Mod CivPrimitive: a mod suggestion starting ideas

Hello

I have had an idea of mod watching a TV documentary.

Here are some points that can describe it:

* Progressive technologies: one does not discover the Bronze Working all of a sudden, but progressively, one starts to make primitive weapons and of low efficiency.

* Some new weapons are less efficient than the older ones, for example the first bronze weapons are less efficient than the (last) flint ones.

* More ressources, for example the Flint. So if we don't have flint one will make use of the new technology of bronze that will be more efficient than the simple wood or bone.

* Creation of a unit with a population point.

* Fragile weapons: in case of victory, a unit could lost its weapons, those last being broken in the battle. The unit would then disappear and a point of population would be added in the nearest city.

* Drying up ressources: worked land squares would represent not agriculture but hunting, at first. So, those squares ressources would decrease when they would be worked. They would increase in the same time so that when they wouldn't be worked anymore they would increase. So would go with agriculture but in a smallest scale.

* The major part of land squares would have an animal ressource that would be visible, and would increase and descrease with time.

* A same ressource could not be present on two different continents.

* At first, no money, only barter.

* Then after, no "centralization" at start, each one to his task and no tax.

* At start, weak commerce. Then commerce explodes with money apparition (symbol: shell): one can get even the good of the worker that does not need our own product.

As said in the title of this topic, those are only starting ideas. Of course I have plenty other ideas but I believe those are good for starting and get accustomed with the idea.

Also, there are ideas that are not finalized and maybe I could get some help from people here if they show themselves interested.

Hmmm is there something wrong? 16 of you clicked on this and did not answer... Are there some precision that I could do? Either I sincerely hope this didn't steal too much of your time... You know, I need somebody to be interested with this either it will not go very far... as I don't know any programation language first, and as nobody could know the ideas people have if they don't tell them.

The forum is frequently slow. Nobody has responded to mine yet, either, for whatever its worth, but mine is even more of a wall of text, and with a few very silly questions. Thread in question

As to what you mentioned, I know very little of C-IV modding thus far, but I can offer opinions.
1. For a lot of those options (Flint, for example) you would probably want the game starting in 12,000 BC or much earlier, which is a bit far back for civilizations. If civ was more history-oriented rather than gameplay-oriented, most "civs" would probably start at 4000 BC on the second or third tier of techs in vanilla. Anyhow, I remember seeing a stone age mod that would probably splice well with those ideas in the modpacks forum. (just checked: is here)

2. Creation of units with population points: Drafting, and the "Build with food" tag that settlers and workers use (as well as civics, if modded). The civics I'm working on involve a new column for military, allowing drafting/build-all-units-with-food to come much earlier.

3. I like the idea of not having "money" at first, in the sense that I would like a game where commerce doesn't come in to play until antiquity (until then, all research/gold would be building and population based)

Edit: Almost forgot. The Ancient Mediterranean mod has a nice "metal promotion" system keyed in to forges, that gives upgrades based on the metals that a civ has access to, and the type of unit being built. If you were to divide units into "early" "middle" and "late" varieties in addition to other aspects of their type, you could give unique "metal promotion" bonuses depending on when they are built (by technology) as well as their type. That was a little confusing, but ah well.

This mod would require extensive XML, python, graphics editing, and possible some SDK work. Most likely your not going to find anyone to straight out make this mod for you. My suggestion would be to learn how to edit the xml files and start making your new techs, units, resourses, ect. It will be alot easyer to get help with specific parts of your mod then to get someone to code the whole thing.

Editing xml isn't that hard to learn, check out the tutorial forum, there are quite a few guides on editing the verious files. Good luck with your mod.

GRM7584, Thank you very much for your answer.

And thank you very much for your links, they are well appreciated and I will not miss to click on them and have a look to those mods!

1. No problem with the idea of the game starting at -12000. It could as well start at -100.000 it would not worry me. But that's true that I didn't thought at this question... anyway I don't see it as a priority question fir the moment.

2. Let's mind that I have had this idea only in order to represent a weapon possibility to break. I wanted also to detail the primitive weapons, and making some of them to break would add to the diversity of them. Diversity/realism. That's pretty the same idea than the progressive techs: I want the player to feel the things as if he were himself a primitive human. I want to make him feel to make himself a flint weapon, or to light a fire wit hwood sticks, or discovering new technolgies as if it were him that discovered them and not the game alone.

3. In fact, I have a better idea for research... hehehe... but it is pretty worked out and I don't know if this is the good place to say it -yet- as this could as well be a mod in itself alone. Maybe in the topic you showed me. Thanks again mate.

EDIT: Ok I checked the thread you linked, but I fear that the project to be kind of abandoned, for the moment at least.

Jeckel said:

This mod would require extensive XML, python, graphics editing, and possible some SDK work. Most likely your not going to find anyone to straight out make this mod for you. My suggestion would be to learn how to edit the xml files and start making your new techs, units, resourses, ect. It will be alot easyer to get help with specific parts of your mod then to get someone to code the whole thing.

Editing xml isn't that hard to learn, check out the tutorial forum, there are quite a few guides on editing the verious files. Good luck with your mod.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the support.

I just didn't expected someone to "make the mod for myself", but only expected to really interest some modders into it. This is a nuance I wanted to do.

I think the ideas are good. What sort of timespan would this mod encompass? Just the ancient era?

Thanks for your time The Great Apple.

Well I am not against any suggestion. The game could unfold into any age, the only thing I know is that I am fond of primitive ages and I could as well be satisfied of just an ancient era. Plus as a mod it would ask some work, I don't think it would be reasonable to think one can extend it to modern eras... unless just sticking it with normal Civ4 = One would have to see if such a mod would be self-sufficient, gameplay speaking.

Please tell me if I have been unclear, english is not my native language and some days I can be very bad at it.

But are you interested in doing such a mod The Great Apple? You seem to be busy enough already though...

Nope. I'm busy with all sorts of other stuff.

A friend is working on the FtF mod, Flint to Fusion,

his ideas are similar to the orginal posters, modified as much as the game mechanics will allow.

the 'flint era' as I understand the plan will be pretty much straight forward CIV with resources that go obsolete...ie, your hunting grounds you were talking about, though I don't know if it can be implemented the way you talked about, though I'd like to see it that way.

the ancient era's+ will be more about specialists and 'special units" (like the "Greats_blank") that will create the progressive infrastructure in cities...

I've played his flint era, got ate by a bear
played his fusion era, had 60+ pop cities with few "work citizens" mostly all specialists

what I played I liked, it wasn't anything ground breaking since he can't really do python or sdk well, but it's a good frame work so far. and it didn't crash so points for that.

Flint to Fusion seems way too much to me, as I want to detail only the primitive age. If I had to go with a normal Civ4 pace, I wouldn't add anything to modern eras, only let what is already in Civ4. I want only to detail the Stone, Bronze and Iron eras and modify the game in order to make it to fit more in those ages.

The Great Apple said:

Nope. I'm busy with all sorts of other stuff.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured that out.