Dupuire Unaru
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2023
- Messages
- 6
Quite a long time ago, Paul Cullivan (Kull) made the superb "Bronze Age Collapse" (1200-300BC) and "Ancient Empires" (3500BC-0AD) scenarios. He did a fantastic job of taking modern age civ mechanics and reapplying them to make a deeper and more enjoyable ancient age. For example, he reused the Communist form of Government as "Empire" for when your civ is big enough to need it.
User RobRoy, at Apolyton, used hexediting to create the "Barbarian Wrath" variant for "Ancient Empires" scenario. He also the hexeditor to rig up barbarians with Democratic government, so they couldn't be bribed. He notes:
User RobRoy, at Apolyton, used hexediting to create the "Barbarian Wrath" variant for "Ancient Empires" scenario. He also the hexeditor to rig up barbarians with Democratic government, so they couldn't be bribed. He notes:
I've played the "Ancient Empires" scenario several times. Like RobRoy, I love the intensity of Barbarian Wrath. The earlier scenario "Bronze Age Collapse" would also benefit from these improvements to barbarians but I can't get the old hexedit editors to run on my modern PC. Anyone have any idea how to do this?This excellent scenario becomes extremely difficult, but not impossible, I think. Yes, you do see small pirate bands almost every other turn. And, yes, you do get rebel hordes 80-100 strong (I've only seen hordes composed of Bronze Inf I/Battering Rams, so far, but I'm just barely in the Bronze Age in my current game). But the rebel hordes seem to be somewhat more random. At times they seem to rest and let you deal with what they've already thrown at you. Between attrition, dispersal, and disappearances, you actually have a chance against the three-four units that reach your vulnerable cities each turn (usually just a few are directly in their path).
I can't remember a civ game that has been more challenging and more fun! Yet it flows along reasonably historical lines. Defensive play gets a whole new dimension, especially in those early phases of Kull's game where there are few good defensive units.
At one point, my mighty Hittite empire reached from the homeland, down to Syria (along surprisingly historical lines), and had several outlying cities in western Anatolia, Messepotamia, and the Levant). When the first rebel horde appeared, I was forced to write off many of the outlying cities. At one point the barbarians gave no rest and were dispersing units from three 80+ hordes near my capital, forcing me to abandon many of my heartland cities and head for the hills (literally). The Hittites looked more like a fledgling Aegean power by the time that round was spent.