[Development Thread]WW1 Mod: Blood and Iron

Chamaedrys said:

The Tsar tank looks cool but it never entered the battle field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_tank

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dutchking said:

He's just mentioning that it never showed up, I don't think he's telling Snauf to exclude it all together.

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Wolfshanze said:

Well I think that is rather commonly known... I mean who could forget something like the Tsar Tank if it did show-up in combat!

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I thought Civ was about making your own history... not duplicating it to the letter. Let the people deploy their Tsar Tanks if they want to!

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Stick a bayonet in the spokes and it's all over.

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Chamaedrys said:

Well, the Russians are free to build as many Tsar tanks as they want to. But the original unit had a lot of handicaps: It's huge size make it an easy target, it cant move over difficult terrain... Somehow this disadvantages should show up in the game.
Maybe unable to enter forest and hill tills and -25% defense against artillery?

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Chamaedrys said:

Well, the Russians are free to build as many Tsar tanks as they want to. But the original unit had a lot of handicaps

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Ahhh... the Tsar Tank. I'm glad the discussion of how this will be used came up in the game, I'm ultimately
wondering how it will play out...

The main idea right now is for several units to be available only to certain civs. Each is it's own unit
class and completely unique. For example, Big Bertha (the large German siege cannon) will be a special piece
of artillery only Germany can build - it can't be traded to other civs and there is no other unit like it.
Some will be available through the tech tree like others, just only available to one civ and not in a standard
unit class (the Fokker Dr1 and RAF SE5a fit here).

The other end of the spectrum will be spawned through events - in the case of the Tsar Tank it works like
this:

Upon researching a certain tech, the Russian Tsar will receive a notice that one of his subjects has created a
new war machine capable of rolling over the enemy. If the Tsar approves production, a limited number (say, 3-
4) will be instantly available and the unit will be unlocked for further production. A short time later when
they try and research more advanced tanks, their research will be hampered by turning down the wrong path in
tank development. However, if they were to reject the Tsar Tank outright, only 1 would be produced (and
available for combat- not realistic, but more fun) while they would later receive a boost in technology for
better tank designs and learning from their mistakes.

Right now the following units are completely 'unique' for the given civs:
Big Bertha - German super-heavy artillery
Fokker Dr1 - German special fighter, available between intermediate and late-war fighters
SE5a - British special fighter, available between intermediate and late-war fighters
Tsar Tank - Russian early tank, available before other tanks, but very expensive and not very effective
PZK 2 - Austrian-Hungarian early helicopter, better than observation balloons in defence, but more expensive
Bicycle Troops - Belgian special infantry (they will be able to build and draft normal infantry) that has a
movement bonus on roads and only slightly more expensive than normal troops

As for complete, the Fokker, SE5a, Tsar Tank and PZK2 are 100% or nearly complete. The model for Big Bertha
is about 50% and the bicycle troops haven't been started.

The mod is almost in a new phase of development - at this point the core of the game is nearly done. Most of the
basics are there and working. I'm working on a basic map now to test the game play and combat system.
Specifically I'm focusing on the new trench system, the promotions, unit design trading and different
production rates. I'm making sure the AI understands the differences in the units and how they should
ultimately be used. There are no SDK or events now, I'm just making sure the game works. Fun stuff really,
it's definitely a good way to wind down the days here.

There's a lot of XML to balance, mostly how fast civs can discover techs and build buildings and units. However, the core is almost done. There's still a lot of graphics to create, but only a couple key ones before release. At this point the major hurtle is testing, graphics, and the always present and intimidating SDK/python.

-Smitty

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Snafusmith said:

Bicycle Troops - Belgian special infantry (they will be able to build and draft normal infantry) that has a movement bonus on roads and only slightly more expensive than normal troops

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snafusmith said:

Thanks for the info, but I already completed the skin for Austrai-Hungary a while back:

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asioasioasio said:

Top quality units! I'm glad that winter is just couple months away, every day brings mod closer to the playing phase

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Wolfshanze said:

I'll even bet Snafu's WWI Mod gets released before CD 2.1.

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snafusmith said:

Hi all, finally found a spot to get on Civfanatics...

It's been awhile since I've been around, but not since I've modded. Thanks to Asio, you all know the general state of things. Just wanted to take the chance to say hello and post some screen shots. After all, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't tease you guys!

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asioasioasio said:

Top quality units! I'm glad that winter is just couple months away, every day brings mod closer to the playing phase

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New message from Snafusmith

Progress on the mod continues! A couple milestones where set a while back that had to be met before release. Here's where we stand:

#1: All major powers have complete air forces (Early Recon, Late Recon, Early-Mid-Late Fighters, Medium Bomber, Late Bomber, Seaplane)

-Almost there! 1 Late recon aircraft is left (British RE8) and a handfull of Seaplanes. The rest are DONE!!! That's 32 out of 40 aircraft finished! Total count including unique skins is somewhere in the 80s, I can never get a good count.

#2: All major powers have complete armored units (Armored Car, Tank, Light Tank)

-DONE!!! I finished up the LKII light tank for Germany (and an exported version for Sweden) the other day. Germany, Britain and France are now 100%. On top of that Italy is nearly done (just need armored car), and Russian armor is coming along nicely.

#3: At least one ship from each naval class finished (Submarine, Torpedo-Boat, Destroyer, Cruiser, Dreadnought, Carrier, Seaplane Carrier, Minetender, Transport)

-Everything is done except for the cruiser class and minetender. I finished up the Austrian-Hungarian SMS Elster the other day, completing the requirement for the Torpedo-Boat. The naval mines are also done and in the game (they work well, but I don't know if the AI understands them). I also did a quick seaplane tender, so the seas are starting to look good.

#4: At least one unit for each land class is finished (Field Gun, Heavy Artillery, Railway Gun, Field Hospital)

-Here everything coming along well - the field artillery class is represented by the French 75 and German 7.7cm, heavy artillery has the French 155mm. The railway gun class is modeled (after the French 320mm) and half skinned. I'm working to make the artillery towed too - for the French the 75mm FG towed by the Panhard artillery tractor, which is also done. The animations are coming along well, but here's still a lot of work to do. I'm working a true multi-figure unit (similar to those in civ3) where the truck, field gun, and infantrymen are all apart of the same unit. So far so good, it just takes time.

The artillery tractor/truck for each nation will also have a medic version - the final unit for the field hospital will look similar to the camp unit - while moving it'll be a truck, when fortified a series of tents.

That's only units too - a lot of XML is done, and I started on the map the other day. Right now it's going slow, mostly due to my lack of a good internet connection, time and maps of Europe.

I had hoped to get it done before I returned home, but it doesn't look like that's possible. Probably sometime Jan-Feb 09 at this point. Still, not bad considering I'm working on it in a war zone.

-Smitty

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#3: At least one ship from each naval class finished (Submarine, Torpedo-Boat, Destroyer, Cruiser, Dreadnought, Carrier, Seaplane Carrier, Minetender, Transport)

-Everything is done except for the cruiser class and minetender. I finished up the Austrian-Hungarian SMS Elster the other day, completing the requirement for the Torpedo-Boat. The naval mines are also done and in the game (they work well, but I don't know if the AI understands them). I also did a quick seaplane tender, so the seas are starting to look good.

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