[Civ2] New Cold War Scenario - "Duck and Cover"

[J794]

Hi everyone,

I made a new Cold War scenario and thought I'd post it here. Here's the link: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/the-cold-war-duck-and-cover.30406/

It's focused on the Northern Hemisphere, as I thought it would be nice to get away from the usual representation of the US and the USSR being so far apart geographically. In this scenario, you can lob nukes at one another over the top of the world.

Here's a short video of what to expect, and I've attached a few screenshots (I couldn't work out how to put them in the post itself):

There are a couple of intentional historical inaccuracies. The main ones are Cuba being in the Warsaw Pact and South Korea being in NATO - neither is correct, and Cuba wasn't Soviet-aligned until 1959. I did this for gameplay reasons - it's hard to simulate it correctly in Civ 2 and I didn't want to delay the scenario start until 1959.

I didn't make any of the graphics (apart from a few edits), so thanks to all those in the "Modern Unit Graphics" thread, which was invaluable. I don't know exactly who made each one, but many were made by Tanelorn, Nemo, Alex, Eivind, Fairline, among others. If you recognise anything I've used and would like to be credited, please let me know.

Some more information is available in the readme file.

Hope you enjoy, and please let me know if I've missed anything I should have put here.

J794

 

[Buck2005]

Hello!

I am not a scenarios expert. However, your scenario uses an unusual map with the north pole in the center of the map, which looks innovative. This is a definite plus, I have not seen such scenarios before. The inclusion of Cuba and South Korea in their respective military blocs ahead of time is quite acceptable, given the level of generalization and scale of the scenario you have chosen.

I can also say that familiarity with the more advanced (compared to MGE) version of Civ2 - TOTPP, immediately suggests useful functionality that would make your scenario much more attractive if you used TOTPP. For example, it seems very strange to me that the Arctic Ocean in your scenario is not closed by ice, but is free for navigation by any ships. Agree, it would be very strange if the fleets of the opposing blocs, the Warsaw Pact and NATO, could freely send aircraft carriers, battleships and destroyers there. Using TOTPP you could easily solve this problem by using "impassable terrain type" ice for example. Accessible to overcome only by aviation units. This is just the first thing that comes to mind, the real functionality of TOTPP is incomparable with the functionality of MGE.

 

[J794]

Hi, thanks for your reply. That's interesting to hear about TOTPP. Yes, the lack of ice isn't ideal, but when I played, I didn't find too much advantage in sending ships right through where the ice is, as opposed to other routes, so I felt it's acceptable. The only solution I know of would be to put it as glacier terrain, but that would look a bit wrong since it's not really land. I did read something about a way to create impassible terrain in MGE, but I think it's quite complicated.

 

[Buck2005]

There is nothing difficult in creating "impassable terrain" in TOTPP. Any player or designer with minimal game editing skills can handle it. You just need to correct 0 by 1 in a certain place of the RULES. I think if you want to convert your scenario, to TOTPP format, experienced TOTPP designers will definitely help you, given that your scenario, is already operational and ready for practical use in MGE.

From my personal experience with TOTPP, I can say that many years ago (when I first got acquainted with the patch), I used a card format similar to yours. Unfortunately, the original of my multiplayer mini-mod is now lost as it was only used once. I found only a very old sketch of a map, with the north pole in the center:





Like you, I was faced with the problem of how to prohibit the use of surface fleets in the Arctic Ocean. I used "ice" as impassable terrain that only aircraft could cross. Neither land units nor sea units could enter the "ice" area. To properly model the use of submarines as nuclear missile carriers, I left some "tunnels" in the ice, with ports only accessible in the arctic zone. Of course, in a multiplayer game, an additional house rule had to be introduced, prohibiting the use of the creation of any other naval units in these zones, except for submarines. However, as far as I know, experienced TOTPP designers can actually implement this ban (allowing certain units to be built only in certain cities) using Lua.

I think if you're interested in creating an advanced Civ2 scenario, you should really check out TOTPP. Personally, I don't play scenarios games, so I can only give advice from the point of view of the user of the game, the player.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi J794,

Congratulations on releasing, what I imagine is your first scenario!

I did read something about a way to create impassible terrain in MGE, but I think it's quite complicated.

It's quite possible to create an 'impassable' type terrain using MGE by using a unit. Check out 'The Age of Constantine' scenario by Masis Panos, located here, where he set an 'IMPASSABLE' unit with a very high defense factor and assigned it to the Barbarian tribe.

IMPASSABLE,       nil, 1,  0.,2, 0a,40d,  5h,1f, 20,0,  3, no,  000000000000000

I noticed that you haven't made use of the event.txt file in your scenario. Is that because you are unfamiliar with this macro language? If so, I recommend you download the Civilization II: Test of Time manual located here. Adding events can bring a lot of extra flavour and spice to your scenario.

Look for the "Apppendix: Enhanced Scenario Macro Language" section at the end of the manual where it outlines all the basics and functions of the language (though it's a ToT manual the macro language works exactly the same for MGE). Of course, you can browse through the myriad other scenarios found on this site and the Scenario League to see how to write events.

I can also say that familiarity with the more advanced (compared to MGE) version of Civ2 - TOTPP, immediately suggests useful functionality that would make your scenario much more attractive if you used TOTPP.

Be aware that you can only use TOTPP and its supported use of the lua language, if you have a copy of Civilization - Test of Time (it will not work with the standard Civilization II MGE platform).

As Buck2005 indicates, Civilization ToT and TOTPP are much more powerful tools for designers who want to develop scenarios than the standard MGE version.

If you don't happen to have a copy of ToT you can also have a look at the "Civilization II MGE User Interface Additions (CIV2UIA)" thread, located here, by FoxAhead, where he's developed a whole slew of features to increase the MGE playing experience.

Finally, just on a side note, if you do have or intend to get a copy of Test of Time, you don't require TOTPP to set impassable terrain as this feature is already available. You just need to change the last no to yes in the @Terrain section of the terrain you want to set to impassable. For example below, I set the Plain terrain to be impassable.

@TERRAIN
Desert,          2,2,  0,1,0,   no,  0, 0, 0,   no,  0, 0,  0,  no,no,    ; Drt 0
Plain,          2,3,  1,1,0,   no,  0, 0, 0,   no,  0, 0,  0,  no,yes,   ; Pln 1

I hope this was helpful.

 

[tootall_2012]

EDIT: In case you are interested, you can downloaded the 'TOTPP v018.pdf' reference guide located here. The guide outlines all the features that come with TOTPP.

 

[Dadais]

This map is really an interresting choice indeed.

I'd go even further than Buck2005 and tootall_2012 advertising about ToTpp, even though it is cool that stuff for MGE keep beeing released :

It is possible with totpp to use one of the two sea bonus for pack ice and distribute it on tiles where one whishes to on the map,
then with Lua code to make it impossible for sea units but ones with submarine tag to move into water tiles with this bonus (also taking care of AI possible behaviors at this point)