Hello all, very long time lurker and first time poster here. I used to make a lot of scenarios for myself back in the Civ III days with content that I downloaded from here, and after recently playing FramedArchitect's Accurate Earth scenarios, I'm inspired to start modding with Civ V. I love the automatic city names, limited number of cities by era, and Renaissance bonuses to the historical European colonizers in that mod, and it made me realize that so much more is possible in a Civ V mod than just adding new units and traits. I am interested in making a series of scenarios that take it a few steps further in terms of historical accuracy, but with such little Civ V modding experience, I'm curious about what limitations there are. My goal is not so much to make a fair or even necessarily fun mod but a simulation of world history, and I think most of the enjoyment I get from this project will be in the historical research I do for it and learning a bit more about computers over the next few months. I understand the World Builder program fairly well and have done some xml modding for Apotheon (another game I recommend for history fans), but haven't messed with Civ V modding too much other than taking a look at Accurate Earth's files. I'm not necessarily looking for answers on how to do these things, just confirmation that they are possible while I'm still in the planning stages.
I realize that Civ VI is out, but I'm a little strapped for the time being and I'm going to try to make do with what I have. If Civ VI's modding possibilities far exceed those of Civ V or is a little easier to get started with, I'll consider saving up for it. Thanks for reading, and ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem delendam esse!
- My biggest question is probably this: is it possible to have a civ spawn later than the others? For example, Egypt would start at the beginning of the game, but Rome isn't founded for another few thousand years. I'd ideally like to make a set of four scenarios: Ancient & Classical, Medieval & Renaissance, Industrial & Modern, and Atomic & Information. This way America or Brazil isn't out for most of the game.
- Is it possible to force a civ to found a city at a certain time in a certain place? I know in Accurate Earth, when England reaches the Renaissance, they're given a few units in different places on the map. Can you trigger actual cities to spawn, or would I have to trigger an immobile settler unit in a certain place?
- Is it possible to trigger two civs to go to war with each other on a certain turn? Or to script a city to spontaneously change owners? For example, setting the scenario to have Constantinople as a Byzantine city until 1453, when it is then given to the Ottomans?
- Is it possible to script the founding of a religion? Like having Islam automatically founded by Arabia in Mecca in the 600s? I suppose I would also have to take the necessary steps to prevent Arabia from founding a religion before then, or another civ founding Islam before then. I guess this means changing Piety's ending bonus to something other than a free Great Prophet so I can control when and where they pop up. I have used DonQuiche's Ingame Editor to make historical changes when I played Accurate Earth, but I'm wondering if there's a way to script this. I'd also like to be able to script a city's religion to change at a certain turn as with the city owner.
- Does anyone know anything about guiding the AIs' scientific advancement? Making sure by turn, say, 200, Russia has Iron working if they haven't already researched it. I'm also interested in curbing it for others, such as preventing the Iroquois from researching Astronomy and crossing the Atlantic (I feel bad about that though... Sorry, Iroquois).
- An idea I had to discourage ancient units from wandering around too much (for example, Egypt fighting barbarians for a few thousand years in Siberia) was to make it so that every turn a unit spends outside of friendly territory, it sustains some damage, depending on terrain type and based on era. For example, a warrior would be hurt enough crossing grassland to discourage transcontinental exploration, but not enough that it couldn't hunt for some nearby barbarian camps. This warrior however would only last a few turns trying to cross a desert or jungle. By the time you have marines, the penalty would be very reduced. This would keep sub-Saharan Africa mostly unexplored until the Industrial era, and keep civs from pulling a Moses and sending settlers to wander for a few decades until they wind up in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure if the AI would take this change into consideration and if they would just keep sending units on suicide missions, note realizing that they need to spend some time inside their borders or fortifying and healing for a while. Not sure how feasible this idea is, so any feedback is appreciated.
I realize that Civ VI is out, but I'm a little strapped for the time being and I'm going to try to make do with what I have. If Civ VI's modding possibilities far exceed those of Civ V or is a little easier to get started with, I'll consider saving up for it. Thanks for reading, and ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem delendam esse!
