[size=+2]The New Features[/size]
[size=+1]Revolution[/size]
Revolutions can now occur in your empire. Revolutions occur when you badly manage your empire. This can lead to a civil war inside your empire with a rival faction forming and massing military units inside your empire. They will try to take over the cities that are in Revolution state. If they manage to capture cities. They can form a new civilization. There is a new icon top right hand corner that displays a picture of Che Guevara, this is where the revolution information can be seen. But do not panic, you get several warnings and options to try and prevent Revolutions from occuring...
Each city now has a revolution Index, The higher it gets the chance of revolution increases. Things that can increase Revolution index are : War, Distance from Capital, Religeon, Civics, Units, Losing Wars, Starvation etc! There are also events that can decrease your Revolution index like : Wonders, Winning wars, Religeon etc.
Sample Pictures
[size=+1]Lead From Behind[/size]
This game feature re-evaluates which unit will defend when you attack a stack or city. Valuable units like Generals and highly promoted units are now much less likely to be the first to defend. They now lead from behind!
[size=+1]Inquistions[/size]
You can now remove religeons from your cities! Thanks the the Inquistor unit! But beware, It can cause temporary unhappiness and increases your revolution index...
[size=+1]Barbarian Civilizations[/size]
Barbarian cities that grow big enough can now form new civilizations. They will first form a minor civilization and then once they are still progressing after a certain amount of turns they will flourish into a brand new civilization.
[size=+1]Influence Driven War[/size]
My personal favourite. This game option makes boarders change according to military victories that occur on tiles. So basically if you win battles on an enemy controlled tile you will gain X amount of possession percent of that tile. Simulating real life where armies gain control of lands after destroying their enemies!
Example, If you are persian and attack a greek unit on a tile that is 53% greek and 47% persian and WIN, you will gain percentage off the greek 53%, and this may be enough to sway the tile in your favor so you own it.
[size=+1]Improved Global Warming[/size]
Prolonged Nuclear exchanges now cause nuclear winter and pollution to drop from the skies. Terrain will no longer change to desert immediately. When global warming first strikes, it removes forests/jungers -> Removes ice -> Tundra to Grassland -> Grassland to plains -> Plains to Desert. Or alternatively the opposite way around in some areas, Ice freezes over etc.
Select Rising Seas on Custom Game menu for this improved global warming.
[size=+1]Realistic Diplomacy[/size]
Computer now considers friends as civilizations it is Friendly with, not pleased.
The below are no longer permenant modifiers in diplomacy. They will decrease their negative effect over a certain amount of turns.
You nuked our friend
You nuked us
You razed our cities
You declared war on us
You declared war on our friend
You razed our holy city
You spy was caught causing trouble
You brought in a war ally against us
[size=+1]Events with Images[/size]
Now everytime an event occurs for you, a pop up window will occur showing a image of what the event is about. You may for example have a image of an exploding volcano and the options you have available to you. Pure graphical change, no effect on gameplay.
[size=+1]BUG and BULL[/size]
There is a little Ladybird icon in the top left hand corner while in game. Click this will bring up a menu that allows you to pretty much customize every advisor, game options and the information available to you that Firaxis did not allow you to see. Its really amazing what you can do with this. Its great for micro managing your empire to get complete efficiency.
[size=+1]Better AI[/size]
The computer is now more intelligent, plans better military campaigns, understands diplomacy and better manages its empire. Be carefull, you may need to drop a difficulty.
[size=+1]New Diplomacy Option[/size]
When you enter into the diplomacy screen with another civilization, you now have the option to Refuse to talk. They do it to you, You can now do it to them. Stops them hassling you for trades and demands
[size=+1]Super Spies[/size]
Spies now have the ability to gain promotions when built and gain experience after successfull missions.
[size=+1]Culturally Diverse City Styles[/size]
A vast improvement on Firaxis graphics for cities. Cities from asian, european, arabic, south american...etc civilizations are now much more diverse and look superb.
So how does this all fit together is a question you must be asking yourself. Standard Beyond the Sword heavily lacks a modern era that represents our present day. There is much Firaxis missed out, well this mod corrects that. The technology tree is revamped and allows for a smoother progression through the ages. With new technologies comes new units, Not all the units listed below can be built the same time. The upgrade routes of units are now much more in detail which allows for a smoother progression when you are playing. You will find the World War One and Two eras have more features and Post World War Two to present day is particularly special in this mod. Extra care has gone into making sure everything is balanced correctly and you do not get overloaded with too much information and units. The future era has also been expanded upon the Next War mod that came with Beyond the Sword.
An excellent addition are the modern troops which can enter chinook transport helicopters and can be dropped in and out of hotzones quickly, back them up with the mighty AC130 Gunship and it can give you decisive victories. Gone are the days of spamming as many tanks as possible, Wars now require thought and a diverse army. Specials forces and modern infantry forces that posses new promotions like the javelin missile can stop tanks in their tracks. All is not lost for the tanks and mechanical vehicles, they too get new promotional options like Thermal Imaging. Some units may have a limit to how many can be built for the sake of balance, once you reach that limit you will be able to build the previous version of the unit that had been replaced.
New Units
Air
- F15
- Mig
- Strike Fighter
- Harrier Jump Jet
- B52
- Stealth Fighter
- A10 Thunderbolt
- UAV Spy Drone
- A10 Thunderbolt
- and many more!
...
Land
- Modern Marine
- Modern Infantry
- Modern Paratrooper
- Special Forces
- Heroic Special Forces
- Transport Chinook
- Apache Attack Helicopter
- M1 Abram Modern Armor (American unique unit)
- Magach Modern Armor (Israeli unique unit)
- Biological Missile
- Humvee
- and many more!
...
Sea
- Littoral Class Battleship
- Nuclear Submarine
- Fusion Submarine
- Cruiser
- and many more!
...
New Civilizations
All with Unique buildings, units and animated leaderheads
- Apache
- Arawak
- Argentina
- Congo
- Cuba
- Iran
- Iraq
- Iroquois
- Israel
- Milaysia
- Moche
- Pakistan
- Poland
- Vietnam
New Leaders for Existing Civs
- Hirohito (Japan)
- Hitler (Germany)
- Kim Jong Il (Korea)
- Phillip II (Spain)
- Ronald Regan (America)
- Xerxes (Persia)
- Cetshwayo (Zulu)
Civics
- Democracy
- Communism
- Facism
- Liberalism
- Parliament
- Presidential
- Republic
- Senate
- Regulated Markets
- Marxist
- Some original civics altered
Wonders
- Area 51
- Theory Of Evolution
- World Trade Center
- Big Ben
- Cure for Cancer (Gives 5 tradeable cancer cures)
- World Bank
- BBC
- Autobahn
- Leaning Tower of Pisa
- World News Network
- Brandenburg Gate
- Fort Knox (National)
- Communication Satellites (National)
- Research Center (National)
- Disease Control (National)
Resources
- Apple
- Bison
- Cocoa
- Cotton
- Diamond
- Hemp
- Natural Gas (Provides power with new Gas Plant)
- Olives
- Opium
- Potato
- Salt
- Shrimp
- Tea
- Tobacco
Promotions
- Javelin Missile
- Urban Tactics I + II
- Thermal Imaging
- Laser Guided Bombs
- Heat Seeking Bombs
- Chaff
- Improved Radar
- Spy Promotions (Yes thats right, Spies now gain promotions)
- And some more!
...
Technologies
Newly added techs to improve the modern era and future era technology trees.