[BTS Total Mod] Thomas' War

[Reacher52]

Ive played the mod and like it very much but two different games crashed to desktop. I reloaded and brought up the auto-save for the game i was playing. After it reached the same year that it crashed initially, it did it again. Anyone else have this occur?

 

[tsentom1]

Ive played the mod and like it very much but two different games crashed to desktop. I reloaded and brought up the auto-save for the game i was playing. After it reached the same year that it crashed initially, it did it again. Anyone else have this occur?

Do you know what type of crash it was (MAF?)?

What map settings were you using?

If you have the save, posting it here can help me find out any bugs.

 

[turingmachine]

We always play with no barbarians and I think, quite a lot of people do that.

I'm pretty sure more people play with barbs on than off... most probably don't even play custom games.

I can never decide if all the low percentage UB's are balanced (the ones that act like mini Statue of Zeus' of Mausoleums). They need to be carefully done.

 

[Falk]

@tsentom1

I don't have a problem with gearing a unit towards an option that's by default on

That's fine by me, but I'd rather see such bonuses combined with others that do not depend on an optional factor. Slightly increased movement might very well be enough!

I'm curious if you knew this or thought it was only +25% defense, because otherwise I thought it was a decent bonus.

You are right, I misunderstood it. Now that I know how it works, I agree, it's a very decent bonus.

but even if you don't actively do espionage it does help your espionage defense in general since you have more espionage points

Hardly. 10% means nothing if you only have 4 EP and not much, when you have 10-20 (with courthouses). I usually don't get higher numbers when I don't focus on espionage.

@turingmachine

I'm pretty sure more people play with barbs on than off

You're porbably right, but it doesn't matter. I'm just saying, that many players won't find any use for that particular unit, even if they are only a minority.

most probably don't even play custom games.

Hmm, not so sure about this one. I guess, at least those that bother using mods also use the custom game option most of the time.

I can never decide if all the low percentage UB's are balanced (the ones that act like mini Statue of Zeus' of Mausoleums).

Good point. I think, they are very well balanced as long as you have a "normally sized" empire. They might get too good if you go for a domination victory. Haven't actually tried one of these buildings yet, though.

 

[tsentom1]

@ Falk

What do you think of mercantile without the barter economy bonus?

Or, even, at 15% (and barter stays the same).

As the extra 10% barter provides is a lot.

Also, I may be adding a strict espionage defense bonus to diplomatic in addition to the 10%. The relations bonus is a good idea but - although possible - is more trouble than it's worth without modding the SDK (i.e. got it working and it slowed down the game too much)

@ TuringMachine

I think there are currently 5 buildings that act like that. 2 of them I am fine with (mainly because they eventually obsolete). I am looking into the rest. There are many things I can do that could balance them without changing the inherent bonus from lowering the percentages to giving the buildings a very small maintaince cost.

 

[tsentom1]

Also, what do people think of something like this for the new trait (that I need to add since I'm adding new leaders and don't repeat trait combos):

When I make a new trait, I try not only to make it balanced but also make it play slightly different than existing traits (which is why I go out of my way to make new python) as I feel that adds to the fun and overall experience of new traits. I've played some with it, but feedback on first impressions would be helpful.

 

[Falk]

Also, I may be adding a strict espionage defense bonus to diplomatic in addition to the 10%.

Cool, that should do it!

What do you think of mercantile without the barter economy bonus?

Or, even, at 15% (and barter stays the same).

As the extra 10% barter provides is a lot.

15% seems ok, but it would still be incredibly powerful on island/archipelago/snakey-continent-type maps, like Pyramids with plenty food ressources in BTS.
Is it possible to have different bonuses for sea based trade routes and for overland trade routes? 20% seems fine for the latter, but for the former 10% would still be decent.

 

[Falk]

@Scientific
Is that a free scientist per city? Classical era is triggered by alphabet, isn't it? Then an alphabet bee-line would give you those free scientists in addition to the usual bonuses of alphabet (you're the first to trade techs and you can build research). That would be very powerful! Maybe this bonus could trigger upon reaching the Medieval era.

I like the basic idea though! It's great!

 

[tsentom1]

@Scientific
Is that a free scientist per city? Classical era is triggered by alphabet, isn't it? Then an alphabet bee-line would give you those free scientists in addition to the usual bonuses of alphabet (you're the first to trade techs and you can build research). That would be very powerful! Maybe this bonus could trigger upon reaching the Medieval era.

I like the basic idea though! It's great!

Actually, currently it's only 1 free scientist in your capital.

Also, just to keep in mind while trying to balance it. It's very easy to change it to trigger stuff at a different era, or what techs trigger era changes

 

[Falk]

Ah, ok, that sounds much more reasonable.

 

[tsentom1]

One thing to look out for...

If anyone has encountered missing graphics / red blobs please let me know. Sometimes you loose track of art files when you move so many and I'm convinced a few aren't there.

 

[erome5578]

Why doesn't the Thomas mode NOT work for everybody? I extracted it correctly to my Civ 4 BTS modes folder and it still WON'T WORK. All I get is a nice splash screen saying Thomas's mode. CAN the guy who made this mode give some feed back on how to make it work?

 

[tsentom1]

Why doesn't the Thomas mode NOT work for everybody? I extracted it correctly to my Civ 4 BTS modes folder and it still WON'T WORK. All I get is a nice splash screen saying Thomas's mode. CAN the guy who made this mode give some feed back on how to make it work?

What do you mean it won't work?

Does it crash upon loading, can't load the mod, MAF, graphical errors, what?

The fact that you got to the title screen says you installed it correctly, so I'm assuming when you try to start the game it crashes? Did you follow the trouble-shooting I have in post 1? Are you using BTS patched to at least 3.13? Are you playing it from the main mods directory and not the my games mods directory?

Just coming to the thread and yelling saying it's broken without explaining the situation doesn't help me correct bugs or help you get the mod working.

 

[artemisarrow]

tsentom1, i played your mod and i think it is awesome,especially the addition of all the graphics for events...
question,
are you considering adding revolution/dcm to this mod? i noticed it wasnt part of it, but it would make a great addition to this awesome expansion pack youve created

 

[tsentom1]

tsentom1, i played your mod and i think it is awesome,especially the addition of all the graphics for events...
question,
are you considering adding revolution/dcm to this mod? i noticed it wasnt part of it, but it would make a great addition to this awesome expansion pack youve created

I've looked at revolution a number of times.

The main problem is that Thomas' War for the most part is currently multi-player compatible (there are still one or two random hiccups but nothing repeatable), whereas adding revolution would hinder this and turn it into a primarily single-player mod.

I've considered releasing a separate revolution version once I considered Thomas' War stable enough. I think Thomas' War is almost there. I have another content update with a few more civs and leaders coming soon that will also address balance issues I can't simply fix with a patch.

So it's a possibility in the future, but not anytime soon.

 

[erome5578]

tsentom1,
Well, All my patches are up to date. Yes, I am loading from the main modes directory. Once I get to the pretty splash screen...nothing. No start game option or anything. I hit enter and got a black screen. I assume that's a crash? Any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? What do you mean post 1? Date and time?

 

[tsentom1]

tsentom1,
Well, All my patches are up to date. Yes, I am loading from the main modes directory. Once I get to the pretty splash screen...nothing. No start game option or anything. I hit enter and got a black screen. I assume that's a crash? Any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? What do you mean post 1? Date and time?

Okay, so you are able to load up the mod and get to the title screen which should look like this:

Spoiler :

And you're saying for you that screen doesn't have any game options?

The most common cause of that is trying to play the game in a language besides English. Since Thomas' War isn't translated into any other language it won't have any of the main options. You'll have to switch to English to play.

However, it's probably not that simple. If you can answer some background questions...

Do you have problems loading any other mods?
Is this the latest version of Thomas' War? (If so have you played/had problems with past versions of Thomas' War)?
Are you using Civ Complete or the Steam version of Civ?
Are you using Windows Vista?

Another cause could be the new ui is causing problems.

This is rare if you are playing from the main mods directory (program files/firaxis games/sid civilization iv/beyond the sword/mods), but can be fixed by deleting the Resource folder (Thomas’ War/Resource) and the CIV4ArtDefines_Misc XML file found in (Thomas’ War/Assets/XML/Art/).

I hope to get it working for you soon.

 

[tsentom1]

I posted this in the unit request thread a while ago, but of course it'll get lost in there. If anyone is good at unit graphics and wants to help out:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7596341&postcount=2022

If anyone can / wants to make a Katipunero (Filipino UU) graphic, as the Philippines will be in the next version, it would help out a lot and you'd have my eternal gratitude.

 

[erome5578]

tsentom1,
Yes, I downloaded the latest version of the mode. I have the original Civ 4 game loaded from official game cds. My OS is windows XP with the latest service pks installed. I previously downloaded 2 other mods. One worked ok the other is doing the same thing as Thomas War. When I get the title screen the MENU(single player etc) is missing. Any idea when you will be able to release a new version which will solve my problem? I really want to play this mode. Thanks for your patience and time trying to resolve my issue.

 

[turingmachine]

I have the original Civ 4 game loaded from official game cds.

You need the Beyond the Sword Expansion.... BTS = Beyond the Sword.