RBD SG 17 - The mad Aussies

[smegged]

Here we go.

The crazy RBD nutters present....

The "mad Aussies".

Downloading the save game from 4000 bc should be all that's required for this game. If you want the civilopaedia entries for the lighthorse, then backup your civilopaedia.txt and pediaicons.txt and replace them with the ones in the attatched zip file.

The Aussies are Commercial and Scientific, and start with alphabet, writing and the wheel. The unique unit is the Australian Lighthorse infantry unit. It replaces cavalry and has significantly improved attack (8) and defense (5) values, though it costs more sheilds to build (100).

Rules:

The rules for this scenario will be as follows.

Aussies just love to back the underdog, so any wars that we are asked to enter into, we will back the least powerful civ.

Since we really don't care all that much about what anybody else builds, we aren't allowed to capture cities. Recapture our own or raze - yes, but never capture. There is one exception. We are allowed to capture, but only if we give the city, on the same turn, to the weakest race on that planet. Never give a sucker a break - ha! That's against all forms of Australian beliefs.

Also, we are allowed to accept cities that revolt to us through culture. I mean, come on, everyone wants to be here (so damn many in fact that we have prisons full of boat people).

And as a people, us Aussies aren't cruel and will therefore never whip our citizens. That's just bad

Finally, we are a sporting nation - not a religious nation. We aren't allowed to build a cathedral in any of our cities until we have the football stadiums complete . So our second happiness improvement must ALWAYS be a cathedral.

To be cont...

 

[smegged]

Here are the starting conditions

continents - 70% water
standard map
arid
warm
3 billion years

raging hordes
monarch
all victory (we won't win by conquest or domination though)

random opponents except America

Anyone can join, though I'd appreciate a showing by either Charis or Sirian .

Will post the first 20 turns later tonight.
24/48 rule

first player plays 20, rest play 10 each.

Turn order

Smegged
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[Sirian]

Why is a mod necessary just for altering a civ and adding a new UU? Or did you do other things in there?

One of the most unfortunate things about full blown mods is the necessity to REPLACE core game files with mod files. Something is flawed with that, but that falls on Firaxis's head. I've managed to make scenerios for SG's that come up short of that step, although I am working on a dramatic mod that would require it.

For me personally, I'm involved in too many games to want to deal with shuffling files back and forth to be able to play in a particular game, so I'm going to pass here and wish you luck.

- Sirian

 

[LKendter]

Well so much for having the succession game series with the most games ...

 

[smegged]

Sirian,

The files in question can be used just to replace your existing civilopaedia.txt and pediaicons.txt. They don't actually change anything that was there, only adds a couple of tiny things.

They don't alter the game engine in any way, only add the Lighthorse to the civilopaedia. You could continue to use the new txts until the cows come home and it wouldn't change anything.

Anyway, I can understand you've got your hands full .

Wanna join lk??

 

[Zed-F]

heh, LK, there's a lot more of us than there are of you.

you... will... succumb....
resistance... is... futile...

 

[Charis]

I like your enthusiasm but the timing is rough. I've already stretched three games beyond sanity, in a 'deficit' as I expect two games to be done before too long.

Must echo Sirian's comments too about 'swap-out' mods. I'm doing one, which started back when things were much calmer, and it's rough to keep up with when you're playing many games at once. If you follow the technical discussion in the rbd13 you'll see how to have a game using just a save file and one copied folder that you do NOT have to swap around.

If you can get a roster, super, good luck! If not, you might get a better response a bit later... Glad you could sign on for 16 (in general, good idea to play one before hosting one).

Charis

 

[smegged]

so far I've had all of 0 interest in this game (though it may be an idea to wait at least 24 hours due to time differences).

I have had no experience with modmaking before, so I'm not sure if you can just load the save file.

If anyone wants to dowload the save and see if it works without the mod - go ahead. All I did was change the rules so that the lighthorse was in the game. The game may crash if you try and look up the civilopaedia entry though.

Anyway, here's the report.

4000 bc - Canberra settled, warrior started

3950 bc - Literature started. Worker starts to road and mine cattle

3900 bc - 3800 bc zzzzzzzzzzzz

3750 bc - warrior sent to scout to the south, another started

3700 - zzzz

3650 - zzzzz

3600 - mp warrior complete. Americans contacted. Alphabet, Wheel, writing and two gold traded for a total of ceremonial burial, pottery and masonry

3550 - zzzzz

3500 - border expansion

3450 - 3250 zzzzzz

3200 settler finished warrior started

3150 - 3050 zzzzz

3000 - Sydney built north of canberra on hill.

The whole place is a dustbowl. The closest river is down south near the americans. The good news - we have the whole worlds supply of silk in our grasp .

 

[Charis]

There are two types of people in the world, those that read the manual that comes with their new toys, and those that don't.

You're with the 99% of people that don't

Whether or not other can play a mod-save file depends on whether you started it as "New Game" or "New Scenario". The latter embeds the rules into the save file itself, so you don't need to swap the BIC. You also need a folder for any new or renamed unit, with the INI name equal to the new unit name. As I said, this is discussed in great detail in the rbd13 thread.

You almost certainly started the game as 'New Game' (I did with my first mod attempt) and so, no, it won't be playable as-is.

Good luck (although luck is needed less with reading )
Charis

 

[smegged]

I didn't read the manual. It's sitting right next to me now

Silly me. Oh well, if there is no interest, then I'll try again in a week and use "new scenario" instead of "new game".

As for the renamed unit folder - whoops. I didn't even know I had to do that. Hmmmm. I guess that I'll just restart with "new scenario" instead. That seems to be easier.

Well this is at least teaching me something. If nothing else: read the manual .

 

[smegged]

I may have actually used the "Load scenario" button upon creation. I guess I'm just gonna have to remove the relevant files and try it out myself.

EDIT: WOOHOO it works . I moved all the files I changed away to safe directories away from the civ 3 directory, and the saved game works. If someone could confirm this I'd be happy .

 

[Sirian]

You're not going to know if it works properly by just seeing if the game starts. You'd have to see your UU in action, and it's not due until... Military Tradition? I think you're putting the Lighthorse before the cart here. Unfortunately, this game is nowhere near stable yet in terms of tinkering with things in the editor. I spent over a week of evenings working on the Viking mod, thoroughly testing it, researching the boards for information, and had to clear up several fatal problems before I had a working version (and I have a lot of experience with mods and maps and levels making in other games). And all that I did for Vikings was the same things you're trying to do -- a custom civ, a custom UU -- and there were issues.

I'm glad you've finally made it to the party here, and I know you're excited to get started, but "just waiting a week" is not going to fix your problems with this one. You could jump right in with a standard SG or a Variant, but a mod... is quite another step, and you don't look ready for it on several fronts. As yet.

If you aren't married to the idea of the Lighthorse UU (which, frankly, sounds too strong to me, if it still has 3 movement) you could start a standard game as whatever civ you like and rename them to Aussies, and play it that way. Get your feet wet before you leap in and try to learn how to swim the hard way.


- Sirian

 

[smegged]

Well, with a lack of interest, I think I'll just let this one die for now.

In a couple of weeks I might see if there's a bit more interest (I may also test it before - though I did test the game and the UU twice before I posted). And yes, the UU is a bit strong, I may compensate by making it cost 120 sheilds. It's still beated in most cases by cav, but I think I'll set it's defense value to 4.

It's all a learning experience .

 

[Sirian]

If the Lighthorse units were not yet obsolete with Infantry in the field, maybe the strengths you chose would be fine... just postpone arrival until Replaceable Parts and take regular cavalry off the table.

I spotted your post about this at RBD today (I've only been checking in about once a week, and not posting lately), or I would have discussed it there. These variants and games may look spontaneous, but they've almost all been discussed somewhere else first: RBD, email, Diablo games, etc...

Even then sometimes details still have to be hammered out. RBD5 rules weren't finalized until halfway through.

I'm sure you can get the game you want here, eventually (when you have it better organized) but timing... we just started a new batch and Charis and I and some others are all booked up. I played Civ all weekend and haven't gone without a turn to play for the last week at least, every night.


- Sirian

 

[smegged]

The Lighthorse were used throughout world war I, and were probably the most potent ground force in use throughout the whole of the middle eastern theatre. By postponing until Replaceable parts, it does add some more of a challenge to the game. Maybe it could come with industrialization. It'll need more playtesting I think. Maybe some more organisation might be in order as well.

In my couple of games playtesting, the unit worked fine, and there were no crashes.

However, I'll chalk this one down to experience and say that 17 is my unlucky number . I'll playtest it a bit more, and maybe finish a few more games on Monarch difficulty.

Looks like lk has his wish and there aren't more rbd games than lk games .

 

[Melle]

Hey smegged, if you get this game off the ground, count me in.
Only, if two civs are pretty equal, how do you tell who's the underdog?

 

[Dozer]

I would like to join if there are.
Looks like a fun game

 

[smegged]

.... for a little while at least. I'll play a couple more games using this mod, and act a little more organised in a week or so .

But you two are in when I repost .

Oh, and if there are two equal civs, the underdog is the civ that did not declare war. But in most cases playing Civ III so far, it generally works out that most civs start to pick on one opponent at a time.

So far those interested are:

me
Dozer
Melle
and possibly Sirian and Charis at a later date (when I'm a bit more organised ).

 

[smegged]

I set up a test game using similar parameters to the one that I was going to start. If anyone cares, here's the screenshot . I don't think many people could do much with the starting position given.

 

[Sirian]

Well, yeah, that's pretty desolate, but I've seen worse. (Have you seen the start for RBD18??? ). I've even played through worse. Apoly 4 had the mother of all bad starts.