Roll's Tweaks

[Roll]

Hi,

I've been a long-time fan of the Rise of Mankind mod as well as its mod mod, A New Dawn. When I found Caveman2Cosmos my interest in Civ 4 was rekindled.

As great as C2C is I feel it requires much in the way of tweaking, especially in the later eras. I've done my best to make the units, buildings, civics, leader traits and wonders as balanced, useful and unique as possible.

Nearly everything has been tweaked in some way. You can check out the screenshots to see some of the changes but the best way to see them is via the Civilopedia. However, some of the major changes are:

• Rebalanced buildings and civics that affected food production.
• Reduced bonus to trade routes from population.
• Citizen employment added to nearly all power plants and powerful buildings.
• Alt-timelines made available to all players.
• Units and buildings require a wider variety of resources.
• Most pre-modern wonders will now go obsolete.
• Limited workaround to allow air units to utilize promotions.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. If there is a lot of interest I'll work on merging the changes into v34 and maybe the SVN version too.

- Roll

Screenshots:

Gallery on Imgur

Installation:

Note: This mod mod is for v33 ONLY. It won't work with the SVN or any later version of Caveman2Cosmos.

Back up your copy of Caveman2Cosmos before installation.
Extract the .7z archive to your Caveman2Cosmos directory and let it replace the necessary files.
Clear your BtS cache as well as your C2C cache before starting the mod.

Credits:

The tweaks to the XML files are my own. However, I've included an icon from LateGameMod by Moctezuma. Credit for that icon goes to him.

Edits:

Added note to clear cache before playing.

 

[Yudishtira]

I tentatively agree with you that alt-timelines need to be available to all players. Da Vinci Tanks for one are absolutely devastating to have, and certainly impossible for the AI to counter.

Not sure what you mean by "buildings requiring a wider range of resources", but I've always thought (and to some extent have said so) that all bugs requiring silk, and all berries requiring grapes, is completely ridiculous.

I hope you can get your modmod 'modular'. I may not be able to work out how to try it otherwise. Good luck with it.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

Nearly everything has been tweaked in some way.

• Alt-timelines made available to all players.

If it was just balance that worried you you could have just turned the Alt Timeline stuff off. Edit the MLF_CIV4ModularLoadingControls.XML in the parent folder and change 1 to 0 for those you did not want in the game.

A better approach, in my view, would have been to write a Spy mission that stole the "culture" from those that have it. I will add such to my to do list.

 

[Roll]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback!

I tentatively agree with you that alt-timelines need to be available to all players. Da Vinci Tanks for one are absolutely devastating to have, and certainly impossible for the AI to counter.

My main motivation for changing the alt-timelines was due to the AI researching them after the embassy wonder had been built. The AI sees all these buildings and units available in one tech so it decides to research it even though they can't use any of them. I also liked the idea of alt-timelines and thought that having Da Vinci tanks or Ornithopters face off against each other was fun.

I've changed the alt-timeline stuff to be flavor rather than grant an overwhelming advantage. This makes them optional (with the possible exception of Atompunk).

Not sure what you mean by "buildings requiring a wider range of resources", but I've always thought (and to some extent have said so) that all bugs requiring silk, and all berries requiring grapes, is completely ridiculous.

I probably worded that poorly. What I meant was that some buildings have the option to be built using resources found later in the game. For example some temples and cathedrals that required paper or books now can also be built if you have the computers resource. This way you can sell old buildings and remove some unhealthiness or pollution.

I haven't really looked into the berry farms but you're right; having them all require grapes is crazy. I think it was just easier to have them require grapes instead of cluttering up the map with more resources.

I hope you can get your modmod 'modular'. I may not be able to work out how to try it otherwise. Good luck with it.

Well it's more of a conversion than a mod at the moment. The files in the archive are meant to replace the ones in your C2C folder.

I should convert it to a module but it isn't worth the time unless people are interested in it. I know in the long run it will make things much easier.

- Roll

 

[Roll]

Hi,

A better approach, in my view, would have been to write a Spy mission that stole the "culture" from those that have it. I will add such to my to do list.

That's a great idea!

Changing the alt-timeline embassies to national wonders was much easier for what I wanted to accomplish (as well as within my abilities).

- Roll

 

[Faustmouse]

Wow, your modmod sounds really impressive!

 

[Thunderbrd]

It's nice to see new minds working on the mod from their own angles. I'm sure some of the concepts here are probably brilliant... don't have time to evaluate them but I imagine once refined some of them could end up being a very positive influence for the core. I've seen more than one team member start this way.

 

[Yudishtira]

I haven't really looked into the berry farms but you're right; having them all require grapes is crazy. I think it was just easier to have them require grapes instead of cluttering up the map with more resources.

There is no need to have more resources. All it takes is for the requirements to be better suited to the berry/bug in question. Edible moths and caterpillars exist in all warm temperate to tropical regions - with no correlation to the presence of silkworms. Similarly, blackberries/mulberries/elderberries grow like weeds even in England, rather than being limited to the 'Mediterranean climates' where grapes grow.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

There is no need to have more resources. All it takes is for the requirements to be better suited to the berry/bug in question. Edible moths and caterpillars exist in all warm temperate to tropical regions - with no correlation to the presence of silkworms. Similarly, blackberries/mulberries/elderberries grow like weeds even in England, rather than being limited to the 'Mediterranean climates' where grapes grow.

Not only in the tropics - Canberra is on the migration path of the Bogong Moth at tasty summer feast I am told.

 

[Rwn]

A better approach, in my view, would have been to write a Spy mission that stole the "culture" from those that have it. I will add such to my to do list.

Another option would be to make the alt-timeline techs much more expensive (ex. 5-10 times). Given that they are not required for any other tech, the choice for the players would be, do I want to skip it altogether, or be delayed by the equivalent of 5 to 10 techs in the Great Tech race for the short term benefit of several relatively overpowered (for the period) units and buildings?

 

[Faustmouse]

were these changes (at least some) used totweak the main mod?

 

[Thunderbrd]

I don't think they have and I haven't had any time to investigate whether they should or not. If one of the team members took the lead on a project to evaluate this modmod deeply enough to determine what probably should and currently shouldn't be moved to the core I'd be happy to look that over and I'm sure the rest of the team would agree.