New Mod: "Bigger, Better Worlds"

[Gojira54]

It is a Firaxis wonder/improvement limitation you are hitting.

As I have stated before - I have done extensive playtesting in my mods with settlers using 3 pop costs. With proper terrain/resource food balancing, the AI does quite well with it. From what I have seen the settler-building frenzy is just slightly slowed.

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Guildenstern
I'm quite impressed, though I installed Snoopy's graphics at the same time, which probably boosts my impression level slightly. Graphicwise, though, I really like your cultural borders, in that they indicate which side of the border is which. I have now adopted your border set into the standard game.

I use Rhye's terrain graphics, myself, which are based on Snoopy's. And I can't take credit for the borders. I only (very) slightly modified the border graphics posted here recently by CornMaster.

There seems to be a bug, which is either a Firaxis bug or a facet of the way things work which needs to be better taken into account: Some wonders bring the effects of a particular city improvement to every city. Some other wonders require X many of a particular city improvement to exist before they can be built. Using these in combination does not work, however. The wonders of the first category do not actually build the improvements, but only bring the effects of the improvements. So, they "don't count" towards the requirements of the wonders in the second category. An example: I built Sun Tzu's Art of War before having built five barracks "the hard way". Now, I cannot build the Knights Templar because I do not have five barracks.

I hadn't specifically noticed that myself, though it probably explains why my son couldn't build the Templars himself the other day. I'll adjust things to allow for it now that I know about it.

Also, is there nothing that can be done about the AI's settler-building frenzy? I think the 3 population cost is cool, but as has been discussed at length in this thread, the AI can't deal with it. Increasing the shield cost helps a little, but I still have AI's falling far behind because they wasted so many shields on a finished settler that is waiting for population to increase.

I'm still playing with this. It would be nice if the AI were just smart enough to build something else if it can't build a settler yet, but obviously that's not the case. Any specific suggestions are of course welcome!

Awesome mod, though, and keep it up.

Thanks!

-- Darryl

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Amesjustin
As I have stated before - I have done extensive playtesting in my mods with settlers using 3 pop costs. With proper terrain/resource food balancing, the AI does quite well with it. From what I have seen the settler-building frenzy is just slightly slowed.

Some of what I'm playing with right now is along the lines you hinted at before.

Of course, being able to actually see what you've done in your mod might help. But even just the general hints have gotten me (I think) on roughly the right track.

-- Darryl

 

[Gojira54]

Optimator has been under construction forever, and is nowhere near completion. That is what I get for trying to create a mod that surpasses even DYP without any help...

At any rate, here is the current terrain food stats I am playing with. Keep in mind I have nearly 200 resources I am using as well, many with food bonuses, and some of those 'bonuses' are of the negative variety....

Terrain Base Irrigation
Desert 0 +1
Tundra 0 +1
Plains 1 +2
Grasslands 2 +3
Flood Plains 3 +1
Forests 1 N/A
Jungle 1 N/A
Swamps 1 N/A
Hills 1 +1
Mountains 0 N/A
Volcanoes 0 N/A
Coast 2 N/A
Sea 2 N/A
Ocean 2 N/A

I also assigned irrigation to a tech which becomes available towards the middle of the first era. This really makes grawth hard for almost all civs in the beginning - most cannot expand at all untill getting this tech, as most heavy food-based resources don't start becoming available until around the same time. If I play with over 20 or so civs, usually one or 2 will get an early population boom. Usually these are explorer civs, as their scouts will uncover extra techs or settlers. This is all fine with me, as I love the randomness all this creates.

You can also play with which techs and governments increase food production. You might want to make settlers more expensive (I did - about 35% more), although if you make it TOO expensive you will severely cripple the AI.

What I aimed to do in my mod was make expansion nearly impossible in the beginning, but slowly gets easier. By the time you are nearing the end of the modern era, about a third the worlds civs are absolutely booming, the second third is doing alright, and the last third is barely there.

You got quite a few options to control the AI Growth. Try them all out and see what creates the reaction you are looking for.

 

[Gojira54]

You can also take a lesson from Kal-el. In DYP he has some settlers that require 2 pop to create, and more expensive ones that require only 1. You could go the same route only using 3 and 2 pop settlers.

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Many of the numbers you're using aren't that far off from what I'm experimenting with right now, as it happens. (I'm playing with the 3 food requirement again, as I *really* like the concept.) I see you've added food production to ocean squares; I'm not entirely sure about that one, since especially in the early game they're supposed to be effectively inaccessible, but it's worth consideration. I also see that you're allowing hills to be irrigated. Did you create special hill irrigation graphics?

Have you pretty much gotten past the problem of AI civs sitting with settlers "almost finished" for years waiting for enough population points to complete them? I assume so from your earlier comments, and I seem to be making progress in that regard myself, but I figured I'd ask.

One thing I've noticed about requiring three food per citizen that I find rather "cool" is that cities can self-destruct. (Under despotism, the city tile itself only produces two food rather than three, and so cities aren't necessarily self-sustaining.) It doesn't happen a lot, but in one test game I ran the other day, with AI civs fighting each other and cities occasionally vanishing into the mists of time on their own, exploration had a whole new feel. The territory I was exploring was empty, but obviously hadn't always been so. Remnants of past residents were everywhere to be seen.

-- Darryl

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Amesjustin
Keep in mind I have nearly 200 resources I am using as well, many with food bonuses, and some of those 'bonuses' are of the negative variety....

Does Optimator use random maps or a set map? I'm adding new resources to BBW, but I'm proceeding a bit cautiously, as I've read some comments around here indicating that having more than 32 resources on a random map can cause problems with resource placement, and I've yet to get any real confirmation either way on the matter....

-- Darryl

 

[Gojira54]

Originally posted by DB_in_Omaha


Does Optimator use random maps or a set map? I'm adding new resources to BBW, but I'm proceeding a bit cautiously, as I've read some comments around here indicating that having more than 32 resources on a random map can cause problems with resource placement, and I've yet to get any real confirmation either way on the matter....

-- Darryl

Both - which reminds me if you are using a set map you can also use LM terrain.

I had some of the same questions as you. If you have C3C the only resource limitations left you will face are that only the first 8 luxuries to hit a city affect happiness, and that the more strat/lux resources you have, the more clustered they will appear on a random map. That 32 limitation was apparently removed with PTW.

 

[Gojira54]

Personally I like the clustering as it promotes war and trade.

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Amesjustin
If you have C3C the only resource limitations left you will face are that only the first 8 luxuries to hit a city affect happiness, and that the more strat/lux resources you have, the more clustered they will appear on a random map. That 32 limitation was apparently removed with PTW.

The clustering of luxury resources doesn't really bother me. It's rather realistic, in fact.

Only the first eight luxury resources actually affect a city's happiness, though? Damn. I've got nine luxury resources in the mod, and made a point of modifying the city display page so they'd all display neatly if you had access to them all. I didn't realize the ninth one served no purpose.

-- Darryl

 

[Gojira54]

Ninth lux still serves SOME purpose - you are denying your neighbors happiness.

If you attach requirements to luxuries (like strategic), they will still fulfill those requirements, too!

 

[Aeon221]

I do not like that border mod. I have seen it before, and it irritates me, as it does nothing but adds an errant splotch of color that ruins the elegant simplicity of the standard borders. If someone modded it to show small towers, perhaps with pennants, instead of colored lines that would be even better.

Also, where is the file that adds those rather annoying shield markers over some resources? I want to slay that also, but am unsure what created it.

Other than that, I am greatly enjoying your mod. I always mess with the mods I download; if you want, I will show you what I end up with.

Have you thought about marrying your mod with a world map? Before C3C came out I did that with the Balancer mod and basically worked it into what I got with C3C. Well, they gave me a few things I didnt think of, but regardless.

Anyway, nice mod! My only problems are graphical aesthetics, which really only matter to me.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Aeon221]

Oh, and I love the coffeehouses!
Best idea ever!

2 happy faces lol more like 300000000000!

 

[Aeon221]

Noticed you are missing text for Nanotech, so figured I could type something (waiting for some people to pick me up, so might as well use the time to help someone).

In the realm of science fiction, Nanotechnology has taken on almost mythic proportions; it is the new magic. The reality is far more interesting.

Nanotechnology is engineering at sub-microscopic levels. Already, highly dense materials (in small amounts) have been formed through nano engineering. Nano particles are being used in the creation of a revolutionary brain tumor fighting drug which will safely deliver a highly toxic drug to the affected area of the brain, without releasing it to run rampaging through the human body. These tiny particles are also being explored for their potential to form incredibly small and powerful computer chips, as well as the possibilty of using them to rapidly reproduce simple objects.

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Aeon221
I do not like that border mod.

/Art/Terrain/Territory.pcx

Delete it, and you'll be back to standard borders.

Also, where is the file that adds those rather annoying shield markers over some resources?

/Art/Resources.pcx

You can't just delete the file, since the resource list in the mod is different from the default list, but you can edit it. Deleting the shields and happy faces and leaving only the basic resource images shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

Other than that, I am greatly enjoying your mod.

Glad to hear it!

Have you thought about marrying your mod with a world map?

Not really. I like not having any idea what to expect on the map when I start a new game.

The only thought I've given to creating a predefined map is in reference to the "BBW, with Dinos" variant, to allow the Saurians to start well away from any humans. But I haven't really given it much *serious* thought.

-- Darryl

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Aeon221
Noticed you are missing text for Nanotech, so figured I could type something....

Thanks.

-- Darryl

 

[tyson]

Thank you for the files, first off. Secondly, I'm kinda new at modify the original game and have had a few problems.

1. When I select the Scenario "Bigger, Better Worlds" the map screen shows "YOUR CIVILIZATION" instead of "default".
2. When I choose civilizations, it says "YOUR CIVILIZATION" instead of "Random".
3. Below "Chieftain" difficulty level, it says "DIFFICULTY LEVEL" and under "Sid" it says "EASIEST" instead of most difficult.
4. In the game, when I open the encyclopedia to the tech-tree, it says that a file is missing and then crashes.

What am I doing wrong? I've put the files all in the Conquests Scenarios folder and haven't changed names or anything.

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by tyson
1. When I select the Scenario "Bigger, Better Worlds" the map screen shows "YOUR CIVILIZATION" instead of "default".
2. When I choose civilizations, it says "YOUR CIVILIZATION" instead of "Random".
3. Below "Chieftain" difficulty level, it says "DIFFICULTY LEVEL" and under "Sid" it says "EASIEST" instead of most difficult.

It sounds like you're using a non-patched (i.e., pre-1.10) version of C3C. Quick test: on the upper right corner of your world setup screen, do you have an option to enter a "seed" value for a world map? If not, you're using a pre-1.10 version.

There are two ways to fix the problem. The first option, obviously, is to patch your version of the game to 1.15, using the "beta" patch that Firaxis has made available. You really ought to do so; there are a number of improvements and fixes in the patch. If you don't want to do that right now, though, the second option is to replace the "labels.txt" file in the mod's "Text" folder with the "C3C v1.00 labels.txt" file.

(You're seeing incorrect text, by the way, because the newer version of the "labels.txt" file has a couple of extra lines that the older version of the game doesn't know to allow for.)

4. In the game, when I open the encyclopedia to the tech-tree, it says that a file is missing and then crashes.

I'm not sure what the problem is, here, though I doubt it's related to the "labels.txt" file. What file does the game say is missing?

-- Darryl

 

[Gojira54]

Any updates on the way?

 

[DB_in_Omaha]

Originally posted by Amesjustin
Any updates on the way?

Yep. Should be ready in just a couple more days, in fact.

-- Darryl