I've now integrated Advanced Rivals into my Advanced Civ modpack; Advanced Rivals is no longer updated.
The Advanced Rivals mod
* handicaps the (single) human player by giving the AI civs Advanced Starts;
* turns off most of the other player handicaps through a custom difficulty setting;
* assigns start points unequally to the AI civs to encourage dog-eat-dog dynamics.
Download site
See manual.pdf for instructions on how to set up a game.
The included Pyrrhic Victories mod is disabled by default.
More background on Advanced Rivals:
Pyrrhic Victories
modifies combat to make it more predictable and less winner-take-all. If a unit would die in combat despite superior odds, combat ends in a retreat instead (that's the eponymous Pyrrhic victory). The unlucky unit receives little experience, if any, whereas the unit that survived combat against the odds gains much experience.
Download site
See manual.pdf for the exact rule changes.
The Advanced Rivals mod
* handicaps the (single) human player by giving the AI civs Advanced Starts;
* turns off most of the other player handicaps through a custom difficulty setting;
* assigns start points unequally to the AI civs to encourage dog-eat-dog dynamics.
Download site
See manual.pdf for instructions on how to set up a game.
The included Pyrrhic Victories mod is disabled by default.
More background on Advanced Rivals:
Spoiler :
I didn't want to call it "Advanced AI" because the mod doesn't make the AI more intelligent. The premise is rather that the AI is a lost cause and that the player needs to be handicapped. About the BtS handicaps I dislike how the AI civs (appear to) generate commerce and production out of thin air; it's not plausible and a little sneaky. I find it cleaner and simpler to give the AI civs only a big headstart.
The mod adds a difficulty level, called "no handicap", which disables almost all advantages the AI normally gets from Prince upwards. The single handicap then is that the AI civs receive a configurable amount of Advanced Start points, and the player does not.
Not all AI civs get the same amount of points: A few start almost on a par with the player, a few far ahead, and some in the middle. The mod tries to place the most dangerous AI civ far away initially, and a rather weak one nearby the player, so that the player doesn't immediately swim with sharks. Over time, the stronger rivals tend to subdue the weaker ones, which should create urgency for the player to catch up and get involved.
Example (Standard-size Fractal map):
full size 1.3 MB
Upper left screenshot: The player starts as normal with 1 settler and 1 other unit.
The mod adds a difficulty level, called "no handicap", which disables almost all advantages the AI normally gets from Prince upwards. The single handicap then is that the AI civs receive a configurable amount of Advanced Start points, and the player does not.
Not all AI civs get the same amount of points: A few start almost on a par with the player, a few far ahead, and some in the middle. The mod tries to place the most dangerous AI civ far away initially, and a rather weak one nearby the player, so that the player doesn't immediately swim with sharks. Over time, the stronger rivals tend to subdue the weaker ones, which should create urgency for the player to catch up and get involved.
Example (Standard-size Fractal map):
full size 1.3 MB
Upper left screenshot: The player starts as normal with 1 settler and 1 other unit.
Pyrrhic Victories
modifies combat to make it more predictable and less winner-take-all. If a unit would die in combat despite superior odds, combat ends in a retreat instead (that's the eponymous Pyrrhic victory). The unlucky unit receives little experience, if any, whereas the unit that survived combat against the odds gains much experience.
Download site
See manual.pdf for the exact rule changes.
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