[Col] 30 years Colonization

Tehulotl

Chieftain
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
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I clearly heard the Universe yell at me: Officially, you are the BOSS.

I farted, and said: Yeah yeah cool, whatever, but shut up and let me play Colonization!

I am 42 now, and I remember playing Colonization, when RAM shortage was a serious issue! And now, the Universe called me "BOSS", cause I played Colonization DOS version on my 55inch4K, layed back on my couchbed in two metres distance, ah, decadence, is soooo fun, did I mention that decadence is soooo fun? These old gfx are not THAT annoying in two metres distance, thnx babe!

Well, whatever. It IS 30 years Colonization now! Released in 1994, and now, it is 2024, so, 30 years.

I played 4 games, 30Sep til 5Oct, always Conquistador dif3 Spanish, Sergio Sainz, Luiz Sainz, Carlos Sainz, and the last, Salazar Sainz, yeah! Independence 1695. I got 184 points for early Independence, BUT, the most score you get by people, you should boom and come to the units limit, outmaxed, you get the most points imo, so, early bells for early boom, then press people into the towns until full to the brim - THEN, Independence, brings most score.

My point is.

I nearly never played the Original America game, cause the landmass is too vast (I prefer small landmass and archipelago for a perfect game ratio), and, to be honest, too SHTy - but this, I found out, well, yesterday, very recently, while modding the Original America Map, AMER2.MP. The Colonization 3.0 version includes the Map Editor, and you can draw own maps. What I did, or, found out, is, that it is actually useful. My first impression was: Well.... I just can place the terrain? No Indian Villages? No Goody Huts? No Special Resources? WTF. But these things are placed randomly after loading the map via Play Original America game, choose map.

What you CAN DO IS, to use the Tribe.txt for the AMER2.MP, cause if you use the AMER2.MP, ONLY THEN the Tribe.txt will place the Villages onto the coordinates from within the Tribe.txt, so that you actually can alter amount and position of all Villages of the Original America game of Colonization - and this is my point.

I nearly never played the Original America game, cause the landmass is too vast, AND, while modding the AMER2.MP, most places of famous towns like New York, Quebec, Montreal, Miami, Austin, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, are SHT, whole Mexico is SHT, and many placements of Villages LACK HARD. Years ago, I just had the feeling that I dont like the Original America game, now I know why - all these famous locations are NOT drawn good enough to handle towns - cause where no hills, there no ore, there no tools, there no mighty town! CRAZY. Aztecs just 4 towns - boring. Incas just 5 towns - boring. Tupi in Inner Brazil missing, cause Villages cannot be placed on Rain Forest - empty map, boring. Mexico and Texas are a huge forest - plain wrong. Aztecs are just a bunch of Indians, not a vast Empire - boring. Same with Incas. Many locations, where you would like to build a town, a famous town, or just a beautiful town, and this aspect of Colonization I DO LOVE, to create mighty beautiful towns - many locations you cannot use caused by said lack of hills! WTF. The sheer amount of LACK, made me dislike the Original America game.

Well, all of these points are fixed, just 30 years later.

I altered the AMER2.MP slightly, but really really good. I altered the Tribe.txt to max out the possible 85 Indian Villages instead of the 59 existing ones (minus the missing Tupi Rain Forest ones!), so that Aztecs and Incas now are EMPIRES, and all positions should be far better, so, map far better, Indian Villages placements far better. Mexico and Texas and California far better, plus some minor tweaks, it is just a far better map now, and far more fun - cause now, it should be possible to found all famous and well-known towns.

1728301822710.png


See? California. I told Blake already: Step1: Land FORM. Step2: Geography. Step3 was missing: Prepare the possible famous spots of famous towns for these famous towns! I put Arctic onto the possible/and YES, PLANNED spots for Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, LA, a little down San Diego - YES, you SHOULD draw/plan these out, YES! Blake told me to deliver some Screenshots, cause XXX sells. And yes. I could deliver the pic of the Aztec Empire, this is beyond dope, but I dont want to ruin the discovery, instead, the better California! :)



So, AMER2.MP, check, Tribe.txt, check, plus, I altered the Names.txt, and this includes prizes and unit stats, and all the good stuff, for example: Since 1994, I HATED Caravels. 4 squares "fast", 2 cargo slots - who the heck needs that? The first thing to do is to buy a Galleon and BURN the fugging Caravel - to just NEVER USE IT AGAIN. Now, 6 squares fast, 4 cargo slots, you could use it, at least, you could use it now, and keep it in service!

name move cargo cost:

Caravel 6 4 1000
Merchant 8 4 2000
Galleon 7 6 4000
Privateer 8 1 4000
Frigate 6 1 5000
ManOWar 6 6

Believe me! Privateers are maximum fun this way, basically all ships are great now. ManOWar need 6 cargo slots to unleash the full sixpack each attack, and, I saw the French unleash 4 Cavalry out of their Caravel, and this is far better! :) To use Privateers as pure Hunters, and just for fast Emergency Cargo, and... what if your Privateer sinks a full to the brim Caravel? Think about that. Once it was 2 out of 2, easy, now, it is 1 out of 4. :)

Another point was to make Indians a threat, so, their Infantry is faster with 2, and their Cavalry is a really bad idea now - cause, if you watch Youtube about the Comancheria, and the Apache and Comanche and Texas Ranger Wars - the Indians, mounted, with guns, were a REALLY BAD IDEA. So....... I just altered AMER2.MP to a far better version, Tribe.txt to a far more fun version to support the Original America game and the AMER2.MP, and the Names.txt for better prizes and stats - and a little higher stakes for the allowance to build certain buildings.

All in all, and this might shock you, BRUTAL 29 kb of heavy files!
EDIT 8Oct: A little more since I altered Europes Privateer and Galleon cost up to 4000 in Viceroy.exe. :)
Special thanks to @pavelbel who found out where.



I call it COLMOD24. EDIT 16Oct: Since I did this COLMOD 6-8Oct, and my COLWIN MOD 9-16Oct, I called both COLDOS MOD and COLWIN MOD, and uploaded them here:


YEEEEHAW! :)

:love:


EDIT 8Oct:
I made SURE that any location at the coastline would be a possible fit for famous towns, US Westcoast first, then US Eastcoast, both functional and beautiful now - and then, towns like Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro.

My thinking is, that a Human Player would LOVE to place the correct famous towns into correct famous place - and if ALL OF THESE PLACES have no hills, or, no forests, they will always nag, will always lack, and this was a key element for me to dislike this map, but as I said - I found this out, just by modding the AMER2.MP, it became crystal, that almost ALL spots were malfunctional! Westcoast, Eastcoast, are far better drawn now, the Plains east of the Rockies, Texas, Mexico, Cotton just in the South around Texas and New Orleans, Florida Swamps, Florida Keys, East Brazil Mountains/Hills.

I gave my best knowledge to improve the AMER2.MP to a maximum possible fun with all locations well done, North America AND South America. Cause the Original Colonization AMER2.MP, if you look closer, had almost ALL famous important locations malfunctional, landscapes plain wrong, etcetera, and now, it should be far better! :)
 
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Oh, hi! I uploaded a slightly newer version some seconds ago.

Towns like Rio de Janeiro and for example Lima, some AMER2.MP tweaks to make it more beautiful, if one could use the word "beautiful" for a 1994 DOS game. But yes, some even better town sites, and a face lift map tweak. :)

If you want to try it, try this newest version - I even tried to write Pocahontas out of the game, cause I really despise it, when she appears and all in a sudden you can do ANYTHING to Indians with a zero reaction, this is OP imo. :)

This is just a very good AMER2.MP face lift with far better Indian Village placements, and my personal taste regarding Names.txt, building, units, terrain stats! And sadly but hopefully without Pocahontas. :)

I would appreciate if you or some other Col Fans out there would play and comment! :) Have fun! :)
 
Wow! @pavelbel found the Hex passage in Viceroy.exe to alter the Europe Ship costs. So, after just 30 years I was able to alter these annoyingly far too low Privateer costs of 2000, AND, I altered the Galleon costs too.

1728374465302.png


So:

> Viceroy.exe with two small Hex changes for Privateer and Galleon 4000 cost. GRREAT! :)

> AMER2.MP FAR superior town locations and coastline face/function lifts and FAR more appropriate landscapes.

> Tribe.txt for more and better Indian Villages placement in AMER2.MP.

> Names.txt for hopefully far better buildings, units, terrains, stats, prizes.

Nice! :)

Played my favorite childhood game after almost a decade on my 55inch4K and made all overhauls I always wanted.
A nice successful fun week! Four nice games, and some nice modding. Nice! :)

Have fun and great days! :)
 
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You know what! A birthday present for Colonization DOS.

I read somewhere in here that one guy uses NOT DOSBOX but another DOS Emulator cause DOSBOX is "a little complicated". Well, I am one lazy FK, I have my self-built PC via HDMI into my 55inch4K, layed back on my couchbed in two metres distance - as if I would do MORE than double clic for DOS Games! Groar! :)

1728393270890.png


This is how my Colonization folder looks like. In subfolder "CHEATS" are mostly older .MP, all my .SAV, stuff, and all possible Cheats in a convenient txt file if needed - for modding only, once you start cheating you ruin save games! :)

I "sub sourced" all Colonization files into the subfolder "COLONIZE" so that the folder is clean and easy access. "MADSPACK" is a .SS decoder. "TEXT" are the Vanilla german and english .txts. Then DOSBOX and its two .DLLs necessary. stderr and stdout DOS trash imo. The other guys are the two DOS configuration files and my most beloved two BATCH files - to play any of my beloved DOS Games like Ascendancy, Colonization, Fantasy General, Star General, Blood, Duke Nukem, etcetera, I ALWAYS establish dosbox.X.conf and BATCH file for a most convenient double clic only.

You take the dosbox.X.conf and WRITE INTO it, all the way down, in case of my personal Colonization:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mixer master 200
cycles=30000

mount c: d:/
c:
cd ascend
cd colonize
cd colonize
VICEROY.EXE


mixer master is for sound volume, cycles is for game speed, then I mount the directory and type in, what I would have to type in manually, so that the dosbox.X.conf just rolls it automatically (autoexec!) - done, same for MAPEDIT.EXE.

My simple minded BATCH file looks like this:

1728393683750.png


The BATCH file double clic loads the dosbox.X.conf, and the conf itself loads auto path, so, once you established your DOS folder (mine is D:/ASCEND/COLONIZE/etcetera), you can establish for ANY DOS game the conf and the batch and you just need to double clic for all of your DOS games, cause batch loads conf, conf does autoexec path. :)

Happy birthday Colonization! :)
 
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Well Tehulotl, I see you have a sense of humor - Indentured Servants are now Homeless Beggars! I didn't have a lot of time to play last night; the cat got skunked and my DOSBox front end has stopped working. I was able to run Col without the front end, but I don't know how to double-size it from the DOSBox command line so the game's a little hard on my tired eyes. Anyhow, the early game has a bit of a faster pace since the ships and wagon trains are more capable. I didn't get far enough to see how the Indians fight.
 

ALT ENTER makes the DOS screen FULL screen! That you heroically played that small screen is epic, but cruel. :)

Caravels and Wagon Trains were always a pain in the back, and I altered just all stuff I would like better. :)
Wagon Trains are more expensive now, but have 4 cargo, so, inland Indian trade is far better now, and, Wagon Trains as Indian Traders, Warehouse with wheels, all of this is now fun instead of a constant pain, I like! :)

The problem with Indentured Servants is, that I dont know what that is. Oh, bondservant? The short form is Ind... and this is confusing. I played myself a little, after four games, now, an America Map testgame, and yes, the map is far better, far far far far better! I conquered Roanoke of the English, and they put it exactly New York, so, renamed. Play however you like! My results are good, uploaded, and hopefully fun whenever needed! :)
 
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I thought about full-sizing, but my desktop has two monitors, and full-sizing often messes with my display setup, kind of a hassle.

Oh, indentured servants! I can help with that. In the colonial period, one way of encouraging immigration was to offer to pay people's transit to the New World. In return, you were effectively a slave for a number of years (seven, I think). Someone would buy your contract and you had to work for them for free until your time was up. I'm sorry you'd have to read the Wikipedia article in English, but it doesn't seem to have a German page.

 
No problem. I learned to build my own PC, to bake my own Pizza, and, to insult English people in Spanish.

I watch and read most stuff English anyway. Often, the German Wiki entry lacks, and the English is better anyway.

Hm! They said, Colonization spared the aspect of Slavery, but this seems to be one aspect of Slavery! Interesting. What I could do is, to change Homeless Beggar to 7years Slave, or something, to make this aspect more clear than just "Indentured Servant", or "Colonial Slave", or anything.

My newest version of Colmod24 includes the altered Viceroy.exe to increase Galleon and Privateer to 4000 cost. I had the luck, that THREE Indian Capitals were at the coast of Gulf of Mexico, Arawak, Cherokee, Aztecs, and had two Galleons and two Privateers in no time - but both 4000 is REALLY NICE! :)

You seem to have a good PC and Screen built, so, just do your stuff - and when all runs properly, use my newest version to get more costly ships! :)

Oh, btw, your Colonization Fan Site is really exemplary and profound, well done!
 
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Oh, I really can assure you that EVERY slavery is strictly temporary. :)

It just depends on the quantity time how enjoyable it is. :)

Since I got Privateer to 4000 cost, this was the first thing I disliked in Colonization as a child, I remember: Why is this sneaky worthy Privateer so cheap??? Then, when I began to mod this game, some days ago, FK! Europe prizes are not included in Names.txt prizes and stats. So, it had to be "hardcoded" in Viceroy.exe, and @pavelbel gave the final hint - since pavelbel solved THIS, all is fine! :) Beggars or Servants or Slaves are no real issue! :)
 
to insult English people in Spanish.
But there are Engish people who speak Spanish. Like, amazingly, the Spice Girls, who did an album of a bunch of their songs in Spanish, and Victoria Beckham made a pep talk to the more than half of the members of the Los Angeles Galaxy FC born in Spanish America - in Spanish - when her husband was playing for it.
 
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change Homeless Beggar to 7years Slave, or something, to make this aspect more clear than just "Indentured Servant", or "Colonial Slave", or anything.
So funny!
In America we all learned about Indentured Servants early in school (while being trained for Patriotism). It literally could not be more clear, to us.
 
Could be, that I heard of it, at German School, or in a movie, that you pay travel with years of labor, yes, pretty sure, I heard that, in a movie - but "Indentured Servant" is such a weird english phrase, I never heard before.

I feel more adult now.

It would be possible to change Indentured Servant and Petty Criminal to Strong Slave and Sick Slave...... but 1) I wanted to hold COLWIN MOD as close as possible to COLDOS Vanilla, and 2) it seems to be the typical human misbehavior: Colonization got heavily critizised for NOT implementing Slavery into the game and its approach to Indian treatment - but if they would have done it, you know: You SPARE a thing, backlash, you DARE a thing, turbo backlash. Just be quiet, be policitally correct, and dont say a thing, cause "opinions" - you know, the ONE becomes enlightened and leaves ASAP, all the others, dont, and stay in hell. This seems to be a fair compromise. :)
 
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Yes, thank you. A native speaker from the US and maybe Canada would know exactly what "indentured servant" means.
I confirm. In the 17th, 18th, and even a bit into the 19th Centuries, people desiring to move from the UK to a British Colony who couldn't remotely afford it got a sponsor, and served that sponsor, or a friend of their sponsor's, in work little better, in conditions, than African Slaves, for a set amount of time, and then could enjoy their new freedom and opportunities, in the Colonies.
 
COLWIN MOD it would be possible to change Indentured Servant and Petty Criminal to Strong Slave and Sick Slave......
Please don't make this change. The name Indentured Servant is a necessary part of the Colonization theme.

Are we next gonna change Britain to Limeys? Indians to Originals? Privateer to Gun Boat? Ben Franklin to American Dad???

Spain could be Armadaless... John Hancock to Step Dad... King George to That Guy... G. Washington to Dude! including exclamation mark... Ore could be Shiny Stuff.

😀
 
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