Final Fantasy Mod Progress Updates, Part II

Well, It's been over a month since I've posted an honest to goodness update on exactly how my Final Fantasy mod has been progressing.

Well, folks, I'm happy to say that even though I have a ton of work ahead of me, I've made huge progress. I might even venture to say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (although it could just be another freight train coming my way...).

First, all the techs, units and wonders for the ancient age have been finalized in the BIQ editor. I still need to do the graphichs for the Iifa Tree (Pyramids), South Gate (Great Wall), and possibly the Temple of the Goddess (Temple of Artemis), although from what I've seen of Jueno Archietecture from FF XI screenshots and the area maps in the strategy guide, I could probably just leave it with the standard graphics and it would work just fine. As a matter of fact, this week's current projects call for completing the Iifa tree and starting on the model for the Makou cannon unit (which will be my FIRST ever unit attempt, so wish me luck ).

As for the Middle ages, I've got most techs done, as well as about 50% of the wonders renamed and the new graphics for them. the ones that still need graphics are Bugenhagen's Observatory (Copernicus' Observatory) Cid's Workshop (Leo's), the Zanarkand Dome (Shakespeare's Theater), Aeris' Church (J.S. Bach's), and Alexandria Castle (Sun Tzu's). I've successfully added all the graphics and stuff for the Orbonne Monastary (Sistine Chapel), and the other wonders that I haven't named are still undecided.

I've also managed to add all the main line units with the appropriate upgrades. The Offensive line, based on the Fighter job progression, starts with the Fighter (warrior), who upgrades to Knight in the ancient age with Iron Working, Paladin in the Middle ages with Monotheism, Swordmaster in the Industrial Age with "Steel" (going to be changed to 'Mythril'), and Samurai in the Modern age with "fission" (will be changed to Makou Energy or Magitek).

The middle of the road units (have less attack than a normal offensive unit, but greater than a normal defensive unit, and less defense than a normal defensive unit, but more than a normal offensive unit, plus they're slightly cheaper to build and require less resources, best for harrying attacking enemy troops as they cross your borders) start with the warrior in the ancient era, available with metalworking, upgrade to Gladiator in the Middle Ages with Feudalism, upgrade to Lancer in the Industrial age with Nationalism, and here the unit gains a bombard attack, to represent the well-known "Dragoon Jump" from the FF series. In the modern age, with the advent of "rocketry" (Will change that tech to something, not sure what...), the lancer upgrades to a Dragoon, and gains a bombard range of 2 to represent the improved Dragoon Jump.

The Defensive units starts with Archer, upgrades to Ranger, then to Gunner, and finally to Sniper. I'm making all the standard (non-unique) ranged units female, and the only graphics I'm missing is one for the Middle ages (a longbow woman if you will). For Armor, I have the dwarven battle wagon in the Late middle ages with metalleurgy, but requires Dwarves, Saltpeter and Iron to build. Upgrades in Industrial era to Steamtank with "Ironclads" (will be changed to "Advanced Steam Power") and requires Iron and Coal (duh!). In the Industrial age, with motorized transport, upgrades to tank (uses Kinboat's awesome Mk IV tank), and modern age upgrades to Hover Tank.

I've added 6 Final Fantasy based civs, and unique units for 5 of them. I've added the Yevon Warrior monk (replaces gunner, has bombard attack and slightly increased defense), the Shinra Grosspanzer (replaces hovertank, has higher bombard and defensive value, but same attack and movement). For the Kingdom of San d'Oria, I've basically duplicated all the Elvaan units, but made it so that the San d'Orians didn't need the Elvaan resource to build them, but couldn't build the cheaper human equivalents. The Republic of Bastok has all it's UU's. Starting in the middle ages instead of the Paladin, they build the Bastok Paladin, which upgrades to the Bastok Swordmaster and eventually to the Bastok Samurai. All the Bastok offensive units have a slightly increased attack to represent superior forging and smithing at the Bastok Ironworks.

The civs that I've added so far are (culture group in parenthesis, followed by Final Fantasy game #):

The Shinra Corporation (Native American) VII
The Church of Yevon (Mideast) X/X-2
The Al Bhed (Mideast) X/X-2
The Kingdom of San d'Oria (Europe) XI
The Republic of Bastik (Europe) XI
The Federation of Windhurst (Asian) XI

On the table for addition this week:

The Grand Duchy of Jueno (Mediterranean) XI
The Kingdom of Alexandria (mediterranean) IX
The Regency of Lindblum (Mediterranean) IX

I've added leaderheads for Rikku, chieftess of the Al Bhed, and thanks to Frenchman for the graphics, and I'm using Embryodead's High Elf to represent Prince Royal Trion I of the Elvaan kingdom of San d'Oria.

I've also added a special Mage unit that's available in the early middle ages, but requires certain circumstances to be created. First, the tech "Magic" must be researched, then a city that has a library must build a Mage tower (see sig link), which generates a Mage every 15 turns. Mages deal enough damage to take out a Sniper (the best defensive unit), but have a defense stat that's so low that a Knight stands a fair chance of defeating them in battle. Wizards also have a bombard attack equivalent to modern artillery, which along with the high attack ensures that they're still useful even in the modern age, but not too over powered for the middle ages (you just have to keep on your toes to counter a mage rush during the middle ages and "greet them at the gate" so to speak).

Well, that's about all that I can think of right now. So what do you think so far. (I may have more screenshots to post from the present alpha playtesting session later this week, when I get to the middle and industrial ages).

Hopefully you can use this for reference for the Star Sybil and President Karsh of Bastok. I couldn't find anything for the Grand Duke of Jeuno yet. I'll keep looking.

Hikaro, Do you need more techs?

Grandraem: Thanks, that helps out a lot. President Karst looks like one of the leaders that CivArmy is working on for his 5th Century series, so that saves me some time. I think I'll just stick with Prince Royal Trion I as leader for San d'Oria in my mod (that way I can fudge using E.D's High elf LH, since I can't do beards in poser to save my life right now). The Star Sybil will also pose some challenge, but I'll just try heavily modifying the girl figure that comes with Poser 5 to make her look like a Taru Taru, and see what happens. No big rush on getting the Grand Duke of Jueno, since my project backlog is already a mile long.

Odin: Not at present, but I'll probably be using either your explosives or fireworks icons for my alchemy tech. BTW, you asked about proper file size and such. First of all, don't use MSpaint, it won't let you save the files as CivIII compatible .pcx files. In order to modify your files to where I could use them, I had to open them with Windows photo editor and convert them to .tiff format, because PsP refused to open them. Once I loaded the .tiff files into PsP, I corrected the size and pallettes. If you want a really really good free graphics editing program, go to http://www.telefragged.com/wally/ and download Wally. I know, it's a Quake/Half-Life texture editor, but it's also has one of the most powerful free graphics editors I've ever seen built in. It can open and save almost every paint format, as well as Quake/HL texture packages. Best part is the download is only around 1 MB.

After you get Wally, I've included the corrected version of your nature tech to give you an idea of what a CivIII pcx file is set up. Both are now the correct size and palette. Take note of the last two colors in the palette. Those have to be the same for all PCX files used by Civ III (the other 254 colors can be anything as far as the game is concerned), since those two colors are used for transparency (i.e. they don't show up in the game and anything those two colors disappears and shows what's behind it). I hope that this helps.

Your Mod looks good Hikaro Takayama

Thank you, Hikaro

BTW, Hikaro, about Wally, can you make a tutorial for it

Well, folks, I've managed to make a few updates to my FF mod, even with all the unit creations and stuff.

The updates for this week are thus:

I've added aaglo's phaseship as the basic Airship, available in the middle ages with Navigation, along with the Airport city improvement. I've added it's upgrade, the Steam Airship, but it currently has placeholder graphics until I can get the Steam Powered Airship done (anyone wanna place bets on what my next unit project is ), which then upgrades to the Advanced Airship. I've also added and tested the Makou Cannon.

On the Civilization front, I've also made some changes. The current list of FF Civs added to the game follows below:

Civilation: Culture Group: FF Game it's From: Appropriate LH (Y/N):
Shinra Corporation American VII No
Alexandria (new!) Mediterranean IX In Progress
Lindblum (new!) Mediterranean IX Yes (Legoinary by Unexisted)
Al Bhed Middle East X/X-2 Yes (by Frenchman)
Church of Yevon Middle East X/X-2 No
Jueno Mediterranean XI No
Republic of Bastok European XI No
San d'Oria European XI Yes (E.D's High Elf)
Windhurst Asian XI No

I've also playtested the game through to the modern age. Although the Industrial and Modern Age tech trees need to be completely redone, I'm nearly finished with the Middle ages Tech tree.

Another very major change that was made deals with city growth. Since I haven't found a way to turn of population based pollution, and no matter how many buildings you have in a city that have the "eliminates population pollution" flag checkes, you still have population generated pollution, I made it so that cities in this mod never reach metropolis size. Before you start hemming an hawing, I also changed the size limits for towns and cities. A town now maxes out at 12 population (and if it's not on a river you then need an aqueduct), and a city maxes at 24. Since the maximum number of tiles that any given city can work is 20, that means that with the proper management every city can have 4 specialists. The second benefit of this (besides a heck of a lot less pollution) is greatly reduced micromanagement, so you can concentrate on the fun stuff, like expanding your empire and unleashing your armies against your foes.

One more thing. This is also a help wanted ad. If anyone here has has experience with Final Fantasy Tactics, and I-VI your input would be greatly appreciated. What I need are Leaders, Military and Scientific GL's, UU's, Civs, and City lists for these games. I'm ashamed to say that VII was the first FF game I've ever played (and the only one I've beaten... as of yet), and I've only played VII-X, so I don't have a clue about any of the earlier games (and don't know too much of where to start looking). Any and all assistance would be appreciated.

Oh, and attached is a screenshot from the game when I reached the modern age. I think Grandraem will get a kick out of it, since I was playing as the San d'Orians (and kicking some serious butt, too).

If you're interested in adding Ivalice from "Final Fantasy Tactics," here's a city list and leader list:

Ivalice
Leader: King Omdolia (I might be mistaken on this one since it's been a while since I've played it)
UU: Holy Swordsman (Orlandu's near-invincible character class )

Military Leaders:
Cidolfus Orlandu (a.k.a. "Thundergod Cid", a.k.a. "T.G. Cid")
Balbanes Beoulve
Dycedarg Beoulve
Zalbag Beoulve
Count Draclau
Marquis Elmdor ("The Silver Noble")
Prince Goltana
Prince Larg

Scientific Leaders
Elibdibs
High Priest Funeral
Besrodio
Mustadio

Cities:
Lesalia
Igros Castle
Dorter
Gariland
Zaland
Lionel Castle
Warjilis
Limberry
Bervenia
Murond
Goug
Goland
Yardow
Riovanes Castle

Ogedei, thanks for the Info. I've added it to a list of civs to be added that I'm compiling.

Here's a small amount of info from FFIV (FF2 US), since you were looking for info:

Nations: Baron, Mysidia, Fabul, Mist, Damycan, Toroia, Dwarves, Eblan.

Unfortunately, there are only about 10 towns in the entire game, so it'd probably be best to just have one nation from the game. I'd suggest Baron since they essentially conquer the world.

Baron -
Ruler: Baigan OR Cecil (Baigan is the original leader, Cecil is the main character)
UU: Red Wings (elite Airship squadron, powerful bombing attack)
Military Leaders: Kain, Cecil (if not used above), Yang
Scientific Leaders: Tellah, FuSoYa
Cities: (all nations above, plus), Kaibo, Agart, Town of Summoned Monsters




I'l post some info from FF6/FF3US after I get back from school this afternoon.

Zurai, Baigan wasn't the leader. It was Odin. After the king of Baron dies, there's a secret area underneath the palace where the king's spirit remains. The spirit happens to be the Summon "Odin." Baigan was a traitor who sold out to Golbez.

I think the leader ought to be Cecil since Odin didn't really do much except act as Golbez's pawn.

As for Scientific leaders, you can include Rosa (the white mage character) and Rydia (the summoner character) as well.

The UU should definitely be the "Red Wing" airship since that was one of the most important things in FFIV.

Well, it's update time again

I've been a busy monkey over the past few weeks. I've added 3 civs, several leaderheads and a crapton of units (four of which I made myself). I'll be posting a preview of all the leaderheads I've added as well as the main defensive, balanced, offensive, armor, naval transport and airship unit lines.

First of all here's the Civ Standings:

Mideast Culture group:

Yevon, 1/3 UU's added (Warrior Monk), Leader: Grand Maester Mika (Agm Rund by Embryodead), Religious, Seafaring, and Expansionist

Al Bhed, 2/3 UU's added (Machina and Heavy Machina), Leader Chieftess Rikku (done by Frenchman), Seafaring, Commercial and Scientific

Mediterranean Culture Group:

Alexandria, 0/3 UU's added, Leader: Princess Garnet (done by me), Religious, Seafaring, and militaristic

Lindblum, 0/3 UU's added, Leader: Reagent Cid (Karl Franz by Embryodead), Scientific, Industrious, Commercial

Kingdom of Ordallia, 0/3 UU's added, Leader: King Lanard IV (leaderhead TBD), Religious, Seafaring, Agricultural

Grand Duchy of Jueno, 0/3 UU's added, Leader Grand Duke Kam'lanut (leaderhead TBD), Religious, Seafaring, Commercial

European Culture group:

Kingdom of Ivalice, 0/3 UU's added, Leader: YOU get to choose, choice B/T Delita Hyral, Ramuza, and Ashley, Religious, Expansionist, Militaristic

Kingdom of San d'Oria, UU's complete (can build all elvaan units without the elvaan resource + can build Elvaan Worker that has 150% work rate), Leader: Prince Royal Trion I (Sween32's elf leaderhead), Religious, Seafaring, Militaristic

Republic of Bastok, 3/3 UU's added (Bastok Palladin, Bastok Swordmaster, and Bastok Samurai), Leader: President Karst (leaderhead TBD), Scientific, Expansionist, Industrious

Kingdom of Baron, 1/3 UU's added (the Red Wing), Leader: King Cecil (R8XfT's Alaric LH from the 5th century pack)

Native American Culture Group:

Shinra corporation, 1/3 UU's started (the GrossPanzer, more info about the rest below), Leader: President Reeve (leaderhead TBD), Scientific, Militaristic, Commercial

Asian Culture Group:

Federation of Windhurst, 0/3 UU's added, Leader The Star Sybil (leaderhead TBD), Religious, Agricultural, Seafaring.

The grand total of FF based civs is now 12 (almost halfway done ) I'll let you guys determine the third UU for Shinra by voting in the poll I've attached. The choices are: the Highwind, the Shinra Attack Sub, the X-Cannon, or the Proud Clod. I've also attached the previews of the basic units that everyone can build, as well as a few UU's. My thanks to all the unit creators who made them. They are: Kindred, Kinboat, Aaglo, Muffins, Dease, Embryodead, WyrmShadow, BeBro, Utahjazz7, Dom Pedro II, and Vingrjoe

Anyways, the preview of the leaders from left to right is:

King Cecil, Reagent Cid, Princess Garnet til Alexandros 17th, Grand Maestor Mika, Chieftess Rikku, and Prince Royal Trion I. Oh, and my apologies to CivArmy, but I just can't resist:

The Barons, Lindblum, Alexandrians, Yevon, Al Bhed and San d'Orians are Coming to War!!!

OOOOOOOh, Ahhhhhhh

Glad you like the previews, Odin

Anyways, here's an update on the update

I forgot to include a list of proposed UU's and stuff.

So, here they are. Please feel free to suggest any changes or additions.

Ivalice, 0/3 finished:

Hokuten Knight, replaces swordmaster, give either increased attack or HP (this unit is based on Ramuza and "T.G. Cid" Orlandu)
Nanten Knight, replaces Chocobo Knight, Increase attack (based on the various Chocobo Knights in FFT)
Chemist, replaces sniper, give increased HP and maybe offensive bombardment (sorta like the Yevon Warrior Monk has)

Ordalia, 1 DLBNA (downloaded but not added), 2 to go

Royal Knights, replaces the Chocobo Knights, Increased movement (to represent the special training and constant patrolling they do)
The Crown Guard, replaces the Swordmaster, increased defense.
Firewall Elite, replaces the Sniper, ignores movement cost on most terrain, +1HP, uses DP II's Legionarii Fulminata graphics (my thanks to DP II for adding links to all his units in the Unit Artist's Library, otherwise I wouldn't have found it).

Baron, 1 Added, 2 to go

Red Wing, replaces the Steam Airship, increased defense and bombardment, +1 bombard range.
White Ranger, replaces the ranger, increased HP and defense. Basically this unit is based on Rosa, the White Mage/Ranger and the HP/defensive increase represents the ability to use healing magic to increase combat survivability.
Kain's Dragoons: Replaces the Dragoon (duh!), Increased attack. This one is based on Kain, the Kick-donkey dragoon in the game. Prefferably they will have Kain's dragon-looking armor.

Shinra, 1 In Progress, 2 to go

GrossPanzer, replaces the Heavy Tank, increased Def and +1 HP (to signify just how freakin' tough those dang things are to kill), can "salvage" defeated enemies as Death Machines
SOLDIER, replaces Samurai, either increased attack or give the ability to bombard (think blade beam or meteorain )
The third UU is kinda up in the air, and depends on 3 things: (1)What YOU guys want to see, (2)What models I can find/make and (3)What kind of units the other makers come out with over the next few weeks. The current candidates for the third UU are: The Shinra Sub (will replace the default submarine), the Cromwell (will replace the Tank, looks sorta like a smaller version of the GrossPanzer, but with less spikes and secondary weapons), The Highwind (will replace the Advanced Airship, increased def and bombardment), or the X-Cannon (replaces the Heavy Artillery, +1 bombard range).

Alexandria, 0/3 done

Knights of Pluto, replaces the Paladin, increased def.
Alexandrian Soldier, replaces the swordmaster, increased def, will most likely use Muffins' swordwoman
Alexandrian Officer, replaces the Samurai, increased def, will most likely use Muffins' female knight.

Lindblum, 0/3 done

Hilda Garde 3, replaces the Steam Airship, increased transport cap.
Burmecian Dragon Knight, replaces the dragoon, +1 Bombard range, increased Def. Based on Freya Crescent ('cause she's a badazz), and I've requested the unit from Dease, although it's fairly far down his list, this mod most likely aint going to be finished by the time he gets to it.
Lindblum Aviator, replaces the paratrooper, increased attack or range, based on Erin, the pilot chick (never can have TOO many cute girls in sailor outfits )

Yevon, 1 down, 2 to go.

Yevon Warrior Monk, replaces the gunner, has a bombard attack.
Yevon's Finest, replaces sniper, same as above.
Not sure what to do for the third. Possibly have something like the Guardian, which would replace either the paladin or swordmaster (based on Auron/Tidus). Or I might just give them a Naval UU, like the SS Liki (Chocobo Powered transport) that replaces the Heavy Galleassi, had increased movement and requires Chocobos in addition to Iron and Saltpeter.

Al Bhed, 2 Down, 1 to go.

Al Bhed Machina, replaces the Tank, +1 movement, uses Muffins' Warhound Titan graphichs
Al Bhed Heavy Machina, replaces the Heavy Tank, +1 Movement, uses Muffins' Up-Gunned Reaver Titan graphics.
Third UU is also kind of up in the air. Will either be the Al Bhed Cannon (replaces the Artillery, Increased bombardment), the Al Bhed Machina Jockey (based on Rikku, Brother, etc; replaces the marine, increased defense), or the Airship Celsius (will replace the Advanced Airship, either increased attack or operating range for recon missions)

Kingdom of San d'Oria, All done, case closed.

Republic of Bastok, 3/3 finished, also case closed.

Federation of Windhurst, 0/3 finished.

Working list:
Mithra Ranger, replaces the ranger, +1 defense (to reflect Mithra agility)
Mithra Gunner, replaces the gunner, also +1 defense.
Some kind of TaruTaru unit, maybe a Taru Red/Black Mage (replaces the Sniper, but with a high bombard attack to reflect the kind of Magical powerhouses those little guys are)

Grand Duchy of Jueno, 0/3 finished:

Tenshodo Knight, replaces the Paladin, +1 movement.
Goblin ArmsMaster, replaces the Swordmaser, +1 movement (will most likely use the Uruk Hai Berserker by Kinboat)
Ducal Guard, replaces the Samurai, +1 movement (most likely use Kinboat's Uruk-hai warrior, since the Jueno are the only civ where Civilized goblin types live).

Also, I need some help with the two civilizations that I'll be adding from FF VIII. A ? in a slot indicates the fact that I don't have a friggin' clue what goes there.

Galbadia:

Traits TBD, but most likely Scientific, Militaristic, and Industrious
Leader: either Edea or President Deling (if Deling is used, all I have to do is find the animated Dubya LH that someone made a while back, since ironically, President Deling looked like GW, which is one heck of a coincidence because the game was released in the US in early '99).
UU's:
Galbadian Soldier, already have the graphics, thanks to NeOmega. Will replace the Samurai or Swordmaster.
BGH251F2, or "Iron Clad" Tank, will replace the Heavy Tank.
Galbadian Elite Soldier, will replace the Samurai.

Military GL's:
Laguna Loire
Kiros Seagill
Ward Zabac
Seifer Almasy
Biggs
Wedge

Scientific GL's:
Edea (or president Deling, if Edea is used as Leader)
?
?

Capitol City (I'll compile the rest of the city list later):
Deling City (no brainer, really)

Esthar:

Traits TBD, most likely Religious, Scientific, and something else.
Leader: some President guy (the strategy guide doesn't give his name)
UU's:
Estar Soldier, replaces the Swordmaster, not sure what I'll change.
SeeD, replaces the samurai, again not sure what the exact stats will be.
Ragnarok: will replace the advanced airship, probably will have +1 movement (making it one of the fastest units in the game, with the ability to travel 9 tiles in one turn)

Military GL's:
Squall Leonhart
Zell Dincht
Selphie Tilmitt
Irvine Kinneas

Scientific GL's:
Dr. Odine
Rinoa Heartilly
Quistis Trepe
Headmaster Cid

Capitol city:

Estar (again, a no-brainer)

Any help in filling information gaps and compiling city lists or for alternate UU's will be much appreciated.

How do you plan on doing summoning?

Neomega said:

How do you plan on doing summoning?

Click to expand...

Interesting you should ask. I'm going to give everyone a Game-specific Era-none, non-tradeable tech that will be one pre-req for a Unique modern age tech that allows the construction of a summoning related small wonder. This Small Wonder will pump out a summoned creature every 10 turns or so.

For example, the Shinra's unique tech will be Summon Materia, which allows the construction of a Huge Materia small wonder. The Huge Materia will produce Bahamut every 10 turns. Bahamut's special ability will be that it has collateral damage and leathal land/sea bombardment. The Yevon and Al Bhed (both FF X civs) will have a tech called Summoning, which will allow the construction of a Fayth small wonder which produces Ixion every 10 turns. Ixion's special ability is that it has 3 movement and treats all terrain as roads. (I know somone made a riderless unicorn a while back, and if I can find it, I'll use Bryce to generate a lightning bolt and c&p it into the attack animation). Baron (FF IV) will have the Calling tech which will allow the construction of the Cave of Mist Small wonder. I haven't decided on what summoned creature to give them, though. This is one of the later projects for when I get the modern age tech tree sorted out (not happening any time too soon).

Anyways, I've got to get back to unit making, for now.

Baron could have either Odin or the Mist Dragon as its unique "Summon" unit. Rather than calling the summon tech 'Calling' you could just have something like "Contact: Land of the Summon Monsters" or something like that. 'Calling' kind sounds awkward.

Ogedei_the_Mad said:

Baron could have either Odin or the Mist Dragon as its unique "Summon" unit. Rather than calling the summon tech 'Calling' you could just have something like "Contact: Land of the Summon Monsters" or something like that. 'Calling' kind sounds awkward.

Click to expand...

Sounds reasonable enough. I was planning on giving them Odin, but I'd have to find a 6-legged horse model and some gothic viking armor props. Again, this is all on the back burner, for now.

Since I actually enjoyed these games, I have some things to comment.

Laguna is president of Esthar.

Also, Balamb should be included and have "SeeD" as UU.

Headmaster Cid should be the leader.

Squall and the others could be GLs.

Master Norg could be SGL.



And the last thing that annoys me is that Square... and everybody else that has played the FF-series, still don't get that Sleipner (Odin's horse) had EIGHT legs (as a mark of pace), not SIX.