player1 fanatic
Fanatic
Patch Suggestion MOD for Civilization 3: Conquests expansion pack
Version: 2.21 (requires 1.22 Conquest patch)
Overview:
Why "patch suggestion"? Because changes in this mod represent a group of small tweaks, which if added to original Civ3: Conquests rules, would improve game balance and fun. I tried using the conservative approach of not changing the rules too much, if not necessary, in order to keep original Civ3 flavor. In fact, this version is actually more conservative then earlier version done for original Civ3 and Play the World expansion, mostly because default rules in Conquests are much better now then before. I hope that players of this MOD will find game more fun and interesting.
Install instructions:
Just unzip the files in your Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios folder. That way, you'll get patch_suggestion.biq in Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios folder and Civilopedia.txt in newly formed Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios\patch_suggestion\Text folder. Don't forget, you need Conquests expansion pack to use this mod. It's also recommended to have 1.22 patch before starting this mod.
New in v2.21:
I allowed Celts to build Medieval Infantry once again. After playing some games with them I realized that in some cases they could really need attacker with offense of 4, even if it means sacrificing ability to build Gallic Swordsmen.
The Oracle wonder gets its price reduced from 300 to 200 shields. With old price it was very suboptimal wonder considering that it's inferior to Hanging Gardens and gets obsolete early.
Shields gained from forced labor are increased from 20 to 30 per population. It needed some boost considering that with old value it was very difficult to rush anything later in game when units and building get more expensive. On the other hand, it's not too drastic increase to unbalance early part of the game.
MOD CHANGES
Land Units:
There are several firearms infantry units that are either overpriced or have poor offense value.
Musketmen get price reduced from 60 to 50 shields, since unit is just 33% better then Pikemen, which costs 30 shields.
Riflemen get attack increased from 4 to 5 and price reduced from 80 to 70 shields. Higher attack is needed, since AI controlled civilizations usually use them for attack when having no Cavalry available. Cost is reduced to keep Musketmen to Riflemen upgrade cost same as before and for some flavor (cavalry more expensive then foot unit).
Infantry gets attack increased from 6 to 8, for similar reasons as Riflemen, which is especially important before Tanks come to play.
Guerilla gets attack increased from 6 to 8 and price reduced from 90 to 80 shields. It also gets its defense bombardment rating increased from 3 to 4. Attack is increased to compensate for higher attack of Infantry. Cost is lowered considering that it still has defense that is inferior compared to Infantry. As for bombardment rating, it was increased to compensate for higher defense rating of most offense units in industrial era (value of 3 is barely better compared to Longbowmen). With stats like this, it is essentially a Longbowmen of modern age. If you want defense you take Infantry, if defensive bombardment you take Guerilla.
Marines get defense increased from 6 to 8 and price reduced from 120 to 110 shields. Such advanced infantry unit should not have its defense as low as some guerilla. Also, it's not that much good to have price equal to a Modern Armor. Note that 110 shields is the same cost as for Modern Paratroopers.
Paratroopers get attack increased from 4 to 7. This way, both their attack and defense value are just a little bit lower then for Infantry. This is understandable, considering that airborne units just don't have so much equipment to be as effective as regular Infantry units.
Modern Paratroopers get both attack increased from 6 to 10 and defense from 11 to 13. The main reason for this is to make them a good alternative to Helicopter dropped TOW Infantry, which has attack of 12 and defense of 14. Since Paratroopers don't need Helicopters and have higher operation range, this should make them worthy.
TOW Infantry gets price reduced from 120 to 110 shields and bombardment rating increased from 6 to 8. No Infantry should be as expensive as Modern Armor. Note that 110 shields is still higher cost then for Tanks, which they can easily destroy. As for defensive bombardment, reasons are the same as for Guerilla.
Cannons get their rate of fire increased from 1 to 2 and price from 40 to 60 shields. This is done for flavor purpose (ships with cannons have rate of fire of 2), and to make Cannons more special compared to Trebuchet (not just 33% better bombard rating), considering their historical role.
Cavalry gets cost increased from 80 to 90 shields, since they are much better then Knights (50% better attack and defense). Not something just worth 10 shields difference (or 30gp upgrade).
Modern Armors get defense reduced from 16 to 14, to make Mech. Infantry more important with its defense rating of 18.
Mech. Infantry gets AI offense strategy flag removed, to force AI to make more Tanks for attack. Otherwise, before getting Modern Armor, AI controlled players would build too many Mech. Infantry and attack with them instead of Tanks.
Ships:
Curragh, the new ship added in Conquests is especially useful for making early contacts and map exploration. Unfortunately, AI controlled civilizations rarely build this useful vessel. But, by adding unload flag to Curragh and changing its AI strategy from Naval Power to Naval Transport, this ships becomes valuable asset to AI controlled civilizations too.
Privateer has bombard strength of 3, but rate of fire of 0. Sounds like a bug to me, but I could be wrong. Anyway, just to be sure, I'll increase their rate of fire from 0 to 1 in this mod. Still, note that since they have bombard range of 0, this bombardment can only be used for defensive purposes.
Frigate, Man-O-War and Privateer now upgrade to Destroyer. I really didn't liked having them in build queue in modern era. This should not be a problem from realism standpoint, considering that Galleons always upgraded to Transports and that now upgrade costs are 180gp per unit.
Since Cruisers upgrade to AEGIS Cruisers, these units should not have same cost of 160 shields. Otherwise you'll get upgrade cost of zero. That's why I'll decrease a cost for Cruisers to 150 shields. They weren't really worth 160 shields anyway, considering that they are just weaker Battleships/slower Destroyers, with no unique abilities at all.
With Conquests, bombard rating of all air units and most age of sail ships got boosted, it seamed quite strange to leave ships like Battleship with bombard rating of 8. That's why Battleships get bombard strength increased from 8 to 12, Cruisers get bombard strength increased from 7 to 8 and AEGIS Cruisers get bombard strength increased from 6 to 8.
Carriers get their movement decreased from 7 to 6 tiles. While modern Carriers are faster then old WWII Battleships, 7 movement points is way too much, since that makes them the fastest ships after Destroyers (faster then Cruisers).
Air units:
In Civilization, all fighter units are pretty lame bombers. Their bombard effectiveness is even worse then of catapult.
For this reason Fighters and Jet Fighters get their rate of fire increased from 1 to 2.
Jet Fighters also get their bombard rating increased from 3 to 4, since they should be better bombers then ordinary Fighters.
Stealth Fighters get their bombard rating increased from 6 to 8, so they keep their edge over Jet Fighters and too make them more cost effective when attacking some targets with low defense (then two Stealth Fighters would do more damage then one Stealth Bomber).
Lethal land bombardment is removed from Bombers, since that made them too powerful. Especially considering that AI controlled civilizations rarely built anti-air defenses.
Interception of stealth aircrafts is increased from 5% to 15% to compensate for higher defense rating of these units in Conquests. While in original Civ3, those units had defense of 0, so 5% chance of interception meant 5% of being shot down. Now with defense ratings of 5 and 6, they are much more durable. Still, even with this change chance to shot down a stealth plane is more then 3 times lower then shooting down a normal aircraft.
Cruise Missiles get their cost decreased from 60 to 40 shields, since introduction of lethal bombardment in Conquests made them less useful then before. And not to mention that for price of 2 Cruise Missiles you could buy one Radar Artillery, which can be used as many times as you like.
Download from here:
Version: 2.21 (requires 1.22 Conquest patch)
Overview:
Why "patch suggestion"? Because changes in this mod represent a group of small tweaks, which if added to original Civ3: Conquests rules, would improve game balance and fun. I tried using the conservative approach of not changing the rules too much, if not necessary, in order to keep original Civ3 flavor. In fact, this version is actually more conservative then earlier version done for original Civ3 and Play the World expansion, mostly because default rules in Conquests are much better now then before. I hope that players of this MOD will find game more fun and interesting.
Install instructions:
Just unzip the files in your Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios folder. That way, you'll get patch_suggestion.biq in Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios folder and Civilopedia.txt in newly formed Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios\patch_suggestion\Text folder. Don't forget, you need Conquests expansion pack to use this mod. It's also recommended to have 1.22 patch before starting this mod.
New in v2.21:
I allowed Celts to build Medieval Infantry once again. After playing some games with them I realized that in some cases they could really need attacker with offense of 4, even if it means sacrificing ability to build Gallic Swordsmen.
The Oracle wonder gets its price reduced from 300 to 200 shields. With old price it was very suboptimal wonder considering that it's inferior to Hanging Gardens and gets obsolete early.
Shields gained from forced labor are increased from 20 to 30 per population. It needed some boost considering that with old value it was very difficult to rush anything later in game when units and building get more expensive. On the other hand, it's not too drastic increase to unbalance early part of the game.
MOD CHANGES
Land Units:
There are several firearms infantry units that are either overpriced or have poor offense value.
Musketmen get price reduced from 60 to 50 shields, since unit is just 33% better then Pikemen, which costs 30 shields.
Riflemen get attack increased from 4 to 5 and price reduced from 80 to 70 shields. Higher attack is needed, since AI controlled civilizations usually use them for attack when having no Cavalry available. Cost is reduced to keep Musketmen to Riflemen upgrade cost same as before and for some flavor (cavalry more expensive then foot unit).
Infantry gets attack increased from 6 to 8, for similar reasons as Riflemen, which is especially important before Tanks come to play.
Guerilla gets attack increased from 6 to 8 and price reduced from 90 to 80 shields. It also gets its defense bombardment rating increased from 3 to 4. Attack is increased to compensate for higher attack of Infantry. Cost is lowered considering that it still has defense that is inferior compared to Infantry. As for bombardment rating, it was increased to compensate for higher defense rating of most offense units in industrial era (value of 3 is barely better compared to Longbowmen). With stats like this, it is essentially a Longbowmen of modern age. If you want defense you take Infantry, if defensive bombardment you take Guerilla.
Marines get defense increased from 6 to 8 and price reduced from 120 to 110 shields. Such advanced infantry unit should not have its defense as low as some guerilla. Also, it's not that much good to have price equal to a Modern Armor. Note that 110 shields is the same cost as for Modern Paratroopers.
Paratroopers get attack increased from 4 to 7. This way, both their attack and defense value are just a little bit lower then for Infantry. This is understandable, considering that airborne units just don't have so much equipment to be as effective as regular Infantry units.
Modern Paratroopers get both attack increased from 6 to 10 and defense from 11 to 13. The main reason for this is to make them a good alternative to Helicopter dropped TOW Infantry, which has attack of 12 and defense of 14. Since Paratroopers don't need Helicopters and have higher operation range, this should make them worthy.
TOW Infantry gets price reduced from 120 to 110 shields and bombardment rating increased from 6 to 8. No Infantry should be as expensive as Modern Armor. Note that 110 shields is still higher cost then for Tanks, which they can easily destroy. As for defensive bombardment, reasons are the same as for Guerilla.
Cannons get their rate of fire increased from 1 to 2 and price from 40 to 60 shields. This is done for flavor purpose (ships with cannons have rate of fire of 2), and to make Cannons more special compared to Trebuchet (not just 33% better bombard rating), considering their historical role.
Cavalry gets cost increased from 80 to 90 shields, since they are much better then Knights (50% better attack and defense). Not something just worth 10 shields difference (or 30gp upgrade).
Modern Armors get defense reduced from 16 to 14, to make Mech. Infantry more important with its defense rating of 18.
Mech. Infantry gets AI offense strategy flag removed, to force AI to make more Tanks for attack. Otherwise, before getting Modern Armor, AI controlled players would build too many Mech. Infantry and attack with them instead of Tanks.
Ships:
Curragh, the new ship added in Conquests is especially useful for making early contacts and map exploration. Unfortunately, AI controlled civilizations rarely build this useful vessel. But, by adding unload flag to Curragh and changing its AI strategy from Naval Power to Naval Transport, this ships becomes valuable asset to AI controlled civilizations too.
Privateer has bombard strength of 3, but rate of fire of 0. Sounds like a bug to me, but I could be wrong. Anyway, just to be sure, I'll increase their rate of fire from 0 to 1 in this mod. Still, note that since they have bombard range of 0, this bombardment can only be used for defensive purposes.
Frigate, Man-O-War and Privateer now upgrade to Destroyer. I really didn't liked having them in build queue in modern era. This should not be a problem from realism standpoint, considering that Galleons always upgraded to Transports and that now upgrade costs are 180gp per unit.
Since Cruisers upgrade to AEGIS Cruisers, these units should not have same cost of 160 shields. Otherwise you'll get upgrade cost of zero. That's why I'll decrease a cost for Cruisers to 150 shields. They weren't really worth 160 shields anyway, considering that they are just weaker Battleships/slower Destroyers, with no unique abilities at all.
With Conquests, bombard rating of all air units and most age of sail ships got boosted, it seamed quite strange to leave ships like Battleship with bombard rating of 8. That's why Battleships get bombard strength increased from 8 to 12, Cruisers get bombard strength increased from 7 to 8 and AEGIS Cruisers get bombard strength increased from 6 to 8.
Carriers get their movement decreased from 7 to 6 tiles. While modern Carriers are faster then old WWII Battleships, 7 movement points is way too much, since that makes them the fastest ships after Destroyers (faster then Cruisers).
Air units:
In Civilization, all fighter units are pretty lame bombers. Their bombard effectiveness is even worse then of catapult.
For this reason Fighters and Jet Fighters get their rate of fire increased from 1 to 2.
Jet Fighters also get their bombard rating increased from 3 to 4, since they should be better bombers then ordinary Fighters.
Stealth Fighters get their bombard rating increased from 6 to 8, so they keep their edge over Jet Fighters and too make them more cost effective when attacking some targets with low defense (then two Stealth Fighters would do more damage then one Stealth Bomber).
Lethal land bombardment is removed from Bombers, since that made them too powerful. Especially considering that AI controlled civilizations rarely built anti-air defenses.
Interception of stealth aircrafts is increased from 5% to 15% to compensate for higher defense rating of these units in Conquests. While in original Civ3, those units had defense of 0, so 5% chance of interception meant 5% of being shot down. Now with defense ratings of 5 and 6, they are much more durable. Still, even with this change chance to shot down a stealth plane is more then 3 times lower then shooting down a normal aircraft.
Cruise Missiles get their cost decreased from 60 to 40 shields, since introduction of lethal bombardment in Conquests made them less useful then before. And not to mention that for price of 2 Cruise Missiles you could buy one Radar Artillery, which can be used as many times as you like.
Download from here:
.
player1.
