The Ancient Mediterranean MOD (TAM)

[GIDustin]

Originally posted by Isak

I'm no great big graphics artist, but I'll try and convert a few of the units that are in the Units_32 and see if they can also be used for the Civilopedia (and thus for the Tech Screens) - if not, it's a good thing that GIDustin is hot on this mod too, isn't it

What do you mean by that?

GIDustin

 

[thamis]

Isak:

Yea, please correct the BIC. I probably just forgot it.

Icons:
Nationalism has an icon in the game.
You can take the currency icon for Decadence, I think.
The "Chivalry Shield" for United Defence is fine for me, too.

 

[Isak]

Originally posted by GIDustin


What do you mean by that?

Oh, I just thought I remembered something from a different thread about making a selection of new tech icons available at your website

Thamis: Ok, I'll start right away and hopefully finish some time tonight - do you want me to send the patch to you, or should I modify the Play.bat as well and just upload it? I'm asking because I really haven't looked much at the play.bat yet, so I'm not 100% sure I can update it, but I'll give it a shot if you like.

 

[thamis]

No, please send the update to me (jan.vandercrabben@web.de). I'll do the play.bat. It doesn't need any changes as long as no new files have been added. So if you added anything, just tell me which files you added.

Then I'll create a Setup program that installs it with all the sub-directories (will only work for Windows users). I'll also post a ZIP for those who like doing things by hand and those fortunate ones who own a Mac.

Again: Is there anyone here who's able to create a setup program for the MAC?

Isak, again thanks a lot for doing all this work!

 

[Verence]

Just a small correction to an early post.
Viriato was Lusitan or Lusitano if you will
and if you were to trace his people to our days he would be portuguese, not spanish.

 

[thamis]

Verence:

Well, we the Celtiberians Spanish, anyway? ;-)
Isn't the gothic reign in Toledo and the Moorish reign in Sevilla shape Spain more than the celtiberians did?

Still, thanks for the correction. We are just working on adding the leaderheads, so if you have a good picture of him, send it to me or Isak. The one we have now sucks. :-(

 

[Seabass]

Have you considered marine skilled units for all civs? The problem I have run into is civs building cities on those one square islands. I have no way to attack them. My other suggestion to aid in attacking these would be to have the fire galleys be able to bombard cities. One easy work around would be to make all islands at least 2 squares and hope they keep all units inside the city.

I can't wait for the new update!

 

[sapon]

Is there a list of all the city Improvements and what they do or thier equivilents? Thanks

I also noticed that the Hun's have a modern city graphic in the migration era.

I'm not sure if this is just something I'm missing as I've never played against alot of civs but I cannot access certain civ's in the diplomacy screen. Thier heads do not appear. Furthermore the heads have modern graphics once they enter the migration era.

 

[thamis]

No, there's no list yet. I'll make one - no problem.

I forgot that the Huns have asian city graphics and I never changed them. Oops. Will be no issue in the next update.

There'll be an all-new set of leaderheads in our next update.

If you have more than n civ's (don't know the exact number) you can't see them all. Firaxis did something about it in the last patch, I don't know. There's a small button somewhere or something like that. Because I had a slow computer before I never played with more than 8 civs either.

 

[thamis]

Communication Trading

Don't you think that communication trading was a cool thing in SMAC but is totally unrealistic in CIV? I mean, in the ancient times you actually had to go discover the civ to have any relations, you couldn't just ring them up!

I'm thinking of removing communication trading in this mod. What do you think?

 

[Copernicus]

I think that disabling communication trading is a great idea - I had no idea you could even do that. This could have a huge impact on the game, slowing tech trading, luxury trading, etc. It would open up new strategies - like preventing your hated enemies the Romans from having access to the scientific advances of the Babylonians...

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to be a middle man with luxuries. Historically, controlling trade routes was a way for an otherwise weak nation to become powerful (e.g., Venice). If you could trade/purchase extra luxuries from a civ, then you could resell them to other civs...etc etc. Now that I think about it, that would be a fun feature.

Anyway, I'm excited about this mod, and I think your idea is a great one - I may start a game tonight and disable communication trading just to see what happens.

 

[sapon]

Thamis, your right ancient civ's didn't have fast access to technologies from other civ's unless they were in direct contact. However, there was significant trade among the ancient civs and they traded knowledge as well. I remember reading about maritime warfare and how the Romans used Carthaginian and Grecian ships as models since they had no naval warfare technology in the beginning. Furthermore I don't think each civilization always or even mostly independently developed it's technologies, but emulated what their people saw while trading and even studying in other civ's.

That said, I do think it's unrealistic for say Celtic tribes in Britain to learn masonry from the Egyptians in one game turn. I wish there was a way to allow tech trades only with civ's you border or set some timer so it would take x turns before the tech was tradable. I have no idea if this is possible though.

Keep up the great work.

 

[thamis]

Well, if you can't trade communication, then you can only trade one to one (at least in the early ages). You have to discover every civ yourself before you can trade. Therefore, Egypt can only trade with Carthage, Babylon, Phoenicia (etc), unless it either built a ship and sailed to Europe or took the long route over the Caucasian Mts.

 

[Ad Hominem]

Great idea, folks. In an ancient mod, disabling instant spread of tech via communication, is a must-have.

btw Thamis, when is the next update up? I really like it so far, but I would like to see what our feedback (and your creativity) has brought up in the last days.

You are doing a great job so far, keep it up

 

[thamis]

Ahh... Ad Hominem! Has been a while since I heard from you!

Isak & me are working hard on this update.

If anyone wants to play-test it, send me an eMail. Please only do so if you know what you're doing. I'm not going to support play-testing. Also expect some bugs. I think we'll send out the first (untested) version within the next 3 days.

 

[Copernicus]

Someone in another forum had an interesting idea a few months ago. (Unfortunately, I don't remember who, but let this be their due credit.) Their idea was to make settlers wheeled. For an ancient mod, I think this would be a great addition. Mountains and Jungles would become the geographic boundaries that they were historically. The extra time it would take to settle across jungles or mountains would be simulated by the necessity of constructing a road first.

What I really like about it is that it gives the scenario designer the ability to control the AIs and to provide varied starting positions for humans. For instance, it would be fun to play from a small, hemmed in resource-rich area, and then to play again from a large resource-poor area.

 

[thamis]

Hmm... interesting idea.

But, looking at the geography of this MOD, wouldn't it be too drastic? I mean, this would mean that it is impossible for Asia & Africa to settle in Europe at all... Well, actually, good idea! In my games I always had the problem that Babylon was f***ing strong because they settled into the vast areas north of the Caucasian Mts. (or is it Caucasus in English?). Yea, I'll do that.

 

[thamis]

Newsletter

If you're interested in getting a newsletter on new updates of this MOD, send an eMail to me.

 

[Lares]

Perhaps you could alter the map leaving some passes open in the mountain regions. This should give the game even more strategic possibilities. Think of an early conquest of this strategic spots by any minor asian civ, stopping "peaceful" Babylonian and Persian advance into this region.

 

[thamis]

Hmm... interesting idea! I'll do that.