Norwegian gaming site Gamer.no published this article on Fall from Heaven 2. For those of you who don`t read or speak norwegian, I can tell you that the guy who wrote it is praising the mod 
and reccomends it for anyone interested in CIV or fantasy in general.
Just wanted to tell you guys
Here is the complete translation by Kjaaly and me:
Have you been hooked on Civilization IV? Get ready to get hooked on again. Fall from Heaven II is an extremely extensive (free) modification for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, which takes us away from our own planet, And into a universe with wizards, dragons, vampires, demons, elves and – well, nearly everything you can imagine.
In the Shadow of an Ice Age
The story takes place in a dark fantasy world which has been affected by a magical ice age. Now, the heat has returned, and so begins the fight for the inhapitable earth. New and old factions climb into the light to claim their piece of the world, but even though the ice is gone, it is no paradise which waits in the new world.
Here they will have to fight gruesome barbarians, dangerous monsters and living dead. Additionally, there exists people who wants to bring about the worlds destruction, complete with gruesome pestilences and the four riders of the apocalypse. If you want your civilization to succeed in Fall From Heaven II, you must learn to overcome new challenges, because this isn't Civilization like you know it.
Fall from Heaven 2 is the creation of Derek «Kael» Paxton and a small team of developes, who uses their spare time to make what many calls the best modification for Civilization IV. The story takes place in a universe Paxton have used several years to create, something which works wonders for the credibility of the civilizations, the units and the stories. He has also found a lot of inspiration from real events, legends, religions, fairytales and popular litterature. The game has references to everything from Cthulhu to Buddha, and nothing feels misplaced.
Loads of new stuff
Apart from the focus on fantasy, there are lots of other things that seperate the gameplay in Fall From Heaven 2 from standard Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. FFH2 comes with it`s own civiliztions and leaders, as well as a unique (and large) techtree. All units and buildings have also been customized and added, even though many of them share names with buildings and units in the original game, you will soon discover that work in different ways. Many of the units also have comprehensive special abilities that they either star with or have to gain through experience.
Take your regular scout for instance, first of all he can carry a hawk, that he can sendt out to recognoblablabla? (sp) the area. As he gets more experienced, he can also gain an ability that allows him to capture wild animals he defeats in combat, so that these animal come under your control. This has many exiting uses. The wild animals are quite strong, so that an army of tame bears and elephants can be just as lethal as a regular army.
Besides, the animals has hidden nationality so that you can send them out rampaging without your opponents knowing that i is you who are controlling them. The disadvantage is of course that other factions don`t have to DOW in order to attack them, so it is best to "flag" your nationality if you are planning on using them for city defence. In these cases, you should in addition also use human soldiers, as your population naturally won`t feel very safe being guarded by gigant spiders or stinking zombies.
Wild animals can also be used for other things. If you capture a lion, you can cage it in order to provide entertainment for your people. If you can capture a gigant spider, you can breed them in order to gain access to silk. If you play an evil and non-human civilization you can also capture your opponents people\units and cage them, so that your population can mock and torment them. Details like this makes FFH2 fresh and exiting, and actually makes it feel like a brand new game instead of CIV all over again.
A dangerous world
Hostility is the name of the game in FFH2, Wild animals and barbarians are a big problem during large portions of the game, and you will often experience an enormous pressure from these if you are surrounded by wilderness. It is not unusual to experience that civilizations are completely crushed by barbarians. Occasionally you will also encounter barbarian heroes and other monsters, these can mean a lot of trouble , even for well prepared nations.
The civilizations also deserves mentioning, here you will find everything from vampires who use their population as food, to militant ateists that want to sever the bonds to the gods once and for all. Every civilization can be evil, neutral or good, and as usual (Note: Here the author uses a norwegian expression that I`ll just directly translate. I know that there are a similar english phrase, so if someone could remind me I`ll be very happy, seeing that I have ripping hair out trying to remind myself for the last 20 mins.) Alike kids play best together. There are also civics and other functions that are not available for everyone – for example you can`t choose slavery if you are playing a good civilization, and there are also several building and units that become unavailable.
Religion also play an important part , and contrary to regular CIV, every religion doesn`t work in the same way. Here you are given advantages (and disadvantages) based on what religion you choose to follow, and you will soon discover that some of them will suit your playstyle more than others. Good and evil races can also join in somthing that are called "overcouncil" and "undercouncil", these function a bit like good and evil versions of the UN.
Apocalypse now
If there is one thing that seperate the good froom the evil, it must be their views on doomsday. Several of th eevil civs will have something to gain in making the world go under, at the same time as the good are trying to prevent this from happening, as this only leads to problems for them.
The mod uses a sort of doomsday watch, that are influenced by event in the game. If you evil thing, like slaughtering the population in a captured city, domsday will be one step closer. When the "bell" reaches a certain number, the world will be struck by the first of a series of plagues. I won`t tell you what will happen, but let me put it this way: If you have spent your time building a large and peacefull empire, you won`t be very happy. And from there in only gets worse...
What is positive about this is that everyone are affected by these plagues, but the reason it would be in someones interest to hurry the end of the world is that these are better equipped to face these disastrous events, and can use it in their strategy to gain control of the world. Besides, several of the evil civs can benefit directly from the what are happening, because of their special abilities.
During the game you can also summon a daemon-lord , who will found a new civ that will do everything to speed up the doomsday watch, while he gradually corrupts the landscape he controls. If you on the other hand play a good civ you can summon an angel that wishes to exterminate all daemons, but this will automatically draw you into conflict, wich can be very dangerous unless you are prepared for war.
Doomsday is not something that will happen regardless of what you do, good civ have peacefull measures to take in order to save the world. But you should be prepared to go to war in order to save the people of the world from those who want to harm them, regardless of how peacefull you are trying to be. The positive thing is that you will most likely gain allies - you can even end up fighting alongside civs that once were your worst enemies in a jont battle to save the world.
Gunpowder, but no more
Despite FFH2 having such a large and comprehensive techtree, the technology remains at a fairly low level throughout the game. In comparison to standard CIV, you can say that the technological development stops with the invention of gunpowder. This makes this mod perfect for players who prefer the earlier stages in the game where battles are fought with swords and axes.
The things I have mentioned in this article are only a few of the many new features experienced CIV players can expect from FFH2.
Gragons, magic, different typer of weaponry (bronce, iron, mithril, and so on), different guilds, heroes, national units, unique buildings places to discover and conquer and much, much more will ensure that it will be a long time before the joy of discovering and learning something new will disappear.
Fall from Heaven 2 are still under development and therefore not completely finished. As I write, the newest available version is 0.30f and it will probably be a while until the mod is complete. There are still things that do not work as intended, and there are many things that not yet have made it into the mod at all. But this mod is still so comprehensive and addictive that I would reccomend averyone to dowload it. It will require you to have Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword with the latest patches. There are also a version for earlier versions of Civilization IV, but it has not been updated for quite some time.
and reccomends it for anyone interested in CIV or fantasy in general.Just wanted to tell you guys
Here is the complete translation by Kjaaly and me:
Have you been hooked on Civilization IV? Get ready to get hooked on again. Fall from Heaven II is an extremely extensive (free) modification for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, which takes us away from our own planet, And into a universe with wizards, dragons, vampires, demons, elves and – well, nearly everything you can imagine.
In the Shadow of an Ice Age
The story takes place in a dark fantasy world which has been affected by a magical ice age. Now, the heat has returned, and so begins the fight for the inhapitable earth. New and old factions climb into the light to claim their piece of the world, but even though the ice is gone, it is no paradise which waits in the new world.
Here they will have to fight gruesome barbarians, dangerous monsters and living dead. Additionally, there exists people who wants to bring about the worlds destruction, complete with gruesome pestilences and the four riders of the apocalypse. If you want your civilization to succeed in Fall From Heaven II, you must learn to overcome new challenges, because this isn't Civilization like you know it.
Fall from Heaven 2 is the creation of Derek «Kael» Paxton and a small team of developes, who uses their spare time to make what many calls the best modification for Civilization IV. The story takes place in a universe Paxton have used several years to create, something which works wonders for the credibility of the civilizations, the units and the stories. He has also found a lot of inspiration from real events, legends, religions, fairytales and popular litterature. The game has references to everything from Cthulhu to Buddha, and nothing feels misplaced.
Loads of new stuff
Apart from the focus on fantasy, there are lots of other things that seperate the gameplay in Fall From Heaven 2 from standard Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. FFH2 comes with it`s own civiliztions and leaders, as well as a unique (and large) techtree. All units and buildings have also been customized and added, even though many of them share names with buildings and units in the original game, you will soon discover that work in different ways. Many of the units also have comprehensive special abilities that they either star with or have to gain through experience.
Take your regular scout for instance, first of all he can carry a hawk, that he can sendt out to recognoblablabla? (sp) the area. As he gets more experienced, he can also gain an ability that allows him to capture wild animals he defeats in combat, so that these animal come under your control. This has many exiting uses. The wild animals are quite strong, so that an army of tame bears and elephants can be just as lethal as a regular army.
Besides, the animals has hidden nationality so that you can send them out rampaging without your opponents knowing that i is you who are controlling them. The disadvantage is of course that other factions don`t have to DOW in order to attack them, so it is best to "flag" your nationality if you are planning on using them for city defence. In these cases, you should in addition also use human soldiers, as your population naturally won`t feel very safe being guarded by gigant spiders or stinking zombies.
Wild animals can also be used for other things. If you capture a lion, you can cage it in order to provide entertainment for your people. If you can capture a gigant spider, you can breed them in order to gain access to silk. If you play an evil and non-human civilization you can also capture your opponents people\units and cage them, so that your population can mock and torment them. Details like this makes FFH2 fresh and exiting, and actually makes it feel like a brand new game instead of CIV all over again.
A dangerous world
Hostility is the name of the game in FFH2, Wild animals and barbarians are a big problem during large portions of the game, and you will often experience an enormous pressure from these if you are surrounded by wilderness. It is not unusual to experience that civilizations are completely crushed by barbarians. Occasionally you will also encounter barbarian heroes and other monsters, these can mean a lot of trouble , even for well prepared nations.
The civilizations also deserves mentioning, here you will find everything from vampires who use their population as food, to militant ateists that want to sever the bonds to the gods once and for all. Every civilization can be evil, neutral or good, and as usual (Note: Here the author uses a norwegian expression that I`ll just directly translate. I know that there are a similar english phrase, so if someone could remind me I`ll be very happy, seeing that I have ripping hair out trying to remind myself for the last 20 mins.) Alike kids play best together. There are also civics and other functions that are not available for everyone – for example you can`t choose slavery if you are playing a good civilization, and there are also several building and units that become unavailable.
Religion also play an important part , and contrary to regular CIV, every religion doesn`t work in the same way. Here you are given advantages (and disadvantages) based on what religion you choose to follow, and you will soon discover that some of them will suit your playstyle more than others. Good and evil races can also join in somthing that are called "overcouncil" and "undercouncil", these function a bit like good and evil versions of the UN.
Apocalypse now
If there is one thing that seperate the good froom the evil, it must be their views on doomsday. Several of th eevil civs will have something to gain in making the world go under, at the same time as the good are trying to prevent this from happening, as this only leads to problems for them.
The mod uses a sort of doomsday watch, that are influenced by event in the game. If you evil thing, like slaughtering the population in a captured city, domsday will be one step closer. When the "bell" reaches a certain number, the world will be struck by the first of a series of plagues. I won`t tell you what will happen, but let me put it this way: If you have spent your time building a large and peacefull empire, you won`t be very happy. And from there in only gets worse...
What is positive about this is that everyone are affected by these plagues, but the reason it would be in someones interest to hurry the end of the world is that these are better equipped to face these disastrous events, and can use it in their strategy to gain control of the world. Besides, several of the evil civs can benefit directly from the what are happening, because of their special abilities.
During the game you can also summon a daemon-lord , who will found a new civ that will do everything to speed up the doomsday watch, while he gradually corrupts the landscape he controls. If you on the other hand play a good civ you can summon an angel that wishes to exterminate all daemons, but this will automatically draw you into conflict, wich can be very dangerous unless you are prepared for war.
Doomsday is not something that will happen regardless of what you do, good civ have peacefull measures to take in order to save the world. But you should be prepared to go to war in order to save the people of the world from those who want to harm them, regardless of how peacefull you are trying to be. The positive thing is that you will most likely gain allies - you can even end up fighting alongside civs that once were your worst enemies in a jont battle to save the world.
Gunpowder, but no more
Despite FFH2 having such a large and comprehensive techtree, the technology remains at a fairly low level throughout the game. In comparison to standard CIV, you can say that the technological development stops with the invention of gunpowder. This makes this mod perfect for players who prefer the earlier stages in the game where battles are fought with swords and axes.
The things I have mentioned in this article are only a few of the many new features experienced CIV players can expect from FFH2.
Gragons, magic, different typer of weaponry (bronce, iron, mithril, and so on), different guilds, heroes, national units, unique buildings places to discover and conquer and much, much more will ensure that it will be a long time before the joy of discovering and learning something new will disappear.
Fall from Heaven 2 are still under development and therefore not completely finished. As I write, the newest available version is 0.30f and it will probably be a while until the mod is complete. There are still things that do not work as intended, and there are many things that not yet have made it into the mod at all. But this mod is still so comprehensive and addictive that I would reccomend averyone to dowload it. It will require you to have Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword with the latest patches. There are also a version for earlier versions of Civilization IV, but it has not been updated for quite some time.
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