Most realistic representation of modern world?

[Box]

What would you guys recommend I download to get the most realistic possible representation of the modern world? Where you can start playing in the post-WWII period or even later? With civilizations, units, cities, etc setup realistically for the time period?

Any suggestions please.

thanks,
Box

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Is this for a scenario? Can you be more specific?

I think ultimately it'd depend on the scenario creator. I think 1945 would be a good startpoint, being the dawn of a new era and a watershed event. Alternatively, there're other watershed years that can serve as well like end of the Soviet era and so on.

Being knowledgeable in current affairs will help. And I think there're sources on the net that lists national resources (GDP, military etc) by country. You can do a search for them. Bear in mind that any information can be biased and you'll have to be judgemental.

 

[cracker]

Box,

I think you may have a way wrong concept of how this game plays. The internal guts of the game engine will not play by the rules you are expecting to apply if you have "a perfect world map".

This type of game will be sort of like chimpanzee baseball. You can give the players all the right equipment and uniforms and put them in the middle of a great stadium that looks just like Wrigley field, but after the first several moves the players will peel and eat the baseballs and start chasing each outer around and screaming wildly while they whack each other with bats and coolers full of gatorade. (XFL and WWF does baseball with a rock).

The key point here is that the AI programming won't do real world things. The strong will attack the weak and the resource and terrain poor countries will be victims instead of finding a balanced role as some sort of technological or trade participant.

Satisfy your itch, but look at some of the succession game threads or GOTM spoiler threads to get an idea how the game really works so you will be able to keep the lack of game play challenge from known positions in a better perspective.

You may want to learn to use the search tool on the forums because this will lead you to some discussions that are already active on almost this same topic.

 

[stalin006]

i would say right after teh collapse of the USSR, like in 1992

 

[Box]

cracker - I know what you mean about the AI. But this can be somewhat compensated for by clumping various powers into blocs, can it not?

For example making all the Western European nations as one civ, the Pacific Tigers including Japan as another civ, and so on. Basically clump all the major culturally and economically linked nations into single civs for purposes of gameplay.

This way things are more balanced. Has anyone done a scenario or mod like that?

 

[cracker]

Box, you are correct that "bloc"ing helps to achieve some functionality.

The unfortunate side effect of this still remains that the game engine does not "play nice" and follow what the rules as to what you expect them to do.

You spend hours and hours creating a pacific war scenario and then you cant get Japan to attack Pearl Harbor no matter what you do.

You want to replay the Battle of the Bulge and instead the Germans make peace with Russia and include an MPP in the deal.

Utimately the problem with responsive AI and any preconceived historic campaigns of battles is that the Civ3 AI looks at the situation and decides to make moves based on its assessment of the military situation and the terrain available. The civ3 AI does not look at terrain the way the Japanese may have or the way the Germans may have or even the way Saddam Hussein does today.

As discussed in the other thread on world maps, a major element of the game process is the discovery of terrain, the discovery of your neighbors, the discovery of technology, and the discovery and control of resources. When you begin any game that eliminates one or more of these elements of risk, then ultimately you will have a less challenging and less dimensional gaming experience.

Enjoy the fixed focus maps but recognize how the game plays as well.

 

[rangers85]

If you're talking about a scenario to download and play, you might try the WW3 one, it has 6 civs (Each blocs of countries). That might seem to be the closest to what you are looking for.