Reconquista beta-testing

[LouLong]

11/03/05 : beta-version 0.3b uploaded ! Requires both patch v03.b and bic v0.3b

Hi,

I have been lazy about it but I have finished an early beta-version.

Far from complete (Muslim tech-tree, pedia, some units and buidlings) but it is playable (albeit since I have got lots of stuff it is possible some stuff is missing in it).

Anyway I need a lot of feedback before finalizing the scenario.

So volunteers are welcome and necessary. Just expect some work to do and not just playing a bug-free, complete scenario.

I advise playtesting as the Christians civs mostly (less filler art, etc...).


The main file is 19 MB and can be downloaded by clicking here :
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ3/scenarios/Reconquista.zip

Remember to unzip in Civ3/Conquests/Scenarios NOT in Conquests/Conquests.

And here is the biq file which is likely to evolve quite a bit.

Edit : you need the patch also. And new biq file also available. Both v 03.b that work together.
Patch is here :
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/RCQpatchv0.3b

 

[Aeon221]

Ping! SWEET! Thanks for the invite Lou!

<looks left... looks right...>

woah... first post... haha!

Looks cool, downloading s... l... o... w...

 

[Aeon221]

Loulong, problem:

TurkishLightWarrior\TuW_rDeath.flc missing... I think the 'r' in front of death is maybe... just maybe... part of the problem ;p

Probably gonna have to fix that one haha

 

[Aeon221]

Aww man... the scenario description is too long! I cant read the top part because it gets cut off by the screen! Probably gonna have to cut that out

Playing as El Cid (woo hoo!) in Valencia, the above is the only load error.

Settlers? Why settlers? looks pretty much all settled out to me ;p

Is Valencia Christian or Muslim... I was building Muslim pikes...

NOOO! Missing the Large pedia icon for guilds... DARN IT!

Gonna load again and play as Castile... after I fix this too ;p

edit: /or go study calc for a pop test that was announced two weeks ago... ;p
good suprise: Reconquista
bad suprise: calc test

 

[Aeon221]

Tech tree is small and ridiculously fast. Can build Norman Knights without horses. Seems pointless to not start with Feudalism, since A) you can get it in 4 turns and B) it has all the units you can build in it.

Fast pace, ridiculously good loading times. Can build the Chanson de Roland without having a victorious army.... not sure if that matters, just going by Civlopedia ;p

I like the change from Cultural to Religious!

K well I feel like I'm spamming so no more posts ;p

Feels like it needs work, but that its gonna be good!

 

[LouLong]

TuW : yes, you are right, I had cleant it but apparently not for the downloadable version. Arghh !

Settlers are like in TGA, in case one civ starts to raize cities (usually happens in the Zaragossa -Tortosa line). They are not so cheap but not too expensive. Indeed it is not the key element of the scenario.

Valencia (as stated in the pedia) is actually a feudal mixed Christian-Muslim so it can built both types of units. On the other hand it is quite weak on the long term (lack of specialisation).

guilds : ah, ok I will correct that.

Tech-tree : fast (what level are you playing ?). Short ? I don't think so, the first age is indeed short but the second is quite long and the third one, albeit shorter is still much longer than the first one.

Norman knights (need to rename them BTW) : sure, strategic resources are like in TGA not useful for quite common troops (so saltpeter, iron and horses are NOT strategic resources).

Chanson de Roland : normal.

Needs work : sure does !

What I don't understand is your reference to calc for pop test and your reference to change from Cultural to Religious ???

 

[Yoda Power]

I got the error too.

 

[LouLong]

Biq updated as well as patch added.

It corrects a few issues such as the TuW INI, the Chrisitan tech-tree appears completely now.
Corrected some starting techs and some governments. Corrected a bug in the pedia that made the texts not appear for techs (not complete but the ones done now appear). Corrected a few minor but really annoying stuff (checbeck enslaving to arbalest for instance .... ).

Thanks to the playtesters ! Hope with the patch it is more of a pleasure.

 

[LouLong]

A note about Ansar warriors if you play a Muslim civ or face a Muslim civ.
It is a really powerful unit (traits more than attack strength) but cannot be build. So they need to be used wisely.

 

[Aeon221]

it was a .txt change you made. I just like how its different: like with elite promotions: XXX is now elite. Our people have begun to sing of them.

Or when your borders expand, it says religious influence rather than cultural. Little things like that.

Game report: Played on Emper, standard settings, as Castilla. Noticed large numbers of AI horsemen (while I had only levies) moving about on turn 1 but simply ignored that... which, in retrospect, was rather dumb of me.
Seized an early tech lead, and decided to launch a surpise attack on Leon about 20 turns in with Norman Knights. Portugal declares war (They had a MPP :shrug in response.

I got a leader right off, so I pulled back most of my men (the rest having died) and made an army. That was good! The enemy must have mobilized, because they started overrunning me with troops. I had intended to sue for peace after taking a city or two, but they just kept coming and started driving me back.

Without adequate defenders (although I loved the 1 shield levys... is that a bug? Its the only way to make them useful, so you could leave it ;p), it really came down to how fast I could kill their men... my cities got traded back and forth for a bit, but what was really killing me was WW. Then I noticed it was well past 1AM and time to stop ;p

I liked that the levy unit is bad, but only one shield. The ability to mass whomp them is really unimportant, as the AI and I both mostly ignored them except when desperate. They win very rarely, because the total defense even with walls is still decently lower than the 4 attack they have. The tree was really short at first (I finished the first part during my 20 turn buildup), but evened out later on.

No obvious bugs, but I might just not understand.
Most liked: the all cavalry dynamic
Most disliked: nothing inherent to the game, just pre-development stuff ;p

Possible Bug: Leon had Muslim spearmen, which really took the edge off my initial rampage/ stopped it dead.

Comment: calc test means the test I take in an hour that I havent studied for haha.

 

[LouLong]

Leon having Muslim spearmen should be corrected in the patch and new biq.... weird stuff...

I am gonna make defenses stronger but I will keep levy as weak and cheap.

I must check mobilization.

 

[LouLong]

I must say I expected some more feedback and interest.... :-(

Maybe I should not bother...

 

[Aeon221]

I disagree!

Its just that no one has noticed it yet. I am more than willing to say that its an awesome scenario, and its only 1/10 of the way done!

Just hang in there; I am sure more people will get into it soon!

 

[The Last Conformist]

Maybe I'll find some time to look at this next week. Right now I'm feeling too ill to do anything but bash people in OT.

 

[Hrafnkell]

I will download it but will not have time to give it a try until after the Superbowl, ya understand

 

[Yoda Power]

I have time to play some tonight, I'll give you a report tomorrow

 

[Yoda Power]

Ok I started playing a game, here are my random thoughts:

Opening text is too long, it odesn't fit the screen

Archery? Thats an anciant tech!

The cities should be medieval, not anciant and industrial

Civiliopedia should be more precise.

Crusaders small icons need to be fixed.

Why don't you start with any workers? I only checked Portugal the civ I'm playing.

I think Walls should be cheaper, to encourage the player to build them.

There is a gfx problem with the large icon for Holy Inquisition.

Why can't I build Knights Templar?

Troubadur should have radar ability to make it really usefull.

Alcazar's small icon is black.

Shouldn't Cadix be Cadiz?

Norman Knight you could call Rider or something like that. Maybe just Horseman?

Pikeman upgrades to Musketman, and thus gets lower deffence, is that intentional?

The Pirates loose to many units in the beginning. Make the Pirate(unit) free of upkeep.

The Pirate unit can't be transported!

Civs in allaiances shouldn't start with war wearness it kills them.

 

[LouLong]

Ayay ! Reports at last !

Opening text : yes, will correct (that's the would-be writer in me ;p )

Archery : Hmmm.. you are right but archers were not so frequent during late Roman, early medieval era and they started again at the turn of the millenium. So I should rename it probably but it should stay IMHO.

Cities : yep, sure. I will need to do that for the 2 first ages and maybe find one around for the last age.

Civilopedia : it is not complete yet. But do you have something special in mind. Like a pedia text that is not precise enough (as that is an issue, if it is not written yet, it is just a question of time).

Crusaders : ok

Workers : I haven't really worked on starting forces (units including workers) and buildings yet (except for a few large cities). That may be frustrating for the beta testers but it is something that needs finetuning. But I will add at least 1-2 workers anyway.

Walls : cheaper ? not sure as they represented a big investment then. On the other hand I have already made them much more efficient.

Holy Inquisition : ok

Knight Templar's : you need to have a monastery first. Probably the reason. If not, please tell me.

Troubadour : yes, good idea !

Alcazar : yes, I need to ask the person who did it to check it.

Cadix : yep you are right (French version ! Hmm...)

Norman Knight : yes I agree, name is definitely not fitting. Will change it.

Pikeman : should not upgrade to musketman (mistake): it is a different line.

Pirates : yes indeed. Cannot be trnsported : BIG pb (but easy to solve).

Yep I should remove France and Navarra from locked war which should clear the issue. On the other hand Almoravids will keep WW as it was one of the main reasons of their fall in front of the Almohads.

Thank you ! (Tak ?).

 

[The Last Conformist]

DL'd it. Made I'll start it up tonigh.

 

[Yoda Power]

Civilopedia : it is not complete yet. But do you have something special in mind. Like a pedia text that is not precise enough (as that is an issue, if it is not written yet, it is just a question of time).

Well the text for example the text for Monasteries should state what it does, not that it just does something, you kinda expect it should do that

Workers : I haven't really worked on starting forces (units including workers) and buildings yet (except for a few large cities). That may be frustrating for the beta testers but it is something that needs finetuning. But I will add at least 1-2 workers anyway.

Just put a worker into every city thats not a town or somethnig like that.

Walls : cheaper ? not sure as they represented a big investment then. On the other hand I have already made them much more efficient.

Yeah, but as the walls expire it always keep me from building them.

Yep I should remove France and Navarra from locked war which should clear the issue. On the other hand Almoravids will keep WW as it was one of the main reasons of their fall in front of the Almohads.

Or just remove a lot of the war wearness. Come'on wars were around all the time in the middle ages, they weren't afraid of the sh!t

Thank you ! (Tak ?).

Selv tak