New to TAM (and Civ4 for that matter)

[Danapoppa]

Hi there!

Although I'm still very new to Civ4, I'm pleased to say that TAM is well on its way to becoming my favorite mod for the game. It gives me just exactly what I want from a Civilization game: epic-scale civilization building in a somewhat realistic historical context, without forcing me to play in a specific way. (The unmodded game doesn't manage to deliver this, and while I had high hopes for RFC the UHVs seem to prompt a "beating the game" style of play that I find less than entertaining.)

I expect to be playing this mod a lot, and so if it's at all possible I'd like to contribute in any small way possible to the mod's advancement. Are there any spots open on the team? (I should mention I can edit XML a bit, but have few other modding skills.)

One thing I'd like to suggest right away is that you try to keep the XML files compliant with the needs of two-byte systems (such as Japanese), as I described in this post. (Yes, I used TAM as an example in that post, but only because I was editing your files at the time. I wasn't picking on you guys, honest!)

I have edited copies of the files I can send you, if that means they'll be used in future versions of the mod. Then I wouldn't have to worry about redoing the changes for future updates. What's more, there are many Civ4 players in Japan at least who will be most appreciative!

One final question. Does TAM have any recommended difficulty and speed settings? Or is it meant to be played at any combination of settings? (I'm a sucker for a huge map at marathon speed.)

 

[graywarden]

Dannapoppa,

Thanks for the praise and support. I have been playing TAM for about two years now, and testing for almost a year and now working on TEXT and other minor bugs in the xmls.

I have never finished a full game of BTS, because it came out after I developed my TAM addiction.

The BTS version isnt a finished product yet. We are still in the embryonic stages of converting Vanilla TAM to the BTS engine. The game has a completely different feel because of it. There are a lot of play balance issues the team is working on now, so as far as the BTS version is concerned, there is no recommendation..... haha..... TAM at your own Risk!!

The vanilla version was very balanced, especially v1.99 which isnt available anymore from our website (I believe it isnt compatible with the last CIV4 Firaxis Patch). Playing as Noble on the Huge Meditteranean map was what I would consider the "cleanest" play against the AI.

I almost test exclusively on the Huge Med Map (now with 24 civs instead of 18). The extra civilizations added a lot to the game, and also is part of the reason the play balance has to be adjusted now.

I will forward your post to Shqype regarding the team, he is the project leader.

Thanks for the input and looking forward to hearing more from you in the future.

 

[Danapoppa]

Graywarden,

Thanks for responding. I've been trying the huge map at marathon speed as Babylon, and found it to be almost too slow. And that's saying a lot, coming from me!

The slow pace of the early game made me want to avoid building settlers ('cause they took way too long to make) and building workers didn't make any sense ('cause there wasn't anything for them to do until I'd developed some other technologies), so I ended up making units: warriors, then Babylonian archers. Along the way I took over control of Persepolis (the AI had left it undefended, a terrible way to run a new civilization) and of course I had to build units for that city as well. Ultimately I found myself paying too much upkeep at the expense of research, and progress ground to a halt.

I wouldn't have made that error at the game's normal marathon speed. But I'm not saying it's a bad thing. One thing that always bugged me about unmodded Civ (and most modded versions) is that once I've developed a technology, I never get a chance to really enjoy it. By the time I've built one of the new units, I've already researched another tech that makes them obsolete. TAM seems paced so that new units will stay powerful for a while, which I like. I'll just have to get used to the slower development rates, and get rid of the mindset that says "fifty turns to build a settler is too long, you can hold off until later."

I've got some initial feedback on the game as it stands, but I'll put it in another thread because it might be worth discussion in its own right.

Danapoppa

 

[onedreamer]

One final question. Does TAM have any recommended difficulty and speed settings? Or is it meant to be played at any combination of settings? (I'm a sucker for a huge map at marathon speed.)

Civ4 in general is balanced for standard speed. Any other speed is not as balanced, whatever the mod.

 

[Shqype]

Danapoppa, thanks for your XML complaint.

Hopefully for the next version we can take care of this.

 

[Danapoppa]

Civ4 in general is balanced for standard speed. Any other speed is not as balanced, whatever the mod.

I'm beginning to see the truth in what you say.

When I first installed the game I tried a couple games of unmodded vanilla Civ4, and I rather liked the way the game played at Marathon speed. It slowed down research and building production considerably, but didn't slow down unit production quite as much (whereas research, building production, and unit production remained proportional at Standard and Epic speeds). That made for a good game; slow overall development, but a reasonable number of units to work with. It seems they've changed that in BtS, though.

Danapoppa, thanks for your XML complaint.

Hopefully for the next version we can take care of this.

Not a complaint, so much as a suggestion. Thanks for giving it your attention!

 

[nothin_personal]

Wanted to add something about balancing the mod: Change the dates!!! The game goes too far into the medieval years, and almost no technology in the tree is founded at the "correct time". I believe it should be ending around 300 AD, and the progression should be modified accordingly, to have the same number of rounds.
I would also like to see some of the "barbaric nations" to be unplayable (no access to wonders either) and have a Barbarian mentality AI (few cities, a lot of units, technology bias towards military progression). Perhaps every one of those nations could aim for a specific technology (probably the one that allows access to their special unit) and then turn "barbaric" on their neighbours.
Plus, where can i find more maps? I am playing 2.01 for vanilla.

 

[djenghis]

Hi all,

i have some installation questions. I downloaded the 3 files from http://tam.arbolingo.com/downloads/

I extracted the first 2 to my civ bts mod folder, but what to do with that third file? And when i try to play the game, i get the opening screen of the mod (the music from last of the mohicans,etc ) but i can not choose a scenario to choose from. Also not when i just double click the "TAM Mediterranean - 24 Civs - Huge - BTSv082" file in the public maps folder.

Thanks

 

[basst82]

Hello, I just recently came across your Mod and I absolutely love it! This is the kind of game I've always wanted to play in Civ! But, I'm having an issue with this mod pack (although it might just be poor play on my part, I'm not sure). I have tried to play as Carthage, "Greece" and "Southern Spain" (sorry, can't remember the leader/civ names) and all three times I start out well, get off to a roaring start, win a few battles and inevitably with about 100 turns left to go, Rome decides it's time to declare war on me, refuses to ever talk again, and seems to send an endless stream of Horse Archers at me that results in me having to quit the game with about 60 turns to go because it's obvious at that point that I will be completely destroyed and/or bankrupted quickly. Is this incredible strength, and seemingly endless ability to build Horse Archers for Rome something built into the game, and if so, can that be changed? The whole reason I want to play games in this era is to see Rome NOT dominate (and preferably not survive! ).

Oh, and I'm playing basic Civ IV (no sequel) with the 2.01 Mod pack, Noble difficulty and the Standard size 16-Civ map.

 

[The Last Conformist]

That's odd - AI Romans never seem to do very well in my games, in any version of the mod. No idea what the difference might be.