My Latest Project: Conqueror's Delight

[Dom Pedro II]

Hey, folks.

I know it's been a while since you've heard much from me, but I have indeed been hard at work improving the civ world.

This is not a mod, but it's certainly big enough to be a mod in its own right... I still classify it as a modcomp however since it's not really intended to be played on its own. It's intended for modders, such as yourselves, to make use of for your own mods.

I'm planning several massive modcomps each focusing on a different area of the game. The areas covered will basically be: War, Religion, Economics and Environment. The first one I've been working on is War.

I've dubbed this War Modcomp Conqueror's Delight. (Word of warning, the website requires you to have Flash Player). The website is pretty simple, and I made it for my graphic design class, so I don't need any criticism on its quality... It's just a simple way to show you what I'm packing in this mod. The website's not 100% done, and I'm still changing some thing, so I'll keep you all posted if I add any new details. There's a glitch that causes the scroll bar to occasionally cut off part of the text, so I'd try clicking Home and trying again.

An initial release can be expected in the coming weeks.

 

[jdog5000]

Still looking awesome ... there's a lot more in it than you mentioned before! Definitely a candidate for largest modcomp ever

Loving the website too ...

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Yeah, just be careful with the gallery... I realized I didn't give a way back to the main menu Hence why it's a work in progress

 

[ripple01]

Looks amazing, can't wait to play with this!

Cheers,
ripple01

 

[cephalo]

Wow, looks like alot of work! Once you get all the modcomps done, you're going to make a mod correct?

 

[avain]

Brilliant!
What's the current status? Where do you see balance implications?
One thing I spotted is the Help Production action for the Worker. How do you intend to balance it?
Again, can't wait for this one! Great job!

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Wow, looks like alot of work! Once you get all the modcomps done, you're going to make a mod correct?

I certainly hope so

Only took me several years to get to the point where I was actually ready to bring my vision to life

Yes, there are two mods I would like to do. The first is an historical mod that I've been aiming to make for years and was originally working on with Civ3.

The second is a fantasy mod based on African mythology (as opposed to the standard European-based mythological structure). The capturable promotions, for example, is intended to be used for this.

Hunting will be a critical part of the mod, and so Barbarian monsters will be randomly seeded with Promotions that, upon killing the unit, will be transferred to the killing unit. This is a sort of concept you see in a lot of RPGs where you pick up various items from the creatures you slay.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Brilliant!
What's the current status? Where do you see balance implications?
One thing I spotted is the Help Production action for the Worker. How do you intend to balance it?
Again, can't wait for this one! Great job!

Well, balancing's not my job . I just provide the functionality. If people want to incorporate it into their mods, then they can figure out what the balance should be. You'll be able to mod just how much production will be given from the Worker. Otherwise they can just not use that particular component. This is going to be integrated with World of Civilization as well, so you'll also get all of the modding functionality of that package included.

At this point, the promotion abilities are all done.
The promotion capturing functionality is all done.
The yields and commerces from pillaging tiles, killing units, and capturing cities is done.
The puppet state functionality is done.
The Naval changes are done.

Most of the other things are in progress. A couple haven't been started yet. I would release it right now in this limited state for people to try, but this is being developed with cooperation with another group, and the current chassis I've built this on isn't mine to distribute.. so I have to wait until they're ready to release their project before I can release mine. I hope that'll be in the coming weeks.

 

[avain]

Fair enough. Keep up the good work!

 

[MqsTout]

You mentioned bombardment retaliation. I've been wanting that (especially naval bombardment retaliation; I miss that from Civ3). Is that component loose enough to do individually? SDK? Python? XML?

I would urge against the "worker help build" you have listed in Empire. This was a major balance problem in previous Civs and was removed from Civ4 for good reason. Who else remembers stockpiling caravans for wonder rushing, or resettling their settlers in cities simply as a means to move their population around?

 

[Vrenir]

This is some absolutely amazing stuff, Dom Pedro! Some of my favorite features include:

1) The return of those great SMAC diplomacy options, especially the vote-buying for the UN and Apostolic Palace.

2) The swappable and buyable promotions, which seem perfect for use as equipment. For instance, you mention the armament on a fighter; I'm also thinking of the weaponry of infantry or the addition of armor to galleys. It's basically a simpler version of the SMAC workshop system. It'd also be wonderful if these were visually different from the XP promotions (perhaps a different color background).

3) The new Naval Supply system, which brings back some of that galley risk from the older games without the sudden lose-everything aspect. I wonder also if this could be adapted to other unit types as a type of fuel-dependancy for Armors and other modern units.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

This is some absolutely amazing stuff, Dom Pedro! Some of my favorite features include:

1) The return of those great SMAC diplomacy options, especially the vote-buying for the UN and Apostolic Palace.

Yeah, this was something I thought was sorely lacking... there's been voting, but no scheming behind the scenes! Where's the fun in that?!

2) The swappable and buyable promotions, which seem perfect for use as equipment. For instance, you mention the armament on a fighter; I'm also thinking of the weaponry of infantry or the addition of armor to galleys. It's basically a simpler version of the SMAC workshop system. It'd also be wonderful if these were visually different from the XP promotions (perhaps a different color background).

Yes, I'm planning for a different color background for equipment for my mod.

This modcomp will also include a new info type and new XML file for Promotion Class Types. Promotion Class Types will be used to separate promotions into categories and define how many of a particular promotions of one class a unit can have. So the promotion-swapping interface will group the buttons according to these classes.

Units will have a specified number of slots per class. So, for example, you could make it that small ships can have two types of armaments, and big ships can have five, for example. A value of -1 for the number of slots will mean unlimited slots for that promotion class. This will be useful for the XP Promotions and any kind of catch all "Extras" equipment category you might want.

3) The new Naval Supply system, which brings back some of that galley risk from the older games without the sudden lose-everything aspect. I wonder also if this could be adapted to other unit types as a type of fuel-dependancy for Armors and other modern units.

I've been wrapping my head around this one, but I haven't come up with a truly satisfying system for land supply. The problems are the same with sea units as with land units, but they're somewhat less pronounced with sea units... basically, the code I have currently simply checks to see if the naval unit is within range of a valid city "as the crow flies." In other words, even if you have a long snaky continent that takes many turns to get around, the program is only checking the direct A to B distance between the ship and the city.

This becomes much less realistic when you take into account land units on different types of terrain. The program also doesn't take into account enemy units between your ship and the city. And while you can kind of ignore that with naval units, it becomes very hard to do so with land units IMO. One tactic should involve being able to get between your enemy and their supply bases. While it's technically possible for the program to check all valid routes and see if any units are obstructing it, but this is will slow the game down considerably as well as being a total pain in the ass to code

One thing I'm considering is that instead of automatically supply, you'll have to hit the mission button to resupply the unit. This will have two benefits: You'll be able to distribute limited resources as you see fit, and it could also cut down on turn processing time considerably if it's done on demand when someone clicks the button. That would allow for some more complex calculation of whether the unit can be resupplied.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

You mentioned bombardment retaliation. I've been wanting that (especially naval bombardment retaliation; I miss that from Civ3). Is that component loose enough to do individually? SDK? Python? XML?

It's an SDK component, and I don't have a plan to release each piece separately although they will be commented separately, and so someone who wants, can extract each part.

I would urge against the "worker help build" you have listed in Empire. This was a major balance problem in previous Civs and was removed from Civ4 for good reason. Who else remembers stockpiling caravans for wonder rushing, or resettling their settlers in cities simply as a means to move their population around?

Well, in the same way that this modcomp will enable you do things, it will also enable you to disable anything you don't want to use. But I think providing the functionality to modders is a good idea.

 

[NikNaks]

Wow, this looks awesome! You said under "Peace" that the nationality of units is stored. Would this mean we can have ethnically diverse captured units and slaves now?

 

[snafusmith]

This is an awesome Mod/Modcomp - it incorperates nearly everything Civ4 is currently missing. Can't wait to try it out! Is there going to be a promotion that increases the likelyhood of enslavement?

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Wow, this looks awesome! You said under "Peace" that the nationality of units is stored. Would this mean we can have ethnically diverse captured units and slaves now?

There's all sorts of things you can do with it, but yes, that would be one. For example, when you capture Workers now, they now say "Worker (American)" for example. Which is straight out of Civ3. I'll take a screenie of that so you can see. I've also added in some additional factors so that Worker units of a different nationality from their current owner will have a different level of productivity. That can be modified in the XML, and there's also modifiers in the Civics XML to allow certain civics to impact how well foreign Workers work.

The Home City info and the Nationality info of units have been exposed to python as well, so if people find there's something cool these values can be used for that I didn't think of, they'll be able to easily script their idea in python.

This is an awesome Mod/Modcomp - it incorperates nearly everything Civ4 is currently missing. Can't wait to try it out! Is there going to be a promotion that increases the likelyhood of enslavement?

Yes, there will be a promotion to increase the chances for enslavement.

 

[zappara]

This looks very promising - I'm just drooling here when thinking what you can do with all those new things...

 

[Shiggs713]

Looks fantastic DP, looking forward to it.

 

[erikg88]

Love the idea about an African fantasy mod - could you speak a little more on that?

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Love the idea about an African fantasy mod - could you speak a little more on that?

I'm glad somebody asked for details about that.

The mod takes place in a fictional world and has fictional versions of a number of different African cultures. Some of them are settled, typical civilizations. Others are nomadic civs.

Hunting is an important part of the mod. Animals remain through the entire game, and killing them will give food, production, gold, and special items (promotions).

Interaction with the gods is also very important in the game. Adopting certain religions will give you certain bonuses. For example, if you adopt the religion of the God of Hunting, more animals with better yields will spawn around your borders.

There are also lesser gods you have to worry about as well. One of the most famous characters from African mythology, Anansi the Spider, is featured in the game. Anansi was a trickster who was always looking to con, scheme and cheat his way to a free meal (or whatever he thought would most profitable at the time). In the game he'll show up in your territory and start killing your livestock and your citizens (pillaging). If you kill him, Anansi will offer you a deal. You can take the deal, and in exchange for something, he'll give you a nice prize. He'll respawn somewhere far away stronger than before. The other choices are to let him go (he respawns elsewhere at the same strength), or finish him and respawns elsewhere at original strength. So the rewards he gives you is offset by the danger of his becoming more powerful. It's possible that he could become so powerful that he can't be stopped.

There's also a Hyena death god that walks the map leaving nothing but dead, parched earth in its wake.