Hey everybody - months and months ago, somebody made a topic to gauge the interest on an ASOIAF mod for this lovely game we play. I was one of the interested - very interested. So when it came to nothing, I remembered that the only way to do something is to do it yourself, as they say. So I, armed with a stiff drink, I dove into the modification side of things. After some... initial frustrations, I've gotten down the most basic of things (I've started adding the great Houses and their leaders). So far, I've got Stark and Greyjoy wrapped up - using the great Amoka pictures for leaderheads, I think they look pretty sharp. So here's some pictures of the stuff I've got this moment:
Some of Amoka's portraits
My first run at the map - pictured is the Vale of Arryn, Old Wyk and those islands off the to the left, and right in the middle will be Riverrun.
The heraldry - Greyjoy, Stark, Lannister, Tyrell, Tully...
Anyhoo, once I've got all of the big Houses put in their (I'm thinking Baratheon, Lannister, maybe Dorne, Arryn, and Littlefinger, just because Littlefinger is the money), I'll be at a bit of a loss for what to do.
By the way - SPOILERS FOR AFFC
This mod isn't really out to radically change the way Civ 4 gets played - mostly it's a lot of window-dressing, to really immerse you in Westeros. But I won't be shying away from making some tweaks here and there.
The more I consider it, the less the Civ 4 traits fit the leaders from ASOIAF. So (and this is the first of many questions), what kind of traits do you think I should make? And then there's the question of the tech tree/civics. Since we're looking at a pretty stagnant period in terms of technological advances, I want to keep it tight and focused, and somehow I'll have to figure out how to balance out costs and rewards and all of that. I was thinking that Any idea for techs? Any idea for civics?
Of course, I'll have to make a map of Westeros (I shiver at the prospect, however) - I think it'd be pretty damn cool to have the Vale of Arryn sealed off by mountains from the rest of the continent, the rich lands of Highgarden, the Wildling attacks in the great North... all very exciting stuff.
Anyway, here are some random things I've been mulling over:
Religion - Off the top of my head, there are 4 religions that spring to mind. You've got the Old Gods, Ass'hai, Drowned God, and the Seven. Are there any I'm missing?
Changing names - I'd rename the Library to the Maester's tower, maybe change the Great Library into the Citadel at Oldtown, and have Oxford University be the vaults that Samwell reads underneath Castle Black. Jails -> Dungeons. Spies would be faceless men, which means Scotland Yard would be the House of White and Black, or wherever it is that Arya finds herself in AFFC.
Defense - I'd want to remove cultural defense and have a series of fortification buildings upgrade your defense values (i.e. wooden palisade adds +20% defense, and then a moat adds another +15%, or what have you.) Have some national wonders like "Winterfell - Add +200% to city defense", something like that. Later on in the tech tree I think trebuchets could be introduced so bombardments could occur and save you a lot of men in a siege - it's just that for most of the game (as it is in the books), sieges are done with a great deal of human life lost.
Victory Conditions - Rename the diplomatic victory to something like the Kingsmoot. Change the Space Race so that instead of gunning for the first spaceship, maybe you're building things that can bring Dany and her dragons to your side (for instance, you need 3 ships/thrusters, 5 chests of gold/casings, etc.).
Unique Units - What do you think? For the Greyjoys I can definitely see having some sort of Amphibious Raider and a Longboat to carry said raider, but what about for the Starks and all the rest?
Hell, regular units, too - Ideas for skins/stats/everything?
Wonders - There is that Colossus in Braavos, which would be nice and easy. After that, I'm quickly lost. Maybe I could use the Wall itself as a wonder... hmmm... anyways, any input here would be really great.
City names - I need 'em (except for Stark, I've got enough Starks).
A general thing - is there anyway I can set up another Civ4 shortcut that will take me straight to my mod, without me having to load up regular civ and then loading the mod?
Anyway, that's all I've got - as you can see, it isn't much. So please, give me some ideas/comments/what have you so I can figure out where I'm going from here!
All the best,
Erik
Some of Amoka's portraits
My first run at the map - pictured is the Vale of Arryn, Old Wyk and those islands off the to the left, and right in the middle will be Riverrun.
The heraldry - Greyjoy, Stark, Lannister, Tyrell, Tully...
Anyhoo, once I've got all of the big Houses put in their (I'm thinking Baratheon, Lannister, maybe Dorne, Arryn, and Littlefinger, just because Littlefinger is the money), I'll be at a bit of a loss for what to do.
By the way - SPOILERS FOR AFFC
This mod isn't really out to radically change the way Civ 4 gets played - mostly it's a lot of window-dressing, to really immerse you in Westeros. But I won't be shying away from making some tweaks here and there.
The more I consider it, the less the Civ 4 traits fit the leaders from ASOIAF. So (and this is the first of many questions), what kind of traits do you think I should make? And then there's the question of the tech tree/civics. Since we're looking at a pretty stagnant period in terms of technological advances, I want to keep it tight and focused, and somehow I'll have to figure out how to balance out costs and rewards and all of that. I was thinking that Any idea for techs? Any idea for civics?
Of course, I'll have to make a map of Westeros (I shiver at the prospect, however) - I think it'd be pretty damn cool to have the Vale of Arryn sealed off by mountains from the rest of the continent, the rich lands of Highgarden, the Wildling attacks in the great North... all very exciting stuff.
Anyway, here are some random things I've been mulling over:
Religion - Off the top of my head, there are 4 religions that spring to mind. You've got the Old Gods, Ass'hai, Drowned God, and the Seven. Are there any I'm missing?
Changing names - I'd rename the Library to the Maester's tower, maybe change the Great Library into the Citadel at Oldtown, and have Oxford University be the vaults that Samwell reads underneath Castle Black. Jails -> Dungeons. Spies would be faceless men, which means Scotland Yard would be the House of White and Black, or wherever it is that Arya finds herself in AFFC.
Defense - I'd want to remove cultural defense and have a series of fortification buildings upgrade your defense values (i.e. wooden palisade adds +20% defense, and then a moat adds another +15%, or what have you.) Have some national wonders like "Winterfell - Add +200% to city defense", something like that. Later on in the tech tree I think trebuchets could be introduced so bombardments could occur and save you a lot of men in a siege - it's just that for most of the game (as it is in the books), sieges are done with a great deal of human life lost.
Victory Conditions - Rename the diplomatic victory to something like the Kingsmoot. Change the Space Race so that instead of gunning for the first spaceship, maybe you're building things that can bring Dany and her dragons to your side (for instance, you need 3 ships/thrusters, 5 chests of gold/casings, etc.).
Unique Units - What do you think? For the Greyjoys I can definitely see having some sort of Amphibious Raider and a Longboat to carry said raider, but what about for the Starks and all the rest?
Hell, regular units, too - Ideas for skins/stats/everything?
Wonders - There is that Colossus in Braavos, which would be nice and easy. After that, I'm quickly lost. Maybe I could use the Wall itself as a wonder... hmmm... anyways, any input here would be really great.
City names - I need 'em (except for Stark, I've got enough Starks).
A general thing - is there anyway I can set up another Civ4 shortcut that will take me straight to my mod, without me having to load up regular civ and then loading the mod?
Anyway, that's all I've got - as you can see, it isn't much. So please, give me some ideas/comments/what have you so I can figure out where I'm going from here!
All the best,
Erik