civIV Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (RFRE)

[Ajidica]

Is the mod in the Program Files directory or in MyGames directory? Also, do any other mods work on your computer? Also, are you playing CivComplete or Gold? I know that can cause problems. Are you running Vista? Finaly, have your cleared your cache and custom assets?

Is it crashing during mod loading or map loading?

 

[Ajidica]

Pstew, I have just finished my Legio Lanciarii. If you think they are good enough, should I announce them for frontpage coverage? I am going to try and get a Logothete done and then a revolting peasent from the Nika Rebellions. If there is any other art, xml, or pedia work you would like to see done, let me know.

Pstew: Do you know when the next version is comming out?

 

[primordial stew]

My work load fell off for this weekend, so I've got some time for this.

I'll just do some cleanup and the post it Sunday so it's nice and clean.

 

[Ajidica]

Is there anything you need help with? My current unit I am woking on is a Nika Rebel from the Nika Rebellions. I dont know where it can be used but it would work as a late roman peasent.
What do you think of my Legio Lanciarii?

 

[primordial stew]

> Legio Lanciarii

I don't know where to use it since it's a skirmisher. If you can take those skins and put them on a pikeman, it would make a fine Stratios unit The current art comes from a Byzantine unit pack, but the armor is plate armor, which wasn't substantially around till the 13th century at best.


> stuff to do

One thing that needs to get done at some point is the "RFRE Concepts" portion of the pedia. A partial list of the topics would come from the FAQ (on page 1 of this thread).


> D'zilas

I'll put a clean version out today. Hopefully that will work for everyone

If not though, it would help if you would respond in either this thread or to the PM (PM = private message, look in the upper right corner for "private message", when it is blinking it means you have a message waiting).

 

[Ajidica]

You might be able to use the Legio Lanciarii as a Comitatenses if the shield is redone. Im currently working on a revolting peasent from the Nika Rebellions. I would have started on the Logothete but Pakbuild screws up my comp and I want to know how good my cloth skin is. I'll start working on RFRE concepts. Is there a date you would like them done by?

What XML file is RFRE concepts in? I couldnt find it.
If it is possible, could you merge all of the text files? Currently it looks a bit cluttered.

Here are the entries, you can paste them into an XML document.
(Could you do the spell-check? The civfanatics spell check doesnt work for me)

Research: In Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, reaserch is handled very differently from normal Civilization. There are two technology trees in RFRE. the Roman Technology Tree and the AI Technology Tree.

There are two types of technologies, 'Timer' technologies and 'Roman' technologies. Every 25 turns you get a 'Timer' technology. 'Timer' technologies are used to give RFRE a more historical feel. 'Timer' technologies are used to enable or disable buildings, units, civics, and more. 'Timer' technologies are also used to dictate what you can reaserch.

'Roman' Technologies you have some control over. As RFRE is designed to be played from the Romans Perspective, they have the most control over what they choose to research. After 5? turns from starting the technologies research, you are granted the technology. The technologies have a high cost so that it impossible for you to research them on your own.

All civic options give -999% research so you are unable to research a technology on your own.



200AD: In 200 AD the Roman Empire was collapsing from barbarian migrations, a corrupt beauracracy, excessive taxation, and two major civil wars. To survive the coming collapse, it is best to follow history and do the following things:
Defend the Heartland: Pull your field armies back from the borders and defend-in-depth. This allows you to make the most of your few remaining Imperial Legions. The Praesidium and Miles Auxilia can hold the frontier and slow the invader enough for your Field Armies to arrive.
Wealth: Set all cities to produce wealth or economic buildings. Your economy is already collapsing, but building wealth will shoudl slow down the collapse long enough for you to combat it.
Empires and Revolution: Rome suffered many revolutions during its latter time. The two earliest rebellions you will encounter are the Gallic and Palmyrean Rebellions. To defeat the Gallic Rebellion, wait until you can field Mercenary Legions and Vexilatio. In the East, you should be able to retake all nesisary cities with your army in Anatolia and Egypt. In 300AD? (what year do you have the split?) the Roman Empire was split into the Eastern Empire ruled from Constantinople and the Western Empire ruled from Rome/Ravenna?. The change was originaly supposed to be purely administrative as Rome was poorly placed to administrate a Mediterainian Empire. You will take command of the Eastern Empire while the AI will take command of the Western Empire.

Note: Python doesnt go past 300AD so it is not reccomended to play past 300AD.

What do you think of them?

 

[primordial stew]

This is gathers up changes since beta1p5 was released.

http://rapidshare.com/files/160063545/RFRE.beta1p5a.7z.html

Spoiler :

Beta.p5 -> Beta.p5a
==================================
1. Balance:
a. Increase iInflationPercent from 90 to 100 in civ4handicapinfo.
b. Increase iDistanceMaintenancePercent from 35 to 50 in civ4handicapinfo.

2. Fixes:
a. Fixed typos in the 275BC map. It would CTD on the errors.
b. Decreased the scale for Bellatores Loricati (ART_DEF_UNIT_INFANTRY). The game would CTD if upgrading a unit on a hill to this!!! Might still be
problems here..

3. python changes:
a. Fixed large lag when capturing the 11th city from the Gallic Empire.
b. Got rid of the dependence on CvPath.py. This was causing the python to not load for some people.
c. Added code that will cause war with the Germanics under certain circumstances. The code is inactive until the ADs. It compares the total strength of
the Germanics vs the strength of the Romans *near the border* (ie within 8 plots of Colonia Agripina or Vindoboda). If Germania has sufficient local
superiority there is a 1 in 10 chance each turn that they will declare war.

4. Added new unit art:
ballista by Walter Hawkwood for ballista
EstalianJinites by Ajidica for Iberian Mounted Javelineer
GothicLancer by Ajidica for Gothic Medium Cavalry
GothicSpearman by Ajidica for Tribus Gothica
GothicComitatus by Ajidica for Praesidium Gothi

 

[Ajidica]

Cool. I would dl it now, but I lost my disks when cleaning around my desk. I hope I will find them by the end of the week other wise I'll be annoyed.

Have you considered Paking the mod files? This would reduce the loading time of the mod substancialy.

 

[primordial stew]

They can be merged in at any time I think. I don't know how it actually works :/ Does it parse out from the key name when sorting??

What I had in mind was like what is available in Rise Of Mankind "RoM Concepts". That is Sevopedia mod IIRC, but I'm not sure if that is necessary.

The "Concepts" are the things in this mod that are different from a regular game. Does the FAQ cover them, or are there more?

 

[Ajidica]

I think the major things like research, social war, hannibal, and other important stuff shoudl be in concepts so you have the refrence fight there. It can be disconcerting for a person who has never played RFRE who experiances a major revolt.

Do you think my units are good enough to be announced for front page coverage?

Also, I have been thinking about putting together a soundtrack. For the opening menue, would you prefer something more 'battle music' or more 'epic (something like the LotR Rohan theme but in the spirit only, not the actual music)'?

 

[Jakob Safa]

I have downloaded the RFRE last week on Wednesday, and it is great.

I have been playing the mod since then. But there are some things I'd like to ask:

You have maded some changes to the previous version of the RFRE (the beta1p5) map (delited Neapolis, moved Corton), But when I started the new version of RFRE(beta1p5a) those changes were not included.

There were three punic wars, what has hapend to the third punic war.

The game speed is a bit fast. During peace time this is good, but in the war time I get anoyed with legions moving about 1km per day.

 

[Ajidica]

I cant answer about the 3rd Punic War, I have never actualy play that far, Pstew can answer that but I'll do my best on the other ones.
Map: Pstew, did you include the fixed map in this version or was that a leftover from a previous change log.
Gamespeed: How far along are you? I beleive that you get fairly high road speed once you have reached the 'imperial' time.

Pstew: I dinished my Nika Rebels if your interested. I'll announce them once I get some tips on how to make the cloth look better or ways that might make it look better. It is in the same place as the rest of my units.

 

[Jakob Safa]

I came to the Caesar attack on Gaul, but I wonder how to capture Gaul in 6 years like Caesar did if I nead 6 years to get my troops to first city in Gaul.

 

[pinktilapia]

Then maybe you gotta play a scenario specific on the conquest of Gauls. This is a mod that aims at representing most of Roman history. Obviously, compromising on some aspects is required. Or would you like units that have a 25 movement rate?

 

[Jakob Safa]

I was more thinking about reducing game speed to maybe to half a year during that time as it is incrised to 2 years during the time when there is noting important hapining.

 

[Ajidica]

Reducing game speed would involve redoing all of the Python wich would be a major undertaking.

Pstew: Is there any unitart that you would like to see? I want to do the stratoits (Skutatoi/Kontaratoi/Hoplitai would be better) latter once I have attacked a skirmisher shield to a spearmen. I then could create a nice unit. I was thinking about reskining an archer for Skutatoi/Dsmtd Bucelarii.

 

[primordial stew]

I have downloaded the RFRE last week on Wednesday, and it is great.

I have been playing the mod since then. But there are some things I'd like to ask:

You have maded some changes to the previous version of the RFRE (the beta1p5) map (delited Neapolis, moved Corton), But when I started the new version of RFRE(beta1p5a) those changes were not included.

There were three punic wars, what has hapend to the third punic war.

The game speed is a bit fast. During peace time this is good, but in the war time I get anoyed with legions moving about 1km per day.

Please do tell us about how the 2nd Punic War went, and especially Hannibal Did he smash through Italia?


> Punic Wars
The python does track the wars. Following the 1st war the Carthaginians experience the "Truceless War". This is where their mercenaries returned to Carthage and found they were not going to get paid so revolted. In game terms it means a bunch of barbarians show up in their territory.

Following the end of 2nd Punic War each unit has a 1 in 4 chance of being deleted. Disarmament was part of the settlement. Now, Numida should have joined as you ally if you captured Carthago Nova, and then Utica. Declaring peace now will free you up for something else while disarming their military. They are still at war with Numidia. These 2 things should keep Carthage weak till you have time to get back to them (Carthago delenda est!).

Nothing more is scripted. Carthage should be in a weak state from now on.

> game speed
For the most part you have to be ruthless in the pursuit of conquests! Time is against you.


I think how it could be implemented is for the game to actually be more than the current 525 turns. In CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml there is data for how many years/turn. eg)

Spoiler :

<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>125</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>125</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>3</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>25</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>
<GameTurnInfo>
<iYearIncrement>2</iYearIncrement>
<iTurnsPerIncrement>250</iTurnsPerIncrement>
</GameTurnInfo>

For the first 125 turns the clock moves at 1 year/turn, and 2 years/turn for the next 125 turns, etc.. This is the trade off to cut down on the slow periods while still keeping the game playable in a reasonable amount of time. Anyway, that is why it is how it is

To make the game appear to have variable speed what could probably be done is to modify the python that controls the date that is displayed (basically move that xml into python). If you understood the detail above you can see that the game is really turn # based, and then some number is displayed to the user. This part would be easy. The difficult part is the timers in the game for inflation, commerce double times, etc?? These are strictly turn # based (eg 275BC starts with turn 0, and 200AD starts on turn 288). I suppose if those could be gotten rid of with the correct XML settings, and then inflation implemented in python (easy to do) it would work out.

So technically it sounds like it could be done, but the big question is how to control it?????? Also note that my only attempt to mod CvMainInterface.py resulted in non-widescreen(?) displays bombing

Suppose a button were added to the interface, and when you press it the clock goes to 1/2 speed for 6 turns or something. The button could be pressed.. 2 times/game (probably 1 for Gaul, and 1 for Aurelian?). Aurelian would be easier, he could be a fixed turn, but how to do Gaul?? A button?

 

[primordial stew]

Reducing game speed would involve redoing all of the Python wich would be a major undertaking.

Pstew: Is there any unitart that you would like to see? I want to do the stratoits (Skutatoi/Kontaratoi/Hoplitai would be better) latter once I have attacked a skirmisher shield to a spearmen. I then could create a nice unit. I was thinking about reskining an archer for Skutatoi/Dsmtd Bucelarii.

Yes, the auxillary archer needs a better outfit. Again, this is from the Byzantine set, and so is from the wrong time. I have seen some pictures on the web for what they should look like, probably chain mail and some helmet.

And... some Vandal unit! I doubt there is any picture around to look at. Maybe just slightly mod 1 of the later barb swordsaman units with a new shield pattern and slightly different clothes?


> soundtrack

The Gladiator soundtrack goes really well, but it can't be used directly :/ It has some slow parts, and some really great battle music (The Battle + Barbarian Horde). I can't tell you how many times I'd be playing civIII RFRE only to hear "The Battle" another time... think that I should have gone to bed last time it was on! If you have the move "The Battle" is what is playing during the battle against the Germanics in the beginning, a "Barbarian Horde" is the 1st time in the Colosseum.

The first song played is always "Conquests Roman". Something like that I think is appropriate. Overall the Rise of Rome is fine, but the Fall of Rome doesn't have the right music. There is only so much from the game, so if you have anything to add that would be great!

LOTR is good music too. Some tracks would fit, but not all.

Despite it being from the 20th century, I think "O Fortuna" is appropriate too (being about the Roman god of fortune).

 

[primordial stew]

Then maybe you gotta play a scenario specific on the conquest of Gauls.

Creating the map and units wouldn't be hard. There is probably already a map of just France, and Caesar left us some good documentation (Commentarii de Bello Gallico) on how to fill it in But still the problem of duration would persist..

Maybe some smaller changes can be made? Something like the Romans get the "commando" promotion if starting the turn in Gaul. That wouldn't be much effort to do.

How to bound it? Maybe it could be active the same time as the Caesar promotion is (from when Triumvirate is discovered until either 44BC OR Gaul eliminated OR Gaul is a vassal)? This makes hitting the window more important!

 

[Jakob Safa]

Originally Posted by primordial stew
Please do tell us about how the 2nd Punic War went, and especially Hannibal Did he smash through Italia?

I complitly destroied Hannibals forces in first battle.

Originally Posted by primordial stew
Following the end of 2nd Punic War each unit has a 1 in 4 chance of being deleted. Disarmament was part of the settlement. Now, Numida should have joined as you ally if you captured Carthago Nova, and then Utica. Declaring peace now will free you up for something else while disarming their military. They are still at war with Numidia. These 2 things should keep Carthage weak till you have time to get back to them (Carthago delenda est!).

Nothing more is scripted. Carthage should be in a weak state from now on.

You should script the Carthage to gather a new army in Carthage under comand of Hannibal and march on Utica. When the player defeat this army, Carthage becomes his vasal until the 3rd punic war started (it is around 150BC). Also when the city of Carthage is captured by Romans all citys still under control of Carthage should became Roman. I have spent a lo of time conquer the rest of there citys. This should give player enough time to conquer spain.

Originally Posted by primordial stew
Maybe some smaller changes can be made? Something like the Romans get the "commando" promotion if starting the turn in Gaul. That wouldn't be much effort to do.

It is a great idear, but then you must connect all of Goul citys with roads and give Romans some extra road movments.