Proposed Community Expansion - Help Needed!

[Viregel]

OK, I am about to regret this, but here goes. Ever since I discovered the marvels of the modding community, I've always wondered what would happen if the modders got together to create an expansion pack. At the moment, I have a theme, and permission from some modders to use their assets. However, as modders are busy people, those I have stolen - um, borrowed - from are sadly unable to help create this, but I can't really complain about that, nor would I want to complain, as they are fantastic people. As it is meant to be a community effort though, I thought rather than create it myself (which I can't do anyway), how about I invite in some other modders as well?

I'm looking for Artists and Programmers mainly, and overall something in the region of ten people working on it (I would NEVER finish it without something like that). I'm mainly looking for Lua, as I do not know it at all. I can do the XML myself, but more help is always appreciated! I can also do some art, albeit not an awful lot. I've already done a fair bit of the planning as well. Beta Testing and Pedia Writing will come later, because there's no point in getting that now.

So, the purpose of this thread is really to see if there's any interest in making it (there's no point in getting people exited about the actual pack if it never happens), and I won't be revealing anything else at the moment, other that the obvious "it could be a thing". If you have any interest in this, then please say so here, or drop me a PM.

Thank you for any interest taken in this, it is seriously appreciated.

Edit: Also, for anyone wondering the difference between what I'm proposing here and Communitas, this is designed to be a more Firaxis-style expansion, with new civs, scenarios and systems.

 

[Krajzen]

Hmm personally I would simply put all best custom civilisations - tweaks - improvements - wonders - TSL maps and make them compatible

But yeah, I am interested in something like that

Maybe later I will post my proposed list of Mods Included.

EDIT

In my opinion while Communitas is total overhaul of game (rebalancing and remixing everything) this Expansion Pack should rather add new systems without over the top overhaul of others

 

[Viregel]

Thank you for expressing interest! I've already got a fair few mods I want in it - to be honest, I don't want far too many, for the simple reason that it would become incredibly cluttered. I'm planning on integrating the civs and the mods so that it's not simply a collection of mods. By doing this, the mod is greater than the sum of its parts, and thus worth downloading the full expansion instead of getting the mods individually. However, it may end up as a mod that simply adds the effects that we don't have - it depends if the individual modders would mind if we put this in a pack. Also, this is designed to incorporate a third Civ V expansion, so I want it more in that general style. I should have also mentioned that this is assuming Firaxis don't release anther expansion, which they're highly unlikely to do, but a possibility nonetheless.

 

[Krajzen]

For example, you wanna include only ~9 new civs? This would be sad becaue there is a lot of very high quality civs here

If you wanna include only 9 new civs, in my opinion they should be the most popular mod civs/most demanded additional civs:

- Vietnam (incoming)

- Kongo

- Israel

- Hungary

- Canada

- Mali

- Nazca

- Mughals

- Australia

If you wanna include for example 17 new civs (-> 60 total!) I would also add Inuits (incoming), Burma, Tibet, Kievan Rus, Lithuania, Khmer, Bolivia, Zimbabwe

How many World Wonders would you like to include?

 

[Viregel]

For example, you wanna include only ~9 new civs? This would be sad becaue there is a lot of very high quality civs here

I agree - there are so many good civs to add it would be a shame to waste them. However, I still want to stick to the Firaxis standard, as it makes it feel more like an Expansion. Think of everything else as DLC.

 

[COF]

What new mechanics/systems did you have in mind?

 

[Krajzen]

Of course Viregel here is the Main Director

If we wanna create something entirely new, there is one, one very epic and demanded thing...

Random Events.

Veyder and JHW created simple random events mods for GaK, with around 40 events. I was planning to greatly expand that into National Decisions, Great Events and so on... This would be awesome.

From the other things, I would definitely include... Ehh, later I will write here

 

[Neirai]

Redesigned (expanded) World Congress would be high on my list.

 

[Viregel]

If you wanna include only 9 new civs, in my opinion they should be the most popular mod civs/most demanded additional civs:

- Vietnam (incoming)

- Kongo

- Israel

- Hungary

- Canada

- Mali

- Nazca

- Mughals

- Australia

If you wanna include for example 17 new civs (-> 60 total!) I would also add Inuits (incoming), Burma, Tibet, Kievan Rus, Lithuania, Khmer, Bolivia, Zimbabwe

How many World Wonders would you like to include?

This is definitely a list of some of the best civs. The only problem is that they don't really fit the theme of the proposed expansion (which I will reveal shortly, should there be enough interest). Adding seventeen civs would be madness, though I could try. However, I thought the ones I'm using over for a while, and once I reveal the theme, you'll see why I picked them.

What new mechanics/systems did you have in mind?

Colonies, more exploring, and some kind of expanded diplomacy system. Hopefully this will give some indication as to what the theme of the expansion is.

Of course Viregel here is the Main Director

If we wanna create something entirely new, there is one, one very epic and demanded thing...

Random Events.

Veyder and JHW created simple random events mods for GaK, with around 40 events. I was planning to greatly expand that into National Decisions, Great Events and so on... This would be awesome.

From the other things, I would definitely include... Ehh, later I will write here

The thing about Random Events that annoys me is the fact that it's random, the entire purpose of it. However, I did see something a while back, unknown if modded, that was basically if you had the right buildings to protect against earthquakes and the like, you would get a benefit out of it, making it somewhat more worthwhile. However, I will look into getting something like this. As for Main Director, the title's slightly pointless when you don't have a fully-formed group.

Redesigned (expanded) World Congress would be high on my list.

I would really like that too, and is probably going to be in the mod.

So, who's interested in helping with the mod? I will probably need quite a few more, because the nine civs that I am planning to create, while not from scratch, are different from the other civs because it gives a sense of renewed interest.

Also, JFD's providing a ton of assets from his projects, being the kind person he is.

 

[COF]

How about some new buildings?

In my opinion:
-Graveyard,+1 Happines available at Pottery, Essentially an earlier Coliseum.
-Woodcutter/Forester , a production building it should probably come at mining.
-Sewer , same bonus as Aqueduct and hospital but comes between those.

Sadly I can't think of much else now.

 

[Viregel]

That would be a pretty good idea - however, the major problem with new buildings is that there's not enough time in the game for everything to be effective. What would you say to adding the Dark Ages, which I really need a more accurate name for? If possible, the game clock could probably be slowed down slightly to make way for this. I just need a full tech tree for it (Something like 10-14 techs) and then that could materialise. I think that the buildings proposed could work very well as Dark Age ones, albeit with some rebalancing.

 

[COF]

That would be a pretty good idea - however, the major problem with new buildings is that there's not enough time in the game for everything to be effective.

I don't think that's much of a issue, if you follow a certain playstyle (Growth, expansion and stuff like that) you'll build the specific buildings for that. You don't need everything.

 

[Krajzen]

That would be a pretty good idea - however, the major problem with new buildings is that there's not enough time in the game for everything to be effective. What would you say to adding the Dark Ages, which I really need a more accurate name for? If possible, the game clock could probably be slowed down slightly to make way for this. I just need a full tech tree for it (Something like 10-14 techs) and then that could materialise. I think that the buildings proposed could work very well as Dark Age ones, albeit with some rebalancing.

Heh, the problem with Dark Ages is... Well, I have once read that developers were working on them for Civ3 expansion but abandoned them because according to testers they were not fun

Besides, I am not sure what would trigger Dark Ages.

 

[Protroid]

Something that a few friends of mine and I have been talking about is adding an era to represent the 20s, 30s, and 40s, as right now its kinda awkward how you go from WWI to WWII in less than a few clicks.

We also talked about adding a ton of Ideologies, and making them available sooner. The problem is that I haven't found much in terms of modding Ideologies.

 

[Krajzen]

Something that a few friends of mine and I have been talking about is adding an era to represent the 20s, 30s, and 40s, as right now its kinda awkward how you go from WWI to WWII in less than a few clicks.

You could say that about every period of game in which you can go through 6000 years during few hours

Viregel, please reveal this Theme of expansion, it is hard to even plan about contributing towards it when we don't know nothing about it

 

[Protroid]

You could say that about every period of game in which you can go through 6000 years during few hours

Viregel, please reveal this Theme of expansion, it is hard to even plan about contributing towards it when we don't know nothing about it

Heh, fair enough, I just found that with Infantry and WWI Infantry so close, I rarely spent long periods of time using them. I'm not saying that the issue is exclusive to the WWI Infantry and Infantry, I just found it annoying.

 

[Viregel]

Hrmm, maybe I should reveal the theme.

Spoiler :

Pretty much WWI based.

Civs
Belgium
Leader: Albert I
UA: Treaty of London - Gain a Trade Boost with another civ when you have a Defensive Pact. If the pact is triggered by war, then the other civ gains a Combat Bonus and no diplomatic penalty for taking over cities, while Belgium will remain neutral.
UU:
UB:
Luxembourg replaces Brussels as City-State.

Serbia
Leader:
UA:
UU:
UU:
Andorra replaces Belgrade as City-State.

Hungary
Will incorporate JFD’s Hungary, although with a few changes.

Italy
Leader: Garibaldi
UA: Risorgimento - No Diplomatic or Happiness penalties from the conquest of City-States. Conquering one gives Italy a bonus dependant on the type. Gain a free Great Artist, Musician and Writer upon entering the Renaissance Era.
UU: Alpini - Replaces Great War Infantry. May cross Mountains, bonus on Hill and Mountain tiles.
UB: Plaza - Replaces Market. +3 Culture, and has a Great Work or Art slot.

Pueblo
Leader: Popé
UA:
UU:
UB:

Argentina
Leader: José de San Martin
UA: La Reina del Plata - Trade routes to and from the capital are doubled in value for both parties.
UU: Mounted Grenadier - Replaces Cavalry. Is a Ranged Unit, and has a bonus near colonies.
UB:

Mexico
Leader: Porfirio Diaz
UA: The Porfiriato - Units garrisoned in cities produce +3 Happiness. Adopting a policy produces a small amount of Golden Age points.
UU: (Probably) Rurales - Replaces Rifleman. Gains a combat bonus when close to Mexican cities.
UU:

Afghanistan
Leader: Mir Wais Hotak
UA: Graveyard of Empires -
UU:
UB:

Finland
Leader: Mannerheim
UA: Talvisota - Enemy units in your territory have to expend an extra movement point every turn. +1 Culture from Great Works; bonus increases to +2 after adopting an Ideology.
UU: Sissi - Rifleman replacement. Starts with Drill I, has +1 Sight, and ignores terrain cost.
UB: Sauna - Replaces Colosseum. +2 Culture, and gives +2 Happiness when the city is located on a tundra or snow tile. Also grants food and production on snow and tundra, which doubles at Chemistry.

Scenarios:
WWI
(May plagiarise with permission the Maratha UA for Conscription mechanics, and again with permission, an appearance from Tzar Nicholas II.) Civs: Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Ottomans. Triple Entente will exist, Triple Alliance will instead be Austria-Germany-Ottomans, Italy will be neutral and can join either side. Will focus solely on the War in Europe. (City-states - Serbia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, etc. Cities like Warsaw can be liberated.)
South American Independence Scenario
(I will ask Leugi about this one ) - I can imagine this being incredibly fun. Civs will be Leugi’s (with permission) and Brazil, and I can imagine this being incredibly fun. Spain can have a couple of colonies around the place, while the South American factions have to liberate the cities, or take them to expand. It’s unlikely Portugal will be in this.

Mechanics:
Expanded Exploration.
More alliances and colonialism!
Possibly Third Unique Component as well, need to ask.
Better diplomacy.

Conclusion
Overall, this mod will be a combination of some of the best things to come out of the community. However, it will be changed to reflect the First World War, and I hope to release on the 28th of July, the 100th anniversary of the war’s beginning. The mod will generally just add more compatibility and integration of mechanics into the civs, something I believe has not really been done before on this sort of scale.

Also to note: nothing here is necessarily final. Please offer any changes you would like to make by commenting!

Ideas are not yet final, and I have changed the existing civs somewhat to make them fresher and better adapted to the theme, and some are not yet even a thing. Also, systems need to be made fully (I do have some idea for most of of them), and again, I really need help with code and art!

 

[Hypereon]

Hey Viregel!

I would be happy to contribute to this expansion, as the theme sounds great!
I have made the Finland Civilization mod a couple of years ago, and Italy similar of yours is now on the works, with Victor Emanuel II as the leader. I love creating graphics very much, but scripting is not my strongest skill, so these mods are made veery slowly...

I have also a 1700-1800s scenario "Rise of the Empires" on the works, which adds some new leaders to old civs, such as Victoria of England.

If I may participate to this project, I would be happy to make some art and ideas for this. A little "portfolio" of some latest works of mine here, Victor Emanuel II, Victoria and Italian Piazza icon.

 

[Krajzen]

Pretty much WWI based.

Interesting Although personally I would do one thing here - don't base additional civs on WWI theme. Because we have no good WWI civs and plenty of awesome other civs (check my list - these are the most popular/demanded )

Scenarios:
WWI
(May plagiarise with permission the Maratha UA for Conscription mechanics, and again with permission, an appearance from Tzar Nicholas II.) Civs: Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Ottomans. Triple Entente will exist, Triple Alliance will instead be Austria-Germany-Ottomans, Italy will be neutral and can join either side. Will focus solely on the War in Europe. (City-states - Serbia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, etc. Cities like Warsaw can be liberated.)
South American Independence Scenario
(I will ask Leugi about this one ) - I can imagine this being incredibly fun. Civs will be Leugi’s (with permission) and Brazil, and I can imagine this being incredibly fun. Spain can have a couple of colonies around the place, while the South American factions have to liberate the cities, or take them to expand. It’s unlikely Portugal will be in this.

I can definitely help with that

Mechanics:
Expanded Exploration.
More alliances and colonialism!
Possibly Third Unique Component as well, need to ask.
Better diplomacy.

- Expanded World Congress
- Some kind of Coalitions (group alliances)

just one problem - expanded diplomacy and congress will be really difficult to code

In my opinion theme shouldn't be entirely WWI but rather something like Colonialism/XIX century -> before WWII. WWI is too small period

Or if you wanna include Colonialism and Exploration -> XVI century - WWI

Proposed Scenarios
- European WWI
- South America
- Scramble of Africa... Oh wait... Still, can be improved For example, I would add Ashanti, Buganda and Mahdist Sudan here.
- American Civil War... Oh wait... Still, Mexico, Canada and American Indians [Sioux, Cherokee, Shoshone, Iroquis] can be added here
- World Scenario?? (1800/1900 period)
- Russian Civil War (very interesting chaos, giant territories, lack of established frontlines, possibility to kill communists)
- Polish - Bolshevik 1920 War (one giant frontline)/Balkans War (alliance insanity)
- Taiping Rebellion

Only one thing here disappoints me - eurocentrism I mean, it is obvious that this period was Golden Age of Europe, just hoped for expansion which would expand other ares

 

[COF]

Hmm, as far as Belgium is concerned I could provide you a Leader Screen since I already made one for Hiram's Belgium (haven't told him yet), however I made it for Leopold II.

Link

Still needs some work though.