The S&T Times
- Thread starter Tambien
- Start date
MoreEpicThanYou
The most Epic.
No, Tambien is lying! Does he have the word "Epic" in his name? 
mayor
Heart & Mind
what's that for a nonquestion? off course someone named Joe doesn't make good coffee..... 
Tambien
Theseus, Duke of Athens
Edition 4
October 2011
Writers Needed
By Tambien
Hey, All! Sorry the Times is late this month, but we are a little short on writers this time around. I know that for many of us Midterms and other major tests, and just school in general, can get in the way of our participation in the forums.
I would like to ask that if you have enough time, and a good idea, for you to please submit to me, by PM, an article for the Times. Thanks for any help you might provide!
~Tambien
-
Mod Spotlight: RoM
By Tycho
Rise of Mankind; the basework and foundation for numerous other mods that have built on top of it, one that has added a whole slew of detailed changes to the vanilla civilization gameplay at an astounding level of content, and one of the most interesting sort of mods out on the forums.
But let us start from the beginning. Rise of Mankind is a massive mod to use, and most old computers (2 years or older) will have trouble running it at the very least. Because of all the content, lag and delays as well as game crashes can become quite common towards the later stages of the game. Built for Beyond the Sword, Rise of Mankind will run with the 3.19 patch just like the Rhye's and Fall of Civilization mod.
Included in the mod; 235 Techs, 262 Units, 168 Buildings, 82 Wonders, 31 National wonders, 21 New civic options, 13 New resources,
11 New Improvements for terrain/resources, 4 New Projects, 2 New Civic categories, 4 New Citizen types, 2 New Map sizes: Giant (54% bigger than Huge), Gigantic (50% bigger than Giant ie. 134% bigger than Huge), 2 New Game speed modes: Blitz 215 turns, Snail 3000 turns, 1 New Civilization: Hittites, Ethnically Diverse Units, Ethnic Diverse Citystyles, Modified Civics, Modified Religions, New promotions (for air units too), New unit categories, modern units are superior to ancient units, New unit flags for Civilizations, Sevopedia, Upgradeable buildings, and a whole slew of other gameplay changes. In short; if RFC was a steak, Rise of Mankind is the entire cow.
Upon booting up Rise of Mankind, there will be quite a bit of new gameplay changes that will be different to the newcomer. First off, ranged bombardment, possible with archer, artillery, and seagoing units (i.e. battleships, destroyers.) More religions will be present, from the ancient Roman religion, Mesoamerican, Hellenistic, Norse, Egyptians.... indeed, quite a bit more than standard Beyond the Sword! Added to that are more events, more corporations, religion specific crusader units, one or two unique units for each civilization, and zones of control similar to those in previous Civilization games.
Now some of you may already be saying, "But Civ4 Stories and Tales group, you said it was the groundwork for another group of mods! What about those?" Well in regard to those, they are even larger then the initial Rise of Mankind mod, though the .zip file would fool you into believing otherwise. Most of the stories on the forums use the advanced version of Rise of Mankind; ROM:AND simply means "Rise of Mankind, A New Dawn." The distinction is very important, as the latter has more features to it.
Rise of Mankind and it's modmods are a deep and interesting pack, with new gameplay options, interesting ideas, and wonderful creations. The many nuances of added technologies, units, and miscellaneous other items might turn some people away from the mod, but for others this will be one of their favorite by any stretch of the imagination. Ranged bombardment, upgradeable structures, new resources to dominate and utilize to their full efficency, and much, much more has made this one of the finest mods that has ever been able to grace the forums of CFC.
Some of you may also have realized that the Total Realism mod has been incorporated at least partly into this packet of excellent material. Yes indeed, the TR team tossed in some work for the mod itself and has made the packet much better with their contributions. But do not just trust this section of the article, check the credits for a detailed list of people that had their content added to the original Rise of Mankind mod.
If you are looking for ideas, there is a decent collection of stories utilizing Rise of Mankind: A New Dawn as the library of Rise of Mankind stories is sadly lacking.
MOARcat versus Hoplitejoe is a satirical tale on the forums using a plethora of cat .gifs and advice from the beginning to create the basis of the game that is played, with an indepth gameplay look at what playing Rise of Mankind: A New Dawn is Like. Many features of the mod itself are showcased in Hoplitejoe's playing, and as the time of this writing, the story is still going on.
[RoM-AND] Chronicles of an Alternate Earth is another interesting story from Stormlord711 detailing his efforts in a game as the Hittites in an Immortal difficulty game. A good read and a nice look into the type of story structure and organization that could be used in other stories.
[BTS] RoM AND: American Conquest is a tale that comes from Digitcruncher and his game utilizing the Native American people to try and take over the world. Yet another interesting read that is easy to pick up and look at, with saves added to show how it was done.
We hope you have enjoyed this segment, and we are always happy to see more authors of stories on the forums!
Credits for the creation of the mod go to:
Zappara for the compilation of the mod
Kal-El + others = RAR mod
White Rabbit = Ethnically diverse units
Snafusmith = Modern warfare units
Master Lexx = Green mod
Nautil - for air units mod
Sevo, Vovan, Progor, Gaurav, Fitchn - for sevopedia mod
TR Team - for Total Realism mod
Keldath, Mrgenie, TAFirehawk, Rockinroger - for Visa mod
Eusebius - for Eusubius World Religion mod
Mentat99 - for Improved Leaders & Civics
Sharick - Future Tank model
Rufus T. Firefly - for Civ3 icon graphics
Snipperrabbit!,Yodapower, Storm Grunt, Sniraxis, Frenchman, Chamaedrys, ohcrapitsnico - new button graphics
GeoModder - Ethnic Diverse Citystyles mod
Theo - Better espionage screen
TheLopez - Specialist Stacker
Thorn, Bad Ronald - BtSFlagMod
GarretSidzaka - unit graphics
asioasioasio - unit graphics
Grave - unit graphics
GeneralMatt - unit graphics
woodelf, winddelay - Alhambra graphics
EricCrystal - tech, quote, strategy texts
-
Alexius08’s Story Reviews
By Alexius08
Civ 3
Liberté, Égalité, Hégémonie! by Tanicusfox
The story is set in Civilization 3 Conquests using the Rhye's of Civilization mod, with the player starting as France. The game starts on 3000 BC, with cities pre-placed all over the map.
The first few parts of the story is reminiscent of Napoleon's campaigns (except that the player also invaded across the Mediterranean). As soon as he conquered his European rivals, the rest of the world swiftly followed.
Apart from the regular updates written with a somewhat historical style, the author also requested suggestions from readers, which gave the story some degree of interaction.
Score: 83/100
Civ 4
The peoples of the Persian plain by Danger Bird
The story is, as of writing, the most-viewed story that used the Rhye's and Fall of Civilization mod, making itself a model for most of the succeeding RFC stories. The game started with the Persians on a somewhat-randomized Earth map, written on a historical style. Unlike other stories, a great deal of detail was added in the snapshots and in the updates.
Playing as the Persians often meant early war against neighbors Babylonia, India and Greece. However, due to barbarian incursions brought by proximity to Rome, the campaigns were delayed until after the rise of Europe. The problem with the story, however, is the abundance of cliffhangers. The story ended with an unresolved one, failing the space race as a result.
Score: 84/100
Civ 5
Deity Roman, Tiny Earth 10 Civs by maltz
The title of the story is self-descriptive (apart from forgetting to mention that it is on Marathon speed), and the story itself is an after-action report. It mostly resembles a report for a succession game, for having a blow-by-blow account of every single turn. However, the story lacked depth for being very short. To compensate for it, the author provided some tips for aspiring deity-level players.
Score: 73/100
-
By General Olaf
WARNING: DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, bump OLD, DEAD or FINISHED stories. They have been written and finished, they belong in the past, and any subscribers really don’t want more subscription emails. NEVER, EVER, NECRO THESE STORIES.
In edition 2, we looked at a series of works based on Civ3 and 4. For Edition 3, I planned to write about the first ever Civ5 story, How to Conquer the World by being Poor, Upset and Massively Outgunned by Lemmy101. It seemed a fitting time to do so - a year since the game was released.
Due to real-life time constraints, I decided to release it this edition.
The story didn't start out as a story, more as a collection of comments for the benefit of people who hadn't had the game unlocked or couldn't buy it yet. Over time, however, it transitioned into a full-on screenshotted playthrough. It even made CivFanatics' front page.
A story like Lemmy's is often called 'gameplay-style' - however, I believe a more fitting title is 'gameplay-based comedy'. This story in particular displays the characteristics you would expect of such a story; while there is a very real sense it is 'just a game', readers - like myself in my earliest CFC days - feel as if they are having as much fun as the player. This is achieved through humorous comments on what is happening the game, which as well as providing comic relief from simple gameplay often provides a very real insight into the mind of the story's author.
For interested readers, I have provided a link to the story near the beginning of the article. Please do not post in the thread - old stories, while often displaying excellent entertainment value, do belong in the past.
-
Special Thanks To:
Tomorrow’s Dawn
Tycho
Alexius08
General Olaf
MoreEpicThanYou
The most Epic.
Another good issue (although it's still Eternal Empire review-less.) I bet I could get some people to nominate it (looks at Olaf, Halfrunt, Caesar, and Bosco) Anyway, great job.
Tambien
Theseus, Duke of Athens
Thanks!
Yoshiegg737
Jungo Jungo
Ah, the one time when the paper opens for more writers...
...And I'm busy
Great edition, though
...And I'm busy
Great edition, though
Alexius08
Emperor
- Joined
- May 28, 2010
- Messages
- 1,198
Everything looks fine, except that Tycho's column got the wrong header.
I only review finished stories, abandoned stories with inactive authors and abandoned IAARs.
I only review finished stories, abandoned stories with inactive authors and abandoned IAARs.
MoreEpicThanYou
The most Epic.
Oh. Make sure to review it when it's finished, then.
Tambien
Theseus, Duke of Athens
Fix'd
Although someone really outta do a review on one of my stories... 
strijder20
Wallowing in irony
Nice!
hoplitejoe
Top fun-poster
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,470
Great as ever, Just a shame the only people commenting seem to frequent S&T already.
Sparthage
Fighting Tyranny
When the thing is posted on the CFC Main Page and has over 9,000 views, why are you disappointed?
Anyways, excellent edition!
Anyways, excellent edition!
hoplitejoe
Top fun-poster
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,470
My stories have over 10000 views, it doesn't mean much
I just would hope that we would have more new people commenting.
Sparthage
Fighting Tyranny
My story has almost 30000 views, so yeah...My stories have over 10000 views, it doesn't mean much
I just would hope that we would have more new people commenting.
But I know what you mean about the comments. It seems that most S&T readers don't post.
Similar threads
