Knights Templar World Wonder

[LeeS]

Knights Templar World Wonder
(Inspired by the CIV3 Knights Templar wonder)​

This mod adds Knights Templar to CIV5 as a World Wonder.

Forum Download Page is here: Knights Templar Download
Unfortunately I could not get the "resource" page to update to using the dropbox link where I moved the newest versions of the mod, so use this link instead of the CFC link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4snfw4laichnvx/Knights Templar (v 15).civ5mod?dl=0

Steam Mod Page is here: Knights Templar on Steam

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Compatible with Vanilla, BNW and G&K.

I am using the Hagia Sophia wonder spalash and audio for Vanilla, and the wonder splash for the Alhambra in the G&K compatability version of this mod. BNW will use the Red Fort. All of this will happen 'behind the scenes'. You as a user do not need to do anything to make the wonder work depending on the expansion you have. You just enable the mod and play.

The Knights Templar Wonder

• Knights Templar is available with Theology and adds a free Templar Crusader unit every 10 turns for Standard Game Speed. On different player game speeds, the 10 turn increment is adjusted according to the 'overall number of game turns'. So on Epic, this will be every 15 turns.
• The wonder ceases giving Templar Crusader units with Rifling.
• The wonder gives +2 per turn after the player discovers Rifling.

Links to mediafire file sharing images (jpgs)

Knights Templar Tech Tree
Knights Templar Wonder Civilopedia
Knights Templar Crusader Unit Civilopedia
Knights Templar Wonder Splash
Knights Templar Crusader Unit near city
Knights Templar Crusader Unit Zoomed-in


The Templar Crusader Unit:

• can ONLY be acquired by building the Knights Templar World Wonder
• slightly less direct combat strength than a Swordsman
• can attack multiple times in a turn (since it has the standard foot-soldier 2-moves-per-turn this means two attacks). But this is limited based on terrain, so when attacking into rough terrain (just as in moving into rough terrain) there will be only one attack per turn.
• the multiple attack ability is lost when the unit upgrades
• can build forts.
• upgrades to rifleman
• Based on the buildings present in the city where the wonder is built, the units will be created with experience from any building that gives XPs to land units or to units of the Melee UnitCombat type. This includes the standard buildings/wonders such as Barracks, Ikanda, Armory, and Brandenburg Gate, as well as any custom modded buildings other mods add to the game.
• Heroic Epic and Alhambra being present in the same city as Knights Templar will now also give the Morale and Drill 1 promotion(s). Ikanda being present in the city will give the units the Zulu Buffalo_X line of promotions. Any mod-added building or wonder that gives a promotion to units trained in the city will also give that promotion to the Crusader units, so long as the building/wonder is constructed in the same city as Knights Templar.

Current Status:
I believe I have circumvented or found a solution to all of the earlier minor "aesthetic" issues that were mentioned, so unless someone reports a bug I did not discover, the status is: completed.

Credits and Thanks:

• whoward69 gave me a lot of coaching help with the lua and gave me a few smaller bits "pre-packaged" as noted within the lua, but most of the lua for this I developed.
• Nutty gave me help and advice on getting the Crusader unit inserted into the game
• I'm using Danrell's Templar Longswordsmen from the civ5_ancient_unit_pack19_crusader unit pack on the Civfanatics forum for the Crusader unit model, so credit and thanks go to him for the unit model
• The mod uses Pazyryk's TableSaverLoader (TSL) system for persisting data between saved games and also DarkScythe's add-on TSLSerializer system to avoid conflicts when multuiple mods are enabled and are all using TSL.
• Xarsus (Azuriel) did the unit flag icon.
• I've borrowed icons and artwork from the game for icons, wonder splash, etc. because I just really suck at artwork.

Comments, etc.

• Please feel free to leave comments or questions on balance or why I picked the techs I used for creating the wonder and expiring the free units effect, or the increment between free Crusader units given.

Also, you might get a small chuckle out of this Giant Death Crusader that resulted from my first attempt to add the unit to the game.

Compatibility with Older DLL Mods

1. Custom dll mods that have not been updated to conform to the patch 1.0.3.276 level of the game will almost certainly cause this mod to not function correctly.
2. W. Howard's VMC mod (and its developmental children) should not cause this problem assuming you update the mod to V14 of Knights Templar. This potential issue and fix for VMC dll mods is the primary reason for the issuance of V14 of Knights Templar.

Update Notes:
Version 6:

1. I changed the name of the unit from 'Crusader' to 'Templar Crusader' when I discovered there was already a mod on Steam that was using the 'Crusader' unit name.
2. Added Compatability to G&K and borrowed the Alhambra World Wonder's wonder splash info for the G&K version. The BNW version will still use the Red Fort wonder splash.

Version 7:

1. General streamlining of the lua to need less game processing and to remove a few remaining 'debugging' commands.

Version 9:

1. Made some basic adjustments to the effects of the wonder and the unit based on feedback.

Version 10:

1. Not released to the public. Was a mod-author's experimentation "version" of the mod, but it created problems I had to fix in Version 11.

Version 11:

1. Added code to "catch" the turn the wonder was constructed.
2. Fixed the 1st unit being spawned without expereience.
3. Added code to comply with XPs and Promotions given by all Firaxis-supplied buildings/wonders as well as any mod-added buildings/wonders when such buildings/wonders are constructed in the same city as Knights Templar.

Version 13:

1. Updated the code to use V3 of Darkscythe's TSLSerializer system for use with Pazyryk's TableSaverLoader (TSL) data persisting system.

Version 14:

1. Added code for compatibility to and a mod reference to force prior loading of W.Howard's DLL - VMC mod if both are in use. This will fix issues in older versions of DLL-VMC which might otherwise break the functioning of this mod.

Version 15:

1. Altered the method used for compatibility to Vanilla and G&K, and moved the direct download to a dropbox link

 

[Redaxe]

Interesting idea but I wonder if it would be better if the Knights Templar becomes a unit that can be purchased with faith in the city with the Wonder.
Otherwise remember that the spawning time has to be relative to the speed of the game I.e quick, marathon....

 

[bane_]

Very cool concept.

 

[LeeS]

Interesting idea but I wonder if it would be better if the Knights Templar becomes a unit that can be purchased with faith in the city with the Wonder.
Otherwise remember that the spawning time has to be relative to the speed of the game I.e quick, marathon....

I'm planning on an update to be released this weekend (20June2014 - ish) that addresses game speed and adjusts the increment accordingly. The culture effect will not take effect until after the player discovers Rifling. Also the wonder will be moved to Theology, and the unit will have a couple changes.

Unit combat power will drop to slightly less than a swordsman.
The promotion will be replaced with a custom version of Blitz that will be lost when the unit upgrades. Too many units on the map when the player researches Rifling means that the player has an instant super-army when all the Templar Crusaders are upgraded to Rifleman who can also attack twice.

 

[LeeS]

Released Version 11 and updated the download page / thread OP accordingly.

 

[DoctorMcGann]

Awesome. This was one of the best wonders in Civ III, so it's nice to see it back again.

 

[LeeS]

Updated to V14 to address a potential issue with some DLL mods. Unfortunately dll mods that were last updated before the Oct2014 patch to 1.0.3.276 version of the game will still most likely cause this mod to malfunction.

 

[onmy6]

ha fancy that I didn't you made this mod LeeS I've been using v9 for sometime now must have got it off steam hence why I didn't realise it was yours should have known though being in your signature and all great mod btw

 

[AzraelZephyrian]

Released Version 11 and updated the download page / thread OP accordingly.

You said Whoward helped you out with the Lua. You think it would be worth running a few ideas by him? I have almost no experience with Lua and DLL modification, but there are a few distinctly-non-xml properties I want to implement, and I'm not sure how.

On another note, I saw you had a mod relating to barbarians... I was thinking it'd be cool if, when you destroy a barb encampment, the game drops an improvement (same texture) on the plot and culturebombs it with the relevant civ's territory.

I also kinda want to add a whole new city class to the game--outposts. Basically puppet cities that can be suicide-built over several turns (thus necessitating territorial dominance) by a new upgrade-line of units that are weaker combat units. The outposts could be built wherever, pillaged by the civilization that owns them (to allow fo stuff to be built there) and allow cities to work tiles far from their location. They'd also provide food and production, and could evolve into cities via a button UI element, after a certain number of turns.

I think it would make colonization a lot more realistic--small towns would be a thing