Hey all, after some days of intensive modding, translating and testing, I can finally give you Extra version 2.9! In this "last" update, I mainly focussed on the Genghis Khan scenario and focussed on adding new wonders.
This is the last (scheduled) major update, so everything from now on will be
patches for 2.9 or optional versions (fusions with other mods etc.). After this, you won't have to download any big badass 60mb file again
. Before I do anything else, I'll keep this version online for a while so that people have the opportunity to report bugs (which I'll fix) and balance suggestions/issues (which I'll
try to fix too).
Download "Extra" version 2.9 here!
Changes in 2.9:
- Removed all custom events (you can now simply build up to three Papal Pikemen upon completing the Apostolic Palace yourself), to make this mod more compatible with Solver's New Events.
- Added the
Improved Formations technology from Peloponnesian War (Warlords). Moved the requirements for the Horseman and the Heavy Swordsman to this new tech, to push them a tiny bit further in the techtree.
- Added the a second kind of
Military Encampment, the classic one used in Peleponnesian War (Warlords). I renamed the other Military Encampment (the medieval one from Charlemagne's Wards (BtS)) to
Military Fortress. Now, here's what I did. The classic Military Encampment becomes available at the technology Improved Formations. It lets you build units 20% faster. The medieval Military Fortress becomes available at engineering, and lets you build units 30% faster, and gives melee units +1 extra exp. You need the Military Encampment to build the Military Fortress. HOWEVER, building the Military Fortress obsoletes the old Military Encampment
. I used the same method as with the Arcologies. Both the encampment and the fortress are obsolete with gunpowder, since that marks the start of a new era of warfare.
- I found out that there was a unfinished terrain improvement in Warlords, designed for the Peleponessian War mod - the
Olive Press. It had everything; from pedia/text strings to the artstyles (except for a proper button), but it wasn't put in the game. I finished the job and put the Olive Press in Extra, so you won't have to wait till plantations to make use of those fine olives!
- Added the
Desert Adaptation promotion from Genghis Khan (Warlords), buffed it a little to make it more useful (but it's still a weak promotion for most maps).
- The Genghis Khan mod (Warlords) had several "new" civilizations with their own unique flag and pedia entries. I'm talking about the Polish, the Hungarian and the Mamluks. I was really happy when I discovered this, as it opened up the possibility of adding new, "official" civs to the mod! So I thought about implementing Poland and Hungary and leave the Mamluks out (they don't meet my standards). I was a bit reluctant at first - I knew that it would not be possible to implement these civs completely without the use of 'external' resources. There have been more 'minor' civs in official Civ4 mods but the facts that these had very well designed flags + because I personally think they should have been in all along + because there were enough resources to 'finish them up' finally pulled me over the line.
However, the main problem I had was that neither of them had unique leaderhead graphics and neither of them had an UU or UB. So I had to improvise. I chose to "complete" Poland and Hungary by implementing some content from other mods (I'll give them proper credit in the main post tomorrow - don't worry); leaderhead meshes, UU's, UB's, the "Order" and "Select" voices and the diplomacy music. Then I spent a looong day getting these new leaders, units and buildings proper pedia entries in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish (used Wikipedia and Google as my sources) and giving the three leaders (Árpád for Hungary, Sobieski and Kasimierz for Poland) diplomacy text in all five languages. I used some famous Polish and Hungarian quotes/expressions in this process.
Aaaanyway, to cut a long story short;
the Polish Empire and
the Hungarian Empire (originally from Genghis Khan (Warlords), combined with content from other mods) are now playable in version 2.9! Enjoy!
(personally I'd like to implement the Vatican States, from Charlemagne's Wars as well, but sadly I haven't found any leaderhead of a pope lol *hint*)
- 4 changed wonders:
*
Plato's Academy, from Peleponessian War (Warlords): I didn't want it to become a clone of the Ofxord University, so I changed it's bonuses. It now gives +25% research for the city it's built in and +1 beaker for every specialist in your empire.
*
Theatre of Dionysus, from Peleponessian War (Warlords): I didn't want it to become a clone of the Globe Theatre, so I changed it's bonuses. It now gives +2 free artists to the city it's built in.
*
Leaning Tower, from Rhye's and Fall of Civilization (BtS): I didn't want it to become a clone of the National Epic, so I changed it's bonuses (again). It now gives +50% great people birth rate and +1 happiness for every 20% culture.
*
Flavian Amphitheatre, from Greek World (Vanilla) and Rhye's and Fall of Civilization (BtS): I found out that this wonder was also in the Greek World mod for the original Civ4, so I took that 'official' icon instead. In Greek World, it was a clone of the Chichen Itza and in RFC it was too powerful (imo) so I changed it's bonuses. It now gives +2 happiness in the city and gives every unit built the Shock promotion (this may sound overpowered, but think about it: a few extra exp points can do the same thing, plus, this is only for one city).
- 4 new wonders:
*
Ishtar Gate, from Greek World (Vanilla): In this mod, it was used as the religious shrine for the Mesopotamian religion, but since I didn't add any new religions, I gave it a different use. I thought it would be nice to have a wonder that allows a single city to teleport (airlift) units before the airports come. While it may not be historically correct, it fits this wonder (a gate, after all) quite well. It lacked proper pedia entries, had to assemble these myself.
*
Reichstag, from The Road to War (BtS): In this mod, this wonder didn't have any benefits at all - it was just put in Berlin to make the city look more unique. So I had to come up with a nice bonus myself. I decided to make it a second Versailles, because very late in the game if you have a huge empire another extra palace like this may come in handy. It lacked proper pedia entries, had to assemble these myself.
*
Big Ben, from The Road to War (BtS): In this mod, this wonder didn't have any benefits at all - it was just put in London to make the city look more unique. So I had to come up with a nice bonus myself. Big Ben now serves as a second granary (50% of the food stored after growth). While this may sound silly and weak, it is actually quite strong! 50%+50%=100%, which means that your city will continue to grow every turn until it has reached it's cap (food, health or happiness issues)! It comes pretty late in the game (I assigned it to Steam Power; to symbolize London's - and England's - rapid growth during the industrial revolution) when most of your cities are already pretty big so it's not overpowered either (imo). The Big Ben, too, lacked proper pedia entries, had to assemble these myself.
*
Torii, from The Road to War (BtS): In this mod, this wonder didn't have any benefits at all - it was just put in Tokyo (right?) to make the city look more unique. So I had to come up with a nice bonus myself. Torii now gives +1 gold for each water tile (only for the city it's constructed in) - which could be a powerful asset if you have the Colossus as well - and it gives a free Navigation I promotion to every ship constructed in the city. I felt that the game could use a decent naval wonder. Once again, this wonder lacked proper pedia entries, so I had to assemble these myself.
Note: changing/adding these 8 wonders was a risky and dangerous process because I didn't have any Firaxis guy looking over my shoulder to make sure they were balanced. Please let me know if you find any of these to be underpowered or overpowered, after all - I'm aiming for perfection (have said this before)! I'm particularly concerned about Plato's Academy. Is it too powerful in it's current state? Feedback would be appreciated!
Pwew, took me some time to write this all, it's almost 7 AM now and I really need to go to bed. Good luck & have fun with 2.9!