Note to moderators: I'm not sure this makes for the appropriate place to post this. If not, where should it go?
So a year or so ago I watched one of Suede's videos where he discussed the mod that people use for multiplayer. It's actually an old mod that comes with civ III, it just never seems to have gotten discussed around here, or I can't find those notes at least. I encourage people around here to give it a try! I've found it more enjoyable than the epic game for the most part lately, though I still wonder about the balance of some things.
If you go into civ-content, there's a scenario called Quick Civ or Quick Civilization. You can read the full description there, but I'll go over those points here, and more. The description there is also not entirely accurate. I've mostly played with some other changes. I changed the turn count back to 540 instead of 135. I also changed settler cost back to 2 citizens than 3 citizens.
1. It says that unit producing wonders produce units in half the time. I can't confirm that this works as said, and don't know if it means the Statue of Zeus and Knights Templar will produce units in 2 or 3 turns.
2. Food production of tiles and cultural production of buildings is doubled. This makes for an interesting change, since cities can grow much faster. The agricultural trait remains the same though. So, the agricultural trait though still useful for half-priced aqueducts is not as useful for the extra food for city growth. In my opinion, this makes the agricultural trait more balanced with other traits, and makes non-agricultural civs more appealing to play. Also, the description there is not entirely accurate. A coastal or sea square (without a whale) instead of producing 2 food, will produce 3 food. I find that more interesting, since it makes those tiles more unique.
3. Halved production cost for all units, improvements, and spaceship parts. I like this overall I think, because of the increased speed. Though, I think it makes things a bit less fine grained. Your city that produced 3 turn cavalry at 27 shields per turn, probably would produce 2 turn cavalry instead. Factories and power plants might not be quite as useful, though they have cut turns down on production in a huge game that I've played recently with Germany. So, it has it's upside and it's downside.
4. Halved research costs. I like this overall. There's also no 4 turn minimum research time (or maybe it's 2 turns?... I seem to remember seeing 1 turn research possibility), so this works out quite nicely, I think.
5. Halved golden age time. I haven't seen this. It does sound good though.
6. Maximum research time is 13 turns instead of 50 turns. This is a significant change that I like quite a lot. It makes it easier to keep up in tech on higher levels by picking the tech that the AIs won't research in the ancient age and then trading around. Also, doing decent speed research during an anarchy period is possible.
7. Workers work much faster. A regular worker can road a tile in 1 turn from the start, and mine in 2 turns. An industrious worker can road a tile in 1 turn from the start, and mine in 1 turn. This makes industrious workers not as powerful comparatively, though they still have advantages in planting forests or clearing jungle or marsh squares. Replaceable parts isn't as powerful since a double speed worker which had 1 turn work before the doubling, doesn't get as much benefit. But overall, I like this change.
8. Despotism no longer receives a tile penalty. This is huge! Two things on this, and both points I think make things better:
8a: If you've ever seen worker patterns of the AIs early, you probably have seen that they will irrigate grassland even while still in despotism. Of course, that's of no benefit to them. But, with the despotism penalty removed, they do or can get benefit from such improvements.
8b: You don't have to scout over starts or wander around looking for a cow or wheat or deer with agricultural tribes or get enough food bonuses with a non-agricultural tribe to get a speedy growth city. A river with some grassland and enough bonus shields can get you a speedy growth city with some nice irrigation. Starts with cows or wheats are still more powerful, since they have earlier growth. But, the power differential isn't as great, and this makes other starts, in my opinion, more attractive to play.
9. I think anarchy period remains the same? But, this makes religious tribes more attractive to play. So, if it's the same that the anarchy period remains the same, I kind of think that makes the traits more balanced.
I don't know how the commercial trait compares between quick civ and classic civ. It might be the same. Expansionist might more potentially useful at higher levels, since the AIs can research faster. The scientific trait is probably about the same. Seafaring is probably not as powerful, though I really don't know on that one. Militartistic is probably more useful as a trait, though I'm not sure on that one.
Accelerated production is still possible. I've tried it, but I don't quite like it. There's almost surely much more shield overrun, and with a 10 shield food box, a city doesn't even need a granary to grow every turn before size 6. I do think I understand why it makes sense for multiplayer though.
Again, I encourage anyone who hasn't, to give this scenario a try!
So a year or so ago I watched one of Suede's videos where he discussed the mod that people use for multiplayer. It's actually an old mod that comes with civ III, it just never seems to have gotten discussed around here, or I can't find those notes at least. I encourage people around here to give it a try! I've found it more enjoyable than the epic game for the most part lately, though I still wonder about the balance of some things.
If you go into civ-content, there's a scenario called Quick Civ or Quick Civilization. You can read the full description there, but I'll go over those points here, and more. The description there is also not entirely accurate. I've mostly played with some other changes. I changed the turn count back to 540 instead of 135. I also changed settler cost back to 2 citizens than 3 citizens.
1. It says that unit producing wonders produce units in half the time. I can't confirm that this works as said, and don't know if it means the Statue of Zeus and Knights Templar will produce units in 2 or 3 turns.
2. Food production of tiles and cultural production of buildings is doubled. This makes for an interesting change, since cities can grow much faster. The agricultural trait remains the same though. So, the agricultural trait though still useful for half-priced aqueducts is not as useful for the extra food for city growth. In my opinion, this makes the agricultural trait more balanced with other traits, and makes non-agricultural civs more appealing to play. Also, the description there is not entirely accurate. A coastal or sea square (without a whale) instead of producing 2 food, will produce 3 food. I find that more interesting, since it makes those tiles more unique.
3. Halved production cost for all units, improvements, and spaceship parts. I like this overall I think, because of the increased speed. Though, I think it makes things a bit less fine grained. Your city that produced 3 turn cavalry at 27 shields per turn, probably would produce 2 turn cavalry instead. Factories and power plants might not be quite as useful, though they have cut turns down on production in a huge game that I've played recently with Germany. So, it has it's upside and it's downside.
4. Halved research costs. I like this overall. There's also no 4 turn minimum research time (or maybe it's 2 turns?... I seem to remember seeing 1 turn research possibility), so this works out quite nicely, I think.
5. Halved golden age time. I haven't seen this. It does sound good though.
6. Maximum research time is 13 turns instead of 50 turns. This is a significant change that I like quite a lot. It makes it easier to keep up in tech on higher levels by picking the tech that the AIs won't research in the ancient age and then trading around. Also, doing decent speed research during an anarchy period is possible.
7. Workers work much faster. A regular worker can road a tile in 1 turn from the start, and mine in 2 turns. An industrious worker can road a tile in 1 turn from the start, and mine in 1 turn. This makes industrious workers not as powerful comparatively, though they still have advantages in planting forests or clearing jungle or marsh squares. Replaceable parts isn't as powerful since a double speed worker which had 1 turn work before the doubling, doesn't get as much benefit. But overall, I like this change.
8. Despotism no longer receives a tile penalty. This is huge! Two things on this, and both points I think make things better:
8a: If you've ever seen worker patterns of the AIs early, you probably have seen that they will irrigate grassland even while still in despotism. Of course, that's of no benefit to them. But, with the despotism penalty removed, they do or can get benefit from such improvements.
8b: You don't have to scout over starts or wander around looking for a cow or wheat or deer with agricultural tribes or get enough food bonuses with a non-agricultural tribe to get a speedy growth city. A river with some grassland and enough bonus shields can get you a speedy growth city with some nice irrigation. Starts with cows or wheats are still more powerful, since they have earlier growth. But, the power differential isn't as great, and this makes other starts, in my opinion, more attractive to play.
9. I think anarchy period remains the same? But, this makes religious tribes more attractive to play. So, if it's the same that the anarchy period remains the same, I kind of think that makes the traits more balanced.
I don't know how the commercial trait compares between quick civ and classic civ. It might be the same. Expansionist might more potentially useful at higher levels, since the AIs can research faster. The scientific trait is probably about the same. Seafaring is probably not as powerful, though I really don't know on that one. Militartistic is probably more useful as a trait, though I'm not sure on that one.
Accelerated production is still possible. I've tried it, but I don't quite like it. There's almost surely much more shield overrun, and with a 10 shield food box, a city doesn't even need a granary to grow every turn before size 6. I do think I understand why it makes sense for multiplayer though.
Again, I encourage anyone who hasn't, to give this scenario a try!
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("Problematic" vs. "nuisance"). Does anyone know, how much of a difference this makes?
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