Random Events

[Italian_Villa]

Hello to all the Civ Fanatics out there! I've been lurking for a while, ever since I 'discovered' Civ 5 about a half year ago. I've been playing non-stop since then and have enjoyed nearly every minute.

My question to all of the knowledgeable players out there is this: Is there a Mod (or even a previous version of Civ) that allows for random events to occur in the world?

By random events, I mean something along the lines of "an earthquake devestates the city of London and it's surrounding environs. Lose 25% production for the next two turns as your civilization recovers from the damage," or "Famine strikes the city state of Ur. Lose their luxuries bonus for 5 turns, but gifts of gold offer more influence."

I guess I'm looking for a little more variety and uncertainty in the world to make the world seem move immersive and to make the game a little more dynamic.

Please note: I'm not saying the game is flawed or that anyone else's play style is wrong. It's just that for me, I would like to see some random world events that affect my play style.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!


Regards,
Scott

 

[Hakan-i Cihan]

Welcome. You should try civ IV then. Because it was implemented in the previous version. But as far as I heard from others, they deliberately didn't implement this concept in CIV V.

 

[Italian_Villa]

Hakan,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check into Civ 4 since it seems like it might have the random element I'm looking for.


Regards,
Scott

 

[Hakan-i Cihan]

Be aware though that earlier Civilization games had different approaches to the game. I have played Civ III and Civ IV, but for me Civ V was very different then previous games in the series. Some of the bigger changes are the use of hexagon tiles and 1UPT (unit per tile) rule if considered that all previous games had square tiles and no unit limit per tile. I think till now for me the best approach is of the game would be of Civ 5, but all had some different elements with each a different fun element.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Random events seem so... so... random. I doubt very much that any player in a neck-and-neck game with one or more AI civs will appreciate being hit with a devastating catastrophe will appreciate involuntarily falling behind while the competition keeps surging ahead. I imagine the most common reaction would be "The computer cheated!"

In a solo game where it's just the player alone, like SimCity or Tropico, random events will be okay. Then they're just environmental factors. Entirely different story for competitive games.

 

[Jaybe]

Civ V: Communitas; Home of the Civ V Unofficial Patch, G&K Enhanced, and Vanilla Enhanced Mod may still have Random Events in the mod. I haven't been there in awhile and don't know at what stage its BNW state is in.

 

[Italian_Villa]

Captain Patch... to each his own, I say. To me, life is random and so should the building of a civilization. For me, the game has a chance to get stale without a healthy dose of uncertainty. But, as I said in the opening post, my desire for a bit more randomness is mine alone. I'm not asking the company to change the way they make the game. I was just wondering if there was a mod that added this option. Happy gaming!

Jaybe... thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I've been playing BNW mostly and I'm not sure if that mod would work, but it's worth some investigation. Thanks again for the link.


Regards,
Scott

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Civ IV did this in the default game, and one of V's improvement over it is that they knew better .

Civ at its core is a numbers/strategy/planning game. It's done with a historical framework, but even with all the differences across the past 3 titles, it still boils down to a matter of return-on-investment optimization. Everything from social policy choice to settling more cities to which improvement to build can be distilled into what kinds of returns it gives you towards your goal. Thus, at its core civ is somewhat a break from reality, and on top of that it's a strategy-focused game.

The problem with events is that they run counter to "strategy" and indeed hinder the reward to the core facet of effective civ gameplay, though possibly that's only because of how poorly they were implemented in civ IV.

 

[Dgodus]

I greatly enjoyed the random quests/events that were in Civ 4. Especially the quests as you could select your reward based on meeting certain criteria. The random events that you really found unfair could always be undone via the world builder feature that was included in the game (now you can just pick up the ingame editor mod). I do miss them and would like to see the quests again at least (cs quests are no where near as varied, involved, or rewarding).

 

[charon2112]

game unbalancing random events are awesome. I miss them.

In TBS, random is fun.

The problem with Civ IV random events was that there weren't enough, and they weren't very interesting. A good example of RE done right is GalCiv2.

 

[Makavcio]

^ This.

Random element already exists in the game. It's implemented in all of its layers. You get random maps and then resources "randomly" appear after you get certain technologies. City states give you (more or less) random missions, barbarians camp spawn in (almost) random locations and so on.

Historically speaking, random events could make or unmake whole civilizations and I'm not talking about huge things like great earthquakes or volcano. Civ4 should have made much greater use of events because even though some of them went in right direction, in the end, most events were completely negligible and none were really important.

 

[Dralix]

My question to all of the knowledgeable players out there is this: Is there a Mod (or even a previous version of Civ) that allows for random events to occur in the world?

Civ 1

 

[Kintara]

I think the environment and weather should play a more integral role in the game. I wouldn't necessarily use a random events model. Or if I did, I'd probably use it in conjunction with map features.

For instance, you might have a certain number of special bay tiles that provide a trade and defensive bonus, but are subject to tsunami conditions, or perhaps have other drawbacks. If you don't want to deal with the RNG factor, you can build a mitigation building (like a sea wall). You might also have a building or (triggered/unlocked) event later on that allows you to further exploit the bonus, perhaps tidal generators or something.

You could have rift zones where earthquakes are common. Instead of having an event, any cities settled in the rift would have increased building maintenance and a small population growth malus. In exchange, again, you might be able to build mitigation buildings or buildings that actually give you a bonus. Geothermal power perhaps. The rift zone might also give you science or production on tiles (maybe production along a rift feature, with science yields on volcano tiles).

You could have a tornado alley, though I'm not sure how to interact with it.

You could have areas that are subject to hurricanes or monsoons, but maybe have a food bonus. Flood plains would probably get integrated into the system.

It would also be nice if there were more bonus tiles, both for land and sea. I actually think it might be better if they reduced the base yield on tiles and just put a "bonus" resource of some kind on every tile. You could draw on the zone idea from before and have biome zones that give a certain range of bonus yields. Natural wonders might come with their own small zones with different qualities.

And they should add currents, which act like natural sea roads.

They could also add global climate events that affect everyone, but only provide a manageable bonus/penalty and a clear length. Mini ice ages, global warming, and even pandemics can be abstracted to something that can be dealt with transparently on a turn-by-turn basis. As long as the game was consistent about how frequently these periods happen and keep them roughly about the same in power, then it shouldn't mess up people's score or time comparisons much.

I do think the game would be more fun if you were pushed off your bearings and tempo a bit more, but not so much that you're getting sucker punched by the RNG gods out of the blue.

 

[whyidie]

I don't know if random events are the solution, but I would like to see more ebb and flow in the civs. At times it seems like civs snowball and you don't really see much rise and fall and the different civs struggle with limited resources/happiness/neighbors.

Maybe it happens today, but its not terribly visible.

Maybe Rome was doing great until they couldn't secure iron. America might have been setup perfectly for a late game domination spree but couldn't get oil. In some games I can see these limiting factors clearly, but in most games if they happen, its not visible and the game loses that element of a civilization evolving to/from greatness.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

game unbalancing random events are awesome. I miss them.

In TBS, random is fun.

The problem with Civ IV random events was that there weren't enough, and they weren't very interesting. A good example of RE done right is GalCiv2.

No, there were two problems with Civ IV events:

1. They altered the outcome of the game too greatly due to a small # of them...IE one lucky or unlucky early event could completely alter the outcome of the game regardless of player choices.

2. Many of them involved literally no thought or engaging reactive consideration whatsoever. "Progress comes slower"...ok? So, where's the choice? What does this add to the turn based *STRATEGY* game, that it's worth futzing with the core gameplay? There were way too many events that offered either no options, or the options offered had an overwhelming, if not universal choice.

Quests were fine, if unbalanced.

Civ V has repeated many of Civ IV's mistakes, but one of them avoided was the preposterous implementation of events and excessive reliance of early luck on outcomes independent from player choices or skill. Combat is much less "play well still lose" oriented, early defense against high level AI is more viable, and there are more options to offset horrible spawn luck (you could literally find unwinnable or close situations on deity, especially without prior map knowledge).

If you're going to make the game more like Civ IV in any way, please do not make it more like the bad aspects of Civ IV.

Skill equalization is more fun to the people benefiting from it. After all, what better way to feel better about skill variance than to dampen it?

I think the environment and weather should play a more integral role in the game.

Individual weather events should not have a serious impact in the game; that's outside of civ's scale and only makes sense in a mod.

You could have rift zones where earthquakes are common. Instead of having an event, any cities settled in the rift would have increased building maintenance and a small population growth malus. In exchange, again, you might be able to build mitigation buildings or buildings that actually give you a bonus. Geothermal power perhaps.

This sort of thing fits the scale of a civ game a lot better than individual disasters.

I do think the game would be more fun if you were pushed off your bearings and tempo a bit more, but not so much that you're getting sucker punched by the RNG gods out of the blue.

Yes, implementation is everything.

Civ4 should have made much greater use of events because even though some of them went in right direction, in the end, most events were completely negligible and none were really important.

It's hard to take seriously an argument that suggests instant death, low cost/free golden ages, 20,000 lost instantly, and forced DoW into multiple civs with defensive pacts while gifting them tanks to be "not really important" .

 

[Socratatus]

I loved Civ 4`s random events. They always popped up just when I was beginning to nod off in a game and renewed my interest. Now in Civ 5 when I get bored there`s nothing to wake me up unless I start a war, which I hate doing.

Random events also adds a realistic unpredictable touch to the game. They should never have been got rid of.

 

[Kintara]

Individual weather events should not have a serious impact in the game; that's outside of civ's scale and only makes sense in a mod.

Yes. Systems are better, and events should be largely abstracted, and not result in unexpectedly outsized amounts of damage. A tsunami prone area doesn't need to have to worry about being swept away necessarily. It could just mean that in exchange for a good bonus of some kind, like a trade bonus, you have to deal with some sort of maintenance or cost. Another way to handle it is to give workers a bit more to do, and sort of mirror the way they decided to implement pillaging. When a tile is interrupted due to being pillaged, the improvement isn't lost. Getting it back up and running is considerably easier than rebuilding from scratch.

 

[Italian_Villa]

Individual weather events should not have a serious impact in the game; that's outside of civ's scale and only makes sense in a mod.

Tell that to the Spanish Armada

In all seriousness, that is what I requested in my original post: a mod that adds random events to the game. I'm not asking Civ 6 to add random events (although if done well and with scale, it could add a lot to the game, in my opinion). I was asking for a mod that could add a level of randomness to the keyboard crunching I find occurring at the end of most of my games.

To me, events like the Bubonic plague, or Katrina timed with the housing market crash, or the flu epidemic of 1917 ,or the European Debt Crisis, etc. are events that add verisimilitude to a strategy game - as long as it's done in a way that doesn't cripple your chances of ultimately winning the game. Forcing me to react to a couple of unpredictable events in my civilizations 6000 year history is something that greatly appeals to me.

I'm well aware that it would not appeal to all strategy gamers. Nor should it, as we each have our particular quirks regarding our gaming style.

Thanks to everyone for responding. It's been a most interesting conversation although I'm still waiting for a modder to come to my rescue.


Best Regards,
Scott

 

[CaptainPatch]

I just can't wrap my head around the time scale of random events. Things like tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. are all "Here today; gone tomorrow" events. Even something like a 7 year drought is transitory. Six months to a year later, the damage has been cleaned up and more than likely the economy has recovered.

OTOH, something like an earthquake submerging Port Royale or an epidemic like the Black Plague... Now _those_ are game-changing events. But in the scheme of things, those happen so infrequently as to be almost non-existent. [Which is why they made the History books while as soon as 100 years from now hardly anyone will even remember Typhoon Haidan.]

 

[danieladler]

Random events was never anything important in Civ4. But it added a bit of spice and life to the game. I miss that in Civ5.