Mods to make this game stop sucking

[PieceOfMind]

10GHz core?

Anyway, I expect modding to take off once the source for the DLL is finally released. Still no word from Firaxis or 2K when this will happen though. It was promised before release (to be made available after release). For civ4 it took about 6 months.

Personally I'm pretty much leaving this game alone until we get the DLL.

 

[Derpy Hooves]

Not a huge fan of multiplayer to be honest, the waiting time and the fact that it feels like a player instead of an actual civilization is kind of a buzzkill, not to mention that you have to be connected to the internet and other factors.

And with 10ghz I meant a 2.5ghz quadcore, read recently it's not great for Civ 5 due to bad optimization for quads, but at least I can run a SC2 stream on my other monitor without any increased lag.

 

[chazzycat]

I'm one of those who enjoys the game immensely without any mods. Try moving up the difficulty some more, or play more unpredictable map types and random civs. Emperor/immortal are pretty fun levels where the AI advantages start to make it challenging, but it's still possible to win almost every game (unlike deity). For me the fun comes from rolling a random map/civ and adapting a winning strategy based on my surroundings.

 

[qalsip1977]

I'm one of those who enjoys the game immensely without any mods. Try moving up the difficulty some more, or play more unpredictable map types and random civs. Emperor/immortal are pretty fun levels where the AI advantages start to make it challenging, but it's still possible to win almost every game (unlike deity). For me the fun comes from rolling a random map/civ and adapting a winning strategy based on my surroundings.

I agree with chazzycat on this. I've been doing random everything (Emporer or higher difficulty) for a while now. Occasionally when someone posts about winning a particular kind of game (like a recent culture victory pre-1900AD post) I try that, but by and large, I'm going random. It's fun!

I refuse to install mods (although the achievements for doing so are taunting me). I installed a mod on another game once and it corrupted my entire game folder...forcing me to reinstall. I, like many, have gripes and things I would change about the game...but I can say that for almost every game I've played! CiV is my favorite entry into the Civ series.

I haven't played a multi-player game yet. I've TRIED to, but there doesn't really seem to be much of a MP presence (or maybe I'm just not online during the right times), with just a few games going on. I really don't want to wait to play...I'm too impatient for that!

 

[00konichiwa00]

civilization nights mod are very cool. only one I have tried so far

 

[Spatzimaus]

There are quite a few good mods, depending on your personal tastes.

Thal's VEM/unofficial patch is really the gold standard for a "clean up the core game" sort of balance, even if there are a few changes I'd prefer to do without. Many of the changes he's made in the past have found their way into the official patches, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on his work.
NIGHTS drastically changes the game mechanics (which might be good or bad depending on your preferences; after all, you don't have to play EVERY game with the same mods, so feel free to try it out).
My own mod (in .sig) has some minor balance changes to the core game but adds a lot of content (mostly future-era content at the moment, but tomorrow I'll be posting the first test version of the Mythology mod).
The Community Call To Power project is similar, adding a LOT of new content to the earlier eras.
There are also the various UI mods (InfoAddict being the most well-known), and a few very specialized mods (like the City-State Diplomacy Mod or the R.E.D. Modpack) that many people like.

Honestly, if you go over into the Customization forum and look for Modpack/ModComponents/Projects threads with more than a few hundred posts, you won't go wrong. The in-game browser is lousy for finding which mods are good, but these forums are THE modding community for Civ5.

Due to the way the game works, most of the large mods are incompatible with each other. It's unfortunate, really, but we're working on it; the folks who make these mods are trying to make our projects a bit more universally compatible, but it takes time. In the meantime, if you're tired of the core game's balance, or lack thereof, you should try some of these out, one at a time until you find something you like.

 

[00konichiwa00]

I'm one of those who enjoys the game immensely without any mods. Try moving up the difficulty some more, or play more unpredictable map types and random civs. Emperor/immortal are pretty fun levels where the AI advantages start to make it challenging, but it's still possible to win almost every game (unlike deity). For me the fun comes from rolling a random map/civ and adapting a winning strategy based on my surroundings.

it's not the difficulty that makes the vanilla game borring. it's that they have taken so much out of the game without adding much. I had to force myself to finish researching all the techs (wanted to play a full game of civ 5 for once...). vanilla version gets borring after around 300 turns (depends on which game pace and difficult level I play.

 

[chazzycat]

it's not the difficulty that makes the vanilla game borring. it's that they have taken so much out of the game without adding much. I had to force myself to finish researching all the techs (wanted to play a full game of civ 5 for once...). vanilla version gets borring after around 300 turns (depends on which game pace and difficult level I play.

that works out perfectly...on immortal you want to finish by around turn 300 anyway

 

[Derpy Hooves]

that works out perfectly...on immortal you want to finish by around turn 300 anyway

I think she was just making the point that challenging =/= fun.
It'd be incredibly challenging for me to eat a door, that does not make it fun though.

And after having a bit of trouble getting VEM to work I installed NIGHTS which up to now has worked perfectly, gonna take me a bit of time to adjust to all the new content but what from what I've read in the thread it's mostly good stuff (altough I have noticed city states dying off really quickly, I think the first one died around turn 5 to as of yet unknown sources, I'm guessing the new barbarians?).

Also running a couple of the smaller mods, Infoaddict, Willard and no maps from goody huts, I hav'nt had much experience with Dipomacy yet but from what I've seen their base state is alot more friendly then the homicidal maniacs I've come to expect.

These mods seem to have fixed most of my problems (apart from the AI's tactical retardation ofcourse, but from what I've read this is essentially unfixable) and with a bit of luck I'll be able to get some actual enjoyment out of this game.

 

[Catastrophe90]

I think the first one died around turn 5 to as of yet unknown sources, I'm guessing the new barbarians?).

Wait... What? I thought Barbarians didn't move before turn 10 or so?

 

[nokmirt]

CiV diplomacy needs individualism added in so civs act different, and distance modifiers should be added!

It figures! Thats because they are all the same. Firaxis should add some real individualism to the way AI leaderheads make choices. If Ghandi and Napoleon sat at dinner together. I am sure their views on military matters would vary like night and day. Also, Napoleon loved to wage war. He is not going to be all fired upset at the Chinese leader, halfway across the world who is waging her own war, for her own benefit. I feel Napoleon who say exactly this, "BRAVO MON CHER!" But not in CiV, Napoleon is madder than hell at someone exactly like himself. To me it makes no sense. Civs that far apart should affect diplomacy to make it so, it is harder for civs farther away to get upset. Local diplomacy should remain the same. When you share local borders, tension bulids much easier. The solution, or at least a big step forward in fixing diplomacy, would be distance modifiers. These would help reduce the chance of civs far away, ruining good relations, due to a far away civs local concerns. In other words, a civ that is across the world, who cannot directly influence another civs choices, should not be overly concerned if they are waging war or not. It does not make sense for the Iroquois all the way in North America, who are having beneficial trade relations with China, all the way in Asia, to break off relations, because China is at war locally in her own sphere of influence. The Iroquois would say, "There is nothing we can do about that, we have to worry about our own people, and our trade relations benefit us here, China is still our friend, why should we cut our own throats, because China is fighting?" Big Chief would toke up that peace pipe real nice and say, "China friend, we keep peace, we make much business, use money destroy white man!"