[BtS MOD] Wolfshanze 1850-1920 Enhancement Mod v2.0

[tomppb]

hey you have never disappointed me before so I'm sure it will be great

 

[Wolfshanze]

hey you have never disappointed me before so I'm sure it will be great

Galleys of single or double row designs have existed since 3,000 BC... and as I previously explained, Triremes appeared no-sooner then around 700 BC... that's at least 2,300 years of dominance of the Galley before the appearance of the Trireme... there's simply no-way I would have them share the same spot on the tech tree (even with bronze-working as previously explained). Oddly enough, the Bow-Ram was first developed around the same time as the trireme, so there you would also have a "cause/effect" possibility there, but there's no denying Galleys ruled for centuries before the Trireme, so I'm not going to have them appear simultaneously, and as previously mentioned, I think they come too late in ancient times by default... so something new and/or thinking outside the box is definitely required in regards to Triremes...

...I have a solution (and an unannounced bonus)...

 

[Feyaria]

I think, triremes with Metal Casting is ok, on water heavy maps this tech is a priority anyway (Colossus).

My bigger problem is, that barbarian galleys arrive at 2700 BC (emperor diff), about the same time, barb warrior are coming. One time i had 3 galleys bockading my city before i even had teched sailing. (Started on the tip of a penisula, lots of coastal fog tiles near)

In normal civ, galleys come at 1500 BC. I played a game with the same settings and looked with WB, not a single barb galley at 2500 BC and 2000 BC.

Coastal starts are not playable with this mod (at higher diffs)

 

[Healz]

Wolfshanze, is there any chance you will change out the Navy Seal for the US and make the unique marine for the US, same stats as the Navy Seal but call it USMC. The current navy seal could become a US Ranger or SAS, Britain and a few countries could get SAS. There is a whole list of them for different countries that could be used. Make it necessary to have a military academy to build them and give them a limit of 3 or 5 overall. I see them as combining the benefits of a marine and a paratrooper in the one package and hence the overall limit per civ. Just an idea I remember from MaxRiga Mod...

 

[Wolfshanze]

I think, triremes with Metal Casting is ok, on water heavy maps this tech is a priority anyway (Colossus).

Personally, I think it stinks as-is... I have thought so for a long time... it's going to change.

 

[sourboy]

Quick question on siege units... just wondering your reasoning:

Why so many early siege units? I like the concept of the battering ram, but the catapult comes so quickly, it almost seems pointless to make it.

EDIT: Also, why is it that the battering ram upgrades to the trebuchet, but the catapult is out of the loop? Shouldn't the battering ram upgrade to catapult, which upgrades to trebuchet? I like all 3, don't get me wrong, but it seems silly to have all -- let alone when they don't upgrade smoothly.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Quick question on siege units... just wondering your reasoning:

Why so many early siege units? I like the concept of the battering ram, but the catapult comes so quickly, it almost seems pointless to make it.

Funny, you must be the only guy to think Catapults "come so quickly"... Construction comes far too late IMHO, is expensive and to "get it quickly" means you have to forgo a lot of other techs if you're trying to rush Construction.

I don't know about you, but I notice there is almost always a significant chunk of ancient times that city assaults are almost suicidal that fall after the "early Axe Rush" and the time when you do eventually get construction and catapults, because culture and wall bonuses come before construction and catapults almost every time for a good chunk of the early game. Construction is essentially a "Classical-era" tech... and Catapults are the Classical-era siege unit... The Middle Ages gets the Trebuchet as their siege weapon of choice... the Ancient era doesn't get a siege weapon at all... the Ram fills this missing gap... and if it bothers you, then just don't build rams... wait for catapults.

What's to counter the culture and wall bonuses after the axe rush and before construction/catapults? Nothing. I've heard a lot of complaints about this "dead zone" of city assaults... maybe you're the one-guy who rushes construction in every game at the cost of every other tech, but everyone I've heard from (self included) always find that construction and catapults come too late to prevent a dead-zone of city attacks that are just too costly to pursue until (eventually) catapults show-up.

If the Rams bother you so much because you always have Catapults so quickly in every game, go to their entries in the XML and change the cost for Rams and Capped Rams to "-1"... that will remove these useless units from your game so they bother you no-more!

EDIT: Also, why is it that the battering ram upgrades to the trebuchet, but the catapult is out of the loop? Shouldn't the battering ram upgrade to catapult, which upgrades to trebuchet? I like all 3, don't get me wrong, but it seems silly to have all -- let alone when they don't upgrade smoothly.

Why don't you ask Firaxis why the Catapult doesn't upgrade to the Trebuchet and why you must wait for cannons before you can upgrade the Catapult? The way Firaxis has it set-up, you can build Catapults and/or Trebuchets in Medieval times... the way I have it set-up, you can build Rams and/or Catapults in Ancient Times... is it really that big a problem?

If anything, you should thank me... without the Rams, you'd have to build all your Trebuchets from SCRATCH! (Because Catapults don't upgrade to Trebuchets, remember?)... because I don't allow Rams to upgrade to Catapults, everyone should have a force of units to upgrade to Trebuchets the minute the tech becomes available... but then again, you wouldn't have any Rams to do this with, since Catapults always come so early for you!!!

 

[Wodan]

Catapults come quickly if you prioritize that tech in order to get Catapults.

Which you used to have to do. Personally, I like the flexibility and it makes games more varied. Allows different kinds of strategies.

 

[c0d5579]

Adding the ram (and capped ram) is also historically accurate - you don't read a lot about siege trains in, say, the Iliad, while you do read every now and then about the importance of breaking down the gates of Troy, and the Bible clearly raises this exact same point about Jericho, that the walls made it apparently impregnable. Siege trains, like roads, were Roman-era innovations, which puts them square in the classical phase of things. That said, both rams and capped rams are old and simple enough technology that an ancient army in the field could conceivably add them to its stores at the drop of a tree.

Incidentally, been away from this mod for a while, played through a WolfRevolution game recently. I like the airbase/airport split, though I'm frustrated that it's near-impossible to gain air experience. That's not your fault, it's always been that way. Can't comment on MGs or readings, since my game ended about that time.

 

[NonPrayinMantis]

First off, Wolfshanze, I would like to give you great thanks for your mod! I enjoy it immensly and it adds a LOT of flavor to the game.

I was thinking about your upcoming addition of motorized infantry to the mod and I have a few thoughts on that:

Motorized infantry are WWII units just like tanks and marines, so they should be available with WWII techs - Industrialism, Radio, and Combustion. But to keep the computer (and human players) from using it to guard cities, remove the city garrison promotion from its availability on that unit. This would require a changing of its AI unit use from CITY_DEFENSE to CITY_ATTACK (or something similar). The unit would have 2, 20, and +25% vs. gunpowder units just like regular infantry.

Also, allow infantry to be upgraded to motorized infantry, but still allow infantry to be built at the same time. This way you have infantry in two roles - normal city defending units (available at WWI techs but still available in WWII era) and motorized infantry for use in the field. You could also upgrade regular infantry to motorized infantry for field use, or leave it alone for city garrison. Increase the cost of motorized infantry to 300, and require oil to build.

This way you can have infantry keep up with tanks in the field.

Something else that has always bothered me is the lack of WWII mobile artillery. You don't get artillery that can keep up with tanks until you get the Laser technology, which occurs much later in the tech tree. But this is not historically accurate. I suggest a similar addition like that of motorized infantry - motorized artillery.

It would also be available with WWII era techs. It would cost more than regular artillery (320 instead of 300 ), but have less strength, say 16. Give it 2 and perhaps an additional bonus, such as +25% vs. gunpowder, to make it competitive against regular artillery in a field support role. You could also upgrade existing artillery to motorized artillery or still build regular artillery during WWII times.

Now with those two unit additions, you could have an all 2 WWII era complete blitzkrieg force of tanks, motorized infantry and motorized artillery.

NPM

 

[Wolfshanze]

If/when I add motorized infantry, I'll add earlier mobile artillery too. While I pretty-much agree with just about everything you've said, I can't really remove the City Garrison line of promotions from motorized infantry because promotions are tied to UNIT CATEGORIES, not individual units. In this case, Motorized Infantry would be in the "Gunpowder" category, and all Gunpowder category units get the City Garrison promotions. The only way to do that would be to seperate motorized infantry into some new/alternate unit category class (then you also get the problem of anti-category promotions... like the bonus against gunpowder units, the bonus against tank units, etc, etc).

 

[Lean]

In my quest for a mod that has everything I like, I found this, and I love it. However, and I'm not sure if this has already been brought up, but are you thinking about adding more religions, like Orthodoxy? And I agree with Healz, the Navy Seal should be replaced.

 

[CivisTexanus]

So... Make a new MECHANIZED category and add Motor. Inf., Motor. Arty., Mech. Inf., and Mobil Arty. (rename Mech. Arty to be consistent). Give Mech. category units access to city... er Urban Warfare but not City Garrison. Armored units gain a bonus against Mech. units equal to that against Gunpowder, and there is a new promotion that provides a bonus against Mech. units... or maybe the current anti armor promo also works against Mech. units

And maybe think about adding a late Cold War Mech. Marines while we're talking about it.

If/when I add motorized infantry, I'll add earlier mobile artillery too. While I pretty-much agree with just about everything you've said, I can't really remove the City Garrison line of promotions from motorized infantry because promotions are tied to UNIT CATEGORIES, not individual units. In this case, Motorized Infantry would be in the "Gunpowder" category, and all Gunpowder category units get the City Garrison promotions. The only way to do that would be to seperate motorized infantry into some new/alternate unit category class (then you also get the problem of anti-category promotions... like the bonus against gunpowder units, the bonus against tank units, etc, etc).

 

[tomppb]

I have never found catapults to come too quickly. I definitely like the addition of rams (gives you a chance if you absolutely need to go after a high culture city early on) As for motorized units, I would be down for them but I would make them substantially more expensive than their foot bound counterparts. WWII still saw the vast majority of infantry hoofing it.

 

[Wolfshanze]

On the Motorized Infantry, it's on the drawing board, but it will be a huge project time-commitment-wise, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to put it into the mod.

On the good-news/bad-news front... I've actually been unemployed for the past six months (got laid-off due to sucky economy), but I finally got a new job this week at the Navy Base (being a veteran finally paid-off)... so as a working-man again, I'll have less time to commit to the mod as I had as an unemployed bum. Good for me, bad for you guys, but I'll continue to develop the mod, and a v2.86 will definitely come... just not sure what will and won't make the cut.

 

[phungus420]

I don't understand what the problem with having Motorized or Mechanized infantry guarding cities is. It should be this way, these are upgrades to the squad infantry of the WWI era. They are still squad based infantry as well; the only difference is they have APCs with them for support, and to increase mobility. Once fighting starts, most of the troops in a mechanized infantry unit are fighting just like any ground pounder.

 

[tomppb]

Congratulations on the job!

 

[LordGek]

Hey, being unemployed myself, I all too well appreciate the sense of security having a job again entails, congrats!

Now onto the problem. As I encountered this is WolfRev it may just be something in his merging of the mods but I'm not seeing any of the newly added leaders first contact text upon meeting them. Which XML file should contain their dialogs?

 

[Wolfshanze]

I haven't done any first contact texts for most of the new leaders, so they'll be generic sayings.

 

[LordGek]

I haven't done any first contact texts for most of the new leaders, so they'll be generic sayings.

Okay, that explains it I guess.