Best Mod or Alterations to speed up/enhance Civ4 BTS game with Huge map?

Hi All,

I am about to start planning a PBEM game with no AI players on a Huge map using Civ4 BTS.

The problem I have is that when using vanilla Civ4 BTS on a huge map, contact is too infrequent between players until the latter stages due to the size of the map. However, a huge map increases the strategy element of the game because it ultimately changes the scale of the game. Therefore imo, if the huge map game could be sped up or enhanced then the game should be fantastic!

Does anyone know of a mod that keeps the basic elements of Civ4 BTS (same wonders, same terrain, same units etc) but tweaks the attributes of the game (unit movement, city cost, maintenance etc.?) to allow a game on a huge map to flow as smoothly as a game on a standard/large map?

If no Mod exists, does anyone know of what attributes should be tweaked?

Thanks in advance,

Jid

Welcome to the forums mighty_jid.

I don't know if it's available in MP 'cause I don't play MP, but in SP games there's an "advanced start" option that gives you a lump sum of gold and then allows you to use that gold to purchase certain buildings, units, and even techs and tile improvements IIRC. That might be what you're after as it could allow you to have a few more fast-moving units (Scouts or Chariots, say) that could explore and encounter the other players sooner.

You could also use a mapscript, that will mkae it more likely - Terra for example will put everyone on the same landmass, leaving a second continent for later colonization.

Hi All,

Thanks for the responses.

Supr49er - Thanks!

Refar - you're right. We could use a Terra mapscript to effectively set-up a new/old world situation which would result in more early contact followed by a second expansion/colonisation race. However, we prefer to use a different more random map such as the perfect world script.

Sisiutil - yes, we'd use Advanced Start just to get the game going and a few cities founded. However, we'd be very careful because we wouldn't want to completely remove the ancient era or remove the value of choosing one of the civs whose specials only really apply to the early era.

What I was looking for was the things to change in Civ4 BTS to make the game flow more smoothly on a larger map. So, obviously, doubling (or maybe even trebling) the movement points of units would be a good start.

I imagine that the main differences with a bigger map vs smaller map are that there will need to be more cities and more units. What would need to change to support more units and more cities while not impacting any of the other areas of the game? Would it just be the number of cities allowed for each government type? Maintenance costs?

All in all, I'm not sure and would appreciate any input on this.

Thanks,

Jid

mighty_jid said:

What I was looking for was the things to change in Civ4 BTS to make the game flow more smoothly on a larger map. So, obviously, doubling (or maybe even trebling) the movement points of units would be a good start.

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That should be relatively easy--all you'd have to do is modify the XML for a unit like Scouts. Maybe give them an additional movement point--say the free Mobility promotion that the Zulu Impis get. This would allow you to explore faster and meet other civs earlier while still enjoying some of the initial isolation that a larger map gives you. It's also more likely that more Scouts would survive longer, since they have that additional movement point to move away from threats. And since Scouts can't ever attack, you're not giving anyone a huge tactical advantage.

Try asking about how to do this in the customization forum. I think it should be relatively straightforward.