The Israel Mod

[Steb]

Greetings and shalom,

Israel has been suggested over and over again as an addition for DoC, and for good reason: it has importance in modern geopolitics that is not currently represented, and it is different from all other civs. After I visited the country last summer, I decided I might try modding seriously for the first time, and that adding Israel would be an ideal task. I thus present to you the Israel Mod for DoC.

The mod is currently available on git. I suggest you follow Merijn's instructions to install the mod and keep it updated. Use this URL: https://github.com/etiennefd/Dawn-of-Civilization.git

Alternatively, you can download (clone) my israel git branch from this link. Then put it in your mod folders as if you were downloading DoC, backup your main DoC folder by changing its name, and rename the new mod "RFC Dawn of Civilization". This is a less optimal solution but might be simpler if you're not used to git.

As of writing this, the israel branch is up-to-date with Leoreth's main git branch, and I plan to keep it so at least until the release of DoC 1.15. After 1.15 is released, I'll release a stable 1.15 israel mod too.

Features

• New civilization: Israel
  • Spawns in 1948 at Jerusalem
  • Leader: Ben-Gurion
  • UB: Kibbutz (replaces park, provides extra food and Great People points)
  • UU: Merkava (replaces main battle tank, requires no resources, 50% withdrawal chance)
  • UP: The Power of Aliyah - Extra food, production and commerce in your capital for every Jewish city with open borders; immigration from Jewish cities at war
  • UHV:
    • Samson Option: Build an ICBM by 1980
    • Start-up Nation: Have the city with the highest research output in 2000
    • By Stratagem You Wage War: Create 2 Great Spies
• Modifications to the scripts that create the Jewish diaspora
  • Diaspora migrations stop after 1948
  • New script for North American diaspora (between 1800 and 1948)
  • Maghreb added to European diaspora
  • Ethiopia added to Middle-Eastern diaspora

The mod is not completely polished, but it is mostly done and is fully playable (though bugs are not out of the question, of course). I played a few games as Israel (haven't won the UHV yet) and a few as other civs to look at the behavior of AI Israel, but more testing would be good. Here what still needs to be done (any help appreciated!):

To-do list

• Find unique art for the Kibbutz

• Possibly add an Israeli wonder (Baha'i Gardens or Shrine of the Book)

• Possibly some more dynamic names

Here's the best part of this post:

Screenshots!

Spoiler :

Israel declaring independence in 1948 within a hostile Ottoman Empire:

The population of Israel grows as Jews flee enemy Turkey:

Merkava in action:

Meeting Ben-Gurion:

Any discussion is very much appreciated, as are bug reports, suggestions, etc. You can also check out 1SDAN's merge of this mod with other civilization modules (Australia, South Africa) by Merijn_v1.

Finally, I thank everyone on this forum whose discussions and ideas provided the basis for this mod.

Spoiler Other credits :

esnaz for their Israel mod
sharick for the Merkava
clanky4 for Ben-Gurion (Cethegus for the upload)

 

[Novicenoble]

How about conditional spawn condition related to the Ottoman Empire or possible nearby empire? I think it would be weird if Israel spawns while Turks are still strong.

 

[Genghis Khaiser]

How about conditional spawn condition related to the Ottoman Empire or possible nearby empire? I think it would be weird if Israel spawns while Turks are still strong.

Actually, Turks tend to be very strong, especially in the 1700 AD scenario, so this is good for all.

 

[Steb]

I don't see a strong case for a conditional spawn. It would make things more complicated for no real benefit. Just imagine that Zionist immigration happens in all scenarios, and that the Jewish population reaches a threshold for declaring independence in 1948, no matter the politics of the surrounding areas.

 

[soul-breathing]

How about merge it with Modern Greece and Modern Egypt? The name of the modmod could be "Rhye's and Fall of Ottoman"

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/new-civilization-patch-modern-greece.531909/ Modern Greece by Qiu in DoC 1.11

 

[cmakk1012]

How about merge it with Modern Greece and Modern Egypt? The name of the modmod could be "Rhye's and Fall of Ottoman"

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/new-civilization-patch-modern-greece.531909/ Modern Greece by Qiu in DoC 1.11

In the future of uncoupled civs (from slots) this could be in the base mod—I’d add a Babylon respawn as Iraq too.

 

[Pavel Chichikov]

Cool! I've wondered when somebody would make something like this.

Actually, Turks tend to be very strong, especially in the 1700 AD scenario, so this is good for all.

Yeah, ridiculously so, actually. In most of my games they're usually the no.1 power right into the modern age, with American AI performance being particularly underwhelming.

Screenshots!

Spoiler :

Israel declaring independence in 1948 within a hostile Ottoman Empire:
View attachment 486236
The population of Israel grows as Jews flee enemy Turkey: View attachment 486237
Merkava in action: View attachment 486238
Meeting Ben-Gurion: View attachment 486239

Later I'll post some design comments. Any discussion is very much appreciated, as are bug reports, suggestions, etc.

Finally, I thank everyone on this forum whose discussions and ideas provided the basis for this mod.

Spoiler Other credits :

esnaz for their Israel mod
sharick for the Merkava
clanky4 for Ben-Gurion (Cethegus for the upload)

I think though, to really do the county's disproportionate influence justice, you need a more ambitious UHV with a stronger power, something espionage related.
Implementing a sort of one-city challenge with a massive espionage bonus is always how I envisioned Israel to be, especially as there are no real Spy-orientated UHV's except partially for Russia.

UHV dates and requirements

Just snowballing here:

- Steal 10 Techs [Jonathan Pollard etc.]
- Influence the Civics of the 3 top Civilisations by 1990 AD [Israel lobby etc.]
- Become the strongest State in the Middle-East without conquering a City [I think this could have some potential, could really replicate all sorts of shenanigans in the hands of a skilled player]
- Have 7 Civilisations declare War on each other by Diplomacy by 2000 AD [This could probably go into the above goal]

Tweak UP effects

What about the Aliyah power contributing Great People points instead of population? More useful that way.

 

[cmakk1012]

Yeah, ridiculously so, actually. In most of my games they're usually the no.1 power right into the modern age, with American AI performance being particularly underwhelming.

Should their stability map be smaller? Just because they held certain places doesn’t mean they were stable—much of the Balkans comes to mind.

 

[Zaddy]

Should their stability map be smaller? Just because they held certain places doesn’t mean they were stable—much of the Balkans comes to mind.

The Ottomans held these places for more than 400 years, and they were an integral part of the Ottoman Empire for most of it's history. Also, given that the Ottomans has a smaller core than Byzantium while also having a larger maximum extent, the Ottoman's stability map does not need a nerf IMO. Even some places that probably should be part of their stab map (Tripoli, Algiers) are foreign, although this is arguably appropriate. For what it's worth, in 1700 AD starts I see the Ottomans regularly collapse to core, and before doing so they maintain reasonable tech parity but are by no means the monster they used to be. And 1700 AD is BY FAR my most played start date. What really kills them is the massive nerf to late-game population scaling.

 

[Pavel Chichikov]

Are you using the SDK version? Most I usually see is them losing North Africa to a Moorish respawn.
I've thought about making an RFC 1948 scenario for a while now, I always assumed Israel would use the Byzantine slot. Babylon as Iraq of course. Phoenicia as... Libya? Syria? Idk.

back on topic..

 

[soul-breathing]

Are you using the SDK version? Most I usually see is them losing North Africa to a Moorish respawn.
I've thought about making an RFC 1948 scenario for a while now, I always assumed Israel would use the Byzantine slot. Babylon as Iraq of course. Phoenicia as... Libya? Syria? Idk.

back on topic..

Phoenicia as Algeria, Moor as Morocco, Byzantine as Romania, Israel is just Israel.

And curious about how to show the civil war in China and Korea, especially North and South Korea are 2 different countries till now.

 

[merijn_v1]

In the future of uncoupled civs (from slots) this could be in the base mod—I’d add a Babylon respawn as Iraq too.

That is currently already possible. The whole point of uncoupling the civs from slots is that those modern civs do not have to be a respawn of a civ, but instead spawn as a regular civ.

 

[KeeperOT7Keys]

The Ottomans held these places for more than 400 years, and they were an integral part of the Ottoman Empire for most of it's history. Also, given that the Ottomans has a smaller core than Byzantium while also having a larger maximum extent, the Ottoman's stability map does not need a nerf IMO. Even some places that probably should be part of their stab map (Tripoli, Algiers) are foreign, although this is arguably appropriate. For what it's worth, in 1700 AD starts I see the Ottomans regularly collapse to core, and before doing so they maintain reasonable tech parity but are by no means the monster they used to be. And 1700 AD is BY FAR my most played start date. What really kills them is the massive nerf to late-game population scaling.

considering moors have a corsair special unit, I think in the game northern africa territories of ottomans is supposed to shown with a moor vassal

 

[Steb]

I think though, to really do the county's disproportionate influence justice, you need a more ambitious UHV with a stronger power, something espionage related.
Implementing a sort of one-city challenge with a massive espionage bonus is always how I envisioned Israel to be, especially as there are no real Spy-orientated UHV's except partially for Russia.

Just snowballing here:

- Steal 10 Techs [Jonathan Pollard etc.]
- Influence the Civics of the 3 top Civilisations by 1990 AD [Israel lobby etc.]
- Become the strongest State in the Middle-East without conquering a City [I think this could have some potential, could really replicate all sorts of shenanigans in the hands of a skilled player]
- Have 7 Civilisations declare War on each other by Diplomacy by 2000 AD [This could probably go into the above goal]

What about the Aliyah power contributing Great People points instead of population? More useful that way.

Thanks for your input. I assume you haven't actually tried the mod yet. The power of Aliyah is actually very powerful at the moment, providing +1 , +1 and +1 per Jewish city with open borders (the immigration part is much less useful and more for flavor). If you manage to open borders with most civs with Jewish cities, that can amount to huge bonuses and turn Jerusalem into a powerhouse. And then with the extra food you can get specialists and GP points—there's no shortage of Great People in an Israeli game.

I've been thinking about nerfing the UP—perhaps divide the bonuses by 2, or remove one of the three types of yields (though I don't know which one). But at the same time, the game is challenging even with it. The idea for the UP came from trying to think of how an Israeli game, which is essentially a quasi-OCC in the modern age, could be interesting. I realized that one of the reasons Israel is successful, despite its poor geographic situation, is that it gets a lot of international support and immigration from Jewish communities and allied countries such as the United States. Therefore I designed a UP that would (1) represent this support; (2) make a OCC viable; and (3) encourage strategies that would rely mostly on one city (the UP doesn't affect other cities).

As for the UHV, I'd like to get input from people who've tried it before changing it. Some of the goals you suggest are basically more constrained versions of the current Great Spy goal. I like the current goal because it gives you a lot of freedom as to how to use your spies, instead of insisting that you steal techs or whatever other task. It's also quite challenging; I haven't won it yet (though that might be because I suck at using espionnage).

 

[Leoreth]

I think the UP is great and couldn't think of a better one. It's powerful and reflects real life events while being easy to understand and interact with.

 

[soul-breathing]

I've tried Israel in 1700 scenerio in regent, normal. The UHV3 I think is too difficult, and Russia is too powerful, it launched spaceship in about 1975.

Most of this modmod works well, just the UHV3 and powerful Russia maybe need to adjust.

 

[Mouthwash]

I've tried Israel in 1700 scenerio in regent, normal. The UHV3 I think is too difficult, and Russia is too powerful, it launched spaceship in about 1975.

Most of this modmod works well, just the UHV3 and powerful Russia maybe need to adjust.

You mean the second one? I don't think Russia launching a spaceship has much to do with creating great spies.

 

[soul-breathing]

You mean the second one? I don't think Russia launching a spaceship has much to do with creating great spies.

When they launch spaceship in 1975, that means Russia could get victory in 1985. In any case, Israel is impossible to create 3 great spies before it.

 

[Mouthwash]

If Russia is consistently achieving interstellar travel by the 70's, that's a problem by itself, no?

 

[Steb]

Russia achieving space victory in 1985 would be an issue with the base mod. I've seen both the Americans and the Russians send spaceships, though not as early as 1975. I suppose the Israeli UHV also comprises the hidden condition that you must achieve it before anyone else wins. (Might useful to use those spies to sabotage the AI's spaceship production?)

I also think the Great Spy goal was too ambitious. I have reduced the goal to 2 Great Spies and removed the time limit (updated on git).