CCM (epic mod) preview thread

[Moosezilla]

I notice the "don't click" for resources... will there be a place to access a list of uses for them?

 

[georgestow]

What's 'Hidden Reserve'?

 

[Civinator]

I notice the "don't click" for resources... will there be a place to access a list of uses for them?

Moosezilla, the intention of the "don´t klick" message is to warn the player to avoid the hyperlink overflow bug by klicking on some frequently used strategic resources. Vuldacon made a stencil for CCM and AoI to show this message on every endangered resources-small icon. Additionally that warning in CCM is placed in the labels text of the strategic resources and in the starting text of CCM.

What's 'Hidden Reserve'?

Hidden Reserve is an era none tech that isn´t given to any civ. It is needed for the enhanced techtree in CCM. Additionally I set buildings that are not used at CCM to this tech, so I can reactivate those entries for other buildings, if there is a need for them. And I set all autoproduced units to that tech as a second barrier against accidental entries in the box that allows that unit for certain civs. A nice side effect is, that I have all autoproduced units of CCM listed under that tech with a single klick.

 

[Moosezilla]

Thanks for letting me into the pre. And yes it is "One more turn" so show em some more!

 

[Moosezilla]

Well I feel a little silly, but love this mod. Anyways, got to 1395 AD and could not get past that. note:two newer biq so I will move on and not use "huge" for map. (Ozzy has a tread about tele- portation and AI)

 

[Civinator]

Well I feel a little silly, but love this mod. Anyways, got to 1395 AD and could not get past that. note:two newer biq so I will move on and not use "huge" for map. (Ozzy has a tread about tele- portation and AI)

Hi Moosezilla, you should write such posts in the nonpublic prebetatester´s forum and attache a save file, so we can have a look on it why you can´t advance beyond 1395 AD.

 

[georgestow]

I know I really shouldn't be asking this, but around when do you think this'll be released?

 

[Civinator]

I know I really shouldn't be asking this, but around when do you think this'll be released?

You have a very good knowledge about this matter . In fact in the last days we had two CTD´s as the AI in seldom cases had pathfinding problems with the wheeled flag for landunits. Now I want to see, if this problem could be fixed with the latest testbiq.

 

[tom2050]

I know we are all looking forward to seeing this released. Just from looking over the thread with interest (for the 2nd time or so), it will be a massively refreshing new game... and since we all know that Civinator is a Civ III Encyclopedia of knowledge it will for sure be a mod that will last the test of time.

Tom

 

[Civinator]

Thank you for the kind words.

Here is a current report of a CCM-Prebetatester:

"My military has been nearly destroyed from 2 wars. I have 17 Grants and recon cars down from just short of 200. The Offensive in Germany went badly. I took 6 cities quickly but the next turn lost 4 of them along with 60 Grants and was forced to abandon the 5th one and retreat from the 6th one. My remaining forces were forced to do a Dunkirk and evacuate to an large island off the coast of Germany. I am under attack from German aircraft every turn. Even with 4 carriers (3 Yorktowns and 1 Forrestal class) with fighter plus an airfield filled with 23 fighters my Air force is barely holding it together. Further south my Gem Colony was under attack from the Aztecs. My defnesive line cracked even with 10 infantry units on hills with a fortress underneath. I had 80 recon cars down there in order fend off any attacks. I'm down to 8 now. And I'm still in the process of replacing those grants I lost with M48s. I don't have the ability to make 100 more recon cars while making tanks, fighters, and escorts for my carriers (My Carrier groups were going to be 1 CV, 3 BBs, and 1 DD but production of BBs is taking 5 turns with my best sea city. So now it's 1 BB, 2 CAs, 1 CV, and 1 DD)."

 

[tom2050]

Wow... It sounds as if whatever the AI is setup to do, it is definitely doing it well. It is always interesting seeing massive battles against the AI, especially when the AI is able to come back after losing 6 cities, and retake many of them. It would be great to hear how some more of this behemoth battle goes (maybe with a screenshot!)

Tom

 

[Quintillus]

Wow indeed. Sounds like quite the battle, and a very interesting war. I can't recall the AI ever wearing down an army of mine that strong that thoroughly.

 

[Graceheart the Leopard]

When can we download?

 

[Ozymandias]

When can we download?

The crowd grows restless, my friend.

Best,

Oz

 

[King Coltrane]

What sounds the most groundbreaking to me is that the AI air force is a threat! I mean, we've all miscalculated AI forces before (arrogance? haha) although that seems extreme, but when does it take much more than..well, nothing to control the skies? Can't wait Civinator!

 

[Civinator]

First the sad story: Some days ago during a very interesting CCM testgame my (old) pc cought fire and is destroyed. I lost the civilopedia file I´m curently working on and the saves of that great testgame. I was in 1765 and the game was quite a challenge for me on monarch level.

The good story.: Not long before, I uploaded all files to the server for our two new CCM prebetatesters and therefore the loss isn´t too big. I test now on a mothballed much older pc with 2,66 MHz and 256MB ram. It seems, at least for era 1 this is enough to run the game properly with 31 civs and a huge map 300 x 280. And the best, even my new testgame is interesting. The editor seems to have a natural talent to create interesting random maps with this size.

I attache a screenshot of my current testgame. I´m in 1275 BC and I have discovered a nice part of the world yet. In CCM the terrain plays a much more important part to strategic gameplay than in normal Civ 3. Marshes and mountains are nearly impassable for most stronger military units and for the enslaver, a very pesky early unit in CCM. You can see such an enslaver in the screenshot (blue circle) hunting an Persian warrior. The map is ideal for placing some fortresses (red crosses) to block the path of heavy military units of other civs to my cities on land.

In the screenshot you can also see some northeuropean workers (blue circles). These workers and 7 other different workers for the 31 civs in the testgame are all autoproduced by one building thanks to the new concept of advanced autoproduction I described earlier in this thread.

 

[Civinator]

Wow... It sounds as if whatever the AI is setup to do, it is definitely doing it well. It is always interesting seeing massive battles against the AI, especially when the AI is able to come back after losing 6 cities, and retake many of them. It would be great to hear how some more of this behemoth battle goes (maybe with a screenshot!)

First the most important for me. The prebetatester in this game made it through the whole CCM techtree without freezes and CTDs. Congrats MarineCorps Here is a screenshot of his war against the Aztecs. The German war (that he finally could win) took place in the azur circle on the minimap. The just ended war against the Aztecs and the screenshot is in the yellow rectangle on the minimap. And as you can see, there are still plenty of other strong civs on the map.

The screenshot shows, that the AI in CCM is using carriers. So the AI carrier has no planes on board, this ship in CCM has long range lethal bombardement and the blitz-flag for several attacks with an bombardement range equal to half the range of the planes that were stationed on that ship. The attack animation of the carriers in CCM is changed to starting planes (that Wyrmshadow did for carrier fidget animations).

Here are some more reports of that betatest:

"I declared war on the Aztecs. My military still hasn't recovered from 2 wars from Germany. I thought it had but then I looked at how many units had landed and saw it was only 130 units. About 85 tanks. And the works part is that I don't know how big their military is. I can't get a spy in there. I do however have a large and modern fighter wing. Granted my CAS wing is nearly non existent. I have a large colony in the north that borders the aztec. However it is WELL defended by a large but mostly outdated fighters for air defense but loads of infantry stacked in groups of 20 on barricades on hills. My ships have landed their loads and are heading back. 8 turns to get there and another 8 turns back. Germany was 6 turns away total."

..............................

"It is not going well. I am holding them off in the north but my invasion in the south isn't going anywhere fast. My transports, or whats left of them, haven't made it home and won't for another 2 turns. Aztec heavy bombers are pounding them every turn. I have a large carrier group (3 AEGIS Cruisers, 3 Missile destroyers, 8 missile cruisers, and of course 5 Nmitz class carriers carrying a total of 40 F-4Bs) heading to meet them at the end point but they won't be there for another 2 turns."

..............................

"I managed to make peace with the Aztecs. Managed to get around 10 cities. Learned some lessons. 3 groups of aircraft carriers are positioned along the path along with land based fighters at either end. I have a Nimitz loaded with some of my remaining P-47s escorting them, once it reaches the end point it will offload the P-47s onto 2 Yorktowns and recive 8 F-4Bs in return. My northern defense line held however a couple of the barricades in front of the line were destroyed and will need to be replaced. I'm replacing the Modern Infantry on the lines with Mech infantry. This way the recon cars can't retreat. Major problem. 3 cities have culture flipped back. I also learned that with a total of 16 turns to get a ship to and from the homeland I need a faster way of getting there. Therefore I am building transport planes and Ekranoplanes. Very important that I get reinforcements to the war zone quickly. Also producing AH-64s in the North. Crap again. My Air defense in the Northern colony has been destroyed because I wasn't guarding the airfield. 20 outdated F-86s. Gone. That was half of my air defense for the colony. I don't have the ability to replace that many fighters. The Japanese Colony is producing AH-64s, my mainland is building Air transports and modern Armor, and the Germany colony is still building improvements. My air force is stretched thin as it is. Hmm."

Here is a screenshot of the Aztec counterstrike. All tanks around the attacked city on the left side of the map are Aztec light tanks.

And here you can see a screenshot about the bombardement range of a carrier of the Forrestal Class.

 

[Moosezilla]

Very nice and worth the wait as I have not mastered screen shot tech. However,color blind help will label your cities' nationality. I love it when a plan comes together...

 

[Civinator]

Here is a screenshot of the CCM testgame above, explaining the minimap:

And here is a screenshot about growing tensions on the Israelian-US border:

 

[WildWeazel]

Wow Civinator, I don't know how you managed to make the AI such a formidable opponent, but congratulations.

I see in another thread that you mentioned different civic variations being possible in Civ3. Is this something you've done in CCM? If so, how many governments do you have and how is the AI handling all the choices?