is this mod ok to play if your new to civ 4?
- Thread starter adecoy95
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far_wanderer
Prince
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2008
- Messages
- 454
It is friendly, in the sense that games tend to be a little easier. I think the general advice is that you can play FFH2 on a difficulty two higher than normal BTS.
The flip side of that, though, is that it's easier because there are a lot of new features, and the AI doesn't have a complete grasp of them yet. Those new features can be a bit overwhelming at first.
I wouldn't recommend a complete Civ newbie jump straight into FFH2, but if you've played a few games already and are not easily overwhelmed by new information you should be okay.
The most important things to know are that each religion is mechanically different, each civilization is far more unique, and spells are a significant factor.
For an easy first game, I recommend either the Grigori, who don't have to deal with religion, or the Khazad, who don't have to worry about most magic. The Grigori get adventurer units that gain experience rapidly and can upgrade to almost anything, and the Khazad get strong siege units and some really good city bonuses based on how much total gold they have.
The flip side of that, though, is that it's easier because there are a lot of new features, and the AI doesn't have a complete grasp of them yet. Those new features can be a bit overwhelming at first.
I wouldn't recommend a complete Civ newbie jump straight into FFH2, but if you've played a few games already and are not easily overwhelmed by new information you should be okay.
The most important things to know are that each religion is mechanically different, each civilization is far more unique, and spells are a significant factor.
For an easy first game, I recommend either the Grigori, who don't have to deal with religion, or the Khazad, who don't have to worry about most magic. The Grigori get adventurer units that gain experience rapidly and can upgrade to almost anything, and the Khazad get strong siege units and some really good city bonuses based on how much total gold they have.
Lade
Prince
It shouldn't be harder to grasp than many games. Once you understand how the base mechanics in civilization work at all, your ready for FFH
WarKirby
Arty person
The first civ I played was Elohim. BAAAAD idea.
Pick someone warlike as your first civ choice, because you won't have a clue about economic optimisation to begin with. "Go smash things" is much easier to understand.
Kael recommends the Doviello as a first choice, because they don't have building requirements. I'd personally advise Bannor, though. Since they're so well rounded and simple to understand . (dare I say bland ?)
If you really want an easy time of things, Khazad, Calabim, and Balseraphs are all enormously powerful and rather easy to win with.
Pick someone warlike as your first civ choice, because you won't have a clue about economic optimisation to begin with. "Go smash things" is much easier to understand.
Kael recommends the Doviello as a first choice, because they don't have building requirements. I'd personally advise Bannor, though. Since they're so well rounded and simple to understand . (dare I say bland ?)
If you really want an easy time of things, Khazad, Calabim, and Balseraphs are all enormously powerful and rather easy to win with.
WarKirby
Arty person
double post.
the first race i tryed was the elf race, i thought it was interesting that they dident cut down trees to put down tile improvements. now that i read this tho i will try one of the races you suggested.
i think the biggest problem i had was with the roaming monsters, some of them are quite powerful.
at a glance tho i noticed some things dont seem to be in... first thing i noticed is that there seemed to be a lack of any corps in the civlopedia, is that feature not expanded on in this mod? or is the code changed into something else?
also, on average, how far into a game would it take if you rushed to be able to play the demons
i think the biggest problem i had was with the roaming monsters, some of them are quite powerful.
at a glance tho i noticed some things dont seem to be in... first thing i noticed is that there seemed to be a lack of any corps in the civlopedia, is that feature not expanded on in this mod? or is the code changed into something else?
also, on average, how far into a game would it take if you rushed to be able to play the demons
far_wanderer
Prince
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2008
- Messages
- 454
Corporations are not a part of FFH2. Espionage is also gone.
Warkirby hinted at the fourth major addition that I forgot to mention in my first post: nearly all advanced units require a building of some sort before they can be built.
As for the Infernals, it depends on how good you are at rushing. I've seen it within the first hundred turns, but that takes a lot of luck and skill. You'll want to grab Mysticism as soon as possible for a Pagan Temple to get priest specialists. Then, research to Knowledge of the Ether, then Way of the Wicked. Save your Great Prophet(s) for Corruption of Spirit and Infernal Pact, as those are the most time consuming. Avoid Mining, Hunting, and Sailing, otherwise your Prophets may try to go for other religions. Explore like crazy, because dungeon results can occasionally produce Great People. Remember that you don't have any kind of special relations with your old civilization once you switch, so don't waste time and resources building them up more than you have to.
Warkirby hinted at the fourth major addition that I forgot to mention in my first post: nearly all advanced units require a building of some sort before they can be built.
As for the Infernals, it depends on how good you are at rushing. I've seen it within the first hundred turns, but that takes a lot of luck and skill. You'll want to grab Mysticism as soon as possible for a Pagan Temple to get priest specialists. Then, research to Knowledge of the Ether, then Way of the Wicked. Save your Great Prophet(s) for Corruption of Spirit and Infernal Pact, as those are the most time consuming. Avoid Mining, Hunting, and Sailing, otherwise your Prophets may try to go for other religions. Explore like crazy, because dungeon results can occasionally produce Great People. Remember that you don't have any kind of special relations with your old civilization once you switch, so don't waste time and resources building them up more than you have to.
retro V
Prince
I never played much vanilla CIV, so I don't really remember how the units work there, but I do remember the old loading screens in FFH that showed the unit upgrade paths and thinking to myself how unique FFH units are. On that basis (and assuming you haven't entirely sussed it all out yet), let me give you a rundown of how the units go now.
You start with a choice of building warriors and scouts. All civs have these (and usually only these) from the get-go. As you progress through the tech tree:
Warriors split into
-Melee e.g. Axemen -> Champion -> Immortal
-Archery e.g. Archers -> Longbowmen -> Marksman
Scouts split into
-Recon e.g. Hunter -> Ranger -> Beastmaster
-Mounted e.g. Horsemen -> Horse Archer -> Knight
That's only the general gist of it, normally there are alternate options for upgrading. For example, Champions can upgrade to Berserker or Phalanx as well as Immortal; Longbowmen can become Marksmen or Crossbowmen. Also there are religious, arcane and siege units which are nearly always separate. I say 'nearly' because there are a lot of crossovers with all the unit lines. For example, Disciple of Leaves (religious) can upgrade to Rangers (recon); Warriors (melee) can upgrade to Horse Archers (mounted), so can Horsemen (mounted) and Archers (archery) for that matter.
It sounds more complicated than it is and you soon get the hang of it all, the civilopedia is your friend. Once you think of units in terms of their lines (recon, melee, etc) and you recognise a particular civ's strengths or weaknesses in each line, the game becomes a lot more intuitive and fun.
You start with a choice of building warriors and scouts. All civs have these (and usually only these) from the get-go. As you progress through the tech tree:
Warriors split into
-Melee e.g. Axemen -> Champion -> Immortal
-Archery e.g. Archers -> Longbowmen -> Marksman
Scouts split into
-Recon e.g. Hunter -> Ranger -> Beastmaster
-Mounted e.g. Horsemen -> Horse Archer -> Knight
That's only the general gist of it, normally there are alternate options for upgrading. For example, Champions can upgrade to Berserker or Phalanx as well as Immortal; Longbowmen can become Marksmen or Crossbowmen. Also there are religious, arcane and siege units which are nearly always separate. I say 'nearly' because there are a lot of crossovers with all the unit lines. For example, Disciple of Leaves (religious) can upgrade to Rangers (recon); Warriors (melee) can upgrade to Horse Archers (mounted), so can Horsemen (mounted) and Archers (archery) for that matter.
It sounds more complicated than it is and you soon get the hang of it all, the civilopedia is your friend. Once you think of units in terms of their lines (recon, melee, etc) and you recognise a particular civ's strengths or weaknesses in each line, the game becomes a lot more intuitive and fun.
retro V
Prince
Edited my post for accuracy. Thank you
Lade
Prince
If you want to get used to the game fast, play advanced start (the start right after ancient), play as Kuriotates, beeline order, spread to all friends while beelining fantascism. Build the Mercurian gate in you second or third city, than smash everyone.
You seriously don't even need to build units once you hop over if you spread your religion fast enough
You seriously don't even need to build units once you hop over if you spread your religion fast enough
JFSebastian
Scout
The Ljosalfar are actually one of the races I would recommend first to a new player. They have one of the stronger economies out of the gate and are flexible enough to be played in whatever style a new player might prefer. Builder, warmonger, rexer, etc.
I'd also recommend the Lanun. I'd say the Lanun and Ljosalfar are probably two of the easiest civs to play, mainly because of their strong early economies.
The great thing about FfH2 is that each civ is so different that each time you play a new civ its like playing a new game. Each has different tricks for optimal play and each often has several different optimal play styles depending on the terrain/leader you start with. Tons of replayability.
Exploring in the early game is definitely a gamble. On the other hand, if you can get hunters early, capturing animals can be quite useful. Bears, elephants and giant spiders can be game changers early on. Probably easiest to capture animals with an aggressive leader so you can get the subdue animal promotion earlier.
i dont know what to say
my first game was pretty good, but i restarted because i met like 6 evil citys, and i was stuck near a mountain range... my second game looks promising tho
then, a turn later, free hunting, i think i will be doing just fine this game
speaking of hunting, why does it cost around 3-4x more reasearch points for hunting than other nearby techs?
mimic
Magic Box
Well theres hawks which allow you explore whole swathes of the map in a single turn (fly them on top of peaks or hills) and hunters which are strength 4 for an early tech although they suck at taking cities but you can attach hawks to them which is very very useful, btw jungle screws over elves big time.
yea i realized that.... im playing a new game now, (like my 5th one tonight)... and there are just too many barbarian hordes running around, im standing inside my city with like 5 or 6 frostlings outside my borders... thats insane! they have a good chance of killing my warriors... how am i supposed to defend my borders?
retro V
Prince
Could be that you've enabled the option "Compact Enforced". That will prevent the Infernals and Mercurians from entering the game. The other possibility is you weren't the first to research Infernal Pact; it is an untradeable technology so there's no way of knowing who else might already have researched it. Do any of the AI know Corruption of Spirit and follow the Ashen Veil religion?
With regards to the game in your screenshot, that's not a lost cause. You have the Seraphic Pyre there which provides Fire Mana. That means all you need is Knowledge of the Ether to build a Mage Guild and then an Adept which you can upgrade to Fire 1 once you've hooked up the mana. Then you can burn all those jungles and they will turn into forests eventually. It takes a while but it saves you the lengthy researching of Bronze Working, and chopping jungles leaves you with only empty grassland (or marsh as the case may be). The resulting fires will spread like, well, you get the idea. This can be hard to work with however, if you can't put the fires out with a Water 1 Adept you will just have to wait for gaps in the fires so Workers can improve the forests; fires won't spread onto already improved forests.
Perhaps what's worst, though, is the possible Event triggered when there is Smoke that spawns Barbarian Mistforms. These guys pack a punch that early in the game. But I'd still carry on with that game, it's got a lot of Dye which will slingshot your economy once the jungle starts to clear. First, I'd get Mysticism, build a Council and work a Sage. Then start Hunting, building nothing but Warriors and Settlers for the next 50 odd turns that it takes
Meanwhile when the Great Sage arrives, lightbulb Knowledge of the Ether and proceed to burn all that lush rainforest. Slow start but once you get going it'll speed up.
With regards to the game in your screenshot, that's not a lost cause. You have the Seraphic Pyre there which provides Fire Mana. That means all you need is Knowledge of the Ether to build a Mage Guild and then an Adept which you can upgrade to Fire 1 once you've hooked up the mana. Then you can burn all those jungles and they will turn into forests eventually. It takes a while but it saves you the lengthy researching of Bronze Working, and chopping jungles leaves you with only empty grassland (or marsh as the case may be). The resulting fires will spread like, well, you get the idea. This can be hard to work with however, if you can't put the fires out with a Water 1 Adept you will just have to wait for gaps in the fires so Workers can improve the forests; fires won't spread onto already improved forests.
Perhaps what's worst, though, is the possible Event triggered when there is Smoke that spawns Barbarian Mistforms. These guys pack a punch that early in the game. But I'd still carry on with that game, it's got a lot of Dye which will slingshot your economy once the jungle starts to clear. First, I'd get Mysticism, build a Council and work a Sage. Then start Hunting, building nothing but Warriors and Settlers for the next 50 odd turns that it takes
Meanwhile when the Great Sage arrives, lightbulb Knowledge of the Ether and proceed to burn all that lush rainforest. Slow start but once you get going it'll speed up.Similar threads
