Rhye's of Civilization - the fastest loading mod Expanded

[Blasphemous]

Actually, until tanks were developed in the late years of the First World War there wasnt any other way to attack then charge the trenches with infantry or cavalry. Horses were still used well into the second world war to draw carts and move artillery to the battlefield. When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 the Polish army consisted of mostly cavalry units which had try and fend of the German Panzers (although even the German army consisted mostly of infantry). I would suggest Cavalry become obsolete when the Motorised Transport tech is discovered to reflect many of the senseless battles and slaughter that took place in WW1

You've only served to affirm my point - armed gun cavalry was only used by backwards countries after WWI and its trench warfare. It would be much closer to reality to make horses obsolete in combat with the advent of Infantry (which represents WWI technology) than with the advent of WWII tanks.
Oh, and the first tanks were developed in the first half of WWI - 1916, to be exact.
Anyway, just cause they're obsolete won't make them disappear... It just means they won't be produced anymore. Leftover units will still be sent into battle blindly to die for a higher cause.

 

[Rhye]

- It seems that you all agree with rendering them obsolete...that is the important thing. A bunch of turns doesn't make difference. I said tanks because if you choose Infantry then you'll have some turns in which you won't be able to build units with more than 1 movement point.

- I will not add any future techs or units for the same reason I dislike mods with dinos: the focus is on history. Ibcoltscrew, you were going to do an alternative mod, right? You already have a place in the new site If you like future stuff, you could add it to your version

- Slower 2.4? Very strange, There were no major changes to civs expansion since patch 2.0 to 2.1. Instead it seemed to me that since 2.3 industrial age was faster because I postponed communication trading to Electricity and so postponed World Wars and massive pop-ups. Did you play 2.1 with Chieftain or Warlord level? Did you play 2.4 with Deity or Sid? That makes a lot of difference - cost changes. I'll post the history of changes until now.

 

[Iztvan]

I quite like 2.4. I've tried out the Japanese (Emperor) until the middle ages. I liked the new Samurai, it worked well. So well, in fact, that I decided to quit the game (conquered china to easy).

Now I'm playing Arabia on demigod - tough! but still possible. It's ca 1000 ad and the entire european continent has declared war on me (the crusades all over again!) and I', desperately researcing Chivalry and building hordes of horsemen for upgrading... we'll se if I survive.

I noted one thing though - the mesopotamian cities have virtually no production, just floodplains (zero shields) and desert (zero shields). I'll try them out in the future, but it looks very difficult.

 

[Rhye]

Now it seems that I have to unveil my new plans....everything has changed.

1) I'll fix those upgrades and release 2.41, with no other addition

2) As usual you can count on support in fixing bugs and tuning

3) When the fixes are over (I hope with 2.41) I'll release the random map version. It's already done, it's just waiting

4) If R8FTX makes a French leaderhead I'll release a version with modified leader (Napoleon or Louis XIV), but this doesn't depend on me

5) Lots of possibilities for alternative version - Israel or Khmer instead of Sumeria for example. But I don't want to spend much time on those.

6) I'm creating a new map: 134x130. Lachlan will be happy This will be used to create a LITE version of the mod, this time for Vanilla and PTW. It's time to send v1.0 to its old age pension! I have considered releasing a Conquests version, but that map simply hasn't enough room to contain i.e. both Spain and Portugal

- My second UU project is abandoned. I have spent an impressive amount of time to put 2.4 together, and considered how much time fixing units and finding civilopedia text take, I won't do it for 31 units. After all, an Elephant could have been a second Carthaginian UU. Now it's no more needed!

 

[Rhye]

Thank you for the info, Iztvan. I'll see if I can do something about the unbalanced civs. Please do not start a game with mesopotamians before the new patch.

If you haven't deleted your saves, can you send some of them to my mail?

 

[Blasphemous]

- It seems that you all agree with rendering them obsolete...that is the important thing. A bunch of turns doesn't make difference. I said tanks because if you choose Infantry then you'll have some turns in which you won't be able to build units with more than 1 movement point.

This reflects history very well! In WWI alot of the fighting was on a stationary line where trench warfare commenced, exactly because tanks were not yet fully developed and cavalry was completely obsolete. In WWII tanks and artillery were developed and so the line shifted around more.

 

[Lachlan]

Rhye ?

You will create a smaller map than habitual one ?

Compatible with C3C ?

THANK YOU

But remember that i have Conquest 1.22

 

[bjorn]

Id be happy to come up with units and civilclopia texts for new unique units if you want. Maybe you shouldnt want to have all 31 civs have a 2nd UU, but just add 5-10 to add flavor to the game (Longboat for the Vikings, Fire Tirime for the Greeks, stuff like that). I wouldnt know where to start with the gfx part, but maybe theres gfx on these forums who can help you out (Or allow you to use their units in your mod).

Will the work on this 'lite mods' mean 2.41 will be one of the last updates for this mod?

 

[Blasphemous]

How about instead of giving every single civ two UUs, you give most civs a single, extra-good UU, and some civs two weaker UUs...
Just an idea.

 

[Rhye]

Let me explain better...
I'll keep supporting the basic version, but sooner (I hope) or later the mod won't need more patches.
After that I'll work on lite version of Vanilla and PTW and/or alternate versions. I'll be more lazy when working on these, because they have a lower priority, but if a new bug comes out or a new idea is simply irresistable I'll patch the basic mod and update all the versions. Instead, if I'm not sure of an addition I may put it in an alternate version, even if I don't have enough material (civilopedia fox example).
The fact I was trying to say is that I won't release any official "Expansion pack" as I said last month, because I can't find the time to fix units and find pedia for 31 units.

About the small map, it will be for now only for Vanilla and PTW. As I've said, there isn't enough room for both Babylon and Sumeria, Spain and Portugal, etc.: it contains only 16 civs. But never say never: if I see that people like the map and there are many requests for a C3C lite version, I may take it in consideration.

 

[Rhye]

An example: a mod with 31 static leaderheads (pictures, portraits, photos) instead of 3D animated leaderheads. I prefer them because I want that historical feeling and can't stand Gandhi dressed like an European capitalist. But most people doesn't agree with me, so it is a good reason to put it in an alternate version.

 

[Blasphemous]

1. I know I'm not alone in saying I can and would like to help out with the expansion pack, if pedia is the problem. (And even if it's not the only problem.)
2. Why not release the small map for C3C with a low number of civs as max and just have people pick and choose themselves which civs to include?

 

[narmox]

I also vote for a smaller worldmap that supports C3C. currently playing as Austria, in the 1600's, I wait an average of 5-6 minutes (maybe more) between each turns. Can't play it anymore, way too slow for me

 

[Lachlan]

Oh yes Rhye !

Make the small map supporting C3C

I don't use PTW anymore

You should create an ancient an modern version like in PTW

 

[Rhye]

I'll see if I can...the map contains 16 civs, in case of PTW I can leave the choice to the user without division Ancient/Modern. But in case of Conquests the problem is that some starting locations are too close to each other. If a user selects Spain and Portugal, it could be a problem. Anyway before talking I must try. This is in the "To do" list after other things I mentioned earlier.

 

[Rhye]

The differences with the new mountains and plateaus (below, with less green)

 

[bjorn]

I think that looks realy good Can you make a screenshot of a lone mountain in the desert and in the arctic? See what that looks like

 

[Rhye]

The green will always be there...it can't be avoided. But there is much less because some of the square is covered by more mountains

 

[bjorn]

well it looks better, especially the large grouping of mountains and platues. I say it goes in the next update

 

[Rhye]

The update was done, when I received Lachlan's savegame.
He said he was very slow (it was late '800) and in fact it was. So I had to change some weights (some costs), but to solve the problem once for all, I had the idea: what about shrinking the timeline? I have managed to reduce the whole game from 500 to 400. (The standard game is 450) This means that 2050AD will correspond to turn 400; 1700 AD will correspond to the turn which was corresponding to about '500. The difference between 2.4 and earlier versions will begin from 650AD: the timeline will go slightly faster.
This colud be considered "cheating" but would finally reduce loading times in late game, and when you give up a game early, then it won't be that early.
In Lachlan savegame the game would be past 2000; the late 800 will correspond to loading times you have in mid-late '600.
Of course, I'll edit EVERY technology cost again, to fit the new settings.
What do you think? I'll soon start editing the techs!