I just joined this site, and I am making a similar post in one of the Bug Reports threads, but wanted to post this in the main VEM forum as well.
First, I want to say a huge thank you to Thal and the other authors of the VEM, CivUp, Willard and InfoAddict mods. I am fairly new to both Civ IV and Civ V (played the older versions of Civ back in the day, but it had been years since I had picked up the series). I enjoyed both vanilla versions, and picked up Beyond the Sword at the same time as Civ V. Contrary to what many have said about Civ V, I found myself choosing to play Civ V vanilla over Civ IV and Civ IV BTS. I just felt like the tactical combat was so much more interesting and the social policies really added so much to the structure and planning of the game. IMHO.
Anyway, VEM and the other mods have multiplied the fun factor of Civ V for me. The added or modified changes to buildings, polices, units, et al makes the game so much more intriguing. Oh - the "Plus" maps are also incredible and make the game so much more engaging - although having to clear out about a hundred Barb ships that roam the ocean can get pretty exhausting.
Once again, thanks for this incredible set of Mods.
I have some general observations that might or might not be helpful. Keep in mind these come from a fairly casual player. I am by no means a hard core gamer - especially when it comes to Civ V (some of the intense calculations I see the hard core guys go through to determine what specific turn to switch working one tile over another or using a specialist slot is just "Greek" to me - pun intended). Yes, I could probably do that kind of micro management, but then the game would be a chore to me instead of fun.
Anyway, let me throw out a few things and perhaps they haven't been talked about(or thought of - although I extremely doubt that).
1) I love the Plus maps. They add a ton to the gameplay. And the scarcity of resources inland adds so much more planning and strategy. Just awesome. However, I would love to be able to have a unit that can roam the seas and fight Barb ships, shoot Barb camps and clear them somehow. I know the mod allows embarked units to defend themselves, but they really do move at a snail's pace. Mid to late game can result in a huge number of roaming Barb ships that cause you to not be able to work tiles, cut off trade routes, etc. You have to have a decent navy or your cities will suffer. And don't get me wrong, with the professionalism policy, having all of those easy kills with a very strong navy is huge for both cash and culture. But at some point around turn 200 or so, the task of hunting down and killing barb ships and island camps becomes VERY tedious. It would make it much more enjoyable if I had access to some dumb downed version of a fast "do it all' ship. I would suggest that it not be as powerful as a Caravel so that you have to be careful with it. Or perhaps we could have something like the Civ IV ships that allowed you to carry a soldier or two on it - to easily clear camps or collect ruins.
2) Late game ruins that require a lot of effort to get to (far away islands, etc.) probably need to have some kind of boost more than 50 gold, 20 culture, or a map, etc.). I remember laughing at a Civ IV game (IIRC) where I found a ruin and discovered Fission. I laughed at that one. Maybe it doesn't have to be that ridiculous, but the bonus should be scaled in some fashion. This is probably a DLL issue anyway - and I may be in the minority here.
3) I do miss me some religion. Would love to see Firaxis add that back in - possibly coordinated with the social policies.
4) Never liked spying - don't miss it. Glad I don't have to worry about it.
5) Man the early game Barbs are both tough and plentiful in VEM. I have gotten to where losing a scout or even a warrior is just to be expected.
6) Love playing Isabella. Finding early game wonders (extra scout is awesome) and spending that cash on workers/settlers/buildings is a lot of fun. And for that rare occurance where you find the Great Bearing Reef early enough to settle your second city next to both tiles, it is a lot of fun to just roll the AI.
7) Washington is so much better to play with the Pioneer Fort. Watched a vanilla video and saw the player utilize the +1 sight and tiled buying ability to perfection. But adding the Fort makes America very enjoyable IMO.
8) I must not be good enough to utilize China the way it should be. I just seem to have very slow starts - probably because warmongering is very situational for me. But clearly many on here like playing them for the generals and the papermaker. Note - this comment relates mostly to vanilla. Haven't used her much in VEM, so I may be missing something.
9) City States - love them. I haven't played the ambassador mods or whatever, as I don't mind the cash/unit gifting format. I do like that the City States don't constantly ask for other CS's to be killed off in VEM. But I do wish that you had some way to ask your allied CS's to do something for you. Like - please work or improve THIS tile. Or please do or do not take THIS tile in your city's borders. Would also love to tell them to take a bordering enemy city - perhaps specific requests like this would cost extra gold or something.
Also, there is nothing worse that sending a CS a bunch of awesome units and have them just sit there and goof off - or even worse, watch the three infantry units you just sent them to fend off an overwhelming enemy attack get embarked the following turn and shot down by the 7 enemy battleships off the coast. Ugh.
10) Would also be great if an allied CS asked you whether you wanted them to puppet or raze a captured enemy city. I have actually never seen a CS take and keep a city. They always raze it down, but I have seen them keep them on LP vidoes. I am assuming is a difficulty setting effect. Would also be nice if they offered you the city for gold or something???
11) Leaders I most dislike running into. Alexander - he is just whiny and wishy washy. He also loves to spam out cities like they grow on trees, and has no problem litterring your territory with them. Kamapajamahey - yeah I know that isn't his name, but that's how I say it. His play style doesn't annoy me, but his voice and animations do. Paccachuti (or however you spell it) - annoying again. Cry baby. Bizmark - scares me, always worried he and his barb infested army are going to try to steam roll me. Same for Montezuma - loves to war and backstab. Nebuchadnezzar - again scary, plus he knocks his cup over every time he meets me.
12) Leaders I love running into. Catherine, of course - just for the cut scenes obviously. My favorite though is Ghengis. His voice interactions are awesome. And when he says "Hey Sausage Man", I laugh every time.
Geeze, this turned into a mammoth post. My apologlies. Have other comments and possible glitches I should report - but will do so in other threads. If anyone took the time to read through this novel - thanks, but seriously, get a life. I obviously don't have one either.
First, I want to say a huge thank you to Thal and the other authors of the VEM, CivUp, Willard and InfoAddict mods. I am fairly new to both Civ IV and Civ V (played the older versions of Civ back in the day, but it had been years since I had picked up the series). I enjoyed both vanilla versions, and picked up Beyond the Sword at the same time as Civ V. Contrary to what many have said about Civ V, I found myself choosing to play Civ V vanilla over Civ IV and Civ IV BTS. I just felt like the tactical combat was so much more interesting and the social policies really added so much to the structure and planning of the game. IMHO.
Anyway, VEM and the other mods have multiplied the fun factor of Civ V for me. The added or modified changes to buildings, polices, units, et al makes the game so much more intriguing. Oh - the "Plus" maps are also incredible and make the game so much more engaging - although having to clear out about a hundred Barb ships that roam the ocean can get pretty exhausting.
Once again, thanks for this incredible set of Mods.
I have some general observations that might or might not be helpful. Keep in mind these come from a fairly casual player. I am by no means a hard core gamer - especially when it comes to Civ V (some of the intense calculations I see the hard core guys go through to determine what specific turn to switch working one tile over another or using a specialist slot is just "Greek" to me - pun intended). Yes, I could probably do that kind of micro management, but then the game would be a chore to me instead of fun.
Anyway, let me throw out a few things and perhaps they haven't been talked about(or thought of - although I extremely doubt that).
1) I love the Plus maps. They add a ton to the gameplay. And the scarcity of resources inland adds so much more planning and strategy. Just awesome. However, I would love to be able to have a unit that can roam the seas and fight Barb ships, shoot Barb camps and clear them somehow. I know the mod allows embarked units to defend themselves, but they really do move at a snail's pace. Mid to late game can result in a huge number of roaming Barb ships that cause you to not be able to work tiles, cut off trade routes, etc. You have to have a decent navy or your cities will suffer. And don't get me wrong, with the professionalism policy, having all of those easy kills with a very strong navy is huge for both cash and culture. But at some point around turn 200 or so, the task of hunting down and killing barb ships and island camps becomes VERY tedious. It would make it much more enjoyable if I had access to some dumb downed version of a fast "do it all' ship. I would suggest that it not be as powerful as a Caravel so that you have to be careful with it. Or perhaps we could have something like the Civ IV ships that allowed you to carry a soldier or two on it - to easily clear camps or collect ruins.
2) Late game ruins that require a lot of effort to get to (far away islands, etc.) probably need to have some kind of boost more than 50 gold, 20 culture, or a map, etc.). I remember laughing at a Civ IV game (IIRC) where I found a ruin and discovered Fission. I laughed at that one. Maybe it doesn't have to be that ridiculous, but the bonus should be scaled in some fashion. This is probably a DLL issue anyway - and I may be in the minority here.
3) I do miss me some religion. Would love to see Firaxis add that back in - possibly coordinated with the social policies.
4) Never liked spying - don't miss it. Glad I don't have to worry about it.
5) Man the early game Barbs are both tough and plentiful in VEM. I have gotten to where losing a scout or even a warrior is just to be expected.
6) Love playing Isabella. Finding early game wonders (extra scout is awesome) and spending that cash on workers/settlers/buildings is a lot of fun. And for that rare occurance where you find the Great Bearing Reef early enough to settle your second city next to both tiles, it is a lot of fun to just roll the AI.
7) Washington is so much better to play with the Pioneer Fort. Watched a vanilla video and saw the player utilize the +1 sight and tiled buying ability to perfection. But adding the Fort makes America very enjoyable IMO.
8) I must not be good enough to utilize China the way it should be. I just seem to have very slow starts - probably because warmongering is very situational for me. But clearly many on here like playing them for the generals and the papermaker. Note - this comment relates mostly to vanilla. Haven't used her much in VEM, so I may be missing something.
9) City States - love them. I haven't played the ambassador mods or whatever, as I don't mind the cash/unit gifting format. I do like that the City States don't constantly ask for other CS's to be killed off in VEM. But I do wish that you had some way to ask your allied CS's to do something for you. Like - please work or improve THIS tile. Or please do or do not take THIS tile in your city's borders. Would also love to tell them to take a bordering enemy city - perhaps specific requests like this would cost extra gold or something.
Also, there is nothing worse that sending a CS a bunch of awesome units and have them just sit there and goof off - or even worse, watch the three infantry units you just sent them to fend off an overwhelming enemy attack get embarked the following turn and shot down by the 7 enemy battleships off the coast. Ugh.
10) Would also be great if an allied CS asked you whether you wanted them to puppet or raze a captured enemy city. I have actually never seen a CS take and keep a city. They always raze it down, but I have seen them keep them on LP vidoes. I am assuming is a difficulty setting effect. Would also be nice if they offered you the city for gold or something???
11) Leaders I most dislike running into. Alexander - he is just whiny and wishy washy. He also loves to spam out cities like they grow on trees, and has no problem litterring your territory with them. Kamapajamahey - yeah I know that isn't his name, but that's how I say it. His play style doesn't annoy me, but his voice and animations do. Paccachuti (or however you spell it) - annoying again. Cry baby. Bizmark - scares me, always worried he and his barb infested army are going to try to steam roll me. Same for Montezuma - loves to war and backstab. Nebuchadnezzar - again scary, plus he knocks his cup over every time he meets me.
12) Leaders I love running into. Catherine, of course - just for the cut scenes obviously. My favorite though is Ghengis. His voice interactions are awesome. And when he says "Hey Sausage Man", I laugh every time.
Geeze, this turned into a mammoth post. My apologlies. Have other comments and possible glitches I should report - but will do so in other threads. If anyone took the time to read through this novel - thanks, but seriously, get a life. I obviously don't have one either.
I recommend trying the diplomacy mod as it adds a fun element of building envoys to gain influence instead of always buying it with gold.
If you know you want to keep a particular city, make sure you have a couple units nearby to sneak in and take it at the right time.
