Everyone knows that large multiplayer games involve different strategic considerations
from single-player games against the computer. Furthermore, everyone knows that Civ's rules are frequently unrealistic and unbalanced. So why don't we get together a "standard multiplayer modpack" for play in large (4 player plus) games? It would consist of new rules adopted particularly for multi-playing, and maybe a new image file for new units.
Here are some of my suggestions for rules changes (actually, I've gotten almost all of
these ideas from other people):
1) Longer tech paradigm - In these large games people are frequently getting Industrialization by 200 AD. This is just kinda silly and unrealistic. Doubling the tech paradigm should actually make games last until the 20th century. The problem would be for those people who actually want a quickie. This is sort of the opposite of doing 2x2x. But for many-player games that are supposed to last a long time, I think this is a good change.
2) Communism needs to be made slightly better, it should be competitive with
Fundamentalism. One idea is to make it support 5 units free instead of 3.
3) Mass-thrust paradigm - I think it can be increased to help drag the game out a bit.
Also, it increases the need for strategy after someone's launched.
4) The process of discovering the techs needed to build a spaceship should be dragged
out a bit for realism purposes: after all, it's 2001 and we're nowhere near going to Alpha Centauri. So stick in some 'futuristic' techs like 'Unified Field Theory' or something used in ToT and that might do the trick.
5) Important techs that everyone goes for should be delayed, so that alternative tech
paths (including naval and military techs) look more attractive. Namely: Republic,
Democracy, Monotheism. One idea is to make Republic require Feudalism and Literacy.
This is realistic because the period of limited monarchy, i.e., early republicanism (if you discount the Greek & Roman anomalies), began after feudalism. Democracy can require gunpowder and economics: in fact, democracy arose after popular ownership of firearms was widespread, and, in most countries, after the period of free trade had begun (1848). Ideas to force people to research naval techs that are usually ignored until very late include making University require Astronomy and Philosophy and making Theory of Gravity require Navigation and University. But there are all kinds of ways to do this.
6) Nukes should definitely be eliminated - if you have players who are at all intelligent and self-interested, they will use them. It's a zero-sum game after all: only one winner, it doesn't matter how you win. Once nukes are eliminated, you can also eliminate SDI Defense.
7) Make Oracle not expire. This is an MDL rules change and it was a good one. However,
shields should also be increased from 300 to 400 as it now becomes a very attractive
wonder. Shields should also be increased for Mike's and Bach's, since these are very
powerful wonders that everyone goes for.
8) Eiffel Tower can be eliminated, for obvious reasons. Others have suggested changing its function, but that requires editing the *.exe; you certainly can't do it in the rules.txt.
9) Shields for Great Wall and UN can be greatly reduced, because in multiplay they no
longer serve the important function of forcing peace. I've rarely seen people build these wonders in large MP games unless there's nothing else to build.
10) Make Pyramids expire, perhaps with Refrigeration. That's another MDL change.
11) Hit points for settlers should be reduced to 1 - they should be vulnerable even to
warriors.
12) We can change Fundamentalism to Fascism and Fanatics to Stormtroopers. That seems to be a popular change.
13) Alpine Troops should be changed to something else, as they can be built in desert areas, plains, near the equator, whatever. I suggest "Recon Troops," an early mobile unit.
14) Marines should have their firepower increased so that they aren't just a pre-Mobile Warfare unit.
15) Should extend the modern military period by creating two classes of Tank and also
two classes of jet fighters and bombers. The Hi-Res Modpack does this by making Armor a
weaker unit than the existing Armor and making it require Automobile. Heavy Armor
replaces the Mobile Warfare unit we all know and love. It also gives us Fighter and
Bomber units that you can get with Flight and have WW1-like capabilities. With Advanced
Flight you can build Jet Fighter and Jet Bomber units, with WW2-like capabilities. Then later on you can build Stealth units, which do not make the Jet units expire (the regular ones are still built today).
16) The Iron Age was actually a watershed in human history in terms of its military
applications. This fact should be reflected in Civ. Increase a Legion's attack/defense to 5 and 3 and you make it more useful to research Iron Working early, as it should be.
17) Catapults, cannons, & artillery should have their attack ratings increased slightly, to give them more of an advantage over Legions, and because they are not built very often.
18) All air and sea units should have movement rates doubled. It's absurd that you can go only 1/20th of the way around the world in a ship or boat during an entire year (or 20 years!) in Civ. We can't fix this unrealism completely, but we can at least alleviate it. For the same reason, I favor increase the road movement factor from 3 to 4.
19) Carriers should have their defense rating upped dramatically. After all, a carrier unit really includes the escort of battleships and cruisers - you shouldn't have to stack these with your carriers.
20) MDL reduces shields for caravans and freight to 40. We also do this for the New
Millennium diplomacy game. I think it's a pretty good idea.
21) New unit: Trade Vessel. Like a Tri but with no attack. Good for Rep & Dem when you
don't want unhappiness. After Magnetism use Galleons.
22) New recon unit? Some have suggested a Recon Plane. Another idea is from the Hi-Res
Modpack: a Zeppelin unit. Though Zeppelins have gone out, spy blimps are still used.
23) Some have suggested a mobile SAM unit. I'd like to hear more about this. What
function does it fill that non-mobile SAMs don't? What ADM ratings are suggested?
24) Diplomats and spies should either have their build cost hiked substantially, or city
bribe should be banned.
Please follow up with your other suggestions. I have incorporated 1-22 in a new patch
you can download at http://bestofmetal.net/multimod.zip . There are a rules.txt and a units.bmp. Cut and paste your original rules.txt and units.gif into a backup folder; then move the new files into your main Civ2 directory. Remember, this mod won't work very well in SP, just in MP. So I'd like to try it out in a 4 or 5 player game. Many of these features are being used in the New Mill game, but I'd like to try out some other features
mentioned here. Any takers?
[This message has been edited by Elendil (edited March 26, 2001).]
from single-player games against the computer. Furthermore, everyone knows that Civ's rules are frequently unrealistic and unbalanced. So why don't we get together a "standard multiplayer modpack" for play in large (4 player plus) games? It would consist of new rules adopted particularly for multi-playing, and maybe a new image file for new units.
Here are some of my suggestions for rules changes (actually, I've gotten almost all of
these ideas from other people):
1) Longer tech paradigm - In these large games people are frequently getting Industrialization by 200 AD. This is just kinda silly and unrealistic. Doubling the tech paradigm should actually make games last until the 20th century. The problem would be for those people who actually want a quickie. This is sort of the opposite of doing 2x2x. But for many-player games that are supposed to last a long time, I think this is a good change.
2) Communism needs to be made slightly better, it should be competitive with
Fundamentalism. One idea is to make it support 5 units free instead of 3.
3) Mass-thrust paradigm - I think it can be increased to help drag the game out a bit.
Also, it increases the need for strategy after someone's launched.
4) The process of discovering the techs needed to build a spaceship should be dragged
out a bit for realism purposes: after all, it's 2001 and we're nowhere near going to Alpha Centauri. So stick in some 'futuristic' techs like 'Unified Field Theory' or something used in ToT and that might do the trick.
5) Important techs that everyone goes for should be delayed, so that alternative tech
paths (including naval and military techs) look more attractive. Namely: Republic,
Democracy, Monotheism. One idea is to make Republic require Feudalism and Literacy.
This is realistic because the period of limited monarchy, i.e., early republicanism (if you discount the Greek & Roman anomalies), began after feudalism. Democracy can require gunpowder and economics: in fact, democracy arose after popular ownership of firearms was widespread, and, in most countries, after the period of free trade had begun (1848). Ideas to force people to research naval techs that are usually ignored until very late include making University require Astronomy and Philosophy and making Theory of Gravity require Navigation and University. But there are all kinds of ways to do this.
6) Nukes should definitely be eliminated - if you have players who are at all intelligent and self-interested, they will use them. It's a zero-sum game after all: only one winner, it doesn't matter how you win. Once nukes are eliminated, you can also eliminate SDI Defense.
7) Make Oracle not expire. This is an MDL rules change and it was a good one. However,
shields should also be increased from 300 to 400 as it now becomes a very attractive
wonder. Shields should also be increased for Mike's and Bach's, since these are very
powerful wonders that everyone goes for.
8) Eiffel Tower can be eliminated, for obvious reasons. Others have suggested changing its function, but that requires editing the *.exe; you certainly can't do it in the rules.txt.
9) Shields for Great Wall and UN can be greatly reduced, because in multiplay they no
longer serve the important function of forcing peace. I've rarely seen people build these wonders in large MP games unless there's nothing else to build.
10) Make Pyramids expire, perhaps with Refrigeration. That's another MDL change.
11) Hit points for settlers should be reduced to 1 - they should be vulnerable even to
warriors.
12) We can change Fundamentalism to Fascism and Fanatics to Stormtroopers. That seems to be a popular change.
13) Alpine Troops should be changed to something else, as they can be built in desert areas, plains, near the equator, whatever. I suggest "Recon Troops," an early mobile unit.
14) Marines should have their firepower increased so that they aren't just a pre-Mobile Warfare unit.
15) Should extend the modern military period by creating two classes of Tank and also
two classes of jet fighters and bombers. The Hi-Res Modpack does this by making Armor a
weaker unit than the existing Armor and making it require Automobile. Heavy Armor
replaces the Mobile Warfare unit we all know and love. It also gives us Fighter and
Bomber units that you can get with Flight and have WW1-like capabilities. With Advanced
Flight you can build Jet Fighter and Jet Bomber units, with WW2-like capabilities. Then later on you can build Stealth units, which do not make the Jet units expire (the regular ones are still built today).
16) The Iron Age was actually a watershed in human history in terms of its military
applications. This fact should be reflected in Civ. Increase a Legion's attack/defense to 5 and 3 and you make it more useful to research Iron Working early, as it should be.
17) Catapults, cannons, & artillery should have their attack ratings increased slightly, to give them more of an advantage over Legions, and because they are not built very often.
18) All air and sea units should have movement rates doubled. It's absurd that you can go only 1/20th of the way around the world in a ship or boat during an entire year (or 20 years!) in Civ. We can't fix this unrealism completely, but we can at least alleviate it. For the same reason, I favor increase the road movement factor from 3 to 4.
19) Carriers should have their defense rating upped dramatically. After all, a carrier unit really includes the escort of battleships and cruisers - you shouldn't have to stack these with your carriers.
20) MDL reduces shields for caravans and freight to 40. We also do this for the New
Millennium diplomacy game. I think it's a pretty good idea.
21) New unit: Trade Vessel. Like a Tri but with no attack. Good for Rep & Dem when you
don't want unhappiness. After Magnetism use Galleons.
22) New recon unit? Some have suggested a Recon Plane. Another idea is from the Hi-Res
Modpack: a Zeppelin unit. Though Zeppelins have gone out, spy blimps are still used.
23) Some have suggested a mobile SAM unit. I'd like to hear more about this. What
function does it fill that non-mobile SAMs don't? What ADM ratings are suggested?
24) Diplomats and spies should either have their build cost hiked substantially, or city
bribe should be banned.
Please follow up with your other suggestions. I have incorporated 1-22 in a new patch
you can download at http://bestofmetal.net/multimod.zip . There are a rules.txt and a units.bmp. Cut and paste your original rules.txt and units.gif into a backup folder; then move the new files into your main Civ2 directory. Remember, this mod won't work very well in SP, just in MP. So I'd like to try it out in a 4 or 5 player game. Many of these features are being used in the New Mill game, but I'd like to try out some other features
mentioned here. Any takers?
[This message has been edited by Elendil (edited March 26, 2001).]
