Spqr

[The Guardian]

The Early history of Rome is shrouded in myth, legend and conjecture.
But there is one thing that we do know;

For Romans in Rome’s quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old…

For Romans were like brothers
In the brave days of old.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lord Macaulay
How Horatius Kept the Bridge

[Coin of Antoninus Pius Augustus 138-161] Reverse: TR POT COS III Wolf standing right, suckling Remus and Romulus; cave ceiling above.
While most would have it that Rome was named for Romulus who outwitted his brother Remus for control of the new settlement, Plutarch is clear that:
"from whom, and for what reason, the city of Rome, a name so great in glory, and famous in the mouths of all men, was so first called, authors do not agree..."
The fact is that the origin for the name of the new settlement of Rome is as likely a woman as it is a man. Plutarch explains:
"at the taking of Troy, some few that escaped and met with shipping, put to sea,
and driven by winds, were carried upon the coasts of Tuscany, and came to anchor off the mouth of the river Tiber, where their women, out of heart and weary with the sea, on its being proposed by one of the highest birth and best understanding amongst them, whose name was Roma, burnt the ships. With which act the men at first were angry..."
[Coin of Titus Augustus 79-81] Reverse: ROMA SC Helmeted Roma standing left, holding Nike Goddess of Victory in righ

When later:
"things in a short while succeeded far better than they could hope, in that they found the country very good, and the people courteous, they not only did the lady Roma other honours, but added also this, of calling after her name the city which she had been the occasion of their founding...."
The early history of Rome is mythical and legendary, and our sources come centuries after the facts.

First and foremost, I seek neither recognition nor praise for putting this MOD together. I have only taken that which others have created, with the exception of a few minor contributions of my own, and solidified them into a single presentation which I hope you will all find enjoyable.
There is one individual that I do think deserves your gratitude and praise. Imperator 1961 has done an incredibly outstanding job of creating a considerable number of units specifically for this MOD. There are no words that can express my gratitude for all that he has done.
There are many others who deserve thanks also for the assistance that they provided, over the past two years it took to finish this project. I thank you all.
My only hope is that those interested in this historical period and who participate in playing this mod will find it an enjoyable and exciting experience.
Game Introduction
First, the map. This is a redesigned Mediterrainian Map. Large, very Large 362 X 302

Map with starting locations

The Mod contains 29 Civs including:

Rome
Carthage
Etruria
Iberia
Gallia
Germanic Tribes
Picts
Britons
Suiones
Dacia
Greeks
Macedonias
Epirus
Tarantum
Lucania
Massilia
Syracusae
Troy
Pontus
Assyria
Sythia
Huns
Parthia
Media
Judea
Nubia
Babylon
Egypt​

The Maps terrain is based on RickFGS’s desert and water terrain.
There are many new buildings, improvements and wonders that are civ specific.
I have made every effort to make this map as historically accurate as I possibly can, while trying to create opportunities and possibilities for the player to change history.

Units
With the help of Imperator1961 we have added a large number of historically accurate units of the time period. Here are a few of them.

Take some time to review the civilopedia and learn more about these units.

Game Play

The map is intentionally Large. It is designed so as to create specific regions. In this setup, civilizations Should develop fairly closely to historical time lines, relying heavily on player actions and decisions.
I think Wolfshade (Game tester) has provided an accurate analysis:
“Currently there's a huge Mediterranean Middle East map. It's an advantage (room for everything one can imagine), but it's a drawback - I stopped testing of the 2nd "build" on turn 194 playing as Iberia (Spain), to that time I met only 2 civs (Gauls & Etruscans located too far to wage trade/war) and 2nd generation of units became actual. As you may concern, the gameplay was not very interesting and was about developing civ's territory, not an action (for me personally development & war should take 50/50 of time). I PM'ed Guardian with few suggestions, so we have ideas to try.
Also, currently Guardian integrated a fair (IMHO) combat system. It provides a fair enough result and gives definitive roles to all kind of troops so a mix of forces needed, not a stack of swordsmen. I tested it in my own mod and I like it a lot, so minor adjustments needed only. “ Wolfshade"

Rapid settlement expansion will no longer be a recipe for success. Players will have to decide where to place settlements, which building/improvement to build from the civ specific choices and which units to build. Early development will affect your future viability.

It is also no longer advisable to just build large stacks of your most powerful unit. I would also suggest that you pay close attention to your treasury, culture, corruption and the mood of your citizens.
​

This is a Beta version of the MOD. There is still some minor work to be done on the civilopedia file. The beta version is being released at this time because I believe it is time to get some constructive opinions from the forum members. I stress the word constructive. Any non-constructive bloviating will be ignored. Serious comments, opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Latest update Jan. 12, 2013
The main files, including the Biq file can be downloaded here.

Updated BIQ file 1/13/13

There were numerous errors in the unit folders related to the ini files and the naming of the flc animation files. Here is a new and updated units folder. INI files and unit animation files have been corrected. New Units File Folder 1/29/2013

 

[The Guardian]

You will need to install the Civ3Conquests_noraze_c_no_unit_limit patch.
You can get it here.

 

[The Guardian]

reserved2

 

[Bengal Tiger]

First.

Looks excellent. DLing now.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

First thing I should mention, is the map supposed to be revealed at the start? That doesn't seem right to me, so I'll just tweak it in the editor before starting up.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Alright, here's a list of my initial impressions(started as Carthage):

1) Wow is this map huge. Generally I'm not a fan of gigantic maps, especially when starting from scratch, although it might be partly because of my impatience, I think I'd prefer if there were a little more infrastructure set up from the start to help things move a little faster. I may even transpose this map onto the original 'Fall of Rome' map at some point in the future for my own use to help increase civ interaction.

2) Minor bug - Sometimes Carthage's civ specific wonder is called Harbour of Carthage and sometimes just Great Harbour. In the civilopedia it says it grants a harbour in every city, however a glance at the editor shows me that while it does provide a number of nice benefits, harbours in every city is not one of them.

3) The time that naval units become available seems to be a bit out of order. It seems to go:
Biremes(Woodworking) - Triremes/Curragh(Sailing) - Galley(Mathematics)

I think it would make more sense to go Curragh - Galley - Biremes - Triremes, looking at their combat/movement values.

4) Gold does not seem to be valued very highly by the AI in terms of tech trading, in the early stages of the game I offered 700+ gold for Bridge Building and the offer was still "insulting".

5) There seems to be far more many units available than I know what to do with. However, the Massyli Dromader is by far the most efficient to build. It is cheaper than the Carthage African Phalanx, has a higher defense, and has 3 movement points instead of one. What reason is there to build the infantry when the mounted unit is so much better and cheaper? Not to mention the far weaker units such as war dogs and such, whose combat values are awful compared to other units.

Overall I think there should be a sizeable reduction in the amount of units available to build, and that they progress in an intuitive way.

For example, the mounted unit might have a higher attack and movement than the phalanx, but the phalanx would have a higher defense and maybe an extra hit point.

Anyways, this is all meant to be contructive criticism, that's all for now, but I'll be sure to post once I play some more.

 

[The Guardian]

Thanks for the comments Bengal Tiger.
Harbours are not available until you discover sailing.
I have not had time play test every civ, that is why I have posted the beta version.
Comments like yours are very helpful. Though some units may appear to n
be stronger than others, this may be deceptive. Also, as you expand your territory, your choice of units will decrease, due to the fact that most of the prize units require your civ specific resource in order to build. This means that you can only build these prime unit in cities that have access to your capital.

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

downloading.......

 

[PiotrG]

Thanks for the Christmas gift
I'll start first test tonight

 

[Atoll]

Downloaded, tried... not sure is it constructive criticism or not, but still:

1) World map is visible from the start. Why is it? IMHO, it's incorrect historically (Real Romans in 753 BC had no idea about Britain, Germany, Persia or Scythia) and from the point of gameplay (player can see what's going on in this Germany / Scythia, though they were not yet contacted).
In short, this optin is good in modern scenarios & looks strange in ancient ones.

2) Rather my wish than criticism. Map is TOO big for many players with moderate computers, incl me. Can you post the second, smaller (say 180x180) version of map?

 

[Takhisis]

The Mod contains 29 Civs including:
Rome
Carthage
Etruria
Iberia
Gual
Germanic Tribes
Picts
Britons
Suiones
Dacia
Greeks
Macedonias
Epirus
Tarantum
Lucania
Massilia
Syracusae
Troy
Pontus
Assyria
Sythia
Huns
Parthia
Media
Judea
Nubia
Babylon
Nubia
Egypt

*Gaul
Scythia
There's two Nubias mentioned there.

 

[PiotrG]

how to install this mod? where to put the extracted files?

 

[The Guardian]

how to install this mod? where to put the extracted files?

C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Conquests\Scenarios
Create a folder - SPQR
Put the folders and files into the SPQR folder
Put the BIQ file in the Scenarios folder
Play game

 

[The Guardian]

Downloaded, tried... not sure is it constructive criticism or not, but still:

1) World map is visible from the start. Why is it? IMHO, it's incorrect historically (Real Romans in 753 BC had no idea about Britain, Germany, Persia or Scythia) and from the point of gameplay (player can see what's going on in this Germany / Scythia, though they were not yet contacted).
In short, this optin is good in modern scenarios & looks strange in ancient ones.

2) Rather my wish than criticism. Map is TOO big for many players with moderate computers, incl me. Can you post the second, smaller (say 180x180) version of map?

1)You can change that yourself in the editor.
2)No. I am working on a second map and version that will have all cities pre-placed and no settlers.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Some more things I've noticed:

While playing as Carthage, there seems to be some overlap between what improvements/units are available to build. For example, I can build both the Axeman and Carthaginian Infantry, whose civilopedia info says is supposed to replace the axeman. I can also build both Libyan Cavalry and Liby-Poeni Cavalry, as well as the Massyli Dromader, whose stats are identical to the Liby-Poeni Cavalry except it is cheaper and ignores movement cost for desert. I think the amount of units that should be available to me should be about cut in half, and perhaps some parts of the upgrade chain is broken.

I can also build both a Carthaginian Granary and a generic granary.

Something I think should also be mentioned is that trading Communications with other civs should be pushed off much later. It really slows down the early game having ongoing diplomacy/alliances with civs on the opposite side of the map.

Another minor bug, The civilopedia says that the tech "Trade" allows roads, while it is actually "The Wheel". I'm not sure which one it was supposed to be, I can see the argument for either.

And for some reason my government under Monarchy still uses forced labour instead of paying citizens.

 

[PiotrG]

Thanks Guardian for help

Next question

Where do I set options in the editor face-down map?

 

[The Guardian]

Some more things I've noticed:

While playing as Carthage, there seems to be some overlap between what improvements/units are available to build. For example, I can build both the Axeman and Carthaginian Infantry, whose civilopedia info says is supposed to replace the axeman. I can also build both Libyan Cavalry and Liby-Poeni Cavalry, as well as the Massyli Dromader, whose stats are identical to the Liby-Poeni Cavalry except it is cheaper and ignores movement cost for desert. I think the amount of units that should be available to me should be about cut in half, and perhaps some parts of the upgrade chain is broken.

I can also build both a Carthaginian Granary and a generic granary.

Something I think should also be mentioned is that trading Communications with other civs should be pushed off much later. It really slows down the early game having ongoing diplomacy/alliances with civs on the opposite side of the map.

Another minor bug, The civilopedia says that the tech "Trade" allows roads, while it is actually "The Wheel". I'm not sure which one it was supposed to be, I can see the argument for either.

And for some reason my government under Monarchy still uses forced labour instead of paying citizens.

Thanks Bengal Tiger, I'll check those items and make the adjustments. I mentioned in the first post that the civilopedia still needed some work. I'll get on it as soon as possible. Probably right after Xmas.

 

[TomYo689]

I was having loads of fun with the Macedonians but then it crashed when I tryed building Greek citizen hoplite. There seems to be a lot of errors for civ specific stuff like building wonders that other tribes are supposed to have access. The map is cool I don't like that specific kind of graphic coloring but the detail is perfect

 

[The Guardian]

I was having loads of fun with the Macedonians but then it crashed when I tryed building Greek citizen hoplite. There seems to be a lot of errors for civ specific stuff like building wonders that other tribes are supposed to have access. The map is cool I don't like that specific kind of graphic coloring but the detail is perfect

Did you get an error message when it crashed?

Can you give me some specifics on which wonders?

 

[TomYo689]

Macedonia can build something called golden fleece it says it belongs to kolchics or something only. I don't know if that's a different tribe or not lol. For the unit it was probably missing pedia icon or something like that it would take me like an hour of gameplay to get to that point again and read it exactly.

Also Babylons settler can't move. It looks like it has movement points maybe it's classified as a boat or something. Babylon doesn't start with a worker either dunno if that's intentional or forgotten.