Morten Blaabjerg
Settler
SOON TO BE RELEASED
I have been working intensely for weeks with this my first Civ2 scenario, and I'm finished! Almost! I realize there's still much playtesting to be done, and adjustments of play balance, minor changes to the techs, units and grapx etc. So you'll have to wait a week or so before I upload it. But here is some info + screenshots just for an appetizer! ....SORRY! No screenshots. it seems they have to be html, and not more than 20k, so they would be so bad quality, that I prefer not uploading them!
You'll have to do with a little back info.
My original idea was to set the scene for the terror of the viking raids of the 8th through to the 11th century in western Europe. -To really make the "feel" right. The vikings should be savage and heathen. And militarily very aggressive. I came upon the idea of a new way of using nukes. "Christianity vs the Terror from the North" -or Diplomacy/Development vs. Nuclear Weapons/Raiding".
The vikings should have powerful nuke ships, with a little alteration to the graphics and sounds. The path of murder and destruction would be the pollution that followed these attacks. Hunger, epidemics -the casualties of war. And the monks were there to sing their prayers for the dead. ("clean up pollution" -prayer "p").
The objective of the christian world would then be to send a stream of missionaries (agents) to convert nordic cities to the new faith (diplomats=missionaries).
Well, so long so far. Setting up the scenario has been, and still is, a lot of work. But I have had to scrap many ideas along the way. First of all, it was possible to make the AI PRODUCE these new weapons (the viking nukeships), but it had a tendency to hid them in the cities, and not wage war with them, and they so were never used for anything but defense situations -not as the powerful weapons they were. Instead of aggressive nordic militarilism, I got a "sit-tight on your nukes" kind of situation.. where the norsemen and danes didn't quite expand as expected.
So, after a little rethinking, I decided the development had to be a bit more subtle. It involved changing the tech tree (again...!), and the units, in a careful way.
PLAYING OBJECTIVES
BASIC PREMISE
The Norsemen and Danes start off with very aggressive weaponry. They have powerful naval units, naval wonders, and Danelagen pays all their city improvements with cost of 1. Viking warriors are cheap, can attack from ships, and can raid (paradrop) within 6 squares of the encampment or city they are based in. Furthermore, they are costfree for tribal kingdoms (viking fundamentalisms).
But there is a problem. City growth. The vikings cannot build abbeys and monasteries, manors and mills, which allows higher production and city growth. And as the viking empires grow (by military expansion, primarily), the more necessary it is to get the economy and the science up and running. -If they want to keep the war effort going -that is!
It is vital for the norse and danes to carve out their empires as fast as possible, to keep the economy running (from tributes and new cities), and to hinder the growth of the continental nations as well as the anglosaxon/celtic (which will probably be the best playground for viking expansion in the first place -because the continent is too big a piece to swallow just yet).
For the vikings to keep this empire, it is necessary at one point to switch to the new religion, Christianity, which involves all the good science/economic advances (as well as a lot of scrap ones). One needs to take considerate care at this point. Do it too early, and the empire falls apart, from the sudden military pressure from the outside. Do it too late, and the empire scrambles to dust from lack of economy within.
The thing is, that all the vikings weapons technology seem to become obsolete with this new christian faith. Suddenly there is a thing called chivalry, and siege towers. And feudalism, manorialism, heresy, cathedrals, etc. etc. Suddenly their ships can't sail as far as they used to (wonders obsolete) -and finally their viking raiders become unavailable, and so does the terrifying dragon ships. Everything gets more expensive, and more difficult. Of course, the danes and the norsemen can steer free of these new techs, but for how long, before the
christian nations eventually become too strong, economic-wise, scientifically -and militarily?
The strategy for the continentals and anglosaxon/celts, must be to try and buy off the vikings, either by money, diplomacy, or militarily, or even better yet : scientifically. Give them all the christian techs they want, but make sure that their military empire don't get too strong in the long run.
Strong alliances, palisades, watch towers, city walls, chivalry, diplomacy, and a good money bag ---all this is neccessary to make things go the way they did in the history books. -turning their weak feudal monarchies into strong medieval war machines!
How does that sound for an opening?
And of course, the Holy Roman Church must play a significant part. I noticed that the AI is very fond of Area3 units (air superiority) and it doesn't care if they are landbased and very weak. So it is an excellent way of getting the AI to produce a bunch of useless priests to be massacred by invaders!
The map consists mainly of western europe and
scandinavia, with som rogue tribes in the east played by barbarians. Also, there's some new terrain called villages, baronies and abbeys, with appropriate rich ressources, to simulate the relative wealth of medieval europe, in contrast to the north.
TO BE RELEASED SHORTLY!
Please give me a hint by mail (hardjoy@worldonline.dk), if you would like to take part in playtesting. I really would appreciate some serious comment on the play balance etc, from the outside!
Yours Truly,
Morten
[This message has been edited by Morten Blaabjerg (edited April 17, 2001).]
I have been working intensely for weeks with this my first Civ2 scenario, and I'm finished! Almost! I realize there's still much playtesting to be done, and adjustments of play balance, minor changes to the techs, units and grapx etc. So you'll have to wait a week or so before I upload it. But here is some info + screenshots just for an appetizer! ....SORRY! No screenshots. it seems they have to be html, and not more than 20k, so they would be so bad quality, that I prefer not uploading them!
You'll have to do with a little back info.
My original idea was to set the scene for the terror of the viking raids of the 8th through to the 11th century in western Europe. -To really make the "feel" right. The vikings should be savage and heathen. And militarily very aggressive. I came upon the idea of a new way of using nukes. "Christianity vs the Terror from the North" -or Diplomacy/Development vs. Nuclear Weapons/Raiding".
The vikings should have powerful nuke ships, with a little alteration to the graphics and sounds. The path of murder and destruction would be the pollution that followed these attacks. Hunger, epidemics -the casualties of war. And the monks were there to sing their prayers for the dead. ("clean up pollution" -prayer "p").
The objective of the christian world would then be to send a stream of missionaries (agents) to convert nordic cities to the new faith (diplomats=missionaries).
Well, so long so far. Setting up the scenario has been, and still is, a lot of work. But I have had to scrap many ideas along the way. First of all, it was possible to make the AI PRODUCE these new weapons (the viking nukeships), but it had a tendency to hid them in the cities, and not wage war with them, and they so were never used for anything but defense situations -not as the powerful weapons they were. Instead of aggressive nordic militarilism, I got a "sit-tight on your nukes" kind of situation.. where the norsemen and danes didn't quite expand as expected.
So, after a little rethinking, I decided the development had to be a bit more subtle. It involved changing the tech tree (again...!), and the units, in a careful way.
PLAYING OBJECTIVES
BASIC PREMISE
The Norsemen and Danes start off with very aggressive weaponry. They have powerful naval units, naval wonders, and Danelagen pays all their city improvements with cost of 1. Viking warriors are cheap, can attack from ships, and can raid (paradrop) within 6 squares of the encampment or city they are based in. Furthermore, they are costfree for tribal kingdoms (viking fundamentalisms).
But there is a problem. City growth. The vikings cannot build abbeys and monasteries, manors and mills, which allows higher production and city growth. And as the viking empires grow (by military expansion, primarily), the more necessary it is to get the economy and the science up and running. -If they want to keep the war effort going -that is!
It is vital for the norse and danes to carve out their empires as fast as possible, to keep the economy running (from tributes and new cities), and to hinder the growth of the continental nations as well as the anglosaxon/celtic (which will probably be the best playground for viking expansion in the first place -because the continent is too big a piece to swallow just yet).
For the vikings to keep this empire, it is necessary at one point to switch to the new religion, Christianity, which involves all the good science/economic advances (as well as a lot of scrap ones). One needs to take considerate care at this point. Do it too early, and the empire falls apart, from the sudden military pressure from the outside. Do it too late, and the empire scrambles to dust from lack of economy within.
The thing is, that all the vikings weapons technology seem to become obsolete with this new christian faith. Suddenly there is a thing called chivalry, and siege towers. And feudalism, manorialism, heresy, cathedrals, etc. etc. Suddenly their ships can't sail as far as they used to (wonders obsolete) -and finally their viking raiders become unavailable, and so does the terrifying dragon ships. Everything gets more expensive, and more difficult. Of course, the danes and the norsemen can steer free of these new techs, but for how long, before the
christian nations eventually become too strong, economic-wise, scientifically -and militarily?
The strategy for the continentals and anglosaxon/celts, must be to try and buy off the vikings, either by money, diplomacy, or militarily, or even better yet : scientifically. Give them all the christian techs they want, but make sure that their military empire don't get too strong in the long run.
Strong alliances, palisades, watch towers, city walls, chivalry, diplomacy, and a good money bag ---all this is neccessary to make things go the way they did in the history books. -turning their weak feudal monarchies into strong medieval war machines!
How does that sound for an opening?
And of course, the Holy Roman Church must play a significant part. I noticed that the AI is very fond of Area3 units (air superiority) and it doesn't care if they are landbased and very weak. So it is an excellent way of getting the AI to produce a bunch of useless priests to be massacred by invaders!
The map consists mainly of western europe and
scandinavia, with som rogue tribes in the east played by barbarians. Also, there's some new terrain called villages, baronies and abbeys, with appropriate rich ressources, to simulate the relative wealth of medieval europe, in contrast to the north.
TO BE RELEASED SHORTLY!
Please give me a hint by mail (hardjoy@worldonline.dk), if you would like to take part in playtesting. I really would appreciate some serious comment on the play balance etc, from the outside!
Yours Truly,
Morten
[This message has been edited by Morten Blaabjerg (edited April 17, 2001).]
