[MOD] Fall from Heaven

[Kael]

Is it possible to make a Fall from Heaven EXE file, too make loading this game a lot quicker, if it doesn't mess up the cd check that is.

Hmm... thats an interesting idea, I wonder if I could make an icon for the mod. I will try it out.

 

[SlayerofDeitys]

I posted this a while ago in a mod that died (by the orginial creator at least) and while I didn't think it would neccesarily fit that mod I think that it would add a tremendous amount of depth to this already great mod.

Expounding on the random natural disasters that are already being added I would like to see some multiple choice events like an older computer game I played called Castles I believe. As the king of the country you would have random events pop up such as whether or not you wanted to allow a person or such through your land. If you did and they turned out to be devil worshipers then god would smite you. Not really but you get my point.

So, maybe a town’s person could come to you in the ancient era and say that Antium's people are afraid of a wild beast that has been eating people and live stock in the middle of the night.
Do you:
A. Worship the beast and sacrifice some of the people of Antium regularly (lowers happiness and population, increases wild animals in enemy territory)
B. Take the towns representitive head and have it put on display as a warning to all who dare bother you with such trivial concerns (lowers happiness but decreases random events)
C. Send your units to subdue the creature. ( Uber bear would appear on the map and if you successfully kill it happiness goes up and you gain extra gold in tribute from Antium, if you ignore it then Antiums' population decreases every so often)

These events could partly be based on religion as well. If your country is Christian you may have a Salem witch trial type of event, or a crusade against a Muslim country may travel through your land and you have the option to commit troops. In the modern era you might have an abortion issue brought before you, or alien abductions or things along those lines.

Obviously I haven't sat down and fleshed out these ideas and better events, bonuses and penalties need to be created. Of course if you think it is the worst thing to happen to the game ever you should also have the option to turn it off. Hopefully I explained my thought process well enough to see what everyone thinks. I don't know if this really fits a game like civilization but I for one would like more of a role playing aspect added to the game. I think it would add an element of immersion to it even if it doesn't mean much in the game overall.

I love Orthus by the way and hope to see more events of this nature.
PS (now I really can't wait to try out those new ships )

 

[Kael]

What you are refering to is called the Quest system in Phase 2. I agree with you that it will add a lot to the mod. It will serve to unlock some of the most powerful equipment and units, give players more to fight over (some quests will be offered to all players and the first to complete gets the reward), and generally give the player and his heroes more to do.

Incidentily the heroes were all developed with a quest in mind that allows them to upgrade. What you are playing with now is they "little version" of the hero. If the hero accomplishes his quest (some of them have hints to their quest in their pedia entry) they will upgrade to a more powerful version.

 

[Kael]

1) The 'defensive' promotion should come with some kind of AI tweak, if possible.
I'm being attacked by shield walls left and right

2) I know its impossible to fix at this point, but the AI doesn't know how to use summoned units.
they move as far as they can on the way to their target in the turn they have, next turn they die, so the computer summons them again, and again they walk as far as they can on the way to their target, and die again.
kind of silly, hope the SDK gives lots of access to AI scripting.

3) I'll check again with an island map, but in my last 2 games (continents) the AI never once tried invade my home continent.
Maybe it has some trouble using caravels? I dunno.

I forgot. I was just updating and noticed that I did fix a bug with Caravels after 0.90. You are correct, they can't hold cargo. The fix is in 1.0.

 

[loki1232]

Hmm... thats an interesting idea, I wonder if I could make an icon for the mod. I will try it out.

This is uber easy to fix. Just open up the civIV config file in the game folder.
Then change the line--
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0
to
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Mods\Fall From Heaven 100

then just start the game and it loads FfH

NB. It takes a little longer than normal to start the game this way.

 

[loki1232]

Also, with that giant beast maybe if you try to worship it you will found a new religion. ie: Uber-Bear ism.
Antium will be the holy city, and it will act like any other religion.

 

[Black Whole]

A suggestion: As OO, I can enslave elementals and they can do this too. Both seemes odd. Maybe you can change this.

In the civilopedia the icon for 'conjure fire elemental' is the same like 'conjure earth elemental'.

What do the spell extension promotions?

 

[Kael]

A suggestion: As OO, I can enslave elementals and they can do this too. Both seemes odd. Maybe you can change this.

In the civilopedia the icon for 'conjure fire elemental' is the same like 'conjure earth elemental'.

What do the spell extension promotions?

The abilioty to enslave elementals has been fixed in 1.0 (the complete list of fixes in in the 1st post in this thread).

Spell extension promotions increase the range of the casters spells. There is currently no way to "earn" them. They have to be gifted. Hemah starts with Spell Extention I and II so his fireballs have a range of 4 instead of 2. And there is a new trait coming in 1.0 that will give all adepts Spell Extension I.

In phase 2 mages will be able to level so when they level up you will have to pick if you want them to earn a new spell spheres (giving them access to new spells) or one of the spell extension ranks (increasing the range of their spells) or a combat rnak (which increases the power fo their spells). That along with the normal stuff you can give units, increase dmovement, etc. should allow players to build whatever kind of mage they want to play.

 

[loki1232]

1. A suggestion: As OO, I can enslave elementals and they can do this too. Both seemes odd. Maybe you can change this.

2. In the civilopedia the icon for 'conjure fire elemental' is the same like 'conjure earth elemental'.

3. What do the spell extension promotions?

1. Yeah this is kinda odd

2. Well earth elementals aren't being summoned at the moment, so this isn't much of a problem.

Also, in proper English the correct wording of your sentence is [In the civilopedia the icon for 'conjure fire elemental' is the same as 'conjure earth elemental']
Not to sound condescending, but its as not like.

3. I think they let your spells travel father.

 

[Samael]

Hey there ^^
Long-time lurker just wanted to drop by and say:
OMIGOSH! Teh fantastic!
And all that. Seriously: this and EE3 (and MylonMod but then development stopped on it and I lost some interest... ) truly make Civ IV a wonderful experience ^_^

Anyway, since you probably already knew that, I have a point to make:
In my current game, I can no longer train Priests. I'm playing as Ashen Veil and have researched Theology and Divine Right and, though Inquisitors show up, normal Priests don't.

Also, is there any possibility of adding anything else to cure disease? Maybe a healing fountain or herbs that are randomly placed akin to the Sentry Tower?
If possible, the Healing Fountain could potentially increase healing rate and cure disease (and maybe add Health to a city if it claimed its healing waters? Maybe, as an alternative, make it provide no health on its own but, with an aqueduct constructed, it gives a health bonus with that?) but, if possible, it could have a penalty to defense whilst a unit remained there, perhaps?

Or perhaps a World Wonder that adds Immunity to Disease (and +2 to health?) to units trained within the city? If its too much, it could potentially be a Sanitarium; an Overlord wonder that requires asylum, provide Immunity to Disease, + x% to Science, + x% to Maintenance (to finance the medical experiments) and create some unhappiness? Sorry if it maybe seems a little overbalanced...

Speaking of the Overlords; would it at all make sense for The Drown to have Amphibious? I mean, as far as I can tell, they aren't likely to have -too- much trouble with water.

Also; I think mayhap the Forge should be possibly altered. Instead of a flat bonus to production, how about it adds a bonus dependant on metals you have? +5% for Copper, +10% for Iron, +15% for Mithril?
Stemming from this, perhaps there could also be a Mason building which could either add a flat bonus to constructing buildings or add a +5% to production with Stone, +5% with Marble (and perhaps provide a bonus to culture from all those fine statues and sculptures produced?).
One final idea; this is just another stupid idea of mine stemming from the myths of gargoyles supposedly keeping evil (ie demons) at bay but perhaps a city with a Cathedral or Temple (and Mason?) could produce either Gargoyles as a unit (counts as a Golem, cannot level, bonus vs. demons) or as a defence if possible (gives the city a good bonus to defend against Demons. I don't know if it'd work but if its possible to make something not defend against Gunpowder, would it be possible to make it defend against nothing -but- demons?)

Sorry if these things have been suggested before. There's just too much to read to verify it ^_^;

 

[Lunargent]

This is uber easy to fix. Just open up the civIV config file in the game folder.
Then change the line--
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0
to
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Mods\Fall From Heaven 100

then just start the game and it loads FfH

NB. It takes a little longer than normal to start the game this way.

I just wanted to point out that we need to use Fall from Heaven 090, since we don't have 1.0 yet. For some reason, the game takes twice as long to load when I do this, but it's still faster than loading a mod from within the game.

I had my latest game restart my computer when I tried to attack a city, although I don't know if it was something to do with my computer or the game. If I manage to duplicate this I'll let you know. I was attacking a city defended with 3 flurries all upgraded to garrison III!. Stupidly, I had not saved the game in three hours and it was all war gametime, with two cities left to go for conquest.

I'm really looking forwards to phase II, and seeing what UUs will be available. Those are the only things that this excellent mod is really missing.

So far, I've played, Leaves, Veil, and Runes. Runes and Leaves are fine, but Veil was seriously lacking in power. Though that could just be an incompatabilty with my personal play abilities. I think next I'll try OO, then Order.

 

[Kael]

Hey there ^^
Long-time lurker just wanted to drop by and say:
OMIGOSH! Teh fantastic!
And all that. Seriously: this and EE3 (and MylonMod but then development stopped on it and I lost some interest... ) truly make Civ IV a wonderful experience ^_^

Anyway, since you probably already knew that, I have a point to make:
In my current game, I can no longer train Priests. I'm playing as Ashen Veil and have researched Theology and Divine Right and, though Inquisitors show up, normal Priests don't.

Also, is there any possibility of adding anything else to cure disease? Maybe a healing fountain or herbs that are randomly placed akin to the Sentry Tower?
If possible, the Healing Fountain could potentially increase healing rate and cure disease (and maybe add Health to a city if it claimed its healing waters? Maybe, as an alternative, make it provide no health on its own but, with an aqueduct constructed, it gives a health bonus with that?) but, if possible, it could have a penalty to defense whilst a unit remained there, perhaps?

Or perhaps a World Wonder that adds Immunity to Disease (and +2 to health?) to units trained within the city? If its too much, it could potentially be a Sanitarium; an Overlord wonder that requires asylum, provide Immunity to Disease, + x% to Science, + x% to Maintenance (to finance the medical experiments) and create some unhappiness? Sorry if it maybe seems a little overbalanced...

Finally; would it at all make sense for The Drown to have Amphibious? I mean, as far as I can tell, they aren't likely to have -too- much trouble with water.

Sorry if these things have been suggested before. There's just too much to read to verify it ^_^;

There was a technical challenge in allowing the Drown to travel on land and coast tiles. But that is fixed in 1.0.

You should be able to make priests in any city that has a Temple but not a Dungeon or Tower (assuming you have Reagents). The Ashen Veil is the only religion that can't build High Priests (the normal upgrade for a priest). So they are a bit limited.

And it is intentional that it is hard for them to cure disease. They are the spreaders of disease and the least able to deal with it. Makes it a two sided sword.

I am thinking about an improvement that cures disease. Essentially phase 2 will include Magic Nodes which have to have an improvement built on them to function. The sort of improvement you build will determine its effect. By placing the improvement you make it into a Fire Node, Death Node, Life node, etc etc.

Im thinking that Life Nodes will cure disease on units that visit them.

 

[Kael]

I just wanted to point out that we need to use Fall from Heaven 090, since we don't have 1.0 yet. For some reason, the game takes twice as long to load when I do this, but it's still faster than loading a mod from within the game.

I had my latest game restart my computer when I tried to attack a city, although I don't know if it was something to do with my computer or the game. If I manage to duplicate this I'll let you know. I was attacking a city defended with 3 flurries all upgraded to garrison III!. Stupidly, I had not saved the game in three hours and it was all war gametime, with two cities left to go for conquest.

I'm really looking forwards to phase II, and seeing what UUs will be available. Those are the only things that this excellent mod is really missing.

So far, I've played, Leaves, Veil, and Runes. Runes and Leaves are fine, but Veil was seriously lacking in power. Though that could just be an incompatabilty with my personal play abilities. I think next I'll try OO, then Order.

I agree that the Veil is the weakest of the 5 religions. And they will be getting a UU in 1.0. Its called the Beast of Agares and its a t4 national unit (3 max) that consumes 4 population in the city that builds it. Its big and nasty and gets +25% against paladins and high priests. Yumm.

 

[Samael]

You should be able to make priests in any city that has a Temple but not a Dungeon or Tower (assuming you have Reagents).

Ah, yes. The Dungeon seems to be the problem then. Why is this so, may I ask? I'm still curious as to why I wouldn't be able to produce Priests at this point as I'm currently at war and the Priests would most definitely provide a useful tool for Healing.

And it is intentional that it is hard for them to cure disease. They are the spreaders of disease and the least able to deal with it. Makes it a two sided sword.

Aah, right you are. Thank you.

the Beast of Agares

Looking forward to the UU. ^^

Also; I went back to my previous post and updated it to include a few other crack-pot ideas I came up with. Finally, if Immunity to Disease were removed, mayhap the Sanitarium could be lowered to being an improvement?

 

[Lunargent]

There was one more thing I wanted to mention before I forget:

I know you've stated that you don't want things to get obsoleted, but one thing does need to be obsolete, the warrior. Oddly enough, even though there's usefull stuff like paladins and camel archers and war elephants and --everything else-- in the city's menangerie, warriors still often come up late game as the recommended unit!

Similar deal with the Hidden Court. It's incorrectly set as an economy building, so it usually comes up as the recommended building late game. You only need one or two hidden courts, since the unit it produces is a national unit. Having more than one is like having more than one than one Scotland yard in Vanilla. It might be better to limit the number of instances of buildings that can make the national units, just to clean up the "what would you like to build in this city" screen a tad. I wouldn't go as far as to make them national wonders though, since it's very nice to have 3-4 large animal stables, for example.

 

[Kael]

There was one more thing I wanted to mention before I forget:

I know you've stated that you don't want things to get obsoleted, but one thing does need to be obsolete, the warrior. Oddly enough, even though there's usefull stuff like paladins and camel archers and war elephants and --everything else-- in the city's menangerie, warriors still often come up late game as the recommended unit!

Similar deal with the Hidden Court. It's incorrectly set as an economy building, so it usually comes up as the recommended building late game. You only need one or two hidden courts, since the unit it produces is a national unit. Having more than one is like having more than one than one Scotland yard in Vanilla. It might be better to limit the number of instances of buildings that can make the national units, just to clean up the "what would you like to build in this city" screen a tad. I wouldn't go as far as to make them national wonders though, since it's very nice to have 3-4 large animal stables, for example.

The game engine obsoletes a unit when you can build all of its upgrades. For the warrior that included the Drown. Since only Overlords players can build the Drown the warrior never obsoletes for anyone else. I could write something to block it, and probably should, but it won't be in 1.0. Let me see what the unit upgrade paths look like in 2.0 and I will see what I can do.

I went ahead and switched the Hidden Court to Military like you suggested.

 

[Kael]

Ah, yes. The Dungeon seems to be the problem then. Why is this so, may I ask? I'm still curious as to why I wouldn't be able to produce Priests at this point as I'm currently at war and the Priests would most definitely provide a useful tool for Healing.

Its the way the engine works. If you can build all of the upgrades of a unit you can't build the base unit anymore. I have messed with some of the units, made them upgradeable to "Sir not appearing in this mod" (who can never be built) but the priest wasn't one of them.

 

[Samael]

Its the way the engine works. If you can build all of the upgrades of a unit you can't build the base unit anymore. I have messed with some of the units, made them upgradeable to "Sir not appearing in this mod" (who can never be built) but the priest wasn't one of them.

That much I understood (and yet another reference to Monty Python does bring a smile to my face, I must admit). Will the Priest be buildable again in v1.0?
And may I ask what you thought of the Mason and Gargoyle suggestions?

 

[Lunargent]

I agree that the Veil is the weakest of the 5 religions. And they will be getting a UU in 1.0. Its called the Beast of Agares and its a t4 national unit (3 max) that consumes 4 population in the city that builds it. Its big and nasty and gets +25% against paladins and high priests. Yumm.

That's awesome to hear. I wouldn't want to be an actual citizen in that civ.

Perhaps they could have another unit ( borrowing fom Starcraft here) called a parasite. It would give a negative promotion to an enemy unit that would let the caster see through its eyes at all times, until a cure disease was used. It could be cast during peace time. Give the AI a small chance of detecting it each turn, with a negative dimplomatic penalty if caught. You could remove the effect yourself and declare war by having the parasite detonate, injuring or killing the unit. Limit it to 3 active at any one time.

 

[Kael]

That much I understood (and yet another reference to Monty Python does bring a smile to my face, I must admit). Will the Priest be buildable again in v1.0?
And may I ask what you thought of the Mason and Gargoyle suggestions?

I like the flavor idea of the gargoyle but I don't see a functional use. The bonus vs demons function is already held by the diciples/crusaders line.