Anno Domini II demo

So, you've now downloaded it; hopefully started playing it; any first impressions?
Had to redownload it - corrupted in the dl process, not your fault. Started play as Maurya last night.

You structure tech trees a little differently. I like the direction it sends play in, but takes a little getting used to. Restarted because I hadn't noticed settlers needed to be researched until about three techs or so were already researched. The only weakness I can see so far is that it only takes a couple of more techs to research the branch to Mahajanapada than going for Tribal Council. most of the important early techs - at least for my style of play - are on the former branch. Is going straight for the more advanced government first something you intended to encourage?

I see lots of nice new resource graphics. some updated improvement graphics as well. The functions have been adjusted in a way that makes more sense from a cultural pov.

Haven't looked at the diplomacy victories yet.

Enjoyable already. Look forward to further developments.
 
In terms of the diplomacy wonder near the end of the game, I could do with a version for the Indian civs. I need to have a look at Blue Monkey's bazaar thread to ascertain exactly what.
horsesacrifice2.jpg


The horse sacrifice is mentioned in the epics & in the literature of all the main Indian religions. There are at least 3 historical instances as well. With appropriate rites & ceremonies a ruler releases a white horse. For a year it is allowed to wander wherever it wishes - protected by a large armed force. Whenever the horse crosses into another kingdom the ruler must either submit or be conquered by force. At the end of the year there are more rites & ceremonies. The ruler is declared Chakravartin (World Emperor). As you can imagine only an already powerful ruler would attempt this since it pretty well guarantees war with his neighbors. The Indian custom was for conquered rulers to be restored to their thrones as sub-kings - rajahs under the maharajah (maha = great). Weaker kings could submit - retaining their de facto rule while avoiding charges of cowardice by claiming that the horse was an indication of divine favor. So the horse sacrifice could be used as a way to conquer large territories without too much bloodshed.

A fairly realpolitik yet diplomatic way to gain an empire.
 
The demo has been patched to version 1.1. The new version has:
  • Minoa - complete with a small sailing vessel available from the start of the game (it cannot transport settlers though)
  • Harappa - which has workers which require no monetary support and can irrigate without fresh water once irrigation has been discovered
  • Bug fixes for the kieftu, bowman and rider
  • Changed upgrade path so that A2D1M1 upgrade to swordsmen at bronze working
  • There are diplomacy texts - at least the start of them!!
  • Three new units for the Indian civs: Golden Spearmen, Golden Swordsmen and Pandyan Spearmen - so get rid of those generic units!
  • Two new buildings for Indian civs - the mandir and the Ashvameda. The former reduces war weariness in era one, whilst the latter allows the Indian civs the possibility of a diplomatic victory
The main upload has been updated so that you download version 1.1 automatically. If you'd prefer to simply patch what you had before, at a mere 11.3MB, then go here.

You'll probably have noticed that the Ashvameda, suggested by Blue Monkey in the post above, has been added already. Thanks Blue Monkey, it sounds great!!
 
You'll probably have noticed that the Ashvameda, suggested by Blue Monkey in the post above, has been added already. Thanks Blue Monkey, it sounds great!!
Looking forward to playing the new version tonight. If you need one of the pictures in that post made into a splash let me know.
 
Looking forward to playing the new version tonight. If you need one of the pictures in that post made into a splash let me know.
Thanks, but already done! The picture on the right was the one I chose; it was already the right size (320x320), so it was merely a case of cutting it out and converting it to a pcx. Hope you enjoy the new version!
 
Just out of curiousity....is anyone actually playing the demo? If it's not being played, well...fair enough, I understand. Thing is, I am more than happy to spend more time on the mod and make it fully available if people wish to play it. If it's not something people are interested in playing, then I'd sooner know now and can prioritise the importance of completing it accordingly. Maybe there's been too many ancient mods for Civ III and people just lack the will to play a new one?

Thing is, I was going to move to Civ 5 mod making after this project, but if it's not taking off, then I'll go now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting upset over it, if it's the way it is, then it's...well, the way it is :)!
 
I played it a little bit - the tech trees and their icons look amazing and everything seems to be done pretty good. It was a little slow pace starting off, but I believe it will speed up decently as the turns progress. This is just a personal preference for faster games, as I'm sure some like slower pace.

I wouldn't expect any/many people to play demos. Releasing them with upgraded content (more civs, buildings, etc) like you're doing is very professional I think, but even real game makes often don't go to those extremes.

From what I've seen the game seems mostly done, and I'm sure once completed people will play it, but again demos, not so much. One thing is I think most the people who play mods are infrequent posters, while the high count posters are mostly too busy designing mods - that's me anyway.
 
Just out of curiousity....is anyone actually playing the demo? If it's not being played, well...fair enough, I understand. Thing is, I am more than happy to spend more time on the mod and make it fully available if people wish to play it.
I'm too busy playing it to post more comments spontaneously. Srsly. Since you interrupted I'll say that many of the new tech icons are really nice. Egypt seems really aggressive - I've restarted twice so far because they made massive invasions mid 1st era. I'm still getting used to how to optimize order of research for my style of play - I like what you're doing with it. Post any questions that would help you carry on the work - I'll post an answer as soon as I stop playing long enough to notice there are new posts in the thread.

Thing is, I was going to move to Civ 5 mod making after this project, but if it's not taking off, then I'll go now.
:cry:
Hopefully you'll come back for a visit & maybe do an occasional LH request.
 
Just out of curiousity....is anyone actually playing the demo? If it's not being played, well...fair enough, I understand. Thing is, I am more than happy to spend more time on the mod and make it fully available if people wish to play it. If it's not something people are interested in playing, then I'd sooner know now and can prioritise the importance of completing it accordingly. Maybe there's been too many ancient mods for Civ III and people just lack the will to play a new one?

I'm more than willing to playtest, but life is a bit too busy right now. AD I was great. I'm really looking forward to this. There can never be too many mods.:)

Thing is, I was going to move to Civ 5 mod making after this project, but if it's not taking off, then I'll go now.

:eek:Noooooooooooo...
 
I downloaded and installed it... Sadly, real life is pretty busy over here. Hope you stick with it Rob because it looks very good.
 
Thanks for the positive responses and hopefully I'll be getting some feedback once you've had a chance to play it :).
 
OK, Rob, I d/l'd the demo & started up a game. The following is just suggestion based on my humble opinion & in no way meant to demean your creation. Hope it helps. Thanks.

Chose raging barbs, pangaea 60% water, warm, wet, 3 byo.

-The starting screen & custom interface graphics look cool.

-Player Setup screen.

The selected options are a shade of blue that's hard for me to read against the brown background. When the pointer is held over an option that hasn't been selected, the option turns a shade of brown that's very hard to read against the brown background. Other than that, the custom graphics look cool.

All the leaderheads look fantastic!

There's a civ trait called "Stable," but the link leads to the pedia entries for every civ trait except Stable. I'm not sure what this trait is.

Chose Egypt, Normal AI Aggression, Chieftain.

Looked at Game Limits. 800 Turns!:goodjob: I like long games.

-Turn 1.

Started on Palins next to a river. Starting city (capitol) is named Waset? Is this correct? I've never heard of it. Perhaps it should be Thebes or Memphis?

Adviser screens all look good. Tech tree looks great with arrows all pointing the right way, interesting techs, good-looking tech icons. I love how the Dark Ages era screen is an image of monks in a church.

Pedia looks complete so far with the exception noted above.

I crank my Science slider to the max (70%) & choose the Settling tech to research. Will take 40 Turns.:eek: Am still earning one GPT-it's nice to start on a river.:)

I can see the river emptying into a body of water to the west. North is all Plains, South is Grassland & Forest.

Set production to Egyptian tribesman.

-Turns 2 through 4.

Nothing happens. Keep earning one GPT.

-Turn 5.

Produce an Egyptian tribesman! Unit looks good-appropriate for an early Egyptian warrior. I send him west to explore that body of water on the horizon.

Production set to Egyptian worker.

-Turn 6.

I notice that there's no Victory button in the lower right corner above the Introduction button... Would be easier to track what Turn I'm on if it was there. Is there a way to get an update of Victory Conditions (VPs, Land Area, etc.)?

-Turn 7.

My tribesman reaches the shoreline & the mouth of the river! It's clearly a large body of water. I can see Sea & 2 Crab resources along the Coast.

-Turn 8.

I send my tribesman exploring north in the Plains along the shore.

-Turn 9.

Complete an Egyptian worker! Begin work on an Obelisk-done in 20 Turns.

Pedia entry for the Obelisk looks good. Nice image & copy. I also like the tech icon for Egyptian culture.

Suggestion: Capitalize all words in unit, tech & improvement names. Examples: "Egyptian Culture" rather than "Egyptian culture" & "Egyptian Tribesman" rather than "Egyptian tribesman."

-Turn 10.

Cultural borders expand! I can now see a Pigs resource to the northeast & Mountains to the east.

Worker begins roading a shield Grassland. Tribesman finds Forest & the mouth of another river while following the coastline north.

-Turn 11.

Tribesman finds a Goody Hut!

-Turn 12.

Tribesman turns away from the shore to pop the Goody Hut in the Plains. Gets a map. Can now see that the new river I discovered continues away from the shore far to the east. To the north, beyond the river, Forest & Plains is some Desert.

-Turn 13.

I forgot to mention earlier: the city graphic looks great!

Worker finishes road & moves south into Forest to begin a road there. Tribesman now exploring east away from the shore along the new river.

-Turn 14.

Tribesman finds another Pigs resource in the Plains north of the new river.

-Turn 15 & 16.

Can now see a Mountain range running east-west north of the new river. Several short streams come down from the Mountains to join the new River & we discover some Floodplain.

-Turn 17.

Continuing east along the new river, the Tribesman finds another Goody Hut. The river has too many forks now to describe, but it generally continues east out of the Plains & into Forest.

-Turn 18.

Popped the Hut & "disturbed an angry barbarian Barbarian." Seems redundant. Tribe is named "barbarian." Unit is named "Barbarian." Suggestion, name barbarian tribes.

Three barbs popped in total.

-Turn 19.

The barbs didn't attack IBT so I attack the one to the southwest & defeat him without taking damage.

-Turn 20.

One of the remaining barbs attack my Tribesman IBT & he's victorious again, becoming a Veteran.

-Turn 21.

Worker finishes road in forest & moves to road the Plains east along the river.

-Turn 22.

Tribesman defeats the remaining barb.

-Turn 23.

Produce an Obelisk! Begin another tribesman. Only build options are workers & tribesman now. Still making 1 GPT.

-Turns 24 through 27.

Complete a tribesman & send him west to explore the southerly shoreline. Veteran tribesman finds headwaters of one branch of the new river & turns south across the Plains to look for the headwaters of the river my city is located on.

Supporting 3 units, I'm no longer earning GP. Don't need any more units I can't afford so production is turned to Wealth.

The Mountain terrain looks good. Just realized that shield Grassland terrain has some kind of little bush with red berries on it. Nice touch.

-Turns 28 through 41 (I think).

Will finally have my 1st tech next Turn.

Worker continues to road along the river within city radius.

Veteran tribesman finds a large mountain range to the east running north-south. See a Gold resource in the Mountains.

New tribesman finds forest to the south & runs into another mountain range running east-west. Looks like I might be in a huge valley with 2 rivers systems running to the seas to the west

-Turn 42.

Learn Settling! Cool tech icon! Begin researching Stone working. Begin building a Settler! Can also build a Storyteller's house now.

Can't build a well without Gold in city radius. I'm not understanding why Gold has to be nearby to dig a water hole.

I wanna continue playing, but I gotta sleep. Haven't found any serious bugs. Everything looks really good for a mod so early in development!:goodjob: Will return with more playtesting when I can. Thanks!
 
Wow, thanks for the comments and nice to get lots of feedback!! I will attempt to answer your comments below:

Sorry to hear that you had problems with the interface; it was the one I chose (by Tom2050) and I think it's great, but am interested in any comments about it.

Waset was ancient Luxor and is more in line with the 4000BC start. You'll find that some other mods use it as their starting city, including TAM.

No victory marker? That's hard-coded and you'll find it does appear soon.

I'm waiting with barbarian names, as I was finding that I'd choose a name then have the civ as part of the game.

I've not done the civilopedia part where the traits are described. Stable = limited anarchy when changing governments. They are going to have cheaper corruption-busting improvements.

Capitalisation? That's the one thing I will not do. I'm an ex-English teacher and it just doesn't look right to me. Sorry, but it's something I'm quite anal about.

The comment about gold being required for a well? You're right, there's no direct link. However, certain civs, such as Egypt, have the "metropolis" tech. This allows them to build some extra buildings throughout the game which, in turn, allows those cities to be able to support a larger population more comfortably. I chose for gold to be available with the metropolis tech and therefore being the factor as to which cities can build the extra buildings. If you look under the metropolis tech description in the civilopedia, the details are there.

Thanks again for testing and hope you enjoy the rest of your game :).
 
Some File Errors

ad2fileerrors.jpg


Brigantian civ color
It matches the terrain palette too closely. This makes the borders very difficult to spot on many terrain types. The screenie is in hills. woodlands are also bad, iirc. i tried changing to the border pcx i normally use. Where the drop shadow shows - mostly northern sides - it's clearer. But in some places it's worse.

brigantiaborderscompare.jpg


Noah's Ark
Puts a harbor in every city. It's really weird when you can start building drydocks in the upcountry. Maybe there's a monastic order of apocalyptic shipwrights? :p

harborb.jpg
 
Some good points there Blue Monkey.

With the units, I can just note them down and correct them in the next upload. Sadly, when you're using other people's units, you're not aware of any .ini file errors etc until you encounter them whilst playing.

There's also an error I made myself, in that I put no wondersplash for the Greek Archon; another correction for the next upload.

Definately see what you mean about Brigantia's colour!!

Noah's ark...didn't see that coming. Any ideas for a replacement effect?


I'm about to embark on an intensive project management course over the next few days; hopefully at the end of it, I'll have a couple of days to update ADII and upload a new version!!
 
Interior harbors & drydocks are useless (no actual benefits). The harbors are no cost - produced by the wonder. Would the AI doesn't waste time & shields building drydocks, etc.? If not, leave them. Inside joke. Maybe put something in the 'pedia about mad monks?

I forgot to mention that the 'pedia text for Footman is actually the Persian Immortal description.

I saw your ratha request in tom2050's lottery thread. As i mentioned there when you win he's welcome to use the model Takhisis & I work on - plus help with textures, etc.
 
Interior harbors & drydocks are useless (no actual benefits). The harbors are no cost - produced by the wonder. Would the AI doesn't waste time & shields building drydocks, etc.? If not, leave them. Inside joke. Maybe put something in the 'pedia about mad monks?
There's sometimes an interior city with a water tile due to a lake or whatever, so there's occasionally a benefit. I like the idea of mad monks ;).


I forgot to mention that the 'pedia text for Footman is actually the Persian Immortal description.
That's because it's a generic placeholder unit; it will be removed at some point.


I saw your ratha request in tom2050's lottery thread. As i mentioned there when you win he's welcome to use the model Takhisis & I work on - plus help with textures, etc.
Thanks - hope it wins so we can have the ratha at last!
 
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