Okay, so I found that I had to perfect a few things. Now, some civs will collapse when their homeland comes under foreign domination (but only if AI controlled; a human player will never "collapse"), colonies are done better, and independence/vassalage account for the collapsing civs. This should feel even more like RFC as it unfolds.
This mod uses Python and XML only (it doesn't alter the dll), so it is fully multiplayer and Macintosh compatible.
(done by Antaine with great indebtedness to Baldyr, God-Emperor, The_J, and EmperorFool)
FROM THE README:
PURPOSE OF THIS MOD AND THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
PURPOSE:
The purpose of Dawn of Time is to provide a 4000BC start scenario with timed events which will roughly approximate the historical timeline while maintaining full multiplayer capability. Those of you who enjoy Rhye's and Fall of Civilization will be familiar with the overall vision behind the creation of this mod.
Because alterations to the .dll and random events (including plague, congresses, and possibly even stability) cause OOS errors when attempting multiplayer, the human player will not have any choice regarding new civ spawns, nor will there be an autoplay.
NEW CITY MINIMUM DISTANCE:
Cities can be built one tile away from each other instead of the default two tiles. Evaluate new city sites carefully, however, as just because you can, doesn't mean you should...
MISSIONARIES:
Missionaries can now explore rival territory in the absence of an open borders agreement.
CITY NAMES:
There are a number of "key tiles" with geographically static names. A human player can change these names, but when a city is settled on a key tile the "proper" name will come up as a default. There is no dynamic naming scheme like in RFC; all the civs use the same list of names, and there is only one name per tile (although some important names are assigned to a bloc of adjacent tiles).
NO AUTOPLAY:
All civs are enabled from the start, but only seven of them will be playable from 4000BC. The human player will have to <return> through all the turns until it is his civ's turn to spawn if he wishes to play a "later" civ. When an area flips to a new civ, the old civs that have possessions there will lose their cities, but their units will be moved to the edges of the new territory. If you are playing on Marathon, it could take awhile to get to your civ's spawn date.
THE STARTING CIVS:
The civilizations available to those who wish to play from the 4000BC start are
Celts
Egypt
Mesopotamia
India
China
Hebrews
Ethiopia
WHY THE CELTS, HEBREWS AND GREEKS?:
Despite their disunity and decentralization, the Celts have been included because they blanketed the continent from an early time and left linguistic and cultural marks on the modern societies which inhabit those regions. Their true origins and migrations are obscured by the shroud of time. Historians usually fix the beginning of a culture that can be called "Celtic" at about 800 BC, but the recent Genographic Project indicates that genetic evidence shows populations in the traditional heart of Celtic influence (western Ireland and northwestern Spain) show evidence of having been in place since the end of the ice age. The discrepancy between the haplotype evidence and the historical record can be explained in part by the illiterate nature of the people in question (they left no written records to attest to their language) and tribal social structure (they had no great empire or unified kingdom). They have also been started at this time to give the Celtic player some time to colonize western Europe before almost all their territory comes under threat from spawning civs.
The Hebrews have been included both to give the human player a bit more of a fighting chance (their geography doesn't give them much space) and so that Judaism spreads properly (as it is one of the earliest religions discovered in the game). For that reason, they start on the map earlier than their historically accepted entrance into Canaan about 1300BC.
The Greeks have been included from the start somewhat ahistorically as well. This is because they were a growing civilization from the time of agriculture and need time for a human or AI player to expand before the spawn of the Romans. Like the Celts, they will see a good part of their territory carved up by future civs, so an earlier start gives them a fighting chance.
TIMED SPAWNS AND KEEPING YOUR CITIES:
The other civs begin with a workboat as a place holder so that a human player can select them in single player mode. They will spawn in their historic locations at the appropriate time. It is important to note that cities on or adjacent to the later civs' starting locations will be razed regardless of their happiness level. The tiles destined to become new capitals are marked by labels (such as "Latin Tribes" where Rome will eventually spawn). This is so that a human player can choose to avoid tiles which will be wiped out when new civs spawn. The tiles that will be destroyed regardless of happiness level are the ones marked by the labels and every tile adjacent to it (a 3x3 square). A larger spawn zone has been defined for each later civ. Cities with too great unhappiness in that zone will flip to the new civ. If you wish to keep your cities, keep them happy! Happy citizens must outnumber unhappy ones by MORE than four-to-one in order to prevent a city from flipping. The later civs are:
Rome
Persia
Japan
Arabia
England
France
Spain
Germany
Russia
America
Some civs have secondary spawns in the 19th and 20th century, so don't be surprised if a pesky AI civ you'd dispatched centuries before reemerges. These secondary spawns will not claim any cities by fiat (like the original spawn capitals), but will use only the happiness gauge to determine if they get any cities and thus are successful in making it back onto the map. Each secondary spawn will only be attempted once, and you will see a message telling you that nationalists are trying to reclaim their country. If they fail to gain a city, the revolution will be over and they will be gone for good.
COLLAPSE (and why you might not want to grant independence to a colony):
Some civs will collapse if their homeland falls under foreign domination. This collapse might not be immediate, and it will never take place for a human player (only the AI will collapse). This collapse is suspended if the civ in question is a vassal of another civ. Their timed historical respawn, however, is not suspended. So, if you play England, and grant your Australian colonies independence, they may materialize as one of these civilizations. If this "new" civ is, for example, the Romans, in 1861 they will "respawn" and attempt to flip Italy back to themselves. In doing this, they may also succeed in reclaiming their former status and winning independence from your empire (taking Australia with them).
COLONIES:
Some civs get very lucrative colonies. These can come in a variety of forms. For instance, Celts and Greeks get a couple new cities in various places, while Romans, Americans, Russians and others get large areas flip to them with the same rules as the initial civ spawns. When played by a human, they must meet certain requirements in order to collect their prize.
Celts and Greeks must discover Iron Working and Sailing by 1400BC (Celts can also get the English colony spawn if they meet certain requirements AND England is dead, see below).
Romans must discover Construction by 1AD.
Germany must discover Feudalism and Guilds by 1200.
England, France, Spain, Arabia, and Russia must discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1500.
America must discover Railroad by 1900.
The check for the satisfaction of the requirements takes place on the specified year, not on discovery of the tech. So if you manage to discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1342, don't panic when nothing happens. When the right years rolls around you'll get the colony spawn.
RELIGIONS:
Anyone can discover a religion by researching the appropriate tech, but the holy city will be moved to its historical location a few turns later. Each religion seeks out one particular city for this. If that city is razed, the holy city status will again appear if that city is rebuilt. This works to ensure a sensible and historical dissemination of religions. If a religion is discovered at a time the intended holy city does not exist, the game will follow the normal rules for assigning a holy city, but that status will move if and when the historical holy city is founded.
NEW CELTIC BUILDING:
Because the Celts will see their territory greatly reduced through new civ spawns (unless they can keep everyone VERY happy through numerous spawns and respawns), they will likely find themselves with a capital in Ireland or Britain at some point. Since they will be hugging the Atlantic coast (at least until they can get Astronomy and go elsewhere), they have been given a new special building - the Curragh Pen. That building replaces the harbor and permits water and river tiles to give one hammer in addition to their usual yield.
NEW CELTIC FLAG:
As Ireland is to date the only fully independent Celtic country, the harp insignia has been used for the Celts. This is consistent with many other civs which use later imperial motifs (like the Russians, Germans, French, and others) even from their earliest eras.
HEBREWS:
The Hebrew civ is based on the Sumerian one that came with the game. They have been given a new flag, and the unique building and unit for Sumeria have been renamed for use with the Hebrews. The Hebrew Sicarius is virtually identical to the Sumerian Vulture save that the unit is also invisible. The rest of the artwork and tags have not been changed, so you may still see a Sumerian thumbnail or reference here or there.
THESE ISLANDS AREN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE TWO OF US:
Because the British Isles are so small, players will likely find that they can only support one major civ (there are no minor civs in DawnOfTime). Assuming that the two in competition for the space will be the Celts and the English, it is likely that one will force the other out - possibly to extinction. There is a chance here for the Celts to rewrite a little history. If the English are driven extinct, but the Celts are still alive, the Celts will inherit the British Empire (provided they can also discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1500). In inheriting the British Empire, the Celts will get the normal British colony spawns when they meet the requirements.
CREDITS:
On the Civfanatics Forum, Baldyr, God-Emperor, and EmperorFool were of tremendous help. The flag for Wildcat's Israel mod was used to add flavor to the Hebrew civ.
This mod uses Python and XML only (it doesn't alter the dll), so it is fully multiplayer and Macintosh compatible.
(done by Antaine with great indebtedness to Baldyr, God-Emperor, The_J, and EmperorFool)
FROM THE README:
PURPOSE OF THIS MOD AND THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
PURPOSE:
The purpose of Dawn of Time is to provide a 4000BC start scenario with timed events which will roughly approximate the historical timeline while maintaining full multiplayer capability. Those of you who enjoy Rhye's and Fall of Civilization will be familiar with the overall vision behind the creation of this mod.
Because alterations to the .dll and random events (including plague, congresses, and possibly even stability) cause OOS errors when attempting multiplayer, the human player will not have any choice regarding new civ spawns, nor will there be an autoplay.
NEW CITY MINIMUM DISTANCE:
Cities can be built one tile away from each other instead of the default two tiles. Evaluate new city sites carefully, however, as just because you can, doesn't mean you should...
MISSIONARIES:
Missionaries can now explore rival territory in the absence of an open borders agreement.
CITY NAMES:
There are a number of "key tiles" with geographically static names. A human player can change these names, but when a city is settled on a key tile the "proper" name will come up as a default. There is no dynamic naming scheme like in RFC; all the civs use the same list of names, and there is only one name per tile (although some important names are assigned to a bloc of adjacent tiles).
NO AUTOPLAY:
All civs are enabled from the start, but only seven of them will be playable from 4000BC. The human player will have to <return> through all the turns until it is his civ's turn to spawn if he wishes to play a "later" civ. When an area flips to a new civ, the old civs that have possessions there will lose their cities, but their units will be moved to the edges of the new territory. If you are playing on Marathon, it could take awhile to get to your civ's spawn date.
THE STARTING CIVS:
The civilizations available to those who wish to play from the 4000BC start are
Celts
Egypt
Mesopotamia
India
China
Hebrews
Ethiopia
WHY THE CELTS, HEBREWS AND GREEKS?:
Despite their disunity and decentralization, the Celts have been included because they blanketed the continent from an early time and left linguistic and cultural marks on the modern societies which inhabit those regions. Their true origins and migrations are obscured by the shroud of time. Historians usually fix the beginning of a culture that can be called "Celtic" at about 800 BC, but the recent Genographic Project indicates that genetic evidence shows populations in the traditional heart of Celtic influence (western Ireland and northwestern Spain) show evidence of having been in place since the end of the ice age. The discrepancy between the haplotype evidence and the historical record can be explained in part by the illiterate nature of the people in question (they left no written records to attest to their language) and tribal social structure (they had no great empire or unified kingdom). They have also been started at this time to give the Celtic player some time to colonize western Europe before almost all their territory comes under threat from spawning civs.
The Hebrews have been included both to give the human player a bit more of a fighting chance (their geography doesn't give them much space) and so that Judaism spreads properly (as it is one of the earliest religions discovered in the game). For that reason, they start on the map earlier than their historically accepted entrance into Canaan about 1300BC.
The Greeks have been included from the start somewhat ahistorically as well. This is because they were a growing civilization from the time of agriculture and need time for a human or AI player to expand before the spawn of the Romans. Like the Celts, they will see a good part of their territory carved up by future civs, so an earlier start gives them a fighting chance.
TIMED SPAWNS AND KEEPING YOUR CITIES:
The other civs begin with a workboat as a place holder so that a human player can select them in single player mode. They will spawn in their historic locations at the appropriate time. It is important to note that cities on or adjacent to the later civs' starting locations will be razed regardless of their happiness level. The tiles destined to become new capitals are marked by labels (such as "Latin Tribes" where Rome will eventually spawn). This is so that a human player can choose to avoid tiles which will be wiped out when new civs spawn. The tiles that will be destroyed regardless of happiness level are the ones marked by the labels and every tile adjacent to it (a 3x3 square). A larger spawn zone has been defined for each later civ. Cities with too great unhappiness in that zone will flip to the new civ. If you wish to keep your cities, keep them happy! Happy citizens must outnumber unhappy ones by MORE than four-to-one in order to prevent a city from flipping. The later civs are:
Rome
Persia
Japan
Arabia
England
France
Spain
Germany
Russia
America
Some civs have secondary spawns in the 19th and 20th century, so don't be surprised if a pesky AI civ you'd dispatched centuries before reemerges. These secondary spawns will not claim any cities by fiat (like the original spawn capitals), but will use only the happiness gauge to determine if they get any cities and thus are successful in making it back onto the map. Each secondary spawn will only be attempted once, and you will see a message telling you that nationalists are trying to reclaim their country. If they fail to gain a city, the revolution will be over and they will be gone for good.
COLLAPSE (and why you might not want to grant independence to a colony):
Some civs will collapse if their homeland falls under foreign domination. This collapse might not be immediate, and it will never take place for a human player (only the AI will collapse). This collapse is suspended if the civ in question is a vassal of another civ. Their timed historical respawn, however, is not suspended. So, if you play England, and grant your Australian colonies independence, they may materialize as one of these civilizations. If this "new" civ is, for example, the Romans, in 1861 they will "respawn" and attempt to flip Italy back to themselves. In doing this, they may also succeed in reclaiming their former status and winning independence from your empire (taking Australia with them).
COLONIES:
Some civs get very lucrative colonies. These can come in a variety of forms. For instance, Celts and Greeks get a couple new cities in various places, while Romans, Americans, Russians and others get large areas flip to them with the same rules as the initial civ spawns. When played by a human, they must meet certain requirements in order to collect their prize.
Celts and Greeks must discover Iron Working and Sailing by 1400BC (Celts can also get the English colony spawn if they meet certain requirements AND England is dead, see below).
Romans must discover Construction by 1AD.
Germany must discover Feudalism and Guilds by 1200.
England, France, Spain, Arabia, and Russia must discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1500.
America must discover Railroad by 1900.
The check for the satisfaction of the requirements takes place on the specified year, not on discovery of the tech. So if you manage to discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1342, don't panic when nothing happens. When the right years rolls around you'll get the colony spawn.
RELIGIONS:
Anyone can discover a religion by researching the appropriate tech, but the holy city will be moved to its historical location a few turns later. Each religion seeks out one particular city for this. If that city is razed, the holy city status will again appear if that city is rebuilt. This works to ensure a sensible and historical dissemination of religions. If a religion is discovered at a time the intended holy city does not exist, the game will follow the normal rules for assigning a holy city, but that status will move if and when the historical holy city is founded.
NEW CELTIC BUILDING:
Because the Celts will see their territory greatly reduced through new civ spawns (unless they can keep everyone VERY happy through numerous spawns and respawns), they will likely find themselves with a capital in Ireland or Britain at some point. Since they will be hugging the Atlantic coast (at least until they can get Astronomy and go elsewhere), they have been given a new special building - the Curragh Pen. That building replaces the harbor and permits water and river tiles to give one hammer in addition to their usual yield.
NEW CELTIC FLAG:
As Ireland is to date the only fully independent Celtic country, the harp insignia has been used for the Celts. This is consistent with many other civs which use later imperial motifs (like the Russians, Germans, French, and others) even from their earliest eras.
HEBREWS:
The Hebrew civ is based on the Sumerian one that came with the game. They have been given a new flag, and the unique building and unit for Sumeria have been renamed for use with the Hebrews. The Hebrew Sicarius is virtually identical to the Sumerian Vulture save that the unit is also invisible. The rest of the artwork and tags have not been changed, so you may still see a Sumerian thumbnail or reference here or there.
THESE ISLANDS AREN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE TWO OF US:
Because the British Isles are so small, players will likely find that they can only support one major civ (there are no minor civs in DawnOfTime). Assuming that the two in competition for the space will be the Celts and the English, it is likely that one will force the other out - possibly to extinction. There is a chance here for the Celts to rewrite a little history. If the English are driven extinct, but the Celts are still alive, the Celts will inherit the British Empire (provided they can also discover Astronomy and Gunpowder by 1500). In inheriting the British Empire, the Celts will get the normal British colony spawns when they meet the requirements.
CREDITS:
On the Civfanatics Forum, Baldyr, God-Emperor, and EmperorFool were of tremendous help. The flag for Wildcat's Israel mod was used to add flavor to the Hebrew civ.
-
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_27_39_am_50q.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_28_01_am_Goz.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_28_16_am_bx3.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_28_27_am_yx6.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_30_20_am_jUM.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_36_04_am_0Yt.png -
screen_shot_2011_01_02_at_11_37_15_am_g8O.png