[C3C] Removing units from the game

[md4]

I am just getting back into Civ 3 via the GOG edition, which apparently only includes the game .exe for Conquests. I'm not a fan of some of the new additions and would like to remove them.

Is there an easy (and preferrably reversible) way of deleting units? I have noticed the Delete button in the Editor but I'm a bit hesitant to use that until I know what it does and what file(s) it affects.

Does it only modify the .biq file? Will that cause problems if entries are left in other game files/folders?

Currently, I have "soft-deleted" them by removing all civilisations from the "Available to" menu, however they still appear in the Civilopedia & Tech trees.

 

[Oni Ryuu]

Hi, md4. Welcome to civfanatics.

You can delete, add and edit almost anything in the .biq without worrying.

Test your game after you’ve tried something new and keep track of the changes you make so you can fix things more easily.

You’ll only need to edit the game's files when you chose to add to your game. Editing is much easier to learn then you’d think.

 

[md4]

Thanks for your quick response, Oni Ryuu. I just quickly tested and everything seems to be working. Also have a backup .biq file so I can restore if anything goes pear-shaped.

I have done a fair bit of customisation of vanilla Civ3 back in the day, but that was over 15 years ago, and I've read bits & pieces in the forums that Conquests changes some things. It's great that there is still such an active community for a game that is nearly legally allowed to buy alcohol in the US.

 

[tjs282]

If I'd seen this thread earlier, I'd have suggested opening the Civilization3X.bix (for PtW) in the Conquests Editor, and resaving it as a .biq (in .../[Civ3]/Conquests/Scenarios/), allowing you to access it via the 'Civ-Content' button on the start-screen, and play a PtW-like game using the conquests.exe.

Caveats:
Since the PtW-like.biq would be based directly on the Civilization3X.bix, you'd (also) lose the new Civs, Civ-traits, Wonders and buildings added in the conquests.biq
Since you'd be playing using the conquests.exe, Conquests corruption-rules apply (i.e. RCP won't work, nor will the FP give a second 'core')
Since you'd be playing using the conquests.exe, you'd suffer the Conquests bugs (tunnel-vision Barbarians, submarine bug, AI-Army bug).

You'd also need to tweak the .biq a little so that your Workers know what to do with the new terrains (specifically Marsh), and to reset the upgrade-costs.

(When I tried this myself the first time, IIRC, I found myself being charged a ridiculous price for upgrades, like 4x the shield-difference — apparently because the Vanilla/PtW 2x upgrade-factor is 'hidden' in .bic/.bix files, but the Conquests Editor made it adjustable, so it got applied twice).

For a more authentic PtW-like experience, you might also want to tweak the Army-unit to be a little less OP, and allow the AI to use it again (e.g. limit its capacity to a single unit, but give it 6-8 bonus HP instead)

(You could also try simply copying the Civilization3X.bix into the ../Scenarios/ directory, but I'm not sure if that would work as well)

 

[md4]

Hi tjs282,

That's a really good idea and probably an approach I would have gone with at the beginning, but as it turns out I'm really enjoying a lot of the other Conquests additions (the Byzantines are my new go-to civilization to play as), so I will probably continue to use that as my base and strip back anything I'm not so keen on.

I'll keep that idea in my pocket though, because I might be tempted down the road to try to emulate a simpler vanilla Civ3 experience.