Hi everyone,
First post here! (finally, and probably not my last post either)
I've been a fan of civ since i was a wee one when the first civ came out. I'm always coming back to the latest release of the game once every year or two to hammer it non-stop for a couple months.
Upon learning about Fall from Heaven II i was very excited and when I first downloaded it, I literally spent a whole night browsing thru the civilipedia. I was enthralled by the detail and huge range of strategies and individual niches one must be able to pursue in this game. The only other proper mod I have played was double your pleasure for civ3 (which is fantastic however it didn't really increase the overall scope and playability of the game like FfH would seem to). Anyhoo - congratulations to all of the team on putting together a remarkably sophisticated and well thought out mod.
Having said all of this, I seem to have a fatal issue with the game. I am playing version 0.32 with patch "L" and the fall from heaven mediapack. In my first game I played as Kandros Fir of Khazad on Monarch difficulty and found that my adepts could never be upgraded, even though some reached level 5. I'm not sure why. I decided to attack the AI for fun at this point to see what magic they would have then these massive Treants flooded me and I thought wow, lost a few units, and quit and restarted a game on easier setting and see if I can actually upgrade adepts this time. Llater I discovered the Treants are a 'once off spell' and I realised I was actually way in front of the AI technologically and economically etc etc. I didn't realise this until 2 or 3 games later.
Anyway, here is where it gets interesting - as a test run I decided to play a team game allied with one AI versus two other AI. For some reason the AI does not build cottages. My team-mate AI even went for two very expensive technologies before getting education. Even when I decided to research education. my team-mate still did not build cottages despite having the pre-req.
I am finding the game is unplayable like this because for it to be a challenge at all, one must play on deity, and then, the challenge is from biased combat odds vs barbarians and early AI warrior/archer/archer-hero-guy rush or whatever.. if you survive that part then the game is as good as won.
They won't even rush for bronze working and get training yards up! I'd love to play a multiplayer game, that would be a lot of fun (even if the snowball effect might be phenomenal once someone gets that technological edge)
In any case, I am emphatuated with the idea of playing a fantasy race with it's own unique traits etc. If only the AI would build cottages!! Is this peculiar to version 0.32 or is there something funny going on specifically with my copy here?
Cheers,
\WuK/