DB_in_Omaha
Warlord
"Bigger, Better Worlds" C3C Mod
** 2005/08/15: NEW VERSION **
Download: 17.1 Meg 7Z File
This C3C mod provides larger world maps, significant tech tree additions and revisions (most notably in the ancient and modern ages), three new government types, over 40 new improvements and wonders (including small wonders unique to each government type and civilization strength), more than two dozen new units, some minor graphics refinements, and a variety of rules adjustments.
Though the mod has grown much larger than I originally expected, it remains my purpose primarily to enhance the game. "Bigger, Better Worlds" is meant to make the "Civilization III" epic game more interesting and challenging; unlike some of the other mods out there, though, it is not intended to be "an entirely different way to play." Of course, my intent notwithstanding, it seems to be developing in that direction, anyway. While much of what you know about and expect from the default epic game will still apply when playing BBW, much else will not. Be sure to consult the Civilopedia to learn the specifics of what's different.
LARGER WORLD MAPS:
The smallest map available in the mod is the default epic game's "standard" map, a 100x100 grid which supports up to 8 civs. The largest map available is a 220x220 grid, which supports up to 24 civs.
TECH TREE ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS:
"Bigger, Better Worlds" adds the following 19 technologies to the game: Adv Med Tech, Criminology, Cryonics, Deep Space Travel, Drama, Expert Systems, Gaia Theory, Improved Siegecraft, Libertarianism, Mining, Motion Pictures, Nanotechnology, Neural Interface, Oligarchy, Piracy, Sailing, Siegecraft, Theocracy and Vassalage.
The ancient age's tech tree (screenshot) has been extensively modified, in part to incorporate some ideas I liked from the various "Conquests" scenarios, and in part to allow each civilization strength to be attached to a unique starting technology. Agricultural civs now start with Pottery, commercial civs with Writing, expansionistic civs with The Wheel, industrial civs with Mining, military civs with Organized Armies, religious civs with Ceremonial Burial, scientific civs with Mathematics, and seafaring civs with Sailing. (Note that the irrigation and mining worker abilities are also now attached to techs. Neither is automatically known by your workers at the start of the game, unless you start with Pottery and/or Mining.)
Espionage has been moved from the industrial age to the ancient age, and the cost of espionage missions has been reduced. This should allow espionage to be a much more important and interesting part of the game.
The tech trees of the medieval (screenshot) and industrial (screenshot) ages have also been revised, though not as extensively.
The modern age's tech tree (screenshot) has been redone almost completely from scratch, to better reflect real-world technological development and to make it impossible to win a "space race" victory without first researching every technology.
NEW GOVERNMENT TYPES:
I've added three new governments to the game: Oligarchy, Libertarianism and Theocracy. I've also tweaked most of the other governments a bit. The Civilopedia is completely up-to-date, though, and I've provided a detailed "Goverment Stats" reference file, so everything you might want to know about them is readily available.
NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND WONDERS:
I've added 12 new improvements: Amphitheatre, Baths, Brothel, Coffee Shop, Geothermal Plant, Guild Hall, Movie Theater, Refinery, Smithy, Supermarket, Winery and Worker Housing.
I've added eight new government-specific small wonders: Arc de Triomphe, Bayeux Tapestry, Egalitarian Society, Hammurabi's Code, The Inquisition, Magna Carta, Soviet War Memorial and Statue of Liberty.
I've also added eight new strength-specific small wonders: Craftsmen's Hall, Enshrined Relic, Great Harbor, Homesteaders' Hall, Military Headquarters, National Breadbasket, Sages' Forum and Traders' Guild.
I've also added two new "generic" small wonders: Assembly Line and Slave Trade.
I've added 20 new great wonders: Area 51, Bacchanalia, The Curies' Lab, Dinosaur Park, Disney World, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Encyclopedia, The Gateway Arch, Grand Unified Theory (GUT), Gutenburg's Bible, Hollywood, Machiavelli's Il Principe, Mayan Calendar, The Plays of Sophocles, Scotland Yard, Solar System Colonization, The Spirit of St. Louis, The Taj Mahal and The World-Wide Web. (The Internet is now a small wonder which allows creation of the Web.)
As with everything else, of course, I've also tweaked some of the improvements and wonders which already existed in the game. Probably the most important changes are that the Great Wall and the Temple of Artemis no longer become obsolete, to prevent walls and temples from suddenly disappearing from your cities, and that the marketplace improvement now produces a flat two happy faces instead of increasing your luxury trade.
NEW UNITS:
"Bigger, Better Worlds" adds 29 new units to the epic game: Airship, APC, Assassin (produced by Machiavelli's Il Principe), Balloon, Bombard, Continental Marine, Corsair, Covert Operative, Crossbowman, CyberPlane, CyberTank, Early Tank, Emissary, Fire Catapult, Galleass, Hover Artillery, Hover Tank, Missionary, Modern Infantry, Ocean Curragh, Prophet (produced by Enshrined Relic), Sabre Guard, Secret Agent, Shadow Infantry, Siege Tower, Spy, Terrorist, Trireme and Tyrannosaurus (produced by Dinosaur Park).
The Emissary, Spy, Secret Agent and Covert Operative units can operate invisibly and have stealth attack capability. As I noted above, espionage in various forms should be much more a part of the game, now. The Assassin is a Spy with hidden nationality.
The Missionary's nationality is also hidden; after all, a missionary ostensibly works for God, rather than for any human leader. It's useful for "converting" (either peacefully or forcibly) the workers and settlers of other civilizations.
The Terrorist unit is a "homicide bomber," essentially a human cruise missile with hidden nationality. I added it to reflect an unfortunate but undeniable element of modern warfare.
Settlers now cost 40 shields and three population points, and can't be built until you've researched The Wheel. Similarly, workers now cost 20 shields, and some worker actions (most especially clearing forests and wetlands) take longer. The settlers you start with cannot enter any terrain tiles other than grassland, plains, flood plains and hills, unless following a road. (An upgraded settler unit is available in the medieval age to eliminate that restriction.) Finally, citizens in your cities require three food each, rather than two. These changes were made to slow initial expansion.
With the exception of workers and scouts, none of the units available in the ancient age can move into desert, forest, jungle, mountain, tundra or wetlands tiles. Just as civilizations can be isolated in the early game by virtue of being located on islands, civilizations can now also be isolated by impassible terrain.
All of this adds up to make the early game much more varied, and at least in my own view, much more interesting. Whereas in the default epic game, AI civs all tend to develop initially at roughly the same rate, in BBW, many things -- starting terrain, strengths, available resources, research choices and simple luck -- can make big differences. Some civs will develop rapidly, some will develop slowly, some will stagnate and, yes, some will actually self-destruct, leaving only ruins for others to find and wonder about later.
Various other modifications have also been made to units. Perhaps the most significant changes are that spearmen, pikemen and early gunpowder units now have more balanced attack and defense capabilities, and that archers and crossbowmen have taken over as primary defensive units. As I said in reference to governments, though, the Civilopedia is up-to-date, and I've also provided a detailed "Unit Stats" reference file, so you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out what's what.
GRAPHICS REFINEMENTS:
All civilizations have consistent and unique colors. No more "maybe this color, or maybe that one" nonsense. There are 32 available civilizations, and 32 available colors. So who needs alternates? And speaking of civilization colors, the citizen heads you seen on your city screens and on your domestic advisor's display now include color-coded "smiley faces" to make it easier to tell at a glance how happy they are and which civilization they're originally from.
Strategic and luxury resources display on the map with small shields and smiley faces, respectively, to make them easier to spot quickly. And there are now twenty-seven strategic, nine luxury and eighteen bonus resources. (The city display screen has been modified to allow display of all nine luxuries, though I can't change the fact that only up to eight will affect the city's happiness.)
I've also given the boxes on the tech trees a cleaner look.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
(Check the actual "Read Me" files for these!)
-- Darryl C. Burgdorf
** 2005/08/15: NEW VERSION **
Download: 17.1 Meg 7Z File
This C3C mod provides larger world maps, significant tech tree additions and revisions (most notably in the ancient and modern ages), three new government types, over 40 new improvements and wonders (including small wonders unique to each government type and civilization strength), more than two dozen new units, some minor graphics refinements, and a variety of rules adjustments.
Though the mod has grown much larger than I originally expected, it remains my purpose primarily to enhance the game. "Bigger, Better Worlds" is meant to make the "Civilization III" epic game more interesting and challenging; unlike some of the other mods out there, though, it is not intended to be "an entirely different way to play." Of course, my intent notwithstanding, it seems to be developing in that direction, anyway. While much of what you know about and expect from the default epic game will still apply when playing BBW, much else will not. Be sure to consult the Civilopedia to learn the specifics of what's different.
LARGER WORLD MAPS:
The smallest map available in the mod is the default epic game's "standard" map, a 100x100 grid which supports up to 8 civs. The largest map available is a 220x220 grid, which supports up to 24 civs.
TECH TREE ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS:
"Bigger, Better Worlds" adds the following 19 technologies to the game: Adv Med Tech, Criminology, Cryonics, Deep Space Travel, Drama, Expert Systems, Gaia Theory, Improved Siegecraft, Libertarianism, Mining, Motion Pictures, Nanotechnology, Neural Interface, Oligarchy, Piracy, Sailing, Siegecraft, Theocracy and Vassalage.
The ancient age's tech tree (screenshot) has been extensively modified, in part to incorporate some ideas I liked from the various "Conquests" scenarios, and in part to allow each civilization strength to be attached to a unique starting technology. Agricultural civs now start with Pottery, commercial civs with Writing, expansionistic civs with The Wheel, industrial civs with Mining, military civs with Organized Armies, religious civs with Ceremonial Burial, scientific civs with Mathematics, and seafaring civs with Sailing. (Note that the irrigation and mining worker abilities are also now attached to techs. Neither is automatically known by your workers at the start of the game, unless you start with Pottery and/or Mining.)
Espionage has been moved from the industrial age to the ancient age, and the cost of espionage missions has been reduced. This should allow espionage to be a much more important and interesting part of the game.
The tech trees of the medieval (screenshot) and industrial (screenshot) ages have also been revised, though not as extensively.
The modern age's tech tree (screenshot) has been redone almost completely from scratch, to better reflect real-world technological development and to make it impossible to win a "space race" victory without first researching every technology.
NEW GOVERNMENT TYPES:
I've added three new governments to the game: Oligarchy, Libertarianism and Theocracy. I've also tweaked most of the other governments a bit. The Civilopedia is completely up-to-date, though, and I've provided a detailed "Goverment Stats" reference file, so everything you might want to know about them is readily available.
NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND WONDERS:
I've added 12 new improvements: Amphitheatre, Baths, Brothel, Coffee Shop, Geothermal Plant, Guild Hall, Movie Theater, Refinery, Smithy, Supermarket, Winery and Worker Housing.
I've added eight new government-specific small wonders: Arc de Triomphe, Bayeux Tapestry, Egalitarian Society, Hammurabi's Code, The Inquisition, Magna Carta, Soviet War Memorial and Statue of Liberty.
I've also added eight new strength-specific small wonders: Craftsmen's Hall, Enshrined Relic, Great Harbor, Homesteaders' Hall, Military Headquarters, National Breadbasket, Sages' Forum and Traders' Guild.
I've also added two new "generic" small wonders: Assembly Line and Slave Trade.
I've added 20 new great wonders: Area 51, Bacchanalia, The Curies' Lab, Dinosaur Park, Disney World, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Encyclopedia, The Gateway Arch, Grand Unified Theory (GUT), Gutenburg's Bible, Hollywood, Machiavelli's Il Principe, Mayan Calendar, The Plays of Sophocles, Scotland Yard, Solar System Colonization, The Spirit of St. Louis, The Taj Mahal and The World-Wide Web. (The Internet is now a small wonder which allows creation of the Web.)
As with everything else, of course, I've also tweaked some of the improvements and wonders which already existed in the game. Probably the most important changes are that the Great Wall and the Temple of Artemis no longer become obsolete, to prevent walls and temples from suddenly disappearing from your cities, and that the marketplace improvement now produces a flat two happy faces instead of increasing your luxury trade.
NEW UNITS:
"Bigger, Better Worlds" adds 29 new units to the epic game: Airship, APC, Assassin (produced by Machiavelli's Il Principe), Balloon, Bombard, Continental Marine, Corsair, Covert Operative, Crossbowman, CyberPlane, CyberTank, Early Tank, Emissary, Fire Catapult, Galleass, Hover Artillery, Hover Tank, Missionary, Modern Infantry, Ocean Curragh, Prophet (produced by Enshrined Relic), Sabre Guard, Secret Agent, Shadow Infantry, Siege Tower, Spy, Terrorist, Trireme and Tyrannosaurus (produced by Dinosaur Park).
The Emissary, Spy, Secret Agent and Covert Operative units can operate invisibly and have stealth attack capability. As I noted above, espionage in various forms should be much more a part of the game, now. The Assassin is a Spy with hidden nationality.
The Missionary's nationality is also hidden; after all, a missionary ostensibly works for God, rather than for any human leader. It's useful for "converting" (either peacefully or forcibly) the workers and settlers of other civilizations.
The Terrorist unit is a "homicide bomber," essentially a human cruise missile with hidden nationality. I added it to reflect an unfortunate but undeniable element of modern warfare.
Settlers now cost 40 shields and three population points, and can't be built until you've researched The Wheel. Similarly, workers now cost 20 shields, and some worker actions (most especially clearing forests and wetlands) take longer. The settlers you start with cannot enter any terrain tiles other than grassland, plains, flood plains and hills, unless following a road. (An upgraded settler unit is available in the medieval age to eliminate that restriction.) Finally, citizens in your cities require three food each, rather than two. These changes were made to slow initial expansion.
With the exception of workers and scouts, none of the units available in the ancient age can move into desert, forest, jungle, mountain, tundra or wetlands tiles. Just as civilizations can be isolated in the early game by virtue of being located on islands, civilizations can now also be isolated by impassible terrain.
All of this adds up to make the early game much more varied, and at least in my own view, much more interesting. Whereas in the default epic game, AI civs all tend to develop initially at roughly the same rate, in BBW, many things -- starting terrain, strengths, available resources, research choices and simple luck -- can make big differences. Some civs will develop rapidly, some will develop slowly, some will stagnate and, yes, some will actually self-destruct, leaving only ruins for others to find and wonder about later.
Various other modifications have also been made to units. Perhaps the most significant changes are that spearmen, pikemen and early gunpowder units now have more balanced attack and defense capabilities, and that archers and crossbowmen have taken over as primary defensive units. As I said in reference to governments, though, the Civilopedia is up-to-date, and I've also provided a detailed "Unit Stats" reference file, so you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out what's what.
GRAPHICS REFINEMENTS:
All civilizations have consistent and unique colors. No more "maybe this color, or maybe that one" nonsense. There are 32 available civilizations, and 32 available colors. So who needs alternates? And speaking of civilization colors, the citizen heads you seen on your city screens and on your domestic advisor's display now include color-coded "smiley faces" to make it easier to tell at a glance how happy they are and which civilization they're originally from.
Strategic and luxury resources display on the map with small shields and smiley faces, respectively, to make them easier to spot quickly. And there are now twenty-seven strategic, nine luxury and eighteen bonus resources. (The city display screen has been modified to allow display of all nine luxuries, though I can't change the fact that only up to eight will affect the city's happiness.)
I've also given the boxes on the tech trees a cleaner look.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
(Check the actual "Read Me" files for these!)
-- Darryl C. Burgdorf
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I want to play roar!
