The Mod request list

[Infantry#14]

I'm not sure if somebody has already mentioned this, but may I request that someome make a mod that includes random events like ones in BTS

 

[Lubricus]

What about modding some "what-if" civs into Colonization? Maybe even including a way to ship units across the Pacific Ocean for those civs that would fit into the catergory?

I want to comment on your suggestions on a case by case basis:

-The Ottoman Empire

That could have happened. The Ottomans took over some of Oman's trading posts in Africa, and could have attempted to spread their influence to the New World if things had been quieter in Europe. Still, they would have a tough time travelling there, through what basicly was enemy waters.

-Russia

The Russians would certainly have colonised the Western coast of North America if they had reached it in time. They did, after all, hold Alaska. But they reached that part of the world much too late.

-China

With a different political clime in China, they could have been a major colony power. However, they ended up closing their borders instead.

-Japan (a big "what-if")

-The Vatican (Papal States, Italy, what ever you want to call it)

Well, the Pope had enough on his plate in Europe, I would think...

-Prussia

This isn't so far-fetched. Other German minor states did some small colonising, and if things had been a bit more peaceful in Europe, the Prussians could have become a small to medium colony power, I guess.

-Germany

Germany didn't exist as a country until far too late.

-Switzerland

Well, without a coast, and with a strong tendency to keep to themselves, the Swiss would have had a very hard time colonising anything.

-Poland

If the colony era had started about a hundred years earlier, Poland could conceivably have become a colony power. But the constant wars in Europe would make it quite hard for them.

-Austria

Eh... Austria DID manage to get a coastline eventually, but the Habsburgs were involved in practically everything happening in Europe, and were constantly warring with the Ottomans, the Polish, the Venetians, the Prussians... They would NOT have had an easy time colonising...

Other possibilities:

-Venice and Genoa

Both these Italian states were powerful in the start of the colony era, and both had strong naval traditions. Genoa had possessions in Crimea, and Venice was heavily involved with the politics of North Africa. If things had been a bit more peaceful, both of them could have formed small colonial empires.

-Morocco

With a long coast facing the New World, the Moroccans could have become good colonisers. Of course, they would have to manage to avoid being pulped by the Portuguese and Spanish all the time...

 

[Öjevind Lång]

What about modding some "what-if" civs into Colonization? Maybe even including a way to ship units across the Pacific Ocean for those civs that would fit into the catergory?

They would include:
-The Ottoman Empire
-Russia
-China
-Japan (a big "what-if")
-The Vatican (Papal States, Italy, what ever you want to call it)
-Prussia
-Germany
-Switzerland
-Poland
-Austria

What about a mod that tests some super "What-If's", like allowing you to play as ancient civilizations like Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia, Carthage, or Phonecia in a game to colonize the Americas.

As a final thought, and I have brought it up on the thread before, What about a "Spore"-themed colonization?

I like this! Samurais. Chinese maintaining their own traditions and perhaps being rather firmly Confucian, Taoist *and* Buddhist. (They were generally religiously tolerant, as you know. The Catholic Church was banned from China in the 17th century precisely because it was not, but the nestorian Christians were always left alone.) A bunch of Romans, including a legionary cohort, driven west by high winds. And as for the Vatican, they would of course bring with them Swiss Guards, who would then set the standard for elite troops who would always be called Swiss Guards.

One could even include Tolkien's Numenoreans. No need for a lot of supernatural hanky-panky, but since Col 2 builds on Civ IV, the barbarians could be introduced in the form of orcs (with a suitably nasty, apelike icon).

 

[vampy420]

The maps in Civ4:Col are borked. Especially the Western Hemisphere ones. The resources are always in the same place - this can be manually edited ofc but who wants to go over the whole map reallocating resources? The starting locations and the Europe gateway zones need addressing - I can and have manually adjusted them in WB but then the AI does crazy things like beelining for North America, or all trying to colonize the eastern tip of Brazil.
The random maps simply do not have enough land mass, even on huge.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

The maps in Civ4:Col are borked. Especially the Western Hemisphere ones. The resources are always in the same place - this can be manually edited ofc but who wants to go over the whole map reallocating resources? The starting locations and the Europe gateway zones need addressing - I can and have manually adjusted them in WB but then the AI does crazy things like beelining for North America, or all trying to colonize the eastern tip of Brazil.
The random maps simply do not have enough land mass, even on huge.

I agree. I wonder if that is because when they removed the moronic old system where your rivals surrounded your colonies in order to provoke you into war, they decided to ensure conflict by making land and resources a scarce commodity. Of course, that is grotesque; we are talking about a gigantic continent, or rather, two continents. And as you say, the lack of enough land is a problem even with the "huge" option, unless one also opts for low sea level; then the map becomes a bit like the maps in Col I. A huge map with low sea level has about as much land as there was on standard settings in the original game; there is still a LOT of sea. Unless one chooses low sea level, one simply gets a lot of additional ocean and has to travel for several turns before sighting land. Pathetic.

There must be a better way to make the colonizing powers fight each other. Competition over the Indian trade, for example. That competition was very real. Also, in the original Col, you went to war if your mother country did. The king would give you some money and troops, though less and less of both as the game progressed. What he didn't do was turn up and ask for contributions two turns after the start... Mostly that means that he wants the money he gave you to start your colony with.

Another cause for conflict in the real history of America's colonization was competition about who was to have the monopoly on transporting slaves to the New World, the so-called asiento... oops. OK, we can't have that because we are nice, and though we don't hesitate to exterminate Indians, we don't engage in black slavery.

I think the whole game has a half-finished feeling, as if it was rushed out without doing more than the basics - without even finetuning the features that actually are there. Some of the programming is very clumsy. For example, if you want to reassign a fortified unit in one of your cities to something else - or even merely make a foot soldier into a dragoon - you have to leave the city screen and do it from the big map. And the way you have to go about creating trade routes is indescribably counterintuitive.

The Europe screen is functional but bleak, as if it is simply the basic model they devised (which can't have taken long), and then they couldn't be bothered to do some proper graphic work. Presumably, this is because they mean to use the graphics for the New World in Civ 5, but the Europe screen is unique to this mod of Civ IV. I find that unsatisfactory. This was presented as a standalone game, wasn't it? By the same token, I am less than enchanted to discover that one of the two French leaders (I think it's Louis de Frontenac) is simply Joao of Portugal in disguise. And the diplomacy phrases are straight from Civ IV. I don't enjoy seeing Sitting Bull say: "May the peace endure until there is no more room to expand." Henh?

And then there are the really crappy icons for resources in the trade boxes. Who decided to make silver and sugar look practically identical? Or tools and guns? And to depict furs as a piece of roadkill draped over a box? If they were too lazy to think of something good, why didn't they simply copy the icons in the original game?

 

[Feannag]

I got one that I hope would be simple.

Allow the longer turn games without the added costs.

 

[Thinker19930602]

I want to comment on your suggestions on a case by case basis:



That could have happened. The Ottomans took over some of Oman's trading posts in Africa, and could have attempted to spread their influence to the New World if things had been quieter in Europe. Still, they would have a tough time travelling there, through what basicly was enemy waters.



The Russians would certainly have colonised the Western coast of North America if they had reached it in time. They did, after all, hold Alaska. But they reached that part of the world much too late.



With a different political clime in China, they could have been a major colony power. However, they ended up closing their borders instead.







Well, the Pope had enough on his plate in Europe, I would think...



This isn't so far-fetched. Other German minor states did some small colonising, and if things had been a bit more peaceful in Europe, the Prussians could have become a small to medium colony power, I guess.



Germany didn't exist as a country until far too late.



Well, without a coast, and with a strong tendency to keep to themselves, the Swiss would have had a very hard time colonising anything.



If the colony era had started about a hundred years earlier, Poland could conceivably have become a colony power. But the constant wars in Europe would make it quite hard for them.



Eh... Austria DID manage to get a coastline eventually, but the Habsburgs were involved in practically everything happening in Europe, and were constantly warring with the Ottomans, the Polish, the Venetians, the Prussians... They would NOT have had an easy time colonising...

Other possibilities:

-Venice and Genoa

Both these Italian states were powerful in the start of the colony era, and both had strong naval traditions. Genoa had possessions in Crimea, and Venice was heavily involved with the politics of North Africa. If things had been a bit more peaceful, both of them could have formed small colonial empires.

-Morocco

With a long coast facing the New World, the Moroccans could have become good colonisers. Of course, they would have to manage to avoid being pulped by the Portuguese and Spanish all the time...

Thats why it's "what if".

But what did you think of the ancient civs and the "Spore" Idea?

 

[Lubricus]

Thats why it's "what if".

Absolutely! I just wanted to comment on them anyway...

But what did you think of the ancient civs and the "Spore" Idea?

Well, I love this world's history too much to see the need for the more... exotic ideas. Then again, I could see the Romans expanding overseas if they ended up controlling all of Europe first - though their shipbuilding would need some insane breakthroughs...

 

[Thinker19930602]

Or if the Romans had just stolen and used Greek designs like the Syracusa (not sure if that is the actual spelling)...

As for the other ancient civs, they could also work, I think an anceint civ colonization mod would be awesome.

And so would Spore Colonization! Crazy Idea or not!

 

[tour86rocker]

I would like to make a request for the Fountain of Youth to be added back into the game, with possibly the original music.

Also random events to be added.

Yes! They don't have to make it as powerful as before, but they can't just cut things out and replace them with NOTHING. You end up with less game! Firaxis, please add some color back in!

 

[tour86rocker]

Does anyone know if the firebrand preachers now have a funtion after the decaration of independence? That they didn't have it in the original Col was a rather glaring omission.

Yes...cross production. When you declare independence you get to choose whether cross production goes toward bells or hammers. Under Theocracy, Firebrand Preachers are actually more effective than Carpenters, I believe.

And I think in Col1 cross production may have contributed to growth after DoI, but I couldn't say for sure.

 

[GSUpHead]

Is there a way to make the map round and have civilizations start from there mother land and explore out from there. for example England, a person can sail to Na or go to Africa or India or all three if he chooses. Make ships sail back to there mother land to sell goods. this may make the game very long but it would be realistic.

Add: India and Dutch Indies area

China may be cut off from the world but who says that we cant conquer them or at least try.

Russia may have controlled Alaska late but if you where to sail to alaska and by that time it would be late in the game so they can start with cities there but they wont be found till late in the game.

with Indians villages they can be captured and the player has to convert them or the settlement will revolt and take back control or maby if there is not enough culture then a army will appear in a spot as a revolting people that army can go anywhere and capture any settlement it wants.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

Yes! They don't have to make it as powerful as before, but they can't just cut things out and replace them with NOTHING. You end up with less game! Firaxis, please add some color back in!

It has been suggested that you only get three settlers instead of eight, and that it can only happen once in a game. That would keep the fun of it in without making it overpowered. Incdidentally, if they ever do reintroduce it, I hope they do so with the original melody. I love that tune.

 

[Jeckel]

If anyone is interested in a complete overhaul of the Trade Route System, come visit my JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion Thread. It has my current progress and some Screen Shots.

 

[Melinko]

If anyone is interested in a complete overhaul of the Trade Route System, come visit my JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion Thread. It has my current progress and some Screen Shots.

Sounds cool Jeckel, I guess this is a good spot to mention our mods, I am also working on one. It is all about adding technologies to Colonization (Past and Future).

MTech Mod Discussion Thread (Current Progress and screenshots)

 

[Dom Pedro II]

If anyone is interested in a complete overhaul of the Trade Route System, come visit my JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion Thread. It has my current progress and some Screen Shots.

This is really great! I think this'll really help to solve the majority of the complaints with trade routes.

What I'm considering doing as well (since I'll probably want to keep using the unit buttons in the main interface), is to arrange and separate the trade routes in the Transport's trade route popup by commodity.

 

[jaldaen]

I would love to see a Manifest Destiny mod...

It would take place after you have won your independence and be similar to the Civ IV victory condition to control X (is it 65%? I forget) amount of landmass. It could be keyed to start after your victory by chosing "one more turn" or it can start you off as a fledgling nation. You would still have trade with Europe, etc., but you would have to deal with the other European colonies and natives. It would be interesting to see how it all plays out if the AI was also attempting to do the same thing. This would require more turns than normal, but it could be interesting and encourage larger colonies before declaring independence because if you kept small or "declared" early to keep the REF small, then the other nations might have an advantage in manpower to start with.

 

[Thinker19930602]

Is there a way to make the map round and have civilizations start from there mother land and explore out from there. for example England, a person can sail to Na or go to Africa or India or all three if he chooses. Make ships sail back to there mother land to sell goods. this may make the game very long but it would be realistic.

Add: India and Dutch Indies area

China may be cut off from the world but who says that we cant conquer them or at least try.

Russia may have controlled Alaska late but if you where to sail to alaska and by that time it would be late in the game so they can start with cities there but they wont be found till late in the game.

with Indians villages they can be captured and the player has to convert them or the settlement will revolt and take back control or maby if there is not enough culture then a army will appear in a spot as a revolting people that army can go anywhere and capture any settlement it wants.

A better Idea (and it would make a great mod), would be to make scenarios with different "natives and different locales around the world, like India, China, Africa, or (as someone mentioned earlier) Australia.

 

[Dale]

A better Idea (and it would make a great mod), would be to make scenarios with different "natives and different locales around the world, like India, China, Africa, or (as someone mentioned earlier) Australia.

Age of Discovery II already allows for this. Just need someone to create the native civs.

 

[The Rusty Gamer]

How about a mod where privateers can sneak into rival European docks and thereby steal their immigrants which they've been working so hard for with their crosses - and of course, they could do the same to us.

"A privateer has gang-pressed an elder statesman and an expert farmer off your home docks."