[MOD] ZB Sengoku Jidai (BTS)

[Zen Blade]

[update at the bottom of this post with information and images]

New mod covering the Japanese civil war period, the Sengoku Jidai.

Samurai, clans, armies, enjoy. I hope to have additional updates in the future. Please let me know about your thoughts, comments, suggestions. There are a number of additional changes (with or without python) that I would like to make. So far all the changes are simple XML editing.
Desired additional changes include increasing the number of clans (I had errors when attempting to incorporate the expanded civs mods), making daimyo (clan leader)-specific units that are national and thus limited to one at a time, better aggression by a couple of the clans, bigger role of religion (this has been difficult to install), etc...

The modpack should be put into the BTS mods. The WBS file (ZB Sengoku Jidai 1.00) should be put into the "saves" folder and within the "World Builder Folder" there to see the pre-made scenario.
Please take a look at the readme file.

Link to Civfanatics: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downlo...=file&id=11433

Update1:
General info about the modpack and the scenario within.

The scenario should be placed in the public maps

The modpack features many changes to various XML files. Some of the changes were carried over from previous mods (please look at the readme file to see which ones). Other changes were made by me. Changes include:

Unit strengths, costs, and other characteristics to balance game play. ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT is the increase chance of retreating from combat. Every unit has a % chance to retreat, and many retreat % are over 25%. This was done to symbolize the fact that most battles don't wipe out an enemy force. If you want to finish the enemy, you need to mop up survivors who are fleeing. There are many other changes including tech requirements, graphics (from other other mods), and some which I know that I am forgetting.

The starting units often contain greater experience/abilities and many represent units commanded by a significant general of the time period. These units are not replaceable at this point in time.

Game time has been changed to months. I had wanted to do seasons, and then change to months during later years, but I was not able to make this happen. Thus, each turn symbolizes one month.

Diplomacy modifiers have been substantially changed. The positive aspects of the same religion have been reduced. This was done since virtually everyone was a Buddhist. However, you can have Christianity, Buddhism, or Shinto as your official religion. Oda Nobunaga was symbolically chosen to be Shinto to represent his conflict with many of the religious sects at this time. This also helps to increase tension between him and the other Daimyos. Other changes have been made to increase the chance that war will break out between the different clans.

The threshold to receive Open Borders has been altered. For most clans it is far more difficult to get them to agree to such an agreement. This was largely done to cut down on the unrealistic occurrence of one civilization traveling halfway across the map to explore/go to war. The threshold for becoming a vassal has been largely reduced. As the scenario progresses, you will find that there will be 2-4 different clusters of computer or computer-human Clans/Vassals. This is a good historical representation of what happened during this time period. Independent lords often entered into a form of vassalage with a stronger lord. They often maintained a degree of independence, but they were not on equal footing.

Clans: Many of the leader skins and the clans were already designed in the previous versions. I have changed some leader names to include the most famous or competent leader of a clan, even if the time period is off slightly. I have also included 5 new clans: Ryuzoji, Miyoshi, Matsunaga, Imagawa, and Satake. These go along with the previous clan: Shimazu, Otomo, Mori, Chosokabe, Oda (nobunaga), Oda (Toyotomi), Azai/Asakura, Tokugawa, Takeda, Uesugi, Hojo, and Date.
If someone is able to get one of the mods that allows for more players to work with this mod/map, let me know and I will be glad to include more clans. I had originally wanted to go with about 20-25 clans, but that I was never able to get compatibility with my files.
Also, the Matsunaga and Oda (Toyotomi) start the game as vassals of the Miyoshi and Oda (Nobunaga), respectively. These two large clans are at war to start the game. I have made non-historical starting positions for the starting date. The Oda did not push into Kyoto (the capital of the country) until later, but this starting position makes for a better scenario. A similar thing can be said about the existence of certain leaders who were already dead by the start year, 1565.

The clans contained within the game vary from large holdings of multiple provinces to clans that control a single province. This variety allows for re playability and for you to find the type of gameplay that best suits you. Do you want a small, confined clan that must struggle and build up? Or do you want an expansive clan ready to crush all of its neighbors?

Great people: I have slowed the generation of great people, while increasing the generation of great generals. The list of great generals has been dramatically lengthened. The names are all real samurai from the period. Check out http://www.samurai-archives.com/ for more history.

Culture: Culture flipping should not happen. Revolts will happen, and requests to join the motherland will also occur. I have found that giving cities to a new vassal can be quite productive.

War: The computer isn't quite as intelligent/aggressive as I would have liked, but it seems to do a fair job. I think this scenario would be a great multiplayer scenario.

Technology: There are a few important techs, but most techs are not particularly useful. Players have access to most units from the beginning of the game. Additional changes to the tech trade will be made later, but for now there are only a couple of units that can be yielded from the tech tree.

I'm sure I have missed some of the changes.
UPDATE 2:
Images are now attached below:

Thanks,
-Zen Blade

[T_KCommanderbly]

Looks very nice, may want more info, to what were downloading but the picture looks great. downloading now :P

[PPQ_Purple]

Why don't you upload it to the archives here? Not that stupid Atomic gamer website.

[Zen Blade]

Originally Posted by PPQ_Purple

Why don't you upload it to the archives here? Not that stupid Atomic gamer website.

The file is over 100 mb. I didn't think single files that large could be hosted here. The page I read over made it sound like the modpack need to be uploaded elsewhere.

Is this incorrect?

-Zen Blade

[ono-neko]

Hello,

Any chance you put up info on what's changes you've made for this mod?

Thanks!

[Kalimakhus]

Japanese civil war period is always an interesting theme. I wish you good luck with this mod.
I am still waiting for the download to start but I already have some minor remarks:
1 - More info in the first post and some screen shots would encourage more people to download and try the mod.
2 - In the download page of CFC the file size is said to be 1.02 GB. Besides being wrong it is quite disheartening. I mean many will avoid such a large download. You should record the right size which is about 112 MB.
3 - Scenario WBS file doesn't need to go into save folder. It should be under your mod's folder in PublicMaps folder.

[Zen Blade]

Thanks for the quick comments. I am addressing them currently.

I have updated size to be more accurate. I will try to get more screen shots and to include more data in the first post.
I will try to list changes, but there are lots of changes addressing units and the balancing of units as well as in computer-computer diplomacy. Many other facets have been changed.

Also, please look at the readme file for details regarding what mods this one borrows (heavily) from.

-Zen Blade

[PPQ_Purple]

Just a question. Where did you get the entrance theme? I know what it is, but where did you download it from?

[Zen Blade]

Originally Posted by PPQ_Purple

Just a question. Where did you get the entrance theme? I know what it is, but where did you download it from?

I believe the theme is from Geekmasterflash's mod:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=251173

The entrance originally has a different backdrop, but for some reason the entrance was not compatible with the most recent update. And as such, I kept the theme music, but just left out the graphics. The same thing goes for some of the original unit graphics. If anyone knows how to fix the problem, I would be more than happy to restore the original entrance.

-Zen Blade

[Ekmek]

awesome - I'm going to check this out.

[Ekmek]

I notice that Sorin and Urijasu leaderheads don't work.

Also there are a lot of tokugawa reskins. YOu can add my Jingu leaderhead for diversity and if I have time I think I'll make some civ4 lhs wear tokugawa's robe to add some diversity.

[Zen Blade]

Sounds good Ekmek. I haven't done any of the reskinning. So what is there is from previous mods. If you have any recommendations for better or new reskins, let me know and I will put them in where applicable.

Also, the Ryuzoji clan leader is currently a woman (needs to change) and the Satake leader is just a default skin from Civ IV. As I care more about gameplay, and less about aesthetics, I left these for later changes. So, if you make any recommendations, I'll fix them all at the same time.

-Zen Blade

[ono-neko]

Thanks for the mod and adding weath of info in the first post.

I've downloaded the mod but haven't played it (I am at work atm), but I got several questions:
1) I noticed that the map includes Korea. Is Korea part of the game?
2) Can you create settle to found new city, or raze existing city? I may guess "no" for both answers, but would like to know if it's the case.

[Zen Blade]

Originally Posted by ono-neko

Thanks for the mod and adding weath of info in the first post.

I've downloaded the mod but haven't played it (I am at work atm), but I got several questions:
1) I noticed that the map includes Korea. Is Korea part of the game?
2) Can you create settle to found new city, or raze existing city? I may guess "no" for both answers, but would like to know if it's the case.

1. Korea is in the game (because of the map), but is not a focus of the game.
2. Settlers are not in the game. You can not raze cities. The reason for the first is that the computer loves to spend resources on non-practical assets. The reason for the second is that each city represents a province, and as such the provinces cannot be burned down.

-Zen Blade

[strategyonly]

I hope my Japanese mod and the Shogun one helped you out, i was thinking of redoing my Japanese one, but that would take too long since it was a huge project to begin with.

[Kalimakhus]

First of all thanks for fleshing out the first post.

After downloading I noticed the reason why WBS files placed in the mod's PublicMaps folder don't show up in the list of scenarios. You only need to remove the space between Public and maps.

I started a game with the scenario and I should say it looks quite interesting. First minor problem I had was that as the "Require complete Kill" option was turned on, I needed to hunt down a single lousy work boat for several turns to completely kill some AI Clan. Of course I might just have ignored it.
Second issue is rather a weird one. I am laying siege on one clan's capitol. The defense value for the city is 150%. I tried lowering the defense by bombarding using about ten Trebs but I wasn't able to get it down no matter how many times I bombard it!!!. Bombardment worked quite well with several cities before this one.

[ono-neko]

Finally I am able to play it. Hopefully I'll be able to provide feedback soon!

I like how there's kanji "Nippon" on the lower right corner of the map

Oh... I just started with Oda Nobunaga, and in the city building list, I see "Oda Yari Ashigaru" being repeated twice. So, one same unit is listed twice as if they were two different units.

[NotRob]

I love the idea of the mod,when it works for me.

I'm getting CTDs often. Any issues you are already aware of?

[Zen Blade]

NotRob,

What turns are you getting CTDs? And are the CTDs a result of some action that you are taking, or are they just occurring during the turn phase (when you are waiting on AI movements)? And how many CTDs (distinct turns/games) are you getting?

Some CTDs (which were solved) were a result of unit images that weren't rendering properly. It may be that you are at a later point in the game and some unit, which is not always built has been built.

There was one outstanding CTD that happened later (~turn 100-150?). If you reverted to autosave the crash often happened again, but when I went back 6 turns, the crash disappeared and didn't reoccur. This CTD only happened during two distinct games, and I am not sure if it was caused by the same problem or not.

Please give me some details, and I will see what i can find. If anyone else is having similar problems, let me know. Also, let me know what patch update you are using.

thanks,
-Zen Blade

[CurryAztec]

When I played it, it doesn't start out as all the clans in their certain places on the japanese islands, theyre randomly generated. Is that because I played the first version or something?