Revised Civilization Mod

[Underground09]

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Version 4 now available, with complete CUSTOMIZATION potential!
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Hi all,

I've been putting together a modest overhaul mod that attempts to adjust virtually every aspect of gameplay, while adhering to the vision that guided the Firaxis team. Similar to the Balance Mod, the Revised Civilization Mod (RCM) is what I consider to be a first-generation overhaul, in that its changes are sweeping, but mostly limited to xml and lua, and many revisions will probably become redundant as the core game develops in future releases. Nevertheless, the changes in RCM are significant, and so much has been altered that I cannot share all the details here. However, I have recorded everything about my work in a PDF manual, available for download on this very site.

If you are curious, please do not hesitate to browse it and see what RCM is all about!

As a teaser, here is an excerpt from Table of Contents from the RCM Manual:



MILITARY UNITS

Unit Promotions
Terrain Modifiers
Land Units
Ranged Units
Air Units
Sea Units

BUILDINGS

Wonders
Military Buildings
Financial Buildings
Scientific Buildings
Production Buildings
Happiness Buildings
Miscellaneous Buildings

POLICIES

Policies

MISCELLANEOUS REVISIONS

Research Agreements
Unit Hit Points
Unit Maintenance Costs
Scientific Production
Minor Civs
Resources
Game Speeds
Wealth
Happiness
City Specialists and Great People
Terrain Improvements, Part I
Terrain Improvements, Part II
World Sizes
Technologies
Workers and CPU Performance
Customizability
Parting Words



Underground

PS: I want to thank Kael for the lovely modder's guide--you are a teacher to all of us! Oh yeah, and thanks for FFH2.

Current Version: 4.0

 

[Horem]

How about some details about whats in it, what changes you made ect?

 

[poncratias]

If you don't list all the changes, I don't download it.

 

[Underground09]

There is a 19-page manual that lists all the changes available for download.

 

[poncratias]

still you could at last list the big points what this mod is about.

People don't like to first have to download something in order to find out what it is.

 

[Underground09]

That's understandable, but in a mod that does hundreds of little things but no major things, there is no real way to give a synopsis that will not devolve into a detailed list of changes, which is what motivated me to write it all down in an organized way. Still, you make a good point, so I hope that the table of contents I just posted will at least inspire a brief perusal of the manual.

I also just posted an updated version.

 

[Agent327]

A synopsis of the 19 page manual might be more useful than a list of contents though. I doubt many people will peruse through 19 pages to be able to see what they will be downloading.

 

[Liquid Inferno]

A synopsis of the 19 page manual might be more useful than a list of contents though. I doubt many people will peruse through 19 pages to be able to see what they will be downloading.

This seems to be a very well thought out mod, and is definitely worth the read. I will be giving this one a try for sure, thanks.

 

[Kanin]

I downloaded it, and scanned through your pdf manual. The fact that you wrote a manual is VERY nice, and I wished more modders did just that. I would have prefered a htm or txt file though, since I have the habit of editing and changing texts that I read. I add my notes and keywords to make it easier to search for stuff later. In this case I had to convert your pdf to txt format, loosing all formating. Not good.

On the surface the mod looks quite ambitious, but many of the changes are already covered by other mods. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to pick and choose features, and no mention of compatibility issues with other mods. Its all or nothing, which doesn't work for me, since I already have a collection of mods that I have grown to like too much to want to discard.

I would suggest you take a look at how Combined Civilization's Mods and Tweaks (CCMAT) is kept modular. It is easy to turn on/off features in the config.lua, or by deleting modmods.

 

[The Godjester]

Beside the fact that most people won't read a manual for a mod before trying it, and writing the synopsis of most of the features here would help, I just finished playing a couple of games with the following configuration:
-Battle A.I. mod (always activated in my book..)
-A couple other ui mods
-Your mod

First game was with Washington, pangaea, standard, king difficulty.
Love the balance of many buildings, expecially the addition of culture for the colosseum, the printing press and most of the ones i saw till the renaissance era. Unfortunately this game I didn't finish because I got a HUGE technology advantage.
The idea of research based only on buildings and specialists and not on population is spot on, in my opinion: i almost never built libraries for the sake of getting technology until the medieval era before, instead i needed them for just getting out of ancient era! Most people won't like that, but I enjoy having to divide my attention between culture, happiness and research when choosing what to build. Problem is, the ai doesn't understand the concept at all, as you already said.

Second game was with Persia, pangaea, standard, king difficulty.
This time I didn't get enough space... and so didn't the ai.
Total war from the start. This combined with the very slow research, didn't prove to be as much fun as i thought. Infinite grinding of the same units turn after turn.

So that said, many things i like but of the top of my head:
- More ai in the map is not good as of the current situation of the ai intelligence.
The large scale mod did that right for me, imposing more hexes of space between cities, and giving more space to expand by removing 1-2 ai from the map.
- I was in the renaissance by 325 bc. Definetely some fixing is needed there!
- The science idea is good, but needs improving.

All in all, continue the good work, there are some very good ideas in there!

 

[Underground09]

I downloaded it, and scanned through your pdf manual. The fact that you wrote a manual is VERY nice, and I wished more modders did just that. I would have prefered a htm or txt file though, since I have the habit of editing and changing texts that I read. I add my notes and keywords to make it easier to search for stuff later. In this case I had to convert your pdf to txt format, loosing all formating. Not good.

On the surface the mod looks quite ambitious, but many of the changes are already covered by other mods. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to pick and choose features, and no mention of compatibility issues with other mods. Its all or nothing, which doesn't work for me, since I already have a collection of mods that I have grown to like too much to want to discard.

I would suggest you take a look at how Combined Civilization's Mods and Tweaks (CCMAT) is kept modular. It is easy to turn on/off features in the config.lua, or by deleting modmods.

That's a great suggestions--I did not know that compatibility options could be programmed into the mod! Thanks a lot for that tip.

Beside the fact that most people won't read a manual for a mod before trying it, and writing the synopsis of most of the features here would help, I just finished playing a couple of games with the following configuration:
-Battle A.I. mod (always activated in my book..)
-A couple other ui mods
-Your mod

First game was with Washington, pangaea, standard, king difficulty.
Love the balance of many buildings, expecially the addition of culture for the colosseum, the printing press and most of the ones i saw till the renaissance era. Unfortunately this game I didn't finish because I got a HUGE technology advantage.
The idea of research based only on buildings and specialists and not on population is spot on, in my opinion: i almost never built libraries for the sake of getting technology until the medieval era before, instead i needed them for just getting out of ancient era! Most people won't like that, but I enjoy having to divide my attention between culture, happiness and research when choosing what to build. Problem is, the ai doesn't understand the concept at all, as you already said.

Second game was with Persia, pangaea, standard, king difficulty.
This time I didn't get enough space... and so didn't the ai.
Total war from the start. This combined with the very slow research, didn't prove to be as much fun as i thought. Infinite grinding of the same units turn after turn.

So that said, many things i like but of the top of my head:
- More ai in the map is not good as of the current situation of the ai intelligence.
The large scale mod did that right for me, imposing more hexes of space between cities, and giving more space to expand by removing 1-2 ai from the map.
- I was in the renaissance by 325 bc. Definetely some fixing is needed there!
- The science idea is good, but needs improving.

All in all, continue the good work, there are some very good ideas in there!

Agh, you hit the nail on the head. I have been wrestling with that very problem of how to get the AI to start teching. Once it gets Libraries and Universities in every city, it can definitely catch up to you unless you are a hardcore rationalist, but your criticism is absolutely correct that the early-gain that the player makes can often be insurmountable.

And the simplest solution, as you pointed out, is not always the best. While I did want to slow down the speed at which one progresses scientifically (thereby making games longer, and allowing you to enjoy the new units you just got), I agree that simply punishing the player by adding a research penalty would make the early game drag on and on. That, and I really don't like the idea of using global penalties and buffs to alter the player's experience.

It is definitely a shortcoming, and I am open to any ideas for how to improve it!

(Idea just came to me: what if the AI could build Libraries from the start of the game?)

 

[ZanderC]

Are you supposed to only be able to build 2 workers?

 

[Underground09]

Version 4 is now available, and is now completely customizable. There are extensive customization instructions at the end of the new Manual.

Are you supposed to only be able to build 2 workers?

I left that explanation out of the Manual in version 3. In version 4, there is an explanation for that decision, and it is also customizable, and can be removed if you do not like it!

 

[Dithmarscher]

Are you supposed to only be able to build 2 workers?

I do have the same problem. The worker is gone from the produktion-menu and can´t be chosen. I also do have 2 workers .

 

[ZanderC]

Version 4 is now available, and is now completely customizable. There are extensive customization instructions at the end of the new Manual.



I left that explanation out of the Manual in version 3. In version 4, there is an explanation for that decision, and it is also customizable, and can be removed if you do not like it!

ok, thanks for the info. It is nice that you made everything separate. But I think this limit is crazy and I never had a problem with big slowdowns so I'll definitely be changing it. Was there any other reasons besides performance?

 

[Underground09]

ok, thanks for the info. It is nice that you made everything separate. But I think this limit is crazy and I never had a problem with big slowdowns so I'll definitely be changing it. Was there any other reasons besides performance?

Nope, only performance issues. But these forum pages make a strong case that workers are the leading cause of late-game lag.

Link1

Link2

I think Firaxis also recognizes that this is a problem, as it is now fixed in the first major patch they intend to release.

 

[Gusss]

Just read the manual and it seems to be te most complete mod made so far, you have my thanks and congratulations.

 

[ZanderC]

Just ran into a bug... don't know if it's your mod or just civ 5. I took over an enemy city that had an archer stationed in it, and it ended up leaving the archer there (inside the city) and I can't attack him but it can plink away at me.

 

[Underground09]

Just read the manual and it seems to be te most complete mod made so far, you have my thanks and congratulations.

Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it!

Just ran into a bug... don't know if it's your mod or just civ 5. I took over an enemy city that had an archer stationed in it, and it ended up leaving the archer there (inside the city) and I can't attack him but it can plink away at me.

All RCM does is alter stored data, it really would not contribute any more bugs to an already (currently) buggy game!

 

[ZanderC]

ok I just finished my first game last night, and I really like the feel of the mod. Research being decoupled from population removed a lot of the stress of continuous growth and happiness management.

But I ended up with infantry in ~1000AD and no AI even had longswordsmen. I was playing as Babylon and got a lot of GS, but I think there would still be an issue even without that. But the Academy could be overpowered (+5 research) when you start with +3 from the palace. Maybe reducing it to +3 or +4 would be better? Just food for thought. I also think the gold bonuses from gold/silver/gems were a little too much.

One thing I noticed is that there was no runaway AI, which is a REALLY good thing. Maybe this means they need even more research bonus.

Anyway, I'll definitely be playing another game. Well done!