East Asia Mod testing

[Yoda Power]

That's perfect! Thanks.

 

[Blue Monkey]

That's perfect! Thanks.

Okay, working on the "finals" tonight.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Era Splashes with brightness transitions & variable sized title blocks:

PREVIEWS

50% size (displays darker than actual splashes)

Full size preview


Lo-Rez transition simulation:

Spoiler :

Download Page

 

[Yoda Power]

This weekend I actually had some time to play a little. So I tried out Maurya to see how they work out. With the trait combo of rel and sci, I am heading for a cultural victory. But I need lots of cities then! And there's only one way to get a lot of cities.

It took me a whole age with constant fighting to conquer the other Indian kingdoms, but I finally succeded. It didn't make it any easier that Tibet, Song and Burma backstabed me just after I finished the first war with the Mughals.

So after having unified India, colonized Burma, I'm starting some naval expeditions into Indonesia to stop the annoying Majapahits, who sneak attacked my island holding north of Sumatra.

Spoiler big pic of empire :

 

[Blue Monkey]

I played a couple of games as the Timurids ( until the end was obvious). I wanted to try out a civ completely against my normal style of play. The way you have set up the necessity to capture workers & the unit progression, plus the Khaganate (sp?) government, really lead me to get into the super-aggressive mood. So now I'm trying Maurya, on a random map. Aggression followed by cultural victory perfectly suits the historical Asoka!

BTW, I hope the new version of the era splashes are suitable.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Is Vijayanagara supposed to be unplayable?

 

[Malkor]

I have a little more info, and a bit of speculation, in regards to the "Stupa of Sanchi" issue. Having played through a couple more times, it seems that the computer controlled civs can build it without any problems. Also, once it's been built, I can take over the city it's in without any issues. It makes me wonder if the problem might have something to do with the picture of the wonder that appears when you finish building it. The picture doesn't appear in the cases above, and when I build it, the game crashes before the picture appears.

 

[Yoda Power]

I played a couple of games as the Timurids ( until the end was obvious). I wanted to try out a civ completely against my normal style of play. The way you have set up the necessity to capture workers & the unit progression, plus the Khaganate (sp?) government, really lead me to get into the super-aggressive mood. So now I'm trying Maurya, on a random map. Aggression followed by cultural victory perfectly suits the historical Asoka!

BTW, I hope the new version of the era splashes are suitable.

Cool, not much testing is done on random maps, so I'd like to know how your game goes.

I actually thought I had commented on them, I guess I forgot to push the post buttom or something. They look very nice.

Is Vijayanagara supposed to be unplayable?

No that's a mistake. Feel free to flag them as playable, and play them.

I have a little more info, and a bit of speculation, in regards to the "Stupa of Sanchi" issue. Having played through a couple more times, it seems that the computer controlled civs can build it without any problems. Also, once it's been built, I can take over the city it's in without any issues. It makes me wonder if the problem might have something to do with the picture of the wonder that appears when you finish building it. The picture doesn't appear in the cases above, and when I build it, the game crashes before the picture appears.

That's it! I just checked the pic and doesn't have a palette. I'm attaching it now, if someone will help me fix it.

 

[Quinzy]

Here you go.

 

[Yoda Power]

Thank you.

 

[Agroschim]

I have to download and play this one now!

 

[Flamand]

Very nice mod, with such amazing eye for detail...

I don't know if it was mentioned here before, but when playing I bumped into a little bug: the workers seems to upgrade into horsemen at some point in the game.

Ps: love the era splashes, Blue Monkey!

 

[Blue Monkey]

Ps: love the era splashes, Blue Monkey!

Thank you.

 

[Yoda Power]

Thanks for the nice comments.

Don't worry the worker bug will be fixed.

 

[SurrenderMonkey]

I've play some turns on Asia Map as :

Maurya (Monarch Level)
Burman (EL)

And until the end as Ming (ML) and Japan (EL).

The default world domination limit of 20 % seems too weak because of large desert in Central Asia. Civs who conquered nomadic territories and island (owned by weak civ) can reach this limit very quickly. I won Ming game by domination during the early medieval era and Indus won in my Japan game during... second era !

About civ balance :

1/ Indus was often a juggernaut. The start location give them a large territories and if nomads make the mistake of attacking them, Indus conquer a lot of town. I could be partial : I hate them. They were the reason of the collapse of my Mauryan civ's, winner against my japs, second when I play Burma and Ming.

2/ Nomadic civs seems horribly weak. In facts, they were a very early menace and Indus or Jin or Ming (and later, Tibet) counter-attack by a slaughter. In no game, they were still a menace after second age (if they were alive !). They need start resources and perhaps another civ advantage (early powerful and cheap defensive unit ?) to help them to survive as a strong menace for Indian/China civs (as in true History)

3/ Maurya and.Mughals were weak. Indus and "Grey" created their towns in a sort of "reserved area" but Maurya and Green cannibalized themselves. They suffer lack of territories, armies and tech.

4/ I was very disappointed by Japan : when I conquered their islands in Ming Game, they have only bamboo-stick defenders to oppose at my medieval cavalry. In facts, this is a great localisation for a player if amphibious hunter attack Korean towns when IA is in colonization phase and before they developed bronze spearmen. But IA is stupid and an japanese IA seems to be doomed : no copper, last civ to encounter opponents (so, lack of tech), no resource for trading (they never obtain sake tech ...).

5/ Korea/Mandchu territories seem perfect. Jin and Goryeo created each coherent countries with great resources (when I did'nt attack them ).

6/Same opinion for Indonesia. Very great defensive localisation and fun thanks to elephant units. Burma is perhaps to powerful relatively to Kambu... huh... the East Khmers. It was to easy to predate their towns during my Burma game.

7/ I'm surprised by tibetan. Start location apparently stink, but they survive and conquer nomads... If nomads become more powerful, they could have some difficulties.

 

[Yoda Power]

I've play some turns on Asia Map as :

Maurya (Monarch Level)
Burman (EL)

And until the end as Ming (ML) and Japan (EL).

The default world domination limit of 20 % seems too weak because of large desert in Central Asia. Civs who conquered nomadic territories and island (owned by weak civ) can reach this limit very quickly. I won Ming game by domination during the early medieval era and Indus won in my Japan game during... second era !

What the..? I've never had a domi victory so early. Even though 20% landmass is possible, the 70% population usually makes it hard for me. I guess I could take another look at it.

About civ balance :

1/ Indus was often a juggernaut. The start location give them a large territories and if nomads make the mistake of attacking them, Indus conquer a lot of town. I could be partial : I hate them. They were the reason of the collapse of my Mauryan civ's, winner against my japs, second when I play Burma and Ming.

Yes, Indus is the most powerfull Indian civ, because of their agri trait. But they lack some important resources, and their later units aren't that great, so you should be able to catch up with them, playing as other Indian civs.

2/ Nomadic civs seems horribly weak. In facts, they were a very early menace and Indus or Jin or Ming (and later, Tibet) counter-attack by a slaughter. In no game, they were still a menace after second age (if they were alive !). They need start resources and perhaps another civ advantage (early powerful and cheap defensive unit ?) to help them to survive as a strong menace for Indian/China civs (as in true History)

This is one of my big concerns. The nomads really seem as jokers, since their survival depends on their ability to get early workers. When they do, they can be quite the pain, but it doesn't always happen.

3/ Maurya and.Mughals were weak. Indus and "Grey" created their towns in a sort of "reserved area" but Maurya and Green cannibalized themselves. They suffer lack of territories, armies and tech.

I agree. But I'm not sure what to give them, they already have a bunch of resources and cool units. I think their trait combo may just be weak.

4/ I was very disappointed by Japan : when I conquered their islands in Ming Game, they have only bamboo-stick defenders to oppose at my medieval cavalry. In facts, this is a great localisation for a player if amphibious hunter attack Korean towns when IA is in colonization phase and before they developed bronze spearmen. But IA is stupid and an japanese IA seems to be doomed : no copper, last civ to encounter opponents (so, lack of tech), no resource for trading (they never obtain sake tech ...).

If only Japan would get some earlier contatcs, they would be fine in the hands of the ai. Isolated civs always do much better in the hands of a player. Maybe they could start with a watch tower on the mainland or something.

5/ Korea/Mandchu territories seem perfect. Jin and Goryeo created each coherent countries with great resources (when I did'nt attack them ).

6/Same opinion for Indonesia. Very great defensive localisation and fun thanks to elephant units. Burma is perhaps to powerful relatively to Kambu... huh... the East Khmers. It was to easy to predate their towns during my Burma game.

Burma is a bit too powerfull, I agree. But it's that damn agri trait! I might make the start location for Burma a bit worse, that might balance out thing a little.

7/ I'm surprised by tibetan. Start location apparently stink, but they survive and conquer nomads... If nomads become more powerful, they could have some difficulties.

Tibet is a civ not to be underestimated. Did you notice that the Plateau gives +2 trade when roaded? This way the small Tibetan cities, give just as much commerce as the other cities.

Thanks for playing!

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

New early sketch of a new Burmese LH:

 

[Blue Monkey]

Re SurrenderMonkey's report:

When I tried playing Maurya on the standard map I wasn't too successful. Their start location left me very cramped and I had to cope with the Mughals, etc., far too soon.

On the other hand, I'm currently playing a game as them on the "Oasis" map & am being very successful. Get those settlers out there early, use enough workers to build roads between the settled areas, and aggressively counter any "pushy" neighbors. The faulty worker upgrade has slowed down my ability to improve terrain for maximum development, but I've detailed units to protect them. One such battle actually sparked my golden age. It took me a while to catch on to the advantages of both x- & y- wraparound. The AI doesn't deal with "back door" attacks very well.

I had a couple of successful games as the Timurids on random maps, so I know it is possible to dominate with the nomads. I pretty much only built units that could get me lots of workers. I behaved like movie mongols - repeatedly raided to get workers rather than try to conquer cities until I had a sustainable base with my cities irrigated & mined to the max & then spread roads out from there, so that newly captured workers could be quickly moved and joined up as work gangs.

 

[Yoda Power]

New early sketch of a new Burmese LH:

Thanks for trying, but you really should fix a few things.

1) It looks pixelated.
2) The props need some texture, they look more like yellow plastic, than gold.
3) A Burmese would have black eyebrows. They also look like they are just painted on like makeup.
4) The background looks like a low quality jpeg. I'll see if I can find something better.

Re SurrenderMonkey's report:

When I tried playing Maurya on the standard map I wasn't too successful. Their start location left me very cramped and I had to cope with the Mughals, etc., far too soon.

On the other hand, I'm currently playing a game as them on the "Oasis" map & am being very successful. Get those settlers out there early, use enough workers to build roads between the settled areas, and aggressively counter any "pushy" neighbors. The faulty worker upgrade has slowed down my ability to improve terrain for maximum development, but I've detailed units to protect them. One such battle actually sparked my golden age. It took me a while to catch on to the advantages of both x- & y- wraparound. The AI doesn't deal with "back door" attacks very well.

I had a couple of successful games as the Timurids on random maps, so I know it is possible to dominate with the nomads. I pretty much only built units that could get me lots of workers. I behaved like movie mongols - repeatedly raided to get workers rather than try to conquer cities until I had a sustainable base with my cities irrigated & mined to the max & then spread roads out from there, so that newly captured workers could be quickly moved and joined up as work gangs.

I should probably just find a way to beef up Maurya on the standard map, somehow.

Maybe I should add in some normal barbs close to the nomads, so they get a chance to get more workers early on?

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

I should probably buy that thing Rob suggests. Otherwise the eyebrows won't improve much no matter what I do...