SevoMod 3

[HourlyDaily]

This is a very cool idea in general. You should post it on the main creation board, maybe somebody will give it a shot.

While its a good idea, it seems to further unbalance gameplay towards larger civs. Maybe only post a certain date that this co-ordination could occur (like radio or something like it.)

 

[vitalie]

The problem seem to be caused by Daemon that I had running in the back ground for some time now and not really knowing about it.

I run Civ with Daemon Tools only (legally, because in Moldova where I live, Civ is sold as a DVD image archived on 2 CDs and you have to mount a virtual drive to install and play). I have had no problems with the Deamon, but probably because there's another utility that must be running - sd4hide.exe - which doesn't let Civ realise that it is a virtual drive. This is not to promote piracy in any way, but this is how apparently legal copies of games are sold over here.

Vit

 

[mrgenie]

While its a good idea, it seems to further unbalance gameplay towards larger civs. Maybe only post a certain date that this co-ordination could occur (like radio or something like it.)

Ok, I share the concerns posted on the board! Yes, large civilizations are generally a problem to balancing powers. Large civilizations just have too much benefits, which does not reflect the real strategically balance of our reality, since smaller countries can still be leading countries in Real life. Like USA versus India or China. Or the Netherlands versus 90% of the African countries (although they are many times bigger then NL)

But my Idea about this "combined wonder production" is not to change a lot of balancing, you know, in civilization IV how it is at this moment, I notice all major civilizations get literally 95% of all world wonders. So it’s unbalanced already anyway, you need to make the upkeep of more then 3cities much higher then it is now to weaken larger empires to give smaller a more balancing power (but I don’t see why we would do that, since it does make sense that big countries are stronger, you can always ally with someone else to fight someone who is bigger then you are!)

But how many wonders are there? I never counted them, but at least 30yes? If you play with 10civs in your game, and restrict this combined production to only 3times a game, or maybe just only once you are allowed to join production, it doesn’t matter if you are big or not, because eventually you'll only get some wonders by this. And yes, I agree with Sevo that smaller countries with 5cities would face a production loss of all cities for several turns, but, you are small anyway! So you are already loosing, but this gives you at least the opportunity to go for 1 particular wonder which you want to get no matter what.

I don't think it is further unbalancing, don't forget, if you have bad production rates in your cities, you're loosing already anyway. Now, you at least have a choice to go for something!!

But let's say, the computer has 1,5times my production, eventually he’ll be able to outrun me in all weapon races. Now I see with my spies he has large amounts of armored units, 45% of his troops, which he will use for any possible attack on me! Now, if I however can develop the tank buster (don’t know what wonder belongs to this) I have a buster with a 200% armor attack!! So, 45% of his troops are sitting ducks due to this benefit!

Now, with a smaller empire as his, it's hard to outrun him on wonders,
Assume he has 8cities, while I have 5. On average, the production of the cities is equal, but he has 2very good cities, and 4moderate and 2weak, I have 5moderate producing cities. When we both start developing the same wonder the same time I always loose because he has 2 good cities for wonder production, which he will use! But, he might already spend his 1 “combined wonder production for something” or since I don’t have large amounts of armored units, he will not spend this 1 chance on this wonder “to get the armor buster”, since it wouldn’t make sense, a larger enemy then him already has something else for which he on his turn needs some other wonder!

With this strategy (of combining production) I might be able to get this wonder! Allowing me a tactic to get a huge advancement over my enemy, where I would have lost any way with him if I haven’t had this wonder.


Now I can choose to spend 5city production on this wonder to be able to build these nice warplanes to kill armor. I'll build 10of them warplanes, including the huge range I have with those things, I might not win the war if he has a long time to swift the balancing power of his armies to another unit, but if I be quick I might be able to overwhelm his armored units(which are the strongest anyway) and use my own both armored and none armored units to overwhelm the remaining forces of him, and might be able to get just 2cities before he has the time to swift the balancing power of his armies to other units.

Now the units left by either of us are injured and need to be healed, but I have +2 cities=7 while he has only 6 left! I might also get an ally lined up against him, a smaller empire which is strong enough to help me fight him, but not strong enough to capture more of him then I’m able to get, so in the end, there is only 1 winner of this tactic: ME! 

That’s a strategically example why I think that such a combined wonder production might add some extra benefits to the game, to give smaller empires 1 extra chance to chance the balance of power in the game to battle larger empires, but of course, this benefit must underlay (a) big restriction (s)!!

 

[Shigga]

The uncontested middle-late-game dominance of large civs has always been a major problem of the civ franchise imho. Accomplishing a comeback is near to impossible. The question is how to solve this without giving the larger civs another tool to further strengthen their dominance, obviously. Here's my approach:

Make special wonder(s).
Make them trigger a golden age or give a significant (prod/com/sci) bonus. BUT make them buildable ONLY for civs that meet requirements that are most likely to be fulfilled by the ones that are on the lower half of the list. Perhaps even make them national wonders so they can be built by more than one nation.

Possible criteria to be able to build the wonder could be:

- Percentage x of the leading civ's score/pop/culture/science/mfg/landmass etc.
- max number of cities x or lower
- average city pop below x (use of Slavery would be possible but would negate the wonder effect by the loss off pop/com/ham via pop rush imho, also applies for the 3 following suggestions)
-max number x of cities with pop y or higher
-min number of x cities with pop below y
-any combination of the above
-anything I did not think of

Wonders could be sth like Product Piracy (Taiwan anyone?), Green Card Program, Sustainable Tourism, Int. Dept Relief... (just brainstorming)

PS.: Thank you Sevo for this truly amazing mod. It brought my lost OMTS back!

 

[GIR]

I have a request:

In my game I play against Saladin of Arabia [2] (flag color GREEN and border color GREEN) and Lenana of Maasai [1] (flag color GREEN and border color PINK).
Is it possible to give every civ only one flag and border color? It is really hard to play because always I see a Maasai unit I think it is an Arabian one.

 

[mrgenie]

-anything I did not think of

i like the ideas of making SOME! wonders available to smaller countries only..it would make sence for many things..larger countries face other difficulties then smaller and therefore might not be interested in some wonders if it was RL.

but, what you didnt think of:
Espionage..i think here lies a whole area of unrevealed possibilities by original civ4! Let's say, the larger the country, the more difficult to control it, the more difficult to check every single person what he or she is doing. giving a rate-factor to espionage possibilities.

First, give spies better options:
-to destroy production, and lowering the cost for this! now you must pay maybe three times the money as the value of the production really is. I'd say, sabotage 100production shields should cost 10gold instead of 500
-sabotage units
-convince units to swap sides
-demoralize cities
-sabotage buildings
-steal technology

now for the chance of success,
for the first 100rounds in game:
if civ > 5cities, chance = 1%
if civ = 5 chance = 3%
if civ = 4 chance = 5%
if civ = 3 chance = 9%
if civ = 2 chance = 14%
if civ = 1 chance = 20%


between 100turns and 500turns
well..raise the city cap!
smaller civs now get a huge arsenal of spending money in espionage missions..they could steal units, lower moral in cities, steal tech etc etc..large cities which really dominate..with a 1% succes they will find themself going bankrupt on even trying to keep track with espionage successes of the smaller ones

this does of course not reflect reality, since chance of succes mostly depends on the nationalistic feeling of people, the art of government(communism which controlled everyone going in and out was more succesfull on spying in the west as the other way arround, since in the west people, and also spies, were more free to move around) but i think it adds a more interesting dimension to the game

if you can't dominate, cause terror! Osama shows us how effective this can be

 

[Shqype]

There really aren't enough overly distinct colors for the amount of civilizations in the game. There would be many overlaps if we did what you're asking for.

 

[Rhye]

Btw when you get the chance change the background information about Isabella as it is totally historically inacurate, as Portugal has never been a part of spain, and totally forgets to mention catalunya among other things. She did not unite her "country" perhaps her kingdom but not country, and was also never "Queen of Spain", just Castilla Mind you, & Spain as such did not exist until the beginning of the XVIII century. So Maybe renaming the civilization to Castilla would not be a bad idea.

Sorry for the intrusion here, sevo, but I couldn't resist to reply to this.

Portugal never been part of Spain?
Spain did not exist until the beginning of the XVIII century?



nice mod btw

 

[Arkaeyn]

Civ4 seems to be better than other Civ games at balancing larger civs than previous entries in the series - I recently played a game where Sobieski of Poland lost his capital, Warsaw, to Monty on one of his rampages, but by the end of the game had recovered to be second in points and the largest military. I'd have quit and started over, but maybe from now I'll keep trying.

This is a problem with virtually every grand strategy game, though. A few games use gimmicks. The old economics game Entrepreneur has a special card which could be played which caused the weakest player in the game to get a burst of interest in her/her products. The AI once used it against me and rode it to victory. Wonders aimed for smaller Civs is one interesting way to go about it - "You Have Built: Terrorism. Most Powerful Civ's Wonders Broken For 10 Turns."

Better, though, would be rebellion. Anyone who can come up with a system which successfully models rebel cities - and civil war - will be a huge asset to Civ4. That's the simple way to halt big empires.

 

[VladTepes]

Glitch, or do I need a Universal Translator?

[img=http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/157/civ4screenshot00179jq.th.jpg]

 

[hs1611]

Portugal never been part of Spain?
Spain did not exist until the beginning of the XVIII century?

Portugal gained its independe in the 12th century, from the Kingdom of León, which is today a part of Spain, but at the time Spain was divided in several Kingdoms: León, Castile, Navarre and Aragon (I'm pretty sure I'm forgeting at least one more). From 1580 to 1640 Portugal was ruled by spanish kings, but was still a separate Kingdom and even got to keep its colonies as part of Portugal, its own nobles, its own laws and its own currency. Those kings received the titles of King of Portugal and King of Spain. They were named differently in each Kingdom (i.e. Phillip I of Portugal, II of Spain).
As for Spain as an unified Kingdom I think that happened in the 16th century when Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon (León and Navarre had already been absorbed by the others, I think). All that was left then was to conquer Granada, the last Islamic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula.

 

[mrgenie]

LOL, about this pedia entry on spain, ctrl-c ctrl-v the wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain

 

[Shigga]

i like the ideas of making SOME! wonders available to smaller countries only..it would make sence for many things..larger countries face other difficulties then smaller [...]

That was my train of thought exactly. Bc the small civs in cIV resemble the third-world nations irl in a way.

but, what you didnt think of:
Espionage..i think here lies a whole area of unrevealed possibilities by original civ4! Let's say, the larger the country, the more difficult to control it, the more difficult to check every single person what he or she is doing. giving a rate-factor to espionage possibilities.
*snip*
smaller civs now get a huge arsenal of spending money in espionage missions..they could steal units, lower moral in cities, steal tech etc etc..large cities which really dominate..with a 1% succes they will find themself going bankrupt on even trying to keep track with espionage successes of the smaller ones

Ok, I agree with you on the first part. But with the second part, my point of view is contrary to yours: Small countries with a lot of problems have only a small budget for espionage, and their intelligence service is far less sophisticated than that of large and wealthy countries, at least in general. But they still could achieve a powerful intelligence with enough effort --> again, make it a wonder that alters the probabilities of sucess for espionage missions!

 

[Remulak]

I don't know if this is the right spot to propose this, but since I only use the Sevomod, I will do it here. In one of the versions of CIV III, there was a victory option of Capture the King. I was thinking, if it was possible, to have a king unit for each nation. It could be moved from city to city, but would have no offensive and only a minimal defense ability (think personal guard).
I was thinking that it would be historically accurate to have the ability to ransom that king unit. So, if after capturing the king, you were making peace with his country, you could get extra money, tech or even a city for the king unit.

 

[VladTepes]

This needs to be changed.
Saddam was a megalomaniac and a butcher.
One thing he was NOT was a Great General!
Iran-Iraq war. Gulf Wars I & II.
'Nuff said.

 

[Rabbit, White]

This needs to be changed.
Saddam was a megalomaniac and a butcher.
One thing he was NOT was a Great General!
Iran-Iraq war. Gulf Wars I & II.
'Nuff said.

I agree with you, at least as far as saying that you can hardly describe Saddam as Great anything. However, I think it's also a matter of opinion - many other Great Generals weren't exactly kittens, a lot of them done their share of slaughtering. What it comes down to is actually the fact that it'll take you exactly 12 seconds to "fix" that in your own game. Open the Civ4Unit_Infos.xml file and search for "saddam", then simply delete that whole line, and "no more Saddam for you!"

 

[Shqype]

This needs to be changed.
Saddam was a megalomaniac and a butcher.
One thing he was NOT was a Great General!
Iran-Iraq war. Gulf Wars I & II.
'Nuff said.

Hitler was an amazing "general."

 

[Shqype]

I agree with you, at least as far as saying that you can hardly describe Saddam as Great anything. However, I think it's also a matter of opinion - many other Great Generals weren't exactly kittens, a lot of them done their share of slaughtering. What it comes down to is actually the fact that it'll take you exactly 12 seconds to "fix" that in your own game. Open the Civ4Unit_Infos.xml file and search for "saddam", then simply delete that whole line, and "no more Saddam for you!"

Exactly, it's all relative. Maybe if you asked the British whether they thought Washington was a "Great General" they might tell you he was a traitorous scoundrel.

 

[Cai]

Is there anyway to turn off in game movies for this mod? It seems to override the no in-game movies setting I have in my regualr Civ 4 ini.. the blue wonder box shows up but it doesn't even get to load the movie or something. The game then slows to an almost halt, or freezes.

I was ignored. Bumping it..

 

[Krafweerk]

Hitler was a terrible general.


Hienz Guderian was a a great general.


Saddam was a good general...his troops were just crappy.

He executed good doctrine, though most of it was Zhukov and Stratiskola. He had a way with deep logistical support that most modern generals cant compare too. Everytime american soldiers routed or surrounded an iraqi division they were fully stocked with supplies, despite the MASSIVE US airpower directed at interdicting these very supplies.

Had the iraqi troops bothered to use those supplies, we'd have been in a world of hurt.

In addition to being a logistical wizard...he was he brilliant with battlefield communication too. He knew what units were doing what before we did...we have satillites, he has runners and signals...thats impressive.