1650AD: Let's rewrite History!

[Marla_Singer]

Take advantage of RAR great features and rewrite History!
This scenario requires RAR version 2.2 or better

This scenario is based on the RAR Americas gigantic map. Why starting in 1650AD? Because that's an early stage of the Americas History in which all European powers have already settled, but not yet developped. So everything can still happen!


How to install?
I've made my best so that there is almost nothing to do. However, starting in 1650AD on normal speed makes you end the game during the 20th century. That's why I only added a "1650 start" new speed which serves no other purpose than make your revolution by the end of the 18th century.

1. Copy the 1650AD.ColonizationWBSave file in your worldbuilder save folder:
   My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\Saves\WorldBuilder
   .
2. Replace the CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml from your Religion and Revolution mod folder with the new one at this location:
   My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\MODS\Religion_and_Revolution\Assets\XML\GameInfo
   Note: that new file does nothing else than to propose a new game speed. It has no impact whatsoever on the game.
   .
3. It's done! You only need to launch RAR and to select the scenario in the play a scenario menu.

Screenshots
From Peru to Iceland and Alaska, you can play as whichever nation and rewrite its History.



DOWNLOAD
Just below.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Alright, I've tested this scenario for personal use and it was really fun. We do trade the goods which were historically traded in the location we're in and the map is big enough to really get an accurate rendering on how the New World was settled then.

The fact that Spain is so much bigger than the others isn't a real problem, as it doesn't make it start its revolution earlier. It can still cause some problems for the AI to manage colonies which are located both North and South America, as it may send oxcarts to cross huge portions of lands instead of using the sea route.

What saddens me however is that I create many colonies with tiny population, and as a result the major powers won't settle new colonies before they grew a lot in population.

For all these reasons, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be wise to split some colonial Empires in different colonies with the same king, which may make the balance even better. I was thinking as follows:
- New England (4 cites)
- English West Indies (4 cities)
- Nueva España (7 cities)
- Antillas españolas (6 cities)
- Perú (13 cities)
- Nouvelle France (4 cities)
- Saint-Domingue (4 cities)
- Nieuw Nederlands (2 cities)
- Nederlandse Antillen (4 cities)
- Brazil (8 cities)
- Iceland (3 cities)
- Nya Sverige (1 city)
- Alaska (no city)

Colonies sharing the same king would be in permanent alliances with one another. I haven't been able to enact all this but from my first tests it should be possible. However, to be done properly this would require a tiny bit of XML edit, and that would mean a modmod, which is maybe too much for so little.

 

[vetiarvind]

Colonies sharing the same king would be in permanent alliances with one another. I haven't been able to enact all this but from my first tests it should be possible. However, to be done properly this would require a tiny bit of XML edit, and that would mean a modmod, which is maybe too much for so little.

And declaring independence would cause the alliance to break and the other sibling colonies to side with the king?

 

[Marla_Singer]

And declaring independence would cause the alliance to break and the other sibling colonies to side with the king?

I haven't thought about that. What you say would make sense but if I follow what I've understood of the logic of the game, the allied should declare war to the King (but without declaring independence themselves). That would be weird indeed.

This would require a DLL modification which may be making things getting a bit too far. That's just meant to be a simple scenario after all.

And for the matter, I haven't yet tested a game with multiple colonial powers sharing the same king so I don't even know if it would be worth it.

 

[Nightinggale]

I looked though the DLL-python interface to locate the python function, which is called when declaring independence. I can't find any meaning it will require a DLL modification to change who is at war with whom. If there were such a python call, then such changes would be possible in python. Given the current hostility towards any DLL changes at the moment, I don't think we should even consider modifying the declaration of independence.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Don't bother Nightingale.

I've done this scenario mainly for myself. I'm only sharing it here but it has never been supposed to be anything else than just a scenario.

EDIT: I've posted it in the Civfanatics downloads section.

 

[TheIO]

Which map of the Americas is it using?

 

[Marla_Singer]

Which map of the Americas is it using?

RAR Americas gigantic:
http://footinter.free.fr/rar-americas/Americas-Gigantic.jpg

That's a map I specifically created for RAR and which is included within the main mod since version 2.0. For more information see here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=521791

 

[colonialfan]

And declaring independence would cause the alliance to break and the other sibling colonies to side with the king?

The idea that several colonies remain loyal to the king, like Canada and the West Indian colonies historically did, while you declare your independence would I personally believe be a fantastic feature. I've often toyed with the idea of each colony needing to obtain a specific rebel sentiment level before joining you when you declare independence. If they did not obtain that level they would remain loyal to the king. It would make the player focus on what colonies they wanted to concentrate on when preparing for independence and what ones they would be willing to let slip away. However, not being technically minded , I have no idea how or even if this would be possible. But one can dream...

 

[Tigranes]

I really liked your choices for the cities in this scenario as well as choice of citizens available to each civilization. One notable omission is Saint John in Canada (founded 1604), it has a very rich history and played important role.

 

[BanTingyun]

Curious about whether this scenario is still compatible with the latest version (2.4). Or with the extended modmod? Can anyone confirm?

 

[Vorpal+5]

Yes it loads at least with latest version. What would be awesome is to split in team the various areas so that AI logic is better.

 

[BanTingyun]

Yes it loads at least with latest version. What would be awesome is to split in team the various areas so that AI logic is better.

Oh, so Marla Singer's post about splitting them didn't end up getting implemented? A shame! Oh well.

Thanks so much for the reply! Planning to return to some colonization nostalgia soon, so just planning out what I'll play on.

Btw, would you recommend the latest religion revolution, or the extended version? I'm looking mostly for stable gameplay and functional AI.

 

[Vorpal+5]

I did not test the extended version but the changes done seem harmless to me, as at the time I launched my gigantic game, what was changed was not 100% clear, I preferred not to use it though.. I'm playing RaR with my own personal modifications.

 

[Marla_Singer]

I really liked your choices for the cities in this scenario as well as choice of citizens available to each civilization. One notable omission is Saint John in Canada (founded 1604), it has a very rich history and played important role.

Saint John has been founded by the French and ceded to England in 1713 at the Treaty of Utrecht.

The thing is that I didn't want the French to look too populous (Nouvelle France was really sparsely populated compared to other powers), so it was either "Saint-Jean" (ortographed in French as it was still French then) or Port Royal. I've finally chosen to keep Port Royal as it was appearing in more maps (ok not the best criteria).

Anyway, now that there are forts, a solution could also be to add Saint-Jean/Saint John as a fort, or show Port Royal as a fort. Or add an extra city to France with a population of 1. I don't know.

You obviously know better than me the History of Acadia so I'm all open to your suggestions.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Oh, so Marla Singer's post about splitting them didn't end up getting implemented? A shame! Oh well.

I've made a test and as far as I recall it has lead to a game crash. So I dropped the idea considering there's no mod support in this scenario.

 

[Nightinggale]

I've made a test and as far as I recall it has lead to a game crash. So I dropped the idea considering there's no mod support in this scenario.

If you make the crashing scenario again, I can take a look to see what goes wrong. Sometimes fixing a crash is just changing one line. We aren't always that lucky, but you never know without trying

 

[Vorpal+5]

That would be awesome, because lets face it you did a huge and most excellent work with this map and it really deserve to be played more.

 

[Marla_Singer]

If you make the crashing scenario again, I can take a look to see what goes wrong. Sometimes fixing a crash is just changing one line. We aren't always that lucky, but you never know without trying

I've just checked again and the problem is actually the way it's done in XML.

The question is how the game recognizes to which king each civ is dependent on. And actually, in XML, it's done the other way around. In CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml, there is a parameter <DerivativeCiv> only used by kings and which defines which civilization they are the king of.

For instance, on line 3680, we can see that CIVILIZATION_ENGLAND_EUROPE has as derivative civ CIVILIZATION_ENGLAND. It seems to be a single parameter, so we can't add more than a single entry. In the XML, it looks like that:

<CivilizationInfo>
	<Type>CIVILIZATION_ENGLAND_EUROPE</Type>
	[...]
	<DerivativeCiv>CIVILIZATION_ENGLAND</DerivativeCiv>
	[...]
</CivilizationInfo>

 

[ConjurerDragon]

...
I've made my best so that there is almost nothing to do. However, starting in 1650AD on normal speed makes you end the game during the 20th century. That's why I only added a "1650 start" new speed which serves no other purpose than make your revolution by the end of the 18th century...

Does adding that file mean that I would have a choice of that new gamespeed when starting any other scenario too?
e.g. normal, epic, marathon, 1650speed?

What does this additional gamespeed change compared to the normal speed, e.g. two rounds each year instead of one?