Jason's North American Colonization Mod v 1.5 beta

[iamjason]

Jason's North American Colonization v1.6 beta
-----------------------------------------------


Take control of one of 5 European powers (Spain, France, England, Netherlands, and Russia) or one of 11 native tribes (Sioux, Ute, Apache, Arawak, Cherokee, Nez Perce, Cree, Aztec, Iroquois, Micmac and Chippewa).

The major difference between the two groups is that the native civs are still in the Ancient Era whereas the European civs are firmly in the Middle Ages. This gives the Europeans a distinct advantage as they start the game with gunpodwer, monotheism, magnetism and either monarchy or republic. The native civs have to work their way up to that level or, if possible, trade for gunpowder to catapult themselves into the next era.

This was accoplished with some changes to the tech tree. I decided to set the beginning of the Middle Ages to correspond with the sorts of advances that allowed European colonization of North America. Thus, astronomy, invention, chivalry and gunpowder were moved back to Ancient Times, where gunpowder becomes the necessary advance to reach the next age; monotheism, engineering, magnetism, and monarchy now begin the Middle Ages. Also, fuedalism has been replaced with a new advance, mercantilism, which is now necessary to develop banking. Magnetism and Navigation have been rearranged to fix the perplexing original arrangement.

Becuase Europe doesn't fit on the current map, there are five islands some distance off the coast which serve as the starting bases of the European powers. Included in the zip is a utility to place all civs in realistsic starting locations.


**This is a beta test version. So far it has worked for me, but if you have any problems, please report them to this forum. This is a very experimental Mod, so it may crash at odd times. Save often.


(Version 1.5b deleted after 107 downloads)

Jason's Civ3 Archive

 

[Vonotar]

I like this idea so much I'm going to change it

No seriously this is an excellent idea....

I've made some modifications to your map, first off it's now flat and I've removed the polar ice caps (all thanx to Gramphos' Civ3CopyTool)

Second I've turned all the ocean into sea... why? well...

I've given England, France, Holland, Russia and Spain an island each, these islands are far enough away from each other so that they won't be able to see each other straight away (in fact Russia is on the other side of the map).

The islands are surrounded by ocean which does two things, first it stops the native americans (those that have boats) from reaching there prospective invaders too early, second I've edited the ocean terrain to give a stupidly large amount of food, shields, etc as these islands are meant to represent the invaders capitals back home.

OK, the idea is that you start the game (with correct positions), the invaders have to wait quite a while before they can move off the islands (they will have to research several techs) while this is happening the native americas (who will be crippled so they can only really build settlers) will be busy filling the map with camps.

Eventually when the Invaders are allowed to leave the island, N. America will be almost fully covered with native american settlements, this is why I've given the invaders the special ocean tile as they will have to use there island bases to assemble invasion fleets.

The game should be played with just the "domination" victory condition, perhaps adding a "diplomatic" victory later by altering the UN to become a charter for a "United States of America"

Naturally I'll need help, not being a citizen of any part of N. America my knowledge of the native tribes is sketchy, ideally I could do with somebody listing 11 native tribes and giving me an idea where on the map they should start, then i'll need a list of names etc.

There are some tribes already listed in Jason's map in the post above this one, but I also need to replace the Americans and the Zulu's with new tribes (can't have the Americans as this is about invading N. America and the American's didn't, also it won't fit in with the diplomatic victory idea)

So far i've edited the map, (see screenshot below) I'll post the bic file as soon as there is something worth playtesting which doesn't crash every two seconds... (I need to fiddle with the units and tech's)

Suggestions please people!!

Vonotar



vonotar1975 123236923 vonotar@lastlands.org vonotar1975

 

[Cruiser]

Vonotar, so where's the download file??

 

[Vonotar]

Originally posted by Cruiser
Vonotar, so where's the download file??

Give me a chance It's going to be another day.. perhaps two before I have something that can be play tested (having to take things one step at a time to avoid possible crashes)

Here's the tech tree... comments welcome!

Ancient Era
--------------

(The native's do not know any of these techs, the invaders know all of them)

 

[Vonotar]

Learning Era
----------------

Invaders cannot leave there islands until they have learnt all of these...

 

[Vonotar]

Exploration Era
-------------------

Learn new skills and build the institutions needed in the new world

 

[Vonotar]

Independence Era
-----------------------

Discover Democracy to sign the declaration of independence and start building the Son's of Liberty Wonder (UN)

 

[Vonotar]

Each of the Era's can be scaled so that they last longer or shorter (the Ancient Era will be really long to separate the natives from the invaders, note the natives have to learn all the optional components of the Ancient Era before they can learn the four that count, I made them optional to ensure that the invaders start in the Learning Era)

So far I've tested the above tech tree and made several changes to the colours that the players have

Major Powers (Easy difficulty)
English - Red*
French - Blue*
Spanish - Yellow*

Minor Powers (Hard difficulty)
Dutch - Orange*
Portuguese - Purple

Late Arriver (Impossible difficulty)
Russian - Green

*same as Sid Meier's Colonization

At the moment I'm not sure if Russian should be a full possible human player or an AI either way it will be entering the race for N. America late (since the Russian's arrived quite late in the day and only got Alaska) this gives the Europeans a strong competitor just as they thought they had the natives under control.....

I'm working on giving the natives all the dark/dull colours so there is a stark contrast between them and the invaders... at the moment this bit keeps crashing but I'll get it right in a bit.

Comments please! even if its just to ridicule the tech-tree!

 

[SubZero]

My rather long post got somehow deleted...

I won't write it again but here's the main points.

I have had very much same idea of making mod.
Colonization mod is my dream too.

However I have thought that the founding fathers in colonization would be better idea than tech tree. So for European powers...and also for native tribes later when they have researched riding and gunpowder etc...there is chance to get founding fathers as "tech". These give ability to do certain units, buildings and wonders (and through them bonuses).

Also I will include Portugal and I'm not so sure will I put Russia in to my mod.

I would like to ask how you give so many "free techs" to European powers?
Also...have you thought not making those islands for the European powers but instead somehow otherwise "stalled" european powers developing more than one city before natives have found some cities?

In overall your mod looks good and the whole idea is to my liking. I personally want to get certain ideas from colonization and change them for civilization. This is because I would like to see Colonization 2 some day...

Keep up the good work and maybe we can exchange some ideas...

 

[iamjason]

Vonotar, you just ripped off my 2.0 version... before I even completed it! I don't know if you have a time machine or what, but putting the Europeans out to sea with huge amounts of food and shields was my next move.

The problem is that the game crashes still when you play as the Europenas in 1.5 beta. It has crashed for me once as the English and 4 times (!) as the Spanish. The crashes only seem to occur early in the game when viewing the histogram or talking to advisors or somehting off the map screen.

Anyway, some things I'm doing differently:

* Keep the Ocean squares, but surround the Europeans with fish and whales. Also, give the Europeans a square with saltpeter.

* Replacing the Zulus and Americans with as yet undecided tribes. I just hadn't gotten around to this yet in 1.5... It's hard to decide which tribes are big or important enough to include. The Iroquois cover a bunch of important tribes already, and I've included one tribe from every major culture/linguistic group except Arctic (Eskimo, Aleut) and Northwest Coast (Tlingit, Chinook), both of which seem more like barbarian tibes than empires for game purposoes. I may go with Micmac and Navajo, but it would be intersting to use one fo the tribes the first English settlers encountered, like the Narraganset, except they weren't nearly as big or important as the tribes included.

On a side note, except for not fixing the Iroquois yet, I tried to use tribe names for native civ cities. The truth is that many tribes had transitory settlements rather than wall-and-temple cities and it's hard to find native city names. Different tribes, however, were often associated with different reagions and fit the game pretty well. I did include some city names when appropriate. For example, the Cherokee capital is the legendary city of Keetoowah where they supposedly origniated.

* Fix several minor errors. For example, the new Scout unit has a movement of 2 and treats all terrian as roads, which is way too much mobility upon playtesting. Also, I'm not sure if native tribes should be allowed to build granaries and barracks. Also, it seems cathedrals need temples as prerequisites, which is not what I was going for... the Europeans should have skipped temple building.

* Use that utility to set up accurate starting locations. I already have the starting locations written out, I just haven't had time to set it up yet. Expect that change soon.

* More luxuries! There are only three right now, and it's far too few. As fo now I think I'm considering sugar, cotton, tobacco, silver, fruit, and manufactured goods. I may also turn gold into a luxury, and I'm not sure why it usn't one already. I'm also considering adding flint as a strategic resource, since it figured into early native weapons.

* Faster ships. The history of early colonization shows travel by ship was much faster than by land. Ships will probably have +2 to movement.

* No Portuguese. They didn't figure into the settlement or explaoration of North America at all and didn't even begin to settle Brazil until the 1530s, because they were afraid the French would encroach on their Pope-given rights.

* Also, I understand where you're going with that tech tree, but it seems way too goal-oriented for me. I want this scenario to allow a lot more play than just heading toward conquest or independence. Also, I still think Magnetism, as used in the game, should go before Navigation.


Anyway, feel free to go with your version, but keep in mind I've already done a lot of the research for my native tribes, etc. and I'll be coming out with a much-beefed-up version including the Eurpean island-base idea. I'm going to give them more than one-spaced islands, too, in order to place saltpeter and manufactured goods resources and allow invasion before Marines. The Europeans could and did fight each other outside of North America during this period, and it spilled over the New World in the French and Indian War, the capture of Canada by the British, the loss of Florida by Spain, etc.

What REALLY needs work on this scenerio, is the crashing. If you could figure out something to help that, I would be greatful.

 

[iamjason]

I will be writing up a little guide to how I managed to push the Europeans into the next age without exceeding the four techs you can start them with in the unhacked editor. There may be a hacked version out there that allows unlimited starting techs, but I haven't seen it. I'll post the unhacked method here and in the hint and tip forums.

Anyway, tt's not hard to figure out... just look at the mod.

 

[Zouave]

Vonotar,

here's a rather prosaic question for you: what's the best way to get a screen capture?

 

[Dark Sheer]

Originally posted by Zouave
Vonotar,

here's a rather prosaic question for you: what's the best way to get a screen capture?

Ok, so I am not Vonotar

The simplest way to do screen capture is to press prtsc key when in game and alt-tab to paintbrush and paste the screen there.

 

[iamjason]

I've got version 1.6 beta on the way, probably tomorrow. I used one of the utilities floating around here to set up realistsic starting locations and set up the Europeans islands. In addition:

* Added Micmac and Chippewa tribes

* Cathedrals can now be built without temples

* Added 2 to movement rate of Frigate, Galleon, ManOWar and Privateer, added 4 to bombard rate of Frigate, ManOWar, Privateer

* Added Dutch special unit Merchantman: ADM 1,2,6; carries 4 units and can bombard.

* Furs now have a high disappearance ratio (reflects overhunting)

* Changed Ivory, Silk, Gems, Incense and Dyes to Trade Goods, Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco and Tropical Fruit, made Gold a Luxury.

* Added new luxuries to map, added more furs.

* Forbidden Palace is now Colonial Capital and costs less to build.

* Removed forts that marked modern cities.

* Added Barbarian tribe names.

* Hanging Gardens are now Governor's Estate; The Great Lighthouse is now the Great Serpent Mound, which requires Cerimonial Burial and Tribal Government and creates an Oral Tradition in every city on the continent. Also:

-The Pyramids are now Chichen Itza;

-The Colossus is now Colossal Olmec Heads;

-The Great Wall is now Pueblo City Bonito, and also allows that city to grow to size 3;

-Copernicus's Observatory is now the Calendar;

-Sun Tzu's Art of War has been replaced by the War Dance, which now requires Warrior Code and is rendered obselete by Military Tradition;

-Newton's University is now The Ivy League;

-The Mexico Cathedral replaces the Sistine Chapel;

-Shakespeare's Theatre has been removed and The Gateway Arch added. The Arch must be near a river, requires Free Artistry, and doubles city growth rates in all cities;

-Leonardo's Workshop has been replaced by the Golden Gate Bridge, which lowers upgrade costs, produces +1 Trade in all tiles, must be on the coast and requires Steel;

-City walls have been dumped, never had a large role in N. America. Replaced by Commercial Radio/TV, which requires Electricity and generates 4 happy faces and 4 (popular) culture;

-Bach's Cathedral is now the CN Tower, which requires Electricity and 4 Commercial TV/Radio and makes 2 citizens happy per city;

-Smith's Trading Co. is now the Empire State Building;


It's shaping up pretty well. I've tried to add a bit to make the game more interesting in later tech levels. Oddly enough, the Europeans tend to attack each other's little islands for no reason all the time. This is a lot like actual history in a way.

Also, it still crashes once and a while when you play as the Europeans. I really wish I could figure out some way to fix that.

 

[Dark Sheer]

I have been following this thread with much interest.

I know a way which you can make this modpack a very interesting one. It can be a little tedious to setup. I already have this idea for a long time but with the latest savegame editor on Apolyton this idea become very much workable. Here is what you can do (If you choose to follow my suggestion that is ):

1) Note down all the possible location of the various Indian tribes.
2) Setup the game so that the European Civ have one city each like you do now (1 starting settler with 2 workers so the infrastructure around the cities can be build faster)
3) Use the savegame editor and switch to each of the Civ (ie each Indian tribe) and create the town.
4) Use Civ3CopyTool to create additional settlers and workers for the Indian tribes.
5) Keep on settling.
6) When you are happy with how the Indians spread out on North America, create a cravel each for the European Civs and load up with 1 settler & 2 defence unit (musketman or rifleman) and sail them across the sea to the historical landing point (so that a path in the sea is cleared between the landing point and the home port so they can trade with the home port).
7) Built a city for each of the Civ and use Civ3CopyTool to give each of this new city a harbor.

Now you can post the savegame as a scenario for whoever want to download them and play. With the savegame editor, whoever downloaded the savegame can choose whichever Indian Civ or European Civ to play just as if they are starting on a scenario and they don't have to start from scratch too (cities already build and it is not a full scale invasion like what is been said above but then the settlers in north america don't actually invade per se either ).

This is as close to a real scenario as I can think of (which I believe is already pretty good except for no scripted events ). What do you guys think?

Another suggestion would be to associate some of the improvements to a certain tech that is given to some Civs (say warrior code for a warrior's lodge for the Indians and warrior code is a starting tech for Indians but is not part of the tech tree so the european Civ cannot build a barrack and thus can never build any veteren units)

 

[SubZero]

I made changes to tech tree so europeans have one colony in beginning and cannot get more before they have researched certain techs. This gives time to natives to spead around but still they are behind in technology.

Some good ideas there jason about wonders.
How about Colossus => Statue of Liberty

for my mod I have put independence as goal but also conquest or cultural victory is allowed.

Also european powers have different type of favorite government (colonialism) compared to natives which gives them different kind of buildings to be build.
This way also European powers get more culture points from certain buildings (religious ones example) which kinda describes the way how christianity spread among the colonists.

Natives have hard time in the game surely but they have cheap units compared to europeans.

It's clear that it will take massive amount of time change many things in game but I think it will be also rewarding.

I also like that game is always on random map so not always in the same map. Putting those europeans to separated islands this isn't really possible and the replayability value will fall.

Keep up the work, boys.

 

[Vonotar]

Originally posted by iamjason
Vonotar, you just ripped off my 2.0 version... before I even completed it! I don't know if you have a time machine or what, but putting the Europeans out to sea with huge amounts of food and shields was my next move.

oops sorry! :crazyeyes

* Keep the Ocean squares, but surround the Europeans with fish and whales. Also, give the Europeans a square with saltpeter.

IMHO Horses are more important, esp if there is no horse resource on the mainland, horses were introduced by the europeans so it makes sense for the native's to have to trade with the europeans in order to get horses. Saltpeter is only important if you make it so, as unit's etc can be edited to not require certain resources

* Also, I understand where you're going with that tech tree, but it seems way too goal-oriented for me. I want this scenario to allow a lot more play than just heading toward conquest or independence. Also, I still think Magnetism, as used in the game, should go before Navigation.

Humm I do like the founding fathers idea that was suggested, would give the game a more colonization feel to it

What REALLY needs work on this scenerio, is the crashing. If you could figure out something to help that, I would be greatful.

Me too, I take what I consider to be a logical change in the game and the whole thing falls apart like a pack of cards... it's truly two steps forward and one backward!

 

[Sodak]

Uh... Not all native tribes were missing Civ3 techs! Some feedback -

Major n.american peoples:
Maya (present Guatemala and the Yucatan) The most advanced of the lot - should also have mathematics and construction. I'd suggest the great ballcourt of Chichen Itza as a replacement for the Hanging Gardens.
Aztecs - should also have construction
Danai (navajo - sw US)
Cheyenne (high plains of US)
Dakota (sioux - n.central US)
Cherokee (se coast US)
Seminole (florida)
Iroquois
Huron (ontario/lake huron)
Ojibwe (chippewa - n.central US/canada)
Apache (sw US)
Nez Pierce (sorry, don't know what they call themselves - nw US)

For new special resources:
Luxuries:
tobacco
turquoise
silver

Strategic:
obsidian
timber

Bonus:
turkey
bison
maize
crustaceans
syrup (minor, I know)

 

[iamjason]

Just to make a few comments before I post the update:

Thanks, Sodak, for the list of native tribes--I think you'll see those groups more or less represented by the Native civs I've chosen. I decided to go with tribes active at the dawn of colonization, though, so the Aztecs are in and the Mayans are out. The Mayans still existed at that time but had abandonned their cities and temples to the jungles by the time the Spanish landed. I did bring the Aztecs as close to Construction as I could with just 4 starting techs. Also, the Seminole tribe was active well into the late colonial period--they were forced by the U.S. into Florida. At the time of colonization, The Calusa were in Florida and the Seminoles were a minor tribe. (Or were made up, later, of smaller tribes. I forget).

I did include Chichen Itza, but as the Pyramids. Just as the organization of seasonal labor required for the Pyramids in Egypt acted as a granary for the whole empire, the huge resource requirements of pyramidal temples like those at Chichen Itza required well-maintained food storage and transport. The Hanging Gardens have been replaced by the Governor's Estate, which keeps in in Monarchy and reflects the royal-appointed governor or viceroy's ability to grant gifts to landowners, generals, cities and natives.

In terms of resources, I understand the horses arguement but the problem is that a few horses loose here and there quickly spread to wild herds across the entire continent. It would be silly to have the Sioux trading for horses in the 1700s when they would have had plenty roaming across the plains by then. Also, there's some evidence the Nez Perce had brought horses with them from Asia and kept them for thousands of years while the native Nort American horses died off, before Europeans arrived. I know I could have ignored Saltpeter, but I figure it's one more representation of the decisiveness of gunpowder.

In the end, I did decide to use Tobacco as a luxury. I also used Trade Goods, Cotton, Sugar, and Tropical Fruit. I went more with what the Europeans were interested in trading, though if I made an all-native mod I would use turquoise, obsidian, sea shells, etc. It also didn't hurt that I had readily-available maps with those resources

I also have now set up realistic starting locations with civbreed if you want.

Coming next: the file.

 

[iamjason]

I posted the updated mod in the first message of the thread above. More info on version 1.6:

**New Government:

Tribal - Minimal corruption, but suffers the same penalty as Anarchy and Despotism when it comes to food. shields and trade per tile. Tribal governments have no military police but may draft up to 6 citizens and have low war weariness. Production cannot be hurried.

**New Units:

Scout - Scouts can only be built by Native civs. They cost one population, treat all terrain as roads, and can build roads. They also now have a defense of 1.

Bowman - Available only to Native civs, have an ADM of 2,2,1 and require Warrior Code.

Mounted Warrior - Available to all Native civs except the Aztec and Arawak. Have an ADM of 3,1,2 and require Horseback Riding.

Expert Rider - Available to the Sioux, Apache, Cherokee and Nez Perce, have an ADM of 4,2,3 and require Chivalry. These units represent the skilled riders armed with firearms obtained from Europeans who held on in the Plains.

Canoes - Available to native civs, Canoes have an ADM of 1,0,3 and can carry one ground unit.

Conquistador - Available to the Spanish. Has an ADM of 4,2,2.

Merchantman - Available to the Dutch. Has and ADM of 1,2,6 and a bombard of 4. Can carry 6 units.

In addition, movement and bombard rates of other sea units have been increased.

**New City Improvements:

Trading Post - Similar to a marketplace, requires currency.

Oral Tradition - Requires Code of Laws, gives a 50% science bonus and reduces war weariness. Native Tribes used storytelling to record history and folklore and communicate information without the use of European-style written language.

Commercial TV/Radio - Requires Electricity, generates 4 happy faces and 4 culture. This improvement won't show up until late in the game, but given its importance in North American (and world) history, it seems odd not to have it. Replaces City Walls, which have had very little use historically in North America.

In addition, marketplace needs magnetism, courthouse requires monarchy, libraries require the printing press, and aqueducts require engineering.

**New Wonders:

Chichen Itza - Same as Pyramids; meant to represent the giant pyramidal temples the Aztecs and Mayans were fond of.

Colossal Olmec Heads - Same as Colossus. Some have suggested using the Statue of Liberty to replace the Colossus, but this wonder should stay in the Ancient Era. Although they didn't serve the same purpose as the Colossus, they represent an advanced cutlure with a large trading network.

Great Serpent Mound - Requires Cerimonial Burial and Tribal Government and creates an Oral Tradition in every city on the continent. Completely replaces Great Lighthouse, which has no native analogue.

Pueblo City Bonito - Same as Great Wall, also allows that city to grow to size 3. Meant to represent pueblo building in general, which were high population density and easily defended from barbarians.

The Calendar - Same as Copernicus's Observatory. The Aztecs had great stone calendars which were more accurate than Europeans.

War Dance - Sames as Sun Tzu's Art of War but requires Warrior Code and Tribal Government and is made obselete by Military Tradition. This wonder is not a landmark but represents a tribe uniting and pooling itss resources to defend its land and way of life. The U.S. military suffered several losses against comparitively poorly-armed tribes.

Colonial Capital (small wonder) - Same as Forbidden Palace but costs less to build.

Governor's Estate - Same as Hanging Gardens, meant to represent the royally-appointed governor or viceroy's ability to dole out gifts to landowners and other colonists.

The Ivy League - Same as Newton's University.

Mexico Cathedral - Same as Sistine Chapel. Located on the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, this structure represents the power and splendor of the church in the new world.

Gateway Arch - The Arch must be near a river, requires Free Artistry, and doubles city growth rates in all cities. Located in St. Louis, it is the gateway to the American West, symbolizing the waves of population migration across the continent. Replaces Shakespeare's Theatre.

Golden Gate Bridge - Same as Leonardo's Workshop, but also produces +1 Trade in all tiles, must be on the coast and requires Steel. This bridge in San Francisco increased trade in the city but also proved the U.S.'s ability to mobilize huge amounts of materials across the continent.

CN Tower - Similar to Bach's Cathedral, but requires Electricity and 4 cities with Commercial TV/Radio; Makes 2 citizens happy per city. The Toronto tower is the largest freestading structure in the world and acts as a broadcast antenna as well.

Empire State Building - Same as Adam Smith's Trading Company. The New York City landmark smashed records when it was built and was a testimony to the power of U.S. capitalism, right before the depression.


**New Resources:

Luxuries - Trade Goods, Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco and Tropical Fruit have replaced Ivory, Silk, Gems, Incense and Dyes, none of which had great importance in Native-European and inter-European trade. Gold is now a luxury and Furs and Spices remain the same, though Furs now disappear often.