[BTS Total Mod] Thomas' War

[tsentom1]

Thanks, that helps, but do you know of any others? Like a few more modern scenarios? Anything would be great, do you you plan on making anything such as scenarios for Thomas War? The mod is near perfect, it just needs some scenarios/maps that make full use of all the amazingly new but fair and balanced features of Tomas War.

And again, without being a suck-up, your mod rules!

The truth is I'm good at making mods absolutely horrible at making scenarios or art : so I doubt I could make anything that I would consider high enough quality to include in the mod. The best bet is if JEELEN and c0d5579 or some other scenario maker would like to take up the challenge. A few smaller size scenarios would also be ideal for people that MAF on the larger ones.

 

[tsentom1]

Just wondering why Franco looks so much like Castro...

Because the 'Franco' leader head doesn't look much like Franco either and is somewhat low quality, whereas that leader head is relatively high quality and there's enough of a passing resemblance that it's not like I used an Elizabeth based leader head for him. It's a mod, sometimes you have to make do with the available art until something comes along to replace it in a later version. You should have seen some of the leader heads I used in version 1.....

 

[tsentom1]

Hey you added my random events mod! cool!

Im currently workin gon recurring electiosn if youre ina democratic civic, its driving me mad. Thence no updates since the initial posting :/

Any help appreciated!

Regards,
HDK

Your events are great, they really add flavor to mine (and any mod). I credited you, I think I credited you, I hope I credited you somewhere in my long list of things I added to the mod (I usually list credits next to where I say the added feature in the change list so sometimes it's hard to see, I guess).

ANYWAY....

Do you mean an event that occurs more than once if you have democracy as a civic? I'm pretty sure I know how to do that. What would you want it to do, this I'm guessing is the tricky part.

 

[turingmachine]

You're right, but this does not change the fact that Mer is way overpowered with enough coastal cities. This is easy to do on many maps (almost anything except pangea type maps and those with massive continents). But even if it was too powerful only on one single map, one should still change the trait to account for it.

I still don't think Mer + Lighthouse is any more overpowered than:

Fin + Colossus

Phi + Parthenon + National Epic + Pacifism

and Thomas War specific:

Ind + Sphinx (which I actually think is balanced just because how costly it is to build the Sphinx)

But then again, maybe that's why I'm not the modmaker. Thomas will balance it how he feels fit I guess...

 

[Falk]

Fin + Colossus

Phi + Parthenon + National Epic + Pacifism

These only give you a tech boost, Mer + GL basically boosts everything important except culture. That's a huge difference! Try it!

 

[turingmachine]

These only give you a tech boost, Mer + GL basically boosts everything important except culture. That's a huge difference! Try it!

On the contrary, Fin + Colossus is a Research, Gold, Espionage, AND Culture boost since it's raw Commerce.

Phi + etc is a virtually anything boost depending on how you assign your specialists. You can boost your culture value, instant research techs, instant wonder, give yourself gold, production, or even food (with the thomas' war doctor).

All Mer + GL gives is food and hammers not everything else but culture. Even then only in coastal cities. The other two are way more powerful simply because of their flexibility.

 

[tsentom1]

Okay, don't turn the thread into an argument.

 

[Falk]

All Mer + GL gives is food and hammers not everything else but culture.

Well, it also gives you raw commerce. And it does all at the same time. Just try it, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, I'm going to try a 10% bonus. tsentom1, you're probably right, it would then be too weak for a non-GL strat, but I'll give it a try.

I play with a friend of mine in multiplayer on a regular basis, and since BTS is getting boring, I'll introduce Thomas' War to him. So I'll probably be able to give some more feedback on balancing. GL versus Pyramids, should be fun.

 

[turingmachine]

Well, it also gives you raw commerce. And it does all at the same time. Just try it, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, I'm going to try a 10% bonus. tsentom1, you're probably right, it would then be too weak for a non-GL strat, but I'll give it a try.

I play with a friend of mine in multiplayer on a regular basis, and since BTS is getting boring, I'll introduce Thomas' War to him. So I'll probably be able to give some more feedback on balancing. GL versus Pyramids, should be fun.

Well the raw commerce is from the wonder not the trait, so you can't really count that.

Another thing you need to consider - especially if you're playing multi player - is that the trait is affected by the blockade mission and open borders. It's the only trait that another player can effectively stop in specific cities. It's a strong trait yes, but it also has a LOT of limitations.

 

[tsentom1]

Okay, my plans for the civ/leader pack have grown a little as - after many requests - I've decided to split up Native America to its proper nations of Sioux, Apache, and Iroquois (based on my leaderheads) and Polynesia into Tonga, Moari, and Hawaii. So it's release may take a little later than mid-January,

Also how do people feel about,I don't want to call them fake civs, but stuff like the Papal States I currently have. They aren't truly civilizations in their own right though they are independent entities. I ask as I was thinking about possibly adding Ordensstaat and/or the Hanseatic League

 

[Vrenir]

Oh, I'm not too sure about splitting all of those up. The Native Americans maybe (but also not necessarily into three or more camps). The Polynesians definitely shouldn't be ungrouped in my opinion. Yes, I know that they're distinct, but think about it from a global perspective: with a map of the Earth with civs placed across it, how big can a Hawaiian nation really be, or a Maori for that matter? As Polynesia, it can include one city on each of several islands or island groups, including much of Austronesia. As separate, distinct peoples in a real-world scenario, they'll have only one city each with very little overall territory.

Another reason to maintain groupings is leaderheads. Yes, perhaps each could have a single leader by themselves, but I personally prefer civs that have at least two or three leaders to choose from (ideally from different time periods). I would much rather have a single Native American group that has three leaders than three different tribes with one each.

As far as other "non-civs" like Papal States, it depends on whether they can be fleshed-out enough to stand on their own, or if they can be incorporated elsewhere. For instance, a Papal State leader like Gregory I might work simply as an Italian leader or some such thing.

Just my two cents.

 

[tsentom1]

Oh, I'm not too sure about splitting all of those up. The Native Americans maybe (but also not necessarily into three or more camps). The Polynesians definitely shouldn't be ungrouped in my opinion. Yes, I know that they're distinct, but think about it from a global perspective: with a map of the Earth with civs placed across it, how big can a Hawaiian nation really be, or a Maori for that matter? As Polynesia, it can include one city on each of several islands or island groups, including much of Austronesia. As separate, distinct peoples in a real-world scenario, they'll have only one city each with very little overall territory.

Another reason to maintain groupings is leaderheads. Yes, perhaps each could have a single leader by themselves, but I personally prefer civs that have at least two or three leaders to choose from (ideally from different time periods). I would much rather have a single Native American group that has three leaders than three different tribes with one each.

As far as other "non-civs" like Papal States, it depends on whether they can be fleshed-out enough to stand on their own, or if they can be incorporated elsewhere. For instance, a Papal State leader like Gregory I might work simply as an Italian leader or some such thing.

Just my two cents.

Well, the idea to split Polynesia came from the requests people gave me to split Native America. It didn't make sense for me to split only one of them as both are combined by the same logic. I agree that I don't like a bunch of one leader civs as opposed to two three leader civs, but from a cultural perspective the idea of having groupings like native america and polynesia has bothered me so I'm not sure what to do. (Although really there's only 2-3 polynesian cultural groups in my opinion - people will probably get mad for that statement - whereas native america, USA specifically, has a great deal more). Then again I already have Inuit and Tupi as separate so it makes Native America and Polynesia combined make even less sense.

 

[tsentom1]

This isn't programed, more just a mock-up of if I do decide to split up the native groups and what civs would probably make it into an expansion.

This isn't anytime really soon, maybe sometime in February if I don't end up getting really busy.

It would be released separately as an optional addition to not bog down people already having problems.

 

[Viniloss]

Just to you know, mate, after i downloaded the last patch (the "c"), i can't open the diplomacy screen with Lenin, once that i have a CTD - so i never ever saw his face! :-(

The rest is running fine! Thanks for the mod!

All the best,
Vini

edited: Mussolini has the same problem.

 

[tsentom1]

Just to you know, mate, after i downloaded the last patch (the "c"), i can't open the diplomacy screen with Lenin, once that i have a CTD - so i never ever saw his face! :-(

The rest is running fine! Thanks for the mod!

All the best,
Vini

edited: Mussolini has the same problem.

Is this from game start or after loading a save you started before the latest patch.

There are some problems with people who view the non-shader version of the leaderheads (mostly as people who make custom leaderheads don't always make both).

There are optional static leaderheads (my sig) to use in the meantime till I work this out.

 

[Viniloss]

Is this from game start or after loading a save you started before the latest patch.

From game start.

Yeah, i ll try the static leader head!

Thanks for the atention and gratz for the mod!

Edited: Thank you very much for the tip about the static leader heads. The game is working fine now, indeed!

 

[Falk]

To say that Polynesian cultures arent big enough to qualify as stand-alone civilizations seems a bit arrogant to me. What about Luxemburg or Liechtenstein? Would you clump them together with Germany? And many Polynesian islanders were actually more "civilized" than many North Amercian natives! I think any civ that developed a distinct culture or even language qualifies as a new Civilization civ.

I'm also not opposed to civs like the Papal State or the Hanse - they were distinct entities indeed, and not just part of Italy or Germany.

So I say, if you have enough ideas for UBs, UUs and Traits to support all of these new civs, go for it!

Btw, I ran into my first MAF yesterday, too. It was the first time I reached the late industrial age on a large map and apparently that was too much for my computer. I'll uninstall Colonization and see if that helps.

 

[tsentom1]

Yeah, I think I'm going to split Polynesia to Tu'i Tonga and Hawai'i (remove Heke and replace him with Kamehameha). There's two main Polynesian cultural groups (most coming from the Lapita) easily classified into western and eastern (moari being a somewhat distinct third as a later development of the eastern). When I say this I don't mean there are only two polynesian cultures, but similar to how the apache and navajo can be classified under a broader south-west/apachean cultural group. Tu'i Tonga and Hawai'i had the closest things to proper empires out of those two groups. Plus, if you're worried about cities on a world map, Tu'i Tonga conquered like Samoa and everything around it so you can fill most of the islands with them.

As for things like the Hansa, the Papacy, Ordensstaat, etc., they're often easier to make UU and UBs for as their real-life function was much more specialized than the bigger civs. Just off hand for the Hansa I can have a Kontor (Customs House) for UB, and something representing the Große Adler (Galleon or Ship-of-the-line) for the UU.

Actually, the hardest thing in making so many civs is trying to make sure they all have a unique color! Gonna have to break out the neons.

~~~

I'm beginning to fear a large map might be too much for Thomas' War in general

 

[tsentom1]

I'm beginning to fear a large map might be too much for Thomas' War in general

Or at least use the later ages as a good signal to lower your graphics settings.

 

[Splatacus]

I'm having that problem where the interface doesn't show up when I start a game. I downloaded Thomas' War from www.strategyinformer.com a few days ago, I don't know which version it is though. I've tried most if not all of the solutions listed on this and other forums, but i can't get it to work.

I've got Civ4 Complete on Windows Vista (Home Premium), can anyone help?