The Viking Age (Scenario for European Middle Ages MOD)

[Craig_Sutter]

This is a scenario based upon the various invasions and conquests that occured in Northwest Europe and the British Isles going from 480 AD to 1480 AD.

This scenario requires that the European Middle Ages Mod be installed. Download it and install it in your mods folder. It may be downloaded from:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193277

The European Middle Ages Mod is a work in progress, and this scenario will be updated as the mod is developed. The version number I use will match up with that of the Mod...
ex. Medieval Mod 0.3=Viking Age 1.30

There are three maps included in this scenario. Note, the maps are not strictly n-s, e-w in alignment... they are actually 40 degrees off of true north to fit in the area I wanted.

Maps:
Large 92x65 (a 16 civ cut of the map immediately below, don't play Sweden or Hladir!!!)
Large 105x65
Huge 135x81


Also, note that I've not placed resources manually... they are randomly generated using the WBS python console. If you wish to regenerate the resources do it using the process in the following thread...

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145278

The Civilizations:

Kingdom of Denmark
Kingdom of Norway
Kingdom of the Frisians
Kingdom of France (West Franks)
Holy Roman Empire (East Franks)
Kingdom of Saxony
Grand Duchy of Normandy (Frankish Duchy)
Kingdom of Munster (Irish)
Kingdom of Connacht (Irish)
Kingdom of Scotland (Dal Riada)
Kingdom of Wessex (Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Kent)
Kingdom of Mercia (Mercia, East Anglia)
Kingdom of Northumbria
Kingdom of the Britons (Cornwall, Bretony - Dumnonia)
Kingdom of the Cymru (Powys, Welsh)
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Sweden
Jarldom of Hladir

There are three religions in the scenario thus far. Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Paganism. Othodoxy is a stand in for Celtic Christianity in this scenario. I've created an inaccessable barbarian holy city to be the holy city of non-scenario religions included in the mod as I did not want to alter the XML files until the mod is in a more finished form.

Version 1.00 110 downloads
Version 1.01 305 downloads (415 total for all versions)
Version 1.30 44 downloads (459 total for all versions)
Version 1.330 51 downloads (515 total for all versions)
Version 1.331 274 downloads (789 total for all versions)
Version 1.400 86 downloads (875 total for all versions)
Version 1.401 189 downloads (1064 total for all versions)
Version 1.451 324 downloads (1398 total for all versions)

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1677

More detailed screenshots are on the download page...

 

[Craig_Sutter]

I'll use this to post changes and update information:

July 17/06 Versions 1.0 released (92x65), (105x65) Viking Age

August 5/06 Versions 1.01 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-Eliminated Visigoths, added Irish Kingdoms of Connacht and Munster
-Added Orthodoxy representing Celtic Christianity
-Many map changes... added cities, changed religion in many, seperated
islands in Northern British Isles from mainland by ocean... hope this brings
Vikings.
-Added new huge map size
-Did much balancing of religious spread
-Tinkered with diplomacy. Made AI Aggresive. Added attitude modifiers.
-Changed starting techs to reflect time period and technical progress at
the time.
-Changed numbers and types of starting units.
-Added Holy Cities for Christianity (AAchen), Paganism (Hamburg) and
Orthodoxy/Celtic Christianity (Armagh)
-Changed some leader names for historical accuracy
-Added Roman Roads (only major arteries)

Sept. 18/06 Versions 1.30 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-update to .3 of Medieval Mod
-changed Swordsman for Highlander and Galley for Longship to match the Mod.

Sept. 24/06 Versions 1.33 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-adjusted faux barbarian holy city to just contain Islam, no Sunni/Shiite split
-added coastal hexes to represent shallow seas
-added viking sea routes (coastal hexes)
-added barbarian city of Gula in Norway

Sept. 30/06 Versions 1.331 released (105x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-deleted some forests in Scandanavia to give resource variability
-changed the viking route coastal hexes a little to make the sea route more
likely to be opened
-am now using only two sizes of map... removed the smaller sized, 16 civ maps
(will reinstate if requested)

Nov. 20/06 Versions 1.400 released (105x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-modified to match version 0.40 of European Medieval Mod
-added Danish city list

Dec. 30/06 Versions 1.450 released (105x65 large)(92x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-modified to match version 0.45 of European Medieval Mod
-removed many coastal tiles that were placed to allow the Scandanavian historic invasion routes. They now have ocean capable watercraft.
-changed units in civilizations for unique units if allowed to by beginning tech. Notably, Foederati exchanged for warriors for Dumnonia. Likewise, for Gaulic and British barbarian cities.
-added many city lists (but many more to do)
-eliminated contact with every player, now contact needs to be established as normal game.
-eliminated exploration (spacerace) victory.
-gave galleys provided to certain civs at game beginning, Explore_AI.
-replaced 2 warriors and swordsman in Barbarian Pagan holy city of Hamburg, with 3 Fyrdsman.
July 17/06 Versions 1.0 released (92x65), (105x65) Viking Age

August 5/06 Versions 1.01 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-Eliminated Visigoths, added Irish Kingdoms of Connacht and Munster
-Added Orthodoxy representing Celtic Christianity
-Many map changes... added cities, changed religion in many, seperated
islands in Northern British Isles from mainland by ocean... hope this brings
Vikings.
-Added new huge map size
-Did much balancing of religious spread
-Tinkered with diplomacy. Made AI Aggresive. Added attitude modifiers.
-Changed starting techs to reflect time period and technical progress at
the time.
-Changed numbers and types of starting units.
-Added Holy Cities for Christianity (AAchen), Paganism (Hamburg) and
Orthodoxy/Celtic Christianity (Armagh)
-Changed some leader names for historical accuracy
-Added Roman Roads (only major arteries)

Sept. 18/06 Versions 1.30 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-update to .3 of Medieval Mod
-changed Swordsman for Highlander and Galley for Longship to match the Mod.

Sept. 24/06 Versions 1.33 released (92x65,105x65 extended, large)(117x81,135x81 extended,
huge)
Changes:
-adjusted faux barbarian holy city to just contain Islam, no Sunni/Shiite split
-added coastal hexes to represent shallow seas
-added viking sea routes (coastal hexes)
-added barbarian city of Gula in Norway

Sept. 30/06 Versions 1.331 released (105x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-deleted some forests in Scandanavia to give resource variability
-changed the viking route coastal hexes a little to make the sea route more
likely to be opened
-am now using only two sizes of map... removed the smaller sized, 16 civ maps
(will reinstate if requested)

Nov. 20/06 Versions 1.400 released (105x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-modified to match version 0.40 of European Medieval Mod
-added Danish city list

Feb. 8/07 Versions 1.500 released (105x65 large)(92x65 large)(135x81 huge)
Changes:
-modified to match version 0.50 of European Medieval Mod
-added spaceship victory: New World and Hanseatic Victories

 

[Craig_Sutter]

I'll post my intended changes here:

-map and AI attitude tinkering
-tinkering with religions (need more in medieval mod to figure spread rates/etc.)
-add berserkers (to replace missionaries for pagans)
-make scenario compatible with Warlords
-with Warlords, set up vassal states of Normandy and HRE to the Franks, and make it last until certain tech is acquired.
-look at additional Civilizations... possibly Leinster and Ulster in Ireland, and another Viking Civ (Hordaland with Bergen and Stavanger and Gula or Urnes for the third city). Maybe some Slavs (Wends or Abrodites) east of the Saxons. Perhaps Visigoths. And Welsh (as opposed to Powys)
-try to set up various high Kingship arrangements in game terms (via Vassalage?)... High Kings of Britons, Irish, Norway, and Anglo-Saxon Breatwelda come to mind. No idea how to do this...
-add city names to WBS
-add Saxon Shore forts
-Add Hadrians and Antonione Wall graphics... awaits Warlords compatiblility. In addition to usual Great Wall advantages vrs Barbs, also want tiles with the improvement to give Fortification Bonus as per Castle. Since, technically, the wonders that produced these walls are lapsed... I'll likely only let them have a fortification bonus and repell barbs.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Miscellanious stuff:

On city names and which ones I included in the Scenario:

-in Britain and Gaul, the barbarian cities largely represent Roman Cities designated by their current names. In those areas, I avoided placing cities that were not founded in Roman times... however, to generate 3 cities per civ (2 plus settler for Normans), I had to add a couple of cities that may have been founded later (Scarborough/Bamborough) but were hopefully founded by the Civs they were allocated to, and sufficiently close to the scenario start so as not to matter. I did not include Roman cities that disappeared or were not refounded.
-Other cities were placed to reflect regional powers, that because of the 18 civ limit, could not be included as playable but I might otherwise have included. Hamburg (slavic), Bergen, Gula and Stavanger (Hordaland), Scone and Inverness (Picts), Armagh and Tara (Ulster and Leinster/Mead), Thaours and Saintes (Visigoths)... If the 18 civ limit is expanded, these may become playable cities.
-I added Roman Roads to the Scenario. I'm as yet uncertain whether I will keep them. I only added the main arteries.

 

[Head Serf]

Cool, I can't wait to play it. By the way, do you know when version 0.3 of the mod will be released? I've been looking forward to playtesting it the past few weeks but progress appears slow.

 

[hr_oskar]

Nice Craig, I'm happy to see this

The map's beautiful in all respects, except I don't agree with the terrain distribution: for gameplay reasons, I don't recommend so much Plains because all-plains-cities barely thrive in Civ4 without generous bonus resources. Also Tundra terrain in Southern Scandinavia (particularly S-Sweden) is not really accurate. Scandinavia looks more or less uninhabitable judging by the screenshots. I'm also wondering about the small land-mass in the upper left corner... is it meant to represent something you couldn't fit on the map? (Iceland?)

To comment a bit, I think the Visigoths hardly merit inclusion at all. They ruled Southern France only in the very beginning of your scenario, but were soon after ousted by the Franks under Clovis (see Battle of Vouillé, 507). Thereafter they were an Iberian power only.

Regarding the AI, the most beneficial thing for you will be a good Viking leader personality inclined to settlement and invasions by sea I'm already working on that...

I myself will of course take care of making the mod Warlords-compatible once it releases.

I'm going to try to update a bit my thread and make clearer the premise of my mod. One thing to clarify is how I think it can be used by scenario-makers. Just to tell you briefly, the idea is that you shouldn't have to make your own mod or mod-tweak, a simple WBS file should do. I believe you can write up city lists in WBS, for example, so you do not necessarily have to have a supported CivType for every civ in your scenario. Anyway, more on this later...

In any case if you feel you need more advanced resources for your mod such as units, leaders, etc, let me know and I'd try to incorporate them into the mod. This is completely painless for me because I can include as many leaders, civs and units as I like without necessarily using them in my own scenarios (such as the "standard" Europe map 500-1500).

Keep up the good work!

 

[Craig_Sutter]

I realize there are a lot of plains and tundra. However, my initial tests found that the Vikings were too distracted with settlement to go after other civs. I am using tundra to represent regions that are not necessarily too cold for settlement, but rather, have harsh terrain that makes settlement difficult (ie like the Canadian Shield and wilderness). I'm going by maps of Kalmar cities to make terrain habitable or not, and there aren't too many large cities located on the maps in areas that I made into tundra. Also, I've made the decision to locate grasslands only near larger rivers... I'm averse to overly large cities. I may gradually change plains to grasslands over time, and similarly, tundra to plains as I test the mod more, and tweak the AI.

Right now, I'm tweaking the AI aggression with other civs by using the attitude modifiers in the WBS file. Seems to be working, and once I get those working, I may start making larger maps.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Oh, the small land mass is a barb city to hold holy cities of religions that are not in the game.

You're right about the Visigoths. I included them to give the Franks something more to do... but I may remove them later.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Updated to-do list.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Thank-you for the comments HrOskar...

There are a couple of items that it would be nice to include if its not too much trouble...

Berserker Hall, buildable under paganism (specific to Germanic cultures)... similar to how you'll likely be doing the monastic orders, but rather than Crusaders, allow the production of Berserkers.

You've already created many of the civilizations use in this scenario... I'm using the English AI/leader to model the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and the Vikings for the Jarldom of Hladir... Mercia and Northumbria would be nice as their own Civs, though. I'm using welsh for Powys and Strathclyde, and just made up the Britons. For your mod, overall, a successor kingdom for the Western Romans would be nice, with special units - Auxiliary Legion (replacing warband), Auxiliary Cavalary (replacing vassal - knights of the round table, but more historical). Not King Arthur, but a Civ that could be the model for the remains of the empire in Gaul and Briton before they were invaded...granted, before 500 AD, except for the Britons, but close enough.

How do you do city lists in the WBS?

Thanks.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Because religion is not spreading, at all, in this scenario, I may have to place a Christian holy city in a player civilization, and move the pagan one out of the barb city of Jomsburg to another locale. I've an idea of moving the pagan one to either Uppsala, or somewhere in Saxony. Charlemagne destroyed a notable pagan holy site in Saxony (some sort of tree), and it was central to germanic religion of the time, so I I can do the pagan Holy City relatively easily. However, I'm having difficulty figuring out a Catholic Holy city on map.

Does anyone have an idea for what would be a good location as a Holy City on map? Two items come to mind... the Irish reputedly reestablished christianity in the West... perhaps St. Patrick's missions founded at Armagh could be appropriate. Or with the pope's annoiting of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emporer, one could stretch that to be a holy city site. But I'm uncertain where he was crowned, and if it was a site on map.

Any ideas?

 

[Head Serf]

I believe he was crowned in Aachen, but I'm not sure about that. French Paris could be another good choice for the Catholic holy city.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

My research shows he was crowned at St. Peter's (Rome?). I'll likely make Aachen the Holy City, though... it was the Empire's seat of power at the time.

That is, if the changes in the next Medieval Mod update don't fix the religious spread problem for me.

Osnabruck will likely be the pagan Holy City.

 

[hr_oskar]

Regarding the holy cities, Craig, I hope to disable the random founding of religions. I haven't made any inquiries yet but expect it to appear somewhere in the Python code so it should be a simple matter to take it out. That way scenario-makers can simply choose not to place irrelevant religions so they won't appear at all, nor any buildings and wonders associated with them. Once that change will be made, you can erase that mysterious little landmass you have in the middle of the sea

Regarding the Catholic holy city, for this map it's very hard to say. Aachen is a good guess, though I dislike the choice for a scenario that starts before Charlemagne (seems a bit prescriptive). Have you considered not having any holy city for it at all? Just a thought - after all holy cities aren't precisely the backbone of the game and any scenario might reasonably choose to drop them in order to focus on other things.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Initially, I had dropped the holy city, and placed it in the little Barb city in the corner, however, the problem was that religions were not spreading. Even if selected as the state religion, they were not going beyond the cities that had them at the scenario start. Since I've moved the Catholic Holy city to Aachen, the religion does now spread.

That's the solution for now. But your next update may change things.

 

[hr_oskar]

How do you do city lists in the WBS?

Check the Earth1000AD scenario:

BeginPlayer
Team=3
CivDesc=TXT_KEY_CIV_ARABIA_DESC
CivShortDesc=TXT_KEY_CIV_ARABIA_SHORT_DESC
CivAdjective=TXT_KEY_CIV_ARABIA_ADJECTIVE
LeaderName=TXT_KEY_LEADER_SALADIN
LeaderType=LEADER_SALADIN
CivType=CIVILIZATION_ARABIA
PlayableCiv=1
MinorNationStatus=0
FlagDecal=Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_Arabic.dds
Color=PLAYERCOLOR_DARK_GREEN
ArtStyle=ARTSTYLE_MIDDLE_EAST
StartingGold=30
StateReligion=RELIGION_ISLAM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT, Civic=CIVIC_DESPOTISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LEGAL, Civic=CIVIC_VASSALAGE
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LABOR, Civic=CIVIC_SLAVERY
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_ECONOMY, Civic=CIVIC_DECENTRALIZATION
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_RELIGION, Civic=CIVIC_THEOCRACY
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_MEDINA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_DAMASCUS
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_NAJRAN
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_KUFAH
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_BASRA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_KHURASAN
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_ANJAR
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_FUSTAT
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_ADEN
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_YAMAMA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_MUSCAT
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_MANSURA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_BUKHARA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_FEZ
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_SHIRAZ
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_MERW
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_BALKH
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_MOSUL
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_AYDAB
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_BAYT_RAS
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_TAIF
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_HAMA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_TABUK
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_SANAA
CityList=TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME_SHIHR
Handicap=HANDICAP_DEITY
AttitudePlayer=2, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=4, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=5, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=6, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=7, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=8, AttitudeExtra=5
AttitudePlayer=12, AttitudeExtra=-5
AttitudePlayer=14, AttitudeExtra=-5
EndPlayer

As you can see you can define pretty much all of the surface appearance of a civ in a list such as this. The only thing that the mod really needs to do is define UU's and UB's. In that sense the mod doesn't really need to have many civtypes at all, it mostly depends on how many individual UU's and UB's I end up supporting. Rather than providing code for different civs, for this reason I'll probably rather just include text files with suggested city lists and of course plenty of flags and colors, for scenario makers to do their work.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Updated mod to 1.1... see first post for new version.

Now have Large and Huge maps, extended and ordinary.
Added Celtic Christianity.
Eliminated Visigoths, added Munster and Connacht in Ireland.
Updated starting techs, and units.
Adjusted Attitude modifiers between Civs.
Made Aggressive AI the default for AI.

All in all, I think the mod is much improved over the initial version. There are many many more AI vrs AI wars. Game is more dynamic. Still need to have more aggressive Vikings. This likely awaits the release of the next version of Medieval Mod.

I think it's improved, anyhow. Let me know how it plays.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

I'm in the process of updating this scenario to match version 0.3 or the Medieval mod that was just released. I hope to get the new release out sometime this week. Right now, I'm having a bit of trouble as I'm getting an immediate defeat when I start up the scenario... working on correcting it, but it may be a while. I apologise to those of you who have downloaded the scenario and have installed .3 of the Medieval Mod... I'll get the update out as soon as I figure out what's wrong.

 

[hr_oskar]

Craig, it could be that you have some non-existent building in your scenario. Note that I eliminated entirely the unique palaces of the Pope and the Byzantines (Lateran Palace and Great Palace, respectively). I got an immediate defeat once when I started up the Byzantines without correcting the scenario first.

I recommend you do a search of your WBS and check all buildings. Here are the main changes, just off the top of my head:

• BUILDING_FORGE --> BUILDING_FOUNDRY
• BUILDING_LATERAN_PALACE --> BUILDING_PALACE
• BUILDING_GREAT_PALACE --> BUILDING_PALACE
• BUILDING_BENEDICTINE_MONASTERY --> BUILDING_CATHOLIC_MONASTERY
• BUILDING_CISTERCIAN_MONASTERY --> BUILDING_CATHOLIC_MONASTERY
• BUILDING_BENEDICTINE_MONASTERY --> BUILDING_CATHOLIC_MONASTERY
• BUILDING_FRANCISCAN_CONVENT --> BUILDING_CATHOLIC_CONVENT
• BUILDING_DOMINICAN_CONVENT --> BUILDING_CATHOLIC_CONVENT
• A number of wonders were removed - I did that quite a while ago so I actually don't remember which ones

I know that ideally these changes should be documented and released with every new version. The problem is, as you know, that I'm doing all this work by myself and I just can't spare the time to also document accurately every change I make. Hope you'll get your scenario working again

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Thanks for the advice. Only buildings I added were palaces... but I'll do a search for all and any. I suspect it is in the civilizations part of the WBS... a quick glance shows you replaced Kazahks with Tartars... and there may be other changes such as flags, etc. I'll figure it out, if only by cutting and pasting from your working scenario.

Thanks again.