New Game Speed Mod Idea!!

[MattJek]

Im working on a new game speed mod. Basically it would be twice the length of epic. Ive got a timeline done that equals 1300 turns (660 epic turns x 2 = 1320)
Here is how the turns would be layed out
Turns-------------Years per turn-----Years
100------------------20--------------4000bc - 2000bc
200------------------10--------------2000bc - 1ad
200-------------------5---------------1ad - 1000ad
250-------------------2--------------1000ad - 1500 ad
550-------------------1--------------1500ad - 2050ad

Now im thinking of just multiplying the tech cost x2 in order to keep it in line with the timeline ( ei 150 epic tech cost x 2= 300)
and changing unit production down to 80% (150 epic prod. x .8 = 120)
Im gonna leave building costs at 150 or possibly raise it a little higher.

I think this will create a longer game that allows for more dynamic wars in all the different eras. Although units will be able to be built relatively quickly, I think that raising building produciton costs will balance it out so you always have something to build in a city.

Im gonna get this mod started tonite when I get home from work. Im looking for comments or suggestions.

 

[abso]

take care not to get into budget-problems.
i guess you'll have difficulties in financing all these units & growing cities.

 

[MattJek]

Im gonna have to do some trial-and-error with this mod. Im sure problem will pop up that I cant think of now. If anyone can think of any, let me know. How about I raise the number of food required for a city to grow? ei 3 food instead of 2?

 

[maxpublic]

Change the file CIV4ProcessInfo.xml so that Process_Wealth has a tech prerequisite of NONE. What this does is allow you to 'build' gold right from the start of the game, so that you won't go broke from maintenance. Important as that is to the player it's even more so for the AI, which doesn't handle a prolonged lack of gold very well.

Max

 

[MattJek]

I ran into a little trouble. I added a 'Saga' mode into my GameSpeedInfos.xml file as a fourth choice. However, when I start the game and load the mod, the fourth option is not available from the menu as one of the game speeds. I tried custom game and quick start but none of those starts would let me pick the fourth game speed option... any advice or help?

 

[MattJek]

Can I even add a fourth gamespeed?? Or do I have to edit one of the existing ones?

 

[FexFX]

Take a look at my mod: FexFX - Bigger & Longer.

It already features fourth and fifth new game speeds, FX-Epic (875 turns) and FX-Grand (1000 turns).

You are going to run into balance problems and speed issues...

Keep in mind everything should be relative to the Timeline.

1300+ turns is not just 1300+ turns...you have stuck to 6050 years (I did the same) and without a modified tech tree this means techs MUST take longer to research or you will be launching the Apollo program in the year 1100AD.

For a look at what we are working on next check out this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144668

 

[Kolyana]

Watching this with interest.

 

[MattJek]

Ok, I added a fourth gamespeed called Saga 1300 turns! Im gonna post this in new thread tonite when I get home

 

[Seven05]

One problem I encountered while doubling the epic scale (almost exactly as you described) was a very boring ancient era. I spent most of the ancient and classical eras hitting enter to end my turn without doing much. What I ended up doing was leaving the modifiers alone in the game speed definition, adding in the extra turns where I wanted them and then modifying the individual tech costs (handy utility in the utility forum for that).

My current "epic" timeline is:

<GameTurnInfos>
	<GameTurnInfo>
		<iYearIncrement>40</iYearIncrement>
		<iTurnsPerIncrement>50</iTurnsPerIncrement>
	</GameTurnInfo>
	<GameTurnInfo>
		<iYearIncrement>25</iYearIncrement>
		<iTurnsPerIncrement>40</iTurnsPerIncrement>
	</GameTurnInfo>
	<GameTurnInfo>
		<iYearIncrement>10</iYearIncrement>
		<iTurnsPerIncrement>120</iTurnsPerIncrement>
	</GameTurnInfo>
	<GameTurnInfo>
		<iYearIncrement>5</iYearIncrement>
		<iTurnsPerIncrement>290</iTurnsPerIncrement>
	</GameTurnInfo>
	<GameTurnInfo>
		<iYearIncrement>1</iYearIncrement>
		<iTurnsPerIncrement>400</iTurnsPerIncrement>
	</GameTurnInfo>
</GameTurnInfos>

So it's now 900 turns but the start of the game is no different than the stock epic game and the slowdown doesn't have a noticable effect until you get into the medevil era. By then you have plenty of buildings & units to build and more improvements for your workers to build. With the modifiers being unchanged from the original game speeds you can still build a building in the same number of turns which works out to fewer years and you can build substantially more military units. In the end that balances out the unchanged upkeep modifiers since you'll have more buildings and more units your upkeep will be higher, particularly in games with aggressive AI and raging barbarians when you really need those extra units.

This has worked out much better for my tastes than my original attempt at using the game speed modifiers with or without other changes.

Edit: One day I'll remember, "Spell check first, then post."

 

[MattJek]

yeah, the very beginning of the game is REALLY slow, but it pays off later on. Especially if you have some neighbours nearby which leads to some good ancient wars. I tested this twice, once I started on an isolated continent which turned out to be really boring. The second game, I had three neighbours and we had some interesting politics and wars going on in the ancient period.

 

[Seven05]

Yeah, too many variables to make it perfect for everybody

I still get early wars with Warriors and Archers but they're usally relatively quick (20 turns or so) unless you can't get your hands on Iron or Copper. But with more or fewer opponents the game changes significantly. At any rate I sped up military unit production for most units so you can still manage to get some large warrior/archer armies, in fact in my last game I conquered half of the Roman Empire with archers alone. It was scary since he had spearmen and axemen and I had no copper... thank god we agreed on peace after I took his copper deposit while he started churning out Praetorians. In the end the Romans were gone before the clasical era came to an end, since I underestimated the strength of my Phalanx I had enough troops left to move against the Chinese before getting into longbows & maces.

Unfortunately, my "gradual" speed decrease kills the advantage of civs like the Aztecs who have a stonger ancient era unit.

 

[Kolyana]

Is it not possible to have a turn that is LESS than 1 year? I'd love for the modern era to move in half year or quarter year increments.

 

[Seven05]

You can but it doesn't work as you may want. The calendar changes to make a turn equal a month or a season make it so the entire game progresses at 1 month or season per turn regardless of any settings in the gamespeed file. Good for scenarios, bad for general games.

 

[MattJek]

Alright, I opened a new thread with a downloadable version of my SAGA mod!

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=3447170#post3447170

 

[Kolyana]

You can but it doesn't work as you may want. The calendar changes to make a turn equal a month or a season make it so the entire game progresses at 1 month or season per turn regardless of any settings in the gamespeed file. Good for scenarios, bad for general games.

BLAHHHHHH!!!!!

The modern era *SO* needs 2-4 moves per year.

 

[MattJek]

BLAHHHHHH!!!!!

The modern era *SO* needs 2-4 moves per year.

What do you mean? Does it go by too fast?