Mods or no mods?

[ixias]

Hey everyone! I've been a long-time lurker and finally decided to join in. For my first post, I was just wondering who uses mods and, if you do, what type?

I haven't played with many mods, but I've been looking through the workshop lately and subscribed to a few. For those of you who play with mods, are there any that you would say are "must haves" or that you always use? Thanks!

 

[Arachnofiend]

I only use mods that add flavor but don't change the gameplay any. There are some different mods that add in new religions to pick (Strange Religions and Historical Religions are the ones I use and there are some that just have single additions too) and I also have a mod that gives the Great Prophets names like the other great people.

 

[Cicerosaurus]

I use Infoaddict (it gives you every piece of information about the game you can imagine. It can be depressing if you face a runaway AI.) also use the one that doesn't cap experience fighting against barbarians.

 

[Fluffball]

The only two i couldn't really live without are infoaddict which gives you graphs and a diplomacy screen like civ3/4 so you can easily see what is happening. Why they decided to change to the very basic current system i have no idea?

The other is Notification Options (this you will have to install yourself as the creator doesn't like the steam workshop anymore but it is easy to do). This lets you customize what pop-ups appear along the side of the screen but most importantly add 2 extras which should have been included from the start. The first is it shows a notification when your city grows to any size (the un-modded game stops at size 6 for some reason?) and also has an option to notify when a city gains a new tile through culture. Both mean you don't have to keep checking your cities every turn to see if anything has changed.

 

[Socratatus]

I usually use mods that only add flavour too. For instance I use the diversity mod that changes soldier units to look more like they`re Civ nationality and a flag mod.

I`ve been tempted by mods that actually change game mechanics, but unfortunately they still in beta or do too much. Also i don`t like downloading Mods from steam 1, because they`re all kinds of dodgy issues with it 2, Why the hell should I register for a Mod? what is this? big brother spying on me again?
and 3, I like the freedom of control I have when I can download and save a mod collection and install when and where I want.

Sadly, with this obsession to put everything to Steam alone my choice in mods is getting less and less. A sad state of affairs from the days when anyone could once download mods at will. People just won`t see how Steam is grabbing everything with its greedy fingers and forcing people to use only it alone. mark my words, it will get only worse. It`s making prisoners out of gamers.

I don`t know how long it will take you people to see it, but I suspect it will be too late when you do.

 

[Moriarte]

Not to worry, Socratatus, the end of days is near anyway. No time to criticize Steam. Time to stock in some canned food and go underground.

To stay on topic, i tried this giant Earth map by Veneke today. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[joncnunn]

A lot depends upon weather or not your interested in unlocking the achivements.
If you are, you have to play without mods, since even a mod that doesn't impact gameplay stops progress towards them.

If however, your not interested in them; then VEM (for vanilla) and GEM (for G&K but still in Beta) have a much better AI.

 

[dutchengineer]

I personally use the mod 'Reseed!' a lot. It allows you to quickly regenerate new maps, which is very nice when you're a person that refuses to play crappy maps.

 

[Donaskme]

No mods at all.

 

[HappyBuilder]

No mods.

 

[Love CiV]

I once tried to use a reforestation/global warming mod. They didn't work so well, so I just gave up on those. Besides that, I use info addict, and sometimes mods adding in new religions.

But since I have a mac, it's tedious to use a mod.

 

[janboruta]

I use new civs, UI tweaks, new religions, new wonders, ethnic units mods... and that's about it. I dislike mods that change the gameplay or go too deep into "fixing" vanilla civs that weren't broken at all (replacing fun units with bland buildings is something that puts me off in particular).

I'm more about flavour of the game than gameplay tweaks and the continuous search of the mystical "balance".

 

[mjjepper]

InGameEditor. Solves so many traffic jams... I wouldn't play without it.

 

[DavisonACT]

None here.

 

[mike1117112]

No mods for now. I'm still chasing achievements. But I did use the limitless experience against barbs for awhile. May use it again.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I either use a mod civ or no mods at all.

 

[OmniPotent42]

No mods. They seem to slow down my game too much, and I would only use the one that gives no cap for barbarians, and the one that allows your upgrades to transfer when you upgrade a ranged unit to a melee unit.

 

[Gedemon]

I can't play without mods

 

[starstx]

I used to always play no MOD's but not anymore. I have not and don't plan on using any MOD's that change gameplay. But once I used infoaddict ... I was never able to go back without playing with this MOD. I love all of the extra information and it has made the game a lot more enjoyable for me personally.

Other ones I have used ...

The R.E.D. Modpack for regiment and ethnic diversity that rescales the units, formations, and adds diversity.

City Limits MOD which shows the entire 3 tile radius of the city whenever you click on a settler or open the city.

Faster Aircraft Animations - About sums it up 2X Faster.

Ethnic Units - Not compatible with R.E.D. currently. I switch between them every other game. This doesn't rescale I believe just adds flavors to all the units from different nationalities. Really cool.

Krakatoa Fix - This increases the chance of it being a workable tile and it will no longer spawn in the middle of the Ocean.

Colored Religion Icons - A quick coloring of the icons. Looks nice.

Expanded Civilopedia Entries - This adds a lot of bullet point information making the civilopedia less opaque. Edits text only. No changes to values.

Great Prophet Historical Names - Adds historical names to this GP.

A couple that I don't use that I think sound good is Reseed and In Game Editor.

Just a bunch of stuff that adds a little flavor to the game and makes it more enjoyable.

 

[EyeofMobius]

In my current game I am using The Barb XP Cap, No Cheating AI and a massive Earth map.

Next major game I think I will add info addict and maybe Extended Eras.

My Mod Philosophy is I love games modded in General. I do really like to enjoy the games in the manufactured/patched form too but I have been sold on Modded games since SimCity 4.