CivSpecific Mod

Erebras

Erebras

Prince
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The CivSpecific Mod gives each civilization units that reflect its culture-group. For example, European civs use longships and wolfs-head swordsmen (the default swordsman). Mediterranean civs use galleasses and cataphracts. Asian civs use junks and horse archers. Every effort has been made to use units already available in other scenario folders that come with the game(s) to minimize the amount of downloading and installing.

The CivSpecific Mod involves more than changing appearances, however. New civilization advances have been added. New units have been added, most notably the lines of naval power and naval transport units added to pre-industrial navies, and infantry for the medieval periods, The mod has kept the "generic flavor" of the default game, while altering certain aspects for the sake of game balance. Since it's still a mod dealing with all of human history instead of a specific point in time, you won't find highly-detailed distinctions among the units, such as a dozen different WWII-era tanks or a man-at-arms for each European nation. All I've really done is kept the foot-knights out of the New World and Renaissance pikemen out of the Dark Ages (don't take this too literally; it's an oversimplification!).

Most importantly, CivSpecific's unique features and changes can be found in the Civilopedia under Game Concepts, to reorient the player to what is different about this mod to avoid any nasty surprises later. ("Whatdya mean I can't build FLAK units?! I love those things!") You will find similar notices in several of the Civilopedia main headings, appearing in the first of the list of units and tech advances, for example.
 
Extract or unzip them to the Conquests Scenarios folder. This does NOT include Units or leader FLICs. Those will be uploaded separately.

Please note: This mod presumes you have Play The World and Conquests installed on your computer. The units in this mod reference units found in PTW's Extras folder (Medieval Japan, World War II). If you do not have these available, you will receive a FILE NOT FOUND error message for those units you do not have in your Firaxis folder.

Additional installation instructions and corrections are found in post #11, below.

The scenario folder and .biq can be downloaded at http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=23217.

You will also need the following three Units files:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=23218
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=23219
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=23220

There are three new leaderheads for China, France, and India. Please see posts #7 through #9, below.
 
Here are two of the three files that are extracted to the Units folder in the Art folder in the scenario folder CivSpecific.

Part One: Armed Junk to Dhow
Part Two: Elephant to Medieval Infantry
Part Three: Medieval Infantry American to Xebec

UPDATE: The units files have been uploaded to the database. See the previous post for the links.
 
This is Part Three of the three-part upload of CivSpecific's units.

UPDATE: The units files have been uploaded to the database. Please see the previous post for the links.
 
...the following persons without whose submissions this mod would not be possible:

Spoiler :
FW-190 (Industrial Age Bomber) Wyrmshadow
Iroquois Brave Kinboat
Bombard (Medieval Cannon) Aaglo
Cataphract (Knight equiv.) Sandris
Crossbowman (Longbowman equiv.) Kinboat, CamJH, utahjazz7, Plotinus, Sandris
Macedonian Elephant utahjazz7
Sopwith Triplane (Industrial Age Fighter) Wyrmshadow
Fantasy Swordsman (Medieval Infantry) themanuneed
Tecpacuauhtli (Medieval Infantry equiv.) utahjazz7
Grizzly Warrior (Pikeman equiv.) Kinboat
Mesoamerican Spearman Kinboat
Achilles (Swordsman equiv.) Kinboat
FT-17 (Industrial Age Tank) Wyrmshadow
War Junk Aaglo
Elven Spearman (medieval spearman) Kinboat
Corsair Aaglo
Moonsail Caravel (Medieval Warship/Transport) Kinboat
Cargo Ship (Industrial Transport) Hunter
Cargo Junk Aaglo
Roman Cataphract (Mediterranean/Middle Eastern Knight) ???
Dhow (Ancient Warship) Orthanc
Etruscan War Chariot BeBro, Lorenzarius
Junk (Fuchuan Warship) Aaglo
LaReale Galleass (Medieval Warship) Aaglo
Resized Corsair (Medieval Warship/Transport) Aaglo, Smoking Mirror
Immortals Spearman (Persian spearman) Sandris
Recolored Junk (Ancient Warship/Transport) TVA22, pdescobar
Kublai-Khan Ship (Medieval Transport) Aaglo
Viking Longboat (Ancient Transport) CivArmy s. 1994
Caravel Arrow Attack (Medieval Transport) Grandraem
Numidian Horseman (Carthaginian horseman) Sandris
Stryker ICV (Mechanized Infantry) Bjornlo
Roman Trireme Aaglo
Tekkousen Aaglo
Barbary Corsair Orthanc
Napoleon I (King France leaderhead) ShiroKobbure
Asoka (King India leaderhead) ShiroKobbure
Li Shi Min (King China leaderhead) embryodead & Firaxis

(If someone could help me fill in the blanks, I'd appreciate it, although in all likelihood I've already thanked the unit creator for something else.)
 
Keep in mind the following changes which may be critical to your strategy:
Spoiler :
* No Expansionistic tribes. I find it too unbalancing to have a civ be able to meet friendly barbarians in the Stone Age giving them free techs every time they hit a goody hut. If the Flintstones were historically accurate, I'd take a less dim view.
* Spanish Conquistadors do not treat all terrain as roads. They create Explorers when they prevail in battle.
* Chasqui scouts are weak for their era. They receive Radar as some compensation.
* Iroquois unique unit is now the Brave, a foot unit similar to the default Jaguar Warrior.
* American unique unit is the Marine. Other civs train Naval Infantry. (Arguably, the Golden Age for the United States was not the 1970s and 1980s, the era of the F-150 jet fighter, which as a unique unit is rather underpowered in game terms and late in coming.)
* TOW Infantry shows up later, with the Smart Weapons advance. Rocketry was developed during WWII, and tube-launched missiles were not present at the Battle of the Bulge or in Stalingrad.
* Values have drastically changed. A Roman Legionary is now similar to the default Immortals. A Greek Hoplite is now similar to the default Carthaginian mercenary. Persian Immortals units are not swordsmen, but have an extra hit point, and a Swiss Mercenary is like the default Roman Legionary; both of these units defend and attack equally well.
* New Unit: a civ with access to Ivory but not Iron can make Elephants which function as a default Swordsman but with less defense and with an extra hit point (which, by the way, is the new value for Gallic Swordsman, as well). A civ that can ride horses does not train Elephants, too.
* New Unit: with Military Tradition, if a civ has access to Horses but not Saltpeter, the advance is still valuable in that it allows a fast mounted unit similar to the light cavalry the Chivalry advance grants, and the civ doesn't need Iron to train them.
* Scouts are no longer sitting ducks. They have a -2 hit point penalty and cannot fortify, but they have a fighting chance against unfriendly barbarians they stumble upon.
* Explorers have increased utility. They can build colonies and build outposts. I doubt the AI can take advantage of this, but when was the last time you saw a computer-controlled Explorer?
* No FLAK units: The Civil Defense has an anti-air rating. Mobile SAM units can still be built as in a normal game.
* Railroad (requiring Iron and Coal) terrain improvements are now Superhighways, requiring Oil and Rubber. This worker job becomes available near the end of the Industrial Age (third era).
* The new uses of the graphics can be confusing, but there is rhyme and reason. An ancient era Swordsman will be unarmored, whereas an armored swordsman will be Medieval Infantry or its unique unit equivalent (such as the Japanese samurai or Viking berserker), and the default Explorer graphic is used for Medieval Infantry still running around in the Industrial Age (in case you were wondering, CivSpecific explorers wear fancy hats and carry a spyglass; they don't have plumed helmets and rapiers).
 
Here is the animated leaderhead for France's leader, King Louis. It is a two-part download (CivFanatics limits rar sizes to <10MB), but simply create a Flics file in the Art folder in the scenario folder CivSpecific and extract the contents there. They are named JO_xx because they replace the Joan of Arc animation used in the default game. (This is also why, if you don't extract this, when you load the scenario, it plays fine, but the leader for France will say he's Louis, but look like a warrior-princess, instead. He kind of did anyway, but you know what I mean...)

:king:
 
Here is the animated leaderhead for France's leader, King Louis. It is a two-part download (CivFanatics limits rar sizes to <10MB), but simply create a Flics file in the Art folder in the scenario folder CivSpecific and extract the contents there. They are named JO_xx because they replace the Joan of Arc animation used in the default game. (This is also why, if you don't extract this, when you load the scenario, it plays fine, but the leader for France will say he's Louis, but look like a warrior-princess, instead.)

:king:
 
:king:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=74906

This is Li Shi Min uploaded by embryodead. He is used for the leader of China -- Emperor Taizong -- instead of Mao. But if you do not load the animations, he will say he is Taizong, but look like Chairman Mao. Either way, it's no big deal and the game works fine with or without the Li Shi Min animation. (If you do use him, be sure to install the flics in the Flics folder in CivSpecific's Art folder, and rename them as MO_xx.)

:king:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=154990

This is Asoka of India as created by ShiroKobbure. He is used for the leader of India -- Chandragupta -- instead of Gandhi. But if you do not load the animations, he will say he is Chandragupta, but look like Mohandas Gandhi. Either way, it's no big deal and the game works fine with or without the Asoka animation. (If you do use him, be sure to install the flics in the Flics folder in CivSpecific's Art folder, and rename them as GH_xx.)
 
There are no more files to be downloaded (but see Post #11, of course). The mod is ready to play. Let me know what you think, or if you encounter any error messages or find something I've overlooked. Every modder knows after a while everything starts to grow dim as your eyes cross and roll in the back of your head...:ack:
 
Any discovered issues and conflicts will be resolved here.

Spoiler :
* The animated leaderhead for the Dutch is correct, but the icon in the Diplomacy advisor shows King Louis of the French.
* The animation for Medieval Infantry is that of the Pikeman unit. It should be a chainmail-clad spearman, as shown in the Civilopedia.
* The animation for Infantry is that of the Industrial Age musketman.
* Railway stations cannot be built on rivers. (The "grows beyond size six" flag needs to be removed.)
* FILE NOT FOUND: Grand Battery
* FILE NOT FOUND: Light Tank wav file(s).
* Agriculture does not enable irrigation without fresh water as described (the enable flag needs to be checked). [The most recent BIQ in post #2 corrects this.]
*Alchemy has 0 cost. In CivEdit the value should be 34.
* Animism is not set as prerequisite for Polytheism. [The most recent BIQ in post #2 corrects this.]
* FILE NOT FOUND: Light Tank
* Portugal cannot build Swordsman. (Unit needs to be highlighted.) [The most recent BIQ in post #2 corrects this.]
* America cannot build Jet Fighter. (Unit needs to be highlighted.)
* Early ships cannot enter Ocean, but European ones could. [The most recent BIQ in post #2 corrects this.]
* Safe sea/ocean trade/travel was not quite enabled appropriately. [The most recent BIQ in post #2 corrects this.]

Solution: Delete "x2_William advisor" from the Advisors folder in CivSpecific's Art folder. Replace the Pediaicons file in CivSpecific's Text folder with this one. Replace the Armored Spearman folder in the Units folder in CivSpecific's Art folder with this one. Copy and paste the Nap_Infantry folder and the Grand Battery folder in the Units folder from the Napoleonic Europe conquest into CivSpecific's Units folder: you need both Napoleonic Infantry and Nap_Infantry for the scenario. The entry in PediaIcons for "#ANIMNAME_PRTO_Infantry" should read "NapoleonicInfantry" so that the musketman and infantryman do not share the same animation graphic. Copy and paste the the Light Tank folder in Units in the WWII in the Pacific conquest into the Tank Industrial Age folder in the Units folder in CivSpecific. "CTRL-click" America in the list of Available to: civilizations that can build the Jet Fighter unit using CivEdit; alternatively, instead of CTRL-clicking America you can rehighlight the entire list of civs in the Available to: box (start below A Barbarian Chiefdom and scroll to the bottom of the box; every civ should highlight blue). Un-highlight Wheeled for Dhow and Junk in CivEdit. Ensure the proper flag (Enables Trade Over xxx Tiles) is checked: Astronomy and Magnetism for sea, Economics and Navigation for ocean.


Currently, the only issues discovered are, firstly, that the Junk naval unit needs to have the Sinks In Sea and Sinks in Ocean flags highlit in the Editor. Be sure to press CTRL while mouse-clicking these so you don't reset the other flags in the Editor. The current BIQ (CivSpecific2014) does not address this issue, so please correct the BIQ manually. Secondly, the Democracy advance has two rather minor errors: the advance should require both Nationalism and Classicism, and the advance is not required for era advancement (check the first box in the Flags section of the page).


Note: When the original download is updated, these changes will be incorporated. This is a temporary fix for now.

If you have downloaded the mod from the database using the links above, there is no need to download the two files attached to this post.

The following issues need to be corrected, even if the database files were installed:

File Not Found: Allied Carrier. Solution: Copy and paste Allied Carrier folder from units folder in WWII in the Pacific conquest to the units folder in CivSpecific.

Graphics Error: The Merchantman should have an arrow attack. Copy and paste the four flcs (default, run, death, fidget) -- not the attack -- from the default Civ III Caravel unit folder to the Merchantman folder in CivSpecific units folder. If you don't do this, the Merchantman will work, but it will be indistinguishable from the vessel that has cannon.
 
EDIT: Please ignore this post, I found the file that is the subject of the error message I've highlighted below. If I was able to delete the entire thing I would but I cannot find the button to delete it.

Got an error message for you. Playing as the Americans, just researched Nationalism which allows me to upgrade my pikemen to infantry but when I do the following message is coming up:

Load Error

FILE NOT FOUND

Art\Units\Nap_Infantry\Nap_Infantry.INI

I've looked at the unit files required for this mod that you've uploaded and that unit type is not included in them, nor can I find it in the Extras folder of PTW in the WWII folder and I am unsure if it is available on the forums here or not. Just thought I should post so you know about this issue, I don't believe it is a game breaker as such unless the riflemen upgrade also has the same issue; something I won't know about until I get to that point in the game.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or instructions to overcome the issue.
 
I believe the Nap_Inf unit is called the Musketman in the Napoleonic Europe scenario in Conquests. Since it shares the same name as the default Musketman, I could not tell the scenario to look for a Musketman elsewhere (I believe it would just look for the first musketman it came across, rather than looking in the Napoleonic Europe folder for the unit there). My solution -- such that it is -- was to put an INI file in the Scenario folder to tell the game where to look.

Thanks for the feedback, Jakob.
 
...would you provide some feedback? I'm not looking for praise or gratitude -- so please don't misunderstand -- but rather I am wanting suggestions or criticisms to further tweak this CivSpecific mod. My brother and I have been playtesting it, and I've come to a few conclusions.
1) I like the new graphics, especially the transitional ones. For example, I like that the musketman goes from a Spanish-style arquebusier in the Middle Ages to a Napoleonic-era militiaman in the Industrial Age. In the default game, one could go straight from having musketeers (Athos, Porthos, Aramis...) to WWII infantrymen simply by not researching Nationalism, bypassing the War of 1812 and the American Civil War altogether in one fell swoop. I like that this kind of fixes this.
2) I thought that Classical Republic would still be appealing to research in the Ancient Times, but since Monarchy is on the track to it, once it is researched, it's no longer worth the effort to go on and research Sovereignty and then Classical Republic, despite its advantages. This is historical: most ancient and medieval governments weren't republican, but still...
3) A similar thing exists with Monotheism. The Clergyman specialist doesn't work at reducing corruption as described, seemingly, so I'm going to just turn it into a straight corruption-reducer like a Policeman rather than also make it increase science, too. (EDIT: The Clergyman does work as described, so it remains as is.) Also, since Monotheism isn't required for era advancement, once Polytheism is researched, it's "on to the next." I don't know how to make the advance more desirable. I've toyed with the idea of a Wonder that doubles the effects of temples or increases happiness, and I may yet go that route.

So, what do you think? Has anyone played it enough to find something that makes them say, "Hmmmm...."?
 
I noticed a couple of things I'm not sure what I think of them.

1) Scouts have a defense of 1. They upgrade to a defense 0 Explorer. I'm wondering if the Explorer should have some sort of nominal defense like the Scout does.

2) Once Nationalism is researched, if you have a supply of saltpeter, you can only train Infantry and Guerrillas. It knocks out the capability to train cheap units, such as Warrior or Spearman or Longbowman, leaving a small settlement far from your capital fairly defenseless. Not a huge issue, but...
 
Erebras said:
The CivSpecific Mod gives each civilization units that reflect its culture-group. ... Since it's still a mod dealing with all of human history ... All I've really done is kept the foot-knights out of the New World and Renaissance pikemen out of the Dark Ages (don't take this literally; it's an oversimplification!).
Click to expand...
Adding a little "historical realism" while keeping the game fairly close to the original ...
Erebras said:
1) Scouts have a defense of 1. They upgrade to a defense 0 Explorer. I'm wondering if the Explorer should have some sort of nominal defense like the Scout does.
Click to expand...
Scouts tend to go out singly or in very small groups. Pretty much dependent on themselves for defense. Explorers tend to go on expeditions involving more people & materiel. So it makes sense to me that they need at least one or two supporting units for defense.

Erebras said:
2) Once Nationalism is researched, if you have a supply of saltpeter, you can only train Infantry and Guerrillas. It knocks out the capability to train cheap units, such as Warrior or Spearman or Longbowman, leaving a small settlement far from your capital fairly defenseless. Not a huge issue, but...
Click to expand...
Small relatively isolated settlements that can't build up to date units & don't have resources to enlarge the local militia? Sounds fairly realistic to me. Increases the pressure for sound strategy. Build infrastructure such as roads & strengthen border defenses. Have workers poised to build defensible colonies. Etc.
 
Been playing this since yesterday, and am liking it so far. One question: the threaters give no happyness, only culture (at least in the description). Is this correct?
 
jlvfr, yes, this is correct. I understand that in other scenarios that theater improvements contribute to happiness, but I chose to go another route and just have them strengthen the culture rating of a tribe. I didn't want to detract from the mood benefits of temples and cathedrals or the mood penalties/drawbacks on higher difficulty levels. In addition to the culture boost, theater improvements are needed in the Modern Times to build Hollywood, so they're not totally worthless. (UPDATE: The most current version of CivSpecific allows theaters to give the same mood effects as Temples, but no wonder modifies them, and religious tribes do not find them any easier to build than the non-religious tribes do.)

If you wish, I could modify and upload a BIQ that has the theaters improving citizen moods, and the Hollywood wonder could become a Great Wonder that "doubles the effect of theaters on the same continent" or something like that.

BlueMonkey, good point on Explorers. Dr. Livingstone, I presume, will remain a sitting duck when the natives get restless. Explorers in CivSpecific don't have combat animations, anyhow.
 
Erebras said:
jlvfr, yes, this is correct. I understand that in other scenarios that theater improvements contribute to happiness, but I chose to go another route and just have them strengthen the culture rating of a tribe. I didn't want to detract from the mood benefits of temples and cathedrals or the mood penalties/drawbacks on higher difficulty levels. In addition to the culture boost, theater improvements are needed in the Modern Times to build Hollywood, so they're not totally worthless.

If you wish, I could modify and upload a BIQ that has the theaters improving citizen moods, and the Hollywood wonder could become a Great Wonder that "doubles the effect of theaters on the same continent" or something like that.
Click to expand...

Nvm on the theaters then, but, since you have Hollywood, I do think it should provide a boost to happyness, rather than culture...

Btw, playing as french, found an error. Trying to build musketeers, got this error:
Could not find file
Art\Units\Nap_Infantry\Guard Infantry.INI

Copied the "Guard_Infantry" folder from the Napoleonic Conquest into the units folder of the scenario, and it works.
 
I believe I've come up with a workable incentive to go for Monotheism, besides the Clergyman specialist. If I were to add Theocracy as a form of government -- to reflect the Judges of ancient Israel (even though not a playable civ) , the rulership of early Islam, the influence of Catholic faith in medieval Christendom, the role of druids in Celtic society (yes, I know they weren't monotheistic), among others -- it would look something like this: free units/city (4/4/4), standard tile penalty (like Despotism), no war weariness (like non-feudal non-republics), communal corruption (like Communism).

(I'm less than pleased with CivSpecific not having any ties between Monarchy and religious advances. Historically kings had and have priestly duties, but in CivSpecific the prerequisites for Monarchy are Code of Laws and Tribalism (with the thinking that a monarchy is like a well-codified chiefdom). The presumption is that a civ will have researched some religious advances (or begin with one) by the time Monarchy is attained, but more importantly, I could not actually fit Monarchy in the tech tree with Warrior Code and, say, Polytheism as prerequisites and Republic as a successor advance.)

At any rate, does anyone reading this have something to add concerning Theocracy government (in game terms, if you please)?
 
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