The Ancient Mediterranean MOD (TAM)

[KingArthur]

One of the reasons I love this mod is that you cannot rely on the tactics that work in a conventional game of civ (it's a bit like the WH2 mod in that respect). You really need to think tactically - a combined arms as Thamis suggests is critical to success. Of course I learnt this the hard way. In my current game as Egypt I built up an army of 8/2/1 Axeman (think those stats are right) and used them to wage war on the Sea Peoples. Things went very well initially and I took several cities but the Sea People's counter attack basically wiped out my stack. I was unable to continue the war without losing the newly captured cities so I made peace. Fortunately, I had weakened the Sea Peoples enough that they would never be a threat to me. However, the position I'm in is dangerous - if the Nubians attack me in my weakened state I'll be crying for my mummy.

You definitely need some defensive units and archers in your stack and also some fast units. Fast units that retreat will help with attrition rates and they can get to the front much quicker - I tend to use them to pick off weakened or isolated enemy units.

The other thing I like about this mod is the slowing down of the territory boundaries. You can sail around the med without going through another's territory and upsetting them. Good work.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm playing 2.5i and am in the middle of a game, can I upgrade to2.5j? Also, I noticed for the first time in this game (I've many others) that once I hit the Hellenistic age, techs owned by the AI (and not by me) didn't show up during negotiations. When I quite playing last night, 1 of the 25 odd AI civs offered tech trade choices even though I know I should be able to trade with others. Is there some condition that must be met for tech trade in this era?

BTW, has firaxis provied any info to you so you can start converting units and stuff to the civ IV format? It would be great if they let you get started on some of that.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

Yuo can upgrade to 2.5j anytime but it won't affect an inprogress game. I'm pretty certain about that. Best to do a backup of the 2.5i folder just incase it screws with your game however.

All 1st tier techs after the 1st age are untradeable.

Only beta testers would know anything about civ4 formats. We aren't allowed to know who they are however.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Oh... so it's a good thing that my work around was to steal what I needed. I hadn't realized this; it's a nice touch in a fabulous game. My thinking about Civ IV was related to non secret game stuff, just the info that would allow people to start making units and adapting Civ 3 buildings and map items. You should ask firaxis. With TAM to your credit, they might actually tell you something useful. Tell them you will sign a non disclosure.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

There will be plenty of mod makers keeping busy after civ4 comes out. I have no desire to rush into civ4 yet. For all we know, it'll suck. After i get around to buying it (after 1 or 2 patches) i'll be too busy learning & playing it to worry about mods. Thamis on the other hand will probably get right to work on a TAM for civ4.

 

[thamis]

Without needing any special info on CIV4, you can already deduct that you cannot convert units, because CIV4 is a 3D game, and the CIV3 units are 2D animations seen from 8 angles.

But what I can tell you is that there's going to be a TAM for CIV4.

 

[thamis]

Oh, and CIV4 will not suck, believe me.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I can't wait for TAM Civ IV and am glad you have plans for it.

 

[Salamandre]

Basically I have always same problem when trying to play any completed modpack. I am running a french version and always game exit .

While for RAR mod there is a patch for french versions there is not here, which I can understand. What would be a solution? I always get error messages regarding units INI. Do I have to translate every unit and how to do it, or maybe, under a deal with moderators someone can send me their "english " folder units? I know there is a strong rule against it but the non english users always fail to use those powerfull mods because incompatibility language and this is silly.

The units which are missing are the "art/units" folder from CIV vanilla or C3C? I cant figure out where I can begin a translation. For the moment the game exits on "missing settler.ini". Any ideas?


Also that is strange that C3C(french version) comes with units with english names while Vanilla has them in french.
Here you have my screen, it seems that the folder is more than 100 Mo, so is impossible to send by mail. Someone can show here a image of the same folder in english, so I can see how to translate for each unit please? Would help a lot. Thank you. It seems I have to translate only the INI. The others, waw and flc are in english so is OK

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

Here's a screenshot of my units folder. Good luck.

 

[DemisanII]

Very nice mod

 

[Ankenaton]

Knowing that the GrandMaster (Thamis) is working on the TAM mod for Civ IV brings such a feeling of both relief and anticipation. For a moment due to his busy grad student schedule, I thought he would be unable to contribute/create as he has in the past. Of the original group that helped put things together, Thamis is the driving force behind this mod. In fact only a few of the other original contributers seem to be around anymore. Sigh

 

[Salamandre]

Thank you Watorrey, I translated ALL units INI. and folder names but IT PISSES me OFF

I have the same exit on "load error" art/units/settler.ini."

I checked thousand times and every folder in vanilla, PTW contains settler folder and settler.ini. WHY?!


Also when I start a regular game the settler comes as "colon" (settler in french) while "colon" folder were replaced by "settler". Are those things hardcoded?

Beside translating the art/units from vanilla there is something else to look for?


Edit 1 H later I DID IT


The problem is that TAM is looking for units from TAM/ART/UNITS how did you played TAM without settler folder in TAM?


So what I had to do is to copy/paste the UNITS from vanilla to TAM/UNITS folder. Now everything rocks, except my social life for the next week.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

There is a search order for the game. This is defined in the scenario properties. After it searches the defined path, it searches the C3C folder, then the PTW folder, then the vanilla folder till it finds what it needs.

In the case of the settler, it uses the vanilla settler. There is no settler in PTW units folder.

 

[Salamandre]

There is a search order for the game. This is defined in the scenario properties. After it searches the defined path, it searches the C3C folder, then the PTW folder, then the vanilla folder till it finds what it needs.

In the case of the settler, it uses the vanilla settler. There is no settler in PTW units folder.

Hum, seems not to be true. I have settler.ini in vanilla folder but TAM ignores it. After pasting it in TAM/units it works. Strange.


Anyway, thanks for the help, within 2 hours of work I managed to get TAM working with French version. After a first try I restarted with only 15 well spreaded civs to avoid the long interturns later. The barbs are a true headache, and this may be accurate, I enjoy it a lot.

One thing: when meet the myceeneans I etablished embassy. Their capital was building a library. Myself was 5 turns from getting literature, however in F4 screen they didnt have literature, nada.

So I look into editor to hook some bug and I find this at literature: can not be traded.

 

[Micha]

Yes, most techs cannot be traded. This is IMO the best feature of TAM, since it slows down the tech advance without fuddling with the costs. It helps keeping a balance as building libraries really pays of (unlike the vanilla game) and being rich doesn´t neccessarily mean you´re the top of the world (Persia IRL).

Great mod, really!

 

[Salamandre]

Yes, most techs cannot be traded. This is IMO the best feature of TAM, since it slows down the tech advance without fuddling with the costs. It helps keeping a balance as building libraries really pays of (unlike the vanilla game) and being rich doesn´t neccessarily mean you´re the top of the world (Persia IRL).

Great mod, really!

2 untrue statements IMHO:

1)If we play at Emperor/Deity you are screwed without trade

2) Always it was and always will be (unfortunatelly): being rich puts you on the top of the world.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

The only techs that are untradeable are the 1st tier techs in each age after the ancient age.

 

[bloodofages]

Hey Tam..Wouldn't the Empire goverment come early? Since the had Empires all the way back when.

 

[Salamandre]

I never had so many problems playing a mod. (edited later-I play with a french version and this causes problems-folks with english CIV play it! is a MUST)


Leader Middle Age.ini not found. So I keep loading so noone gets a leader.

And now game over, swordman/fortify/wav not found.

I have all those in ALL folders, vanilla, conquest, TAM

I can keep loading for the leader but now , after 16 hours I cant past over the AI who wanna fortify its swordsman

Any ideas why this? I noticed that swordman.flc is different than swordSman.wav, there is a S, is this normal? Where the game looks for those wav please?


The game went great, I respect your choices about not trading most valuable techs, however AI doesnt know to play with no communications and no trade.
So great library is mostly uselles, I got ONE tech from it.


AI doesnt know to search other players if most land is settled, so will do nothing. Well, its like a new game, but a bit dissapointed about AI performance, they dont go war, they dont trade, most of them are broke for no reason. Level/emperor so it should do better.