Imperialism Mod: Announcement and Question

Screenshots posted, details in second post.

Screenshots:
Hopefully this will show that I'm not sleeping on this. Progress is being made, I am mostly cleaning up txtinfos and pedias and stuff, balancing yields and bonuses, and then finally i'm going to balance the maps for the three different time periods.

A note on the models: All of them are downloaded from here at civfanatics with some minor skinning done by me, I will credit the respective creators as soon as I finish the mod, if you see one of your models here, know that I'm appreciative.


still working on the title screen hehe..

You can see the different improvements here, a sheep ranch or livestock ranch with a factory building on it is a lvl 3 ranch, also different winery improvements, orchards, a cotton plantation, mines, and lumbermills are visible. All of these buildings (except mines and oil wells) are built by terrain specifications and do not require bonuses.

foreign advisor

These are all the resources, some are benchmark resources (e.g. level 1, 2, etc.), some are manufactured, and some are raw materials.

Column 1: Skirmisher, Sharpshooter, Ranger, Column 2: Regular, Rifleman, Infantry, Column 3: Grenadier, Heavy Rifleman, Machine Gunner, Column 4: Hussar, Scout, Armored Car, Column 5: Cuirassier, Carbineer, Armor.

Row 1: Frigate, Paddlewheeler, Armored Cruiser, Row 2: Ship of the Line, Ironclad, Advanced Ironclad, Battleship, Dreadnaught

this is a civilopedia showing the types of buildings you can build. the most important buildings will take resources and convert them into benchmarks, and then use the benchmarks to grant your city some kind of bonus, such as production or wealth.

Another civilopedia example. I excluded the models because they haven't all been sorted out yet.




Although I've completed a lot of the mod, I'm still open to suggestions/ideas, feel free to post anything.

Background on the mod:


I realize this may not be possible, but if you have some ideas read this:

The 19th century is often considered one of the most peaceful, in terms of great power warfare, centuries in European history. However it is also one of the most exciting periods in terms of diplomacy and the creation of modern nation-states. Playing as a Great Power, your goals will be to develop an industrial infrastructure, by building railroads, markets for manufactured resources, and securing territory and resources for other powers or minor nations. The mod will have three scenarios based on three different crucial time periods, with more specific goals for each power.

Distinctions between great powers and minor nations:
Great powers will start each scenario with an industrial infrastructure. Meaning, they will be able to convert resources into manufactured resources from the beginning. This is crucial because manufactured resources are important for increasing the population of cities, building armies, building wealth, and increasing production. They will also begin with superior armies. Some great powers, such as Austria and the Ottoman Empire, will begin with european vassals. Each great power will have a unique character that will greatly effect the way you play.

Unlike normal civ4, this mod will introduce a production system based on population... not terrain yields. Working the land will only yield food to support cities. Thus, it is important to build large cities, that can support many specialists, which will provide production hammers.

Each specialist will provide a different amount of hammers.
New Specialists:
Unskilled worker - Slots for this specialist are opened up by building teamster offices, factories (such as textile mills and lumber mills), and construction offices
Skilled worker - Slots for this specialist are opened up by building manufacturing plants, such as furniture factories and clothing factories.
Highly Skilled worker - Slots for this specialist are opened up by building universities and consulates.

Your cities will need some workers, to build pretty much anything. Food yields have been increased from terrain to support larger cities, however, to have truly large cities you will need a large mix of resources to produce canned goods, which grant a food production bonus to cities.

To gain wealth, you must have markets in your cities for goods. You will also need a mix of manufactured goods to sell.

Resources:

coal, iron, wood, wool, cotton, cattle, fruit, fish, grain, oil (after certain tech)

intermediary goods:
lumber (benefits production in cities)
steel (benefits production in cities)
textiles (benefits wealth in cities)

manufactured goods:
tools, furniture, clothing (benefits wealth and happiness)
canned food (benefits food and health)
petrol (after certain tech, benefits production, required for more advanced military units)

Improvements:
Technologies will yield better versions of improvements, allowing for a greater extraction of resources.

This mod uses gordonthewhales improvements modcomp.

Thus, mines will progress from producing 1 coal/iron, to 2, to 3. Same all other improvements.

Only coal, iron, wood, and oil are found on the terrain. Cattle raches, orchards, farms, and plantations all produce resources as long as they are built on the correct terrain. Thus even with small territory an empire can provide a good balance of resources for the food industry.

Towns in this mod:
Building cottages into towns will cost food from the local city. However, when a cottage matures into a town, it has a random chance of producing a manufactured resource such as tools or furniture, thus it is well worth slowing growth in a major city, especially if resources are limited.

Military:
Building professional militaries will require steel, navies will require lumber, and later steel and petrol. Minor nations without an industrial infrastructure will only be able to raise militias. Although, some minor nations will have more options.

There are 31 nations.
Great Powers (these will be playable by default):

United Kingdom
French Empire
Prussian Empire
Austrian Empire
Russian Empire
Ottoman Empire
Sardinia (this is a stretch for the 1815 scenario)

Minor Nations:
The rest are minor nations that will be playable by altering the WBS, however not recommended. Examples: Various states from the German confederation i.e. Hesse, Wurttemburg, Bavaria, Hesse. Hungary. Balkan nations such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania. Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands.

There will be three different scenarios, each with different starting conditions for all of the nations, as well as different choices of nations, based on history:

1815 - This will be the most basic start, meaning you will have to do a lot of infrastructure building. The first 20 years will focus mostly on creating good relationships with minor nations for resources, and building up industry.

1848 - More developed start, more great power conflict. At the start of the scenario some great powers will be at war with their vassals i.e. Austria and Hungary.

1882 - A more military based scenario, with a lot of great power conflict.

All scenarios will end in 1915.
Victory is attained through Domination, Conquest, Diplomatic Victory, and more likely, Score.
1 turn is 1 season. Thus playing from 1815 to 1915 will be 400 turns.


Mod Completion Status:
Unit Graphics: Completed
Resource Graphics: Completed
SDK changes: Near Completion
Python changes: Near Completion
XML/ number work for bonuses and outputs: In progress
Building Graphics: In Progress
Map: Completed basic template, to be adjusted for each scenario.



If you would like to join the team, PM me.
I am particularly looking for artists (although most graphics are done, I could always use more to enhance the immersiveness of the mod).
XML/Python/SDK coders, I need help with the massive amounts of XML changes I'm making, debugging etc. Also, python and sdk assistance would be nice in the form of figuring out SDK changes that could improve the basic model the idea for this mod is built on.

This sounds really interesting. :b:

I never played the original "Imperialism", but I do have "Imperialism 2" (which I 've always thought was a very inovative game and can be described as a more 'Civilized' version of "Colonization"). In fact I've been playing around with the idea of doing a mod which would try to combine the most interesting features of the two games.

Looking forward to seeing what you've done

This sounds absolutely amazing. Simply too good to describe with words. Imperialism was one of the best games ever made.

Might we be able to get some screenies

This sounds really cool. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I echo Gunner, we want screenies!

Have you given any thought to making a random-map 'epic game' - I always felt that that was one of Imperialism's strong points, that it was a Civ-style game and not just a 'Victorian Europe' simulator.

Everything sounds great though.

woodelf said:

I echo Gunner, we want screenies!

Click to expand...

I have to polish some things (like the plotLS). I've been adding buildings to the improvements so it's easier to distinguish a lvl 2 mine from a lvl 3 mine, etc. Once I get it looking better I'll post a screenie of the map and some other stuff.

Andrew_Jay said:

Have you given any thought to making a random-map 'epic game' - I always felt that that was one of Imperialism's strong points, that it was a Civ-style game and not just a 'Victorian Europe' simulator.

Everything sounds great though.

Click to expand...

This is the next step, I'm going to polish the three scenarios up first, and then I'm going to set up the random map feature. At the moment, a random map will look weird, because the resources are not properly set up for map placement.

Of course, the random map will still have the victorian era civs unlike in imperialism.

ok added some screenies

Thanks for the pics. This is looking terrific.

I don't see French empire or is it minor ?

Looks fun. Can't wait to try it! I personally love the era, and wish I was born then sometimes instead of now...

Sounds like a great mod idea. SSI's Imperialism was an interesting game.

You might also take some inspiration from the El Justo's Age of Imperialism mod for Civ3, though the start is a bit later than yours.

I don't see French empire or is it minor ?

Click to expand...

whoops, left them out on the list, France is in, definitely not a minor

Yea, this definitely looks good.

Might I suggest adding some flavor to the Balkans and including a non-Slav nation, ie Albania?

This looks like a mod worth playing. I think I may end up playing one of the minor nations just for the heck of it. Is the release date in your signature still right? Thnx.

lamppost4 said:

Is the release date in your signature still right? Thnx.

Click to expand...

We'll know tomorrow.

Yea, this definitely looks good.

Might I suggest adding some flavor to the Balkans and including a non-Slav nation, ie Albania?

Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Albania gained independence until after the time frame of the mod, but I can still add them for some more flavor; I'll look into it.

This looks like a mod worth playing. I think I may end up playing one of the minor nations just for the heck of it. Is the release date in your signature still right? Thnx.

Click to expand...

I just moved to a new place, so I pushed the tentative release back another week, I may finish sooner.

Albanian independence wasn't declared until 1911, and the country of Albania was not officially independent until 1912. But during the 19th century there were a series of many rebellions aimed against the Ottoman Empire, Serbia, and Montenegro.

In 1878 the Congress of Berlin gave a significant portion of northern Albania to Montenegro and Serbia, after the Russians imposed on the Turks the Treaty of San Stefano in an attempt to give their Slavic Balkan allies access to prosperous seaports. The Battle of Ulqin took place in which Albanian resistance fighters mounted a defense to keep the seaport of Ulqin from going to Montenegro. The "Great Powers of Europe" ended up sending a naval blockade and the Turks themselves had to send numerous battalions to recapture the city and hand it over to Montenegro because they were faced with great pressure from Europe and Russia.

1881 and 1897 see large organized resistance efforts by the League of Prizren intended to defend Albanian land and interests from the Turks.

Near the beginning of the 20th century is when rebellion intensifies and finally culminates into the uprising of 1911, continuing into 1912 when Albanians recaptured cities such as Shkup (Skopje in Macedonia) from the Ottomans, as well as other Albanian cities under Ottoman occupation, prompting the Balkans Slavs to begin a land-grab in the First Balkan War.

While they may not have been an independent nation at the start of your mod's timeframe, they were an independence-minded people under Ottoman captivity that gave the Turks a lot of trouble in that neck of the woods. And during that time Europe was asking itself "the Albanian question," which was what they should do with the Albanians.

I have more information on the situation, as well as battles and maps, if you're interested in adding the Albanians as a minor civilization. Consult with me with whatever questions you have regarding them and I'll do my best to help you out, as well as provide documentary evidence.

Perhaps adding Albania as a really angry vassal to the Ottoman Empire would be the best way to approach this issue?