How about a compromise? Wait until the new units are available, add them to the mod, then decide if you have enough for an alpha. I've had to do exactly that with the Steampunk Mod, and now that the alpha is almost ready to release, I'm glad I did, because once I was actually able to see the units in-game, it changed my whole approach to them, (i.e., whether to have unit A be important or transitory).
I agree with Balthasar... There are many changes and additions as a game is developed so if released early, it can cause more time dealing with what players think and want according to what was released. That causes an extreme slow down in work.
So unless you simply want others to help develop the game, it is best to wait at least until the game is basically finished before any release.
Well, my exams are over, and so I have a bit more time (for now) to get on with the scenario (and all my others, too!)
Meanwhile, during those few weeks when I couldn't really mod (the computer I was on couldn't handle running civ, and couldn't open Excel files), I started working on an "optional" map, which will be available at some point after I've released the scenario, just in case people - heavens forbid - get bored with the first map. (Anyone will be welcome to make their own maps for the scenario too, btw)
Key features of this new map so far:
-It will comprise of two cities, not one
-It won't be based on an island, but around a river, with one "coastal" city, and one "inland" city.
-There will be a motorway surrounding the centre of the "coastal" city. I haven't yet decided if there will be one connecting the two cities, but I doubt it.
What I may also do is increase the size of the original map to provide part of a second city for further colonization (I think a lot more needs to be colonize-able! )
Anyway, screenshots of map#2 at the bottom of the post. As you can see, it's very much a WIP, which I work on every now and again when I want to do some civ modding but don't know what to do/don't have the time to get involved in something bigger.
I noticed you are using the EFZI2 Buildings and those have the Extra Additions such as the Flag, Dead Bodies and Red Eyes in the Windows, Helicopter, etc...
I made a .bmp of all of those Buildings with No Additions and starting Building and Templates you can use to Color the Buildings and or Windows...IF you want them.
I made those buildings very simple for the particular simple look I wanted in EFZI2.
IF you plan to use those buildings, this will help you either by using the buildings I included or using the Templates to re-color and make something different. I have many more files if you need them.
Added a few more improvement "lines" to the post on page 2. Just 2 more lines, Police improvements and armed forces improvements, to go (and Police improvements may only be few and doubled-up as offices), and a (public) alpha should be out!
After that, I'll add on expansion packs for various things (i.e. one for making the public+underground hard enemies, one for making the religions better, one for making the authorities better, one for adding in the "product" (space ship) victory, and a last one for "flavouring"-up the unit lines). Then the alpha will turn into a beta!
i agree with balthasar... There are many changes and additions as a game is developed so if released early, it can cause more time dealing with what players think and want according to what was released. That causes an extreme slow down in work.
So unless you simply want others to help develop the game, it is best to wait at least until the game is basically finished before any release.
SpoilerA bit of preamble drivel to the important part of the post :
Right, now, I've barely touched IE for a few months now. Part of this is because the last time I properly worked on it (shortly before Easter), I'd left myself in the middle of doing some boring but necessary grunt work, and then after I'd came back from being home at Easter (where I did not have my computer nor civ), I couldn't really "get into" civ again for a long while. The other part is that when I finally did get back into modding civ, I started working furiously on one of my other projects (I haven't really spoke much about this particular project. I think I'll open a thread about it soon to add to the ever expanding list of unfinished and unreleased projects in my signature ), and now I'm currently pretty much dividing my time unequally between 2 of my projects (both of which are not IE...)
Anyhow, the past few hours, I thought a bit about the mod, and a few things came into my mind, and I wanted to see what you guys think.
Firstly, I'm not all too satisfied with the way I've got the units working in this scenario. Firstly, I've got a lot of redundant units (for example, most places can build some kind of "security guard" unit). These don't upgrade into one another because my plan was (is?) to differentiate them graphically, eventually, so you can (and the AI should) build multiple varieties of the same unit, thus perhaps making the units seem more "individual", even though they really are not. The second, bigger problem, is that due to the ease of getting a wide variety of resources, you tend to end up in strange situations, such as where "Docker" units and "Mechanic" units become the typical military units. I didn't really know what to do about this before hand - I certainly didn't want to go down a route where they're restricted to unit-producing buildings, because not only are the amount of improvements limited, but it means that if a civ was to be limited to only one city, say a "port" or a "factory", they won't have much to build themselves. Finally, there wasn't much strategy involved with collecting resources of different types and using them together, mostly due to the cursed phantom resource bug that is the bane of modders everywhere!
Now, don't get me wrong, this doesn't really take any of the "fun" out of the scenario, so I'm somewhat hesitant to alter this.
Of the plans I've considered that would alter this, they mostly revolve around huge changes to the maps (I've currently got one map which if I don't change anything to the gameplay, wouldn't need major changes, and another which I'm working on, every now and again, and which importance isn't really being given to). The maps aren't perfect, especially the first map, which was designed around the very first iteration of Industrial Espionage (it's the second map I've made for the scenario, but the first (map #0 I guess I'll call it) wasn't really playable, and was pretty poorly designed - a rush job, if you will, where I was focusing more on the overarching gameplay ideas), and a lot has changed since then. However, I'm loath to overhaul either of them, because they at least "work" to some extent, and I'm somewhat fearful that anything I design now wouldn't be as good . Also, I'd have to re-design what each type of terrain is again, pretty much.
Then, improvements and wonders may need to be overhauled, at least so some extent, which again I'm loath to do!
The next thing I'm not too satisfied with is the tech tree. On the one hand, the way it is designed gives a lot of choice to the player, and again, isn't particularly "broken"; furthermore, changing it to the more traditional era-based approach would be tedious work, maybe involving new techs being added, more this, less that, etc., and EVERYTHING being overhauled to some extent, which will take more time than doing anything else, and aside from the fact that this will push the initial release date astronomically, I don't think I can be bothered to come up with the new ideas to do this, at least not the majority, and not alone - what with other projects and commitments as well. On the other hand, giving the player (and the AI!) such a choice may not be such a great idea, since wants and needs change quickly. Gaining or losing one city can make the research path you've chosen completely obsolete to your needs, and things that come with the techs (such as units and improvements and the like) seem to be "clustered", making some techs much more important than others, meaning if you do take a gamble, or if the AIdiot does stumble its way through a path which isn't in its advantage, then things are incredibly bad. Also, if I would be changing everything else, there would be little harm in the tech tree being changed as well. The problem I foresee is that it would be in a perpetual state of overhaul like my Greek scenario seems to be! Finally, it isn't so broke that the game is particularly un-fun, and anything I do has no certainty of making it better, so I'm not sure.
Lastly, are governments. There's not enough variation, or styles available to the "normal" civs who I'd want to be able to change, or cause for civs to really change between the styles, and I think I may have made unit support a bit too penalizing. I'll undoubtedly end up tweaking them anyway, but if I were to do a complete overhaul, these would likely be part of it. And again, one of the problems here is that I just have a lack of ideas (there seem to only be a few ways businesses are run, and there's also that pesky improvement limit to currently worry about, unless someone manages a fix for it).
So, since I regard this project more than any other of my personal projects my "gift" to the community, I though I should ask for y'all opinions on my proposed changes. Feel free to add suggestions of your own, and/or suggest only parts that you feel I should change, etc.
Here's what I got:
1) Don't overhaul anything. Work on releasing the scenario, and let the market (testers) decide.
2)
a) Change the map so that certain areas are completely separated as far as trade is concerned (but not as far as movement is concerned, of course), thus "regionizing" it. What I'd do for this would be to have one region for "industry" type things - factories, warehouses, commercial ports, etc; another region for "service-based" things - offices, shops, general "downtown" type stuff; another for "rural" type things, mostly just farms; one or two "suburb" areas, maybe (although this could be with either the "rural" or "service-based" places, really, so it isn't too necessary); and a couple of "military" type places. Of course, these regions aren't set in stone. However, it'll mean that the "industry" type places will build, say, the dockers and engineers and lorries and such, whereas, say, the service-based places would build the office-type units, and such. Terrain would need to be overhauled, but that's a smaller-scale issue on the face of things. Improvements and the such will undoubtedly need to be altered.
b) "Abuse" the phantom resource bug. I could alter the current resources so that the ones required for building-specific improvements could "phantom" each other, but due to the way I arrange them (obviously using plenty of filler resources, which shouldn't be of any hassle or game-alteringness themselves), wouldn't actually affect anything, since the improvements require the resource to be in the radius in the first place, so "HA! screw you shoddy programing!". I use this to the desired effect in one of my other scenarios, although it could work even better here, for various reasons. The rest of the slots could be used for variating the units. What I'm thinking, is that I could have, say, different resources for things like security and the such. If mixed with option a), it could be quite effective. Also, I could tailor different civs for different things; although "Militech" may lose my original game-plan for them of being a civ with a unique resource which they could trade for more high-tech "conventional" military units, maybe they could, say, have large amounts of "security" resources. If they can, some civs may like to trade for access for this resource in some cities, or maybe it would make the Militech cities which control said resources more desirable! Redefining civs isn't too much of an issue at the moment; after all, the civs aren't real, so anyone who gets axed or goes through a "face-lift" isn't exactly "inaccurate" or anything. Also, a lot of the "duplicate" units could be deleted, and variation would mostly come from which civ is played. I think there are a lot of ideas here to think about. Again, whether 2. a) is taken into account or not,
c) Change the tech tree to a more traditional era-based approach. Would require a lot of work. A lot of rearranging and adding and taking away and the likes. This would certainly involve changing governments around and stuff.
Those are the solutions I can think of, what do you guys think?
Also, whether the project is being overhauled or not, would anyone like to form a "team" for the project? The details of this shall be worked out later, but it'll take a lot of the pressure for this scenario off my shoulders. I don't mind if other projects and the like take precedence at the moment, as for now even I'm working on other stuff more heavily (and an update to another scenario of mine is bound to be coming around shortly ). There are all sorts of things I need, but mostly, I need creative people who'll be willing to pitch plenty ideas, especially ones who are well aware of the limitations of the editor (and maybe some workarounds ). Although my priority is getting a general kind of "engine" out, and I'm specifically avoiding things related to graphics, sounds and "unnecessary" text in order to lessen my workload for an initial release, if anyone would like to work on these things (again, at your own pace), It'd help immensely. I've got very few things I'd like to be "specifically" one war or another in that regard, so creativity shouldn't be stifled. Discussion should still continue in private, but like I said, if other people were working on the project as well, my workload would be extremely lessened...
I think that's all I have to say. Thank you for anyone who could be bothered to read through all that
What'dya know, I seemed to get some kind of divine inspiration to pick up work on this today. Specifically, the tech tree.
I'm reverting back to the standard play-through-4-eras epic game model. Although the latter eras could do with more techs, it'll do for the moment.
Blue techs signify government techs (only available to businesses). More of these techs will probably be business-only, however.
Era 1 sees the company starting out its operations on the island, getting settled in and secure. The government in this era will be the most stable government available, although somewhat "timid".
With Era 2 the company really expands both on the island and elsewhere. However, a bout of new legislation is introduced by the authorities in order to try to bind some power back (they'll get better units with this legislation most probably).
In Era 3, the company becomes truly a global power to reckon with. Its technological prowess greatly improves, and even the most anonymously-ranked employees take pride in being associated with the company. However, behind the scenes tensions will start to boil and the leadership will have to seriously consider giving way to the demands of its unionized workers. The two government options available are Laissez-Faire, where the leadership only takes a minimum amount of interference in the day-to-day running of things, and Syndicalism, where the workforce rises up and starts controlling the establishments themselves! (Which could have its own advantages gameplay-wise... )
Which brings us to Era 4, where the leadership of the company strikes back to reclaim what must surely be rightfully theres! Working conditions become extreme - at least for those employees not left redundant by the expansion of workplace mechanization! Megalomania and paranoia sweep the air, and business leaders will use whatever means necessary to protect (and perhaps expand!) their business empire!
EDIT: Should add thanks to the Super Civ Scenario for inspiration for some of the new tech ideas
This is a tequest for tech icons needed for the project. I'll give some descriptions as well:
Era 1:
Paternalism - I'm imagining one figure almost omnipresently looking down upon others. Not overtly 1984-esque, but perhaps some amount over-control implied.
Dog Training - I think the name pretty much gives what's expected away!
Construction - Some kind of new building development or something, since this is what the tech shall allow.
Recruitment Policy - Something which shows "othering" in a selection process; someone different being picked out or ostracized versus two people the same. Was going to use georgestow's "Racial Superiority", but I'm currently using that for the tech "Negotiation" (representing the a power disparity), so I guess something for that tech could be made instead.
Industry - Not really sure what to do for this tech. Some kind of builder? A factory worker? I dunno.
Corporate Management - Again, not really sure. Anyone who takes this up has a pretty free reign, as far as I'm concerned.
Training - Perhaps a "Trainee" badge, or perhaps some wacky gameshow-like situation, implying bizarre training unrelated to anything they'd actually do on-job?
The Media - A newspaper or magazine, perhaps?
The Corporation - See "Corporate Management" above.
Employment - Perhaps an application with "Approved" written across it? Or a paycheck?
Era 2:
Copywrite - A particularly jazzed-up copywrite symbol could work wonders.
Blueprints - Some generic blueprints could be fine, although a reference to blueprints in other media would also be welcome.
Fitness Club - A bunch of office workers doing yoga maybe?
Car Pool - A bunch of office workers sharing a car?
Foreign Backing - A scrooge-type figure over a discussion table with large hoards of money behind him is what I'm imagining, or perhaps a shady group of people in a darkened room also with money behind them?
Opening of the Airport - Ribbon-cutting, commercial airplanes, something like that.
Customer Service - An all-too-annoyingly-happy person?
Democratic Management - Ballot-boxes, bean-bags perhaps (representing some of the new kinda ideas used by offices operating with this kinda style). Whatever comes to mind, really.
Recreation - Suited office workers fishing/go-karting/mountain climbing, etc. Could either look really cheezly happy, as if for a company promotions poster, else really peeved like they really don't want to be there.
Advertising - Whatever comes to mind.
Equality & Diversity Legislation Again, whatever comes to mind.
Eras 3 & 4:
Corporate Pride - A really proud employee, perhaps on a company poster. Smiling whilst looking up at the sky, hand-on-chest, perhaps a flag in the background so everyone knows this employee and his company are really serving the country.
Laissez-Faire - Hard to think of one for this. Perhaps a manager holding his palm up to try and distance himself from the governing of his staff?
Employee Backlash - Rioting, striking, protesting, etc.
Customer Service Hotline - Telephone, frustrated customer, foreign call-centre?
World-Renound Brand - Some kind of logo superimposed upon a picture of the globe maybe, so the landmasses can just about be made out. If that makes any sense.
Violation of Human Rights - something representing workplace oppression.
I did a dogtraining tech for your mod.
If you want something different than that just tell me. (I would also have something more aggressive or some more peaceful)
Added also a construction icon.
If you have anything else for Dog Training, it wouldn't hurt to post even if the icon you've currently posted will still be the one I use - other people may need similar techs for their scenarios at some point.
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)
. Also, I'd have to re-design what each type of terrain is again, pretty much.
). There are all sorts of things I need, but mostly, I need creative people who'll be willing to pitch plenty ideas, especially ones who are well aware of the limitations of the editor (and maybe some workarounds 
). Although my priority is getting a general kind of "engine" out, and I'm specifically avoiding things related to graphics, sounds and "unnecessary" text in order to lessen my workload for an initial release, if anyone would like to work on these things (again, at your own pace), It'd help immensely. I've got very few things I'd like to be "specifically" one war or another in that regard, so creativity shouldn't be stifled. Discussion should still continue in private, but like I said, if other people were working on the project as well, my workload would be extremely lessened...
