timerover51
Deity
My Modding Philosophy
Since I have on occasion caught a fair amount of flak for modifying the game, I thought that I would lay out my game modification philosophy and techniques, and invite comment on them. I am not by any means saying that this is the only correct way to modify the game, nor even saying that it is a good way to modify the game, I am only saying that this is why and how I do it. I started playing the basic game on an IMac in 2002, and did not exactly enjoy it, and the editor that I had was possibly the most unstable piece of Macintosh software I have ever dealt with. After buying Civilization 3 Complete for the Macintosh, I also purchased the version for Windows, and experimented with the Windows editor on my sons school laptop. As a consequence of that experience, I purchased an inexpensive Windows box from my sons high school to use for editing the Civilization 3 Complete game. Because of problems with the different way the Windows and Macintosh OS handle graphics and files, I have pretty much limited any changes to the game to strictly what can be done in the editor. I freely admit my indebtedness to TETurkhan for many of my game editing ideas.
My objective when modifying any game, be it computer, board, or miniature war game, is to produce something that I enjoy playing and that still represents a challenge. I am not that worried about play balance, feeling that when playing against the computer, play balance is not an issue. Human players are a different story.
With respect to Civilization 3 Complete, to produce a game that I enjoy playing that is not easy to win, I have four objectives.
1. Speed up the play of the game, through boosting resource and terrain yields, and technology advancement.
2. Reduce the affects of the corruption and pollution models.
3. Correct some of the historical inaccuracies of the game.
4. Modify, within the limits of the combat system, the unit combat ratings so as to allow higher technologically advanced units to gain a bigger benefit from the technology advancement.
1. In pursuit of my first objective, speeding up the play of the game, I have boosted the terrain yields of some of the tiles, principally the water ones (Coast, Sea, and Ocean), and increased the yields of all of the resources. The increases are not as drastic as some of those in TETurkhans Test of Time scenario, but they are sufficient to definitely speed up game play. I have the harbor, coastal fortress, commercial dock, and offshore platforms all set to increase trade, shields, and food in water, partly to offset the inability of the editor to increase land tile food yields beyond irrigating and roading. Some of the Wonders now increase trade, and in some cases, other values as well, along with placing a Wonder-appropriate building in every city. No Wonders go obsolete. To speed research up, the following Wonders all yield 2 free advances when built: The Great Library, Newtons University, the Theory of Evolution, and the Internet. Some Wonders now produce units on a periodic basis, and some produce leaders. The cumulative overall affects of the changes is that a well-located city, size limited to 16 to 21, produces all but the most expensive units in a single turn, and the most expensive units within 3 turns, assuming that accelerated production is selected. Research times are normally 4 turns, the minimum possible. The game moves much faster.
2. The corruption and pollution models have always seemed to me to be more than a bit overdone. I have attacked the corruption problem in two ways. First, a number of buildings, in addition to the courthouse and police station, act to reduce corruption. Second, a number of buildings, in addition to Wonders, produce Happy Faces, increasing the level of citizen satisfaction. Increasing the citizens happiness results in We Love the King days, which also reduce corruption. Combining the two results in a corruption level that is not excessive.
The pollution model is also attacked two ways. First, I have some buildings set to produce negative levels of pollution, which does greatly assist in controlling it, although it does mean that I have to build those buildings. Second, I have changed the town and city size settings so that I can achieve high levels of production without having to go to the Metropolis, thereby avoiding the problem of population pollution. I have also reduced the number of worker turns required to clean up pollution. Note, I have not reduced the worker turns to 1, as I do wish pollution to continue to be a problem for the AI.
3. With respect to correcting historical inaccuracies, that is an ongoing process as I encounter them. My one venture into adding a unit has been to give the Carthaginians the War Elephant as their unique unit, available with Horseback Riding. The Numidian mercenaries used by Carthage were actually light cavalry, with the heavy infantry spearmen coming from Carthages Spanish holdings. Curraghs now carry two passengers, which is about right in comparison to the galley. Berserkers now appear with Feudalism, and longbowmen with Engineering. I have increased the defensive bonuses of town, cities, metropolis, fortresses, and rivers, although not a much as I should have based on expected ammunition expenditures against various levels of fortification contained in some of my post World War 2 technical manuals. Taking a city should be difficult, but not impossible. Note, the AI gets the same benefits on defense, as I experience every time I attack a city. I loose tanks to spearmen in cities on a regular basis, which is about right. Mechanized Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) are just about the most hazardous type of operation possible for armored units.
4. Last, but not least, the modification of unit combat ratings is also an ongoing process or trial and error. I am a military and naval historian, with a large personal library of books covering military history and science from the time of the Sumerians to present day. I use that constantly, checking to see what anticipated average results should be verses what the game is producing. I also run tests using various miniature and board game units and rules that I view as reliable indicators of what should be happening and compare it to the game. I think that eventually, I will have a satisfactory set, but when that will occur, I have no idea. Much of my gaming is done on my Macintosh iBook laptop, as I need to keep my legs and feet elevated because of a disability which I incurred while serving in the US Army. My editing is done on the Windows desktop, so it is a matter of producing the edited biq file, moving it to my laptop, and then playing enough games to test the changes, noting what is working and what is not, and then going back to the Windows box. All this takes time.
The result of all of this is that I now have a game that I enjoy playing and find quite challenging. As the AI has full access to all of my changes as well, on a regular basis, I find my changes biting the hand that made them. That is part of the game challenge, beating my own creation.
Since I have on occasion caught a fair amount of flak for modifying the game, I thought that I would lay out my game modification philosophy and techniques, and invite comment on them. I am not by any means saying that this is the only correct way to modify the game, nor even saying that it is a good way to modify the game, I am only saying that this is why and how I do it. I started playing the basic game on an IMac in 2002, and did not exactly enjoy it, and the editor that I had was possibly the most unstable piece of Macintosh software I have ever dealt with. After buying Civilization 3 Complete for the Macintosh, I also purchased the version for Windows, and experimented with the Windows editor on my sons school laptop. As a consequence of that experience, I purchased an inexpensive Windows box from my sons high school to use for editing the Civilization 3 Complete game. Because of problems with the different way the Windows and Macintosh OS handle graphics and files, I have pretty much limited any changes to the game to strictly what can be done in the editor. I freely admit my indebtedness to TETurkhan for many of my game editing ideas.
My objective when modifying any game, be it computer, board, or miniature war game, is to produce something that I enjoy playing and that still represents a challenge. I am not that worried about play balance, feeling that when playing against the computer, play balance is not an issue. Human players are a different story.
With respect to Civilization 3 Complete, to produce a game that I enjoy playing that is not easy to win, I have four objectives.
1. Speed up the play of the game, through boosting resource and terrain yields, and technology advancement.
2. Reduce the affects of the corruption and pollution models.
3. Correct some of the historical inaccuracies of the game.
4. Modify, within the limits of the combat system, the unit combat ratings so as to allow higher technologically advanced units to gain a bigger benefit from the technology advancement.
1. In pursuit of my first objective, speeding up the play of the game, I have boosted the terrain yields of some of the tiles, principally the water ones (Coast, Sea, and Ocean), and increased the yields of all of the resources. The increases are not as drastic as some of those in TETurkhans Test of Time scenario, but they are sufficient to definitely speed up game play. I have the harbor, coastal fortress, commercial dock, and offshore platforms all set to increase trade, shields, and food in water, partly to offset the inability of the editor to increase land tile food yields beyond irrigating and roading. Some of the Wonders now increase trade, and in some cases, other values as well, along with placing a Wonder-appropriate building in every city. No Wonders go obsolete. To speed research up, the following Wonders all yield 2 free advances when built: The Great Library, Newtons University, the Theory of Evolution, and the Internet. Some Wonders now produce units on a periodic basis, and some produce leaders. The cumulative overall affects of the changes is that a well-located city, size limited to 16 to 21, produces all but the most expensive units in a single turn, and the most expensive units within 3 turns, assuming that accelerated production is selected. Research times are normally 4 turns, the minimum possible. The game moves much faster.
2. The corruption and pollution models have always seemed to me to be more than a bit overdone. I have attacked the corruption problem in two ways. First, a number of buildings, in addition to the courthouse and police station, act to reduce corruption. Second, a number of buildings, in addition to Wonders, produce Happy Faces, increasing the level of citizen satisfaction. Increasing the citizens happiness results in We Love the King days, which also reduce corruption. Combining the two results in a corruption level that is not excessive.
The pollution model is also attacked two ways. First, I have some buildings set to produce negative levels of pollution, which does greatly assist in controlling it, although it does mean that I have to build those buildings. Second, I have changed the town and city size settings so that I can achieve high levels of production without having to go to the Metropolis, thereby avoiding the problem of population pollution. I have also reduced the number of worker turns required to clean up pollution. Note, I have not reduced the worker turns to 1, as I do wish pollution to continue to be a problem for the AI.
3. With respect to correcting historical inaccuracies, that is an ongoing process as I encounter them. My one venture into adding a unit has been to give the Carthaginians the War Elephant as their unique unit, available with Horseback Riding. The Numidian mercenaries used by Carthage were actually light cavalry, with the heavy infantry spearmen coming from Carthages Spanish holdings. Curraghs now carry two passengers, which is about right in comparison to the galley. Berserkers now appear with Feudalism, and longbowmen with Engineering. I have increased the defensive bonuses of town, cities, metropolis, fortresses, and rivers, although not a much as I should have based on expected ammunition expenditures against various levels of fortification contained in some of my post World War 2 technical manuals. Taking a city should be difficult, but not impossible. Note, the AI gets the same benefits on defense, as I experience every time I attack a city. I loose tanks to spearmen in cities on a regular basis, which is about right. Mechanized Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) are just about the most hazardous type of operation possible for armored units.
4. Last, but not least, the modification of unit combat ratings is also an ongoing process or trial and error. I am a military and naval historian, with a large personal library of books covering military history and science from the time of the Sumerians to present day. I use that constantly, checking to see what anticipated average results should be verses what the game is producing. I also run tests using various miniature and board game units and rules that I view as reliable indicators of what should be happening and compare it to the game. I think that eventually, I will have a satisfactory set, but when that will occur, I have no idea. Much of my gaming is done on my Macintosh iBook laptop, as I need to keep my legs and feet elevated because of a disability which I incurred while serving in the US Army. My editing is done on the Windows desktop, so it is a matter of producing the edited biq file, moving it to my laptop, and then playing enough games to test the changes, noting what is working and what is not, and then going back to the Windows box. All this takes time.
The result of all of this is that I now have a game that I enjoy playing and find quite challenging. As the AI has full access to all of my changes as well, on a regular basis, I find my changes biting the hand that made them. That is part of the game challenge, beating my own creation.
