'Illuria' Classic Warlords map v1.2, 3 scenarios
for Fall from Heaven 2 (tested with 2.41o), and (recommended) modmod 'More Naval AI' (2.1)
This is a representation of the fantasy land Illuria, as it features in the 1990s classic 'Warlords' strategy game.
general remarks:
- the original map is huge by Civ4 standards, so the one given here is reduced to only half the size
- to simulate the bridges that were present in the original Illuria map, I am using land bridges with barbarian cities placed on them. This, of course, means that ships can only navigate the river past that 'bridge' if there is an open borders agreement... or if you take that city. Also, I suggest to disallow city razing, so the 'bridge' cities function cannot be lost (city razing was possible in the original game, but rarely served any useful function, except for maybe annoying your opponents)
- placing all the non-player i.e. barbarian cities on the map as they were on the original makes the barbarians quite powerful at the start... and it also has some side effects like the Clan of Embers casting its world spell almost immediately after the start of the game, so they gain a huge bonus barbarian army
- all the FfH2 special map features are put in place of original 'Warlords' big ruins etc.; the small ruins or dungeons present in the original are also represented
- I have added some Civ4-type rivers to make the land easier to settle (fresh water etc)
v1.2 changes:
- re-did the area around Kor/Mahala starting point, for better balancing (capital should not shrink anymore after game start)
- added some units to Mahala's starting forces for balancing
- corrected some error on the map w.r.t. impassable regions which had been passable in the original map
- removed 'Guild of the Nine' from Dunethel, for balancing
three map scenarios are included here:
1) file "Illuria-no_cities-8civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria base map, 8 FfH civilisations set up with one starting city each, located as they are in the classic 'Warlords' game; no barbarian cities except the ones needed for the bridges
- so this will not have the classic Warlords layout of barbarian cities to conquer. But that may be an advantage, since the classic Warlords cities were arranged a bit too sparsely to fit well with the Civ4 rules about city maintenance cost etc.
- all Civs start with only their lowest tech, two warriors, one scout, settler, and worker each
- this map has more resources than the other two, in order to make settling easier
2) file "Illuria-all_cities-17civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria map including all the original barbarian cities (with their original names) plus 'bridge' cities, with 17 FfH civilisations, starting with 3-5 cities each
- this would then be played with the 'no settlers' and 'no barbarians' options to have a fairly good approximation of the classic Warlords map layout.
- in order to have barbarians not too powerful, I have thrown in some more Civs than were present in the classic Warlords game. So the barbarians start the game with approx 20 cities only; still I found it necessary to remove the Clan of Embers Civ here, who would still cast their world spell too quickly
- the Civs mentioned below, that is, the stand-ins for the classic 'Warlords' Civs, are more powerful than the others in this scenario. The other civs should be regarded as just some more colourful barbarians - unless you want to play one of them, of course
- all Civs start at a tech level equivalent to ca. 3500 research points, with some more advanced units and sometimes even a hero thrown in for good measure (in the classic Warlords, you always start the game with one hero)
- regrettably, I found the standard AI very defensive, not really trying to expand. I've fiddled around with the balancing, trying to provoke the AI into more expansionism, but with no great success. You need the 'More Naval AI' modmod or something like it to make the adversaries reasonably competent
3) file "Illuria-all_cities-8civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria map including all the original barbarian cities (with their original names) plus 'bridge' cities, with 8 FfH civilisations (see below), starting with one city each
- this should be played with the 'no settlers' and 'no barbarians' options
- of the three scenarios given here, this one comes closest to the classic 'Warlords' setup
- however, the standard AI has problems handling the many barbarians, so this scenario definitely needs the beefed up AI coming with the 'More Naval AI' modmod
- again, I found it necessary to put the Doviello in place of the original 'Orcs of Kor', because Clan of Embers Civ would cast their world spell too quickly
- all Civs start at a tech level equivalent to ca. 3500 research points, with some more advanced units and sometimes even a hero thrown in for good measure (in the classic Warlords, you always start the game with one hero)
Civilisations exchanged from 'classic Warlords' to 'FfH2':
Sirians -> Bannor
Storm Giants -> Illians
Grey Dwarves -> Khazad
Orcs of Kor -> on map 1: Clan of Embers, maps 2 and 3: Doviello
Elvallie -> Ljosalfar
The Selentines -> Lanun
Horse Lords -> Hippus
Lord Bane -> Sheaim
So, enjoy, and please give feedback/rate!
Cheers
Fred
for Fall from Heaven 2 (tested with 2.41o), and (recommended) modmod 'More Naval AI' (2.1)
This is a representation of the fantasy land Illuria, as it features in the 1990s classic 'Warlords' strategy game.
general remarks:
- the original map is huge by Civ4 standards, so the one given here is reduced to only half the size
- to simulate the bridges that were present in the original Illuria map, I am using land bridges with barbarian cities placed on them. This, of course, means that ships can only navigate the river past that 'bridge' if there is an open borders agreement... or if you take that city. Also, I suggest to disallow city razing, so the 'bridge' cities function cannot be lost (city razing was possible in the original game, but rarely served any useful function, except for maybe annoying your opponents)
- placing all the non-player i.e. barbarian cities on the map as they were on the original makes the barbarians quite powerful at the start... and it also has some side effects like the Clan of Embers casting its world spell almost immediately after the start of the game, so they gain a huge bonus barbarian army
- all the FfH2 special map features are put in place of original 'Warlords' big ruins etc.; the small ruins or dungeons present in the original are also represented
- I have added some Civ4-type rivers to make the land easier to settle (fresh water etc)
v1.2 changes:
- re-did the area around Kor/Mahala starting point, for better balancing (capital should not shrink anymore after game start)
- added some units to Mahala's starting forces for balancing
- corrected some error on the map w.r.t. impassable regions which had been passable in the original map
- removed 'Guild of the Nine' from Dunethel, for balancing
three map scenarios are included here:
1) file "Illuria-no_cities-8civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria base map, 8 FfH civilisations set up with one starting city each, located as they are in the classic 'Warlords' game; no barbarian cities except the ones needed for the bridges
- so this will not have the classic Warlords layout of barbarian cities to conquer. But that may be an advantage, since the classic Warlords cities were arranged a bit too sparsely to fit well with the Civ4 rules about city maintenance cost etc.
- all Civs start with only their lowest tech, two warriors, one scout, settler, and worker each
- this map has more resources than the other two, in order to make settling easier
2) file "Illuria-all_cities-17civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria map including all the original barbarian cities (with their original names) plus 'bridge' cities, with 17 FfH civilisations, starting with 3-5 cities each
- this would then be played with the 'no settlers' and 'no barbarians' options to have a fairly good approximation of the classic Warlords map layout.
- in order to have barbarians not too powerful, I have thrown in some more Civs than were present in the classic Warlords game. So the barbarians start the game with approx 20 cities only; still I found it necessary to remove the Clan of Embers Civ here, who would still cast their world spell too quickly
- the Civs mentioned below, that is, the stand-ins for the classic 'Warlords' Civs, are more powerful than the others in this scenario. The other civs should be regarded as just some more colourful barbarians - unless you want to play one of them, of course
- all Civs start at a tech level equivalent to ca. 3500 research points, with some more advanced units and sometimes even a hero thrown in for good measure (in the classic Warlords, you always start the game with one hero)
- regrettably, I found the standard AI very defensive, not really trying to expand. I've fiddled around with the balancing, trying to provoke the AI into more expansionism, but with no great success. You need the 'More Naval AI' modmod or something like it to make the adversaries reasonably competent
3) file "Illuria-all_cities-8civs-v1_2.CivBeyondSwordWBSave"
Illuria map including all the original barbarian cities (with their original names) plus 'bridge' cities, with 8 FfH civilisations (see below), starting with one city each
- this should be played with the 'no settlers' and 'no barbarians' options
- of the three scenarios given here, this one comes closest to the classic 'Warlords' setup
- however, the standard AI has problems handling the many barbarians, so this scenario definitely needs the beefed up AI coming with the 'More Naval AI' modmod
- again, I found it necessary to put the Doviello in place of the original 'Orcs of Kor', because Clan of Embers Civ would cast their world spell too quickly
- all Civs start at a tech level equivalent to ca. 3500 research points, with some more advanced units and sometimes even a hero thrown in for good measure (in the classic Warlords, you always start the game with one hero)
Civilisations exchanged from 'classic Warlords' to 'FfH2':
Sirians -> Bannor
Storm Giants -> Illians
Grey Dwarves -> Khazad
Orcs of Kor -> on map 1: Clan of Embers, maps 2 and 3: Doviello
Elvallie -> Ljosalfar
The Selentines -> Lanun
Horse Lords -> Hippus
Lord Bane -> Sheaim
So, enjoy, and please give feedback/rate!
Cheers
Fred
