Hegemon! Of the Classical Greek World! Jul '22

[Rambuchan]

HEGEMON
By Rambuchan & Vuldacon

For Conquests and/or Complete only

~~~0~~~

Warning!
You are about to experience the winner of
The Best Scenario of the Year Award 2012

~~~0~~~


Rambuchan of London here displays his inquiry,
so that human achievements, and indeed follies, may not be forgotten in time,
and great and marvellous deeds - those displayed by the Greeks and mainly the Greeks - may not be without their glory;
and especially to show why we fought each other.




I have spent much time travelling the known world and, with my inquiry here displayed,
am able to offer some guidance and information to assist you as leader of your people.
You may accept or discount this as you wish, of course,
but never forget that the gods are jealous of he who grows too prosperous.


~~~0~~~​

Background: It is the year 1200BC. The Greek and Mediterranean world our ancestors knew has collapsed and we are now in what some call a 'Dark Age'. Natural disasters, invasions by Sea Peoples and Dorians from the North - in my opinion merely the hand of Fate in disguise - have all laid waste to the trade systems and governments which had until recently flourished and provided for the peoples of these lands. Our loss has been great and our future is uncertain.

The legacies of the Minoans, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Hittites are hardly to be felt anymore. We have lost the arts of metal working, of writing and most else and now we must seemingly start afresh.

Special: It is apparent to me that we Greeks yearn to be free and independent. But we are also beset by powerful empires around us in the known world. These do not love freedom and are thus able to martial their subject peoples into mighty empires that threaten our way of life. We need a Greek leader who is powerful and charismatic enough to unite us and lead us in the face of these imperial powers. It may even be that we need something like a “Hegemon” to put us on the world map and lead the Greek World to New Glory!

~~~0~~~


Here is what players have been saying about Hegemon:

"A veritable masterpiece balancing detail and gameplay" & "Brilliant and beautifully crafted" - AnthonyBoscia

"Rambuchan is the first to develop and present a Game concerning the Classic Greek World and he has managed to make it Educational as well as Fun. Hegemon is indeed Classic." - Vuldacon

"This scenario is definitely the best that has been created so far on the C3C scene. Until now, nothing else has been so enchanting and enjoyable for me. I listen to the soundtrack everyday too." - PiotrG

"Too good to describe" - TomYo689

"It comes very recommended" & "Very polished, very polished indeed" - Keroro

"Its wonderful and so well polished. I loved the old version, but this new one blows me away!" - King Coltrane

"Especially loving the Heredotus-esque 'pedia entries!" - Virote Considon

"Great scenario; plays like magic" - TsarNikolai

"I must say the attention to detail is excellent - it has had a great amount of thought put into it … very very good stuff, I love it" - pvincent100

"I just tried this scenario out, and I must say, I was blown away! The soundtrack, graphics, civlopedia, interface (and did I mention the soundtrack?) all work together beautifully to create a true masterpiece of a scenario." - Bowsling


~~~0~~~​

DOWNLOAD HEGEMON v1.45 HERE

Installation Instructions for existing players of Hegemon:

If you DLed any of the versions earlier than v1.45 you should delete them before installing the folder above.

If you have already DLed v1.45 then you only need to grab and extract the two zip files now attached to the foot of this post.

Installation Instructions for new players of Hegemon:

1) DL the v1.45 Hegemon folder above.
2) DL the v1.5 biq in zip attached to the foot of this post.
3) DL the v1.5 Patch in zip also at the foot of this post.
4) First extract v1.45 folder & v1.5 biq to the directory mentioned below.
5) Then extract the v1.5 Patch to the same directory. Say "yes to all" overwrites.

Directory for extraction for C3C Users: Civilization III/Conquests/Scenarios
Directory for extraction for Civ 3 Complete Users: Civilization III Complete/Conquests/Conquests

(Look out for the old 'folder within a folder' trap! Make sure there isn't a Hegemon/Hegemon folder situation going on. There can only be room for ONE Hegemon.)

 

[Rambuchan]

Credits

Inspiration: Herodotus’s “Histories” & Thucydides’s “History of the Peloponnesian War”

* Scenario Concept & Design - Rambuchan
* Art Direction - Rambuchan
* Tech Guru - Vuldacon
* Graphical Interface – Vuldacon
* Graphics Implementation - Vuldacon
* Tech Icons - Rambuchan
* Map - MaisseArsouye (alterations by Rambuchan)
* Tech Tree Structure - Thamis (alterations by Rambuchan)
* Leaderheads - Rob R8XFT, Embryodead, and Piernik
* Units - Sandris, Plotinus, Virote Considon, Kinboat, BeBro, embryodead, aaglo, Orthanc, odintheking, utahjazz7, Firaxis, with extra sound and animation tweaks by Vuldacon
* City Graphics – Stico, Kyriakos and skam0073
* Civilopedia Entries - Rambuchan, Herodotus, Thucydides, Homer, Keroro (Colony Wonders) and Takhisis (selected Tribe entries). The three classical writers have variously been quoted in full, in part, edited and/or referenced by Rambuchan.
* Soundtrack - Rambuchan, technical assistance from themanuneed and Soul Warrior (see Music text file in Text folder for artist and track names)
* Hegemonic Victory Animation - Rambuchan, Vuldacon and Ram's business partner
* Game Testing - King Coltrane, Keroro, Rathvilly, Geminisama, 7ronin, Blue Monkey, Takhisis
* Game Engine & all else - Firaxis

Concept

I wanted to create something that would capture that sense of a busy and diverse community of Greeks, spread right across the eastern Mediterranean, calling on each other for favours and alliances, worshipping the gods, rebuilding themselves after the so-called ‘Greek Dark Ages’ and eventually vying with each other for supremacy of the Greek world.

I wanted something that allowed both the reliving of certain historical episodes, as well as something that would allow a more freeform rewriting of history as the player may want to. Something not quite a strictly proscribed scenario, but not quite freeform mod either.

Hegemon pretty much provides this and, I believe, caters for lovers of the ancient Greek World in bucket loads.

Though you can reshape history in your vision, it is virtually doubtless that you’ll end up fighting the Peloponnesian Wars, that you’ll end up contending with (or driving) a mighty Macedonian military machine by the late game and that the barbaroi will not be easy to deal with – especially the threat from the east.

Whatever it is, it’s certainly fun! And epic! And it’s certainly a challenge to win the game.

Approach

I have very much gone for a first person narrator and guide, who leads you through the game via the Civilopedia, throwing in all kinds of conflicting opinions and reports and diversionary snacks of information. It’s simply more fun and interesting than the standard pedia writing model!

This approach has been dictated by the tone and style of Herodotus, and to a lesser degree Thucydides, and what they were interested in. In other words, I’ve focussed on the political and geographic angle, and excluded mythical and fantasy elements. I know some will want to see all kinds of mythic gods and monsters in here. I was certainly tempted myself! In accordance with Herodotus’s religiosity, the only two concessions on this front are (a) the running of ‘favours of the gods’ and (b) the building of the Twelve Great Olympian Temple Wonders. Other than that, it’s very much real world content.


Right, now on with the content!!

 

[Rambuchan]

TIME PERIOD:
- 1200BC to 150BC
- Spread over three eras: The Archaic, The Classical & The Hegemonic
- Length of game: A suitably epic 550 turns.

SETTING:
- The Classical Greek World (minus Magna Græcia)

THE CIVS
- 31 civs, all playable, as listed below.
In the spoiler after the list is the information page from the Civilopedia which gives you difficulty level guidance for each civ:

7 Barbaroi:
Illyria
3 Thracian Kingdoms: Thrace, Chersonesos, Bithynia
3 Asiatic Kingdoms in Asia Minor: Lydia, Phrygians, Caria

Greeks in Asia Minor:
Ionia, Aiolia, Troy

Island Greeks:
Ithaka, Corcyra, Cyclades, Crete, Euboia, Dodecanese

Mainland Greeks:
Elis, Messenia, Lokris, Phokis, Chalkidike, Epeiros, Aetolia, Thessaly, Argos, Mycenae, Corinth (who can hit the big time if played well.)

Top Flight Greeks:
Athens, Sparta, Macedonia, Thebes

Spoiler Difficulty Level Guidance :

Difficulty Guidance

The peoples of the known world are many and varied. So, as the learned Egyptians are so fond of doing, I have listed and categorised all of them below.

These varied peoples are blessed with differing levels of strength and fortune. In order to enjoy my inquiry to its fullest, simply raise or lower the difficulty from your usual level as per my counsel below.

At the end of each entry on each of the Tribes, you will find that I also offer specific strategic advice to guide you to ultimate glory.

Leading Greeks:

Athens: +1-2 difficulty levels
Sparta: +3-4
Macedonia: +1-2
Thebes: +1-2

Barbaroi:

Illyria: 0
Thrace: +1-2
Chersonesos: -2-3
Bithynia: -1-2
Phrygia: -1-2
Caria: -2-3
Lydia: +2-3

Island Greeks:

Ithaka: -3-4
Corcyra: -3-4
Cyclades: -2-3
Crete: -1-2
Euboea: -2
Dodecanese: -2-3

Greeks in Asia Minor:

Ionia: -1-2
Aiolia: -1-2
Troy: -2-3

Mainland Greeks:

Elis: -2-3
Messenia: -2-3
Locris: -2-3
Phocis: -1-2
Chalkidike: -2-3
Epeiros: -1-2
Aetolia: -1-2
Thessaly: -1-2
Argos: -1-2
Mycenae: -2-3
Corinth: -1-2

RESOURCES & LUXURIES
Luxuries include: Grapes, Prophets, Amber, Opium, Gems
Strategic Resources: Copper, Tin, Iron, Saltpeter, Horses
Special Tribal & Strategic Resources: See special features.


VICTORY CONDITIONS

Hegemon is designed to be a challenging scenario to win. So hats off to you if you achieve either of the first three.

~ Hegemonic Victory: You must attain twelve Oaths of Fealty from the significant regions and power bases of the Greek World (functions like a spaceship victory). This is the victory condition for the real tough guys out there.

~ Tribute Victory: You must give a certain amount of tribute to the Gods and receive it from your allies to accumulate enough Tribute Points to win (functions like a Victory Points victory). Athens’ control of The Delian League puts them in a prime position to win this, not to mention an envied one for their rivals. Amassing 60K Tribute wins you the game.

~ Domination Victory: 25% of the known world’s territory and 40% of its population.

~ Histograph: zzzzzzzzz. It’s always there for back up.


SPECIAL FEATURES

~ Soundtrack:

The music of the ancients plays as you guide your people to victory. Yes, that's music that was written (not recorded, silly!) 2500 years go. And not only that. The soundtrack has been designed to broadly represent the timeline and influences of Ancient Greek history. So there'll be music and influence from the Balkans, to reflect the times when the Illyrians and Thracians played a role in Greek affairs, and music from Persia and Asia Minor to reflect the times when they stuck their oar in and loomed large. It's all highly evocative and immersive stuff!

~ Favour from the Gods:

Certain improvements produce treasure/flag units that allow a player to gain ‘favour from the gods’ i.e. run treasure units such as Temple Offerings and Libation Wine back for extra talents and tribute points. (Tribute can also be extracted via special wonders, enslaving units such as the Delphic Priest and from your enemies and ‘allies&#8217. Stack it all up for a Tribute Victory!

~ Leagues:

The four top flight civs can each build their own unique line of wonders and improvements, evoking The Peloponnesian League, The Delian League, The Boeotian League and The Hellenes League. This really kicks in at the late game stage and on higher difficulty levels.

~ Special Lines of Wonders, falling into five categories:

- 12 Great Temple Wonders to the 12 Olympian Gods, available to all.
- Great Works by Great People, available to all.
- League Wonders for the top flight civs
- Colony Wonders for those intrepid Hellenes that established them
- Civ Unique Wonders, one for every civ, including the duff ones

~ Special Lines of Military:

- Skirmishers: As the ancient Greeks did it, so have I. So skirmishers have been used extensively in Hegemon, providing players with fast moving foot units that can bombard and soften up advancing parties. They are useful for harassment but may be too weak to take on hoplite guarded cities.
- Multi-Unit 'Monsters': Including the Confederate Hoplite, League Hoplite & Macedonia’s formidable Phalanx.
- Incendiary: There’s also a very funky and devastating version of the Greek Fire included.

~ Tribal Camps:

All but the most minor civs get a unique ‘camp’ improvement tied to their tribal resources. These all produce a Champion unit every 20 turns and also give specific benefits tailored to each civ.

~ Mini-game-within-a-game:

You must play as Ithaka to enjoy this feature, which makes up for the fact they have no hope of ever winning!

~ Special Strategic Resources, falling into three categories:

- League Resources: Include the likes of Delian Tribute and Grain Tax, tied to the Leagues mentioned above.
- Hegemonic Resources: Include the likes of Thassians, Aetolians, Troezens, Attic Tribes etc, required for the Hegemonic Victory. These can be traded (if your treasury has sufficient talents) and/or conquered.
- Tribal Resources: Include the likes of Attic Tribes, Dioscuri Cult, Thebans, Euboians, Samians etc, enable the building of the tribal camps mentioned above.

Important notes on these special strategic resources:

(a) They are VERY important. They are all, in some way or other, required to construct the full compliment of League improvements, some powerful wonders and to win the game via either a Hegemonic or Tribute Victory.

(b) Some of these resources, for example Attic Tribes and Argeads, can function as both Hegemonic Resources and also League Resources, making them of extra strategic importance.

(c) All these strategic resources, and the considerable benefits that flow from them, are very much tied to specific locations on the map. The majority of the benefits can only be attained by building cities that can utilise these resources within the city radius. This heightens strategic play and also ties the gameplay much closer to the historical challenges these civs faced.

Don’t worry it’s all explained in the pedia.

~ Unique Approach to the Civilopedia:

Your very own ancient historian; guiding, informing and entertaining you as you play, as well as feeling out what this new discipline of Historia might be.

Other suprises!

 

[Rambuchan]

Gameplay

Spoiler :

Sparta Approach Delphi – Does a Sacred War loom?


Phocis take Boeotia – Who’s the pitcher and who’s the catcher now, Epaminondas?


Across the Aegean to the Icarian Sea – Setting up a beachhead against the threat from the East.


Disease in Magnesia – Could that Hippocrates guy be onto something?


Gordion Falls – Now to untie that knot…

City Screen

Spoiler :

Inside Sparta


Inside Delphi

Wonder Splashes

Spoiler :

Massalia - A Colony Wonder for Phocis


Synedrion

Domestic Advisor

Spoiler :

 

[Rambuchan]

Civilopedia Entries - Examples of your personal historian doing his thing

Tribe Entry for Argos

Spoiler :

Units

Spoiler :

The Spartan Hoplite


Scordiscian Flesh Eater

Wonders

Spoiler :

Phillip II's War Academy - one of a few uber wonders only available to Macedonia


The Great Rhetra - one of Sparta's souped up Wonders


The Shrine of Dodona - unique to Epeiros

Tech Tree

Spoiler :

The Archaic Era


The Classical Era


The Hegemonic Era

 

[Rambuchan]

Please, enjoy the game and do post your game reports, feedback, ideas and anything else!

 

[Takhisis]

Phirst.

I'll have to play as Athens again and then as Dodekanesa… and Argos… someone take the game disks away from me or else…

 

[Blue Monkey]

What are you waiting for?

Whatever it is, it’s certainly fun! And epic! And it’s certainly a challenge to win the game.

- Civ Unique Wonders, one for every civ, including the duff ones ...


~ Mini-game-within-a-game:

You must play as Ithaka to enjoy this feature, which makes up for the fact they have no hope of ever winning!

Kludged tweeked "R&F of the Mughals" to play as the Pirates. Used personal goals as a measure of success rather than the official ones. Enjoyed playing as Crete - & Cyclades - during testing with the same goals. This sounds even more fun.

 

[AnthonyBoscia]

Brilliant and beautifully crafted. Downloading posthaste.

 

[TsarNikolai]

Excellent stuff.

genuine Greek music from 2500 years ago, as well as other music from the region

However, using Serbian pop-music in the soundtrack is a bit far-fetched.

 

[Vuldacon]

Absolutely... this Wonderful Game will be Enjoyed by ALL.

From Game Play and Text Files to Graphics... Great Care and Effort was given to all areas of the game.

Rambuchan and I worked hard to present the Classic Greek Struggle for Hegemon in a manner that depicts the Flavor and Feeling of this time and place.

Rambuchan is the first to develop and present a Game concerning the Classic Greek World and he has managed to make it Educational as well as Fun. Hegemon is indeed Classic.

Congratulations Rambuchan... Very Well Done!

 

[Rambuchan]

I'll have to play as Athens again and then as Dodekanesa… and Argos… someone take the game disks away from me or else…

Remember, this version now brings you the Colony Wonders feature. So there are now more reasons to play other civs too, which now have their own unique dynamics, boosts and challenges.

Those colony building civs are: Phocis, Euboea, Corinth, Ionia and Cyclades.

Although the terrain specific nature of these colonies (need the requisite resources in the city radius) make them a challenge, once they are built they can seriously boost your ability to compete with the big guns.

Kludged tweeked "R&F of the Mughals" to play as the Pirates. Used personal goals as a measure of success rather than the official ones. Enjoyed playing as Crete - & Cyclades - during testing with the same goals. This sounds even more fun.

Yup, I'm always a fan of creating the ability to have fun with the underdogs. There are so many more of these in Hegemon compared to The Rise & Fall of the Mughals, with much more attention paid to making them playable and fun. As per the colony wonder notes above, and indeed Ithaca's game-within-the-game, there are so many more options at hand for fun to be had with these civs. Do please share some of those goals you set yourself, for my own interest and to give other players ideas.

Brilliant and beautifully crafted. Downloading posthaste.

Thank you sir. I'm aware of your fine work and your kind words mean a lot. Any thoughts, comments and game reports would be most welcome from you as a result.

 

[Rambuchan]

Excellent stuff. However, using Serbian pop-music in the soundtrack is a bit far-fetched.

Well, it ain't exactly Ceca / Цеца or turbo-folk!

The background to the soundtrack creation is this:

I originally made a purely ancient Greek soundtrack. However, owing to the limited amount of music we have from them and the lack of variety in their music that we have, it was a bit boring really. It was just the same tone and tempo and feel all the time.

So I had to do something, to give a sense of drama and variety and to bring in other flavours from the region, which were notably absent from the purely Greek soundtrack. Sadly, as far as I'm aware, we just don't know what kind of music the Illyrians and Thracians or indeed the Lydians and Phrygians were making during these times. So I went with other more contemporary regional music to give that texture, flavour and drama.

Absolutely... this Wonderful Game will be Enjoyed by ALL.

From Game Play and Text Files to Graphics... Great Care and Effort was given to all areas of the game.

Rambuchan and I worked hard to present the Classic Greek Struggle for Hegemon in a manner that depicts the Flavor and Feeling of this time and place.

Rambuchan is the first to develop and present a Game concerning the Classic Greek World and he has managed to make it Educational as well as Fun. Hegemon is indeed Classic.

Congratulations Rambuchan... Very Well Done!

Thanks buddy. Couldn't have done it without you

 

[PiotrG]

Welcome.

I have a problem

ERROR READING FILE

Missing entry in "text \ PediaIcons.text" ICON_BLDG_Smithy

What to do? Help!

 

[Rambuchan]

Hi PiotrG.

Make sure you have one folder called "Hegemon" in the right place:

If you have Conquests: Civilization III/Conquests/Scenarios
If you have Civ 3 Complete: Civilization III Complete/Conquests/Conquests

Directly inside that "Hegemon" folder should be three other folders: Art, Text & Sounds.

With that file structure you should be able to play with no problem.

 

[TomYo689]

Too good to describe

 

[T-mun]

From the preview pics, this new version looks very well polished indeed I'm downloading it right away and hope I can find some time to play it. If not, then I will borrow a lot of stuff for my own game
The Wonder Splashes look very nice and the big terrain icons look great too (are they ressources ?), making this mod look like no other. Some very nice work from you guys

 

[Virote_Considon]

Good to see this new version has been released

 

[Vuldacon]

themanuneed... yes the Resources are set Large. No Missing them

 

[Blue Monkey]

Yup, I'm always a fan of creating the ability to have fun with the underdogs. There are so many more of these in Hegemon compared to The Rise & Fall of the Mughals, with much more attention paid to making them playable and fun. As per the colony wonder notes above, and indeed Ithaca's game-within-the-game, there are so many more options at hand for fun to be had with these civs. Do please share some of those goals you set yourself, for my own interest and to give other players ideas.

Initial thoughts:

In R&FotM - iirc - it was necessary to adjust stats on a couple of units so they didn't obsolesce (become unbuildable) so early. That made surviving to the end of the game possible if difficult. Didn't get into extending the unit line or messing with the tech tree. Shouldn't need to do any of that here, afaik. Haven't tried out this scenario yet but the following could apply.

In that scenario the early game goal became establishing a wider economic base. Required taking over a couple of the easternmost cities then making peace as quickly as possible.Here it should be easier if the map is set up similarly to the beta. Expand by founding a few cities close to home - so that they are easily protected but can help build forces early on. Get control of a scarce resource if possible. Definitely build as large a military force as possible relative to the size of your faction.

In Mughals I set a mid-game goal of being a spoiler. The Europeans were the primary naval powers & the pirates were sea-based locals. It made sense to do my best to deny the shipping lanes & keep on friendly terms with the Indian factions. Applying that here means picking some faction(s) to be loyal to - including making peace on somewhat unfavorable terms if necessary. That's an effective way to gain a military alliance. Or just pick some major power to prevent from winning. Alliances & trade are critically important to achieving either version of this goal. Be prepared to trade cities that aren't defendable for the long term. Give them to a local friend rather than let a strategic enemy take them.

In the late game survival is everything. It's obviously easier to defend a reinforced island power than one surrounded on land. If starting with a small land faction try to grab an island & fortify it throughout the game. If there's a well established relationship with allies that will support you til the end so much the better.

Meet those three goals - expand, harass/help & survive to the end - & consider it a victory.

Of course that's all theory based on a completely different scenario. With the same creator, otoh, some of it ought to apply. After a few games there should be something more practical to report.