Orbis - the original thread

[arkham4269]

Regarding ninjas, giving them to Sidar is a good idea. Or simply adjusting them a bit. Sidar are quite boring I think and focused on shade economy (which the AI can't use BTW - is blocked to do so).

Funny you mention asianic civ - they got their art in Orbis the way: "I have a nice unused art, now where to put it... Hmm... Does not fit sidar all that good, but will do..." Now we can adjust them - the "mistical" east That would fit swampdwelling (rice growing way) as well (I want to add a trait that lets them negate swamp negatives, but first I want to play Against the Gray).

I like this idea since almost all the FfH/FF Civs are very Northern European except for a bit of the Malakim. I was disappointed that even though the FF Kahdi use a picture of Toshiro Mufune as their leader, their units look Persian; in fact they look better for the Malakim then many of the Malakim animations already.

Making the Sidar sort of the "Mystical East" opens up some neat avenues for ideas, I think.

In some respects, as I've mentioned before, I wish the lizards had less of the 'classic' D&D Aztec theme and were more of the Lovecraftian/Comics ideal of the race that existed first and had enslaved Man before they revolted and cast them down. Perhaps if you ever 'port over the Chislev, they could be like this?

 

[Seon]

And you say it just after I become attached to Justicar name
But you are right, it could be an order name. Or simply a nickname... Now what to do...

Sorry I just remembered this as I was droning off to sleep and thinking about Some other stuff.

 

[Jabie]

@Isotope
Well, espionage is definetly planned the way it is in BtS (more or less). That is why I did not remove ratcatchers guild - it will be their job.
But the key word is time. I recently spend all (well, most of) my free time modding, and will have to take a little break (lot of work ahead...).
Every feature that I add also means I release the new version a bit later, which I should not do as I have some nasty bugs fixed in 0.22. And espionage is a lot of work to make it behave properly...
Also, the more I add the harder it is to get a proper graphics - these resources are scarce already...

FWIW, I looked at Espionage a while back but dropped it when there was a change in the core code that I couldn't easily remove. If you look at the some of the older threads you should be able to find one with a whole lot of notes about espionage and what you need to hack in the XML.

 

[Ahwaric]

Actually it does count as a free spell. If it required that the unit didn't cast anything on the turn prior then you would need to have 2 Haste casters present to start the spell

Thanks for the clarification - I will look into code and try to apply this change in Orbis, too.

I like this idea since almost all the FfH/FF Civs are very Northern European except for a bit of the Malakim. In fact they look better for the Malakim then many of the Malakim animations already.

I would rather say european. Grigori are mediterranean themed, mechanos are too. It is slight but there. Elohim have bizantine theme, Bannor are roman/holy roman, scions are roman etc.
But only a handfull are "outsiders", though I tried to expand it in Orbis - Malakim are from Arabia/North Afrca, Kuriotates are Perisian (especially after their new Lamia leader Lamalha ), Mazatl are Central america.

I see mazatl more the way Slann are pictured in Warhammer. They are separate from "barbarian" lizardman (well, they are not lizardmen, but rather giant frogs) and are remains of the old civilization that created many younger races. I do not go that far (especially the space travels are out ), but they have a strong aztec feel.

I will probably move Sidar to some isolated areas in central asia, but I am tempted to push them even further, to Japan. There is a lot of great Samurai/ninja graphics that can be used and all this stuff fits Sidar suprisingly well. I might even find a place for that wonderfull Geisha model by Chuggi...
If you guys think differently, let me know. Same if you by any chance think it is a good idea I tend to put most of the graphics in main downloads, so it is possible that I will be adding it in 0.22. Which is sheduled more or less for friday evening.
And by the way, thanks for the tip on Khadi/Malakim graphics - will check that out

FWIW, I looked at Espionage a while back but dropped it when there was a change in the core code that I couldn't easily remove. If you look at the some of the older threads you should be able to find one with a whole lot of notes about espionage and what you need to hack in the XML.

I checked "Rumors thread" and it will be a great help. Some things will have to be left out (improvement destruction might affect unique features unless I find a way to block it for permanent improvements), but will probably be in some form in 0.22
I have already added espionage advisor screen (scenario one joined trophy screen in upper left), but there is still a lot to do.

 

[Mylon]

Could you please adjust seafaring? I researched infernal pact and decided to take over the hyborim. Nevermind that I wasn't allied with my former civilization, but I had a hard time getting started, as the only place left to settle was already occupied by barbarians. I was able to declare on the barbarians by attacking a lair outside of anyone's territory.

The real problem came when it was time to get off of that continent. I only had one spot I could plant a sea city and I did. By the time I finally managed that I needed to build up my navy. And finally by the time I got over there I started seeing arqubusses and griffon knights, which all made my poor Hyborim and his champion army look pretty puny. It took me forever to get there. This might be easier if ocean faring was given out earlier.

Other notes from that game: Collateral damage sucks big time. And it's the same in Vanilla Civ4. Whoever attacks first wins. Only, in this case the first few catapults/ships do not need to be sacrificed. This is especially pronounced in naval combat when an equal size fleet of frigates don't even see the incoming ships. The basic principle is this: 10 units + a couple of catapults versus 10 other units: 3 catapults fire and cripple the entire stack. The 7 remaining units can now mop up 7 units easily. The other stack now has 3 catapults, but they won't do anything on their own.

Retreating is broken. If I attack a unit at 10% health, it should not be able to retreat 3 times, and tie up three of my ships for that turn. Additionally, retreating does not award any experience, so any units attacking a unit at full strength, only to have the defending unit retreat results in a very unrewarding combat for the attacker: no exp, no kill, and this unit has been risked. The other part of this is that I swear when the AI attacked me, it retreated well over 50% of the time for Galleas and later ships and when I attacked it it retreated almost as much. Three ships would get thrown at one of my own by its lonesome (the first two retreat), and when my turn came my ships around it attacked those 3 ships only to have their targets all retreat.

This might be a problem with FFH, but ever since choosing the Hyborim turns started processing REALLY slow. Eventually the game crashed after about a 150-200 turns as Hyborim, but at that point the naval part of the game made it entirely unfun.

 

[Ahwaric]

The real problem is that you ended up on the other continent... You do not expect demons to be expert sailors, do you?
Plus, the problem is not with ships. You can get quite advanced preety quickly, an dyou just need optics for galleons. I might be wrong, but I guess Hyborem would fit into caravel at compass. If there is no ocean between you, simple galley or cog is enough.
Building fleet is another thing - you just need a good city, and that is the same with every unit type.

Collateral is broken. Or should I say, I hope it was. I removed collateral damage from crossbows and greatly reduced it for other units. Cannons do less and for less units than in FfH. But they have to do it, it is supposed to be a counter tostacks of doom. The answer is easy, split your stack.
Withdrawal is high for experienced units. It might be too high, and I will check defensive odds. But it will grant xp for both sides in 0.22. Same applies to ranged combat.

The slowdown is probably caused by hell terrain, and it comes from FfH. I am going to include speed fix for it by Jean Elcard. I hope I manage to do it and it will help.

 

[arkham4269]

I see mazatl more the way Slann are pictured in Warhammer. They are separate from "barbarian" lizardman (well, they are not lizardmen, but rather giant frogs) and are remains of the old civilization that created many younger races. I do not go that far (especially the space travels are out ), but they have a strong aztec feel.

Well I never played Warhammer due to my feelings that it was just a ploy by Games Workshop to suck money out of you and the 4 turn games didn't allow much for strategy and really was just a version of Magic: The Gathering where whoever one was usually the player that had bought some obscure card no one else had or could defend against. Since I started playing D&D in 1974 along with Napoleonic miniatures, I've noticed what I want out of a game tends to be very different than younger players.

I will probably move Sidar to some isolated areas in central asia, but I am tempted to push them even further, to Japan. There is a lot of great Samurai/ninja graphics that can be used and all this stuff fits Sidar suprisingly well. I might even find a place for that wonderfull Geisha model by Chuggi...

Well I would push them to China/Japan only because to me, Central Asia means Mongols. Well it also means Uzbeks, Tajiks and Afghans but most people probably don't know what they looked like. I do, but I also spent a year in Afghanistan. From a flavor wise, China/Japan would be the way to go. In some respects, however, one might think about having the Asiatic race be the Griggori; while the name might not be right, one could say that Cassiel chose a group of people to protect that where a bit farther away. The Adventurer image could be changed to that of a Samurai, the Luonnotar could use the Taoist missionary and you could use the Geisha for the medic. Plus it would be nice to see Japanese flavoring for the archers (love the little flags on their backs) junks for cogs and all the other Asiatic flavored units.

I guess the point is that there are so many good unit animations out there, it always surprises me to see a 'vanilla' BTS unit. For example, still going to 'agitate' for the Mechanos ranger to use the Spanish conquistador unit animation!

 

[Ahwaric]

Well I never played Warhammer due to my feelings that it was just a ploy by Games Workshop to suck money out of you [...] Since I started playing D&D in 1974 along with Napoleonic miniatures, I've noticed what I want out of a game tends to be very different than younger players.

Well, I have the same feeling about D&D I mean the part about sucking your money...
But I think there is a misunderstanding - I mean Warhammer as a P&P system (which covers most of such for me). WH battle is fine, but that is another story.
In D&D I really like alignment system and the planes, but that got wiped out in 4ed. Also, the mechanics is better. But it is still high fantasy, and good prevails most of the time...
Warhammer setting on the other hand, is doomed. It is dark fantasy world, that tries to survive as long as it can - but it is doomed. Good and evil are hard to tell sometimes, there is just law and chaos. Plus the races are nicely described. D&D drows are fine, but compared to Slaneesh worshipping dark elves they are quite one-dimensional. Svartalfar by the way have more in common with warhammer dark elves than with drows. And warhammer dwarves are as the best dwarves I know

But back to the topic.
I meant central asia they way you did, maybe a bit more to the north-east. I sometimes see Sidar as Tocharians - the Indo-European people that settled areas north of Tibet, on Takla-makan desert. They adopted buddism and manichaeism and developed a high culture on the silk road. But then they were conquered/assimilated by muslim turkic tribes and now we know very little of them... But that are just my thoughts...

Unfortunatelly, we already have desert people, plus no art I could use... So Nippon it is then.

For example, still going to 'agitate' for the Mechanos ranger to use the Spanish conquistador unit animation!

You lost me here. Conqistador is a mounted unit. If you mean standard explorer, well, I have to think this out...

 

[arkham4269]

Svartalfar by the way have more in common with warhammer dark elves than with drows. And warhammer dwarves are as the best dwarves I know

Yes I sort of miss the Drow. Yet in some respects the reason I like making the Doviello more of a Viking race is that they are in some respects just a poor man's version of the Illians. By the history of Fall From Heaven, the Svartalfar should have a lot more ice/snow type stuff related to them as they are of the Winter Court. When I've pointed this out on forums, I usually get told "We have enough cold races in the Illians/Doviello" Well the Danes where Vikings as were (in a way) the Jutes, Saxons and Angles and they didn't live in snowy wastes. So making them more the Viking Werewolves is cool.

But back to the topic.

Yes, so easy to wander off topic.

I meant central asia they way you did, maybe a bit more to the north-east. I sometimes see Sidar as Tocharians - the Indo-European people that settled areas north of Tibet, on Takla-makan desert. They adopted buddism and manichaeism and developed a high culture on the silk road. But then they were conquered/assimilated by muslim turkic tribes and now we know very little of them... But that are just my thoughts...

That sounds cool and just sort of thing that would be interesting to see since not to many mods probably make use of them. However, as you say, no art sort of throws a hydrospanner into the warp engine controls.

You lost me here. Conquistador is a mounted unit. If you mean standard explorer, well, I have to think this out...

It might be now; I seem to recall it used to be a Conquistador with a rifle and one or two dogs. Even if the animation is mounted with the animals, he's a scout and I don't think anyone will mind or think they are a cavalry unit. Now that I think of it, I think they changed to a mounted animation in BTS and I'm thinking of the Warlord version. My point is that even mounted, it would look more like a Mechanos unit than the standard Ranger who looks Native American with panthers.

 

[Mylon]

The real problem is that you ended up on the other continent... You do not expect demons to be expert sailors, do you?
Plus, the problem is not with ships. You can get quite advanced preety quickly, an dyou just need optics for galleons. I might be wrong, but I guess Hyborem would fit into caravel at compass. If there is no ocean between you, simple galley or cog is enough.
Building fleet is another thing - you just need a good city, and that is the same with every unit type.

Technically I could reach the enemy by coast, but I would have been able to get to the enemy much faster with ocean faring. However, having to grab a coastal city and get a harbor and the techs (techs were incredibly expensive at this point, perhaps because I had splashed too much to grab Ashen Veil and economy techs). My "ally" wasn't doing very well to maintain naval superiority so I had to then build up my navy and wipe out the enemy, which proved to be a difficult task, and I did have the industry to manage it. Up until I started fighting the strength 15 ships (though through the shoot first method that wasn't too big a problem to overcome).

Collateral is broken. Or should I say, I hope it was. I removed collateral damage from crossbows and greatly reduced it for other units. Cannons do less and for less units than in FfH. But they have to do it, it is supposed to be a counter tostacks of doom. The answer is easy, split your stack.
Withdrawal is high for experienced units. It might be too high, and I will check defensive odds. But it will grant xp for both sides in 0.22. Same applies to ranged combat.

The problem with collateral is that it's waaaaay overpowered. One only needs 1/5th as many units to put a huge deny in the enemy via collateral damage. When I was modding the game I found nerfing collateral to only affect 2 units seriously improved the playability of it and removed that first to fire wins scenario. You say it's to counter stack of doom tactics, but at the same time it can also be utilized by the stack of doom player. Splitting units up doesn't work that well: The attacker can instead choose who he wants to kill (use mounted versus archers, or use pikemen versus mounted), or have an easier time killing units (especially valuable ones) through repeated attacks, whereas otherwise the defender would benefit from healthy units stepping in to protect. Other factors is that the overwhelming force can also use collateral damage to it's advantage as well, rendering that part rather moot. Ultimately, it makes combat frustrating as it becomes a matter of who can fire first.

Ideally, the game should have a stack attack model where if one side has overwhelming numbers, the individual units are not as effective (something like a 4:1 ratio being effectively 3:1 or 2:1) and siege units would increase this factor (possibly even into the defender's favor). I'm somewhat willing to program this stack attack and I know I can do it (my final frontier did a very basic version, but I got tied up in making weapons and shields and armor and other stuff). I'm an attention whore so if there's not enough interest I won't do it.

Other methods of reducing the uberstack is greatly increasing unit maintenance (up to 4 or even 6 gold per unit!) and reducing the free units from civilization population. This way they don't exist in the first place and combats are reduced to a much smaller scale. In my mod, I greatly reduced upgrade costs to compensate, but given that basic warriors are available forever, that may not be a good idea for FFH.

[The slowdown is probably caused by hell terrain, and it comes from FfH. I am going to include speed fix for it by Jean Elcard. I hope I manage to do it and it will help.

Good to hear. Look forward to it!

 

[Ahwaric]

[...] which proved to be a difficult task, and I did have the industry to manage it. Up until I started fighting the strength 15 ships (though through the shoot first method that wasn't too big a problem to overcome).

Well, the only way to have naval superiority is to have more ships yourself. Man-o-wars if you do not have astronomy and blasting powder can be countered with galleases - they are weaker and cannot enter oceans but are also much cheaper and still give a nice boom! Or, you can invest in clippers (astronomy and enginnering), which can outmaneuver man-o-wars (galleons are faster, too, but not that much.

The problem with collateral is that it's waaaaay overpowered. One only needs 1/5th as many units to put a huge deny in the enemy via collateral damage. When I was modding the game I found nerfing collateral to only affect 2 units seriously improved the playability of it and removed that first to fire wins scenario. You say it's to counter stack of doom tactics, but at the same time it can also be utilized by the stack of doom player.

That is the reason it is better to lower both the damage inflicted and damage limit, while leaving max targets unchanged or even increased. Against small stacks it will not be more effective than against larger ones, plus stack of death capable of inflicting collateral will reach the limit pretty fast and stop doing any extra damage.

Ideally, the game should have a stack attack model where if one side has overwhelming numbers, the individual units are not as effective (something like a 4:1 ratio being effectively 3:1 or 2:1) and siege units would increase this factor (possibly even into the defender's favor).

It is an interesting idea, and I think there were attempts to do it (dale's combat mod?). It feels quite complicated to my taste... but that is just me.

Other methods of reducing the uberstack is greatly increasing unit maintenance (up to 4 or even 6 gold per unit!) and reducing the free units from civilization population. This way they don't exist in the first place and combats are reduced to a much smaller scale. In my mod, I greatly reduced upgrade costs to compensate, but given that basic warriors are available forever, that may not be a good idea for FFH.

I do not think it is a good idea for FfH. AI is not good at preserving experienced units, so it makes up for it by increased numbers. Any more upkeep would kill it.

@arkham4269
Glad you like the changes to Doviello. I am not sure they should be cold themed. Thay are good at survival at tundra (but not ice), and their main flavor comes from survial of the fittest and animal theme. So I think werewolves fit (the Team made Halfmorn a doviello leader in scenarios, didn't they?), as some viking influence. Berserkir means bear skin (according to one of the theories, other is thet they fighted bare, without mail shirt ), and berserkers (viking TM) tried to be like bears at the battlefield (plus drank these mushroom/herbal mixtures that made them mad...). There was also a wolf version - ulfhednar, Odin's chosen warriors.

Regarding conquistador, there is no problem for me atm to conver from mounted version to melee and the other way around. But, if you do not mind, can you please post a screenshot of the unit? As I am completly lost now - I do not remeber conquistador not being mounted in Civ IV, and the more using gunpowder weapons (now that would a bit wrong...)

EDIT: one more thing Espionage is back It requires some more adjusting, but is in 0.22. Details in changelog. And Jabie, thanks for the tip on your old thread, it saved me some trouble.

 

[Mylon]

I did forget to mention! There needs to be faster methods of travel available earlier. I was fairly late in the game and still travelling on 2 movement roads. 3 or even 4 movement shouldn't be some kind of special advantage one has to beeline for, but a given for being so far along. Given how all of the techs kept increasing in price, I had a really hard time grabbing everything I needed (like getting frigates so I could finally get to where I needed). As Hyborim, I could have gated around if I could grab one city, but even that took forever (I didn't even manage it that late in the game), turns out that region I explored was also cut off from my primary target through mountains.

The stack attack method would be very complicated. Because you have to keep in mind attack selection choice (does a unit get to attack it's favored target?), determine how much damage each "round" does, decide which order units go in, etc. And, in my method I was going to also pull in units from surrounding tiles so it would be easier to establish a battle line or otherwise hold territory.

As a side note, the AI did not seem to understand how to load units onto ships. I saw plenty of cogs but they never had anyone in them and I never saw a landing attempt made. If there were any sea invasions I might have had more to do (like defend my allies/retake their taken cities or use a taken city as a landing point).

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

woo hoo espionage is back! version .22 sounds tasty to say the least is there gonna be some espionage benefit for civs running CoE? that would feel just right

edit: right, another question. any plan to introduce some FF's mechanic for the Elohim? they are really unique and flavourful there, but quite boring in regular FFH. pacifism civtrait, unique buildings and exploration of unique features giving traits really fits them. same thing for the malakim and Valkrionn's malakim+ , although the desert people are definitely more interesting in Orbi than base FFH, malakim+ makes them really unique and lots of fun

 

[Mylon]

Oh, if you'd like I could help you incorporate my holistic culture model into this mod. It would give some more interesting ways to play the game.

 

[arkham4269]

Hey, just something I was thinking about while in the bathroom the other day. (Bathrooms & showers; where men's brains are at their peak!)

Anyway, I was thinking that perhaps the dimensional gates could be tweaked a bit. The problem I have with them is in a way they are similar to the old Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri wonder The Space Elevator where you could plunk down units anywhere. While not that powerful, having the Obsidian Gate is really powerful in being able to move units being built back in your powerhouse cities to the front lines, especially into a newly taken city.

So I'm thinking maybe when you get dimensional mana, you can build your own "Planar Gate" - Unlike the Sheaim versions, these would be like Obsidian Gates. However, unlike the later Obsidian Gates, these D-Gates (which need some cool name that escapes me at the moment) only work to send units to another D-Gate. So like the Sheaim Planar Gates, these D-Gates are expensive; they might practically be a national wonder and they are useless until at least two are built.

However, at least early on you'd have a way to (slowly) move troops around, especially if you build it on a different continent. Now later when you get access to Obsidian Gates, I think there should be some limit to how far they can send them so instead of being able to shift units from one end of Erebus to the other, they'd act more like 'super-paratroopers' in that they can only transport to a city within something like a 20 tile radius. That way the old D-Gates are still useful (no range) but the Obsidian Gates wouldn't need another Obsidian Gate in the target city.

From what I've seen, changes in The Nexus would just allow for more troops to be sent during a turn, as well as having Obsidian Gates placed in every city.

 

[arkham4269]

EDIT: one more thing Espionage is back It requires some more adjusting, but is in 0.22. Details in changelog. And Jabie, thanks for the tip on your old thread, it saved me some trouble.

For those of us who do not like espionage, will there be a way in the custom game screen to turn it off?

 

[arkham4269]

Glad you like the changes to Doviello. I am not sure they should be cold themed. They are good at survival at tundra (but not ice), and their main flavor comes from survival of the fittest and animal theme. So I think werewolves fit (the Team made Halfmorn a Doviello leader in scenarios, didn't they?), as some viking influence. Berserkir means bear skin (according to one of the theories, other is thet they fighted bare, without mail shirt ), and berserkers (viking TM) tried to be like bears at the battlefield (plus drank these mushroom/herbal mixtures that made them mad...). There was also a wolf version - ulfhednar, Odin's chosen warriors.

That was my whole point, there was a lot of stuff you could use from the whole Norse/Germanic/Teutonic history, theology, mythology that could be imported and make the Doviello more than a poor-man's Illians. One idea is that if you are in the survival of the fittest ideology, it's easy to see everyone not deemed fit as not worth much. So I could see the Doviello doing a lot of slave-trading so perhaps they too could have a Taskmaster unit. In fact, slaving fits into what you've done with the Doviello in that slaves can be converted into Beastmen. One could say they took the strongest slaves and gave them an option of 'proving' themselves. However, I would think there should be a % chance when converting a slave or non-Doviello worker into a Beastman that the unit dies. I mean in the survival of the fittest, most don't make it.

Regarding conquistador, there is no problem for me atm to conver from mounted version to melee and the other way around. But, if you do not mind, can you please post a screenshot of the unit? As I am completely lost now - I do not remember conquistador not being mounted in Civ IV, and the more using gunpowder weapons (now that would a bit wrong...)

Well I've spent most of my morning looking for it. It must be in a mod. All I remember is that there was art for a recon unit that had a guy on a horse (like a conquistador) and instead of two other guys on horses, he had what looked like two guard dogs/mastiffs with him. Do you know a good forum to ask around if anyone remembers where I saw this? I've checked the Rise of Mankind mod, the Rhys & Fall of Civ mod and even went back to Warlords but I can't find it.

UPDATE: Egads! I guess my habit of not forgetting game trivia is getting to me. I think I found at least one of the versions I remember - you can scroll down a bit here - http://www.civ3.com/ptw_prof_spanish.cfm# - This was a Civ III: Play the World animations!


BTW, I'm still getting some odd art problems late in the game, and the assassin still doesn't work so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with the art fixes. Plus I've noticed in a new game with the Scions that often times certain units (usually specialty units) often get 'stuck' in that they've ended their turn, but the game won't go to the next open unit. You have to manually click on a unit to continue.

 

[arkham4269]

BTW, how much of the stuff that Walter Hawkwood ported in from Kohan 2 do you think you'll be putting in? That stuff looked fabulous!

 

[Ahwaric]

woo hoo espionage is back! version .22 sounds tasty to say the least is there gonna be some espionage benefit for civs running CoE? that would feel just right
edit: right, another question. any plan to introduce some FF's mechanic for the Elohim?

Certainly, CoE and nox nocis will provide additional espionage points. If you have anything else in mind, post the ideas
Part of Elohim enhancment from FF is already in - after they visit some of the unique features they are awarded spiritual trait. It needs visiting between 2 and 5 features - I want it to be a pilgrimage, without immediate gain (like: go to this place, gain this trait). Also, in FF they can get a LOT of traits - too many IMHO. I have already added archives, too.
Being dedicated elohim player, I want to expand their unique features some more, i.e. monk/hospitalier (Elohim unique paladin in Orbis) enlightment path. I need to check pacifist trait, but tolerant should be good for Elohim (they will get +25% culture, but only when at peace).

Oh, if you'd like I could help you incorporate my holistic culture model into this mod. It would give some more interesting ways to play the game.

Thanks for the offer! I will take a look, but it can take some time, I really want to finish 0.22 for friday evening (CET)

Hey, just something I was thinking about while in the bathroom the other day. (Bathrooms & showers; where men's brains are at their peak!)

Can't agree more...
But I like dimensional gates the way they are. It is FfH replacement for airports, and a good one I think. They come at the same time in the tech tree as airports (or even later) and are hardly overpowered, also reduce micromanagement a bit.

For those of us who do not like espionage, will there be a way in the custom game screen to turn it off?

The no espionage option is in, visible and working. But it has the same problem as in BtS - all espionage points get converted to culture... I have no idea how to fix it now, plus it is far from top priority, especially that I could not find any fix for it, and for something so broken, it would probably be around if it would be easy...
But if you know of any mod that fixed it, let me know.

UPDATE: Egads! I guess my habit of not forgetting game trivia is getting to me. I think I found at least one of the versions I remember - you can scroll down a bit here - http://www.civ3.com/ptw_prof_spanish.cfm# - This was a Civ III: Play the World animations!
BTW, I'm still getting some odd art problems late in the game, and the assassin still doesn't work so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with the art fixes.

Unfortunatelly, it is of no use to me. I can convert mounted to foot version, but no one can simply convert from Civ III to IV.
I tried the fix and it works for doviello assassin. Check your Orbis/Assets/XML/Art folder. CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml should come from 8th march. If not, you have to replace it manually.
I have no idea what is the exact cause of the breaks in units cycle...

BTW, how much of the stuff that Walter Hawkwood ported in from Kohan 2 do you think you'll be putting in? That stuff looked fabulous!

A lot. I have already posted in the right thread that I am going to use it. In fact, I use a lot of stuff Walter has converted. Currently only mana nodes (shadow and elemental ones) are not used (any ideas?)... all other are already in. The first is wild haven, second one is Troll cave lair, mage guild (3) is wizard enclave, 4 goes for Sheaim pagan temple, watchtower (10) is the new khazad palace (good bye Rivendell...) and tree (11) goes to song of autumn.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

since you're adding espionage, you might be interested in this modpack: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=286534&highlight=build+espionage

it has a new feature that's pretty nice imho: cities are able to build espionage after a certain tech, exactly the same how you can build culture, science or wealth.

I guess you already know about SuperSpies, which makes espionage a lot better : http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300992

and while I'm at it, sorry but I can't help but mention the Immigration mod. check it out, maybe you will like it as much as I do http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=173972