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

[Civinator]

Since a longer time I am reflecting about connecting the AOI 5 files to the CCM 3 mod to reduce the download size of AOI 5 to a minimum, as I have done this with the mod RARR, reducing the download size of RARR from more than 1,2 GB to a zipped file of about 70 KB.

The big advantage is, that all files can be downloaded directly from CFC as long as CCM 3 is hosted by CFC. The next update of CCM 3 will hold all units, that are needed for AOI 5. The main part is a modification of the AOI pediaIcons file, replacing the unit animations by CCM 3 units. I made a 64 pages document of the AOI 5 pediaIcons file about the CCM 3 replacing units and a first test with this modded pediaIcons file was very positive without any crashes in the early stages of the game. Another advantage is, that now the graphics of many AOI units are updated by the CCM 3 units.

A direct download at CFC would also stop the current confusion about the download sites and the version numbers of AOI. Many of the reported bugs that are triggered by linking sound files to different AOI units would be automatically corrected, as CCM 3 (at least for most units) uses autonom sound files for each unit.

Of course it is very important for me, what El Justo is thinking about it. Unfortunately neither Vuldacon nor me are able to reach El Justo by the email adress we received many years ago. Parallel to this post I wrote a pm to El Justo about his opinion. In the meantime I will show you some screenshots about my current version of AOI 5 and we will see, if this can be made available for all civers at CFC.

El Justo, where are you ?

 

[Civinator]

In the last 25 years of modding Civ 3 my eyes were not getting better. So I made a city screen with better visible colours for AOI. Now even the wasted shields and coins can be seen much better, as there is no longer a red colour on a red colour. From the new Balthasar city screen only the arrow to the exit made it in the screenshot shown below.

 

[Civinator]

One of the few settings in AOI 5 that are changed in my version of AOI 5 is the setting of Gibraltar as an island. I was never happy with making Gibraltar an - in reality never existing - island. The reason for such a setting was, that Gibraltar should never be allowed to be captured from an offensive started from land against it. It should only be possible to capture Gibraltar by an amphibious landing from sea.

This reason in my eyes can be achieved without the "island solution" by setting the only land tile connecting Gibraltar with the Spanish land tiles to be an "impassable mountain" tile. The "fantasy island of Gibraltar" now is existing no longer and the new situation is much more realistic showing the "Rock of Gibraltar", that is really existing:

 

[revirii]

The never resting Civinator

btw.: is there an overview of the difficulty levels and the bonusses for the computer player? Is this hard-coded in the game or scenario specific? I found this page:

Difficulty level (Civ3)

Back to Civilization III The difficulty level is a game setting in Civilization III and its expansions that allows players to compete against AI opponents matched to their skills and desire for challenge. In order from lowest to highest, the difficulty levels are as follows: Chieftain Warlord...

civilization.fandom.com

 

[Civinator]

Hi revirii,

I am not aware of a special overview of the difficulty levels of AoI, but these massive scenarios like AOI or SOE should always be played on the highest difficulty level.

 

[vmxa]

revirii,​

The biq has the rules for effects of a given difficulty. The rules can be modified by a the map creator. You select custom rule in the editor.

 

[revirii]

Will check the settings ... later

Why i was asking? In a recent game with Russia, France started an invasion. The cities at the border were well protected, but the other ones only had a couple of units, so i guess that the french forces tried to reach one of those. Do they constantly spy on all cities or does the computer player have some secret knowledge? However, France sent ~30 cavalry units and ~60 infantry units. I was somehow prepared and able to throw them back within a couple of turns, but ... what if such an attack happens a year earlier? What if you play a mid/small nation like Spain, Italy, Balcan and have less troops/resources? What if the computer player has some nice advantages (research, production, ...) and the invasion starts earlier with more massive forces? Could be game over

Just curious. I'll check the biq settings and maybe raise the difficulty level a bit, but playing this on the highest level... don't know

 

[vmxa]

The AI knows the disposition of troops. Its one of the game "cheats". Mostly done to reduce the coding and allow more pc to run the game. At the time pc were not very robust.
AI knows he map, but it does not know the pathing, until is explored or get the map in trade(s).

 

[revirii]

Well, been playing a while for the last two weeks... stopped the game with Russia, close to the invasion of Africa, Western Europe and/or Japan/US, but, it's always the same: build troops, bombard, conquer.

Next game was: Italy. The northern border is always threatened by France, Germany/Austria or Russia and thus your weak point, and your colonial holdings are small (and you have no Iron there, so no artillery until 'Mountain Guns I'), but if you pay some gold and keep building & researching, and if you wait for the right moment... France had permanent wars with Spain, Germany/Austria, the British Empire etc., so i built troops and then invaded France. Marseille was hard, Paris as well, but city after city... now Italy spans from Portugal to most of Russia and governs half of Africa. Invasion of the Near/Middle East started, next would be the British Empire, but ... same as above. Stopped at ~2600 VPs. The Netherlands conquered Brussels (which was permanently attacked by the Germans, Austria, ...).

Current game: Boer Republics. Tiny empire in the beginning, always blackmailed by other nations, research slow, but once your cities grow... units are quite cheap, so built a nice army and attacked the portuguese holdings, city after city, 7 in total. Then wait until the next 'incident' - Germany declared war, then took their cities (7 in total) in Southwest- and East-Africa. Now waiting for a proper moment to take the british cities. A lot of troops there... Not sure exactly why, but i'm at war with at least 15 countries, mostly initiated by the US. Do the computer players think "hey, that country is still weak and already at war with x nations, so ... why not, what could possibly go wrong" ? However... Russia lost 5 of its southwestern cities to France, and now they belong to: 2x F, 1x A-H, 1x Scandinavia, and 1 to ... Romania! Now Siam

dropped 12 units at the eastern shores. I consider my personal goals reached after conquering Africa. Or maybe at least parts of Europe?