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

[West 36]

Well, that's terrible sorry to hear. not at all because I really look forward to the new version... totally for your personal problems here! seriously though, good luck with all this.
Quick question: What was the reasoning behind closing up Panama exactly? I've been debating opening it up myself but I imagine you had good reasons for locking it up.

 

[creamcheese]

Quick question: What was the reasoning behind closing up Panama exactly? I've been debating opening it up myself but I imagine you had good reasons for locking it up.

Well for one thing, the canal was not completed until 1914, so for the first half of the scenario it is unrealistic...

I'm only giving my opinion, but I think the long journeys around the Cape Horn make for a more strategic Suez/Red Sea/Gibraltar because they are the fastest route to Europe from east/south Asia. This gives Britain a reason to control these regions, since winning the scenario depends on VPs.

The canal is really most important for the Americans (so if you are playing them or anyone else for that matter, you can just capture the city), as it allows them to transfer naval units from the shipyards of the East to the Pacific.

 

[Bogatyr]

"i am taking a break from AoI b/c i'm just too pissed atm"

Goodbye, Cruel World!

"onto the Vietnam map i go..."

Good morning, Vietnam!


Really looking forward to seeing what you do with the Vietnam scenario. But I hope you return to AoI too... it's still the best!

 

[toy4080]

El Justo - I can imagine your frustration, there is litte that burns more than having to recreate hard work. I am looking forward to the new version, whenever you get back to it. Your scenarios always include creative solutions to the limitations of the game engine, most of which add significantly to my mods, so I can excited to see how you can improve on this already fantastic scenario.

 

[Bogatyr]

Ok, I know next to nothing about editing scenarios, so I was hoping somebody could help me. I tried to remove the Cubans and the Filipinos from the scenario, and everything went crazy. I deleted both of them under the civilizations section of the editor, and I then reduced the number of civs to 29 in the scenario settings. When I started up a game all of the countries were in the wrong place, all of the colours were different, and everyone started with 10gc and anarchy government. (I started the game as Scandinavia... and it placed me in Britain's position.) How does one go about removing a civ without messing up all the player info relating to the other civs? For my purposes could I just leavethe Filipinos and the Cubans in the scenario but start them with zero units and zero cities (essentially start them out eliminated)? Would that be a safer route than trying to actually remove the entries for them altogether?

Question number two: Where did you put the immovable mountains in the Far East now that China is connected to Korea? I was thinking that I would put them north of Mukden and Port Arthur but south of Vladivostok. Vladivostok is more part of the Russian sphere, whereas Mukden and PA (while under Russian control) were clearly part of the Manchurian/Chinese cultural sphere. Does this make sense? How do you deal with the problem that Russia can then no longer reinforce Mukden and Port Arthur??? Won't they be easy pickings for the Japanese? (Maybe that's not a problem since the Japanese did win the Russo-Japanese war rather handily and did occupy both those cities?)

Instruct me! I know nothing!

If/when you do get round to re-doing this scenario, I like that you split the Lowland Countries. However, I'm not sure that the addition of Rumania adds much to the scenario. What about splitting the Scandinavians instead? Obviously, they would be split into Sweden/Norway and Denmark/Iceland/Danish Antilles. To beef them up a bit, add in Alta or Hammerfest as a northern city for Sweden/Norway. Give Denmark Gothab (in Greenland) and maybe another city in Denmark proper (Aarhus?), although the latter would make things rather crowded.

If you're taking out the Cubans, you could add in Nassau as a British city in the Bahamas. I also added in St Johns as another British/Canadian city in Newfoundland. (Yes, I know Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada in 1895, but it makes sense I think). Also, Vientiane was not a major city at this time: "When King Anouvong raised an unsuccessful rebellion, it was obliterated by Siamese armies in 1827. The city was burned to the ground and was looted of nearly all Laotian artifacts including Buddha statues and people. Vientiane was in great disrepair when the French arrived, arrived to only find a depopulated region with even the great city of Vientiane disappearing into the forest." So, I renamed it Udon Thani and gave it to my beloved Siamese as a third city.

Lastly, Abyssinia's population doesn't seem to be developing very well. Given that Ethiopia has always had a rather large population base, perhaps it would be a good idea to give them some more resources or a bonus tile or something so their population grows a bit more? As it stands, their northern city in particular remains miniscule. I think they could benefit from a larger population base.

As far as units go, I also helped out the little guys a tiny bit. I gave the Abyssinian and Boer riflemen (and kommandos) the ability to cross hills without penalty. I gave the Tibetan ground troops the ability to cross hills and mountains without penalty. I gave the Siamese ground troops the ability to cross jungle and forest without penalty. I think this accurately represents their local environmental knowledge, which was one of the few things these little guys had going for them at the time. (To be fair, the Boer troops were actually very good - certainly way better than the Tibetans, Siamese, or Abyssians.)

I think you also mentioned that you'd added in some more Pacific island colonies. Sure, why not? The Pacific is one of the most fun regions in the scenario, so this seems like a good idea.

 

[ChaosArbiter]

Ok, I know next to nothing about editing scenarios, so I was hoping somebody could help me. I tried to remove the Cubans and the Filipinos from the scenario, and everything went crazy. I deleted both of them under the civilizations section of the editor, and I then reduced the number of civs to 29 in the scenario settings. When I started up a game all of the countries were in the wrong place, all of the colours were different, and everyone started with 10gc and anarchy government. (I started the game as Scandinavia... and it placed me in Britain's position.) How does one go about removing a civ without messing up all the player info relating to the other civs? For my purposes could I just leavethe Filipinos and the Cubans in the scenario but start them with zero units and zero cities (essentially start them out eliminated)? Would that be a safer route than trying to actually remove the entries for them altogether?

I've never done anything with the Editor, so I'm not sure ... but in the Scenario Properties box, did you make sure that everything was correct under the "Players" tab? Because if you removed them from the Civilizations tab (Rules) and changed the Player number in the Scenario Tab (Scenario Properties), but didn't make sure the Player Tab (Scenario Properties) matched up, that might have caused it. But again, I've never done anything in the Editor, so it might not affect anything.

 

[Bogatyr]

Ok, I tried leaving them in but just starting them with no cities or units. No the scenario acts as if they are there, even though they aren't. I can do diplomacy with them and they appear on the list of civs... But they don't have cities or units (that I know of). I'm not sure what to make of this. I was under the impression that they would be automatically eliminated if I started them with no cities or units?

Another question: I put them back in but with only a single rifleman in their one city (hoping Spain would eliminate them quickly). Started up a game with Spain to test it. But they each have a stack of riflemen sitting in their city (which I did not place there). Is this because of the difficulty level (admiral)? How does the game engine decide where to put these extra units? None of the European countries start with extra units in their cities no matter what the difficulty settinf. Why would the game engine do his for the Cubans and Filipinos? Is there a minimum number of units that an AI civ can start with on Admiral or something?

 

[Bengal Tiger]

In the editor you can set the number of starting offensive/defensive units at different difficulty levels. This is the stack you are referring to. I assume that European capitals also start with units, although I have not had occasion to attempt to conquer one that early in the game.

Try deselecting them in the Scenario Properties screen as playable civs(on the first page).

 

[ChaosArbiter]

So, I've got a little scenario for anyone who happens to read this ...

You're China. It is Week 13, 1909, on Lieutenant difficulty. Your current Armed Forces total:
18 Maxim MG units
13 Light Cavalry units
3 Boxer Riflemen units
50 Imperial Chinese Riflemen units
24 Horse Artillery Battery units
4 Field Cannon Battery units

You control:
All starting Chinese cities.
Both Tibetan cities.
Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Haiphong, Saigon, and Vientiane.

You've been at war with someone or other since ~1902. You must now take Tsingtao. Forces inside include:
11 Schutztruppe Infantry
1 Naval Infantry
3 Schutztruppe Kavallerie
2 Mountain Guns

You've just made peace with the French (after taking Vientiane).

What is the best way to take Tsingtao? (I would upload a save, but the last time I tried uploading a save, it said it was too big. Yes, a manual save and not the autosave. :/)

 

[Dumanios]

Fire the cannons! All the cannons! Then attack!

For the record, I would've taken Deutsch-China first, then retake Shanghai and the Dominion of Hong Kong.

 

[creamcheese]

(I would upload a save, but the last time I tried uploading a save, it said it was too big. Yes, a manual save and not the autosave. :/)

You can compress it up into a .zip/.rar/whatever file and upload that if it is too big.

 

[ChaosArbiter]

Fire the cannons! All the cannons! Then attack!

Doesn't work. I tried. The HAB didn't even get through the last Schutztruppe, and throwing my Cavalry against it ... also failed to kill anyone.

For the record, I would've taken Deutsch-China first, then retake Shanghai and the Dominion of Hong Kong.

I would have, but after taking Tibet (and rebuilding), the French and British were at war, and the French had taken Hong Kong and were going for Shanghai. In order to keep the French from being able to outgun me in multiple areas, I had to take Shanghai (and besides, there were even more Germans in Tsingtao then than there are now :/). After that, Portuguese units were running around, telling them to leave led to them declaring war on me, and, well, seven years of war later, here I am.

Note also that the only reason I *am* at war with the Germans at the moment is because the Lowlands made them Ally against me. Who brought the Lowlands in? America. America? Hispaniolas (I think). Hispaniolas? ... That might have been the Portuguese ... but that would make the chain too short, since I've been at peace with the Portuguese for over 20 turns. See, I wasn't going to attack the French, but someone the Portuguese brought in against me (and I brought the French in against them *because* I didn't want them brought in against me) bought someone else against me who bought the French against me - right before calling me up and asking for peace.

You can compress it up into a .zip/.rar/whatever file and upload that if it is too big.

Did not occur to me to try that.

Side note: Yes, I am not very good.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Out of curiousity has anyone ever completely defeated USA? Im playing as Spain right now and have succeeded in taking New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Midway before signing peace(on lieutenant). They did manage to take a few british cities though. I want to make it my goal to completely finish them off.

Re: Tsingtao
Apart from dumanios's suggestion, I recommend getting Japan or Russia involved to soften it up through naval bombard or a few landed troops. Japan is the best bet, I think.

 

[creamcheese]

Out of curiousity has anyone ever completely defeated USA? Im playing as Spain right now and have succeeded in taking New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Midway before signing peace(on lieutenant). They did manage to take a few british cities though. I want to make it my goal to completely finish them off.

Play as Britain if you want to kill the US. Or mexico, but that might be harder (make sure you ally the other one against the US to distract them while you take the east coast powerhouse cities).

I've taken some of their cities as Britain before, but never completely taken them out. Too large for not enough victory points gained to be really worth the effort. Better/easier to take the asian mainland, or all of africa or w/e.

 

[Tani Coyote]

What a perfect time to revisit this topic.

A thought occurred to me.

The Third World have the capability to gain better Infantry if they seize an Industrial city.

...except Mexico. Mexico, even if it somehow enjoyed a resurgence against the USA, is stuck with crap troops.

What I suggest is this:

-Replace all Industry in Mexico with a "Mexico" resource. It is only useful to Mexicans. Has a bonus of keeping nations that conquer Mexico from expanding their Industrial base. If Mexico claims part of the USA's Industry resources, it can improve its position and gain the Overseas Infantry units.

Other random ideas:

-I will, of course, suggest turning the Ethiopians into the Mahdists and giving them a stack of City Guards and other units. The Mahdists did tie down the British, and if any country needs to be weakened a bit, it's Britain. I've heard that El Justo has declined to nerf the British colonial units before, so it's the best I can think of.

-Replace the Natives with Canada and Australia. They were essentially self-governing bar foreign policy as far as I know, and this can be represented via a locked alliance. The bonus here is that it weakens Britain's lead in the VP race. In Canada's case, keeps Britain from capturing a part of Mexico and turning all of Canada Industrial.

That would nerf Britain pretty well, with or without ticking their Col. Infantry unit's offensive capability down a point.

That would leave the USA, which there's no real way to nerf, sans putting more City Guards in Canada and Mexico to make their expansion more difficult.

 

[ChaosArbiter]

Re: Tsingtao
Apart from dumanios's suggestion, I recommend getting Japan or Russia involved to soften it up through naval bombard or a few landed troops. Japan is the best bet, I think.

I think Russia's at war with them right now, and I know Japan was at war with them. Neither one bothered landing any troops on the mainland at any point, though, only on islands (including the times they were at war with me :/).

if any country needs to be weakened a bit, it's Britain. I've heard that El Justo has declined to nerf the British colonial units before, so it's the best I can think of.

The Brits don't really need to be weakened. In my China game, they lost India to the Ottomans and the Persians, Canada to the Americans, and Africa is a mostly-French area now. The British haven't been entirely kicked out, but they're pretty much broken in Africa.

-Replace the Natives with Canada and Australia. They were essentially self-governing bar foreign policy as far as I know, and this can be represented via a locked alliance. The bonus here is that it weakens Britain's lead in the VP race. In Canada's case, keeps Britain from capturing a part of Mexico and turning all of Canada Industrial.

Natives are being replaced by Romania and Belgium (separated from the Netherlands).

 

[Dirk_Diggler]

I checked the first post and it wasn't there, but when I start my game, it crashes because of a missing theater text

 

[Dumanios]

Maybe give Mexico's troops a boost, something small like an additional hitpoint. I'm personally opposed to weakening Britain, they were the strongest nation on Earth at that point, and they're really strong here, too, which works.

 

[Dirk_Diggler]

I downloaded the patches and they didn't help, although I may have put them in the wrong file. Can anyone help?

 

[ChaosArbiter]

Maybe give Mexico's troops a boost, something small like an additional hitpoint. I'm personally opposed to weakening Britain, they were the strongest nation on Earth at that point, and they're really strong here, too, which works.

For a given value of "strongest," anyway. Civ III isn't really capable of reproducing the real world accurately, and GB's strength historically wasn't really her ground forces - which are the only real problems in-game, due to the AI's ability to fail all things naval.

@Dirk_Diggler: Known and fixable:

it's the 'folder within a folder' issue. simply go into the Conquests/Scenarios folder, click on the AoI folder where you'll likely find another folder called AoI. right click on that second folder (the one inside the AoI folder) and 'cut' it. move back up to the Scenarios directory and click 'paste'. overwrite the existing folder b/c this is the empty one now. this should enable you to start the game.

If that doesn't work, check the AoI\art\Civilopedia\Icons\Buildings folder and see if there's anything missing for the Theater.