Modern Earth (Giant)

[kiwitt]

Over 5,000 downloads
Thank You​

Introduction
Have you ever wondered what the world will be like in a few years time? - Well wonder no more, this scenario recreates the modern earth as it is today and how it develops diplomatically. While it is still reasonably random, it gives new insights into what is essentially a very complex world. Lots of interdependence and relationships that need to be carefully managed.

Playing one of the major nations, like the USA, Russia or China is a very hard as you not only have a lot of cities manage, but also a lot of units. So if you chose to play one of these, be prepared for a lot of micro-management or alternatively set them to 'auto' and focus on your units.

Now you will need to be careful with your units as they are irreplaceable, i.e. you have more units than you are allowed to build.

Now Updated to Version 1.4 @ 18 October 2015
Link to File Download
I am keen to hear feedback.

Background
Based on Barbarian King's Earth 2010 Update 6, I have worked on a scenario based on a GEM map by GreatLordofPie. I have developed a new Giant Earth Scenario. It includes over 1100 accurately represented cities and countries. Each city will include all the correct buildings, religions and corporations. In addition it includes over 5,000 units, which are placed and named as accurately as possible, given in some cases limited information.

The Map:
I have made a conscious decision to only make nations playable, whereas regional groupings of nations are not. This is essentially because no one can really control all those regional groupings and make decisions that affect them all. I have however made a fairly good representation of its types of civics and its cities. Another reason is that it would significantly unbalance the game too much. (NOTE: If you want to play one of them, you can change it in the scenario file)

Most attention has been given to making the 1100 cities as accurately as possible, but the focus has been ensuring that the "Global Cities" are the real key cities in the game. If you feel a non-global city should be better represented by its buildings let me know. Many of these Global cities also include settled "Great People", which represents the fact that it has had a significant history.

Spoiler :

List of Nations:

Spoiler :

USA
China
Russia
India
UK
France
Germany
European Union (Not Playable)
Canada
Mexico
Brazil
Argentina
Japan
Saudi Arabia
S.Korea
S.Africa
Iran
Australia
Indonesia
Turkey
Pakistan
Israel
Colombia
Venezuela
Peru
Egypt
Libya
Mali
Kenya
Congo (ex-Zaire)
C.I.S. (Not Playable)
Thailand
Iraq
N.Korea
Africa Union (Not Playable)
Asian Nations (Not Playable)
Arab League (Not Playable)
European Nations (Not Playable)
Latin America (Not Playable)
Pacific Nations (Not Playable)

Relations between nations was one of the hardest research required and when you think it is a 40x40 matrix, a lot of thought had to be applied to this process. You will find however, that there are strong relationships between nations you expect to have, e.g. US and UK, but also strong animosities between others, e.g. US and North Korea & Iran. Open Borders only exist between nations who have free-trade agreements or are part of a trading block. There will also be alliances between nations. You will also find scattered around the map "Terrorist" cells. This reflects the "War on Terror" that is going on right now.

Units:
These are the heart of the game. Using the level of detail skills I applied to my Road to War Historical I have extended this to representing the World Armed Forces as accurately as possible. This means not only placed correctly but also named corrected. Where information is not available I have made some good guestimates. The major unit size is "Brigade", for Airforces it is "squadron" and the smallest unit I have used is "Frigate" for navies. However, a change from Earth 2010 that "Terrorist" units can capture undefended cities, as these now also represent "Rebels" as well. Another change is all navies and workers have freedom of movement due to the fact I have made "Open Borders" a "Free Trade" characteristic. This is because I have had to make relations between nations more accurate.

Requirements:
So in light of the above you will need to have a reasonably powerful computer running preferably Windows 7 64-bit to give Civ 4 BTS a full 4GB of RAM. Needless to say you'll need more than 4GB of RAM to run it.

Earth 2010 permission obtained from Barbarian King

Spoiler :

Would you grant me permission to create a new version of Earth 2010 called Earth 2012, which I will base on your mod. I will obviously give you credit once I release it in a few months time.

My Earth 2012 will include the Giant Map and loads of additional new unique units. I also hope to incorporate RevDCM as the basis.

Absolutely. That sounds like quite a project, but if you are able to complete it I'm sure it will make quite a good scenario and I'll look forward to playing it. You may want to consider naming it Earth 2013, however, given that you'll be releasing it then. Good luck.

Credits: Barbarian King, GreatLordofPie, Tigranes, and the many Civfanatics graphics model makers.

 

[kiwitt]

1.5 Possible fixes - November 2015

Spoiler :

Add Barranquilla to Columbia

1.4 Release - October 2015

Spoiler :

Too many nations have Terrorism - Fixed
You will now be required to kill all units as well cities to eliminate a nation - DONE
This is to reflect the state of fear (war weariness) your nation will feel after being at war and the after effects
Fixed North Korean Relationships - Done
Changed Ukraine to European Nations - Done
Added ISIS to have control of Mosul and another Syrian city - Done
Fixed Open Borders and Defensive Pacts issue - Done
Increased the number of Infantry units you can create to reflect mass recruitment, but no change to more modern units - Done
Restricted building construction options to having prerequisite buildings - Done
Major reduction in Techs to make Civic changes less frequent
Building effects changed from default to help with starvation, etc.

1.3 Release - 21 October 2013

Spoiler :

Destroyers speed not changed - Done
Add free specialists to all buildings, e.g. Engineer for Factory - Done - removed
To ensure starting units have higher promotions than new units built, additional promotions to be added to starting units as follows; - BOLD = Done
Combat 1,2,3,4,5,6 = USA, UK, Japan, Israel
Combat 1,2,3,4,5 = France, Germany, EU, Canada, S.Korea, Australia
Combat 1,2,3,4 = Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Thailand, European Nations, Oceania
Combat 1,2,3 = Asian Nations, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Colombia, Egypt, CIS Nations
Combat 1,2 = China, India, Iran, Indonesia, S.Africa, Venezuela, Peru, Arab League, Latin America
Combat 1 = Libya, Mali, Kenya, Congo, Iraq, N.Korea, African Union
Leadership = All starting units
Elite Units will generally have 2 grades above these. However, if the nation is already at 5 they will be upgraded to 6 plus one other promotion +25% versus gunpowder units) and if at 6 already plus (+25% versus gunpowder, armoured and siege units). Elite units are generally considered to be Marines and Para forces. Special Forces will have 4 grades above these. This means they will have in addition to +25% versus gunpowder, armoured and siege promotions, will also have mountain and woods promotions. Don't mess with these ones!!!
Fix Holy Cities and state religions - Done
All Capitals not player nations to be given Forbidden Temple which acts as Palace - Done
Minor Changes to Starting Defence Pacts - Done
Remove "The Internet" from a number of nations - Done
Tweak Aircraft stats to reflect their true value - Done
Severely restricted the number of units available per class (e.g. 2 carriers) - Done.
This means if you have in excess of these limits to start, you will not be able to replace them, until you get below to these limits
NOTE: US has been given a number of battleships and carriers that are in reserve or as museum ships, which can be used should they lose a lot of units.
Made some adjustments to some nations relations and also their adjectives, e.g. Mali used Nigerian!?!?! - Done
Made some changes to corporations, e.g. Oil and Food ones are now less effective. - Done. Works very well.
Note: If you are playing USA with close cities pay special attention to balancing food supply.
Removing the UN Mission from all nations except 'security council' members.
North Korea will be Taoist to strengthen its alliance with China
Pakistan did not have any nukes making it vulnerable.

1.2 Release - 1 October 2013

Spoiler :

Timescale changed from Months to Weeks
Naval Unit moves changed to reflect expected distance cruised in one week and also removed Blitz availabilty from Naval units.
Obsolete units can not built - Done
Most units now require specific buildings - Done
Number of Units (per class) are now limited e.g. 10 carriers - Done
Withdrawal chance (retreat) has been added to most units - Done
HQ Units given bonus Promotions and Leaders - Done
All Fighters set to Intercept - Done
Modify starting technologies to minimise Civic changes - Done
Modify Favourite Civics and Religions to reflect real world - Done
Select Technologies made harder to research (x10) - Done
Increased Distribution Centres to all cities size 6 and above (i.e. over 150,000 pop) - Done
Summer Olympic Cities improved - Done
Fixed AT&T Corporation Earth 2010 Bug by renaming AT&T to ATT - Done - not fixed

1.1 Release - 6 September 2013

Spoiler :

Distribution Centres for China/India - Done
National Wonders - Done
Relations of National Groupings with other nations improved - Done
Increase Maintenance costs of all units - Done
Set all cities to WEALTH and then adjusted all difficulty levels upwards - Done
Increase Build time for Major units, e.g. Carriers - postponed

1.0 Release - 23 July 2013

Spoiler :

All Nations Completed
All Cities Completed
All National Units Completed

Development Started - 18 December 2012

Spoiler :

Progress on Giant Earth Map for Earth 2010 is progressing well. Completed the research into the units (5095+ actual units) and now working through nearly 700 cities and ensuring starting culture is accurate. (i.e. population / 100).

Completed culture and now working on adding additional Civs

Other Nations will be broken up into;
C.I.S. - Replacing Kazakstan with the all the former Soviet states.
African Union - essentially all the non-represented Sub-Saharan states
Arab League - Representing all the non-represented Arab/Middle-Eastern nations
Asian Nations - Replacing Taiwan with all the non represented Asian Nations
"European Nations" - All non-EU European Nations <<< NEED a better description <<<<
Latin America - All non-represented Central and South American Nations
Oceania - Most Island Nations

Prefer to keep it compatible with the original Mod as much as possible. I am considering a modmod later on, which will include RevDCM as well.

I am looking at allocating starting technologies based not only on the fact that they actually know the stuff, but really have the ability to actually make the buildings. e.g. Many African nations may know about factories and industrialisation, but do not actually have the ability to create them, because their infrastructure, schooling, finances, etc. are very poor. I am considering giving some African cities factories where some level of industry has been attempted with outside financing, but these will be few and far between. I may also use this allocation 'philosophy' on other technologies, like the ability to build universities, etc. So in fact, many industrial-age technologies (and maybe even some renaissance-era) may end up being removed from some nations, let alone modern-age technologies. While this may impact on 'balance', it does reflect a more accurate view of the world.

I have now completed an in-depth research into nation to nation relationships, free-trade agreements (will be used for open border agreements), and military alliances. For attitude values: a simple exchange of ambassadors is worth 1. Visits by leaders of respective nations 2, bilateral relationships 3, Free Trade Agreements 5 and Military Alliances 10. I have also set some negative values where ambassadors have been recalled or nations not recognised and also "AXIS of EVIL" type nations getting -5 values in respect to America. Some extra strong alliances like UK-USA get very high attitude values.

I am now working on starting technologies.

I have decided to make "Auckland" the capital of my new civ Oceania. It has the largest Pacific Island population in the world, so it is only appropriate.

Now trying to get the relationship (there are potential 40x40 possibilities) and technology data into the scenario. Boy this is a big task !!! ... thankfully I am semi-retired.

I am kind of thinking population my 784 cities with the correct number of buildings will be easier. ... Ouch!!! Still I am going for accuracy as much as possible.

I now have Four Phases to Complete

1: Populate the Cities with correct buildings
2: Complete Terrain Improvements
3: Populate with units - Beta Relase
4: Naming all units - Full Release

I noticed after adding in the missing Global Cities that I am still missing a lot of major cities from the map. These are making the maps look a bit strange as the borders to not look right. So in addition to adding the missing cities, I am also going to have to add some additional small towns to repair the borders. Setting the territory in Worldbuilder does not appear to be working. Turning off Fixed borders in the XML seems to have fixed the bizarre borders. This will minimise the additional cities and towns I still have to add. What I may do is make these additional cities less detailed as they are not "Global Cities", just large cities and make them have simply the base number of buildings for their size.

FYI: What is a Global city?

I have decided that my scenario will be developed to the 'alpha' stage for this mod, whereas the beta and final stages will form a new mod called "Modern Earth', which will also require XML and minor python changes and possibly a few extra wonders and many new unit graphics and classes and use the RevDCM base.

 

[kiwitt]

1.x Release Fixes ... continuously updated

List of Fixes required and their status:
Game Settings:

Spoiler :

Remove some victory conditions - Done

Terrain: 0

Spoiler :

Terrain

Nations: All

Spoiler :

Need to add National Wonders to all nations - Done
Need to remove most technologies that allow a change of Civics - Done
Make some civics preferred (e.g. Emancipation) - Done

Cities:

Spoiler :

New York: Missing Wall Street!!! - Done
Mumbai: Missing Bollywood!!! - Done
Most cities: Need to increase the number of temples, monasteries and cathedrals to the cities. - Done

Units:

Spoiler :

Set Units to sleep - Done!
Set Air Units to Intercept - Done!
Disable construction of obsolete units - Done!
Limit number of unist that can be built - Done!

Other: 0

Spoiler :

None

 

[kiwitt]

Reserved for 2.x Release Development (a new Mod)

Possible Enhancements
More Unique Units

 

[kiwitt]

Reserved for 2.x Release Development and Fixes

 

[kiwitt]

Reserved for Notes, Comments and Feedback

 

[Tigranes]

How long does it take on your advanced machine to load GEM with 800 cities, even without units? I just want to get an idea...

 

[kiwitt]

My machine is over 4 years old and it takes about 1 minute to start Civ4 and load the mod (from selecting the WBS file) and another 1 minute to load the scenario and map after selecting the player.

 

[JediPimp]

I always have the same problem with World scenarios=> Europe
Maybe you should en-globe as many European Nations as possible into EU

 

[kiwitt]

I have done.

 

[Dumanios]

A giAnt modern Earth. Good luck.

 

[kiwitt]

Currently about 70% complete ... seriously lots of hard work research into each city.

 

[Tigranes]

I wholeheartedly salute you -- before I gave up on this idea myself I went to the library to get some books on population. In my estimate the amount of work to accurate represent 7 billions was prohibitive after some research. And the worst thing even after everything is done one still does not feel that it is really done. For one thing I was always perplexed: how can accurate city represent surrounding population? Or how to make 2 cities to represent France and at the same time Paris and Marseille, for example. There are some limits what you can do with BTS, in my opinion...

 

[kiwitt]

France on GEM will have about 7-10 cities. Belgium and Netherlands had to be combined into one city each. plus many other similar actions; especially in Europe.

Some initial screenshots to get an idea
http://iforce.co.nz/i/5p1vcrye.jui.jpg
http://iforce.co.nz/i/5ttbxrcc.z4e.jpg
http://iforce.co.nz/i/cvuzzrig.kif.jpg
http://iforce.co.nz/i/rg3d3duj.afn.jpg

To compensate for this I have settled "great people", e.g. scientists, artists, engineers, merchants, etc.

 

[DC123456789]

That's some serious city crowding.

 

[kiwitt]

Should see my Road to War Historical

 

[Tigranes]

I have mixed emotions... On one hand representing East Coast of US with 3 cities, like we have now in Today is too unrealistic. On the other side your map of East coast looks a little too overcrowded. Perhaps you should relax the criteria? I mean doesn't it bother you that map will not look very pretty with cities next to each other even on GIANT map, and so why many cities, to begin with? Graphically it creates false impression that surface of Earth just dominated by urban landscape. Wouldn't you capture a lot of realism even with including all the 2 mln+ cities ONLY?

 

[kiwitt]

Nearly every Global city has been added, where space allows and US has lots of them. Population is not the only criteria for adding cities.

FYI: What is a Global city?

As to crowding ... the US does that already

 

[Adhesive86]

Feedback on UK:

Birmingham and Nottingham are the wrong way around geographically.

Remove Liverpool-Sheffield and replace with Manchester or Liverpool-Manchester or Leeds (both are bigger). The city that is currently Manchester should be Newcastle as it is far too far North East to be Manchester.

 

[kiwitt]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do what I can.