A different dawn beta (Anno Domini expansion) Sept 21st 2008

Welcome to the "different dawn" beta. I'll update you with the information from the expansion pack itself below, but first, a couple of points:

01. This is a beta release; everything is in the mod, actually, except that the civilopedia has "holes" in it. Don't worry, all the buildings, units, etc are correctly described (although some buildings haven't been updated with which new civs can build them). Hopefully, the missing info will be below.
**UPDATE: The Ionan farm and Ionan merchant are not in the civilopedia - see their effects in the section on Iona below.

02. As the upload is a whopping 126MB, I'll be bringing out a patch for the beta testers in order to bring it up to the full game. Once everything's sorted out, I'll be re-uploading "a different dawn" as an alpha version. I've already discovered an error in the BIQ with the Pala unique building, so there's a patch in post two before we even start!

03. The download includes the v1.09 patch and the 27th August update, so all you need is any version of Anno Domini Classic. You can find the download in post #2.

04. Enjoy the game, but PLEASE POST!! I'd really love to hear your feedback and am open to change/incorporate new ideas before the full release hits.

So, you're going to download the expansion, but what can you expect? It's Anno Domini, right, only different? You betcha. It's got a few tweaks built in for the "classic" version of the game and a lot of new units to update old ones (mainly thanks to Sandris ).


Updates affecting both the "classic" and the "different dawn" versions

• Lots of unit updates, the main beneficiaries being the Huns, who now have their own unit line.
• The Harappan UU is now the Saivite bowman.
• The smelter's effects have changed; it now increases productivity by 25%. Barracks therefore no longer expire.
• Some buildings have been moved to slightly different places on the tech tree.
• The court and worker housing improvements have been taken out of the game. There is now only one change of corruption-lowering buildings (i.e. courthouse then forum) instead of three.
• Asian barracks come in for the gadajhyasha, which itself becomes a "wonder" building an Asian barracks in every city on the continent for Indian civs; it needs a barracks and wheat in the city radius first.
• The lingam replaces the colosseum for Indian civs.
• Bamboo is a new resource, replacing sugar; bamboo is used as a prerequisite for some Indian and Chinese units.
• The grain merchant replaces the rum distillery.
• Knights (and their contemporaries) require only horses to build (they previously also required charcoal).

New leaders for existing civs in "a different dawn."

• Demosthenes becomes the leader of Athens; he is organised and philosophical.
• Offa becomes the leader of the Anglo-Saxons; he is industrious and stable.
• Marcus Aurelius becomes the leader of Rome; he is philosophical and warlike.
• Cleopatra becomes the leader of Egypt; she is agricultural and spiritual.
• Philip II becomes the leader of Macedonia; he is organised and warlike.
• Eiríkr Þorvaldsson becomes the leader of the Norse; he is agricultural and industrious.
• Brennus becomes the leader of the Gauls; he is agricultural and stable.

Chinese unique elements

The four Chinese civilizations - the Han, Qin, Shang and Song - have certain buildings only they can build; a bit like what I did for the Indian civs. Here's a rundown of their unique stuff:

• The Chinese can uniquely access the jade resource (which replaces amber in "a different dawn"). It gives a good trade bonus when the square is worked, but also allows the Chinese to uniquely build certain buildings.
• The jade carver (era 4) increases the luxury rate by 50% if jade is in the city radius.
• Confucian academy (era 3) increases the science output by 50% if stone is in the city radius.
• The Confucian temple (era 3) makes one unhappy citizen content.
• The Great Wall (era 2) has the traditional Great Wall effects.
• Chinese gardens can be built from the start and make one unhappy citizen content.
• The pagoda (era 3) replaces the hippodrome for Chinese civs, making two unhappy citizens content.
• The Wild Goose Pagoda (era 3) builds a pagoda in every city on the continent.
• The Forbidden Palace (era 2) has its traditional effects.
• Den of spies (era 2) means that Chinese civs can operate spy missions.
• Porcelain tower wonder (era 4) makes six unhappy citizens content in its city.
• The artisan district (era 4) increases productivity and luxury by 50% (small wonder).
• The print shop (era 3) increases research by 50%, but requires jade to be in the city radius.
• The watchtower (era 1) reduces corruption in its city and increases the defences by 50%; there needs to be a garden built and stone in the city radius first (whilst the garden isn't necessarily logical, it's the only way to ensure only the Chinese civs can build the watchtower).
• Acupuncturist (era 3) makes one unhappy citizen content, but requires the watchtower to be built first.
• The Yin Palace (era 2) pays for all trade installations.
• The Chinese unique government is bureaucratic monarchy.

Chinese civilizations

All the Chinese civs can build the above buildings, but each has it's own unique items.

Han
Leader: Liu Bang
Traits: agricultural and philosophical
Unique unit: Han crossbowman
Other stuff: The Han can win a trade victory; they also get a magistrate building in era one, which lowers corruption and doesn't expire

Qin
Leader: Qin She Huang
Traits: industrious and organised
Unique unit: Qin infantry
Other stuff: The Qin can build border forts (which is Anno Domini's equivalent to radar towers) and get the Terracotta army (reduces war weariness in all cities) and Sun Tzu's art of war (builds an Asian barracks in all cities).

Shang
Leader: Cheng Tang
Traits: agricultural and warlike
Unique unit: Shang archer
Other stuff: The Shang have a unique citizen, the tribute collector (always wanted to use that!) which lowers corruption and increases tax revenue. The Shang war academy puts a barracks in every city whilst reducing corruption and war weariness in its own city.

Song
Leader: Zhao Kuangyin
Traits: organised and philosophical
Unique unit: Firelancer
Other stuff: The Song also have a unique citizen, the magistrate, who increases both the tax revenue and research output. They can build the Imperial Library, which puts a school in every city.


Other new civilizations

Aquitaine
Leader: Queen Eleanor
Traits: philosophical and seafaring
Unique unit: Aquitaine pikeman
Other stuff: The Aquitaine can build the bottle maker with glassworking(makes two unhappy citizens content), gardens (one unhappy citizen is made content - buildable from the start of the game) and the Aquitaine wine trade (pays for all trade installations). Anno Domini era ground units have a bonus hit point and require no resources.

Coritani
Leader: Chief Dumnovellaunus
Traits: organised and stable
Unique unit: Coritani bowman
Other stuff: All of the Coritani foot units in Anno Laxamenti have amphibious, detect invisible and radar enabled. They build the special buildings for both the Post Roman Europe group and the Celtic civilizations. Their unique buildings are "Groans of the Britons" and the farm (both inherited from Brigantia) and the leather worker (reduces war weariness - era one).

Frisia
Leader: King Radbod
Traits: industrious and seafaring
Unique unit: Frisian raider
Other stuff: All Frisian horseback units have amphibious and blitz enabled (note that this does not include chariots). They can build the special buildings available to the Post Roman Europe group and some unique to them: the buorreplicht (decreases war weariness and corruption - but needs a terp first), polder (all worked sea squares get +1 shield - coastal cities only) and terp (increases production by 25% without directly causing pollution - but only in coastal cities).

Iona
Leader: High druidess Fidelma
Traits: seafaring and spiritual
Unique unit: Ionan tribesman
Other stuff: The Ionans have a specialist - the farmer - who reduces corruption and improves production. They can build the Celtic buildings and some of their own - the Benedictine abbey (doubles the research rate and creates three happy faces in its city), Ionan farm (reduces corruption) and Ionan merchant (allows air trade).

Marcomanni
Leader: Queen Fritigil
Traits: spiritual and warlike
Unique unit: Marcomanni javelineer
Other stuff: Anno Imperii ground troops receive an additional hit point and do not require resources to build. Workers can irrigate without fresh water once irrigation has been discovered. They build the Post Roman Europe buildings and some of their own - the homestead (acts as a free granary and can be built at the start of the game), laubja (corruption-lowering building), Marcomanni training hut (creates veteran units and reduces war weariness) and Maraboduus' army (reduces war weariness in all cities).

Pala
Leader: Emperor Dharmapala
Traits: philosophical and warlike
Unique unit: Kamboja
Other stuff: The Pala can build all the buildings the Indian group can build. Additionally, it can build the scribe if there is bamboo in the city radius for a +50% increase in research.


Civilizations not in "a different dawn."

In order to bring new civilizations in, some civilizations have had to leave the game (but only in "a different dawn"). They are:
Brigantia
Corinth
Dacia
Florence
Hyksos
Jutes
Nabataea
Nubia
Serbia
Scots

 

Download the expansion pack here

Once downloaded, please patch 2.03, which is attached to this post.

2.01

• Cosmetic change of some buildings
• Civilopedia updates

2.02

• Unit generating wonders now generate the correct unit (error only in "a different dawn")
• Gallic warrior UU stats changed for gameplay balance
• Hulc replaces the bireme for European civs
• Marcomanni advantage that workers irrigate without access to fresh water now works

2.03

• Border forts now say "border forts" not "radar towers" when you point the mouse at them
• The unit producing wonders are definately fixed this time!
• Buorreplicht is now an improvement, not a wonder (this is as it was intended)
• The Egyptians war chariot now comes with chariotry (as it should do)
• utahjazz7's Iberian scutatio has replaced the placeholder for the Celtiberian infantry unit
• The drott replaces the cataphract for Northern European civs
• The Celtiberians have their own version of the tribesman
• 3rd and 4th era warships can bombard

 

It's finally available! Download the mod in post two above .

 

I'm not sure why that is, as it seems to work fine for me. I have actually updated a few things (cosmetic changes) and updated the BIQ in any case; the new patch is in post #2 - would you download it please and let me know if it's okay?

 

JU_all.pcx shipped with ADC, which can be downloaded here. Did you just download the demo version when it came out - the Byzantines weren't in that as far as I recall?

 

I have a feeling that "only on rivers" improvements can also be built on hills, which is a bit annoying. I might be wrong though.

 

I'm not sure about this myself, shame if it is the case really, though I suppose most cities in the real world have a waterway of some kind (don't want to start an off-topic about that though .

So, it seems like the usual suspects have reported in for mod playing action . I truely hope you enjoy it and I myself feel it's better than ADC. Please report in the progress of your games and let me know your likes/dislikes - remember it's a beta version and there is scope for change!