Project SYNTHESIS

[Linkman226]

Um... does anyone already have Blue Marble? The standard download is with an installer and I don't have those kinds of user permissions. Could someone upload the actual files perhaps?

 

[Linkman226]

Sorry for the triple post but...

I was playing as the Arabs to see how the changes all work out. Personally I found the Arab conquest UHV a dud. Well, let me qualify that. I got it in 960 AD, the turn I captured Seville, but the issue will be keeping all that land until 1300, past both the Seljuk and Mongol invasions. I think it'd be a lot better to move the date to 1000 AD, and decrease the percentage of the world that Islam must spread to. Or revise all the goals altogether. I think it'd be feasible for me to grab even Sicily by 1050 AD, so that's a possible addition. In addition, the barb Impis and war elephants need to be toned down. I may not be the foremost expert on Islamic history, but even I know that the city of Aswan was never overrun twice by spear wielding impis, or the city of Bangazi and Tarabulus repeatedly sieged by elephants thousands of miles north of where they originated from. Personally I think adding Berber units in their place makes more sens.

Screenies:

 

[great.taurus]

Sorry for the triple post but...

I was playing as the Arabs to see how the changes all work out. Personally I found the Arab conquest UHV a dud. Well, let me qualify that. I got it in 960 AD, the turn I captured Seville, but the issue will be keeping all that land until 1300, past both the Seljuk and Mongol invasions. I think it'd be a lot better to move the date to 1000 AD, and decrease the percentage of the world that Islam must spread to. Or revise all the goals altogether. I think it'd be feasible for me to grab even Sicily by 1050 AD, so that's a possible addition. In addition, the barb Impis and war elephants need to be toned down. I may not be the foremost expert on Islamic history, but even I know that the city of Aswan was never overrun twice by spear wielding impis, or the city of Bangazi and Tarabulus repeatedly sieged by elephants thousands of miles north of where they originated from. Personally I think adding Berber units in their place makes more sens.

Screenies:

View attachment 300584

View attachment 300585

Oh that reminds me. I was playing a game as Arabia and managed to conquer from Spain to East Asia (including all of Carthage, Egypt, Etheopia, Persia, India, Khmer, Indonesia, China and Mongolia) before I collapsed... about 100 turns later.

I know the addition of the Seljuk's will cause a degree of trouble, but Arabian stability may need to be nerfed if this kind of thing is unintentional.

 

[youtien]

Rolled a 3000 BC German game, but the game always hanged and crashed on turn 184 (Arabia spawn?).

 

[Leoreth]

I agree, you shouldn't be supposed to defend all your territory against the Seljuk or Mongol invasions. Either you make it check earlier or every region only needs to be conquered once, but not held (so people don't have to rush at Spain, although it seems to be easier now).

The problem with Impis and Elephants is that they originally spawn in South Africa and are likely intended for Mali, but often end up in North Africa due to a lack of better targets. I've already thought about making deserts impassable for them. Anyway, Arabs should face Camel Archer barbs in Africa, and no elephants or impis.

 

[Linkman226]

Oh that reminds me. I was playing a game as Arabia and managed to conquer from Spain to East Asia (including all of Carthage, Egypt, Etheopia, Persia, India, Khmer, Indonesia, China and Mongolia) before I collapsed... about 100 turns later.

I know the addition of the Seljuk's will cause a degree of trouble, but Arabian stability may need to be nerfed if this kind of thing is unintentional.

Wow, nice empire. But trust me, it won't happen with the Seljuks added in.

Rolled a 3000 BC German game, but the game always hanged and crashed on turn 184 (Arabia spawn?).

Dunno why. Can anyone else confirm this?

I agree, you shouldn't be supposed to defend all your territory against the Seljuk or Mongol invasions. Either you make it check earlier or every region only needs to be conquered once, but not held (so people don't have to rush at Spain, although it seems to be easier now).

The problem with Impis and Elephants is that they originally spawn in South Africa and are likely intended for Mali, but often end up in North Africa due to a lack of better targets. I've already thought about making deserts impassable for them. Anyway, Arabs should face Camel Archer barbs in Africa, and no elephants or impis.

1) I think I'll check earlier then
2) Desert hardship modcomp? Or some derivation thereof?

 

[Leoreth]

Well, I thought making it flat out impassable for them (excepting cultural control) would be the easiest and most effective solution.

 

[J. pride]

I was playing as the Arabs to see how the changes all work out. Personally I found the Arab conquest UHV a dud. Well, let me qualify that. I got it in 960 AD, the turn I captured Seville, but the issue will be keeping all that land until 1300, past both the Seljuk and Mongol invasions. I think it'd be a lot better to move the date to 1000 AD, and decrease the percentage of the world that Islam must spread to. Or revise all the goals altogether. I think it'd be feasible for me to grab even Sicily by 1050 AD, so that's a possible addition. In addition, the barb Impis and war elephants need to be toned down. I may not be the foremost expert on Islamic history, but even I know that the city of Aswan was never overrun twice by spear wielding impis, or the city of Bangazi and Tarabulus repeatedly sieged by elephants thousands of miles north of where they originated from. Personally I think adding Berber units in their place makes more sens.

Do not add sicily to their goals; that should be unique to the the Egyptians
Here is my idea for the Arab UHV:

-Conquer (or settle) Mesopotamia, Levant, Egypt, Persia, Central Asia, Spain, Libya and the Maghreb (2 cities minimum) by 1000 AD.

-Be the tech leader in 1300 ad or Enter the Renaissance by 1300 ad. Whichever one is the hardest.

- I also want to change the third goal but i don't know if you want to.

Well, I thought making it flat out impassable for them (excepting cultural control) would be the easiest and most effective solution.

Agreed; also the barbarian waves should start in 1000 ad because that is when Egypt spawns.

I noticed that Damascus wasn't added are u still going to add it?

 

[Linkman226]

Well, I thought making it flat out impassable for them (excepting cultural control) would be the easiest and most effective solution.

Makes sense

Do not add sicily to their goals; that should be unique to the the Egyptians
Here is my idea for the Arab UHV:

-Conquer (or settle) Mesopotamia, Levant, Egypt, Persia, Central Asia, Spain, Libya and the Maghreb (2 cities minimum) by 1000 AD.

-Be the tech leader in 1300 ad or Enter the Renaissance by 1300 ad. Whichever one is the hardest.

- I also want to change the third goal but i don't know if you want to.

I noticed that Damascus wasn't added are u still going to add it?

on the UHV ideas

And yes, I am going to add it.

Alright, so here's a screenie of how the Seljuks have fared against the human player up to the Mongol birthdate. The Seljuks definitely do get neutered if Arabia (and probabaly Byzantium but not nearly to the same extent) is human. But nonetheless expect to lose some ground:



And they were on the verge of conquering Samarkand as well.

Their expansion is definitely slower though when the human controls Arabia. And this is when I didn't even prepare in advance by stacking up my units in the east.

 

[Leoreth]

The Seljuk expansion looks just right imo.

I'd also exclude Central Asia (I guess that refers to Marv and Samarkand?) from the territorial goal, the Caliphate had only very loose control over it.

For the second goal, I'd favor the tech leader one, but how exactly should that be measured? Number of techs?

 

[J. pride]

And they were on the verge of conquering Samarkand as well.

Their expansions is definitely slower though when the human controls them. And this is when I didn't even prepare in advance by stacking up my units in the east.

There should be a larger Seljuk and Mongol stack against the human player.

- I also want to change the third goal but i don't know if you want to.

I dont like the spread Islam to 40% of the world.
- Id rather have them make Baghdad the largest and most productive city in the world and build the following: Dome of the Rock, La Meszique, Imam Hussain Mosque (in Baghdad), an Acadamy in Baghdad (to represent the House of Wisdom) and the Kabaa by x date.

Also can u rename the La Meszique into the Ummayad Mosque; this is because currently the Arabs cannot build La Meszique in its historical spot but the Ummayad Mosque was built in Damascus and it is also the 4th holiest site in Islam. IMO it also looks better.

 

[J. pride]

Central Asia (I guess that refers to Marv and Samarkand?)

Initially, they had good control over it; also the point is to make the goal a bit harder

For the second goal, I'd favor the tech leader one, but how exactly should that be measured? Number of techs?

I didnt think of that part but you it should definitely show if i have accomplished the goal beforehand (like SOI) cuz theres no way of knowing; I think research points is a better idea cuz that way u cant just research all the low costing techs

 

[Leoreth]

I've looked up how SoI does it and it only counts techs as well.

Going by research points is problematic because they change depending on tech and which prerequisite techs you know.

 

[AdrienIer]

How does the computer calculate the "most advanced civ" list when some random guy makes his list every so often ?

 

[Leoreth]

What do you mean with your last clause?

 

[Linkman226]

You know, like when it says Aristotle has compiled a list of the mose advanced civs... Aristotle is the random dude

And I don't see why there should be more troops for the human. It's tough enough as it is.

 

[Leoreth]

Ah, right. No idea how that's computed. I guess in the same way.

 

[Linkman226]

Some other notes (I'm gonna keep this updated as I play through the game):

--Use getNorthernmostCity for the arabs instead of getEasternmostCity. Otherwise Mecca is preferred over Al-Quds, which is what happened to me in my game.
--Get rid of Influence Driven War's feature that city population is reduced from the militias, or reduce it

And that's it for my game cuz I was just exiled to Korea . No chance of recovering Mecca from here.

Finished adding:

--new LH's and LH switches for Egyptians/ Arabs
--Middle Eastern cities do not lose buildings when conquered except when the conquering power is the Mongols
--Emergency militias (from IDW) for the Middle East do not drain population; elsewhere there is a 25% chance they don't as well. For balance I decreased the health of militia to 15% of health instead of 25%
--Added Damascus

 

[youtien]

How about just let Seljuk be Turks? They are Turkish. So you just have to move Turk spawn date earlier and move the spawning point, and maybe modify warmap a bit.

In fact, if the Turkish won the war against Chinese (Sui / Tang dynasty), they would conquer and settle in China instead of moving westward.

 

[CHEESE!]

I get a TXT_KEY error with Iran. It shows up as something like TXT_KEY_IRAN8.