additional mods besides the units. The next obvious area to tackle is buildings. However, before this, I would like to present you with a mod that changes the yields of city plots.

In Civ IV Vanilla, you will find an XML file called YieldInfos, which defines the three basic yields in the game - Food, Production, and Commerce. This file includes entries for changes to these three yields for things like lakes and hills. It also includes an entry defining the minimum yield of a city plot. I have modified this value for Production and Commerce, so that the minimum yield for a city plot is 2, just as it is for Food.

A minimum Production yield of 2 is basically giving all cities +1 Production, or making the city act like they are all on Plains Hills for Production purposes. This is a quick fix that means cities build faster regardless of where it is sited, so that it can build it's first initial units and structures quicker. This amounts to almost halving the production cost for all units, buildings, and projects, while ensuring that each city will produce a minimum of 1 Wealth, Research, or Culture when assigned one of these processes (which convert 50% Production to the relevent commerce).

Meanwhile, a minimum Commerce yield of 2 means that cities produce +1 Commerce in most cases. This is a slight boost, that mean a slightly increased Research rate, extra Wealth, or additional Culture as your Commerce sliders dictate. However, even more importantly, in giving cities a minimum of 2 Commerce, the Financial trait's benefits can be applied to City plots regardless. This means that Financial leaders actually have a minimum of 3 Commerce from their City.

Both of these modifications have been included in the relevent Mod for testing. Alternatively, you can download the YieldInfos mod, which contains the Yield Infos for Production and Commerce as seperate files. You can simply replace the relevent sections of the YieldInfos file (create a seperate mod for this - never directly modify your core game files). This file remains unchanged since Vanilla, and therefore these revisions work regardless of version or expansion. For Warlords and Beyond the Sword, you may need to copy the YieldInfos file from the core game before applying the changes in this file.

In addition to that change, we have...

The Frigate (Relesed 01/02/10)

As naval warfare become more pronounced during the Renaissance era (or Age of Sail, as it wis also known), gunpowder technology was quickly adapted for naval use. Until this time, Naval vessels relied on cloasing with their enemy and either ramming the hull to sink the ship, or for the crew to board the vessal to fight directly with the opposing crew. With gunpowder armaments, vessals now had a ranged weapon that could penetrate the wooden hulls of the opposite vessel and break their masts, rendering enemies immobile or sinking them, without risking damage to themselves.

Frigates have a Combat Strength of 10. They gain 1 First Strike and can bombard enemy defenses at a rate of 10% per turn. This makes them capable military vessals. Frigates upgrade to Destroyers or Battleships.

Update (09/02/10): Frigates get a +10% Withdrawal rate along with their First Strike (missed this obvious one, too!)
Update (10/02/10): Frigates can now upgrade to Ships of the Line (BtS only).
Update (01/03/10): Increased Frigate Bombard rates from 8% to 10%.

The Infantry (Released 02/02/10)
The Industrial era marked a massive change in all aspects of humanity, but condensed into a much smaller time frame. Massive changes to cities followed the development of steam power and industrialisation, as the majority of the human workforce switched to heavy industry and manufacturing. This resulted in significant advances in warfare, as new manufacturing processes resulted in better and more refined military hardware.

The Infantry unit has a Combat Strength of 16 and 2 First Strikes. They also have a 20% Withdrawal chance. They upgrade to Marines, SAM Infantry, and Mechanized Infantry (as well as Anti-Tank Infantry with BTS).

Update (10/02/10): Infantry can now upgrade to Paratroopers (BtS only).

The Palace (Released 02/02/10)
Palaces are centres fof government, and were originally places of residence for leaders. Many early civilizations started out as city-states, and Palaces served as the heart of the city. As such civilizations expanded, the Palace also expanded to cater to managing the growing civilization. However, this primitive style of self-governance of city-states would become replaced with empires of dynastic rule, neccessitating the construction of a centralised government centre in the capital of the nation.

The Palace defines a city as the national capital, and is built for free in the player's first founded city. However, the Palace cannot not be built in another city until the Monarchy technology is researched. The Palace provides +1 happiness, +4 commerce, +2 wealth, +2 research, and +2 culture (and +2 espionage with BTS), so that starting civilizations start generating wealth and research immediately regardless of where the commerce slider is set. This helps to establish early treasuries and keeps a constant rate of advancement even during a financial crisis. In addition, the Palace provides +1 Trade Route, so initial capitals have 2 Trade Routes to start with.

Finally, the Palace reduces Maintainance by 50%. Most buildings will require maintainance, in the form of a maintainance modifier, with normal buildings typically increasing city maintainance by +5%, national wonders typically increasing city maintainance by +10%, and world wonders typically increasing city maintainance by +20%. I am looking to use this as a balance for building limits in a city rather than arbitrary limits - so, for example, you can have more than two national wonders built in a single city. This makes buildings that reduce city maintainance more important, as it effectively dictates how many buildings you can have in a city before the city becomes economically unsustainable. This also encourages city specialization as the previous arbitrary limit does. Cities still have a flat maintainance cost according to the number of cities you control, their distance from a government centre, population, and other normal maintainance costs. Thus, you could have many cities with few buildings, or a few cities with many buildings, and still pay the same maintainance cost, balancing both civilization development styles. Thus, with this in mind, the Palace actually allows the capital to build 10 buildings, 5 national wonders, or 2 world wonders (or a combination thereof) before city maintainance issues become normal.

My god, really rebuilt Civ 4 BTS

Just redownloaded complete mod, nice for the Palace

I would like to help you in the choice between BUG 4.2 or BAT 2.1 or Mac BAT 2.2 : you should take BUG 4.2 because compatibility both PC/MAC, really light and permit perfectworld2.py to function well

Next time i will play Munch Earth 18 Civs with your mod

Thanks for the feedback, Lachlan. As I previously stated, I am looking to incorporating the best from official and fan-made mods in this project, and this will include a version which works with/incorporates BUG, amongst others. I am currently getting to grips with XML, which while easy for minor modding projects such as these daily mods, requires some experience with how the files are laid out, and what XML tags do what, particularly the differences between the core game and the expansions. However, this has inspired me greatly, as seeing how things work for one part can easily be applied to something something else, and it's surprising just how much you can get out of CiV IV Modding just by editing the XML files alone. However, it may be some time before I actually brave any python or SDK modding...

Anyhow, on to today's Davane's Daily Mod(s)...

The Marine (Released 03/02/10)

Increased naval warfare resulted in the need to create a fighting force capable of fighting while on board naval vessels. Originally, these were created primarily for defense, to help repel enemies attempting to board the vessel, but later these forces became capable of assaulting and boarding enemy vessels themselves. This use of Marines waned with the advent of gunpowder, which enabled ships to fire on each other without getting into boarding range. Rather than become completely obsolete, however, Marines were redeployed thoughout the military to carry out amphibious assaults and landings. They became crack troops, tasked to secure beachheads for friendly troops during invasions. They often supplemented theie basic Marine training with demolitions expertise and guerilla warfare tactics to allow them to take out fortified positions and enemy siege units.

Marines have a Combat Strength of 16 and 2 First Strikes, just like normal Infantry. However, they start with the Amphibious promotion and gain a +25% bonus against Siege units. They also have a 30% Withdrawal chance. They upgrade to SAM Infantry and Mechanized Infantry. This makes them elite troops, good for leading any amphibious assault or for taking out any Machine Gun or Artillery units in your way.

Update (10/02/10): Marines can now upgrade to Paratroopers (BtS only).

The Forbidden Palace (Released 03/02/10)

The Forbidden Palace national wonder is available with Code of Laws, and is essentially a smaller, secondary Palace for your civilization. It provides +1 happiness, +2 Commerce, +2 Wealth, +2 Research, and +2 Culture (and +2 Espionage with BTS). The Forbidden Palace provides the city with +1 Trade Route, and reduces Maintainance by -50%. Cities with the Forbidden Palace generate +1 GPP per turn, and generates Great Merchants (or Great Spies with BTS).

Update (18/02/10): The Forbidden Palace now only provides +1 Wealth and +1 Research. Everything else remains unchanged. Oh, and if you are using the Davane Mods, the Buildings Screen has been updated to make the Forbidden Palace entry (and others) look a bit neater...

I play on Regent and the game is more hard than normal BTS game...

I'm the last civ in score, i fall behind early in score and wars are more difficult.

Is there possibility in xml (or at least in python) to enabling possibility to human for become a vassal of an AI ? No custom .dll if possible