The future of Fall from Heaven

[The_J]

Moderator Action: Thread unstickied.
Because it doesn't really have a purpose anymore and there are a ton of stickies in this subforum.
If you have arguments why this shouldn't have happened, then please send me a PM.

 

[MilkmanDan]

I wonder if the team has thought of doing a kickstarter for this. As old as this thread is it's unlikely the group is still in touch. But given the successful funding of other game projects through it, it's at least a possible way of getting it done.

 

[Calavente]

well, considering that Kael and Co always said they didn't want money on this mod...
(they would have raised quite a bit if only they asked for ^^ ; many people wanted to)

this seems unlikely...

 

[A_Hamster]

Kael has commitments to Stardock now. It's unlikely that he has time for side projects like FfH.

 

[JonathanStrange]

The "future" it seems lies elsewhere for fantasy strategy - in games like Kael's Fallen Enchantress or in Warlock Master of the Arcane. But things can change. Either way, we'll still have FFH2 and the Ljosalfar forest, the Hippus plains, the Infernal burnt lands, the...

 

[thecougarbear]

It's really too bad that development is not as active as it used to be. This mod changed the way I play video games. Even though I have never really been all that involved with the community, I check this forum weekly to see if any new news is out.

Does anyone have any recommendations on ways to freshen up the game? Which modmods do you all prefer?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

A lot of people consider Tholal's More Naval AI to be the new standard version of FfH2. It has gameoptions to allow revolutions, puppet states, and advanced tactics, but with those off it is pretty much just base FfH2 with a much better AI and the interface enhancements of the BUG mod.


Personally my favorite is still my own version. Magister Modmod 2012 incorporates everything from More Naval AI and adds quite a bit, but unlike any of the other major mods it stays faithful to the canonical lore (even more so than normal FfH in some ways).

You might want to wait a few days before trying my modmod though, as I'll probably release another update soon. It won't be a major revision, but there are some things I decided to change in the process of making sure all the scenarios are compatible.

 

[BobCW]

Check out Erebus in the Balance (EitB).



Built by Sareln of the Realms Beyond civilization community, it is intended to adjust various aspects of FFH to make it more suitable for competitive multiplayer games, but it works just as well for single player. It also integrates an earlier version of Tholal's mod, before he started adding new game mechanics to it. The overall design principle for EitB is to avoid adding brand new content to FFH while changing the original's numerous imbalances.



While you're at it, check out some of the MP games at RB- competing against fellow fans is a great way to freshen an otherwise stale experience. To the best of my knowledge, RB is the only website which runs publicly-reported FFH games, and possibly by this point hosts the largest concentration of active FFH fans on the web.

 

[Calavente]

of FFH purist if you will
because there is/was a great concentration of FFH fans at the MoM forum
but if, for you MoM is not FFH anymore... then you might be right.

 

[Tasunke]

For me both Rife and MoM have left the "essence" of FFH2, however I may try them out as games unto themselves later on.

I would say the primary mods to try are Tholal's More Naval AI mod and Erebus in the Balance.

these are both relative baselines.

For some more flavor, either Magister Cultuum's mod, or some version of my own mod yet floating around, may be your fancy. I believe MC's mod is much more refined at this point, due to my own lack of updates ... however I did have a full version of the mod uploaded at one point, with a vastly expanded (and awesome! ) soundtrack. This particular file, although large, doesn't need any other version of FFH2 to run, but instead only needs Beyond the Sword.

 

[thecougarbear]

Thank you all for the input! I'll certainly check out some of the modmods you mentioned.

As for multiplayer: I've never really looked into how it works on Civ. I assume that it involves downloading and uploading saved games? I've been reading some Divine Intervention AARs and that is how those seem to work. I think I would be more apt to try my hand at being a mortal in a DI before playing multiplayer, though.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. It's cool to see that people are still into this mod. I hope that doesn't end any time soon.

 

[A Moon]

That's one way of doing it, but you can host games and play live with people as well.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

head to the Fallen Enchantress forums, Kael is lead designer there so it's worth a check

 

[BobCW]

As for multiplayer: I've never really looked into how it works on Civ. I assume that it involves downloading and uploading saved games? I've been reading some Divine Intervention AARs and that is how those seem to work. I think I would be more apt to try my hand at being a mortal in a DI before playing multiplayer, though.

There's a few different ways to play FFH MP.


The most common way (at least at Realms Beyond) are Play By Email (PBEM) games. Pretty simple to set up, a player or a volunteer map maker chooses the game settings, and then generates the first save. The turn cycles through players in order from first to last team, with each player loading the save file (like you'd load a saved SP game), playing their turn, ending turn, and then manually emailing the automatically generated save file to whoever is next in the play order.



You can also play FFH games using Pitboss, where the game is hosted on a private server and players are free to log in and out of the game as they see fit. Turns can be timed, so that players have a limited amount of time to play before the turn automatically ends and rolls over. Pitboss can be either sequential, where players go one after another like a PBEM (but join the server instead of loading a save received via email), or simultaneous, where all players are free to log in at any time. Pitboss does not work with regular FFH, but EitB and I think some other mods make it viable.


Finally, you can use Gamespy to host sequential or simultaneous games. The service is unreliable however, and often some players will be able to join the game while for others it won't even appear in the lobby. Summoning Hyborem or Basium or playing with AI also has been known to kill games through Out of Sync errors.

 

[fdrpi]

In case you read this Kael, I think Fall From Heaven would make a great MMO. There is such a large world with so many different aspects it is hard to put them all into one game or story without leaving massive swaths unseen and untouched. With an MMO, you could explore and see all of it and still be a part of the story and chose your sides/civ. The story would explode around you.

 

[thecougarbear]

There's a few different ways to play FFH MP.


The most common way (at least at Realms Beyond) are Play By Email (PBEM) games. Pretty simple to set up, a player or a volunteer map maker chooses the game settings, and then generates the first save. The turn cycles through players in order from first to last team, with each player loading the save file (like you'd load a saved SP game), playing their turn, ending turn, and then manually emailing the automatically generated save file to whoever is next in the play order.



You can also play FFH games using Pitboss, where the game is hosted on a private server and players are free to log in and out of the game as they see fit. Turns can be timed, so that players have a limited amount of time to play before the turn automatically ends and rolls over. Pitboss can be either sequential, where players go one after another like a PBEM (but join the server instead of loading a save received via email), or simultaneous, where all players are free to log in at any time. Pitboss does not work with regular FFH, but EitB and I think some other mods make it viable.


Finally, you can use Gamespy to host sequential or simultaneous games. The service is unreliable however, and often some players will be able to join the game while for others it won't even appear in the lobby. Summoning Hyborem or Basium or playing with AI also has been known to kill games through Out of Sync errors.

How hard is it to actually engage with the multiplayer community? Is it as easy as starting a thread saying, "Hey! I want to get into a PBEM or DI game!"?

 

[BobCW]

I imagine it depends on which of the Civ communities you want to approach.


I've only ever played multiplayer Civ / FFH at RB, so I can't really speak to other sites. At RB, it's as simple as creating a thread in the Civ General Discussions forum stating something like "I'm looking to start a new FFH PBEM game, my preferences for settings are X, Y and Z, anyone interested"? Then you wait until 3-5 more people join your game, vote on settings find a map-maker (if you don't just want to have it randomly generated), and that's about it. The Admin T-Hawk can create a new subforum for your game once it gets running, and in it you are encouraged to create your own spoiler thread, should you feel so inclined. Alternatively, if somebody else has already proposed a new PBEM, just post in the thread that you're interested in playing, and then remember to vote on settings and post your email address (for save forwarding) and best playing times (for player order).


There haven't been any new FFH PBEM at RB for a over a month- same for BTS PBEM. I think it's mostly due to the fact that there are currently 4 FFH PBEM still running, 6 BTS games, 1 Planetfall PBEM, and one other Planetfall PBEM currently forming. So the present player pool may be mostly tied up with other commitments- but there's no danger proposing a new game anyway




If you want to propose a Divine Intervention game or some other sort of SG on RB, feel free to do that as well. You are probably more likely to receive greater interest at Civfanatics, but a better play pace at RB if you can get enough people interested.



Reddit has an active FFH Pitboss community, but I don't know much more about it.

 

[thecougarbear]

Thanks for all your help/explanations! This is the most adult web community that I've found.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I just thought that I'd mention in case you were postponing trying my modmod as per my advice, that the new version was released early yesterday. So far I had had 28 downloads but zero comments, which I hope can be taken as evidence of its stability.

 

[thecougarbear]

I just thought that I'd mention in case you were postponing trying my modmod as per my advice, that the new version was released early yesterday. So far I had had 28 downloads but zero comments, which I hope can be taken as evidence of its stability.

Ah, sweet! I'm holding off until I finish my current game on vanilla FfH2. I'm pretty deep into a role playing game that I've created all sorts of history and lore for, but as soon as I am finished with it I'll check out your modmod (and leave you a comment ).

EDIT: That is if I don't get sucked into a DI game first