[BtS] "Mars, Now!"

[Vortilex]

I think the diplomacy music should be more dramatic than happy or sad. They should say, "yo, I'mma let you finish, but my civ's the best civ of all time! ALL TIME!" Ode to joy doesn't quite do that, whereas maybe Beethoven's 5th Symphony, III could work better. I'm all for using national anthems (the Israeli one is awesome) but things like the Salvadoran anthem don't work so well (five minutes/verse, and not much to be proud of).

Btw, with respect to the Private Space Explorers, I have a feeling The_J wanted to use the short term "Privates" for a reason Anyway, I was thinking Martians could be something from "Mission to Mars" (2000). Jail Rock in theory could be "Jail House Rock" but it doesn't fit with the dramatic part. PSE could be something from a movie about space exploration

 

[The_J]

The account I use for everything on my comp is the admin. I should be able to install it with full permissions and such. Maybe I'll have to redownload the installer or something.

that is strange.
Please take a look at the installed software (system -> software), if there's already a version installed.
Maybe this leads to some problems (not sure, should not, as far as i know).

I don't understand why you should have a problem with copyrighting. I thought that as long as you're not trying to make money off it, you could use copyrighted music. I don't think you intend on selling this mod, do you?

No, i don't want to sell it, but the music industry would not be happy about it.
It would be seen as piracy, because you can access every music file in Civ freely, so if i add some commercial song to the mod, everyone would have the song and no one would have to buy it.

As for anthems, I know the European Union has a lyriced version of the Ode to Joy as their 'national' anthem. Instrumental versions of the anthem would fit for the countries.

I'm not sure about that.
The song is very well recognizable and well known, it could be, that it more disturbes the atmosphere.
Will test it out, i'll have to see.

If you don't want to use copyrighted music for the anthems for the Private Space Explorers (you have to find a better short name for them. I mean, 'Privates' sounds silly), Jail Rock and Martians, you could find original music by independent artists. I know that the website Newgrounds has an excellent audio portal with music free to download of all genres. You could probably use some music there with the artist's permission. I have a few suggestions for themes from Newgrounds:

A People's Passion - Martians
Shinra Corporation - PSE
3 Shades of darkness - Jail Rock

But those are just recommendations. I think your best bet is to find music from independent artists if you're really afraid of legal action.

Ah, great website, thanks .
Looked at the songs, i like the Shinra corp, that's great.
Not sure about the People's Passion, i think i have to hear that a couple of times to decide.
Shades of Darkness would fit as ambient sound, not sure if it's okay for diplomay .

I'm also downloading atm some of the top songs, i'm still searching for a good main theme, maybe i'll find something .

I think the diplomacy music should be more dramatic than happy or sad. They should say, "yo, I'mma let you finish, but my civ's the best civ of all time! ALL TIME!" Ode to joy doesn't quite do that, whereas maybe Beethoven's 5th Symphony, III could work better. I'm all for using national anthems (the Israeli one is awesome) but things like the Salvadoran anthem don't work so well (five minutes/verse, and not much to be proud of).

I'm not that concerned about the attitude of the music. I even think that sad songs could fit very well.
It's more a thing of the overall style.
The songs have to be mainly instrumental, lyrics don't fit that well (besides main theme), and it should be overall futuristic. Every kind of electric music should do there very well. A theme itself in the music would be nice but is not really needed.

But electric music itself is not my taste normally, so i have even some problems when looking at the stiles >.<

Btw, with respect to the Private Space Explorers, I have a feeling The_J wanted to use the short term "Privates" for a reason Anyway, I was thinking Martians could be something from "Mission to Mars" (2000). Jail Rock in theory could be "Jail House Rock" but it doesn't fit with the dramatic part. PSE could be something from a movie about space exploration

No intendation with "privates", no, that not. Theme itself fits good, so that's not really a "problem".
Mission to Mars would be great, but like said...

 

[Otaku-sama]

Glad you like the website! Many of the more active artists are usually quite willing to make music on commission, but I'm clueless on what they would charge if they charge at all. I would recommend MaestroRage as he's a god at classical stuff, which would be good for anthems.

The EU National Anthem is actually the Ode to Joy, but it has Latin lyrics about how Europe is united and better because it's united etc etc.

I'm pretty sure I uninstalled the original version I had already. I'll just redownload and see what happens. I was downloading two other mods at the same time I was downloading yours, so maybe a few parts were lost by accident or something like that.

Also, from the last version, I've noticed that a lot of Civilopedia is missing (I think). I think I could come up with some decent backstories to the units if you want.

 

[TC01]

I really like Mars, Now! Well done, The_J. Two or three times so far in this mod's development, I've downloaded it, played a game or two on the pre-made maps, and then I got busy with other things (like modding, a new computer, or an obsession with another game)... so I haven't actually played it that much. But I still like it.

I see that in the Civilopedia, only the civs/leaders currently in the game are displayed. I see why you did this- since you have so many civs and leaders- but I personally prefer to see everything. Can there be an option to turn this on or off? Maybe either as a gameoption or as a "player option"?

One other thing- it would be nice if the Robot had a Route To building mission. That way, I could put the free one I had to work making a road to my enemies' cities (or, the cities of the people who are about to become my enemies) on the other side of the planet. Since they build roads so fast and can defend themselves agains a wandering Mutant. And it's too annoying to micromanage.

 

[Otaku-sama]

I managed to download the zip and make the mod run, but I found a crash glitch. When I pressed the American Leader with the helmet in the Play Now menu, it just crashed the game.

 

[berkut]

A sugestion. Use a unit like the pioneer tank to create water tiles and the global warming to create grass, that would avoid the map being all floded.

 

[The_J]

I really like Mars, Now! Well done, The_J. Two or three times so far in this mod's development, I've downloaded it, played a game or two on the pre-made maps, and then I got busy with other things (like modding, a new computer, or an obsession with another game)... so I haven't actually played it that much. But I still like it.

Thanks, nice to hear that .

I see that in the Civilopedia, only the civs/leaders currently in the game are displayed. I see why you did this- since you have so many civs and leaders- but I personally prefer to see everything. Can there be an option to turn this on or off? Maybe either as a gameoption or as a "player option"?

The many civs are not the reason, it's another one. I think i recently discovered how to easily hide what i want to hide, so i'll probably activate this again.

One other thing- it would be nice if the Robot had a Route To building mission. That way, I could put the free one I had to work making a road to my enemies' cities (or, the cities of the people who are about to become my enemies) on the other side of the planet. Since they build roads so fast and can defend themselves agains a wandering Mutant. And it's too annoying to micromanage.

See the point.
I'll have to change the default AI to do this, but this should not be a problem.

I managed to download the zip and make the mod run, but I found a crash glitch. When I pressed the American Leader with the helmet in the Play Now menu, it just crashed the game.

Just checked that, doesn't happen for me.
Can you somehow access the leader in the civilopedia?

A sugestion. Use a unit like the pioneer tank to create water tiles and the global warming to create grass, that would avoid the map being all floded.

Grass will come, but the pioneer tank is already out, was not useful enough in my opinion.
I'll not let a unit create water tiles, i think this would be imbalanced.



I've looked a bit around at newgrounds.com, great webiste, really thanks Otaku-sama .

I think i'll use this song as main theme. this and this one are also good, their theme fits better, but the first one is just...er...better . No idea, my opinion.
This one seems to fit imho for the martians.



Also searched for some quotes.
I'm not sure if it's a good idea to include a quote from Hermann Göring, for Education: "Education is dangerous - Every educated person is a future enemy"

Other possibilities would be:
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. - Galileo Galilei

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. - Lao Tzu

 

[Vortilex]

No, i don't want to sell it, but the music industry would not be happy about it.
It would be seen as piracy, because you can access every music file in Civ freely, so if i add some commercial song to the mod, everyone would have the song and no one would have to buy it.

Not a problem in Peru I don't think there's anybody in this country who acquires music legally (through CD stores or iTunes) except maybe me, and even I'm not sure that the record store downtown isn't selling pirated material. Honestly, everyone goes to Polvos Azules (essentially the black market) to buy music. With that kind of outlet, don't worry about the record companies

I'm not that concerned about the attitude of the music. I even think that sad songs could fit very well.
It's more a thing of the overall style.
The songs have to be mainly instrumental, lyrics don't fit that well (besides main theme), and it should be overall futuristic. Every kind of electric music should do there very well. A theme itself in the music would be nice but is not really needed.

But electric music itself is not my taste normally, so i have even some problems when looking at the stiles >.<

Hm. I'm not exactly electric-savvy. I know more about metal and classical music (an odd mix when I think about it) than that

No intendation with "privates", no, that not. Theme itself fits good, so that's not really a "problem".
Mission to Mars would be great, but like said...

Perhaps "Private Mission to Mars" would work? The short name would be "Mission" or "PMM" and the adjective would be "Missionary" or "Private Missionary." How's that?

 

[Otaku-sama]

Glad you like Newgrounds!

For the education quote, I'd have to say that Lao Tzu's Quote is the better one out of them. I think that tech quotes should be thoughtful or completely unexpected, and I don't think that Galileo dissing the Pope fits that well.

As for terraforming, I find it annoying how terraforming breaks my routes and cuts off my vital resources all over the place. I think maybe that either hoverformers should be available earlier, but only so they can build roads, the other improvements coming with time, or slow down terraforming to the point where if someone want to take advantage of the super powered water tiles that they have to build a frontier tank, which covers maybe 4x4 with water.

As for renaming the 'privates', I say that Vortilex's idea is a big improvement.

Also, a tale from my recent game. I was playing Canada and in the first 10 turns, I got the aliens settling right next to me, with five SAM infantry when I still had one Mercenary. It was pretty freaky, but I just made friends with him.

About the aliens, how many leaders are there for them? I've encountered two already, one that looks a lot like Skeletor from He-Man and one that's completely black. And what's the deal with Tortured Patients? How's a guy with two syringes gonna take down a tank and hurt five other tanks next to it?

 

[The_J]

Edit: Crosspost.

Aliens should not appear that early, what have you done ?

Terraforming will be changed, not fear .

3 Alien leaders, and maybe a 4rd later .

Not syringes, look at it closer . You'll maybe recognize some type of super hero .

Hm. I'm not exactly electric-savvy. I know more about metal and classical music (an odd mix when I think about it) than that

Not that odd when you consider some of the operas...in either classical or metal music .

Perhaps "Private Mission to Mars" would work? The short name would be "Mission" or "PMM" and the adjective would be "Missionary" or "Private Missionary." How's that?

No, i meant the copyright problem.


------
suggested a quote for the education technology, and when i afterwards looked through the techs i saw that i already have one .
Edit: That does not mean that i can't add a second one.

 

[Vortilex]

@Otaku-Sama: There are three Alien leaders: Kra'Wall (The Skeletor-esque one, I think), one that looks like a panther-man, and one that looks like the alien from Roswell, NM.

@The_J: I thought I mentioned the copyright issue first: in some countries, it's just not an issue (Peru, PRC, Russia, Latin America in general, anyone who loves Limewire to name a few).

 

[Otaku-sama]

I don't know what I did. Is there somekind of timer that makes sure that aliens come late or was it just pure luck? I don't know. I didn't save the game, but I might have the quick save. Let me check. I'll post the save if I still have it.

 

[Vortilex]

I don't know what controls the aliens. To me, they're like another civ.

 

[mechaerik]

And what's the deal with Tortured Patients? How's a guy with two syringes gonna take down a tank and hurt five other tanks next to it?

As The_J said, theyre not syringes...

 

[The_J]

There's only a minimum control for the aliens. There is a trigger for them, but they do not necessarily directly appear afterwards (or at all).
But it's definitely not possible so early.
Normally i'd say it's a python error, but then more different bugs should appear .


-------------------------


Patch D
Will break savegames!
Includes all previous patches.
- Added mapscript tools by temujin
- Terraforming changed

• snow -> terraformed terrain
• soil -> mars grass
• desert -> water

- Pioneer tank /bulldozer out
- Removed turn cap on some maps
- Added android city set by Lord Tirian
- Exchanged one rather annoying background song against Hybrid Leisureland - Space Light (from Ektoplazm.com)
- Added Vortilex civilopedia text (great)
- New city list for canada
- Some new tech quotes
- got sure rid of all "special" characters in the text files
- Absorbing sand storms now doesn't give a production bonus anymore, but magnet storms do
- New main theme music
- New diplo music for privates, jail + mars (all music is from Newgrounds.com, Credits at the moment only in the text files in the folders, links will come in the next days; thanks to Otaku-sama for mentioning the site)

All included music is distributed under the creative commons license and is free to use for non commercial purposes, if the author is cited properly, like done in the files.


----------
The terraforming effect is a bit odd at the moment, because the yields change essentially in the same way, only the look is different :/.

 

[Vortilex]

I hope this works on the computer I'm using right now! It has the odd tendancy to have a memory issue similar to a BSoD without the panic. My other computer (which I usually take to school) won't have problems, though, and so if I can't play on this one, that one's good to go.

And in all humility, it's nice to see my username in the changelist

 

[Vortilex]

Oh, wow, I just saw the wait times on Atomic Gamer 22-26 minutes? I don't want to have to pay for instant downloads, though Is it possible to have this on Filefront or Megaupload? (Don't get me wrong, I'm still downloading, it's just shocking that it's usually only 3-6 minutes to download, not 8-4 times that)

 

[Nordus]

Hurray! But it looks like i can not construct windmills on terraformed terrain. And can construct farms on it only near city.

 

[The_J]

Oh, wow, I just saw the wait times on Atomic Gamer 22-26 minutes? I don't want to have to pay for instant downloads, though Is it possible to have this on Filefront or Megaupload? (Don't get me wrong, I'm still downloading, it's just shocking that it's usually only 3-6 minutes to download, not 8-4 times that)

I'll have to look around.
My internet connection at home is really bad (normally only modem speed, 56 kb/s), so i don't want to upload it here, but at work the IT has blocked the big file hosters, so i'll have to look around if i can find an accessible site.

but i have a site in mind already.

Hurray! But it looks like i can not construct windmills on terraformed terrain. And can construct farms on it only near city.

forgot to enable the improvements for the new terrain, i'm an idiot .

Thanks for pointing out the problem .
Will have to fix it at the weekend.

 

[General Pilates]

You might want to do some Civilopedia entries. I'll do some, if you want.