Anno Domini for Civ V

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Rob (R8XFT)

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Anno Domini was a mod I created - ad infinitum it seemed - and now I'm considering creating it for Civ V. There's a link to the Civ III game in my signature; all the leaderheads were created by myself. If the modding goes well, I'll convert the website to a Civ V one.

First off, a little about myself...after a house sale fell through recently (I'm okay about don't worry!) the two weeks I'd booked off for it in very late November/early December still have to be taken, so I thought as I'd nothing else to do, why not have a "good go" at getting the mod off the ground. Additionally, I'm looking for a project I can show that I've done and created a website for to support my chances of moving into a project environment at work - and the company I work for consider Civ to be a viable project!

So, back to Anno Domini. It's essentially an ancient-era mod, where civs you never even thought of playing, such as the Iceni, rub shoulders with the bigger civs like Rome. Each civ had a unique gameplay in Civ III and various buildings and techs were either civ-specific or culture-specific (e.g. available to all Celtic civs). Civ V seems to be more amenable to this approach and I'm keen to try out my Anno Domini tech tree in a Civ V game.

As I am an experienced Civ III artist, I'll be able to bring this into Civ V. I've attached a picture of my Civ III Teuta changed to a Civ V style. I hope you like the styling for this, i.e. the positioning and sizing, as this is what I aim to do for all future leaderheads I create. I am aware that others - principly Ambrox62 - has brought some ancient civs into Civ V and they're great; it's just that (as part of the project) I would like to bring in leaderheads of my own. It's actually the part I enjoy the most.

Please feel free to pass comments as to what you consider to be the size and scope of the Anno Domini Civ V project; should it have an era range that takes it to around 400AD or should it carry on until the middle ages? Should civs such as the Iceni be in it or should it be only more well-known civs? What do you think of my Angelina Jolie style Teuta?

Hope you're looking forward to this coming out as much as I'm looking forward to modding it!
 

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Are you just going for Europe/Mediterranean Africa/Middle East, or a world-wide approach?
 
Good luck with the mod. :) Hope it goes well.
 
Are you just going for Europe/Mediterranean Africa/Middle East, or a world-wide approach?
It's a good question, CivOasis. In Civ III, I went for the Europe/Mediterranean/Africa/Middle East approach and included Indian and Chinese civs. I have no problem at all going for a world-wide approach if that would be preferred, but would be interested in what people think.
 
I'd be interested in the worldwide view, there are some interesting and lesser-known civs out in the Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.
 
I'd be interested in the worldwide view, there are some interesting and lesser-known civs out in the Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.
I'm absolutely fine with that as long as they were around within the timescales of the mod and we can get some information on them. As an example, I was thinking of the Chavin, who are absolutely in the frame timewise. I don't know if they used terrace farming themselves, or if it came in later, but it would be nice to use the Incan improvement as a unique feature for them.
 
There were definitely cultures within that timeline.
However, there are a few catches with them (depending on how close to actual history you want to go):
Those that we know leaders for, not all of those leaders fall into the proper years (I.E., an empire may have last from 100 B.C. - 1000 A.D., but leaders might only be known after 500 A.D.)
Also, non-western cultures had drastically different technologies (I.E., Pre-columbian Americans often had impressive irrigation, but less advanced weaponry).
 
A brand new version of Cleopatra has been created today for the mod. Please let me know what you think of the leaderheads so far and if you feel that the positioning is about right; I've got them at the left of the screen rather than in the middle, but feel that it's right for these particular shots. This is the style of leaderhead that I aim to bring to the mod - and yes, I do male leaderheads as well - I know that the two so far have been female ones!
 

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I think they're great. Have you considered perhaps releasing the leaderheads for more people to use in their own mods?

I also guess...they're not animated? Just 2D stills? Do you 3D model them, then set them up for screenshot and add in your background?
 
I think they're great. Have you considered perhaps releasing the leaderheads for more people to use in their own mods?

I will do - but would like them to feature in Anno Domini first :). I am aiming to have the first version ready before Christmas.

They are not animated, hence the neutral expressions. I do 3D model them and add in the background; the Cleopatra one was a bit more complicated as the props in the background are actually props!
 
I will do - but would like them to feature in Anno Domini first :). I am aiming to have the first version ready before Christmas.

They are not animated, hence the neutral expressions. I do 3D model them and add in the background; the Cleopatra one was a bit more complicated as the props in the background are actually props!

Well they're great! I really enjoy them, you are a great 3D modeler and we definitely need someone like you in the Civ5 community.

Good luck once again. :D
 
^^^Exactly. I *think* there are only 2-3 other people in the community capable of making leaderheads, one of whom is currently inactive, one of whom is busy working on his own mods.
 
Not to critique, but why convert Cleopatra when you can use Ramesses?

It's all about doing my own thing for me and enjoying creating new leaderheads. I thought that if I did Cleopatra it would mean that firstly, there's an alternative out there to Ramesses (albeit a non-talking one); secondly, it would be good to get the leaderheads in the mod to all be of the same style.

As for the Civs definately in the mod? There will be Illyria and Egypt (as you can see from the artwork), along with old favourites Rome, Macedonia, Athens and Sparta. The Iceni and Gauls will definately be in the mix along with Carthage, Persia, Minoa, Troy, Punt, Epirus, Harappa and Brigantia. I will go for a world-wide approach if that's what is wanted, but will probably start with the aforementioned civs and build from there. There's a lot to achieve in the two-week break (I finish work on Nov 25th), so I want to get a version one up-and-running by the end of the two weeks then look to add more Civs after that.

Has anyone any thoughts as to the scope of the mod? When creating this in Civ III, I initially did "dawn of time" until around 1492. Whilst this gave the opportunity to bring in Civs such as the Normans and Saxons, it was viewed as being too broad a timescale. I reduced it so that it ended around 400AD, which seemed to suit the mod.
 
If you're just creating civs that are designed to coexist with the existing civs (ie all you're doing is creating a graphic, UA and 2 UU/UBs per civ and city names), then a global mod seems fine, but if you're doing a total conversion with a map and tech tree and new units, then I would recommend a much narrower focus.

World mods just don't play well, particularly given that they either need huge maps (which have runtime problems for many players) or have too much abstraction (eg 1 or 2 cities fit in Europe), and in any case tend not to work very well in terms of gameplay.
 
If you're just creating civs that are designed to coexist with the existing civs (ie all you're doing is creating a graphic, UA and 2 UU/UBs per civ and city names), then a global mod seems fine, but if you're doing a total conversion with a map and tech tree and new units, then I would recommend a much narrower focus.

World mods just don't play well, particularly given that they either need huge maps (which have runtime problems for many players) or have too much abstraction (eg 1 or 2 cities fit in Europe), and in any case tend not to work very well in terms of gameplay.

I'd agree with you there for the most part. I reckon what I need to do for the first version at least is to create a mod similar to my initial Civ III mod - based around the Mediterranean with some representation from Europe, Africa and India and then build from there. Anno Domini was always a random map mod, but I can see the potential for the Civ V version to have specific maps for scenarios based on historical events.
 
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