WesW
Creator of the Medmod
Hello everyone. This is an updated and expanded version of the Medmod VI, for the Gods and Kings expansion. I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.
The Medmod VI for G&K v.2
Improved AI performance, smoother gameflow, more realistic combat and better overall balance are the aims of this comprehensive mod.
AI development- Settings for roads and tile development have been set to high.
Construction costs- Units and buildings now cost 20% more to build, except for the most basic items such as Monuments and Warriors. This helps to offset the increased production from improved resources given by the mod. This, combined with the new religious structures, means that you rarely run out of things to build, and must make continuous choices between competing needs.
In addition, the costs of modern units, basically from Infantry on up, have been increased by another 20% or so.
Units and Combat
Stacks- Up to five units may now be stacked on the same tile.
Eras- Eight new unit classes have been added to the game. Each era now has both melee and ranged infantry and mounted units, up through the Modern Era. Unique units have been drafted to fill in the holes in the existing unit lineup.
The new units are Horse Archers (Huns), Mounted Archers (Keshik), Dragoons (Hussars), Tercio (Spanish), Cuirassiers (Hakka.), Fusiliers (Caroleans), Skirmishers (Foreign Legion) and Snipers (Mehal Sefari). These new vanilla units have been stripped of their unique abilities, so as not to take away from the unique units.
In addition to the new units, Musketmen, Riflemen, Cavalry, Hussars, Legionnaires, Anti-Tank Guns, Mehal Sefari and Gunships are now ranged units.
Also, several units, both unique and vanilla, have been moved to different eras. Please check out the Tech Chart for an overview.
Combat strengths have been modified somewhat to allow for the new units. (Classical Age units are a little less powerful, while Modern Age units are a little more powerful.)
Experience levels reduced from 10 to 7. You now receive bonuses at 7, 21, 42, 70, etc.
Combat damage has been increased by 50% per melee engagement, and 25% per ranged engagement, which gives results about like the original game. This was done primarily to keep barbarians from pillaging your improvements before you could destroy them.
Promotions have been raised from 15 back to 20 percent for open and rough terrains, as has the Great General bonus. Naval promotions have also been upped to 20%.
Obsoletion- Except for unique units, units now go obsolete when their immediate successors become available, to keep the AI from continuing to build obsolete units. The exception was made for unique units so that you can have the option of continuing to produce them for their abilities, and immediately upgrade them if you like.
Cities
The insertion of stacks into the game means that it is now much easier to mass your units and quickly take cities. Therefore, city defense and attack have been strengthened. Walls and the like now give more protection and hit points, city ranged attack strength has been increased by 50%, and garrisoned units now add 25% of their strength to city defense, up from 20%.
Capturing a city only loses 25% of its population.
Mounted units
Mounted units have the Shock I promotion to complement their city attack penalty, to represent their traditional strengths and weaknesses.
Siamese War Elephants have been reduced in strength, but get the Shock 2 bonus to compensate.
Forest Elephants receive the Shock 2 bonus as well.
Camel Archers now have a 50% defensive bonus versus mounted units. (Horses don't like the smell of camels.)
Lancers have been reduced in relative strength, but now receive a flanking bonus ala Hussars.
Bows
Horse Archers have no special abilities, while Mtd. Bowmen can move after firing, and Keshiks can now move to avoid melee attacks, making them harder than ever to destroy.
Longbowmen have lost their range bonus, but gain the indirect fire ability, plus a 50% defensive bonus versus mounted units. (They used stakes to shield themselves from cavalry charges.)
Naval units
Later naval units have been increased in strength somewhat, to better withstand bombardment from land units.
Embarked units now have a visibility range of 1.
Battleships now have 5 movement.
Missile Cruisers and Carriers can now carry one more missile and plane, respectively.
Caravels now have 6 movement.
Dromons now have an attack range of 1. (Greek Fire is obviously a short-range weapon.)
Misc.
Barbarian units and camps now spawn somewhat less often.
Gatling and Machine Guns must set up prior to firing, to emphasize their use as defensive units, and both now have a range of 2.
Anti-Aircraft guns and SAMs can no longer attack ground units.
The Medic promotions now also heal units in the same tile as the medic.
Landships and Tanks have lost one movement point.
Panzers now begin with the Blitz promotion.
Modern Armor now requires Oil, while Rocket Artillery no longer requires Aluminum.
Fusiliers have a bonus versus cavalry due to their bayonets. (Historically, pikemen didn't entirely disappear from the battlefield until the development of the socket bayonet in the 18th century.)
The Longswordsman has been re-named the Man-at-Arms and Cavalry have been re-named Carabiniers.
Legions and Rocket Artillery now have 3 movement.
Peace treaties now last 15 turns, since the AI now declares war more frequently.
Great Prophets now have the Unwelcome Evangelist promotion, and the promotion now takes away a third of the unit's strength per turn. (No longer will Prophets be able to convert your cities with impunity.)
Terrain and Growth
Cities now take 25% more food to grow, since the timeline is longer compared to the default game. I also set things so that 90% of the time civs should start the game next to a river.
Flat terrain no longer carries a defense penalty, except for Marsh. Hills now give a 33% bonus to units and a 25% bonus to cities.
Iron is now revealed with Mining, so you'll know early on where you need to go. (or if you're screwed and need to start a new game)
Flood Plains now give an extra food, and Forests give +1 prod. and -1 food. (No more wooded hills that give the same output as grassland.)
Oases may now be improved.
The cost of buying plots has been reduced by 10 gold.
Resources and Improvements
Undeveloped resources now give a base 1 bonus (Base 1= 1 food, 1 prod. or 2 gold), and improving resources now gives a Base 2 bonus. (Thus an improved resource gives a base 3 bonus versus plain, undeveloped land.) In addition, bonuses have been added where necessary to ensure that each improvement type receives a base 2 total bonus from buildings and/or technology.
Oil Wells and Platforms now give 5 prod.
Forts and Citadels give +1 and +2 prod., respectively. (Forts are meant to take the place of Civ 4's workshop improvement.)
Strategic resource exhaustion penalty reduced to 33%.
Trading Posts now give 2 gold, with a third added at Economics and 1 production added at Steam Power. (Since the AI is hellbent on constructing nothing but Posts in the late-game, they might as well be worth building.)
Copper is now treated the same as Iron in regards to development and requirement for Forges.
Incense now gives 2 extra gold.
Buildings
The cost of purchasing buildings has been reduced by about 30%, in order to try and make gold resources more competitive with production tiles. (The old settings had 1 prod. equal to about 3.5 gold, which is way too much.)
Harbors now give 2 culture and plus 25% gold in addition to their existing effects, to simulate the effects of trade.
Seaports give two culture, plus each sea tile gives +1 gold, in addition to their existing effects. (Imo, coastal cities were totally shafted with the elimination of trade routes, and this is my way of trying to bring them back to their historical significance.)
The Garden has been re-named the Public Park, which increases happiness by 3 and is available with Biology. The Theatre picks up the Garden's Great People ability. Note that the Theatre's Great Person effect isn't accounted for in the pop-up that shows the progress rate until Person creation, but I am sure that it is working.
Mints now improve Gems as well, so that they are as valuable as gold and silver.
Ironworks require a Forge and only give 6 prod., but add 2 prod. to each source of Iron and Copper, so you'll want to build them in cities with multiple sources of these resources.
Banks now give +3 gold in addition to their normal effect.
Factories now add 1 prod. to each source of Coal and Aluminum.
Hydro Plants now give an additional bonus of 1 gold to river tiles.
Military Bases now give 15 experience.
Windmills and Factories give 4 and 8 production, respectively, while the costs of Stables and Forges has been reduced to 80.
Coffee Houses now give 4 gold.
Happiness
Unhappy growth penalty reduced to 50%, and very unhappy production penalty reduced to 33%.
National Wonders
Required number of buildings has been changed from "all cities" to between 4 and 6, and the increase in cost per city has been reduced by about half. Now expansionist civs should have some chance to build them at a reasonable cost. Note that the code went screwy when I started messing with it, so the number required and cost are only estimates.
World Wonders
The Chichen Itza's effect has been reduced to 30%. (It was just too powerful if someone like the Persians got it.)
Policies
Piety and Planned Economy only give 50% bonuses to the construction of their respective buildings.
Communism now adds +4 to city production, but nothing to mines and quarries.
Oligarchy only increases city attacks by 50%.
Specialists
Engineers give 3 prod., and Merchants give 4 gold. (The AI loves specialists, so I gave them more value to match the production of tiles.)
Civ bonuses
English Golden Ages now last 30% longer, ala the Persians (see Elizabeth: The Golden Age).
The Turks now have a 40% chance of converting land barbarians, ala the Germans (see origin of Janissaries).
Persia's GA bonus has been reduced to 30%, as has Gandhi's population unhappiness bonus.
France's culture bonus has been reduced to 1.
Technologies
Tech costs have been increased significantly, from small Ancient-era changes up to a tripling in cost by the Modern Age. I am very pleased with the way that tech progresses now, and I think you will be, too.
Culture
Growth in the cost of later tiles reduced a little. Again, this has worked out quite well in my games.
Also, culture growth should now acquire hills, forests and flood plains as easily as flatlands, and, hopefully, river tiles easiest of all.
City-states
Cultural and Religious CS's now give more culture and faith, respectively.
Also, killing Barbs and gifting units give more influence.
Great Generals
After some research, I decided to replace several of the GG's in the game, so be on the lookout for Hannibal, Frederick the Great, Wellington, the Duke of Marlborough and others. Also, GG's now have 3 movement and +1 sight, while Great Admirals have 6 movement.
About the Medmod series: The Medieval Mod series started out in 1999 with a small mod to address some issues in the medieval period of the game Civilization: Call-to-Power, and eventually grew to encompass the entire game. As things worked out, I kept the name Medmod for the name recognition not only for that mod, but all my mods. For my work on CtP I and II, I was inducted into the Apolyton HoF a few years back.
Next I went on to the Total War series' Medieval edition, and the Medmod IV, or WesMod as some knew it, again earned me HoF recognition, this time at TotalWar.org. Since then I have continued to mod games, though none were nearly as big a project as these early works.
The Medmod VI for G&K v.2
Improved AI performance, smoother gameflow, more realistic combat and better overall balance are the aims of this comprehensive mod.
AI development- Settings for roads and tile development have been set to high.
Construction costs- Units and buildings now cost 20% more to build, except for the most basic items such as Monuments and Warriors. This helps to offset the increased production from improved resources given by the mod. This, combined with the new religious structures, means that you rarely run out of things to build, and must make continuous choices between competing needs.
In addition, the costs of modern units, basically from Infantry on up, have been increased by another 20% or so.
Units and Combat
Stacks- Up to five units may now be stacked on the same tile.
Eras- Eight new unit classes have been added to the game. Each era now has both melee and ranged infantry and mounted units, up through the Modern Era. Unique units have been drafted to fill in the holes in the existing unit lineup.
The new units are Horse Archers (Huns), Mounted Archers (Keshik), Dragoons (Hussars), Tercio (Spanish), Cuirassiers (Hakka.), Fusiliers (Caroleans), Skirmishers (Foreign Legion) and Snipers (Mehal Sefari). These new vanilla units have been stripped of their unique abilities, so as not to take away from the unique units.
In addition to the new units, Musketmen, Riflemen, Cavalry, Hussars, Legionnaires, Anti-Tank Guns, Mehal Sefari and Gunships are now ranged units.
Also, several units, both unique and vanilla, have been moved to different eras. Please check out the Tech Chart for an overview.
Combat strengths have been modified somewhat to allow for the new units. (Classical Age units are a little less powerful, while Modern Age units are a little more powerful.)
Experience levels reduced from 10 to 7. You now receive bonuses at 7, 21, 42, 70, etc.
Combat damage has been increased by 50% per melee engagement, and 25% per ranged engagement, which gives results about like the original game. This was done primarily to keep barbarians from pillaging your improvements before you could destroy them.
Promotions have been raised from 15 back to 20 percent for open and rough terrains, as has the Great General bonus. Naval promotions have also been upped to 20%.
Obsoletion- Except for unique units, units now go obsolete when their immediate successors become available, to keep the AI from continuing to build obsolete units. The exception was made for unique units so that you can have the option of continuing to produce them for their abilities, and immediately upgrade them if you like.
Cities
The insertion of stacks into the game means that it is now much easier to mass your units and quickly take cities. Therefore, city defense and attack have been strengthened. Walls and the like now give more protection and hit points, city ranged attack strength has been increased by 50%, and garrisoned units now add 25% of their strength to city defense, up from 20%.
Capturing a city only loses 25% of its population.
Mounted units
Mounted units have the Shock I promotion to complement their city attack penalty, to represent their traditional strengths and weaknesses.
Siamese War Elephants have been reduced in strength, but get the Shock 2 bonus to compensate.
Forest Elephants receive the Shock 2 bonus as well.
Camel Archers now have a 50% defensive bonus versus mounted units. (Horses don't like the smell of camels.)
Lancers have been reduced in relative strength, but now receive a flanking bonus ala Hussars.
Bows
Horse Archers have no special abilities, while Mtd. Bowmen can move after firing, and Keshiks can now move to avoid melee attacks, making them harder than ever to destroy.
Longbowmen have lost their range bonus, but gain the indirect fire ability, plus a 50% defensive bonus versus mounted units. (They used stakes to shield themselves from cavalry charges.)
Naval units
Later naval units have been increased in strength somewhat, to better withstand bombardment from land units.
Embarked units now have a visibility range of 1.
Battleships now have 5 movement.
Missile Cruisers and Carriers can now carry one more missile and plane, respectively.
Caravels now have 6 movement.
Dromons now have an attack range of 1. (Greek Fire is obviously a short-range weapon.)
Misc.
Barbarian units and camps now spawn somewhat less often.
Gatling and Machine Guns must set up prior to firing, to emphasize their use as defensive units, and both now have a range of 2.
Anti-Aircraft guns and SAMs can no longer attack ground units.
The Medic promotions now also heal units in the same tile as the medic.
Landships and Tanks have lost one movement point.
Panzers now begin with the Blitz promotion.
Modern Armor now requires Oil, while Rocket Artillery no longer requires Aluminum.
Fusiliers have a bonus versus cavalry due to their bayonets. (Historically, pikemen didn't entirely disappear from the battlefield until the development of the socket bayonet in the 18th century.)
The Longswordsman has been re-named the Man-at-Arms and Cavalry have been re-named Carabiniers.
Legions and Rocket Artillery now have 3 movement.
Peace treaties now last 15 turns, since the AI now declares war more frequently.
Great Prophets now have the Unwelcome Evangelist promotion, and the promotion now takes away a third of the unit's strength per turn. (No longer will Prophets be able to convert your cities with impunity.)
Terrain and Growth
Cities now take 25% more food to grow, since the timeline is longer compared to the default game. I also set things so that 90% of the time civs should start the game next to a river.
Flat terrain no longer carries a defense penalty, except for Marsh. Hills now give a 33% bonus to units and a 25% bonus to cities.
Iron is now revealed with Mining, so you'll know early on where you need to go. (or if you're screwed and need to start a new game)
Flood Plains now give an extra food, and Forests give +1 prod. and -1 food. (No more wooded hills that give the same output as grassland.)
Oases may now be improved.
The cost of buying plots has been reduced by 10 gold.
Resources and Improvements
Undeveloped resources now give a base 1 bonus (Base 1= 1 food, 1 prod. or 2 gold), and improving resources now gives a Base 2 bonus. (Thus an improved resource gives a base 3 bonus versus plain, undeveloped land.) In addition, bonuses have been added where necessary to ensure that each improvement type receives a base 2 total bonus from buildings and/or technology.
Oil Wells and Platforms now give 5 prod.
Forts and Citadels give +1 and +2 prod., respectively. (Forts are meant to take the place of Civ 4's workshop improvement.)
Strategic resource exhaustion penalty reduced to 33%.
Trading Posts now give 2 gold, with a third added at Economics and 1 production added at Steam Power. (Since the AI is hellbent on constructing nothing but Posts in the late-game, they might as well be worth building.)
Copper is now treated the same as Iron in regards to development and requirement for Forges.
Incense now gives 2 extra gold.
Buildings
The cost of purchasing buildings has been reduced by about 30%, in order to try and make gold resources more competitive with production tiles. (The old settings had 1 prod. equal to about 3.5 gold, which is way too much.)
Harbors now give 2 culture and plus 25% gold in addition to their existing effects, to simulate the effects of trade.
Seaports give two culture, plus each sea tile gives +1 gold, in addition to their existing effects. (Imo, coastal cities were totally shafted with the elimination of trade routes, and this is my way of trying to bring them back to their historical significance.)
The Garden has been re-named the Public Park, which increases happiness by 3 and is available with Biology. The Theatre picks up the Garden's Great People ability. Note that the Theatre's Great Person effect isn't accounted for in the pop-up that shows the progress rate until Person creation, but I am sure that it is working.
Mints now improve Gems as well, so that they are as valuable as gold and silver.
Ironworks require a Forge and only give 6 prod., but add 2 prod. to each source of Iron and Copper, so you'll want to build them in cities with multiple sources of these resources.
Banks now give +3 gold in addition to their normal effect.
Factories now add 1 prod. to each source of Coal and Aluminum.
Hydro Plants now give an additional bonus of 1 gold to river tiles.
Military Bases now give 15 experience.
Windmills and Factories give 4 and 8 production, respectively, while the costs of Stables and Forges has been reduced to 80.
Coffee Houses now give 4 gold.
Happiness
Unhappy growth penalty reduced to 50%, and very unhappy production penalty reduced to 33%.
National Wonders
Required number of buildings has been changed from "all cities" to between 4 and 6, and the increase in cost per city has been reduced by about half. Now expansionist civs should have some chance to build them at a reasonable cost. Note that the code went screwy when I started messing with it, so the number required and cost are only estimates.
World Wonders
The Chichen Itza's effect has been reduced to 30%. (It was just too powerful if someone like the Persians got it.)
Policies
Piety and Planned Economy only give 50% bonuses to the construction of their respective buildings.
Communism now adds +4 to city production, but nothing to mines and quarries.
Oligarchy only increases city attacks by 50%.
Specialists
Engineers give 3 prod., and Merchants give 4 gold. (The AI loves specialists, so I gave them more value to match the production of tiles.)
Civ bonuses
English Golden Ages now last 30% longer, ala the Persians (see Elizabeth: The Golden Age).
The Turks now have a 40% chance of converting land barbarians, ala the Germans (see origin of Janissaries).
Persia's GA bonus has been reduced to 30%, as has Gandhi's population unhappiness bonus.
France's culture bonus has been reduced to 1.
Technologies
Tech costs have been increased significantly, from small Ancient-era changes up to a tripling in cost by the Modern Age. I am very pleased with the way that tech progresses now, and I think you will be, too.
Culture
Growth in the cost of later tiles reduced a little. Again, this has worked out quite well in my games.
Also, culture growth should now acquire hills, forests and flood plains as easily as flatlands, and, hopefully, river tiles easiest of all.
City-states
Cultural and Religious CS's now give more culture and faith, respectively.
Also, killing Barbs and gifting units give more influence.
Great Generals
After some research, I decided to replace several of the GG's in the game, so be on the lookout for Hannibal, Frederick the Great, Wellington, the Duke of Marlborough and others. Also, GG's now have 3 movement and +1 sight, while Great Admirals have 6 movement.
About the Medmod series: The Medieval Mod series started out in 1999 with a small mod to address some issues in the medieval period of the game Civilization: Call-to-Power, and eventually grew to encompass the entire game. As things worked out, I kept the name Medmod for the name recognition not only for that mod, but all my mods. For my work on CtP I and II, I was inducted into the Apolyton HoF a few years back.
Next I went on to the Total War series' Medieval edition, and the Medmod IV, or WesMod as some knew it, again earned me HoF recognition, this time at TotalWar.org. Since then I have continued to mod games, though none were nearly as big a project as these early works.
