I'm very keen to get involved in scenarios/mods etc. but I'm starting to think that the complexities of Civ 3 are likely to make this a daunting task for any one person. For instance, if we want to make units that look as good as the Firaxis ones, we need the full animated graphics - same goes for new leaders. Plus, I'm unclear just how much control we have at the moment as regards creating scenarios (I fear its much less than for Civ2 so far). I'm sure the latter of these will be resolved in the near future, so that doesn't mean we have to wait.
I'd like to see if anybody would be interested in collaborating on ideas and techniques to see whether we can combine our efforts.
I have a few ideas for my 'dream' scenarios, so let me list a few and see what the level of interest is.
Suggested Themes
20th Century Europe
This would start in 1900 with the main European nations already established. It would be a HUGE map allowing much more detail and greater scale (so for instance England would have room for several large cities).
Advances and units would be geared towards the 20th Century and the minimum defensive units would probably be riflemen, and maybe one of the earlier advances would give tanks (the WW1 types) and early aircraft (bi-planes).
There should be enough tension created (with appropriately aggressive AI) to make World War inevitable.
You'd work through all modern advances (especially millitary ones) all the way up to nukes, but with a larger variety of units (since you don't have to include the pre-1900 units.
The Discovery and Conquer of America
Initially what I had in mind was cowboys and indians
But that needs to be made more realistic. I'd like to see US Cavalry against Indian Tribes. Expolitation of natural resources would require subversion of the 'natives'. The US would discovery Railroad (but Indians wouldn't). Don't know if that's too limiting but taking it back a step to New English/French/Spanish colonists fighting for territory against established (but primitive) indiginous civs is the key essence. Maybe this would need to involve the Incas? Anyway, you get the idea.
Early Warfare
This scenario/mod would focus more on the ancient to pre-industrial periods (no gunpowder!), with a larger range of ancient units such as Siege Towers, Battering Rams, Crossbows etc. I suppose I have Age of Empires in mind. By limiting the game length and removing the modern advances, you could extend the game play with older units. [I tend to find that in CIV3 I'm always focusing on getting gunpowder and tend to avoid war until that stage, which is a shame].
Limitations in CIV3
The key points first of all are establishing just what we can change currently in CIV3. Since we can't even easily set the start point for Civs in the editor, there's one major factor straight off (although I know that is fixable).
Can we set up cities/units on an edited map so that we can generate a real scenario? If not, do we think this is likely to come anytime soon?
Are we able to change as many units/advances/civ settings as needed to make a workable scenario?
The way I see it - even if we can't do all this stuff yet, it will come. And its going to take a long time to create all the graphics etc. to make a working scenario, and those could be started now.
That's just a starting point - please answer/contribute/critique as applicable, either here or by email (ian-catchpole@attbi.com).
I'd like to see if anybody would be interested in collaborating on ideas and techniques to see whether we can combine our efforts.
I have a few ideas for my 'dream' scenarios, so let me list a few and see what the level of interest is.
Suggested Themes
20th Century Europe
This would start in 1900 with the main European nations already established. It would be a HUGE map allowing much more detail and greater scale (so for instance England would have room for several large cities).
Advances and units would be geared towards the 20th Century and the minimum defensive units would probably be riflemen, and maybe one of the earlier advances would give tanks (the WW1 types) and early aircraft (bi-planes).
There should be enough tension created (with appropriately aggressive AI) to make World War inevitable.
You'd work through all modern advances (especially millitary ones) all the way up to nukes, but with a larger variety of units (since you don't have to include the pre-1900 units.
The Discovery and Conquer of America
Initially what I had in mind was cowboys and indians
But that needs to be made more realistic. I'd like to see US Cavalry against Indian Tribes. Expolitation of natural resources would require subversion of the 'natives'. The US would discovery Railroad (but Indians wouldn't). Don't know if that's too limiting but taking it back a step to New English/French/Spanish colonists fighting for territory against established (but primitive) indiginous civs is the key essence. Maybe this would need to involve the Incas? Anyway, you get the idea.Early Warfare
This scenario/mod would focus more on the ancient to pre-industrial periods (no gunpowder!), with a larger range of ancient units such as Siege Towers, Battering Rams, Crossbows etc. I suppose I have Age of Empires in mind. By limiting the game length and removing the modern advances, you could extend the game play with older units. [I tend to find that in CIV3 I'm always focusing on getting gunpowder and tend to avoid war until that stage, which is a shame].
Limitations in CIV3
The key points first of all are establishing just what we can change currently in CIV3. Since we can't even easily set the start point for Civs in the editor, there's one major factor straight off (although I know that is fixable).
Can we set up cities/units on an edited map so that we can generate a real scenario? If not, do we think this is likely to come anytime soon?
Are we able to change as many units/advances/civ settings as needed to make a workable scenario?
The way I see it - even if we can't do all this stuff yet, it will come. And its going to take a long time to create all the graphics etc. to make a working scenario, and those could be started now.
That's just a starting point - please answer/contribute/critique as applicable, either here or by email (ian-catchpole@attbi.com).
