I managed to get things working!!!
...mostly?? Some little things aren't right at all. All text is not where it should be (for example, AI aggressiveness is listed as less aggressive, normal, more, most, and militarist - with "least aggressive" as the header and not an option. Zoom to city is "Hurry Production" - etc) Everything is where it's supposed to be, just with the wrong words. Also every civ has the wrong strengths listed in the selection compared to civilopedia page on that civ. All these are easily worked around, just a little frustrating.
(EDIT: Just realized the slider adjusting wasn't a bug, but a feature. Read the Frequently Asked Questions in the civilopedia hehe)
Some observations:
- I really like how jungles/marshes/mountains limit movement more. I actually dislike the "hardy" options for settler types, because it limits start-game expansion to an extent and for whatever reason, the hardy settlers take less citizens which is always the better option in my (so-far) limited experience. I really think the tribe idea is a cool one, also! So many times i'm one square away from an amazing capital city location and don't want to waste a vital turn.
- All the new resources and luxuries and bonuses! Amazing. And I love how all the ancient techs slowly unfold to reveal more and more of the map, I love it. Have yet to be in a situation where i've had horses, camels, or elephants yet tho. Very excited to eventually see what units i'll be able to build.
- The tech tree, not too hard to follow, and the research speed on techs is way fast. I played one game on a large map, with a ton of other civs, on Regent. Quickly found myself barely in the second era while the other civilizations were starting to drop bombs on my cities with planes. No idea how that happened. Hahaha The other games i've played, with less civs and on Warlord mode, i've found myself rapidly outpacing the other civs in tech - even without building the free-tech wonders. Weird!
- Normally, I try to be finished with any regular game of Civilization before the Modern era. Idk why, but with more advanced naval options and bombs and aircrafts and everything else, the modern era is just too complicated and overwhelming to me most of the time whereas the first three eras aren't. In this, even the ancient era can be a bit overwhelming with the vast quantity of building options. I was surprised to see School of Scribes, libraries and academies all available so early all doing essentially the same function when techs can be researched in four turns without any of these to begin with. That being said, in vanilla, the options for structures and units is so limited in the first two eras that the game can feel insulting. Hard to find a good balance, but I appreciate the difference in play style!
- My workers are more bold than in vanilla?? Maybe i'm crazy! I feel like in Vanilla, my workers would never build roads connecting two cities that are far away from each other and not connected by culture. In this they do. Not only that, but my citizens cross other civs land all the time to reach other parts of my civ, another feature I don't recall in Vanilla. Coincidence or intentional?
- New Civilizations are really cool. I really enjoy Siam and Tibet so far, and Polynesia keeps declaring war on me and get fudged. lol
- Fur Traders and Gold Forge and stuff are cool! Do AI Civilizations actually build these and know how to deliver them? Just curious. It's a cool feature, shame it can't be automated, but every 15 turns is a long enough gap that it isn't a big deal.
- Rome built Slave Trade wonder giving them all the Slave Markets, then between that and me bankrupting them through trade, I keep having their cities culturally transferred to me within several turns. Is this a common experience, does the AI not know how to build things to prevent unhappiness? I like the slavery idea a lot and it's something I wish was present within the main Civilization game itself, in some way or another.
- Sacrificing: Wonderful concept, shame we can't do it with our own unites. I had about a dozen scouts left over after my whole pangae was explored, and I was bummed to see I couldn't sacrifice them. Most of them didn't even give me any shields in their disbandment's
All in all, excellent changes to the game. Lots of little bugs still to be worked out i'm sure, but I like how this looks a lot! Thanks guys for all your help, and keep up the good work!