[SDK/MOD] Throughout the Ages v1.0

[Agent 009]

Alright everyone,

Looks like I managed to get everything ready for Throughout the Ages 1 day early.

Title: Throughout the Ages v1.07
By: Agent 009

Version: v1.07
Patch Compatibility: v1.61
MP Compatible: Yes
Download Location: 3d Downloads (Large Download, 37 MB) (Newest Full Version 1.07)

v1.07 Python Patch: (Link not working check bottom of the post for the attachment.) (This patch is only needed for those who download the newest full version.)

NEW PATCH:

v1.16: CivFanatics

Spoiler Changelog :

Throughout the Ages Version History:


Version 1.16 -


- Reduced Technololgy costs by 50%. (Old values were 100000 pts each, now they are 50000. Allows for more AI players.)

- Added Terraforming Tech which enables workers to terraform the land. Tech also gives +1 health and happiness in all cities and a great scientist to the first to research it. (Terraforming tech is a future technology which is located in between Advanced Composites and Advanced Cybornetics. Requires Artificial Intelligence, Composites, and Cybornetics. Leads to Future Tech.)

- Added Build forest option. Another worker build. Like Terraforming, it can only be built within cultural borders. The result is immediate. No more waiting for the forest to mature. Cities also do not have to work the tile in order for the forest to grow.

- Added new future era city graphics. The old modern graphics are now used by the modern era, and the modified ones are used by the future era. Textures change when entering the future era now.

- Reduced Global Warming Probability from 20 to 10.

- Increased Cost of Apollo Program by 400. (from 1600 to 2000)

- Doubled Cost of All Spaceship parts.

- Revised Unit Costs and Bonus Prerequisits.

- New Unit sizing.

- Removed +100% Great Person birth rate for the pacifism civic option.


Extended Change Infos:

- Reduced Tech costs: I reduced the tech costs by 50% to allow more AI opponents. Use these guidelines for new games as apposed to the old method.

Map Size Choice Suggested Game Speed Suggested Target Number of Cities
------------------ -------------------- -----------------------
Duel, Tiny, Small-------------Quick--------------------5 - 10
Standard--------------------Normal-------------------12 - 15
Large------------------------Epic---------------------18 - 23
Huge-----------------------Marathon ----------------25 - 30

The amount of AI is to be used at your own discretion. Just keep in mind that you'll need the target number of cities specified about in order for the eras to match up well. (Eras from Medieval and on will still be out of synch with the year number.)


- Added Terraforming Tech as stated above:

It allows workers to terraform the land. This function is only usable within the player's empire's borders. The player can terraform any passable terrain excluding coast and ocean. Valid terrain types are: Snow, Tundra, Desert, and Plains. Terraforming Snow, Tundra, or Desert will turn that terrain into Plains. Terraforming Plains will turn it into Grassland.

- Added a build forest option:

This replaces the old Tree Nursery feature. The tree nursery was like a cottage which required a city to work the tile it was on in order to grow into a forest. This new feature can only be used within an empire's cultural borders but works immediately. A forest appears as soon as the worker is finished. Best for if the player wants to compensate for unhealthyness in a city or for placing forests in tiles out of the city's working area. Unlocked with Guilds.

- Added New Future Era City Graphics:

Same as above. Essentially, before both modern and future eras used a modified modern era graphics. I now have a new .nif file that I made specifically for the future era. It is the modern city nif, however, it uses a different name for both the file and the dds file it uses. The result enabled me to have both the modern and future era cities to have the same model but with different textures.

- Reduced Global Warming Probability from 20 to 10:

The main reason for this change is to minimize micromanagement of the terraforming feature. With the old value, players will find that they will be terraforming a lot of desert tiles when global warming starts affecting their world. Now, the global warming effect has been essentially cut in half. So hopefully, the amount of tiles changed per turn will not exceed half a dozen or so.

- Increased Cost of Apollo Program:

This was done due to the increase hammers in the game which made things easier to build. This change is minor, as stated above, only a 400 hammer increase.

- Doubled cost of all spaceship parts:

This was done for the same reason as the Apollo Program Cost Increase.

- Revised All Units' Costs and Bonus Prerequisits:

All units costs have been changed. Units below a strength of 10, have a cost minimum of 25. Units above 10 have a 50 cost greater than the strength of that unit. i.e: Bronze Swordsman has a strength of 12 and a cost of 62. Whereas the Future Armor MkII has a strength of 250 and a cost of 300. (please note that a few unit strengths were changed. The Transport now has a strength 56, as it should. Before it was 16. Also a few others that were UU's didn't have correct strength values either.)
The bonus prerequisits have been slightly changed. Only ones that have changed are ones that has 3 prereqs. It was displaying a steel knight needing Horse, and Iron, or coal. So, in cases such as that one I have removed the horse, so that there wouldn't be any OR prereqs. The only exception to this is the privateer ship which still requires either gold, silver, or gems.

- New unit Sizing:

Basically, I have gone through each unit and made them a bit smaller with the exception of ships which in some cases are smaller and other larger. The changes to the ships was done to give them a better scale in comparison to each of them, so that the galley, galleon, and other earlier ships wouldn't look so much larger than the modern day ships.



Special Thanks:


Kael - For providing the coding for both Terraforming and Forest workers abilities.

Rabbit, White - For assisting me with getting the modern city nif file to view a new dds file instead of its old one.

 

[Agent 009]

Spoiler Additions :

Section 1 - Additions


1.0.1 - Technologies

- 41 New Technologies Added. Makes a total of 125 technologies.

- Tech Tree Revised. 19 Ancient Techs, 19 Classical Techs, 20 Medieval Techs, 18 Renaissance Techs, 18 Industrial Techs, 20 Modern Techs, and 11 Future Techs.

List of New Techs:

Advanced Archery
Catapults
Advanced Construction
Simple Machinery
Medieval Medicine
Tactics
Explosives
Sociology
Advanced Mathematics
Alchemy
Renaissance Medicine
Telescope
Advanced Engineering
Naval Tradition
Advanced Tactics
Advanced Chemistry
Machine Guns
Metallurgy
Coal Power
Steam Trains
Electric Motor
Analytical Engine
Chemical Philosophy
Commercial Flight
Alloys
Hydro Power
Orbital Physics
Nuclear Warfare
Entertainment
Solar Power
Lasers
Advanced Metallurgy
Isolinear Circuitry
Advanced Lasers
Artificial Intelligence
Cybornetics
Bioneural Circuitry
Advanced Composites
Advanced Cybornetics

Note: Machinery now has two techs. Simple Machinery and Advanced Machinery. Original was dropped.
Each Tech will provide something whether it be units, buildings... etc... so each one is useful.

- Unique quotes given to the new Techs. (enclosed text file: Funny Tech Quotes.txt)

The technology advisor screen has also been completely redone. All techs, including the new ones, are shown, and for the most part are in different locations. Players will notice that there are arrows pointing from one tech to another and in some cases to or from multiple sources. For those who are unaware, the arrows are actually the OrPrereqs as found in the CIV4TechInfos.xml file. Originally, I wasn't aware of this fact and so when I made the tech tree originally, I didn't want any OrPrereqs at all. So, I made it with only AndPrereqs. This of course generated a tech tree in game without any arrows. I didn't like that but then discovered how it works so, I added all the AndPrereqs to the OrPrereqs section as well. This DOES NOT make the slightest difference at all as the AndPrereqs overrule the OrPrereqs if both are identical. The end result? A real long and neat looking tech tree.

NOTE: Some techs lead to another that is actually above or below it. In those cases, the arrow generation code makes a line start on the right side and then backs up underneath the tech it comes from and then either goes up or down (depending on the case), and then under the tech it points to, and then over to the left of the tech it unlocks where the arrow itself ends up. It's kind of difficult to put it in words but I am sure the player will understand once they're in game. Unfortunately I don't know which file makes the arrows and if I did, I am uncertain how it would work so I haven't pursued it. It's not bad though as there are still the buttons in each tech that has a prereq so it's not at all confusing.

I'll enlcose a screenshot that is actually 5 shots put together representing the entire Tech Tree.

Filename: TTA Tech Tree.jpg

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1.0.2 - Units


- 40 New Units

Bronze Axeman (Originally Axeman)
Bronze Swordsman
Bronze Maceman
Bronze Spearman
Bronze Pikeman
Bronze Knight
Iron Axeman
Iron Swordsman
Iron Maceman
Iron Spearman
Iron Pikeman
Iron Knight
Steel Axeman
Steel Swordsman
Steel Maceman
Steel Spearman
Steel Pikeman
Steel Knight
Advanced Catapult
Modern Grenadier (by AlazkanAssassin)
Nuclear Battleship
Jet Mk II
Mechanized Infantry Mk II
Stealth Mk II
Future Armor
Future Armor Mk II
Cyborg
Cyborg Mk II
Colonists
----------------------
Chimera
Manticore
Hydra
(These above 3 units are WH40K Imperial Tanks made by Rabbit, White)
NOTE: The Hellhound came with it also but wasn't working correctly so I removed it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

88mm Flak Cannon (By Sharick)
F35 (by nautil)
F117 (by nautil)
MI24 (by nautil)
KA50 (by nautil)
Sniper and Modern Sniper (By TheLopez) NOTE: The Sniper mod comes with both a sniper and modern sniper, however, they used the rifleman and infantry textures, so I retextured them so they look different.
-----------------------------------------

Other new units included are those found in the Lost Units Mod. (Not Mentioned above)


- The Advanced Catapult uses modified Catapult graphics. (Looks metallic) **NEW** Added a fire effect to the advanced Catapult as per Rabbit Whites design. (Launches rocks that are on fire)

- The Nuclear Battleship uses the Battleship graphics.

- Jet Mk II uses modified Jet Fighter graphics.

- Mechanized Infantry Mk II uses a modified version of the Mechanized Infantry graphics. (Looks armored. Silvery)

- Stealth Mk II uses modified Stealth Bomber graphics.

- Future Armor looks like the Modern Armor but has an armored look. (Similar to Mechanized Infantry MkII)

- Future Armor Mk II uses a new Futuristic looking skin created by C.Roland and Sharick.

- Both Cyborg types use a modified Navy SEAL graphics. (I greyed the suit and added a metallic look to the face. The night vision goggles also have red lights instead of green.)

- Colonists appear as a group of Great people. A Scientist, Merchant, Engineer, and Artist. (The found city animation is missing though. Not sure if it can be fixed. I've tried messing around with mixing animations but couldn't get it to work.)

- I also retextured the modern worker to make him look like he is wearing modern day clothes.

The Bronze, Iron, and Steel versions of the above units are all identical to their specific class. i.e.: Bronze Swordsman, Iron Swordsman, and Steel Swordsman, all look the same with the exception of their color and number of them onscreen. Bronze types appear as a single bronze colored unit, Iron types appear as two greyish units, and Steel types appear as 3 silvery or light greyish units. If single unit graphics is turned on however, all three types will appear as one single unit.

All unit strengths have been revised. The warrior is the only unit a civilization starts with, Warriors being the weakest at a strength of 1, and Future Armor Mk II the most powerful with a strength of 250. This was done primarily to prevent the possibility of a swordsman beating a modern armor. In my opinion, it is irrelevant how much experience a swordsman has, it just could never hope to destroy a modern day tank.

All units Max HP has also been raised to 500. This was done due to the Future Armor MkII having a strength of 250.

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1.0.3 - Sounds

- 1 new sound utilized by all new techs. Developed from a random tech, this new sound is the beginning "ding" heard when completing any research tech. I decided to include this for all new techs instead of making a unique one for each.

NOTE: The sound for some reason when played, isn't like the original at all. In fact, it would seem as if it is distorted. I've left it in just in case there is someone who knows how to make sounds better, then they can try to fix it.

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1.0.4 - Resources

- 2 new Resources. Tin and Titanium. Tin is revealed by mining, and Titanium is revealed by Advanced Metallurgy.
Both are needed for certain units.

Unfortunately, both new resources look like others. I can't seem to figure out how to make them different sizes. Also, due to the fact that both Aluminum and Silver are a greyish color, as do these two new ones, I made Tin look like Aluminum and Titanium looks like Silver. (The Titanium icon in WorldBuilder looks like Iron's and is located at the bottom.)

Oddly, both new resources don't have an icon in the lower left terrain info display pop up box that appears when the mouse is moved to a tile occupied by that resource. The same thing occurs on the resource list on the right of the city info screen. I'm uncertain how to correct this.

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1.0.5 - Civics


A total of 16 New Civics and 2 New Categories are now readily available. Education and Healthcare are the two new categories.

Special Thanks to Fitchn for that awesome idea.

Although those two categories are found in his mod "Civmore", the options included in Throughout the Ages are for the most part, different. In fact I devise my own and programmed it as well without any of the files Fitchn made. In fact, I don't even know what his versions' Civics give.

There are now a total of 42 Civics. 7 Categories with 6 options each. I felt it was necessary not just because it was a good idea but because of the expansive nature of my mod.

List of New Civics:

No Government - Government Civic (Initial)
Lawlessness - Legal Civic (Initial)
Hierarchy - Labor Civic
Simple - Economy (Initial)
No Education - Education (Initial)
Familial - Education
Scholars - Education
Public - Education
Private - Education
Higher Learning - Education
No Healthcare - Healthcare
Ritualism - Healthcare
Hippocratic - Healthcare
Health Insurance - Healthcare
Doctoring - Healthcare
Free Healthcare - Healthcare


Subsequently, adding the two new categories has also added two new vote options to the UN Wonder.

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1.0.6 - Misc Stuff


- I've added new icons for happiness, sickness, health, and angry citizens. The money and food icons in the window that appears when the mouse is moved over a plot, the city build screen, and civics screen, has been changed. (All icons were derived from MSN messenger.)

NOTE: DO NOT delete the GameFont.TGA and GameFont_75.TGA files as there are other icons used for the show attitude/Icon Attitude Mod and removing those files will cause the player's opponents to not show their attitude.

- After some preliminary testing I discovered that due to the high number of turns required to research the first tech and subsequently research to "Alphabet" (which enables research building), a new feature was needed to allow the player to have their cities build nothing at all. A new process is now readily available to civs at the start of a new game which has the same effect as building research, wealth, or culture with the exception that having a city build it will actually not make it convert hammers into anything.

- I've also added a new title screen for my mod with the title Throughout the Ages I. The "I" is behind the main title, and the font, color, and style is very similar to the original Main Title. However, I had a slight problem getting it to work properly and part of the globe in the background is chopped off. It isn't that bad though.

If for any reason some people don't like it, simply open up this folder:

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods\Throughout the Ages v1.0\Assets\Art\Interface\Main Menu

and delete the two files located in there, and the original title will take over.

- I've also changed railroads to highways. Basically, I took the road .nif files, and placed them in their own folder called "Highways". I then edited the RouteModelInfos.xml file to have the railroads use the road .nif's in the Highways folder. After that was done I edited the RoadPrimitive.dds file to make it look like a highway. The result? All roads when highways are built, will stay the same shape, but the new texture will take over.

NOTE: This is only a visual change. Technically it is still a railroad and will still need coal in order to be built. (Besides, coal is one of the ingredients in asphalt.) Also, the movement factor has remained unchanged.

Subsequently, after changing railroads to highways, I attempted to add a third road type. The first one would be the basic road and would appear like a dirt road. The second would be discovered during the renaissance era and be made of cobblestone. (The last being highways.)

Unfortunately, it would seem the game doesn't allow for a 3rd route type so I was forced to remove it. Suffice it to say, Throughout the Ages now has dirt roads from the beginning, and highways discovered just before the assembly line near the end of the industrial era. They both have unique textures and utilize the road model.


- I also added new city textures for the ancient, medieval, and modern eras. Of course the Classical eras use both ancient and medieval textures and the future era uses the modern textures. If anyone doesn't like these new textures, simply delete the cities folder for this mod located in: assets\art\structures\cities

The original textures will take over.

Subsequently I decided that the wall textures displayed from the medieval era and on, needed to be redone as well so, I made them look more like stone bricks. (Ancient Walls have remained unchanged.)

- I've also added new Era movies/screens. They pop up when you enter a new era. (Art was done by Frenchman.)


- After adding this new art I decided to add Snaitf's Show Attitude Mod along with Porges Icon Attitude code. This makes the attitude display in the scoreboard, both in text, and with an icon. The icon art I used, like the other icon art, was derived from MSN messenger.

- New Interface Art. This is only for the tech screen, civilopedia, and infoscreen. I wanted to do a whole new interface that would change each era but I am having problems getting the python code to work and so after two days of getting nowhere with it I decided to put it on hold until I can understand python better.

As for what has changed, it is simply the background to the tech tree which also appears in the other two screens. Also in the tech tree screen, are the tech boxes themselves. I changed the colour so now a tech that has been completed is green, one that is currently being researched or is queued is blue, and those which have yet to be researched, are red. I also increased the width of those tech boxes because some of the names were being chopped off for having 3 prereqs.

- Another added miscellaneous feature is 12 Monkeys' Plot List Enhancement. Or, PLE for short. For info about what it offers consult the "PlotList Button Enhancement v2.03 - readme" File, located in the "Throughout the Ages" Folder.

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1.0.7 - Buildings


I found that due to the fact there are 125 research techs, I needed more buildings. So, I included Frontbrecher's Lost Wonders mod into My mod. Please note that a few aspects were changed in order for them to fit well with my mod.

New Buildings:


9 New World Wonders, 3 New National Wonders, and 4 New City Buildings. (16 Total)


Art of War
New units receive +2 experience points in all cities (Doesn't become obsolete)

Copernicus' Observatory
+100% research, can turn 2 citizens into scientist

Leonardo's Workshop
+1 research per specialist in all cities

Mausoleum of Mausollos
+1 happiness in all cities on this continent

The Great Wall
Free walls in every city and +50% Defense in all cities (Obsolete with Rifling)

Theory of Evolution
One free technology
+1 specialist in all cities on this continent

Tsukiji Fish Market
+1 Food on water tiles

Universal Suffrage
-25% war weariness in all cities

Firaxis Games
+2 Happiness, +10 Culture, +2 GP birth rate, and 7 hit video games.

New National Wonders
======================================================

Cure for Cancer
+1 health and +1 happiness

Eirik Raude
(REMOVED AFTER 1.61 PATCH DUE TO IT NOT WORKING)

Gutenberg's Print Shop
+8 Culture, +1 Happiness, +1 GP pts (Great Artist)

Shield Generator (My own idea)
+8 Culture, and +100% Defense in all cities.

New Buildings
======================================================

Solar Plant
Provides Power

Mass Transit System
+1 health

Steel Mill
+25% Production, +35% with power, -2 health

Sniper School (TheLopez's Sniper Mod Building)
Allows training of Modern Snipers


All of the above new buildings with the exception of the Shield Generator, Sniper School, and Firaxis Games, were derived from the Lost Wonders mod.

Someone recently asked for a Firaxis Games wonder on the CivFanatic Forum, so I decided to make one for my mod even though I was aware Zeysoft had made one as well. My version uses the UN model and UN Movie.

The Shield Generator as specified above was my own idea. The thought crossed my mind arbitrarily when my mind wandered off thinking about the video game Star Trek: New Worlds. In that game there are Shield Generators. So, I thought it would be a good addition to my mod since there is a Future Era. Unfortunately, I couldn't have each city build one, as it would think it was a wall and be obsolete with rifling. So I made it as a national wonder which does not become obsolete.

NOTE: The Shield Generator is opened with Isolinear Circuitry at the beginning of the future era.

The Sniper School came with TheLopez's Sniper mod as is required to train Modern Sniper's. It is a city building so each city will have to have one in order to train a modern sniper.

 

[Agent 009]

Spoiler Changes :

Section 2 - Changes



2.0.1 - Placements


This is a generic subsection which essentially refers to the placements of techs, units, and buildings.

Almost all techs have been moved in the tech tree with only a few in their original places. The biggest change in regards to the techs is that each one also has the "OrPreReqs" the same as the "AndPreReqs", which are different than it was originally. Strangely enough, having the prereqs in both places causes the civilopedia to view it with two of the same techs. ie: Future Tech has prereqs of Advanced Composites and Bioneural Circuitry in both the OR and the AND sections. Viewing the Future Tech in the civilopedia will show that it needs Advanced Composites and Advanced Composites and Bioneural Circuitry and Bioneural Circuitry. Luckily this has no effect whatsoever on gameplay and thus it's only a cosmetic abnormality.

Subsequently, due to the additional units and buildings, some of the techs have been reassigned their rewards. Basically what I mean by that is each tech will open either a building, resource, wonder, or unit. (Amongst the other misc stuff) Keep in mind that some original elements have remained unchanged.

Of course, the amount of changes that have taken place in the placement of the various elements found within the game of Civilization 4, are too extensive to list in this document, so above I simply summarized it all.

If you wish to get a better picture of these placements, simply open up the technology advisor screen while in a game and look at each of the techs to see what opens what.

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2.0.2 - Technologies


As stated above in section 1, subsection 1.0.1, there are now a total of 125 technologies. What has changed however, that was not stated above, is the research requirements for the techs. In the original game, the early techs took only 50 pts or so to research. Now, since each turn is one game year, each tech is identical weighing in at a base value of 100000 pts. At the beginning of a game after building about 50 cities, the player will find that their research output is great enough to complete the first tech in about 250 total turns. Of course, as soon as the player has researched Writing and Alphabet, they will be able to build libraries and subsequently build research which will greatly increase the total output dropping the amount of turns needed, down to about 40-50 turns.

As the game progresses, the player will be able to build universities, then observatories, and finally laboratories (Aside from academies). Along with the health and +1 food to farm bonuses that are opened from techs, cities will grow and provide a higher research output dropping that requirement down to about 10 turns per tech or less.

NOTE: It is conceivable that a player possessing 50 cities or more, (depending on map and game speed) and researching the future tech about 125+ times will have enough of a research output by that time to complete the future tech in one turn at 75% output or less.

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2.0.3 - Terrain/Resources


Due to the low amount of commerce in the original game's terrain, I found it was necessary to increase it so that the player would be able to sustain a large empire early in the game. All terrain that had values have been modified with new numbers. Grassland being the highest, and tundra the lowest. Grassland tiles will now give 1 food, 1 hammer, and 2 gold, whereas tundra will give 0 food, 1 hammer, and 1 gold.

Changes done to the resources involve the distribution of them at the start of a new game. With the introduction of Tin and Titanium, it was necessary to redo the distribution parameters for each bonus, because I discovered that a lot of them suddenly were not being created at the start of a new game.

NOTE: I have fiddled around with the various values within the CIV4BonusInfos.xml file and still have some resources that are not being created and others that are in too much abundance. Copper is one that is very scarce, and horses, wheat, and rice are not even being created (at least with debug mode). I am afraid my knowledge of programming is limited and so I am very hesitant to change the file any further only to end up making it worse than it is presently.

What's important however, is that the needed resources for the spaceship and other important stuff is working fine. So, it won't effect the outcome of any of the win conditions.

It is also possible that there is some random generation code in python that determines if there will be some resources omitted when they are generated. So, in one game you might not get any copper, and in another you might not get any iron. However, I don't think this random generation function will allow for uranium to not get generated.

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2.0.4 - Civics/Upkeep


Some of the existing Civics were changed. Hereditary Rule = Monarchy, Police State = Dictatorship, Universal Suffrage = Democracy, Free Speech = Liberalism, State Property = Communism, and Environmentalism = Open Markets.

All the best Civics have been given extra bonuses including a %5 increase to great person birth rate. Subsequently, the upkeep rates have been modified to include 6 steps, Level 0 - Level 5 Each with their own values. The starting civics have no upkeep (at level 0) and each later one is the next step higher. (The best ones having the Highest Upkeep at Level 5) This will ensure that players are not making 1000's of gold per turn by the future era.

Current Upkeep Values are as follows:

Level 0: 0% pop 0% city
Level 1: 2% pop 10% city
Level 2: 4% pop 30% city
Level 3: 8% pop 50% city
Level 4: 12% pop 70% city
Level 5: 14% pop 90% city
---------------------------

As stated above about the new Civics, after adding them, I found it was necessary to change some of their prereq techs as well. As a direct result, I also needed to edit the Civilizations to include their new start Civics.

The new start Civics and anarchy Civics are:

No Government - Government Civic (+25% War Weariness)
Lawless - Legal Civic
Tribalism - Labor Civic (Unchanged)
Simple - Economy Civic
No Religion - Religion Civic (Forced No State)
No Education - Education Civic
No Healthcare - Healthcare Civic (-1 health in each city)


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2.0.5 - City Size/Growth


Due to the extended length of the game and the exponential curve of cities population growth, I've revised the way cities grow not just graphically, but physically as well.

Newly built cities as always will start at size 1. However, you may notice right away that they look larger, or rather look like there are more buildings. Well, there are more buildings. I modified the appearance of cities. Originally, new buildings would be added to a city each size up until the size of 52. Then the city stops growing visually. Now, cities will grow visually to size 112. (If in open terrain and not next to a river, coast, or peak.) Additionally, the graphics of the cities has been increased so that the city will grow past the tile it occupies and into 4 adjacent tiles to the north, east, south, and west. Of course this will only happen much into the game when an empire is advanced enough to make it possible.

Each city size still uses 2 food. I had changed it to 1, however, I felt it was necessary to put back to 2 so that city growth would be stunted more at the early stages of a game. Because of this, cities now can only get to a maximum size of 12 at first, depending on certain factors such as number of farms possible to build. Once Civil Service has been researched, farms will spread irrigation allowing all 20 surrounding city tiles to have farms if the player so desires. Keep in mind that starvation can also occur from sickness in a city, or because the player is involved in a lengthy war.

With the +1 food to Farm bonuses that are given from techs, a player will find that by the end of a game, if all 20 surrounding tiles have farms and not corn, rice, or wheat, then each will produce 16 food making a total of 320. This is of course added to the 2 on the tile the city occupies, making a total of 322 food which will allow the city to grow to size 161, if there is enough happiness and health in that city to accommodate it as well. Of course, if someone were to make a map and put corn, rice, or wheat in those surrounding 20 tiles (with farms), then they would produce 18 food each making a total of 362, making that city capable of growing to size 181. Keep in mind that cities will only be able to reach their maximum size once the player has researched the future tech enough times to support it. A city will use 1 extra food per sickness above the health value. In other words, with 20 sickness and 9 health, that city will use 11 extra food as a direct result. (As for the extra food being used due to sickness, this might be 2 extra food. It is possible it is determined by how much food is used by pop. I have indicated above that it is one as I noticed this when I had population consuming only 1 food. So, since I changed it back to 2, I haven't played a test game yet so I am uncertain how this will be effected.)

NOTE: It is advisable not to modify the food numbers to increase the output any further. Doing so will cause your total population to go into the negative numbers. This is due to the game being 32-bit. 2 to the power of 31 = 2.1 billion (approx.) A city size of 182 gives that number in population. However, a city size of 183 will give that same number in the negative. So don't make cities bigger than 182.

As I said above, each turn is one game year, therefor you will be able to fill the huge map with cities in about 300 turns. (With 9 AI.) You'll have somewhere around 50+ cities, (Depending on Game Speed and Map Size), you'll still be in the ancient era and your cities will not be able to grow past 12 or so, (until Civil Service) making your total population somewhere around 25-50 million. However, once you have researched the future tech 150+ times, you will get each of those cities past size 140, and you'll have a total population around 100 billion.



NOTE: Unfortunately, I was unable to implement city graphics for the future era. I tried multiple things to get the new graphics to work but I kept getting half the buildings disappearing whenever I entered the future era. So I gave up on it.
Secondly, I tried to make the modern era cities use partly industrial era buildings and modern buildings and have the future era use just the modern textures. I tried to do this by editing the CIV4CityLSystem.xml file but everything I tried got the modern cities using the textures in the wrong place. It was quite odd to look at a park that was grey with windows, but flat.

I feel there might be a way to do it, but haven't figured it out yet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


2.0.6 - Culture

Originally, there were 6 culture levels. Poor, Fledgling, Developing, Refined, Influential, and Legendary.

A new city would start out at Poor with 0% defense and get a 20% increase in defense for each level.

Now there are a total of 11 culture levels starting from poor and giving a 10% defense bonus per level.

New Culture Level Names:
=========================

Poor 0% Def
Fledgling 10% Def
Developing 20% Def
Refined 30% Def
Distinguishing 40% Def
Mediocre 50% Def
Great 60% Def
Wonderful 70% Def
Influential 80% Def
Awesome 90% Def
Legendary 100% Def


Luckily, Strand posted on CivFanatics that the cultural borders growth can be changed and provided the code for a new growth method which works perfectly with the 10 steps Throughout the Ages has.

Unfortunately, I had to remove it as it had a secondary effect that caused the AI to build their cities every 3 plots.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


2.0.7 - Commerce % Modifier


The % modifier has been tweaked to allow the player to change it by 1% increments. This I found was necessary to have because of the delicate balance needed to sustain a large empire.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.0.8 - Buildings


6 Changes to buildings:

1. Courthouses no longer reduce maintenance in nearby cities and instead give +3 happiness.

2. The UN World Wonder will no longer allow for a diplomatic victory, however, it will still be functional and have the other resolutions to choose from. The menu option under custom game has been modified to reflect this, and now reads "Enable UN Building".

3. Granaries now only store 20% of food after growth. This was done to slow the rate of growth.

4. Markets now give +20% food storage after growth. (Opened with Currency)

5. Grocers also give +20% food storage after growth. (Opened with Guilds)

6. Supermarkets now also store 20% of food after growth. (Opened with Refrigeration)


NOTE: In regards to the food storage numbers, I felt it was necessary to have in order to slow the rate of growth. Basically, once the player gets to guilds (midway through the medieval era) their cities will be storing 60% of food after growth as opposed to the original 50%. Later on, at the beginning of the modern era, the player will research refrigeration unlocking the supermarket, giving the additional 20% bonus. Of course, that's a total of 80%, which will help a lot in the future era. (I discovered it can take nearly 200 turns to get from city size 141 to 142.)

The aforementioned building food storage numbers are merely changes. Any other bonus that particular building had given previously, still remains.
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2.0.9 - Game Speeds

The current game speeds have remained in the game but have undergone a few minor changes. All values are at 100% with the exception of the Research %, which is different depending on game speed.

Quick = 25%
Normal = 50%
Epic = 75%
Marathon = 100%

The number of turns in each game speed are also the same, with a total of 6000 turns.


I also added 3 multiplayer speeds for those who wish to play with friends.

The following are the speeds, research %, and # of turns. ( The other values in each game speed are at 50% )

Quick Multiplayer = 1% RP and 900 turns
Normal Multiplayer = 2% RP and 900 turns
Long Multiplayer = 3% RP and 900 turns.

These above speeds have yet to be tested so if they are off in any way, let me know if they need adjusting.

HINT: Follow these instructions when starting a new single player game. (Not Mandatory, but suggested.)

Map Size Choice Suggested Game Speed Suggested Target Number of Cities
------------------ -------------------- -----------------------
Duel, Tiny, Small Quick 10 - 15
Standard Normal 25 - 30
Large Epic 35 - 45
Huge Marathon 50 - 60

Ok, with that said, I will point out my reasoning for these suggestions. Basically as stated above, the RP requirements are the only difference between the game speeds. So, if you choose a map that is Huge, and use the quick game speed, the date and eras will not match up well. In other words, doing that could make you end up entering the modern era well before 1000AD. Of course I also have suggested a target number of cities. So, for example, if you choose to play on a huge map with 18 AI, you can choose the quick game speed and get the eras to match the years by only building/founding 10 - 15 cities.

So, if you are playing a single player game, I suggest to choose a map that will not be too large for your PC to handle. The more of the map is revealed, and the more units in the game, the slower the turn sequence is. So don't be too hard on your computer.

As for multiplayer, that is a different game altogether and each turn is not one game year. It has it's own unique turn structure. It is also not exclusive to multiplayer games. Players can try out the multiplayer speeds in single player mode if so desired. Map size and game speed to be used at your own discretion.

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2.1.0 - Traits


All Civs have been given 2 different traits and 1 identical trait. The one they all have in common is "Creative". I also made a minor change to that trait. The +2 Culture per city has been reduced to 1. This was to give each Civ the ability to grow their borders from the start. Before, it was greatly unbalanced where some civs borders grew and others didn't for quite a while. It was ok for the original game, as you can run through the techs quite quickly, however, in Throughout the Ages, it takes so long to complete the first tech that it made it too unbalanced early on.

 

[Agent 009]

Spoiler Conclusion :

Conclusion/Final Notes


In closing I'd like to mention that Throughout the Ages is intended to give the player a whole new Civilization 4 experience. Developing a massive empire early on in the Ancient Era is not difficult at all however, sustaining it financially will be a challenge since Markets, +1 trade routes per city, and gold building are not enabled until the discovery of currency, which is midway through the Classical Era.

The main goal of this mod is to allow the player to patiently grow an empire while actually participating in the many wars that breakout during the course of the game. If a particular civilization is nagging you to stop trading with their worst enemies, or a much stronger civ declares war on a much weaker one, then you, the player, will be able to do something about it with your army of hundreds. CAUTION: "AI Opponents will also have large armies"

The base unit upkeep of 1 gold each has been removed to allow both the AI, and the player, amass a great army. Instead each civ will be allowed a base amount of free units which will grow depending on the amount of cities under that civ's control, and the legal civic option.

Upon the start of a new game the player, if so desired, will be able to choose "Custom Game" which will allow the player to enable and/or disable 3 different win conditions, as opposed to the original 6. The 3 remaining ones are: Time, Cultural, and Space Race, (Diplomatic changed to Enable UN Building). Of course, I felt it was necessary to remove the other two, (Domination and Conquest) as a player can easily attain that early on defeating the whole purpose of the mod.
I decided to change the way the UN wonder works as I feel it is beneficial in some respects (not to mention fun, ) and so I modified it to be included in a game without worries of risking losing the diplomatic vote and/or ending the game before the player wishes.

For cultural victories, in order to win, the player must control 10 cities with legendary status.

As for the time choice, the game length is 6000 turns (single player). Turing this option off will allow an unlimited amount of turns.

Hope you all enjoy Throughout the Ages.

 

[Xanikk999]

This looks like a great mod and what ive been looking for all this time. Thank you so much i will try it out right away!

 

[Xanikk999]

Let me just say how happy i am again. FINALLY a mod with lots of techs, units, and one that ACTUALLY gives more civics!!!

 

[Xanikk999]

I cant play this mod right now! But when i get back home this is sure to become one of my favorite mods.

Very nice work thank you so much!

 

[Agent 009]

np.

I'm glad it's what you've been looking for.

 

[Toys®Us]

Hmmm.... Amra's ALH Modpack, SevoMod, The Ancient Mediterranean MOD, Fall from Heaven....etc, etc, etc...
A lot of good stuff around!
Oh! And yours.... it looks interesting!
Hmmm... (again)
While Amra is trying to fix a CTD problem with his MOD, I'll try yours!
2 weeks for one game ?
Jesus...

Congratulations!
Please, if you have some time, try to fix some problems in the Civilopedia, like the "Hit Video Games" resource.
I just see TXT_KEY_BUILDING_FIRAXIS_GAMES_PEDIA

Maybe you need to change a line in TTA_CivlopediaTextInfos.xml

I always look there first (Civilopedia). Important infos are hidden there.

Keep on the good work!

And... THANK YOU.

 

[Tycoon101]

WOW! This looks awesome. So many changes to the design
I'll try it out.

 

[woodelf]

Congrats on getting it done Agent.

 

[Civmansam]

Fantastic mod, Agent! Plays great

 

[Agent 009]

Thanks guys.

@Toys®Us: Oops, i didn't realize I missed some Civilopedia entries. I thought I had done them all. I'll double check it all again.

 

[Lachlan]

I will give a try !

I hope finish it !

 

[zulu9812]

This looks like being a good mod. I have one quibble:

Basically, the effect is that at the beginning of the game it will take the player as many as 250 turns to complete just the first tech.

That doesn't sound like very much fun. How does that work in effect? Surely I'm not having to wait 250 (or 125) turns for the first tech?

 

[Tycoon101]

Uh-oh! The dreaded question list!
Here are some things that I need to say about you mod after playing for a bit:

1. Why does Communism give +5% GP rate? I guess that I have biased views, but that seems contradictory to the rules of Communism.

2. Free religeon gives 100% production to cities with the state religeon? Isn;t the point to have NO state religeon?

3. Tech takes too long, gamewise AND historically. 2500 years for me (on a Normal game) to develop animal husbandry. That's too much, I whittled it down to 1100 turns but that takes nearly a quarter of the game! Perhaps you should lower the tech costs. This might be what you wanted, but it is historically INaccurate!

Please take these into account, I think up more things to ask about. Thank you!

 

[Tycoon101]

That doesn't sound like very much fun. How does that work in effect? Surely I'm not having to wait 250 (or 125) turns for the first tech?

As you can see from my last post it took me 2500 turns. I agree, too many turns!

 

[Spartan117]

too many mods so little time....

unless...umm. that wouldnt work

 

[Agent 009]

Ok these question are understandable and so I'll address them.

First, the Game Speed is relative to the map size.

Use these guidelines for single player games:

Map Size Choice Suggested Game Speed Suggested Target Number of Cities
------------------ -------------------- -----------------------
Duel, Tiny, Small-------------Quick--------------------10 - 15
Standard--------------------Normal-------------------25 - 30
Large------------------------Epic---------------------35 - 45
Huge-----------------------Marathon ----------------50 - 60

These are suggestions so that the dates match up with the eras.

Yes the frst tech will take 250 or so turns, however if you have 50+ cities on a huge map on the marathon speed, after the first tech it will take you about 100 turns per tech. So, all you really should do at first is concentrate on building cities and working the plots surrounding your cities. The turn requirement per tech will keep dropping as the cities get bigger and you open other bonuses such as libraries, observatories, and so on.

Be sure to read the readme file. I cover everything in there.

If you still don't like the fact it take so long to research techs, you can simply play on a multiplayer game speed. The MP Speeds are not exclusive to multiplayer games.

Now as for the civics, Free religion doesn't have to have a no state religion, that's why I changed it. I fail to see why this is forced.

As for communism, I only gave it the 5% GP birthrate increase because it is a level 5 civic and all the others give that bonus as well.

I am not trying to make this mod to be historically accurate. It is meant more to be a simulation of a real civilization developement. With some fictional aspects, hence why there's a future era with cyborgs. (I highly doubt there ever will be cyborgs for real).

I hope this answers your questions as to my reasoning for these features.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I like the idea of more civics categories. I decided in December to do that with my mod since I felt like not all of the civics options in a category were mutually exclusive. I mean, Representation and Universal Sufferage are certainly not an either/or thing. Having more categories gives much greater malleability for one's civilization and allows one to tweak a lot more. In my mod, in fact, I have many more categories and only three or four options per category.


Also, I think Tycoon's problem with Communism giving +5% GP was not because it gives too little but rather because it gives anything at all... I would imagine (I think) that he's coming from the perspective that since Communism from an ideological standpoint (doesn't really pan out in fact) encourages equality across the board it necessarily discourages aiming for high goals. "What's the point of striving if I make the same amount no matter what" sort of deal.

Not to mention (and perhaps this was more what he was talking about) in any totalitarian state, the intellectuals are usually the first ones to get bumped off. But that doesn't necessarily have to correlate with Communism.