[SCENARIO] World War I

[Tigranes]

- Python events linked to Russian Revolution:
- Until November 1920, per month/turn, a Soviet infantry spawns not far from Petrograd
- In the Russian "geographical rectangle", each city captured by Rebels is taken over by the Reds!
(likewise, every city built by Rebels in the same area is taken over by the Reds)
- February (March) 1917: Petrograd, the capital city of the Russian Empire, falls to the Bolsheviks!
- October (November) 1917: Petrograd and Moscow are now in the hands of the Bolsheviks!
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918): Peace with Russia:
to the Central Powers, Russians pay gold and hand over cities: 1 to the Germans, 1 to the Ottomans!

I like you idea about separating Reds from Rebels. But you go against your own logic when Petrograd goes to Reds in February 1917. On the contrary, it should go to Rebels, like it was in real life. October events are accurate, though. Also, Brest Litovsk treaty was much harsher than 1 city to Germans. Reds were renouncing Russia's claims on Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Historian Spencer Tucker says, "The German General Staff had formulated extraordinarily harsh terms that shocked even the German negotiator. When Germans later complained that the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 was too harsh on them, the Allies (and historians favorable to the Allies) responded that it was more benign than Brest-Litovsk. I suggest giving 1 city to Germans and 7 cities to Rebels.

I also suggest a mechanism when Imperial Russian units turn into Rebel and Red units, for added realism.

And by the way, it is time to start another PBEM, now with playable human USA.

 

[isenchine]

In my mind, rebels are rather the anarchists than leftist socialists (their leader is Nestor Makhno). I've read again on the February 1917 revolution and thinks that it should stay like this. You could say that it was anarchy in Petrograd but not really that the Anarchists were controlling the city. I understand that you probably saw the rebels rather as 'Trotskyists'.

If cities taken by rebels (or built by them) are "handed over" to the Reds, it was to help the Bolsheviks to establish themselves, so it's rather a "game trick" than a historical fact but, in my mind, it represented somehow the antagonism and fight between the two factions. I don't want to help the "Barbarians" which were already considered to be too strong.

Yes, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was harsh. I can give an additional city to the Germans but it does not make much sense that a Peace Treaty between the Central Powers and Russia would grant cities to Anarchists or even Trotskyists. My problem was rather that, historically, the Reds won the Revolution and were the new power of Russia. In the game, it's not necessarily like that so I'm mixing Reds and Whites in the code. There is forced peace but probably the Central Powers are not at war with the Soviets. On the other hand, the Central Powers hate so much Imperial Russia that most of the time, they declare war again instantly. In that case, the BtS mechanism makes it even that the message of war comes before the message of peace!

Your suggestion of units of Imperial Russia changing sides is noted. I would need to think of an appropriate mechanism that makes some sense, not just a random Python thing... but I don't really have the intention to work on it soon, as I'm currently thinking of Russia in the Napoleonic period one hundred years before!

A PBEM game with playable human USA? I didn't even think of that!

 

[Tigranes]

While Makhno is a good leader, anarchists were by no means the only force in crowded Russian Civil War internal politics. In my mind Rebels are -- "everyone else", like Kerensky, or White Czechs (we need Armored Train unit!), or independent governments in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In that sense October Red revolution was a revolution of Reds against Rebels, who took control of Petrograd back in February.

 

[isenchine]

I see what you mean. After the February 1917 events, Petrograd was not controlled by Anarchists but neither by Bolsheviks (rather by Mensheviks). In the game, Petrograd should go to 'another Red' faction, not to the existing Black or Red factions. But ultimately, this mod is about WWI and cannot portray accurately the complexity of the Russian Revolution.

 

[drkov]

Hi guys!

First of all, thank you for making this Mod. I played isenchine's update to BtS 3.19 Version 11.5 uploaded on 23 June 2015 with the Reds. Unfortunately the game freezed on the 100th turn. Possible solution?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[isenchine]

Hi drkov and welcome to the forum!

Can you provide a save? Possibly even just before the game freezes. You don't need to archive a save (unless it's bigger than 2MB I think), just post it here as an attachment.

Now when you say freeze, do you mean that you're waiting forever for other civs to proceed or that the game is really stuck without any animation and no possibility to access the options menu for example?

 

[drkov]

Thanks for quick answer.

Attached the save a turn before the freeze=4-5 mins after end of my turn the game really stucks: no option menu access, no animation.

When played it originally, freezed only next turn - 101st (but during the turn of same civ: Poincaré); tried to re-load from last save and then this happened one turn before. There might be a happening during Poincaré's move which causes this?

 

[isenchine]

drkov, I'm sorry, but I cannot reproduce your problem on my computer. I played until turn 112 without problems. For what it's worth, here is the save at the beginning of turn 101 (May 1922).

If your game freezes like that, it is probably due to a graphical display problem on your end. Or your computer is overheating. Try to clean out the dust in the fans, it really can help the cooling system.

You noted that the asterisk sign (*) in front of the player denotes who is currently playing. Or had just played (due to refresh). There are no more events for French at this stage, it might be that they are in a big offensive and that it strains your computer. I also noticed that the Ottomans have long heated turns.

Otherwise, it looks like a captivating game, doesn't it?

 

[drkov]

Strange things going on here. I couldn't load your save (the game started loading and after no more than a second I've been kicked to the windows); BUT fortunately, I was able to load mine and step to next turn (interesting is that I tried just before posting here and did not work - with fresh computer ). Hope the things will go smooter and the Red's can celebrate ultimate win over capitalist pigs now.

Yeah, cool Mod. The Ottomans gave it a bick kick from a few turns now and doing well in the Balkans with looooong turns. Arabs failed to kick them in the ass, however Brits were doing well at Gallipoli. Interesting turn of events but still the Centrals are doing very well with Italy fallen already.

What I noticed: Americans were quite impotent (could not keep the taken cities for more than 1-2 turns and after some time they were not even able to take any). I'm curious what Red army could do with Computer background. Will try that next time.

Are the Americans keep coming anyway?

I just started re-play of Civ4 and was seeking for nice mods and this is quite interesting with lot of potential in it. Can you maybe suggest me some mods/scenarios for ancient middle east; Europe only around 800-1300 and Napolen wars? I searched but there are many of them partly done/not finished and long inactive or not working download. Just in case you are more up-to-date in these things around here.

drkov, I'm sorry, but I cannot reproduce your problem on my computer. I played until turn 112 without problems. For what it's worth, here is the save at the beginning of turn 101 (May 1922).

If your game freezes like that, it is probably due to a graphical display problem on your end. Or your computer is overheating. Try to clean out the dust in the fans, it really can help the cooling system.

You noted that the asterisk sign (*) in front of the player denotes who is currently playing. Or had just played (due to refresh). There are no more events for French at this stage, it might be that they are in a big offensive and that it strains your computer. I also noticed that the Ottomans have long heated turns.

Otherwise, it looks like a captivating game, doesn't it?

 

[isenchine]

A 64-bit OS is quite important to run Civ4, enough ram (4GB) and a dedicated Graphical card. I'm not saying that there can't be a problem in the mod itself but as long as I don't know where and when it happens, I can't fix it.

The Americans can be quite disruptive for the Germans, but they stop landing in Europe in November 1918. Otherwise, they become more annoyant than the Barbarians/Rebels!

A mod for ancient Middle East has not been finalised. For Ancient Europe, you have the very good Pie's Ancient Europe. I'm not aware of a good supported middle-ages mod. There is one for Colonization though. Actually, I'm not playing any other mod than my own private one...

For Napoleon wars, you have my "Waterloo Campaign" (in signature) but I admit it is a very special one. I'm very slowly working on a generic Europe 1804 scenario/mod (no events) and a special Russia campaign but release date is undisclosed.

 

[drkov]

I have both OS and ram as you wrote + good graphical card I guess (brother made my laptop and comp also, both applicable for gaming; even if it was 6 years ago...)

"The Americans can be quite disruptive for the Germans": so they should be, shouldn't they. If there is any place for concerns, I'd not stop American landings until first peace between the 2 sides (is any peace possible at all?). I doubt there could be a possible historical scenario with American intervention stopping at a time after started and not achieving the goal.
Great historical challenge: what would make Americans stop - tough question, mainly for civ when they are not on the map...
f.e.: One can choose with the Germans to stop the unrestricted naval war (f.e.: by building a simple wonder): this may cause some additional resources and commerce for British but stop American intervention? Plus if this treaty is violated by Germans (attacks Americans in any way; blocakeds British cities), some Neutrals may attack them... (this is simplifying the international situation, but still better, than stopping American landings: surely there is need for some kind of possibility to end those)

We're re-writing history, aren't we?


Yeah, I've checked your Waterloo and as you said - found it too special. I may check one day though.
Generic Europe 1804 scenario/mod: that would be appreciated, maybe with some interesting events during 1848...
Special Russia campaign: you mean against or with Russia (+ Napoleon times or other)?

I could help if I were able to make a mod. Seems interesting, maybe should start learning?

 

[isenchine]

Strange that your game freezes then, maybe it's time to call back your brother to have a check on it! You should also see if you can play other mods fine or if it repeats this. I don't remember a situation where a wrong code could freeze a computer, it's either wrong behaviour, infinite loop or CTD. Maybe you should play with Python popup exceptions enabled and report if you see an error message (but I got none yesterday).

Spoiler :

If you don't know what I mean by enabling Python exceptions:

under My Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword folder (or similar), you have a file called CivilizationIV.ini. Change the file like this:

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 0

The 0 setup will bring popups ingame if there are Python problems.

Yes, we are re-writing history and I think that you are right about the continuation of US landings in Europe after November 1918 if they are still at war. I guess I was tired of the popup messages and their "It would be these fresh reinforcements which drained the last hope of victory from the Central Powers"... Not that I want one side to be more powerful than the other, I prefer balanced forces in presence, with ups and downs.

However, your suggestion is a bit complicated to code... And yes, try modding, it is rewarding to see your changes in your mod. Start with the XML, it's the easiest if you don't have coding experience. I had zero experience in modding when I came here five years ago. This forum is full of tutorials and helpful posts!

Lastly, I mean Napoleon invading Russia in 1812.

 

[drkov]

There was only problems with 1-2 turns. Now it's finely working. I tried the Python exceptions already and did not get any either.

Just one more question: as Soviets, I cannot speak with Rusky - Serb team, now eliminated both of them; the Russians gone but the Serbs are still in play (and - by the way - so do Romanians - eliminated by Ottomans long before). Is this intended? It's quite annoying one can have no rest from huge war weariness in cities while there is no ongoing war...

 

[isenchine]

The intention was indeed that Imperial Russia and the Soviets could not end their war. Only one Team can stay in Russia. Serbia is a side effect as it forms a Team with Imperial Russia. As a fidel Team member, they vowed to avenge the Tsar and to kick you out of Russia!

Sorry!

 

[drkov]

I've got the point, but as said: took all Serb cities and they're still in the game. Shall I seek some submarines?

Anyway, as cannot have a rest from war weariness anyway, decided to take Greece and Egypt to get use of it.

 

[isenchine]

Ah! Sorry, I didn't read you carefully enough. It is a "Complete Kills" option so yes, every submarine, every spy has to die...

PS: it is needed to keep the USA and Soviets alive when they have no cities on the map.

 

[isenchine]

New version (12) uploaded today to the Database.

Changelog:

- Added a custom DLL with (so far) 3 changes:
1) "Lead from Behind" mod component by UncutDragon
2) the possibility of pillaging own improvements and roads
3) no disbanding of units for the AI

- Python: extension of US debarkments after November 1918 if still at war with Austria-Hungary, Germany or the Ottomans

- Python: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Russians now cede two cities to the Germans (against one)

- Better LH for Ferdinand of Romania, Lenin, Venizelos & Makhno

Enjoy!

PS: if you want to play on a Mac, just delete the custom DLL and eventually the file UncutDragon_GlobalDefines.xml.

 

[Tigranes]

2) the possibility of pillaging own improvements and roads

Oh, surprise, surprise! I did not know this is still under development!

This ability is very important for many mods that don't have it, like December 1941 mod. I hope skyfire will take a note of this

 

[skyfire]

Well, started playing last week, to get some ideas for my own mod. But i couldn't stop playing as Russia.
Challenging to say at least. Every time i thought i controlled my borders, the soviets came charging in, after that the ottomans were giving me a hard time. And when i didn't pay attention the French and Germans made peace with Germany, so they could charge full at me. Damn nice.

 

[isenchine]

Jon Shafer and I thank you!