Anno Domini: Rise of Cities edition (latest version dated November 9th 2016) 27

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Updated Pyrrhus of Epirus leaderhead; I've merged art from different sources to create it.

EDIT: Now much improved!!

Spoiler :

In other news, my new kitten, Jenna, is already learning how to master Modbuddy!

Spoiler :

 

[FramedArchitect]

Thanks! If you were to, for WB purposes, download a copy of the mod, then delete all the leader screens, DOM screens and unit art, which account for at least 60% of the size of the mod, would it work? I mean by that, to use that version to create the maps, but obviously test them out on a "full" version?

Just wanted to let you know this method didn't work for me, Rob. Sorry!

 

[FramedArchitect]

In other news, my new kitten, Jenna, is already learning how to master Modbuddy!

Looks like some good additions! And it's interesting to see how differently you organize your MB screen.

 

[ww2commander]

Looks like some good additions! And it's interesting to see how differently you organize your MB screen.

Funny. That was the first thing that struck me as well! I just rearranged my MB in that way to see how it feels

 

[Natan35]

I have a kitten too! With the same colors!
(I called him kinder, because he is white and black, like the chocolate.)

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Thanks for the comments. I thought the set-up I had was the default one, but perhaps not! There has been a delay with the release of v10 of the mod. Last week, I'd booked off 3 days so that, with the weekend, I'd have a 5-day run at the mod. Unfortunately, a serious bug (which crashed the game after 40 turns) appeared and needed to be tracked down - I got it and fixed it, but it took 2-3 days to sort it out, so I'm behind schedule. I'm hoping to catch up by about this time next week, so I'll try to have it out by then. It will have a small helping of new civs, including the Nuraghe; health and plague has been upgraded to v15. There's been a few other little tweaks and additions that will all become apparent when it comes live. Almost forgot - I've added (more or less) Leugi's slavery mod, so at least that's got a new mechanic now.

 

[Foxxy]

Perhaps adding the seven provinces (Holland+Belgium+Luxembourg)would be great to add !
Michiel de Ruyter as Leader (Was more then equal to Lord Nelson )

And I hope we can multiplay Anno Domini soon !!

More then an AWESOME job you did !!!

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Thanks for the appreciation of Anno Domini, though Michiel de Ruyter would probably fit better with an Age of Discovery mod. He lived over 1,000 years after Anno Domini is meant to end.

 

[ww2commander]

Rob, if given the right resources and help, have you thought about doing something similar focusing on the period from the Fall of the Roman Empire through to the Renaissance era (i.e what most might call a 'medieval mod').

I only ask as I have seen numerous quality civs appearing across the New Civilizations section in the recent months.

 

[Unedjis]

Hi,

I haven't quite finished my game yet but it's just a matter of mabye 30 turns before I have my Domination victory, and the tech tree is exhausted so I figure I've seen most of the mod. So here's my (probably) final batch of little issues and nitpicks; maybe you'll still have time to look at some of the things.

To provide some context/general feedback, I played on Deity (with IGE for counter-cheating in the early game) as Kamarupa (the not-Indonesia civ) on a huge archipelago map, which went very well with the UU (Plava, awesome for exploring and being the first to meet all civs; also largely invulnerable if you stay in deep ocean while other civs can't enter it yet). However, the UA (+1 Faith from Planations, double pressure via trade routes) does, well, nothing. It felt like playing without a UA; whatever additional pressure I exerted didn't help against the dozens of missionaries the other religions dispatched each turn, and the +Faith from the plantations is made irrelevant by midgame through the many +Faith buildings (and in early game I had a grand total of ONE citrus plantation in five cities because no other plantation resources were around). Don't know about the UB (Lingam), I guess it's in line with the other UBs (giving a total of 1 or 2 more yields in comparison with the building the UB replaces). I guess if I played the mod more (which I will, it's awesome) I wouldn't play Kamarupa or a similarly "weak" civ (or rather, one with such a "boring" UA that really doesn't influence the playing style at all). But it was random, and I had a whole new tech tree to explore, so the game was tons and tons of fun for dozens of hours (on Marathon).

Spoiler :

INTERFACE:
- Culture Overview --> Your Culture: Not all buildings showing up (e.g. Ceilidh Hall) --> Stuff can't be moved between cities. However, these buildings don't show up as constructed in the city view either. So there is really no way to reassign great works once they have been placed in the missing buildings.

UNITS:
- Skirmisher not classified as Mounted (Bonus vs. Mounted not applied)

BUILDINGS:
- Tavern: Spy not working, makes city invisible
- Furniture Maker: 2 Maintenance vs. +1 Gold
- Longbowman's Quarters: Tooltip says Barrage only for Longbowmen but other archery units benefit as well

POLICIES:
- Commerce: Opener gives +1 naval movement (Exploration), not +25% gold in the capital
- Great Merchant for faith unlocked by Tradition [Commerce slot??] (not by finishing Commerce branch)
- Great General for faith unlocked by Piety [Honor slot??] (not by finishing Warfare)
- Commerce: Unlocking all policies enables buying Great Admiral with Faith [Exploration slot]
- Republic: no indicator if +25% combat strength for wounded units is working or not

SUGGESTIONS:
- Sewers: +Health, food carried over instead of current bonuses (people eating and being happy for it??)
- Bathhouse: +Health, +Happiness instead of culture and faith
- Actually make late game naval units cost Prime Timber as it says in the pedia description of the resource

And one final request: Please, please make it clear somewhere how the number of trade routes is calculated. I assume it has to do with the number of cities you control because whenever I conquered many cities in few turns, I got like 2-3 new trade route slots, which never went back down after I razed said cities. In the end I had more than 30 without any bonus.

BUT don't get me wrong, this has been the most enjoyable Civ game I've had so far. You have done an amazing job, and I am still amazed at your dedication to continue to improve your project. Keep on doing what you're doing!

Unedjis

Edit: A note on compatibility - Unlimited Barbarian EXP appears to be the conflict loser (or they've changed it in recent versions); units will still not level up beyond lvl5 (Vanilla was lvl2 right?) for killing barbarians, which is quite alright. "Faster Marathon Train and Construct" works wonders if you play on Marathon (obviously), though. So many units on the AI. So much stuff to kill before you can get to the cities.

EDIT edit: Have I mentioned that I love how strong the cities are? You really need an army to conquer a well-developed city, not just the pathetic 3-5 units like in Vanilla. And you WILL lose units because any unit that attacks is going to die. Until you have range 3 artillery, that is.

Edit 3 (sorry): Forgot to say that Penthesilea seems to have serious priority issues. She has -120 happiness and cities start to defect to my civ every few turns (and BIG cities, size 33 and 25 so far). She has had -40 and less for the better part of the late game, as the only AI civ with such tremendous happiness issues (all other civs are in the green). Maybe there's something wrong with her AI ... flavors ... building/policy priorities ... things ... I have no idea what I'm talking about but maybe you can take a look and see if there's anything that jumps out at you.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Rob, if given the right resources and help, have you thought about doing something similar focusing on the period from the Fall of the Roman Empire through to the Renaissance era (i.e what most might call a 'medieval mod').

I only ask as I have seen numerous quality civs appearing across the New Civilizations section in the recent months.

Probably not, though I wouldn't rule it out. Every new civ that comes out is scrutinised for "stuff to use" even if it's not belonging to the era, so you may see plenty of UAs that are used in an ancient context and some of the tie-in ideas for UUs and UBs - the point is that many of the Medieval civs have been reused.

I have thought of extending Anno Domini into the early Medieval period. I think you were around in the Civ 3 Anno Domini days and will remember that I had Lorenzo di Medici as one of the leaders. I'm not sure if that would be right for the mod, but people are running out of techs to research, so maybe extending the Anno Domini period slightly and introducing a Dark Ages era may be a good plan. Please let me know if you think it is. If so, I would be able to introduce a handful more civs (and you're right, there's a few that are just out of the current scope that would be great). Please let me know what you think.

@Unedijis - thanks again for the invaluable feedback. The Kamarupa were introduced at a point when I was merely adding civs to the game and probably not paying as much heed to synergy for the civ as I do now. I've revamped some of the civs but will revisit Kamarupa. As for Penthesilia, that lady needs to get her priorities right! I'll have a look and see what I can change.

UPDATE:

DARK AGES/EARLY MEDIEVAL: PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS

The more I think about it, the more I like it. I've been shying away from it to keep the scope of the mod to what I felt was right. However, in a strange kind of way, adding more work to the mod could make life a bit easier and put me on track for completing it (though as modders will tell you, your work is NEVER complete).

Here's my thoughts:
01. It would ABSOLUTELY solve one of the bigger headaches with modding the game, namely getting the Great Writers/Great Artists/Great Musicians right. The writers could stay the same and the musicians can still be used as philosophers/disciples unable to be added to buildings for tourism but as touring parties generating tourism/empire points on a specific civ and Great Artists would be able to be used as Great Artists which would be fab. They wouldn't be able to be added until nearer the end of the game, but that's okay, as I could bump up the number of great writer slots and have the Great Artists boosting world wonders.

02. As ww2commander stated, there are some fabulous civs that have been created that are just out of Anno Domini's range. Some I won't use as I've used their benefits elsewhere, but will now be able to use their UB/UU graphics for generic items. Others I may not use as they're a later era version of a civ I already have. So welcome aboard the Ayyubids, Khmer, Tibet, Tuscany, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Iceland, Khazars, Novgorod and Nri (potentially). Also to be used graphics-wise could be the Landsneckht, Pikeman, Castle, Belfort, Jousting grounds and more. Additionally, I could add some more city states.

03. The other big headache with modding the game is sorting out a scientific victory. I'm thinking of using some sort of trade mechanism here, i.e. building trade wagons to go to the capital instead of spaceship parts. I could build into the game some of the earlier shops generating some sort of resource that could be used to construct these merchants.

04. One thing I won't do is make this a world-wide based mod. There'll already be over 100 civs in it and I want to keep the scope and focus right.

Please let me know what you think. It may be that I've already got the focus right and that by extending the mod, I'm only creating a bit more of the same. I'd be really interested in some opinions (and not just "do more" with no real reason why).

 

[ww2commander]

I asked that question knowing I would possibly open Pandora's box!!! Sorry if I did

I myself know the struggles of completing a mod and am trying to get my WW2 Eastern Front mod to the finish line. But in the past I have played around with a Medieval mod only to quite due to the complexity or lack of units/civs.

In saying that, I don't want to be one of those guys that gets excited about an idea only to bail out when the real work needs to be done! I am willing to provide assistance (SQL/Lua/UI) on the basis you believe the mod to be viable. Something of this scale (like AD) is too much for one person to manage IMO.

01. It would ABSOLUTELY solve one of the bigger headaches with modding the game, namely getting the Great Writers/Great Artists/Great Musicians right. The writers could stay the same and the musicians can still be used as philosophers/disciples unable to be added to buildings for tourism but as touring parties generating tourism/empire points on a specific civ and Great Artists would be able to be used as Great Artists which would be fab. They wouldn't be able to be added until nearer the end of the game, but that's okay, as I could bump up the number of great writer slots and have the Great Artists boosting world wonders.

I would do a clean slate start. This is the reason why I mentioned the fall of the Roman Empire. You could provide each player with a handful of base techs that get them started. The idea here is the rediscovery of techs given most of Europe has fallen into chaos. Depending on the region the civ comes from, you could provide them with some sort of bonus (i.e Arab nations might possess more research points within cities and so on). Note....I am rattling things quickly here without much detailed analysis.

02. As ww2commander stated, there are some fabulous civs that have been created that are just out of Anno Domini's range. Some I won't use as I've used their benefits elsewhere, but will now be able to use their UB/UU graphics for generic items. Others I may not use as they're a later era version of a civ I already have. So welcome aboard the Ayyubids, Khmer, Tibet, Tuscany, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Iceland, Khazars, Novgorod and Nri (potentially). Also to be used graphics-wise could be the Landsneckht, Pikeman, Castle, Belfort, Jousting grounds and more. Additionally, I could add some more city states.

My theory is that given a reason to create a civ, our talented civ modders would unleash a flood of new medieval civs. My only concern is the limit of 22 per game. This has been a major reason why I abandoned my attempts. There would need to be a commitment to a DLL version which enables at most 34-42 civ slots to do justice to Europe alone!

03. The other big headache with modding the game is sorting out a scientific victory. I'm thinking of using some sort of trade mechanism here, i.e. building trade wagons to go to the capital instead of spaceship parts. I could build into the game some of the earlier shops generating some sort of resource that could be used to construct these merchants.

Some alternative or additions I had in mind might include:
- Reworking the wonder system to represent cultural aspects/achievements as opposed to physical structures.
- Using projects to represent the discovery of the Americas, crusades and other world events.
- Ramping up the plague mod to 11!
- Plus more if I have some time to think things through

04. One thing I won't do is make this a world-wide based mod. There'll already be over 100 civs in it and I want to keep the scope and focus right.

Agree. The max I would extend it would be to include some portions of central Asia that allow additional Arab and Mongol/Khanate kingdoms on the map. This would provide some challenge to Eastern European and Arab players who typically have a safe rear playing European maps.

EDIT: To clarify, I was thinking along the lines of a new separate mod when typing my response. My view is that AD is perfect as is.

 

[Unedjis]

Hi,

an extension into the Dark Ages would indeed be welcome and tie in fabulously with what I would do as a scientific victory for a mod that ends in the medieval times: Instead of a spaceship, the ultimate scientific goal is to create the Philosopher's Stone. Both are pseudo-realistic and could be done through the same mechanics, triggered by building the National Wonder of the Magnum Opus with Alchemist's Laboratories replacing the Spaceship Factories. Here's my from-the-hip suggestion (I can't exactly remember everything I've read about the philosopher's stone, so this is just from the bits I do remember) for what the parts could be renamed into (with appropriate graphics):

3x Boosters --> Pure Mercury
1x Engine --> Elixir of Life
1x Cockpit --> Ultimate Solvent
1x Stasis Chamber --> Transmutation Array

As for the cultural victory, this is hard to achieve in BNW as it is and pretty much impossible in Anno Domini with so many culture buildings and so little opportunity to generate tourism (in the end I had +1800 culture per turn and "only" +220 tourism, and the next strongest civ had +30 tourism; if your influence over other civs is at Exotic, it's high). Why not keep the archeologists and rename them into Treasure Hunters? That way, it'd make sense to keep artifacts from old battles in the Guard Tower (which, honestly, doesn't make sense to me at all to give that building Great Work of Art slots), and you'd have a LOT more opportunities to generate tourism. Also, some of the buildings that now generate culture, faith or happiness could instead produce tourism (e.g. the Bathhouse, Bridge (for easier access), Ceilidh Hall, Circus, Garden, Hippodrome, Lion House, Rhapsode, Theatre, Triumphal Arch - and of course not all of them but maybe some of their yields could be replaced with a +1 tourism).

But either way, am I the only one who has the problem that many of the Great Works buildings don't show up in the culture overview and city screens? I think the problem might be that some UBs show up (Royal Library is the one I remember right now) while the generic buildings do not. Can't imagine it's a mod conflict because I only ran IGE, Unlimited Barbarian EXP (useless, conflict loser), and Faster Marathon Train and Construct along with Anno Domini, none of which should touch the culture aspect at all. [Edit: I checked what buildings were missing in the Culture Overview, and it's only the Ceilidh Hall. Instead, the Royal Library and the Citrisala show up as UBs (in addition to the Synagogue as a religious building). And I must retract my statement that it's not showing up in the city screen, I just hadn't constructed any Ceilidh Halls yet, apparently.]

Unedjis

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Some nice ideas there, though I would like to veer away from the Philosopher's stone as it's going into the realms of fantasy. I had envisioned merchants instead of spaceship parts coming into the capital and that, I feel, fits better.

In terms of the Great Works buildings, I don't have an issue, but ONLY run Anno Domini, which is the requested setting. I swap around which buildings are used as Great Works holders and there'll be a conflict with one of the mods.

As for using treasure hunters instead of archaeologists, I had a similar idea myself, but was going to call them plunderers!

 

[Unedjis]

Well, in defense of the Philosopher's Stone as part of a realistic Civ mod, it hasn't been invented by J.K. Rowling. The idea has been around since ancient Egyptian times and generations of "scientists" tried to figure out the secrets of eternal life and/or turning other substances into gold. So the idea of the Philosopher's Stone is a very real one, only it has never been found (obviously, from today's perspective). But a spaceship to Alpha Centauri hasn't been built either and I doubt we will see one built by 2050. The similarity is that the idea is there, it only requires the small step into "fantasy" to make it an in-game reality. But I'm not going to try and convince you of something you don't see as fitting for your mod; it's yours after all and apart from ideas, I couldn't provide much help in terms of modding even if you wanted help. It's just that Anno Domini fits that idea I've had for years about making an ancient world mod better than anything else I've seen so far, so our visions appear to be at least somewhat aligned. Which is why I make suggestions in the first place.

Edit: I just finished my game after 907 turns, so I could do a little conflict testing and launched a new game with only AD v8, and the Ceilidh Hall still won't show up. Could be there's some leftovers from improperly deactivated mods though. Is there any way to get rid of the other mod data without unsubscribing from everything? Because as long as I've subscribed to other mods, the game will always auto-dl them again, and I don't want to "lose" all those mods in case I ever want to play without AD again. Hm but I did make a backup of everything anyway so I could unsubscribe and then just copy the backups back in or reconstruct my mod list from the folder names. I'll try that and clear my cache, then check if it's still happening. (My best guess for leftovers would be NIGHTS.) [Edit 2: No leftovers, still the same. Will test with v9 once it's done downloading.] [Edit 3: The problem persists for me in v9 with no other mods active. But I'm making too big a deal of this; the Ceilidh Hall appears so late in the game and there aren't that many Great Musicians, no set bonuses ... so really there's no need to move the Great Works.]

 

[poland144]

I typically play in strategic mode (replaced my graphics card with a shoddier one after it broke) and one major issue I found with the mod is that none of your new units have corresponding icons or data for the overlays in strategic mode. At least for me, this would make a huge difference in the quality of the mod as I frequently have to switch back and forth from strategic mode for combat.

 

[Natan35]

Idea: use tavern as a tourism building. +5 tourism, great work of music slot.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I typically play in strategic mode (replaced my graphics card with a shoddier one after it broke) and one major issue I found with the mod is that none of your new units have corresponding icons or data for the overlays in strategic mode. At least for me, this would make a huge difference in the quality of the mod as I frequently have to switch back and forth from strategic mode for combat.

Hi Poland144 and welcome to civfanatics. I appreciate what you're saying and am trying to get more in strategic mode.

 

[Foxxy]

Thanks for the appreciation of Anno Domini, though Michiel de Ruyter would probably fit better with an Age of Discovery mod. He lived over 1,000 years after Anno Domini is meant to end.

Perhaps it would be nice to add " De Batavieren " ancient inhabitants from the Netherlands , who could swim rivers with horses,in full armor .. They even withstanded a fight with Bouddica !

Also Roman emperors assigned them as imperial bodyguards,kinda elite troops. like for example Nero did .

Their origin lies in Holland, during the Germanic time, they lived inbetween the rivers Waal and Rhine . They are described as the bravest tribe amongst their time by the Romans .

Interesting people .. !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavi_(Germanic_tribe)

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I know all about the Batavi and they are an interesting civ - though there's now over 90 civs in Anno Domini, so I'll be concentrating on other areas of the mod first.