a few thoughts about a relatively simple mod to handle some concerns at launch before more civs are available

[Gori the Grey]

From what I've read (and I'm far from keeping up on everything that's been released, so ignore if I'm off base), I think the modding solution will have to take a form like this:

"Ancient X" (or "Proto X") - select a civ from Exploration or Modern Age, the base civ uses that name in place of X and uses that civ's city name list (and military leader name list, if applicable); will always unlock the selected Exploration Age civ (if you chose an Exploration civ) or an Exploration civ that leads to the selected Modern Age civ (if you chose a Modern civ)

"Exploration X" - same, but inherits X and name lists from the civ you used in the Ancient Age; always available for a player to select

"Modern X" - same, but inherits X and name lists from the civ you used in the Exploration Age; always available for a player to select

But I don't think this

Bonuses for these 3 civs could be very generic, like 2 Legacy points on transition or something like that.

will be sufficient.

The devs have said that they're balancing each age of the game. So I think the player is going to need Age-appropriate bonuses to keep up in each age. The generic civ will have to have bonuses that are on a par with what the in-game civs get. Probably what that is can be figured out within a week or two of release.

 

[Krikkit1]

From what I've read (and I'm far from keeping up on everything that's been released, so ignore if I'm off base), I think the modding solution will have to take a form like this:


But I don't think this


will be sufficient.

The devs have said that they're balancing each age of the game. So I think the player is going to need Age-appropriate bonuses to keep up in each age. The generic civ will have to have bonuses that are on a par with what the in-game civs get. Probably what that is can be figured out within a week or two of release.

Easier would be allowing you to take a new civ uniques while keeping your name/city list
So I can play
Spain*->Spain->Spain**
* with Roman uniques
** with French uniques
Keep the same names (for everything but uniques)

You could even have a setting where the AI would have it’s civ name determined by the leader.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Cool idea. And maybe one could even rename the uniques to whatever would be a known historical equivalent in the culture in question.

Or even just the Spanish word for the French unique.

 

[Krikkit1]

Cool idea. And maybe one could even rename the uniques to whatever would be a known historical equivalent in the culture in question.

Or even just the Spanish word for the French unique.

That would probably be too complicated. the simpler version changes civ name, city name list, and possibly graphics assets for some already in the game. (ie there aren’t French Antiquity unit/building graphics but there are European Antiquity graphics)

 

[Gori the Grey]

I just mean you can rename Eiffel Tower to Eiffel Torre. Legatus can be Comandante.

 

[Krikkit1]

I just mean you can rename Eiffel Tower to Eiffel Torre. Legatus can be Comandante.

But that would require customizing names of every unique for every other civ. The other method only utilizes the game assets and so can be done automatically.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Just give it as an option for the player to do. Those who care will work out the translations that work for them.

 

[Krikkit1]

Just give it as an option for the player to do. Those who care will work out the translations that work for them.

That can work…but the easier version should be available for players as well. (unique names /graphics are fixed, but the civ/city name/generic graphics all git with the “name” you want your civ to have.

 

[dagriggstar]

Given the soft reset at the end of each age I wouldn’t stress about factions not having bonuses in certain ages….

 

[Aquila SPQR]

Given the soft reset at the end of each age I wouldn’t stress about factions not having bonuses in certain ages….

Same here. I'm not following the news so I don't really know how harsh the "reset" will be, but that's what apparently is going to more or less balance things twice in the game.

When it comes to bonuses - it'll work as in old games, giving player true "classical mode". Every civ would have bonuses in their respective eras and be bonus-less in two other ones. It would be the same for all civs which could lead to historical domination - Romans/Greeks dominating ancient era, Spanish - AoE and Americans - modern. If you want to dominate a specific era - pick a proper civ.

Or maybe it's just my style because I don't care that much about balancing. I was always modifying tech costs to make games much longer and that was causing some imbalance - and it was always fine to me. It's just a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose the race. Overly balanced games favor human players, who always outsmart AI and force AI to rely on blatant bonuses to research, finances and production.

 

[UWHabs]

Same here. I'm not following the news so I don't really know how harsh the "reset" will be, but that's what apparently is going to more or less balance things twice in the game.

When it comes to bonuses - it'll work as in old games, giving player true "classical mode". Every civ would have bonuses in their respective eras and be bonus-less in two other ones. It would be the same for all civs which could lead to historical domination - Romans/Greeks dominating ancient era, Spanish - AoE and Americans - modern. If you want to dominate a specific era - pick a proper civ.

Or maybe it's just my style because I don't care that much about balancing. I was always modifying tech costs to make games much longer and that was causing some imbalance - and it was always fine to me. It's just a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose the race. Overly balanced games favor human players, who always outsmart AI and force AI to rely on blatant bonuses to research, finances and production.

Yeah, I mean I guess it's a question of whether a mod like this would also include the current chains that "make sense". Like if this mod included the Han China-Ming China-Qing China chain, then they wouldn't be balanced, because that civ would have 3 uniques, and others would only have one.

But if the mod split them up into 3 separate factions, then yeah you could get away with every civ having a generic bonus in their non-ages. So you might have a game playing as Han China and meet "Ancient Ming China" on your map.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

But if the mod split them up into 3 separate factions, then yeah you could get away with every civ having a generic bonus in their non-ages. So you might have a game playing as Han China and meet "Ancient Ming China" on your map.

That's a concern I raised earlier, about duplicates. But then came to the conclusion that areas like China or India are so large that it would be possible to break them into separate cultures. Some Civ IV mods did that.

 

[Gori the Grey]

So, one further thought down the path that Trav'ling Canuck and I have been pursuing.

If the easiest mod for letting a player keep the same civ all game is one that has him or her playing a "generic" civ in the two ages not represented by his chosen civ (with city names coming over from the chosen civ), then the task will be to identify the most generic civ in each of the three ages and make that the package of bonuses that is offered to the player in the ages where his civ isn't represented. Some antiquity civ that has a shrine as its UB, e.g. (since many world cultures have some sort of shrine). Some Exploration civ that has a pikeman as its UU, (since many word cultures would have an equivalent).

(And I say the mod should give the player the option of renaming those units).

With what they're revealing about the civs, we should be able to identify the best candidate, I would think.