[MOD] Age of Discovery II

[Dale]

Okay after completing fully the fortress bombarding (it is much more complete than it was when I took the screenies above) I implemented a cap on the total increase number of REF each time the King adds units.

There is a new XML tag in Civ4HandicapInfos.xml called iKingUnitIncreaseCap which controls the maximum number of units added per increase. For pilgrim I have set this cap to 1, so each time the REF is increased only 1 unit will be added. Revolutionary is capped to 20, so only a maximum of 20 units per increase will be added. The other difficulty levels are spread evenly between those values.

This will require play-testing and observation from you the players of my Mod to ensure that REF growth is correct for the level you are playing. I hope you'll provide feedback on this when v1.04 is made available soon.

What this change means is that no matter how many REF increases you incur, the actual number of units added will stop increasing at a level appropriate for that difficulty level. This will be another part of the whole encouraging large Empires push that I've been on. It should also stop those ridiculous 2000+ REF's to combat when you actually do make a huge Empire.

 

[Dale]

Yes, « Buy Shortfall » from city build menu.

Thanks for the report. I'll work on a fix for that one.

 

[CuervoGold]

I have to admit I only read back through about half the thread, so if this slight bug has been reported, please do not keelhaul me...

Installed the mod for a friend and I at lunch time.

We opened it up in multiplayer and chose Faireweather map.
I was getting the popups for both players with regard to Finding a new world, meeting the natives, founding a colony, etc. etc.

At first, I thought I was just getting double pop-ups, but then the other player founded their colony while I was still sailing, and I got their pop-up alerting me.

Nothing major, it's livable, but you might put it on the to do list.

 

[Dale]

Thanks for the report. Bug noted.

 

[Dale]

The current list for v1.04 (not due out yet):

- Added intro movie
- Added cutscenes with New World quotes
- Added achievement advisor icon
- Added new victories to Royal Charter (DoM screen)
- Added fortress ability to fire on ships with cannons
- Changed Pirate Ship strength 4 -> 3
- Changed requirement for Economic & Industrial victories to double
- Changed REF increases to include a cap based on difficulty
- Changed Europe Screen "Sail East" and "Sail West" buttons to visually indicate which is which
- Fixed victory condition capitalisations
- Fixed broken 50 cross achievement text
- Fixed achievements not recognising earlier style buildings (eg: not getting 5 stockades when 1 is a fort)
- Fixed achievement popups appearing on first player for all players
- Removed button pointer for Achievement interface message when not needed

Will keep this list updated.

 

[koma13]

I'd rather use Baba Yetu.

You would end up with a mod nobody wants to play.

Yes, your opening screen is looking nice. I'm wondering where you always get those images. And having usefull cannons back in game is great. I already feared your new secret feature would be the intro movie.

 

[Dale]

You would end up with a mod nobody wants to play.

That should tell you what I think of the default opening menu music then.

 

[slackerpride]

I didn't glance through all the pages, but is there any chance of European Intervention during the WoI? I always thought that was a cool element of the first game and historically accurate. Even if it was a smaller force, it would be better then nothing.

 

[Dale]

To be honest, it was only "accurate" for one country in both North and South America. The majority had no help at all (some had minor help from the US I believe).

 

[Cornhog]

Are you doing any work with the AI? Will it know to keep its ships away from the fortresses with cannons or will it waltz right up?

 

[slackerpride]

To be honest, it was only "accurate" for one country in both North and South America. The majority had no help at all (some had minor help from the US I believe).

Okay...ya got me there. (Guess where I reside ) However, it's still a cool game feature. Any thoughts on adding it in?

 

[Dale]

Yes, I hope to start adding in some more interaction with Europe soon. Including, foreign intervention.

 

[jaldaen]

Ok noted, thanks. Though I gotta say that's wierd. Didn't think I did anything to affect that.

I think the order of the new traits you create in the file determines the order they appear in the window, just switch the civilization trait to be above the leader traits. That should fix it. It did in my mod.

PS: Happy Holidays!

 

[CuervoGold]

After some more playtesting last night, we found that both players were getting the pop ups for each others achievements, it wasn't just the first player. (not sure if you fixed it all in one fell swoop or not, so I figured I'd mention it)

Great mod by the way, than you so much for your time man... really appreciate it. Do you have a pay pal donation link on your site??

 

[Dale]

After some more playtesting last night, we found that both players were getting the pop ups for each others achievements, it wasn't just the first player. (not sure if you fixed it all in one fell swoop or not, so I figured I'd mention it)

Great mod by the way, than you so much for your time man... really appreciate it. Do you have a pay pal donation link on your site??

Thanks mate.

On the achievements, I've fixed that by not showing the popup when the game is MP (dirty fix). You still get the interface button and message though to notify you.

No donations necessary. I know some modders say "donate to this wank charity" or "do this". I'm simple: when you see a game made by me in the stores (or internet) in the future, then if you wish to support me buy it.

 

[Dale]

I think the order of the new traits you create in the file determines the order they appear in the window, just switch the civilization trait to be above the leader traits. That should fix it. It did in my mod.

PS: Happy Holidays!

Yeah that's what fixed it for me too.

Happy hols mate!

 

[kaibayashi]

There has been a thread on here about adding slaves to the game. Is this something that you might add to aod or are you not considering it? Sorry but my historical knowledge is terrible so i have no idea if the are relative to this time period in america?

Edit: Ok, so i see Triangle Trade has slaves incorporated. There also seems to be a lot of other interesting ideas in other threads/mods. Do you follow those much and have much inclination to use ideas from other sources in your mod?

Also, a couple other ideas i had:
In the Settlement Screen have a drop down menu at the top to select different settlements, instead of having to scroll through.

There was something else, but i forget what now.. will return when remember

Edit 2: I remembered! Is it me or do foreign powers/natives not barter at all when trading? I asked for +1 gold in a trade and the told me my offer was not good enough!!? Like WTH? the couldn't afford 1 more gold??

 

[Wheldrake]

I agree, the bartering options are extremely limited, whether in vanilla Civ4Col or in mods.

As far as slaves are concerned, I really don't think it's necessary to have an additional unit to represent them, as the difference between slaves and indentured servants is not great enough to warrant their inclusion, and I don't believe the slave trade became that intensive until near the end of the period covered by the game.

The AoD2 mod is working well for me. Great stuff, and the changed planned for the next build look very good indeed.

Cheers, --- Wheldrake

FWIW, --- Wheldrake

 

[~Foo Fighter~]

QUESTION: Can I play AOD and win without exploiting the Population/Bells/REF mechanic?

I struggled with C4C at first because I naively tried to play the game the way the makers steered me, i.e., Building, generating Bells, building an army. I didn't understand that every time I did the things I thought I was supposed to do...I was helping make an REF force I couldn't possibly defeat.

I finally won a game by working around the bells/population/REF mechanics...and it felt cheap and like an exploit.

So can I play AOD and not have to work around the stock game mechanics.

Any info appreciated.

~Foo Fighter~

 

[Wheldrake]

I struggled with C4C at first because I naively tried to play the game the way the makers steered me, i.e., Building, generating Bells, building an army. I didn't understand that every time I did the things I thought I was supposed to do...I was helping make an REF force I couldn't possibly defeat.

Gee, that's how I play the game, and the REF is no problem. It doesn't really matter how big the REF is, as long as you start early building guns, horses and canons, and fortify your coast and coastal cities. The King's army is rarely able to survive a single turn, since by the time I declare independence, I have dozens of dragoons ready to pounce, not to mention hordes of infantry and canons entrenched all along my coast.

Don't bother trying to exploit the late bells strategy. I build bells as soon as possible, to grab founding fathers. The ref can be as big as it wants, you just pound them on landing, and keep your coastal cities fortified with a dozen infantry and canons.

I believe the AoD2 mod also reduces the final REF size, compared to vanilla. But I have the feeling that even if the REF were four times its size, it still wouldn't be able to smash me.

Enjoy, --- Wheldrake