SCENARIO: Age of Imperialism; 1895-1924, Deluxe Version 2016-10-05

[Tank_Guy#3]

Thing #2: If I were to create a more "balanced" but less historically accurate version of the scenario (although, IMO, if you want historical accuracy, then you might as well buy or rent the History Channel's series on World War I, the Boer Wars, etc and just watch them), would it be okay if I uploaded it for those who are of like mind with me?.

On the topic of trumping: Interactivity trumps a lack of interactivity, so the game wins. Also, I was attempting to strengthen the point for adding anti-air defenses from certain ground units.

Though the History Channels Civil War: The Game wasn't bad.

@ El Justo: I must say that AoI is the one scenario that always manages to be the most irritating..... because I can't stop freakin' playing it!!

 

[El Justo]

Hikaro,

w/ all due respect, i don't really care about other developers. yeah, it's nice to see how they may operate. but i take queues from my intuition, not other developers. again, i mean no malice whatsoever; but i march to the beat of the "historical drum." and i'll never compromise that aspect of my modding flavor - ever it's what i enjoy and i've been able to derive countless hours of enjoyment out of it.

you can indeed score VPs as the boers. just take a few of them over from the euros or americans. again, the middling and lower ended civs are not meant to compete for the top spots. it just isn't historically feasible. and this was intentional - so this means that it's not a "problem," it's meant to be.

noted on the obscure brazilian and s african stuff. but they never had any type of main streamed military application, not in the AoI era at least. thus they're out. feel free to add in what you wish to your own personal version though. not a big fan of harry turtledove although i'm aware of it. i spend my time reading non-fiction stuff as i hold a few degrees in history & poli sci (among others). iow, i don't have time for that stuff.

sure you could wipe out the abyssinians in a turn or two so long as you have the fire support. but that's what? two cities? trust me - playing on the higher levels is very, very challenging no matter which civ you're running with. emperor and monarch are bush league compared to deity and sid. try out several dozen turns at these levels and you'll see what i mean. it can get to be a real doozy, especially as GB, France, or Germany (lots and lots of areas to defend, lots of enemies, and alot of tough build queue decisions).

noted on the Civp stuff. thanks.

unfortunately, i'm not really inclined to see AoI used as a "fantasy" or "non-historical" base for a scenario. 5 years of modding experience ought to be enough to start one up from scratch, no?

 

[Lord Dom]

Hey El Justo,
I'am currently doing a graphics overhaul, updating the planes specifically, however i would like to also add the army feature from TCW 50's and i was wondering how to go about doing it, thanks.

 

[eddiewillers]

Hi El Justo! Inmense Thanks!
I've been playing this same game in my mind over maps since I was 4, so when downloaded this jewel and debugged it I got an orgasm.
Praise, hat off

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

This post was deleted because the one who posted it was an incredible jackass.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

I was playing my game last night, and I found a definite bug:

Spoiler :

Correct me if I'm wrong, but somehow I get the impression that the British shouldn't be able to construct Canadian Manufacturing Plants in Australia........

I spied on two other Aussie cities that turn, and they were ALL building Canadian Manufacturing Plants (not that I'll mind a whole lot when I send my massive invasion fleet over there to capture said cities....)

 

[Stazro]

I was playing my game last night, and I found a definite bug:

Spoiler :

Correct me if I'm wrong, but somehow I get the impression that the British shouldn't be able to construct Canadian Manufacturing Plants in Australia........

I spied on two other Aussie cities that turn, and they were ALL building Canadian Manufacturing Plants (not that I'll mind a whole lot when I send my massive invasion fleet over there to capture said cities....)

Yes, that's been reported before. The canadian manufacturing plant requires "Australia-NZ" instead of "Canada". I think there was a problem with the shipyard, too, although I didn't find out what.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Oh, I thought it may have been something related to the "resource overflow" bug... ONE of the things I'm doing with my personal version is to create some kind of graphic for the "hidden" resources such as German SW Africa, Australia-NZ, Canada, etc so's I can tell what all resources I have when I look at my city screen.... (Why the Civ III programmers were too damn lazy to include a text mouseover so that you could see what resources you actually had in such cases is beyond me....)

 

[El Justo]

Hey El Justo,
I'am currently doing a graphics overhaul, updating the planes specifically, however i would like to also add the army feature from TCW 50's and i was wondering how to go about doing it, thanks.

hi Lord Dom.

i recall that you had wanted to do that w/ the units...nice i started to do it back in the summer but got bogged down w/ lots of kewl RL stuff

anyhow, one of the things that i did for the army unit was to switch the setting back to the default (almost) one. it seems that if a "battle created unit" is NOT 'cashed in' or 'killed', no other battle created unit can be spawned. iow, you've got to 'cash in' your battle created unit whether it be an army or a 'rush'. Marine Corps was the one who identified this problem a year or so ago (maybe longer). anyways, what we did for TCW completely fixed the problem. and we set it up as the default (MGL spawned, can 'rush' a wonder OR can create an army, one of the other). however, we restricted which units could go into the army units (only infantry) by tagging them w/ 'carries only foot units' (i think this was the setting, would have to check to be 100% sure). give this a try and see how it flies in time, i'll update AoI to include this adjustment and it'll be much, much better imo (we saw a ton of effective army activity in TCW w/ this setting).

 

[El Justo]

Fair enough.



Even though I don't (yet) hold any degrees in anything (although my US navy training is roughly equvalent to an assosiate's degree in electronics & computer technology), I read a LOT of books, and I'm even willing to bet I may know more about certain eras of history than you (particularly Segoku-era Japan, and the American Revolution and American Civil War)



I've tried playing on higher difficulty levels, and the only REAL differences I noticed aside from the fact that the AI is more of a cheating bastard than usual, is that it requires an INSANE amount of Micro-managing, which, AFAIC, takes all the fun out of the game....

If I wanted to play a game that was micro-managment hell, I'd just go back to playing Star Craft or War Craft III.



No problem... although don't be expecting anything REAL soon... I've got to try conquering the world as the Boer Republics, first.



No problem on the "non-historical" part, although I'll make my personal version available on a PM only basis (if anyone wants it, they have to PM me and I'll email it to them).....

As for the other part, since I only REALLY need the map (and a good portion of the unit graphics, but since they were made by others and are all available for download elsewhere, they don't count ) for my Steampunk scenario, I don't really need your permission anyways (you'll get credit for the map)...

I was planning on completely re-doing the tech tree, using my own custom terrain set (part snoopy, part pounder, and with some of my own crap), and completely altering the unit lines and the city improvements, wonders and small wonders. No offense, but IMO, Warpstorm's Watercolor terrain, is the absolute WORST terrain set ever made for Civ III....

I was also thinking about enabling air trade in the scenario, but only via the Capitol and one or two small wonders (so you'd have to think carefully before building your "colonial airship dock".... although the thought of Great Britain being able to build Air Dreadnoughts in their colonial possessions makes me think this idea may not be worth it, especially considering there will be at least two more African civs that the Abyssinians and Boers can trade with), as well as adding in a few other concepts I had in my (as of right now) personal version of the Napoleonic Europe conquest... I.e. ANYONE controlling Canada or Australlia resources, for example will be able to train Canadian or Australlian units (just like in my version of the Napoleonic Europe conquest, where each capitol has a pre-placed wonder that auto-produces the guard/special units for that civ, so whoever controls that city, gets limited access to those special units.. I.e. if France conqured Prussia, they'll get Jaeger Riflemen every 5 turns from Berlin or If Austria captured Constantinople, they'd get a small influx of Jannisaries).

Finally, I'll also be altering/adding/removing several civs, to incorporate elements from the Girl Genius web comic, Dr. Fu Manchu (his little "empire" will occupy Tibet's location on the map) with much of "germany" "Austria-hungary" and "the Balkan nations" split between the Wulfenbach empire, the House of Heterodyne and "The Other", not to mention that I'll also be using actual leader heads instead of flags, and adding in either Balthazar's Steampunk UI or my "Final Fantasy" UI graphics.

....So as you can see, it's not really going to be the same scenario at all.. Just the map, some of the cities, and some of the units.

....AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T ADDED MY NAME TO THE CREDITS!!!!

EDIT:

I just remembered something else that has been a minor, but constant source of irritation while playing the mod, that #1 DOES NOT have anything to do with our differences of opinion on game balance, #2 I'm sure you'd aggree needs fixing and #3 I could have completed by the end of the week....

What I'm referring to is the Units_32 icons.... There are WAY too many units sharing the same icon, which is confusing as hell when taking a quick glance at unit stacks on the map, as well as when using espionage against enemy cities.

For me, creating a new-improved Units_32 icon set would be a fairly quick and easy proposition, and I'll even include a nice indexed txt, rtf or doc file that tells you what icon # goes with which unit(s)... That one thing alone, IMO would greatly enhance the gameplay experience.

i'd venture to say that you know very little about my knowledge of American history. so, please, save it. my point is that my occupation calls for a great deal of reading...and not "fantasy" stuff. that is for the kids.

this whole scenario is premised on MM'ing. by this i mean that you had to constantly micro-manage your economy, ship raw materials back and forth, diversify your build queues, and so much more. so if that's not your bag then i am not sure why you'd even play AoI.

again, i'd rather you not even send your version out to people since it deviates so much from the original version. no hard feelings - it's just that i'm not a fan of people altering the original and then shipping it out. to do it on your own is one thing but to distribute it is another (and one i or any other modder worth his salt would probably think).

i don't want credit for anything...really. and if you vick the unit folder (which took months and months to compile btw) from AoI, then yes, that is "taking" from the original. but do as you please. you seem intent on making this "fantasy" scenario out of AoI.

AoI could use a new units_32 file. no doubt.

lastly, i am not one to "pimp" myself out or rest on any of my accomplishments. that's not me. just ask those that know me here on the forums. i'm very humble and i normally respond to most posters like a gentleman. however, i am going to depart from that for a minute and remind you that i have (along w/ some of cfc's finest modders) created some of this forum's most popular scenarios...and have spent unbelievable amounts of time fine-tuning my works. it's a passion of mine. and i take it pretty seriously (within context, of course). but at the same time, i am always open to constructive criticism - always have been. but sometimes folks like yourself take it to another level, an unnecessary one imho. critique the material - don't trash it, especially when you have never published anything tangible here at cfc outside of a few static images and a handful of units. i mean, you say you have "5 years" worth of modding experience...but in reality, you've published nothing so perhaps a reality check is in order - or charm school

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

We seem to have gotten on each others' nerves, for whatever reasons, and that's unfortunate :

How about we take this discussion to PM before the thread descends into a flame-war/mod-making skills bragging competition?

 

[Klyden]

<-- is still officially alive.

Damm, I don't check the forums in a week plus and come back to this.

First off, for Hikaro's benefit, since he obviously did not take the time to read all 192 pages of this thread discussing most of what he has already brought up YEARS ago, allow me to identify myself as a member of El Justo's staff and one of the key members of the team that helped put AOI together.

One thing that has not entered the discussion is the limitations of the Civ 3 game engine. There is no one better and few the equal of El Justo when it comes to "work arounds" with the game engine. Decisions had to be made within those limits. Case in point, in a perfect world, it would be possible to give each civ its own set of victory conditions and requirements. The smaller civs clearly would not have the same set of conditions like say the UK. This way it would be possible to win in game terms with any position. As El Justo mentioned, you sort of have to redefine what a "win" is with the current game engine and system. This scenario is NOT meant to have each position have a path to become a great power and all positions have the same "generic" units. If you want that, go try another scenario or mod.

As far as a few other comments; lets take at face value Hikaro's point about the Boars doing tanks. Let us take it a step further and assume they come up with a design that will work without testing, etc. Ok, we are set to roll! Whoops!! Only one problem of many, but it is a big one.. Where are the Boars going to produce all that steel they need to build their armored vehicles?? I would ask the same question of any power in South America during this time frame. What exactly was their steel production again??

This is one of the reasons that Russia and AH were given a path to "colonial power". While not historically having colonial possessions, they potentially could and had both the production and military might to make it happen. How would Alaska be considered if it was still under control of the Russians? That was not too far removed from the start of the time frame of this scenario.

For the UK on higher settings, they have a lot of issues, the least of which they have limited production of "industrialized" items. Hard to build up a huge fleet, first rate British troops, etc in the home islands simply because there are not that many cities there. The French are stronger in Africa while the British have the advantage in the far east because of the proximity of India.

Also keep in mind that the current version of AOI is OLD. We used what graphics were available at the time and several new ones were produced specifically for this scenario. There have been tons of graphics released since then so as part of a scenario update, a graphics face lift is probably a gimme. As far as terrain mod goes, it is personal taste. What one person likes another may dislike. Anyone voicing their opinion that another players preferences are "horrible", is being rude. No comment is really needed. Use what you like on your version and let everyone else do the same.

So quiz time for Hikaro. Do you know why "no trade" is turned on? It is in the thread. Check it out. Very legit reason and a hall mark of all El Justo scenarios.

As far as who knows what, I don't know Hikaro from adam and he has made a poor first impression on me by the tenor of his posts here. I do know El Justo very well and I think his rep here in the forums speaks for itself along with the fact that his two primary offerings have among the most downloads and longest threads that show a lot of traffic and interest in his work. That he knows his history and his stuff is not in question. If he is weak on something, he knows where to go find it and how to do research. The Phillipines scenario he did was related to his thesis project for college.

As far as my credentials go (since it seems to matter to someone), I have been involved in the gaming industry off and on for close to 30 years. I have play tested, co-published a successful set of armor rules, been on a fanzine staff, have my name appear in the credits of several games, etc. I do have a degree, but it is in education. I also am a big fan of history, especially military history. I have done several projects here in Civ 3 with several different teams. The scenarios/mods produced have all been met with mostly high praise of effort and attention to detail. I do have a good feel for what works and what does not from a "game play" standpoint of view. El Justo, I and several others invested hundreds if not thousands of hours in putting this together. It was a massive project, no question and still draws interest from players today, which is remarkable from a scenario as old as this is. I guess I should mention that I am retired USNR as well. I had 10 active and 11 in the reserve for 21 years total. I had the benefit of traveling around quite a bit and seeing the sights. I managed to visit the Mikasa when in Japan. Very interesting to say the least.

I find a lot of what Hikaro said to be pretty off the mark and why ask if you can use the base scenario for other projects when after El Justo says he would rather not see it used that way, you decide to go ahead and do it anyway? What you said is the letter of the law. El Justo and no one else here can stop you from doing it. The one thing I would ask is that you make sure you put on it that it is used WITHOUT El Justo's permission and if I find a thread anyplace on this forum by you using it, you can be assured I will make sure there will be a post stating that you used it WITHOUT permission so that people are clear about it. Not everyone, but many people will see that and act accordingly I think.

A lot of Hikaro's points he brought up were things that the design team discussed and decisions had to be made as far as the direction the scenario would take. Don't kill the maker and his team for those decisions just because you would have taken it in a different direction. That is your personal opinion and you are free to change it for your personal use.

One last thing I will leave you with is that the written word can suck for intent. There is no body language involved and people interpret what you write differently. Keep that in mind before going off on someone.

Sorry for the book.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

As far as a few other comments; lets take at face value Hikaro's point about the Boars doing tanks. Let us take it a step further and assume they come up with a design that will work without testing, etc. Ok, we are set to roll! Whoops!! Only one problem of many, but it is a big one.. Where are the Boars going to produce all that steel they need to build their armored vehicles?? I would ask the same question of any power in South America during this time frame. What exactly was their steel production again??

Simple: If they'd have managed to land a strike of opportunity (as I did in my game) and expanded to the point they became the 3rd richest country in the world, they'd have been able to BUY them, or at least hire the experts to build the stuff for them... As I've found out myself in my various travels around the world (more about that soon), if you have enough money, you can get anything done (within reason and technological capabilities for the time period)... It's just a simple fact of life that money talks, not that I aggree with it (I'm extremely socialistic in my viewpoints on most economic matters), but that doesn't change the fact that most logistical problems can be solved by merely throwing money at them.

This is one of the reasons that Russia and AH were given a path to "colonial power". While not historically having colonial possessions, they potentially could and had both the production and military might to make it happen. How would Alaska be considered if it was still under control of the Russians? That was not too far removed from the start of the time frame of this scenario.

Russia did not gain those kind of industrial capabilities UNTIL AFTER the October Revolution, and that wouldn't have happened until near the end of the mod... I.e. too late to do any good. Austria-Hungary.... They were pretty much on their way out (especially with all the Hungarian, Czech and other separatists in the country) before WWI drove the final nail into the Habsburg's coffin.

For the UK on higher settings, they have a lot of issues, the least of which they have limited production of "industrialized" items. Hard to build up a huge fleet, first rate British troops, etc in the home islands simply because there are not that many cities there. The French are stronger in Africa while the British have the advantage in the far east because of the proximity of India.

Ah, but they still have the Aussie and Canadian troops, which are almost as good as their home troops (and like in WWI, would be what helped save their bacon in the long run).

Also keep in mind that the current version of AOI is OLD. We used what graphics were available at the time and several new ones were produced specifically for this scenario. There have been tons of graphics released since then so as part of a scenario update, a graphics face lift is probably a gimme. As far as terrain mod goes, it is personal taste. What one person likes another may dislike. Anyone voicing their opinion that another players preferences are "horrible", is being rude. No comment is really needed. Use what you like on your version and let everyone else do the same.

I'll admit that I was wrong, and I'm still willing to help improve anything you want improved.

So quiz time for Hikaro. Do you know why "no trade" is turned on? It is in the thread. Check it out. Very legit reason and a hall mark of all El Justo scenarios.

Yes, it's to keep unit and building construction limited to a certain geographical area, as well as supposedly decreasing turn times. I was only thinking about enabling it (on a limited basis) in a potential scenario I was planning to make based on the map, but if you'd have read carefully, I decided that it would not be a good idea, after all.

As far as who knows what, I don't know Hikaro from adam and he has made a poor first impression on me by the tenor of his posts here.

I, also, don't know you from Adam, and I did not mean to offend anyone, honestly. I was just trying to help and got frustrated....

I'm sorry for this whole mess that I created.

I do know El Justo very well and I think his rep here in the forums speaks for itself along with the fact that his two primary offerings have among the most downloads and longest threads that show a lot of traffic and interest in his work. That he knows his history and his stuff is not in question. If he is weak on something, he knows where to go find it and how to do research. The Phillipines scenario he did was related to his thesis project for college.

As far as my credentials go (since it seems to matter to someone), I have been involved in the gaming industry off and on for close to 30 years. I have play tested, co-published a successful set of armor rules, been on a fanzine staff, have my name appear in the credits of several games, etc. I do have a degree, but it is in education. I also am a big fan of history, especially military history. I have done several projects here in Civ 3 with several different teams. The scenarios/mods produced have all been met with mostly high praise of effort and attention to detail. I do have a good feel for what works and what does not from a "game play" standpoint of view. El Justo, I and several others invested hundreds if not thousands of hours in putting this together. It was a massive project, no question and still draws interest from players today, which is remarkable from a scenario as old as this is. I guess I should mention that I am retired USNR as well. I had 10 active and 11 in the reserve for 21 years total. I had the benefit of traveling around quite a bit and seeing the sights. I managed to visit the Mikasa when in Japan. Very interesting to say the least.

When were you in Japan? I was stationed there on the USS O'Brien from 2000-2003. I also saw the Mikasa (which was WAY cool). I was a Fire Controlman and served 6 years in the Navy.

...and please, let's just drop the whole "l33t mod-making sk1lz" competition.... It doesn't really amount to a hill of beans in the long run.

Furthermore, my comments about what I percieved to be un-finished were due to the fact that I'm a natural-born engineer and craftsman: I don't consider ANYTHING I do, whether it be a home-made MP3 player or one of my game mods to be ready for release unless it's 100% finished (or at least 98% on the outside)...

I'll admit that I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times, and I apologize for being over-zealous: I only wanted to improve the scenario and make it more playable/enjoyable for newcomers.

I find a lot of what Hikaro said to be pretty off the mark and why ask if you can use the base scenario for other projects when after El Justo says he would rather not see it used that way, you decide to go ahead and do it anyway?

Fair enough... I'll admit I was wrong and I do apologize for being hot-headed... I've been going through some rough personal stuff (the least sensitive of which is the fact that the company I'm working for was "downsizing" and I was stressed-out about that, among other things), but that don't give me an excuse to take it out on everyone else.

What you said is the letter of the law. El Justo and no one else here can stop you from doing it. The one thing I would ask is that you make sure you put on it that it is used WITHOUT El Justo's permission and if I find a thread anyplace on this forum by you using it, you can be assured I will make sure there will be a post stating that you used it WITHOUT permission so that people are clear about it. Not everyone, but many people will see that and act accordingly I think.

I'm not a mod leech, and I try to do everything properly, however, as I said, I'm sorry for flying off the handle earlier, and will respect El Justo's wishes, and not release anything, unless he finds the means to forgive my sorry ass.

I'm descended from German (and Swiss to boot!), Scots, and Italian stock: Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe me when I get set on something or I feel that I've been wronged, treated unfairly or had my honor challenged in some way... Case in point: One guy at the local comics store that was the only place that sold Manga and Anime in my po-dunk town back in the mid-late 1990's told me, "You'll never be able to teach yourself Japanese: It's too hard for anyone to learn by themselves." Four years later, by the time I was stationed in Japan, I could honestly say, "&#12369;!&#12288;&#12362;&#21069;&#12364;&#38291;&#36949;&#12356;&#12382;!" (Ha! You're completely wrong!)

That, uh, tenacity has its good points and its bad points:

Good point: I've been able to stick with making a MASSIVE Final Fantasy-based mod for the past 5 years without just giving up and saying "hell with it" whenever things got tough.

Bad Point: Getting into a fight with El Justo over a bunch of stuff that (ultimately) isn't that important... I'll fully admit I was wrong there, and I'd like to say I'm truly sorry to both of you about all this.

A lot of Hikaro's points he brought up were things that the design team discussed and decisions had to be made as far as the direction the scenario would take. Don't kill the maker and his team for those decisions just because you would have taken it in a different direction. That is your personal opinion and you are free to change it for your personal use.

I never intended to "kill" the maker or his team I was just suggesting a few things I thought would make the game more fun to play....

Granted, I could have been MUCH less sarcastic, but I only had the best of intentions when I made my suggestion....

...But, as they say, the highway into Hell is paved with good intentions.

One last thing I will leave you with is that the written word can suck for intent. There is no body language involved and people interpret what you write differently. Keep that in mind before going off on someone.

Preach on Brother! I never intended to start a fight, but I mis-interpereted some things El Justo said, and I think he misunderstood my intentions with some of my posts, and it just kind of escalated (sort of like WWI, really)...

Once again, I'm sorry...

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

I came across a bug playing: I'm able to build the Krupp 12cm howitzer as Japan (though in the CivP says only Germany can build it).

 

[Leobon]

I appreciate the explanations by Tank Guy and El Justo for the reasons as to national disparities and differences, as well as inherent weaknesses. The map is supposed to be historic, and supposed to be optimal for the colonial powers, or even for the major European powers that simply need proper expansion and industrialization. Still, despite that, it is a little disappointing on the part of the non-first-world nations, but like I said, it's understandable. Playing them is a good challenge, especially as the Boers.

However, I do think they need some form of AA defense, even if it's basic.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

OK, I was originally going to post this last night, but by the time I got done editing and/or deleting some of my previous posts, I happened to realize it was 1:30 AM and I needed to be up at 5:30 AM so I could get to work on time..... Not to mention that I'd be better able to post what I need to say after I got a few hours of sleep.

First of all, I'd like to offer my deepest apologies to everyone on the developement team for being a jackass.

El Justo, I'd have never posted in the manner I did in my first post if I'd have known what you told me in the PM you sent me last night. Furthermore, I'd have dropped the whole issue right away, and probably even reported my own post to the moderators if you'd have explained that to me after I made that post....

I may be a jackass, but I'm not a COMPLETE jackass (I'm missing a few parts).....

In regards to that, 7Ronin, I also apologize.... If I'd have know what you went through, I'd have never used the tone I did in my post. Right now I feel like a #1, Grade A, World-Class Heel, which is because I AM a #1, Grade A, World-Class Heel.... Sometimes I wonder why God doesn't end my miserable existance and leave the world a better place, but He must have some kind of reason to keep me around (I can't really see any though).

Finally, my offers to help still stand, but I don't want, or deserve any credit for it.... Hell, advertising the fact that my lousy, second-rate, bargain-bin graphics work is in this scenario might just turn some people away......

 

[eddiewillers]

I'm not sure whether I've come across a bug or not:
playing as the Americans, after building the millitary academy in DC I only got one corps- but can't build any new one.
I'm inclined to believe it auto-produces the unit every x turns.

Rerum Sud America,
for historical accuracy, Argentina was at the time far more developed than its neighbors, and could have carved a continental empire. This period actually covers the inter-war years between the Triple Alliance and the Chaco war.
On the counterside, South America was not fully independent. While politically such, the Southamerican republics were unofficial members of the Commonwealth, fact that should not be overlooked since that would means even more treasure for Westminster.
Anglo-Argie relations were in such good shape that Argentina shipped lots of horses to the Cape Colony to fight the boers.
Another facts:
by the turn of the century Argentina was the third richest country of the Americas after USA and along with (!) Cuba - AND it had the 5th strongest army in the world.

So not sure what I propose other than better pick the Argies instead of the Boers for a non imperial civ challenge... I'll ellaborate.

 

[Klyden]

Very classy Hikaro, thanks. The trick is now that you have more information and realize what is up is what happens from this point on. Looks like you are off to a good start in that regard.

I don't know what El Justo's plans are for future work in Civ 3. We had a good run of probably 6+ years without much of a break and its been awhile since something has been done of much magnitude. (I think it has been restricted to El Justo working on some bug issues and a few other side projects, but the bottom line is the boss has been very busy with RL). The other issue (from my standpoint of view anyway) is what sort of interest remains in Civ 3 projects. The forum traffic is way down as most have now migrated to Civ 4. It is a tremendous amount of time, effort and all that goes along with it to get through one of these and to do it and not have much interest in it sort of lets the air out of the balloon. I have a project I had been working on, but I bet I haven't touched it in 2-3 years because of time and wondering what sort of demand there would be for it. Perhaps some day.

 

[cubsfan6506]

Yes, it's to keep unit and building construction limited to a certain geographical area, as well as supposedly decreasing turn times. I was only thinking about enabling it (on a limited basis) in a potential scenario I was planning to make based on the map, but if you'd have read carefully, I decided that it would not be a good idea, after all.

It definitly decreases turn times and scenario load up times.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

The other issue (from my standpoint of view anyway) is what sort of interest remains in Civ 3 projects. The forum traffic is way down as most have now migrated to Civ 4. It is a tremendous amount of time, effort and all that goes along with it to get through one of these and to do it and not have much interest in it sort of lets the air out of the balloon. I have a project I had been working on, but I bet I haven't touched it in 2-3 years because of time and wondering what sort of demand there would be for it. Perhaps some day.

Well, what you decide is up to you, but here's my take on this:

Ever since I got my first PC back in 1994, I've found that, for me anyways, modding the game was almost (if not more) enjoyable than actually playing the game itself. Furthermore, as far as I'm concerned, if even ONE other person downloads my mod, or is inspired to make a scenario of their own because of it, then all the effort was worth it, IMO: I'd made someone's day better, and and that's what is really important to me.

Case in point: I released my "Endless Forest" random map script for Age of Kings, a game that's three years older than Civ III, expecting only a few people would download it, but I figured that if even one or two people downloaded the RM script and had as much fun playing it as my navy friends and I did (we spent HOURS playing that particular random map), then it would be worth it.

A year after I uploaded the RM script, I visited AoK Heaven (sort of like CFC, but for the AoE series) to upload another RM script I did, and I was stunned to find that "Endless Forest" was one of the top-ranked random maps!

I guess what I'm saying is this: You never know unless you finish it and upload it (If you mod it, they will come)... I've actually had some of the people who went to Civ IV tell me that they'd re-install Civ III just to play the Final Fantasy mod when it came out!

Of course, if you don't find modding to be enjoyable (which I do, despite some occasional grumbling on my part), then don't do it, but otherwise, do it for yourself, and if anyone else downloads your work, well, that's the icing on the cake, but even if they don't, at least you'll be happy (although I'm beginning to wonder, based on my own modding experience if any modder is EVER truly finished with a mod... I'm still tempted to go back and change things in my DooM mod! )

In addition, AoI has inspired me to continue compiling unit graphics and stuff for my Age of Empires III mod.....

Note: This is NOT an AoI rip-off, but something based on Ensemble Studio's Age of Empires III RTS.... Although I may carry some of the concepts from AoI over (namely the names of some of the factions... Originally I was only going to do the normal AoE III civs, plus the Single Player Campaign civs, but AoI has inspired me to add the Boers, Abyssinians/Ethiopians, Italy, and a few others).

Main thing is that it's a random-map mod with one thing that I think has never been done before in a random-map mod: You can't build settlers; They're only generated every X turns from the Colonial Capitol.... This is to severely limit early expansion as well as force the player (and AI) to make use of "trading posts" (colonies).

Originally, I was only going to cover the eras covered in AoE III (1500-1880), but I've been inspired, thanks to AoI, to extend it a bit to end in 1920, so basically the four eras will be thus:

Colonial Age (1500-1700)
Fortress Age (1700-1800)
Industrial Age (1800-1880)
Imperial Age (1880-1920)

I'll be doing the whole thing from scratch, including units (I've managed to gather most of the Colonial-Fortress Age units already), however, if either you or El Justo finds the concept to be too close to AoI, I'll not release it... I don't want to step on any toes here.

Also, who made the Rubber Plantation graphics? I'd really like to use them in the Final Fantasy mod (I have a bunch of resource-tied buildings in the mod that auto-produce "treasure", and have been looking for a good Rubber Plantation to round the list out).... Again, if you guys object to my using them, I'll bow to your wishes and cobble something together myself.

And another thing: Since I've discovered that AoI doesn't have them, I'm starting work on some custom Buildings icon files (Buildings_Large.pcx and Buildings_Small.pcx) for the scenario.

Also, I'd like to put forth the suggestion for making the "invisible" resources (except maybe colonialism) have some kind of icon... I.e. a tiny factory for Industrialization, a small Maple Leaf for Canada, the Australian Flag for Australia/NZ, etc.....

The only reason I'm suggesting this is so that I can tell how many of what resources I have when I go to the Trade Advisor screen or on the city screen (especialy when I'm spying on enemy cities). If you could tell what resources were what by just mousing over the resource, then it wouldn't be so annoying to me, but again, just my $0.02.

EDIT:

I've managed to get the icons for the mining and plantation type buildings done: