Ijnavy's Scenarios on GEM

[ijnavy]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Uploading version 1.1 tomorrow! I will try to get everything right.

 

[Traiano]

IjNavy, Yesterday I wanted to elaborate on this subject but I forgot (FYI IpPlayed with Northman Italy until 1620AD).

The game is a not as dynamic as 1500 AD was.
In other words, not that many clash and changes.

Here is a breakdown of what happened in MY GAME:

- Seljuk Turks took over Antioch (from the Northmen) and Jerusalem (from the County of Toulouse) and they didnt really clash with the Bizantines.

- The Reconquista doesnt manage to take place. On the contrary, the Almoravids took over Saragozza in 1400.
Even the fact the Holy Roman Empire (very strong, top civilization with China and the Bizantines) had Aragon as vassal, didnt help much to attack the Almoravids and push them back.
I tried to attack them with the Northmen but to no avail (they took Tunis from me, I destroyed Tripoli) because I didnt manage to get iron resources (nobody that has it is willing to trade it, even with friendly relationships when they have 3 resources extra).

- Lot of wars between Bohemia, Hungary, Poland and Kiev Rus.
Poland lost Warsaw to Kiev Rus.
NOTE: I think there are two entries for Warsaw: Warsaw and Warsawa (3rd Polish city is Krakow...if I recall).

- The Mongols are at war with everyone, got forced to become vassal of China but then got free and are a decent power.

- England is a safe position but not very powerful, quite isolated and not involved.

- France and the County of Toulouse are at war with Fatimids and Seljuks for the whole game, but beside losing Jerusalem dont do too much in the Holy Land.

My two cents:

- Give more units in the Holy Land to France, Toulouse, Northmen and England.
Further deteriorate the relationship between Bizantines and Fatimids & Seljuks to trigger a major war.

- Increase the hostility toward the Almoravids, perhaps boosting Castille-Leon, Aragona and definitely involve a third party on their side (Toulouse, Holy Roman or the Normand Northmen).
It might lead to real clash.

- Holy Roman Empire is perhaps too strong. fragment Italy even further: you might want to create the Papal State civilization or maybe the Republic of Venice or of Genoa.


I am going to start a game as Aragona or Castille, to see what happens.
I want to stress the game is much faster than 1500 AD, and I'm really digging it.
It just needs the religion issue to be addressed in the future and to fix a few typos.

I forgot to add, in 1600 AD nobody yet was in the New World. France though, had a caravel in Maine...

p.s. Top civilizations (scorewise): Bizantines, China and Holy Roman Empire.
Weakest: Aragona, Tai and England
Even tough England is far from weak, perhaps just behind tech-wise.

Will get back to you with further feedback after the Spain game.

I just played until 1400 AD with Aragona.
Very tough game even if ony at warlord.
Personally I dont think this civ has any hope.
Starts with 1 city, can take with ease Valencia from the Almoravids but then is more or less game over.
The Almoravids have way too many units in Cordoba and tech-wise Aragon is very weak (lowest score).

Also, Castille, Toulouse and France, despite being at war with the Almoravids, do not attack them.

You might want to give a better standing army to those civilizations that have all the following starting situation:

- Tech-wise very far behind & also backward civics.

- At war with much stronger neighbor civilizations.

- Just 1 or 2 cities.

- No access to Iron.

- No room to expand except attacking the stronger neighbor.

I'm not saying Aragona should become a superpower, but it would be nice if minor civs still get a chance to accomplish something, if properly played, rather than be mere cannon fodder.

In conclusion, this second game confirmed my firm impression: wars and conflicts do not lead to conquest.
In this game, in 1400, only Jerusalem passed to the Fatimids, all the rest was identical to game start (except Valencia that I did conquer with Aragona).

The civs that control iron (3-4) do not trade it even when they have 3 extra resources and have friendly relationships with you.
If you play a minor civ at war with a stronger one, you are pretty much doomed.

I hope my two cents help to make the game a bit more balanced.
Going to try to play either Bohemia, Hungary or Poland now.

 

[Traiano]

Final playtesting update for the day:

I played with the Kingdom of Bohemia until 1400 AD.
Quiet game, I was not involved into any major war. Bohemia isnt strong but has decent potential after conquering Winetka from the barbarians.
I did also found another city north of Poland, in Estonia.
There is some room to grow even though the land is bleak.
Managed to avoid that Prague flipped to the Holy Roman Empire.
Still no iron tough

Around the world: this time the Reconquista did take place!

- Castille conquered Cordoba, while Aragona took over Valencia (it happens every time).
The Amoravids were left just with Lisbon.

- I also noticed this GEM is different from the one used for 1500 AD (Malta doesnt exist, and Cyprus has 2 tiles in 1500, while just one in 1100 AD map. Also, another mediterranean island is missing, likely Rhodes).
1500 GEM is bigger.

Out of curiosity...how comes you modified the GEM?

- Confirmed the impression that the Bizantines do not fight with the Fatimids and the Seljuks.

- I suggest to fix the starting relationships a little bit.
It is bizarre that the Khmers declare war on Aragona every time.
What an historical rivalry! ;-)

- The fatimids conquered Jerusalem from the county of Toulouse, with ease, while Antioch was still in Northmen hands in 1400 AD.

-Impressions: China, Byzantines and the Holy Roman Empire are always leading, switching positions. The Fatimids come right after in 4th position.

-Weakest civs: Aragona, Castille, Bohemia, Mongols.

-Ethiopia is surprisingly developed and far from weak, but never engages in war with his neighbors (Almoravids and Fatimids) but focuses on irrational wars with France or the Byzantines - civs that never really end up attacking each other. They rarely interact at all.

- Briefly tried to check out the Mongols...but had some trouble figuring out the Mongol Camp unit...

Look forward to check out the new updated version.

 

[ijnavy]

- The Mongols are at war with everyone, got forced to become vassal of China but then got free and are a decent power.

So the Mongol camps did work?

 

[Traiano]

So the Mongol camps did work?

No, I dont think it does.
What I described is what I observed happened to the Mongols, while I was playing another civ.

When I loaded the Mongols and i tried playing them I didnt manage to make it work...but I admit I didnt stick around extensively.

 

[Agent327]

So the Mongol camps did work?

You should check with either The Navy Seal or CIV Gold team. They're both working on including the Camp - working that is. (A working camp that'll be.)

 

[Traiano]

I checked out the Scandinavian Civs.
Great starting position, lot of fun to play with.
Perhaps make them start with a map of their cousins in the Kingdom of Sicily/Southern Italy?

You might want to edit:

- They have a settler and a scout in Australia??
You might want to put them in Iceland.
I do delete those units...too much of an advantage to start alone down there, beside the fact far from historically accurate ;-)

- They start with 4 Knight Units.
Perhaps it would be better to switch those to Berserker Units.
It makes much more sense historic-wise.

I tried to look for a better name for them, rather than the generical Scandinavia, but couldnt find anything more precise to represent the fact that what would become Denmark, Sweden and Norway are a single entity in the game.
The Kalmar Union establishes itself in late 14th century and also last a little bit more than a century until Gustav Vaasa walks away from it.

Calling them Vikings isnt appropriate either, considering in the late 11th century christianity spread and affected their settlements, rapidly changing the structure of their society.

 

[ijnavy]

1100 A.D. version 1.1!
Made many changes including colors, added unit, changed diplomatic relations to make better wars, changed Mongols to Xixia, and much more.
I could not make the mongol camp work, so instead of the Mongols there are Xixia.
Same download instructions.

 

[ijnavy]

What happens in China and India?

 

[Traiano]

Mmm...The game crashes every time within the first turn...very weird.
I will try a third time to figure out why (It crashed with Aragona and Scandinavia so far).
Hopefully I can detect a pattern.

To install it I did exactly the same thing I did with the previous version (that worked): placed the WBS within MODS and also within Public Maps of BTS.

Any input is appreciated!

 

[ijnavy]

I have no idea why that happened. I uploaded it again and tried myself, now it works.

 

[ijnavy]

I will try to make it so that there are more wars by changing the CIV4LeaderHeadInfos to make it more likely that a leader will declare war.

 

[ijnavy]

Can someone tell me what happens in their game. I have managed to make it so there are more and fierce wars. What other problems are there?

 

[KaiserBenjamin]

Can you upload the map somewhere? I'd love to give this a shot but I can't without the map.

 

[Traiano]

Can someone tell me what happens in their game. I have managed to make it so there are more and fierce wars. What other problems are there?

I'll finally be able to play tonight and will let you know.

 

[Traiano]

Can someone tell me what happens in their game. I have managed to make it so there are more and fierce wars. What other problems are there?

I played with Aragona until mid 15th century.
Fun game but so far I failed miserably.
Aragona had better starting options (read more units) but still I failed to conquer Cordoba or Lisbon from the Almoravids.
Even though now is doable, if my units fail 4 consecutive times attacking Lison with a 66% chance of success...well, c'est la vie.

I took Tripoli from the barbarians but Yusuf attacked me and took it for itself.

Tunis fell to the Fatimids.

I tried to involve Henry the IV and the County of Toulouse in the war against the Almoravids, to no avail.

The only one that sent units (but didnt attack Cordoba) was Poland.

In the middle east, surprisingly - and perhaps thanks to you changing the relationships between the civs - Bohemia attacked the Seljuk and took Ani. They held it for a little bit before the Turks got it back.

The Northmen in southern Italy still hold Antioch and control also that barbarian city east of the Kiev Rus (Nova Bolsar...or something...sp?).

The Kiev Rus keeps waging war against Poland but so far no cities have fallen.

Sadly, the Bizantines still play a passive role: they dont attack the Seljuk or the Fatimids neither fend off their attacks.

Not sure about what is going on the East.

I appreciated the larger amount of iron resources available.

Once Yusuf kicks my butt I'll probably test the game with Northman Italy or Bohemia.

 

[Agent327]

Even though now is doable, if my units fail 4 consecutive times attacking Lison with a 66% chance of success...well, c'est la vie.

I rarely attack at such a succes rate; I prefer 90% minimum (which virtually equals 100%). 66% succes prob is just gambling.

 

[ijnavy]

What happens in Asia (India, China, and central Asia)?

 

[ijnavy]

I'm preparing an update on 1100 A.D.
I have already included a more aggressive AI. I'll also try to include the Mongols with workable camps. I wanted to ask if making techs cost less would be a good idea (I started a game as the English and it was 40 turns to research a tech). What else would you recommend me to change?

 

[Agent327]

I'm preparing an update on 1100 A.D.
I have already included a more aggressive AI. I'll also try to include the Mongols with workable camps.

Good idea!

I wanted to ask if making techs cost less would be a good idea (I started a game as the English and it was 40 turns to research a tech).

That may be just the game speed. (Marathon, was it?) The cool thing is, research speed is up if you expand.

What else would you recommend me to change?

Include the religion icons you want from one of the medieval mods. (Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestant.) Sunni-Shia may be a bit more tricky.