Can't Find XCOM Removal Mod

[Abraxis]

That could actually be entirely plausible. The seas would just have to be made up of something else. Titan (the largest moon of Saturn; it's quite famous) has seas made up entirely of liquid methane, for instance.

 

[Blitz Spearman]

I'm positively surprised by your arguments, PhilBowles! They make sense, but let me explain my point of view.

The Civilization series is intended to reflect world history, and to select its component civs largely based on their relevance to that standard. America has been the defining power of the 20th Century

I agree that being an international superpower (Brazil is certainly a regional one, smaller neighbours like Paraguay and Bolivia often complain about "Brazilian Imperialism", and I am not proud of it being usually a justified accusation...) gives a free pass to America, sort of an exception to the other parameters. What I mean is, this is obviously a parameter that is not applied to other nations included, like Zulu, Iroquois, Siam, Sweden and many others that did not sprawl huge empires around the globe.

Brazilian culture has not been heavily exported outside South America

I don't think this is a parameter for any other civ in the game that is included because of its cultural value, like Polynesia or Maya.

Architecturally, what can Brazil boast?

Not really a parameter IMO, as half of the Civs in the game got no homeland world wonder, but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasilia
http://abduzeedo.com/architecture-history-50-years-brasilia

So how exactly is it comparable with America?

Brazil and the US are the two biggest nations built almost entirely by the hands of immigrants. Both are new, unique people, that gave birth to a new culture, different from just the sum of all the cultures that were mixed together. But well, this is just my opinion (that this qualifies as a "civilization"), and I can accept those that disagree on this point.

I'd be more mellow towards the idea of Brazil in Civ if they'd done something vaguely characterful or interesting with them, but it seems the designers were as flummoxed by trying to work out what Brazil could contribute to Civ as anyone.

I wholeheartedly agree with you here, I also think that the present design of Brazil as a civ is very weak. As you said, Brazilian culture is not massively exported to many places beside Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, so making it a tourism civ is both weak and stereotypical. I'd like it much better if the UA was something to do with the mixed nature of Brazilian people and Brazilian culture, something like tourism pressure from different civilizations nullifying each other when applied to Brazil, as Brazil "absorbs" different cultures, thus enhancing the civ's ability to defend itself against other's cultural victories. The UU is also very bad, Brazil had an almost irrelevant participation in WW2. The Bandeirantes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandeirantes) would be a much better UU, they were very relevant in turning Brazil into a unified nation. They could be a Scout replacement with an unlockable high level promotion that turned them into Settlers, or something like that.

 

[Gabriel Pyyrhic]

Yeah, that's what Europa Universalis is for. Not Civ. Embrace the XCOM and GDRs.

Could not disagree more, and I figure Sid would disagree with you as well (based on his previous comments on game design/inspiration). Civ has always been about Immersion since Civ 1. This does not mean hard core historical adherence, it means suspension of disbelief, and plausible immersion.

Immersion is important to every gamer, whether they see it or not. If it wasn't then nothing but gameplay would matter. Now sure everyone says that gameplay is the only important thing, but in reality how many people would play Civ V it was in CGA 4 bit colour, 320*200 resolution, and all enemy units used feather-swords and hug there opponents into submission. Sure this is reductio absurdum and all that, but the point I am trying to make is everyone has there own level of immersion requirements, some are higher then others. Saying immersion does not belong in Civ, is like saying guns do not belong in in an FPS.

BTW That's does not mean I am against the XCOM unit or GDR, I can see both sides of this argument and I have grown accustomed to them in game. That said I would not have liked a whole future era being added unless it was via an optional MOD.

FTR Civ came first, not Europa.

 

[Lochlann]

Civ has always been about Immersion since Civ 1. This does not mean hard core historical adherence, it means suspension of disbelief, and plausible immersion.
... Immersion is important to every gamer, whether they see it or not.
... everyone has there own level of immersion requirements, some are higher then others.

That's really the heart of this. Every gamer differs on their tolerance level of suspension of disbelief, degree of preferred rigid historical adherence, and various other factors that contribute to a game's immersiveness. There really isn't any "right" or "wrong" here, which is why I've chimed in on both sides of the argument. No one can claim that Firaxis was wrong (or right) to include X-COM units, because that wrongness depends on one's own definitions of subjective factors, to say nothing of one's own personal view of what the game "should" be. A defensible case can be made either way, and both such cases are "right".

 

[Callonia]

But but but.. what if you guys put in that XCOM removal mod and then an alien invasion happens on the world you're playing on.. then you panic and rush to that xcom tech to help fight them away.. but.... You removed XCOM and you doomed yourself to watching your empire get enslaved by your new and powerful alien overlords. x.x

Anyways, as others has said, there is teh removal mod out already on steam.. its NO Futuristic units mod.

 

[Bibor]

The GDR and XCOM are so late game that you are either about to win in 5 turns or you already won. I don't see the issue here.

 

[Chiatroll]

The GDR and XCOM are so late game that you are either about to win in 5 turns or you already won. I don't see the issue here.

Seriously. I've played maybe 25 games since the release of brave new world and I saw an xcom unit once. They turn themselves off by being so late.

 

[kukatr]

They're actually armed with plasma weapons...

You are right. But in CiV they shoot a long green laser ray... okay, now I'm too deep into the details.

 

[Gabriel Pyyrhic]

But but but.. what if you guys put in that XCOM removal mod and then an alien invasion happens on the world you're playing on.. then you panic and rush to that xcom tech to help fight them away.. but.... You removed XCOM and you doomed yourself to watching your empire get enslaved by your new and powerful alien overlords. x.x

Anyways, as others has said, there is teh removal mod out already on steam.. its NO Futuristic units mod.

May I play Devils Advocate for a moment ?

So lets assume the Alien invasion does happen (as we all know it will )

Those of us that with XCOM still in play, could smile smugly and await the unstoppable xcom response.

Except ...

SORRY COMMANDER, ALL XCOM UNITS ARE CURRENTLY DEPLOYED IN SMITING MONGOLIA.

Unfortunately our MACRO SHIVS (ie GDR's) are currently non-functional due to a lack of Uranium.

Luckily the Avenger is prepped, but alas its destination is hard coded for Alpha Centauri.

Good Luck Commander.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I'm old and senile and the CiivIV days are well passed, but I don't remember calls for mods to eliminate the possibility of entire wagon trains full of fully-equipped settlers from being eaten by a lion.

 

[poom3619]

Okay. I somehow can get alternative history why XCOM exist in non-alien world.

In a near future of CiVWorld. The invention of Internet and various tourism-boosting tool made some populace embracing Chauvinism, and while on the surface people shown interest in foreign culture. Those Neo-Chauvinist are abhorred of it, As tourism warfare became more fierce. Neo-Chauvinist gradually gain support, but they hold no influence on their leader that somehow ruled them for 6000 years.

By the time the Nanotechnology is implemented in military. Neo-Chauvinist elite men and women in the military form the "Extraterritorial Combat Unit" to fight and destroy foreigner, now called "alien" as in classic meaning with most advanced weapon they got.

Hence, the XCOM unit in the world full of "alien".

I'm old and senile and the CiivIV days are well passed, but I don't remember calls for mods to eliminate the possibility of entire wagon trains full of fully-equipped settlers from being eaten by a lion.

 

[Fairfax]

There's one on Steam Workshop, I think. "No futuristic units" or something
The whole mod would be very simple, really:

<GameData>
<Units>
<Delete Type="XCOM_SQUAD"/>
</Units>
</GameData>

 

[Callonia]

May I play Devils Advocate for a moment ?

So lets assume the Alien invasion does happen (as we all know it will )

Those of us that with XCOM still in play, could smile smugly and await the unstoppable xcom response.

Except ...

SORRY COMMANDER, ALL XCOM UNITS ARE CURRENTLY DEPLOYED IN SMITING MONGOLIA.

Unfortunately our MACRO SHIVS (ie GDR's) are currently non-functional due to a lack of Uranium.

Luckily the Avenger is prepped, but alas its destination is hard coded for Alpha Centauri.

Good Luck Commander.

That is amusing I'd be surprised if the spaceship can evade the aliens in orbit and reach alpha centauri with no pursuers.

I'm old and senile and the CiivIV days are well passed, but I don't remember calls for mods to eliminate the possibility of entire wagon trains full of fully-equipped settlers from being eaten by a lion.

I lost a settler to a lion once, Never again. Always had a warrior escorting it or spearmen. I considered myself trolled by firaxis at that time.

I think my justification was that I ran into Simba's pride from the Lion King.

 

[Monado]

The GDR and XCOM are so late game that you are either about to win in 5 turns or you already won. I don't see the issue here.

Someone wants to know if a mod to remove the XCom unit has been made. Because you do not think its necessary does not matter one bit really. They have their reasons.

I have played late game start, domination only games before. (Not since G&K). I had the GDR requires 999 uranium mod on then, have been thinking of playing such a game now, and I want one to remove the XCOM unit as well. There's my issue.


EDIT:

There's one on Steam Workshop, I think. "No futuristic units" or something

Just found this mod, using the search word Xcom in the steam workshop. I don't know how I've missed it so many times Thanks Fairfax!

 

[kingchris20]

Someone wants to know if a mod to remove the XCom unit has been made. Because you do not think its necessary does not matter one bit really. They have their reasons.

I have played late game start, domination only games before. (Not since G&K). I had the GDR requires 999 uranium mod on then, have been thinking of playing such a game now, and I want one to remove the XCOM unit as well. There's my issue.


EDIT:


Just found this mod, using the search word Xcom in the steam workshop. I don't know how I've missed it so many times Thanks Fairfax!

yeah, from my experience BlouBlou has always got you covered!

 

[troublmaker]

No I'm still enjoying my Nissan Leaf Electric car powering station in SimCity, thank you for asking.

 

[PhilBowles]

I'm positively surprised by your arguments, PhilBowles! They make sense, but let me explain my point of view.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

I agree that being an international superpower (Brazil is certainly a regional one, smaller neighbours like Paraguay and Bolivia often complain about "Brazilian Imperialism", and I am not proud of it being usually a justified accusation...)

Don't worry, if Civ's taught the world anything it's to embrace imperialism...

gives a free pass to America, sort of an exception to the other parameters. What I mean is, this is obviously a parameter that is not applied to other nations included, like Zulu, Iroquois, Siam, Sweden and many others that did not sprawl huge empires around the globe.

In many of these cases I'd agree - in fact I'd only really argue Siam, not because it was a giant empire but because the world was much more regionalised before the 19th Century, and Siam was important in its time (Sukothai, the state actually represented in the game, not so much). Influence is always relative - much smaller, local powers were the important players in a world with no global superpowers and where identities, culture and history was shaped at these smaller scales.

I also admit that Civ hasn't always taken the best approach to its civs from its earliest incarnation - the Zulu were always an odd choice, and the Aztecs a marginal one if only because the Maya were a stronger candidate from the same region (and missing from Civ I).

I don't think this is a parameter for any other civ in the game that is included because of its cultural value, like Polynesia or Maya.

I'm not necessarily suggesting Brazil or any other civ should score on "all of the above", but Brazil's missing pretty much all of them - the Maya obviously had an important architectural tradition, as well as being a long-lived regional power in an era before globalisation. Limited dissemination of their culture outside their borders can be excused. As for Polynesia, spreading its culture (or rather a specific aspect of it, their maritime skills) across a gigantic region of the Pacific is surely a pretty impressive accomplishment. In terms of the way the civ is represented in the game, this cultural influence is internal to "Polynesia", but that represents an amalgam of a wide range of island societies.

Not really a parameter IMO, as half of the Civs in the game got no homeland world wonder, but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasilia
http://abduzeedo.com/architecture-history-50-years-brasilia

I wasn't considering the need for Wonders as such, but pointing out that key elements treated internationally as icons of Brazilian culture are of foreign origin, and that they don't reflect Brazilian achievement. I wouldn't propose the Clifton Suspension Bridge as a World Wonder, but it's certainly reflective of specifically British achievement and an icon of arguably the single most globally important development to have come out of my island - the Industrial Revolution.

As a personal judgment, I wouldn't say any of the structures shown from Brasilia is particularly notable - I hadn't known however that the Brazilian architect responsible was considered a "founder of modern architecture", which should perhaps warrant some recognition.

Brazil and the US are the two biggest nations built almost entirely by the hands of immigrants. Both are new, unique people, that gave birth to a new culture, different from just the sum of all the cultures that were mixed together. But well, this is just my opinion (that this qualifies as a "civilization"), and I can accept those that disagree on this point.

The thing is, I don't regard this as relevant to arguing for the place of either in Civilization, any more than I'd argue that Romania deserves a place because it resembles the Netherlands in being a European nation with its own identity that secured independence from a larger imperial power, and which has a similarly-sized modern population.

Those aren't particularly unique or unusual accomplishments - similarly if I had to argue for England's place I'd do so on the basis of the legacy of the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution, its prior historical importance within Europe, and its cultural and scientific exports. I wouldn't argue for it on the basis that it's a unique mix of Germanic, Scandinavian and Romantic cultural influences, that the 21st Century country is one of the leading regional powers within Europe, or because the BBC is one of the world's best-known media brands.

I wholeheartedly agree with you here, I also think that the present design of Brazil as a civ is very weak. As you said, Brazilian culture is not massively exported to many places beside Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, so making it a tourism civ is both weak and stereotypical. I'd like it much better if the UA was something to do with the mixed nature of Brazilian people and Brazilian culture, something like tourism pressure from different civilizations nullifying each other when applied to Brazil, as Brazil "absorbs" different cultures, thus enhancing the civ's ability to defend itself against other's cultural victories. The UU is also very bad, Brazil had an almost irrelevant participation in WW2. The Bandeirantes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandeirantes) would be a much better UU, they were very relevant in turning Brazil into a unified nation. They could be a Scout replacement with an unlockable high level promotion that turned them into Settlers, or something like that.

I'd proposed a Scout replacement myself, but I'd suggested the sertanista (in part because I'd been reading about Sydney Possuelo at the time, but I think it makes sense regardless - several places describe sertanistas as a "uniquely Brazilian occupation", and it adds a reference to the more positive elements of Brazil's relations with its indigenous population). I think Firaxis was just bending to calls for a "modern civ" (regardless of how little gameplay sense that actually makes) so wanted the latest-era UU they could go with and tie to Brazil. The Pracinha is a pretty poor choice, but past that they're basically looking for something to replace planes, tanks, maybe mech inf, and I'm not aware that Brazil has anything at all that would fit that criterion.

 

[PhilBowles]

I'm old and senile and the CiivIV days are well passed, but I don't remember calls for mods to eliminate the possibility of entire wagon trains full of fully-equipped settlers from being eaten by a lion.

I wouldn't call for its removal, but the Age of Empires-style wild animals thing always stuck with me as one of Civ IV's worse absurdities (among fairly stiff competition).