Best FFH Mod?

[James009]

I've recently started playing Fall from Heavenagain after a long sabbatical from it. I'd actually forgotten how much fun it was and how great a game can be. Recently I've tried the Fall Further From Heaven Mod (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=313) and I've loved it. Some amazing features of this mod include new races, STABLE MULTIPLAYER, unit's requiring buildings (optional), great commanders, and passive unit XP gain (my favorite feature). However, as much as I love FFfH I miss the espionage and unit diversity of some of the other mods.

I used to play the Orbis Mod (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=315887) but some of it's downloads have gone missing (ie. the primary download) and I remember having some major OOS errors with it. That being said, I remember Orbis having some great unit variety, interesting civilizations and traits, and espionage. Anyone know any mirrors one can download this or a place where I can upload my old copy for others to download?

I recently also tried out the Wildmana Mod (or Master of Mana Mod) (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=366) and found myself absolutely overwhelmed at all the new stuff and was quickly dominated by the AI and the barbarians. This mod was just too much for me.

I'm going to try Rise from Erebus Modmod (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=360) today to see how it is. I just couldn't find much documentation as to the features of this mod to justify getting it before.

Anyways, I'm looking for a mod that has three things:

1) Good unit and civilization variety.

2) Stable multiplayer with minimum OOS errors.

3) Espionage!

4) BONUS: Any mod that allows everyone have have heroes via progression or events

Post any comments you have or suggestions. I'd appreciate it!

 

[JTL]

Stick to MoM because its immo the best in MP (with little OOs and CTDs (mostly through to much Civs)).

Rife is near Death because the Dev Team wants to go to Civ V and is only patching it a bit up until Civ V is more Moddable ( regardles of that my hopes lie in Rife because it was my favorite mod ).

Orbis is Dead and causes to many OOs in MP. Its really sad because it has great Potential in it.

 

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Wildmana and Master of Mana are different mods.
Try Wildmana 8, it's probably the most polished FFH2 submod out there and sticks to the FFH2 gameplay in contrast to MoM.
It's still my favourite, but FFH2 + Naval AI is also a good combination.
I think Rise of Erebus will soon get a final release that increases stability, therefore it might be worth to wait there a bit.

 

[Calavente]

further, I'll add that magister's 2012 modmod is fun enough.
based on Naval Ai modmod, but with a bit more fluff to the civs and to many many thingies
However no new civs.
(and no espionnage?)

For Orbis.. if you can direct me to a place to upload a copy of my version, I can do that.
(orbis has espionnage, but I never tried to use that feature)

MoM.. it added the strange to the good, the bizarre to the super nice.

Wildmana.. I'll have to try to get back a wildmana 8 version and try it again.

RifE is definitly still interesting. It is quite stable now, and I really like the "launcher" that automatically load your save from your desktop. There is still a bit of fluff coming before the team disappears totally from the FFH realm.

 

[arcticnightwolf]

[..] and I really like the "launcher" that automatically load your save from your desktop [..]

yay for me !

 

[zoommooz]

While I love both rife and MoM, both, because of their size and my 32 bit operating system mean that eventually, the game will become unplayable on huge maps (never once finished a game yet). I'll second magister's 2012 mod, as currently I am playing a huge 15 civ custom map (massive amount of land) and am 1300 turns into 3000 turn game and still going strong. The learning curve is much less in this mod because it very much sticks with the mechanics of base FFH2, so, if MoM was too complex this should fit right in.

 

[Jarrema]

MoM is the future !!!
It is still work in a progress, and its learning curve is steep, but...
yeah!
It has so many interesting features!

I also want to try RiFE once more soon. My previous experience with it was not so good, but it was a lot of time ago

 

[Tschuggi]

MoM is the future !!!
It is still work in a progress, and its learning curve is steep, but...
yeah!
It has so many interesting features!

I also want to try RiFE once more soon. My previous experience with it was not so good, but it was a lot of time ago

So, to confess, I am a bit of a MoM-fanboy, but, due to MC's new release, I tried his modmod, tried Tholal's naval AI on vanilla ffh2, tried RiFE again, played even my old orbis and I have to confess: Yes, MoM is, at least for me, the future.

So rest is shameless advertising from me, so just skip it

Spoiler :

I just missed so much features when playing all the other modmods. They are good on there own, fantastic work has been done, but Rife and Orbis seem to be abandoned (rife moves to ciV, Awharik (sry for misspelling) will maybe release an Orbis 2 for cIV), MC has very cool and interesting mechanics and the best lore at hand, Tholal did a great work and improved vanilla ffh 2 like hell, but I got adapted to MoM. Once you learned how everything works, you get how much better it is and therefore I keep missing a lot of stuff when playing the other mods: Like global yield from improvements for equipment. Or combat auras. Or how summons work. Or killing with spells. Not to speak even of global enchantments, terraforming and miracles. I really missed that stuff. And even the AI of MoM seems to be more bright than in any other modmod, though it hasn't been optimized yet. Imho, this is fantastic. Sure, there is still a lot to do, naval AI, Hyborem and Basium AI (though Basium normally works fine except that some of his flying stacks seem to be stuck on water tiles), besieging, AI garrisoning propper units, late hero promos, diplo, more use of faith income, and the magic overhaul (which keeps Sephi in his working cellar atm fro 1.5 release), but all in all: MoM is fantastic. It does not add only new and fancy stuff, it tries to develop and introduce mechanics to improve the gameplay. It is constantly improving, the voice of the people is being heard, there is a team which is constantly working on it and there is a huge fanbase. And it is stable, at least for me and if you respect the conditions: limited number of civs, not too huge mapsizes - at least for now. I guess Sephi will work on that. So, what do you want more?

Greez,

Tschuggi

 

[Heathcliff]

I think FFH2 vanilla is the best.
I my opinion most mod makes the game too slow, by adding new stuff.
I want to be able to finish a game in one evening.

 

[CyberForte]

So, to confess, I am a bit of a MoM-fanboy,

It shows rather clearly. =P I myself feel much the same way, but with regards to RifE instead. I end up really missing a lot of the things it has when I go to try others, so I've mostly ended up just playing it. <.<;

 

[Calavente]

well Tschuggi
I think the only people that think like you are those that played MOM since WM 0.3.

I can understand it is interesting and a very good game for those like you that have followed every path turns of MoM's developpement, you adapted slowly to it.
Me not. I went from WM8.34 to MoM1.01 or 1.2 or whatever and the learning curve was HUGEsteep, with no tips, no help. (strangely, the improvements were the easier thing to adapt to).

AS there is no info on how things works, the civopedia is strange, there is almost no strategy examples in the forum; most are already outdated or speak chinese to explain things, it is very hard to enter MoM at the moment. (I know, I try every 3-4 months).

two years ago I came back to FFH after a year of Civ-abstinence and couldn't come back to MoM. Too many things were different and un-explained.

I tried MoM at first (the evolution of WM i loved so much): fail, Fail to play well, Fail to enjoy.
I went to RifE : I only had to learn some few details, a civ or 2 that were added, one mechanic or 2. the Ai was not up to it, but at least I had a fast learning curve, and dedicated information in the wiki, the civilopedia and the blog.

Once The MoM team (or someone) produce something to help new players understand the new things and even give them tips on how to manage magic (how to get to research some...), how to manage districts, how to get 50+ xp on a unit before being able to chose a promotion... maybe I'll be able to enjoy my tri-annual MoM game.

My 0.2.

 

[BvBPL]

There's a number of base mods for FFH2, like Tholal and Magister's that are good. I basically consider Tholal's to be the "new" FFH2.

Master of Mana is really good, but it is also really different and it can have a steep learning curve. While there aren't really any bugs, a few features of the mod sorta muck the game for some ways you could play it (Ashen Veil in particular can be really hampered by this mod).

Orbis is great. I think the primary download is back up. I also think I have a copy so let me know if you need it emailed to you.

Rise from Erebus is interesting... If you're familiar with Orbis you'll see a lot of similarities there. Unfortunately I think it is sorta half baked. There are some interesting features in it that you are likely to never see in actual play unless you actively play towards them, like sick promotions available for archmages that master both the life and death mana clusters and reach level 20. I've rarely gotten a hero to level 20, let alone a mage. And the barbarian / lair mechanic is a real pain too. My FFH2 modmod adventure started with RiFE, but then I went to Orbis and found it to be a better experience over all (MoM is also good, except it is very different).

That said, I'm playing MC's mod right now and enjoying it immensely. It is also highly recommended.

It is worth noting that you will need a 64-bit OS to run RifE without it crashing after 200 turns or so.

Calavente: If you haven't already ready, give MoM 1.4 a try. They cleaned up a lot of aspects about it, like the endless micromanaging of equipment for your dweeby units. Now you only need to buy equipment for your high end units.

 

[Calavente]

BvBPL: I didn't try 1.4 yet.
I'm in magister's mod for now.
As my games are really long in real time (1-2 months or so; my gaming periods or generaly around an hour or an half hour), it'll be long before I try MoM 1.4

 

[esvath]

I too, play Master of Mana exclusively these days. I tried to play with Tholal's and MC's mod earlier this month (to try Tholal's Revolution and MC's excellent grasp of lore), but one thing put me off : the terrain graphic.

I do miss MoM's plenty of features (especially spells), but I can try to forget that. One difference that is so sharp in my eyes is MoM's terrain graphic. tesb had done well in polishing terrain graphics there, so I suggest that other mods use his terrain graphics to improve the aesthetic of the mod.

 

[Tschuggi]

I too, play Master of Mana exclusively these days. I tried to play with Tholal's and MC's mod earlier this month (to try Tholal's Revolution and MC's excellent grasp of lore), but one thing put me off : the terrain graphic.

I do miss MoM's plenty of features (especially spells), but I can try to forget that. One difference that is so sharp in my eyes is MoM's terrain graphic. tesb had done well in polishing terrain graphics there, so I suggest that other mods use his terrain graphics to improve the aesthetic of the mod.

why don't you tell that we now have a manual for MoM... ?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=457347

 

[esvath]

why don't you tell that we now have a manual for MoM... ?

That will be thread-hijacking, since I am the one who wrote the (incomplete) manual

 

[Calavente]

THAT is new

i'll read it... thanks esvath.
as a side note, I totally agree with your comment on the terrain art graphic

 

[Markinthepast]

Got my copy of Orbis from here http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=445636

 

[Cromagnum P.I.]

Just tried out MoM over this past weekend...and then last night until wayyyyy past when I should have gone to sleep. Thanks for giving me a new game to distract myself from the games I've payed for within the last year and still haven't finished. It boggles my mind that a game I picked up 7 years ago (wowzers!) is the one I still spend most of my time playing.
So much depth!