The Boer War (TBW)

[LouLong]

I Download and Status
II The Boer War; what is it ?
III Special concepts; Guidebook
IV MP, PBEM & SG
V Help Needed

Screenshots
The War starts



The main features of this scenario are :

- very fast loading and playing. The map is not very large, the cities aren't either. Some areas are nearly desert. This makes for extremely decent gameplay.
- some new units and a special tech-tree (albeit small as the scenario lasts less than 3 years)
- Play in Africa, a continent rarely used for scenarios (albeit Plotinus should release a very nice one shortly).
- Very different unit stats and strengths depending on the civs which leads to very different strategies.



Credits : CFC people !
- BeBro, CivArmy, Takayama, Lab Monkey (? for the German and British colonial troops ? not sure) for the units (I don't remember who did the "Boers" units (both mounted and on foot).
- R8FXT for Basutho LH and pedia.
- the person who did the concentration camps gfx for the graphics.
- The Last conformist for testing (hopefully some more soon).
- lots of people (including some mentionned above) for support, advice...
- Thunderfall for CFC and the upload.

[LouLong]

Current version : 1.0 in one file + separate biq files (SP and MP). If you had downloaded it before June 2, 2006, you must redownload the main file.

Status :
The Boer War scenario has reached v1.0 which means it is totally playable albeit it can always be perfected.
Main thing missing, gfx for the bunkers. If somebody is interested...


Download :
To play this scenario you need to download and install 2 files
:
- 1/ the "main" file including art and texts which is about 25 MB (new artwork for leaderheads). Download it and unzip into Civilization 3/Conquests/Scenarios There it should create a folder called "the Boer War".
Here is the file : http://www.3ddownloads.com/Strategy/...Boer%20War.zip

- 2/ the biq file called "The Boer War" + the number of the version (for instance "The Boer War v1.0"). Download it and unzip it also in Civilization 3/Conquests/Scenarios. Keeping the biq separated allows for easy evolution of the biq file (in case of bugs or when the biq improves) without having to redownload the entire and large "main" file. This one will however evolve, but much more rarely.
File at the bottom of the post.
There is a special biq for MP (PBEM or online MP) gamers.

Then to play it go to the C3C menu, choose "Civ-content", locate the biq file (ie The Boer War v1.0) and start the game.

[LouLong]

Historical Background

After a failed first Anglo-Boer war (defeat of Majuba Hill in 1881) and the failure of the Jameson raid in 1896 aiming at eliminating Boer president Krüger, Cecil Rhodes could not fulfill his dream of linking South Africa to Egypt. English then proceeded to surround the Boers states by conquering Bechuanaland (now Botswana).
And later the discovery of gold and the subsequent problems between Boers and Uitlanders (outsiders coming for the gold and encouraged by the English) provided the new Cape prime minister with the pretext he needed to impose demands that could not be accepted by the Boers. Thus started the second Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902) in October 1899. The irony of it all is that albeit the English did everything they could so that a war starts they were not enough prepared while the Boers reacted quickly and took the initiative before British troops ahd reached the battlefield or even South Africa. The British are stronger on the long term but the Boers here have a real possibility.

Scenario Choices

As said in the previous post, scenario features are still open for discussion.

When one makes a scenario, one has to make some choices in the way the situation, the strengths, alliances, weaknesses of the different civs are represented. This causes sometimes some historical mistakes but some things cannot be represented properly and some can be bad for the gameplay. Therefore the choices made represent more often than not compromises rather than personal opinions.

Civilizations :

- The British : they control the Cape colony, Natal, Bechuanaland and two small islands represent England and India from where reinforcements can come. Of course they are completely out of place. But I chose to put them there to show the distance for shipping troops rather than to have troops-spawning improvements in South Africa proper.

- The Boers : I could have made two civs but eventually decided to unite them as they worked very closely and fought the war together. So Transvaal and Orange Free State are one.

- The Germans : they have a poor (mostly desert) colony in what will become later Namibia.

- The Portuguese : they have a colony in modern Mozambique. Nothing special here. I just made them a but backward.

- The Zulus : this is a "mistake" as Zulus had been incorporated into the British Empire. However I put them in (in locked war with Boers) since they still had a strong culture and since they were the traditional ennemy of the Boers. The English actually used (and tried to use them more and more) Zulus in this war. But I prefer to give them their own small civ rather than to have a unit-spawning wonder/improvement in Natal. Besides, played by the AI they can add some new tactics to the game.

- The Dependant African states : these gather more or less independant States (Lesotho), protectorates and administrative states created by the English to better control the native population (Tembu, Transkei,...). Of course this is not perfectly accurate as they had different types of governments and some were fighting for the English under their suzerainty. But this creates a larger African civ with special tactics and one must remember that as the war lasted and British troops were busy (and sometimes defeated) while the Africans got weapons to fight the Boers rose a feeling of independance or at least of less domination that could have threatened the British Empire. This possibility exists through the tech-tree (Africans have a special tech-tree), even though it is not compulsory. So it opens potential new strategies and could cause what history nearly did.


Units : for lack of proper units, and albeit they are a bit unaccurate (but nice !) British troops are Redcoats (they used khakis then), English cavalry are represented by King's Guards and German infantry and cavalry use their European version.


Railroads : the British had started creating Railroads in South Africa and I chose to respect that and tried to put existing Railraods in their proper place BUT railroads in Civ3 have infinite movement which is something I don't want so I decided to cut the RR lines by mere roads which still enable faster movement but prevents the British troops at Capetown to reach Colesburg within one turn (exemple) which is both unrealistic and unbalancing, not to say boring as the British would only have to move a stack in the same direction all the time.


Map size : the map is kind of small (64 X 60) which might seem strange since most fighting was done on the vast areas of the veldt. But I tried using a bigger map and units were completely lost. Can be historically accurate but it was more boring. Besides, except if making roads increase movement a lot, transfers of troops took ages and that solution unbalanced completely movement of units so I decided to go for a smaller size.
On the other hand movement on road is now restricted to 2.


Disease : as in most wars of the time, disease caused more dead than actual fighting. And because of the brutal policy to control the civilians this extended to them as well. Therefore most terrain are liekly to cause disease.
Apparently there is still an issue as I wanted these diseases to touch mostly British troops (who as foreigners are definitely not ready to fight local issues) but at the moment disease still cause problems to the Boer cities which should be fixed soon (if possible).


Concentration camps :
These were essential tool in the control of the civilian Boer population and to break the support they provided to military units. Therefore it exists and was granted specific attributes which may seem strange but are related to the way the Civ3 engine works.
They create happiness and culture and fight propaganda and war weariness (to fight against revolts and "cultural" revolts, cause much pollution and may meltdown this to represent the fact civilians could not work the land and could not feed themselves and that they can provoke a huge rebellion destroying part of the city.

[LouLong]

Well, the civilopedia is pretty complete but some stuff might still be missing and this introduction can show you whether you are interested or not !

Tech-tree

The tech-tree covers only one era and is quite small. There are actually two separate branches for Europeans and Africans (one cannot research techs from the other one).
The different states are differently advanced in the tech-tree.



African techologies are :

African (gives them African features) --> European weapons (they can build gunpowder troops which are more effective but depend on European strategic resources) --> Rebellion (this allows the Africans to produce troops without European shipments and with hidden nationality so they can be a danger for everyone that is a threat for them).

European technologies (gives them European features) then you can see the tree in the screenshot at the bottom of the post.


Troops :

Most troops are civ-specific. Besides some need resources that must be traded, especially for the Boers who are cut off from the sea and depend on Portuguese or Germans to provide them with access to European weapons. Trade embargoes can then be real dangerous in this scenario.

The English start with many strong troops but they are not ready as many of these troops are still in harbor (Capetown mostly) or even in England or India.
Albeit strong their troops are not always used to South African warfare. They especially lack mobility (mounted troops are rare) and need to learn the secrets of guerilla to create troops that can hunt the Boer Kommandos.
India and England provide automatic support troops but these still need to be ferried. The road/RR network needs to be protected to reach the battlefield in time.
Their infantry is their main strength and can also do some worker jobs.

The Boers are ready but they will have troubles replenishing their troops. Mobility and speed are their main advantage to harrass the British troops.
Their Kommandos can be especially useful but don't imagine super-strong troops. They are weaker but have stealth and speed abilities really useful to pillage the road/RR network thus delaying British troops. They can also corner them. But the English have their own "counter-measures". Boers benefit from their gold mines.
They can produced cavalry nearly as easily as infantry but their troops were usually small and they suffer a -1 HP malus.
Boers also have strong culture, not only to draw proper borders but also so conquered Boer cities can revolt back showing the strong opposition of the civilians.

Portugal and Germany are not supposed to be active players. They are valuable trading or diplomatic partners and have enough troops to defend themselves but are not really supposed to engage in war. Portugal cannot (no military alliance) but Germany can.

Zulus are in locked war against the Boers. But they are small and their troops are quite weak as the Boers had a long training in fighting them. However their existence can provide strange tactics and surprises which can seriously annoy the Boers.

The Dependant Africans are neutral but surrounded by the British who can also provide them with European weapons, they are likely to side with the British, but if they discover Rebellion they can also annoy seriously the British.

The "white" civs rely mostly on white professional troops. But they can also use African recruits. Badly considered, lacking training and motivation, often ill-equipped these troops were poor but can act as support or military police or for keeping victory locations.

The Boers and English were the only ones who had a large white population and cities and thus both can build or conscript militias. These troops recruited from hard locals could actually be quite effective, especially behind walls.

So altogether different strategies for war. Using strong infantry columns for the British vs stealth and speed and trying to save one's troops for the Boers.


Improvements :

At the moment there are only 3 new improvements/wonders :

- the camp : often criticized later as the first concentration camps, these buildings can be very useful for the English to quiet revolts in conquered Boer cities. It limits propaganda, adds happiness and create culture (all Civ3-engine-related) but causes a lot of pollution as most workers are in the camps.
- Indian Reinforcements is a wonder that spawns Bengalese lancers and can be built only in India by England.
- European Reinforcements is a wonder that spawns British colonial infantry and can be built only in England by England.



What's different ?

What you have to be careful of :
- gold is now a luxury. It thus becomes a VERY useful trading commodity for the Boers. Besides they provide 8 trade !
- Constitutional Monarchy replaces democracy but has lower WW and is xenophobic to represent the difficulties in controlling the conquered Boers. Republic (Boers) supports more troops.
- Factories, universities and ships are extremely expensive to build so they should be protected. This will avoid also cities full of unhistorical improvements.
- road movement is restricted to 2
- RR can be built (especially to link the existing parts or to repair what the ennemy has pillaged) but it takes resources and a while.
- furs (Europe) and Silks (India) are strategic resources needed to build European reinforcements and Indian reinforcements at their proper locations. They are NOT luxuries anymore.
- Zulus are not 1.2.2 in this scenario !

[LouLong]

MP

There is no real MP version yet albeit there will be one with v1.0. Since there are only 6 civs, of which 2 are really interesting to play it is already possible to play it in MP even though there is no finetuned biq for that.


PBEM

PBEMs are a good way of testing a scenario, its strategies, balance and bugs. A test PBEM for 2 people (maybe 4) will be launched when v1.0 is released.

Smuts : http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=172921


Succession Games

SG are also a good way of testing a scenario. I hope one will start when v1.0 is released.

[LouLong]

This scenario still needs a lot of gfx, etc... that I either could not find or that don't exist so you are definitely wellcome if you can help. You will be credited, your work will be used and you will help this scenario become better.

Art
Gfx :
- Camp improvement : we have the Civilopedia icons but not the transparent pink background ones that appear in the cit view.
- European products and European weapons currently use hardly appropriate gfx so a complete set (including shadows) for these resources would be welcome.
- Some units currently lack pediaicons which is troublesome for the civilopedia.
- Many techs also lack proper proper pedia icons.

Units :
- if you can help me find or create a late XIXth century battleship and transport, that'd be nice.
- The Boer Kommandos currently use the same gfx as the Boer cavalry (bandits) which is not convenient. Boers were often bearded (and long beards they had !) so that could give a special flavor to a new unit. Most did not wear "real" uniforms.
- Portugal late XIXth infantry would also be welcome.
- A better bunker "unit" fitting the time and place would be a real nice addition, maybe with a building animation for the "paradrop".

On the other hand we already have a Krüger leaderhead. It was not incorporated into the main files as it is very large and there was no point in making the main files too large for a beta but it will be added soon.

Testing
Besides that, this scenario can only improve through intense testing so reports, bug-hunts, opinions on units' balance and strengths, tech costs, description of strategies used by you or the AI and how they succeeded, failed or were met is of strategic importance.

[LouLong]

The Boers are ready to strike while British reinforcements are still at sea, in Captown or even in Europe or India.
They must use this opportunity to strike a heavy blow.

[LouLong]

The Boers are ready to strike Ulundi, capital of the Zulus, allied to the British.

[LouLong]

Siege at Kimberley

[LouLong]

A new unit : the Bengal lancer

[LouLong]

A new unit : the Gatling brigade

[LouLong]

A new unit : the Kommando

[LouLong]

Reserved 12

[LouLong]

Reserved 13

[LouLong]

Reserved 14

[LouLong]

Reserved 15

[Pawel]

It sounds interesting. When will you post the files?

[Luddi VII]

Yes, I'm agree. Can't wait to try it out!

[The Last Conformist]

Waiting for the biq ...

[LouLong]

Uploaded done.

@ Luddi VII : yep, guess I made you wait too long. I got real lazy. BTW your new version of the Mughals seems real nice !

@ The Last Conformist : maybe we can start working on the Nile Gift ?

@ all : remember it is only a beta !