Davane's Daily Mod Release Thread

[davane]

Da' Vane's Mods (01/03/10)

Another slight delay (I really need to fix my House M.D. addiction), but it's a new month, so I have made up for it by starting on yet another area of Civ IV - Specialists! On with the mods...

The Great General
The Great General unit, also known as a Warlord, is obtained by winning battles against enemy civilizations. Like other Great People, the Great General can be used to start a Golden Age, can discover a Military technology, or be settled in a city as a Military Instructor. In addition, it can be assigned to any unit, providing 20 XP to be split between all the units in the same square, and free upgrades for the assigned unit, as normal. Finally, the Great General is a Melee units with a Combat Strength of 3, and starts with the Leadership promotion. The Great General can hold his own against most Ancient Era units, and can also be captured like other Great People should he be defeated. Note that the experience and promotions gained by a Great General are lost when they are assigned to a unit as a Warlord.
Update (28/04/10): The Great General can now explore rival territory like all Great People.
Update (13/05/10): The Great General is no longer to build the Military Academy.

The Privateer
The Privateer is a fast naval vessel that has hidden nationality, so that it can attack rivals without declaring war. It has a Combat Strength of 8, 0-1 First Strikes, and a 20% Withdrawal Rate. The Privateer can bombard coastal cities, reduncing their defences by 5% per turn. The Privateer requires the Astronomy and Gunpowder technologies to be constructed, and can be upgraded to Frigates and Ships of the Line.

The Ship of the Line
The Ship of the Line is the ultimate wooden ship. It has a Combat Strength of 12, 1-2 First Strikes, and a Withdrawal Rate of 20%. The Ship of the Line causes Collateral damage to up to 2 additional units, and can bombard coastal cities, reducing their defences by 15% per turn.

The Courthouse
The Courthouse reduces City Maintainance by -50%. It also reduces War Weariness in the city by 25%. Finally, with BTS, it also provides additional espeionage and allows for a single Spy specialist to be created.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza requires masonry to be built, making it an Ancient era World Wonder now. It provides free Walls in every city, and increases the city's Defence by +25%. With Warlords, it also increases the city's defence against bombardment by 25%, and with VTS, also increases the citiy's Espionage Defence by 25%. However, it does increase City maintainance by +20%. Like other World Wonders, it's Culture does not double with time, but neither is it reduced when captured, and it no longer obsoletes. This makes a city with Chichen Itza a great city to fight over with a rival, but because of the increased City Defence bonuses, sieges here will be a lot harder than normal.

The Market
The Market requires Currency to be built, and increases city wealth by +25%, and allows for 1 merchant specialist to be assigned to the city. In addition, it provides +5% Commerce and +1 Happiness with Fur, Silk, Ivory, and Whale. However, it increases City maintaince by +5%.

Commerce Change Increment Mod
This is a simple XML mod that changes the increments that you can change the commerce slider by to 1%. This allows for exceptional fine tuning of commerce sliders, which is most useful when dealing with larger empires.

Maximum City Buildings Mod
This is another simple XML mod which removes the city building limits. This means there can be an unlimited number of buildings, national wonders, team wonders, and world wonders in a single city.

Design Notes: Originally, the limit for national wonders was to help enforce city specialization. However, seeing as buildings now increase city maintainance, this arbitrary limit is no longer relevent, as the practical limits for the amount of buildings in a city is determined by the city maintainance costs, and the presence of buildings that reduce city maintainance, such as Courthouses. Thus, a city with a Courthouse can support up to 10 buildings, 5 national wonders, 2 World Wonders, or any combination thereof, and still break even as if they did not have a Courthouse.

Conscription Mod
This is yet another simple XML mod which changes the limitations for Conscription (aka Drafting). It reduces the Population limit to 1, but it requires at least 50% of your own culture in the city. This makes the culture within a city more important in the game, as border cities with less than 50% culture lose the ability to draft units, which may help turn the tide against you in the heat of battle.

Formation Promotion
The Formation promotion provides +50% strength against Mounted units.

Charge Promotion
The Charge promotion provides +50% strength against Siege units.

Ambush Promotion
The Ambush promotion provides +50% strength against Armor and Vehicle units.

Citizen Specialist
The citizen is the defaul specialist, and all cities can assign an unlimited number of citizens. Citizens provide basic labour and taxes, resulting in +1 Production and +1 Wealth per citizen.

 

[davane]

Davane's Daily Mod (02/03/10)

The Executive
This unit is the modern equivalent of the Missionary, spreading Corporations rather than Religions. They have a Combat Strength of 1, count as Civilian Units, and can only defend. There is no limit to the number of Executives that can be constructed at any one time.
Update (28/04/10): Executives now have Hidden Nationality and can explore Rival Territory.

The Sistine Chapel
This world wonder gives Specialists +1 Culture, and all State Religion Buildings +1 Culture as well. It increases City Maintainance by +20%. In general, this building is somewhat weaker than in Civ IV, giving out less additional culture per specialist (and less additional culture per state religion building than the BtS version). This is primarily so that the additional culture does not overshadow the original abilities of the buildings. Like othe World Wonders, the culture generated by this building does not double with time, but neither is it reduced should the wonder be captured.

Hills Defence Mod
This is a simple XML mod which removes the defence bonus provided by hills. This means there is no additional benefit for building cities on hills. Archers and Longbowmen retain their bonuses on hills, as do those units with the Guerilla promotion, as normal.

Amphibious Promotion
This promotion allows units to ignore the penalties for attacking across rivers and attacking directly from naval vessels. It is enabled with the Sailing technology.

Priest Specialist
The Priest specialist can generally be assigned in cities with religious buildings. They provide +2 Wealth, +2 Research, +2 Culture (and +2 Espionage with BtS). In terms of raw output, the Priest specialist is the best specialist a city can have, but the other city specialists all provide more of their specific commerce (i.e. Merchants provide more Wealth, Scientists provide more Research, Artists provide more Culture, and Spies provide more Espionage). Priests also only provide +1 GPP per turn. This means National Wonders count as 1 specialist for GPP perposes, while World Wonders count as two.

 

[davane]

Davane's Daily Mods (03/03/10)

The Anti-Tank Infantry
Anti-Tank has a Combat Strength of 16, 1-2 First Strikes, and a 30% Withdrawal rate. They get a +50% bonus against Armor and Vehicle units. Finally, they can cause collateral damage, affecting up to 3 additional units. The Anti-Tank Unfantry unit requires Assembly Line, Artillery, and Combustion to be built. They are essentially Grenadiers for the Industrial/Modern era, and are also equipped to take on Armor and Vehicle units.

The Angkor Wat
This world wonder causes all Priest specialists to produce +2 Production, in addition to their normal benefits. The Angkor Wat allows 3 Priest specialists to be assigned, and provides a +25% Production bonus to the city. However, the Angkor Wat increases City Maintainance by +20%.

Design Notes: As noted previously, Priest specialists are already the best city specialist available in terms of raw output, even though all the other specialists besides the Citizen provide more of their relevent commerce than the Priest. This Wonder continues to keep this flavor, as Engineer specialists continue to produce more Production than Priests with their +2 Production bonus.

The March Promotion
This promotion allows the unit to heal even while moving. In addition, it increases the unit's healing rate slightly: +5% in friendly, neutral, and enemy lands. This promotion is available to Civilian units (although, currently, they cannot access it as they do not currently have access to either of the prerequisite promotions).

Update (08/03/10): The March pomotion provides +1 Movement, and requires the Engineering tech. This promotion's prerequisites have been changed to Medic II or Mobility.

The Artist
This specialist is available from cultural buildings, and provides +1 Wealth and +4 Culture. They also provide +1 Great Person Point, which goes towards generating a Great Artist.

Maximum XP Value Mod
This is a simple XML-only mod which increases the limits for XP gains from Animals and Barbarians in combat significantly. With the limit set to 50 XP for Animals and 100 XP for Barbarians, the XP limits should not become a factor in most games, and allows for Barbarian wars to become significantly more rewarding.

 

[davane]

Some personal stuff to sort out over the last few days, but it didn't stop me from working on Davane's Daily Mods, so here they are for your gaming pleasure...

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (07/03/10)

The Castle
This building represented the height of defensive structures, giving the city an additional +50% Defensive bonus, and a +25% reduction in bombardment damage. The Castle also provides a +25% espionage defense bonus. Finally, Castles also provide +1 Trade Route, +1 Culture, and +25% Espionage, as it serves as a defensive position of the government. The Castle does not obsolete, but requires Walls in the city, and increases City Maintainance by +5%.

Update (02/04/10): Castles no longer provides a bonus against Espionage defence.

The Cathedral
Cathedrals have seen a radical overhaul in the way they work. Cathedrals are now national wonders, meanining you can only build one of each cathedral once in your nation. Cathedrals serve as the centre of the given religion in your nation, and as such need a Temple in the city before they can be built. Cathedrals provide +2 Happiness, with an additional +2 Happiness if the Cathedral is for yousr State Religion. It also provides +1 Happiness and +5% Commerce with Incense. They provide +1 Trade Route, and also allof for up to 3 Priest specialists in the city. Finally, they increase Wealth, Research, Culture, and Espionage by +10% each. However, they increase City Maintainance by +10%.
Update (04/05/10): Instead of providing +10% Wealth, Research, Culture, and Commerce, Cathedrals now provide a bonus to all cities in your empire depending upon their religion, as well as an identical bonus for the city it is in. These are as follows: Judaism: +50% Wealth; Buddhism: +50% Research; Taoism: +50% Culture; Islam: +25% Wealth and +25% Research; Christianity: +25% Wealth and +25% Culture; Confucianism: +25% Research and +25% Culture; Hinduism: +10% Wealth; +10% Research; +10% Culture. You can only build Cathedrals for your current State Religion.

The Hagia Sophia
This world wonder is available with Engineering, and increases the work rate of all Workers by +25%. In addition, the Hagia Sophia enables all Labor civics. The Hagia Sophia does not obsolete, and increases City Maintainance by +20%.

Notre Dame
Notre Dame is a world wonder that provides +1 Happiness, plus an additional +1 Happiness for all cities on the same continent, and a further +1 Happiness for all cities in the world. However, it increases City Maintainance by +20%

 

[davane]

Davane's Daily Mods (07/03/10) Cont.

The Airship
The Airship is an air unit available before the advent of Flight. It has a Combat Strength of 14, and a range of 4. The airship causes Collateral Damage to up to 2 additional units. The airship is available with Physics and Military Science, and can be upgraded to Fighters and Bombers.

The Mobile Artillery
Available with Laser and Artillery, the Mobile Artillery unit is a fast siege unit, with 2 Moves and a Combat Strength of 22. It has 2 First Strikes, a 40% Withdrawal rate, and gets a +100% bonus when attacking cities. The Mobile Artillery causes Collateral Damage to up to 8 units.

The Mobile SAM
The Mobile SAM is a vehicle unit with 2 Moves. It has a Combat Strength of 20, 2 First Strikes, and a Withdrawal rate of 30%. It has a 50% chance to intercept Air Units, and gets a +50% bonus against Helicopter units. It is available with Laser and Flight.

The Paratrooper
Available with Fascism, Flight, Rifling, and Industrialism, the Paratroper is a gunpowder unit that is capable of performing Paradrops within 5 squares of a city is is stationed int. Paradrops can be intercepted by units that can normally intercept air units, but Paratroopers have a 25% change to evade this interception. Paratroopers have a Combat Strength of 20, 2 First Strikes, and a 30% Withdrawal rate.

Blitz Promotion
The Blitz Promotion requires Combat III, and allows the unit to attack multiple time per turn. It also provides +1 Movement. This promotion is available to Vehicle units. It requires the Engineering tech.

Commando Promotion
The Commando Promotion requires either March or Blitz, and allows the unit to use enemy roads. It also provides +1 Movement. This promotion is available to Civiliian and Vehicle units. It requires the Engineering tech.

Guerilla Promotion
The Guerilla I and Guerilla II promotions provide +40% hills defence and +60% hills defence respectively. Guerilla II also provides double movement in hills. The Guerilla promotions are available with the Mining tech. This promotion is available to Civilian units.

Update (23/03/10): The Guerilla III promotion has been updated for Warlords and BtS. It provides +50% hills attack and +1 First Strike chance. It requires the Guerilla II promotion, and is also enabled by the Mining tech.

Medic Promotion
The Medic I and Medic II promotions increase the healling rate of friendly units by +20% in the same tile, and in an allied tile respectively. The Medic I promotion no longer has any prerequisites, and is available to Civilian units.

Update (25/03/10): The Medic III promotion has been updated for Warlords and BtS. It increases the healing rate of friendly units in the same and adjacent space by +30%. It requires the Medic II promotion.

Engineer Specialist
The Engineer specialist provides +1 Wealth and +4 Production. It also provides +1 GPP.

Merchant Specialist
The Merchant specialist provides +1 Food and +4 Wealth. It also provides +1 GPP.

Scientist Specialist
The Scientist specialist provides +1 Wealth and +4 Research. It also provides +1 GPP.

Great Prophet Specialist
The settled Great Prophet specialist provides +4 Wealth, +4 Research, +4 Culture, and +4 Espionage (with BtS). It also provides +2 GPP, often allowing for a snowball effect for Great People if you settle enough of them early enough.

 

[Allan79]

What's your plans for the UU's and UB's? I can see you haven't updated these yet.

 

[davane]

Once I have completed all the standard units, I intent to go over them all at once to balance their production costs, AI flavours, and the like. Then I will be able to use the standard units as templates for the UU's. I intend to take the same approach with UB's as well.

There are likely to be some changes in UU's and UB's, largely regarding the units they replace. For example, I am looking to change the Spanish Conquisitor to replace the Explorer rather than the Cuirassier, and so will balance this UU accordingly. Likewise, I am considering having the Native American Dog Soldier replace the Scout rather than the Spearman. As for UB's, the Roman Forum is likely to replace the Courthouse rather than the Market. The order for UU's and UB's will be determined by Civilization order.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (08/03/10)

The Missile Submarine
Technically, this is the renamed Submarine in BTS. It's a naval unit that carries up to 3 Missile units, allowing for tactical missile units such as Guided Missiles and Tactical Nukes to be launched from the sea. Missile Submarines otherwise behave identically to Submarines (the renamed Attack Submarines from BtS), with a Combat Strength of 22, 6 Moves, and a 40% Withdrawal rate. Missile Submarines require Rocketry, Radio, and Combustion to be built.

Versailles
This world wonder acts like an additional Palace for your nation. However, unlike the Forbidden Palace, Versailles acts almost like a normal palace, providing +1 Happiness, +2 Commerce, +2 Wealth, +2 Research, +10 Culture, and +2 Espionage (with BtS). Inaddition, Versails reduces City Maintainance by -50% and provides +1 Trade Route.

Woodsman Promotion
The Woodsman I and Woodsman II Promotions provide +40% defence and +60% defence in Forests and Jungles respectively. Woodsman II also allows for double moves within Forests and Jungles. The Woodsmen promotions require the Hunting tech, and are available to Civilian units.

Update (30/03/10): The Woodsman III promotion has been updated for BtS only. It provides +50% Forest and Jungle attack, and increases the healing rate of the unit by +10% in Friendly, Neutral, and Enemy lands. It also increases the healing rate of units in the same tile by +10% as well.

Great Artist Specialist
Great Artist specialists provide +2 Wealth and +8 Culture. In addition, Great Artists provide +2 GPP.

Maximum Trade Routes Mod
This simple XML only mod increases the maximum number of trade routes in a city to 20.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (09/03/10)

The Missile Cruiser
The Missile Cruiser is a late game naval unit that is as powerful as a Battleship, but can also carry up to 4 Missile units. It has a Combat Strength of 20, 2 First Strikes, and a Withdrawal Rate of 30%. The Missile Cruiser has 7 Moves, and is available with Robotics and Rocketry.

The Spiral Minaret
The Spiral Minaret causes all State Religion buildings to provide +1 Wealth. It also provides +1 Happiness, +1 Wealth, +8 Culture, and +1 Trade Route, and increases the city's Wealth production by +25%. However, it increases City Maintainance by +20%.

City Raider Promotion
The City Raider I, City Raider II, and City Radier III promotions increases the unit's strength when attacking cities by +40%, +50%, and +60% respectively. City Raider III also increases the unit's Strength against Archer and Gunpowder units by +20%. These promotions all become available with Iron Working.

Great Scientist Specialist
The Great Scientist specialist provides +2 Wealth and +8 Research when settled. It also provides +2 GPP.

Golden Age Mod
This simple XML mod increases the length of Golden Ages to 20 turns. Golden Ages only initially require 1 Great Person (as in BtS).

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (11/03/10)

The Bank
Available with Banking, the Bank represents a great storehouse for the city's wealth, resulting in even greater city wealth production. The Bank provides +25% Wealth, and allows for two Merchant specialists to be assigned to the city. It increases City Maintainance by +5%.

The Grocer
Available with Guilds and Currency, the Grocer is a food market that provides +25% Wealth. In addition, it provides +1 Health with Bananas, Spices, Sugar, and Wine. It also provides +5% Food with Bananas, and +5% Commerce with Spices, Sugar, and Wine. Finally, it allows for the city to assign a single Merchant specialist. All this comes at the cost of increasing City Maintainance by +5%.

The Guided Missile
The Guided Missile is a powerful one-shot unit available with Rocketry and Radio. It has a Combat Strength of 30, a range of 4, +100% City Attack, and causes Collateral Damage to up to 8 units. It also evades interception 100% of the time.

The Stealth Destroyer
This late-game naval unit is invisible to all other units except other Stealth Destroyers. It has a Combat Strength of 20, 2 Fisrt Strikes, and a 30% Withdrawal rate. It can also intercept Air units 30% of the time. It is available with Stealth and Robotics.

City Garrison Promotion
City Garrison I, City Garrison II, and City Garrison III provide +40%, +50%, and +60% combat strength respectively when defending in cities. In addition, City Garrison III also provides +20% strength against Melee and Siege units. The City Garrison promotion requires the Masonry tech.

Drill Promotion
Drill I, Drill II, Drill III, and Drill IV each provide +1 First Strike, and also provide +25% defence against Collateral Damage (in Warlords and BTS). Drill IV also provides +20% strength against Mounted and Armor units. The Drill promotion becomes available with the Archery tech.

Great Engineer Specialist
When settled, the Great Engineer provides +8 Production, +2 Wealth, and +2 GPP per turn.

Great Merchant Specialist
When settled, the Great Merchant provides +2 Food, +8 Wealth, and +2 GPP per turn.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (12/03/10)

The Tactical Nuke
These missile units have a much shorter range than the standard ICBM, but are also much more likely to evade interception by enemy SDIs. They are available with Rocketry and Fission.

The University
This building increases the city's research by +25%, and provides +3 Culture. It also allows the city to assign 1 scientist specialist. However, it increases City Maintainance by +5%. Universities are available with Education.

Barrage Promotion
The Barrage I, Barrage II, and Barrage III promotions increases a unit's collateral damage by +40%, +60%, and +100% respectively. In addition, Barrage II also provides a +20% bonus vs. Melee units, while Barrage III provides a +20% bonus vs. Archer and Gunpowder units. It is enabled by Construction, and available to Siege, Naval, and Air units.

Great General Specialist
When settled, the Great General (also known as the Great Military Instructor) provides +2 Wealth and +2 Experience to all military units built in that city.

Initial Trade Route Mod
This simple XML-only mod reduces the initial trade routes for each city to 0. This means that until the city either builds buildings that provide trade routes, or the civilization researches a tech or civic the provides trade routes, cities do not normally start producing trade. The Palace provides +1 Trade Route to the city it is built in, however. This increases the potency of abilities that increase trade routes, and makes coastal cities and civilizations especially potent - particularly the Great Lighthouse wonder which provides +1 trade route for all coastal cities throughout the entire game. Note that Currency provides +1 Trade Route to all cities, while the Harbor also provides +1 Trade Route AND increases Trade Routes by 50% (although, it is limited to coastal cities).

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (13/03/10)

The Great Spy
The Great Spy is a recon unit with a Combat Strength of 3. It works in all respects as a normal Spy, being able to explore rival civilizations with hidden nationality, perform espionage missions, spot and thwart enemy spies, ignore building defence, and gain a 50% Withdraw rate. In addition, they can be settled as a Great Spy, start a golden age, build Scotland Yard, generate espionage points against a rival, and discover an espionage-related technology

(Note: Currently, there are no Espionage-related technologies, but there will be when I get round to the tech revisions, which will be forthcoming real soon!)

Update (25/03/10): The Great Spy can no longer build Scotland Yard.

This completes all the revisions for all the standard units from Civ IV, Warlords, and BtS. I will be balancing the production costs for these units soon, and then moving onto civilization's UUs.

Oxford University
Oxford University is a National Wonder which provides culture, and increases the City's Research rate by +100%. In addition, the city generates +1 scientist GPP per turn, and can assign up to 3 scientist specialists. However, Oxford University increases City Maintainance by +10%.

Accuracy Promotion
The Accuracy Promotion requires either City Raider I or Barrage I, and increases the unit's City Bombard rate by +20%. It is available to Siege and naval units (and Air units in BtS), and is enabled with the Engineering technology.

Spy Specialist
The Spy Specialist provides +1 Wealth and +4 Espionage, along with +1 Spy GPP.

Base Research Rate Mod
This simple XML-only mod reduces the base research rate to 0. This means the civilizations are not able to research any technologies unless their cities are actually generating Research. Note that Palaces each generate +2 Research, so ultimately this is a minor balance tweak that has little real effect overall.

Unit Upkeep Cost Mod
This XML-only mod alters upkeep costs for units. Each unit still costs 1 Wealth to upkeep. However, your civilization no longer gains an initial amount of free unit support. Unit's outside your cultural borders require +1 Wealth to support, and as with unit support costs, civ's no longer get any free unit support. There is also no free military support costs (such as the additional cost for military units under Pacifism). (Note that you still get the initial free units and the unit upkeep costs from your handicap level, which have not been modified yet).

Design Notes: The major aim of this mod is to allow for epic armies, battles, and empires sooner. These alterations to unit upkeep costs may seem counter-intuitive to this purpose. However, the aim of this change is to help prevent civilizations from building units uneccessarily "just because". You will have to build up your economy to support a standing army, and you are likely to have to reduce your research rate to accomodate a larger military during wartime. You may even be forced to declare war on nearby neighbours and pillage their improvements just to keep your army from dispanding. In the earlier eras, many civilizations engaged in raiding and pillaging to finance expansion, growth, and research. It should be noted, however, that the precise values of this mod may need to be rebalanced.)

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (14/03/10)

There are no daily mods today. Instead, I have rebalanced the production costs for all the standard units to help speed up the gameplay to lead to more epic games. In general, the production costs of units have been reduced as follows:

Military Units: 25% Cost
Non-Military Units: 50% Production Cost

Non-Military Units are Workers, Settlers, Missionaries, Executives, and Work Boats.

Testing thus far has shown that in a Quick, Tiny, Settler-handicap game (for testing of fastest production speed available), you can easily get to a point where you are producing a unit every other turn or so, without resorting to production bonuses from buildings/civics. I was able to consistantly produce 2 Warriors and a Scout in less than 10 turns on these settings.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (14/03/10)

The American Navy SEAL

The American Unique Unit replaces th Marine. It has +2 Combat Strength (for a Combat Strength of 18 rather than 16), +1 First Strike chance (for 2-3 First Strikes), and +20% Withdrawal Rate (for a Withdraw rate of 50% rather than 30%). The American Navy SEAL also comes with the March promotion for free. They still have the Amphibious promotion and +25% vs. Siege units, like a standard Marine.

The Hermitage
The Hermitage is a national wonder that increases the city's Culture by +100%. In addition, it also provides +2 Culture, so it has an effect even if it is in a city which is not generating any Culture otherwise. The Hermitage increases City Maintainance by +10%. It is available with Nationalism (and Aesthetics, in BTS).

Flanking Promotion
The Flanking I and Flanking II promotions increases the unit's Withdrawal rate by +20% and +40% respectively. In addition, both promotions provide +1 First Strike chance. Flanking I also provides +20% vs. Melee and Siege units, while Flanking II also provides +20% vs. Archery and Gunpowder units. The Flanking promotions are enabled with the Animal Husbandry tech.

Great Spy Specialist
Settled Great Spies provide +2 Wealth and +8 Espionage, and also provides +2 Great Spy GPP.

Desert Terrain
Desert terrain provides +1 Hammer, and +1 Commerce adjacent to rivers. However, improvmenets take +25% time to build.

Fortify Mod
This simple XML-only mod simply removed the bonus gained by fortifying. This means that defensive bonuses from features, improvements, and promotions become much more important, and if units wish to hold a particular spot, they should consider defensive improvements such as Forts.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (16/03/10)

The Arabian Camel Archer
The Arabian Camel Archer replaces the Horse Archer. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 5), +20% Withdrawal chance (for a total Withdrawal rate of 50%), and +1 First Strike chance.

Update (02/04/10): The Arabian Camel Archer now only has a +10% Withdrawal rate bonus (for a total Withdrawal rate of 40%), but does now gain +50% vs. Siege units, just like Knights do.

The Taj Mahal
This World Wonder starts a golden age within your civiliation once built. In addition, it provides +1 Production, +1 Commerce, and +50% GPP to the city.

Sentry Promotion
The Sentry promotion provides +1 Visibility range, +1 First Strike Chance, +10% Withdrawal rate, and +20% vs. Recon units. In addition, it reduces collateral damage taken by the unit by +25%. It is enabled with the Optics tech.

Snow Terrain
Snow terrain provides +1 Commerce. However, it does not provide additional Commerce when adjacent to a river.

Trade Route Mods
This simple XML-only mod increases the value of trade routes so that they are more profitable sooner. Not only is overall trade increased, but domestic trade is increased significantly.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Daily Mods (19/03/10)

First, I apologise for the delay. My internet connection was temporarily disabled, but this has now been resolved. To make matters worse, my last update contained the Arabian Horse Archer, which because of an oversight in failing to update the CivilizationInfos file to match the unit class change of their Unique Unit, resulted in a Crash to Desktop (CTD) whenever it would become available - which was unfortunately quite early in the game. This has, however, been resolved so no more CTDs for the time being! Now, on with the mods!

The Aztec Jaguar
The Aztec's unique unit is the Jaguar, which replaces the Axeman. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 4), and starts with the Woodsman I promotion. The Aztec Jaguar also retains their +100% vs. Melee Units, allowing them to fend off even Medieval Era melee threats.

The Chinese Cho-Ko-Nu
The Chinese unique unit is the Cho-Ko-Nu, which replaces the Crossbowman. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 9) and +1 First Strike (for a total of 2 First Strikes). In addition, it causes collateral damage to up to 2 additional units. It retains the Crossbowman's 10% Withdrawal rate.

The Egyptian War Chariot
The Egyptian unique unit is the War Chariot, which replaces the Chariot. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 4), +10% Withdrawal chance (for a total Withdrawl Chance of 30%), and +1 First Strike Chance. The War Chariot also retains the Chariot's +25% vs. Archery units, and +50% vs. Siege units.

The Jail
The Jail reduces the city's War Weariness by -25%, and provides +1 Happiness. It also provides +4 Espionage, increases the city's Espionage by +25%, and allows for 1 Spy specialist to be assigned in the city (BTS only). The Jail requires a Courthouse, and increases city maintainance by +5%.

The Observatory
The Observatory remains largely unchanged, increasing the city's Research by +25%, and allowing for 1 Scientist specialist to be assigned to the city. However, it increases City Maintainance by +5%.

West Point
West Point provides +3 XP to units built in the city. It increases Great General emergance by +100% (Warlords), and increases Enemy War Weariness by +25% (BtS). There is no level requirement, but you must have a Barracks built in the city, and have researched the Military Tradition and Bronze Working techs to build it.

Mobility Promotion
The Mobility promotion provides +1 Movement, reduces terrain costs by -1 (to a minimum of 1), and provides +10% Withdrawal chance. It also reduces Collateral Damage taken by the unit by -25% (Warlords and BtS only). The Mobility Promotion is enabled by the Horseback Riding tech.

Navigation Promotion
The Navigation I and Navigation II promotions both provide +1 Movement. In addition, Navigation I provides a +10% Withdrawal Chance, while Navigation II provides a +20% Withdrawal Chance. You must research the Compass tech to enable Navigation.

Coast Terrain
Coast terrain provides +2 Food and +1 Commerce. It no longer provides a defensive bonus. This means that Fresh Water Lakes provide +3 Food and +1 Commerce. Building the Lighthouse increases Coastal Tile food output to +3 Food, and Fresh Water Lake food output to +4 Food. This means that Coastal cities are good cities for growth and/or specialists, although their raw financial output is now significantly reduced (making the Colossus Wonder even more useful, as it's +1 Commerce bonus means that Coastal Tiles become +2 Commerce, and thus get the Financial trait's benefit of +1 additional Commerce (for a total of +3 Commerce).

Ocean Terrain
Ocean terrain provides +1 Food, which increases to +2 Food if the city has a Lighthouse. Ocean Tiles do not normally produce any Commerce, however.

 

[cml_nine]

Have been following this mod with interest and have implemented some of your changes in a mod am making. Where you've changed City's to allow unlimited production of wonders and such and making Cathedrals into small wonders. Is that only an XML change because have tried to implement seperately and can't get it to work.

 

[davane]

Both mods are XML only, and thus should be fairly easy to implement. To change the limitations on buildings, you need to edit the XML in the GlobalDefinesInfo file - the one version in the file archive should work with all versions of Civ IV. As for changing Cathedrals into National Wonders, this requires editing the XML in both the BuildingInfos and the BuildingClassInfos files. You may also need to edit the SpecialBuildingInfos as well, since Cathedrals are a special building type, but this is mostly for prereqs and availability.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Mods (23/03/10)

It looks like I will not be able to keep up the pace of releasing mods daily, as releasing the mods can take several hours in their own right, before even including planning, coding, and testing them. I will try and update these mods as regularly as possible, but I think it will be far more realistic to look towards twice-weekly updates of mods in most cases.

The English Redcoat
The English Redcoat replaces the Rifleman. It has +2 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 14), and has 2 First Strikes (instead of 1-2 First Strikes). However, it no longer gets a bonus against other Gunpowder units.

The French Musketeer
The French Musketeer replaces the Musketman. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 9) and +1 First Strike Chance (for a total of 1-2 First Strikes). The French Musketman only has 1 Movement, but starts with the Mobility promotion (gaining +1 Movement, +10% Withdrawal, and -1 to terrain costs).

The German Panzer
The German Panzer replaces the Tank. It has +2 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 22), +10% Withdrawal rate (for a total Withdrawal rate of 30%), and +1 First Strike Chance (for a total of 1-2 First Strikes). The German Panzer no longer gains a bonus against other Armored units.

The Greek Phalanx
The Greek Phalanx replaces the Spearman. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 4), and gains +50% vs. melee units in addition to their +100% bonus vs. mounted units. Phalanx no longer gain a bonus when defending upon hills, however. In BtS, Greek Phalanx were changed to replace the Axeman, because they were deemed "too defensive" when replacing Spearmen. This change is not neccessary with this mod, though, as the Greek Phalanx can be used both agressively and defensively while still replacing the Spearman.

The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a powerful World Wonder that provides +1 free specialist in all the cities you control, +1 additional free specialist in all the cities on the same continent, and yet another +1 free Specialist in the city it is built in. However, the Statue of Liberty increases City Maintainance by +20%.

Wall Street
This National Wonder provides +1 Wealth, and increases the City's Wealth production by +100%. It also allows the city to assign up to 3 Merchant specialists. However, it increases City Maintainance by +10%. A Bank is required in the city to build it.

Drydock
The Drydock provides +4 XP to newly created Naval units, and increases the production of Water units by +25%. However, it increases City Maintainance by +5%, and provides +1 Unhealthiness in that city.

Ironworks
The Ironworks national wonder increases Production by +50%, and allows up to three Engineer specialists to be assigned to the city. It also provides +25% Production with access to Coal, and +25% Production with access to Iron. However, it increases City Maintainance by +10% and provides +1 Unhealthiness, with an additional +1 Unhealthiness from access to Coal and Iron. This means that the Ironworks can potentially provide up to +100% production, but this is at the cost of +3 Unhealthiness. Without Coal and Iron, the Ironworks still provides +50% production for +1 Unhealthiness, so even without these resources it is worth considering this national wonder.

Warlord Promotion
This promotion is gained when the Great General is assigned to lead a unit in battle. It decreases unit upgrade costs by 50%, increases the units Combat Strength by +10%, and increases the unit's Withdrawal rate by +10%.

Leadership Promotion
This promotion requires the unit to be led by a Warlord, but increases the XP gained by the unit by +100%.

Tactics Promotion
This promotion increases the unit's Combay Strength by +10%, increases their Withdrawal Rate by +40%, and reduces the collateral damage taken by the unit by -25%. This promotion requires that the unit is led by a Warlord, and possess either the Leadership or Flanking II promotions. You need to learn the Military Tradition tech to enable this promotion.

Flood Plains
Flood Plains are found alongside any flatland tile adjacent to a river side, and provides +2 Food. However, Flood Plains also produce +0.2 Unhealthiness in nearby cities. This means that riverside tiles can always support population, and that Grassland rivierside tiles can produce +4 Food before improvements.

Jungles
Jungles provide +1 Production in addition to their -1 Food. They still produce Unhealthiness in nearby cities, but their Production bonus makes whether to clear a Jungle a harder choice.

Oasis
The Oasis remains unchanged, but can be found in either Desert or Snow tiles (in which case, it is more of a hot spring than an oasis).

Build Infos Mod
The Build Infos file determines the improvements that can be built by the Workers and Workboats, and has been extensively modified to bring about two basic changes. Firstly, clearing Jungles now provides Production like clearing a Forest, but it only results in half as much as a forest (base 15 rather than 30). This even applies when building improvements on tiles that will result in removing the Jungle. Secondly, Workboats are no longer sacrificed to build Fishing Boats, Whaling Boats, and Off-Shore Platforms. Instead, the time taken to build this improvements is comparable to Workers building Mines, Farms, and Wells, respectively. In addition, the Production cost of Workboats has been increased tobecome comparable with that of Workers as well.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Mods (25/03/10)

The Incan Quechua
The Incan Quechua replaces the Warrior. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 4) and is Immune to First Strikes. However, the Incan Quechua no longer starts with the Combat I promotion.

The Indian Fast Worker
The Indian Fast Worker replaces the Worker. It has +1 Combat Strength (for a total Combat Strength of 2), and builds improvements +25% faster. In addition, the Indian fast Worker starts off with the Mobility promotion (gaining +1 Movement and reducing terrain movement costs by 1).

Scotland Yard
Scotland yard is a National Wonder that provides +1 Happiness and reduces War Weariness by -25%. In addition, it also provides +4 Espionage, increases the city's Espionage rate by +100%, and allows the city to assign up to 3 Spy specialists (BtS only). It increases City Maintainance by +10%. Scotland Yard requires the Constitution tech, and that a Courthouse and Jail be built in the city. Great Spies can no longer build Scotland Yard, however.

The Kremlin
The Kremlin is a World Wonder that reduces hurry costs by -25%. In addition, it provides +4 Espionage and allows up to 3 Spy specialists to be assigned to the city (BtS only). However, the Kremlin increases City Maintainance by +20%. The Kremlin no longer obsoletes.

Morale Promotion
The Morale promotion provides +1 Moves, increases the unit's healing rate by +5%, and provides +10% Combat Strength. This promotion requires that the unit is led by a Warlord, and has either the Leadership or March promotions. This promotion is enabled with the Military Tradition tech.

Marble Resource
Marble is now revealed by Masonry.

Stone Resource
Stone is now revealed by Mining. However, you will still need the Masonry tech to build Quarries that allow you to access stone.

City Maintainance Mod
This simple XML-only mod increases the base City Maintainance from 0 to 1. It also increases the Distance Maintainance limit significantly. This means that each new city will have a maintainance cost, including your initial starting city. This is so that the City Maintainance increases from buildings will have an effect in most cities, including your capital, even if there are no other maintainance modifiers (such as number of cities, distance, and so forth).

New Hurry Modifier Mod
This simple XML-only mod removes the modifier applied to the hurry cost when hurrying a new building or unit (i.e one iwhich you have not allocated any previous production towards). This does not alter the modifier applied to the hurry cost when hurrying wonders.

Occupation and Revolution Mod
This simple XML-only mod reduces the minimum time taken to restore control to a revolting or occupied city to a minimum of 1 turn. However, it takes a number of turns equal to half the population to restore control to a newly occupied city, and a number of turns equal to a quarter of the population to restore control to a city that converts through culture. Cities have a chance to convert if they have at least 50% culture, and there are no longer any warning revolts. This means it is even more important to keep an eye on the cultural breakdown of your cities or you could lose them. Religion modifiers remain potent forces on city conversion, although both modifiers cancel out, so having your state religion in a city is enough to cancel the direct influence of a rival's state religion (even if it is the same as yours). When a city converts peacefully, it no longer provides any free units, making converted cities unhappier and more vulnerable unitl they are protected. This also makes them excellent targets of opportunity during a war - and may even provoke a state of war should a rival civilization decide to use military force to regain their peacefully converted cities. It also makes stationing troops nearby to protect rival cities that convert peacefully to your civilization a viable option.