The Viking Age Scenario

This is a Scenario for the Dark and Medieval Ages in Northwest Europe. It goes from 500 AD to 1235 AD.

Within the scenario folders, there are 4 different maps... one of each for Quick, Standard, Epic and Marathon. When you enter mods, select the map under Additional Maps (Viking Age Quick/Standard/Epic/Marathon) and click on scenario after selecting the map. You can then choose which civilization to play.

Most of the scenario is complete and playable. The tech tree has been adjusted quite a bit and 5 techs have been added. There are numerous buildings and units added as well.

I need to do a bit more artwork. I will likely have to adjust the text entries over time to suit the Medieval theme... I have made a lot of text changes but there are likely a lot more anachronisms.

I will be adding a few more buildings and tinkering with various items in the scenario as time goes by... mostly to do with balance as I receive player feedback. As well, I will enhance the scenario as time goes by to get the AI to act appropriately and less predictably.

Compatibility:

Requires BNW and DLCs... esp the one with Denmark. I have not tried playing with only the one DLC.
EUI okay... but some Scenario Top Panel items will not work correctly. As well, technolgies need to be selected directly from the tree by double-clicking on the tech icon on the top left of the top panel.
DLL mods have been unsuccessful. The religion elements get messed up.

Important... some code elements rely on city and unit names. Do not change the names of Earl units/Archbishop or of Cities with Archbishoprics or Earldoms in them... or of London.

I have a lot of information to add in the next while. For now, I'll just upload a dropbox download link and a copy of the map in PDF format.

The link:

The Viking Age Dropbox

The Map:

View attachment Viking_Age_Map.pdf

The next couple of posts will be reserved for various items of information.

Thank-you.

 

There are 19 civs on the map. They include, in alphabetical order...

The Britons:
The icon is the same as Rome's.
"One and All" - +25% Production towards any buildings that already exist in the Capital. Glastonbury subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Legion - Same as Roman unit.
Unique Unit - Cataphract - Same as Byzantine unit.

Connacht:

"Neither Fear, nor Spurn" - Food and Culture from friendly City-States increased by 50%. Gain 90 Influence with a Great Person gift to a City-State.
Unique Unit - Fianna - A Connacht unique unit, this Spearman replacement is perfectly suited for early rushes. A Fianna can lay waste to an opponents' lands, quickly pillaging and moving within the same turn. Additionally, they have a bonus to attack and they gain health from killing their enemies.
Unique Building - Irish Monastery - The Connacht Unique Building, the Irish Monastery holds one specialist slot for writers in addition to the usual benefits of a Monastery. It does not require faith, but may be constructed or purchased at Monasticism Tech.

Cymru:

"High King's Legacy" - City-State Influence degrades at half and recovers at twice the normal rate. Pengwern subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Uchelwyr - The Uchelwyr are the Cymru replacement for the Horseman. They have lower strength than the Horseman but they are very mobile at 5 movement and great at hit and run tactics with Skirmisher and Hit and Run promotions.
Unique Building - Yeoman's Hall - The Yeomen's hall is a unique building for the Cymru civilization replacing the Barracks. It adds +1 Happiness. As well, it provides the Welsh Yeoman resource allowing the training of Welsh Bowmen and Welsh Longbowmen. Furthermore, all military units constructed in this city receive 15 experience points, and archer type units receive a further 15 experience points.

Dal Riata:

"Spare not!" - Buildings produced 1/3 faster. Pastures give +1 food and production.
Unique Unit - Irish Missionary - Dalriada replacement for the Missionary. Irish Missionaries are a special subtype of missionary that, in addition to converting cities (at 1/2 the rate of normal missionaries), can be used to excavate Relic Sites to either create Landmark improvements or to extract Relics to fill in Great Work of Art slots. Irish Missionaries may work in territory owned by any player and suffer only minor attrition. They are consumed once they complete a Relic Site or attempt conversion on 1 city. Irish Missionaries may not be purchased with Gold but require Faith.
Unique Building - Columban Abbey - The Dalriatan version of the Temple, the Columban Abbey costs less in maintenance. As well as +2 Faith, it also produces +1 Culture. The Columban Abbey has a slot for an Art or Artifact Great Work.

Denmark:

"From the fury of the Northmen release us, O Lord!" - Naval Melee units receive the Longship promotion. Free Great Heathen Army units with capture of enemy cities. Free pillage moves for melee.
Unique Unit - Bondi - At 16 Strength, this Unit is stronger in attack than the Swordsman, which it replaces. It has the Skjaldborg promotion.
Unique Improvement - The Trelleborg provides +50% [ICON_STRENGTH] Defensive Strength for any Unit stationed in this Tile. This improvement also increases yield on a plot by 1 culture, 1 gold and 1 production. Each Trelleborg in a workable tile of a city will increase xp for units built in the city by 3%.

Domaine Royal of France:
The icon is the same as France's.
"The City of Light" - Only one city allowed. No annexing. All cities transferred to Franks. Gain Science and Gold from buildings built by Franks. Construction of iron and horse units spawns units in Frank cities that have improved iron and horse resources.
Unique Building - Capetian Palace - The Capetian Palace is the Domaine Royal of France version of the Palace. In addition to the usual benefits of the Palace, it has 4 Great Work slots. It also increases Culture generated by the capital by 50%.
Unique Improvement - Chateau - as per France UI except buildable at Nobility with +1 Culture at Chivalry.

Frisia:

"Eala Frya Fresena!" - Resource diversity grants twice as much Gold in Trade Routes. Fort improvements yield +1 food and production. Unimproved Marsh yields extra food and can build Polder Improvement in Marsh.
Unique Building - Frisian Guild - The Frisian Guild is the unique version of the Market for Frisia. It adds +1 Gold to the city and total Gold is increased by 25%. Land and Sea trade routes distances are increased by 50% and +1 Gold is gained for both the recipient and target. Production from trade routes is increased by 5%. Finally, it yields +2 Lumber.
Unique Improvement - Polder - this marsh improvement yields +2 Food and +1 Production. Extra Food, Production and Gold are added at Machinery.

Hladir:
The icon is the same as Denmark's from the DLC #6.

"Norse Sagas" - Naval Melee units recieve the Longship promotion. Units may embark across any water hex in any era. All coastal Cities get a free Harbor. +1 culture and science from fishing boats.
Unique Building - Runestone - The Runestone is a Hladir unique building replacing the Monument. In addition to Culture, the Runestone increases the Science and local Happiness of a city by 1. Due to their importance to Viking lore and tradition, Runestones also allow water trade and increase range of Cargo ships by 50%.
Unique Improvement - Vik - Can only be constructed on coasts on tiles with no resources and not adjacent to another Vik. May be built in tiles adjacent to friendly tiles. Produces +1 Food and +2 Gold, and captures all adjacent coastal land and coastal sea tiles. After Guilds is researched, provides an additional +1 Food and +2 Gold.

Holy Roman Empire:

"Carolingian Legacy" - No settlers nor annexing of cities. Purchase in puppeted cities. Puppets give bonuses towards Gold, Great Persons and Golden Age generation and length. In Golden Ages, units have +1 Movement and a +10% Strength. Bruges subkingdom.
Unique Building - Hanseatic League - The Holy Roman Empire replacement for the Kontor National wonder. It has no prerequisite building requirements (unlike the Kontor) and adds 2 extra trade routes.
Unique Building - Imperial Stable - The Holy Roman Empire replacement for the Stable. In addition to the usual restrictions and benefits of a Stable, the Imperial Stable adds extra Gold for pastures. Mounted units produced in a city with an Imperial Stable also receive the Mass Charge promotion.

Mercia:

"Let Thine Enemies be Scattered" - Combat Strength +20% when fighting City-State units or cities. Receive 50% culture from kills. Lindisware subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Seaxman - The Seaxman is an Anglo-Saxon (Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex) unique unit replacing the Swordsman. It has a slightly higher Combat Strength than the Swordsman, which it replaces. It starts with the Survivalism and Scildtruma promotions.
Unique Building - Moot Hill - The Moot Hill is the unique replacement of the Courthouse for the Kingdom of Mercia. It arrives earlier than the Courthouse with Iron Working technology. It has reduced cost and maintenance as well as increasing Happiness in a city by 1. A Ceorl unit is spawned at construction.

Munster:

"The Strong Hand Uppermost" - Units fight as though they were at full strength even when damaged.
Unique Building - Buannaidhe Sept - The Buannaidhe Sept is the Munster version of the Mercenary Guild. It provides +1 Gold and allows the construction of Mercenary units. It adds +15 XP to Mercenary units. One Mercenary unit may be built every two Mercenary Guilds a player has in his cities. In addition, the building supplies +2 Gallowglass resources which can be used to construct Gallowglass units.
Unique Building - Ceilidh Hall - The Ceilidh Hall is a Medieval-era building unique to the Kingdom of Munster, replacing the Amphitheater. It increases the city's Culture and Happiness.

Normandy:
The icon is from DLC #6 Normans.
"Look I have already grasped my Kingdom" - All melee and mounted units receive the Conqueror promotion. Receive extended Golden Ages or added Golden Age points when at least one peace treaty is in effect.
Unique Building - Norman Keep - The Norman Keep is a unique building replacing the keep. It adds 100 strength and 10 hit points to the city defense. It increases Happiness in a city. As well, it generates +1 Gold for every 4 population. Mounted units get the Massed Charge promotion.
Unique Improvement - An Norman improvement, the Motte-and-Bailey Keep provides +50% Defensive Strength for any Unit stationed in this Tile. Any enemy unit which ends its turn next to Motte-and-Bailey Keep takes 10 damage. This improvement also increases yield on a plot by 1 culture and 2 gold with 1 more gold at Nobility. Finally, the Motte-and-Bailey Keep will capture all adjacent tiles upon construction.

Continued on next post...

 

Civilizations continued from previous post...

Northumbria:

"Let Us Seek the Best" - Strategic Resources provide +1 Production and Horse and Iron Resources provide double quantity. Deira subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Seaxman - The Seaxman is an Anglo-Saxon (Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex) unique unit replacing the Swordsman. It has a slightly higher Combat Strength than the Swordsman, which it replaces. It starts with the Survivalism and Scildtruma promotions.
Unique Building - Burgh Court - The Burgh Court is the unique replacement of the Courthouse for the Kingdom of Northumbria. It reduces Unhappiness in captured cities. It also adds +2 Culture and costs 1/2 as much maintenance as a regular Courthouse. Free Ceorl unit when built.

Norway:
The icon is from DLC #6 Norway.

"Going Viking" - Naval Melee units receive the Longship promotion. Units embark across any water hex. Receive +2 Gold and +1 Culture per foreign Trade Route. Trade Route owners get +1 Gold.
Unique Unit - Knarr - A fast naval unit that is capable of ocean travel. Lower in strength then a trireme, it is very effective at attacking coastal cities. The Knarr can perform a one-time ability next to foreign lands to earn Gold and XP. May only be built by the Norwegians.
Unique Building - Havn - The Havn is the Norwegian replacement for the Lighthouse. It can only be constructed in a city next to a coastal tile. It increases the Food output of water tiles and Fish. It also increases the city's happiness by +1. Additionally, it allows trade routes via water and increases water trade route distance by 50%.

Pictland:
The icon is from the Celts.

"The Hills have 'Ayes'" - Melee Units receive the Highlander promotion. Land Units maintenance is %50. Unimproved forests give +1 Food. Receive 2 Jewelry resources in the capital. South Pictland subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Highlander - The Highlanders are the Pict's unique unit, replacing the Longswordsman. More powerful than the Longswordsman, the Highlander pays half terrain cost in hills and also gets a combat boost. Success in combat with a Highlander has an increased chance of generating Great Generals.
Unique Improvement - Standing Stones - Standing Stones give you +1 Faith and +1 Science, but as time goes on and with the right Policies, they can be quite the powerhouse.

Saxony:

"The strength of Irminsul shall sustain!" - +1 Faith per city with an adjacent unimproved Forest, +2 if they have 3 or more such tiles. Improved combat within 2 hexes of Irminsul. Hamburg subkingdom.
Unique Unit - Stellinga - The Stellinga is the Saxon replacement for the Berserker Warrior. Like that unit, they are purchased with Gold which is afterward reimbursed and the cost deducted from Faith. They are cheaper than Berserk Warriors and can be built in unlimited numbers. They have Survivalism and Scildtruma promotions.
Unique Improvement - Irminsul give you +2 Faith, +1 Production and +1 Culture, but as time goes on and with the right Policies, they can be quite powerful.

Strathclyde:

"God Feeds the Ravens" - Combat bonus (+20%) when fighting units from a Civilization with more cities. No maintenance costs for improvements in hills; half cost elsewhere.
Unique Building - Alt Clut - Alt Clut is the Kingdom of Strathclyde version of the Palace. In addition to the usual benefits of a Palace, a free Keep is generated by Alt Clut. Units receive free Drill I promotion. Workers build improvements %25 faster.
Unique Improvement - Dun - The Dun provides +25% Defensive Strength for any Unit stationed in this Tile. This improvement also increases yield on a plot by 1 gold, 1 food and 1 production. An additional gold is received with Nobility.

Sweden:
The icon is Sweden's.
"Varangian Spirit" - Naval Melee units receive the Longship promotion. All land military units have +1 sight. All units move faster along rivers. Rivers act as roads for trade.
Unique Building - Byrck - The Byrck is the Swedish unique building, replacing the barracks. The Byrck provides +15 XP for all military units constructed in its city. In addition, the Byrck increases the city's cultural border growth by 25% and provides +1 Science and +1 Gold.
Unique Building - Stave Church - The Stave Church is the Swedish unique building, replacing the Temple. It takes less time to build and increases the Faith and Happiness of a city. It also has no maintenance cost.

Wessex:

"Calling the Fyrd" - Wessex melee units have +1 movement points and receive the free promotion Discipline. Unit maintenance is reduced 25%.
Unique Unit - Seaxman - The Seaxman is an Anglo-Saxon (Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex) unique unit replacing the Swordsman. It has a slightly higher Combat Strength than the Swordsman, which it replaces. It starts with the Survivalism and Scildtruma promotions.
Unique Building - Burh - The Burh is a unique building of the Kingdom of Wessex replacing Walls. A Burh increases a city's Defense Strength, making the city more difficult to capture. They generate two Fyrdman units upon being constructed. They increase production by +2.

There are some new concepts I have introduced. A number of civs have subkingdoms with which they obtain very positive diplomacy numbers and bonuses. At some point, many of these subkingdoms amalgamate with the civilization in question upon the acquisition of either Nobility or Chivalry techs. Additionally, there are many scripted actions on behalf of AI civilizations that allow for a bit more historical accuracy. This mostly has to do with historical Viking attacks... the point being that for now, even given a peace treaty, the Viking civs are not to be trusted. I am going to work on refining these scripted events as time goes on to make them seem more rational and random at the same time.

During the course of creating this scenario, I used a variety of resources provided by members of this site plus many of my own creation. I have lost track of many of the creators however, because of computer wipes and interruptions in work. Because of this, I would ask that if anyone sees their own work, they let me know so I can properly credit it in the mod description and in the thread. I will list some that I do recall below (I will collect spelling of names as I return to this thread over time):

CREDITS:

wHoward - longship, assistance with much code. probably etc.
Machiavelli - his unit promotion code, building created code, unit created code, assistance with code creation, probably etc.
Gedemon - city state's UU code
Don Quixote - Ingame Editor for testing, assistance with code creation
Iceco - not another city state's mod code elements
R8XFT - Some leader portraits from his mod/some unit and building/unit graphics
JFD - Norway map/TopPanel stuff/some HRE ideas
FramedArchitecture - lua from his National Park mod
LeeS - code assistance
Neirai the Forgiven, TPangolin - code and improvement from "Colonialist Legacies - The Wabanaki"
Morlark - Smarter Tech Tree Pipes code
KyteM - Dynamic Cultural Overview UI Enhancement
? - Standing Stones Mod code
? - many unit graphics
Leugi - ProductionPopUp lua to handle UI to show Unique Missionary
LastSword - Missionary Override lua for Unique Missionary

I likely missed some... let me know if that's the case.

 

Reserved again due to attachment limits...

 

One more for luck...

 

Uploaded the newest version, 7. Tinkered with several traits to increase balance. Replaced Trelleborg Building with Trelleborg Improvement for Kingdom of Denmark. Replaced Bondi Unit with Vik Improvement for Jarldom of Hladir.

Will improve the original posts to be more informative over time. As of now, have listed all items for only Denmark... others will come over time.

If anyone is playing this scenario, I would appreciate any feedback you may offer. If you do, I would suggest playing either quick or standard speeds at first, as the game will feel very long otherwise.

Thanks.

 

Cool map. I tried twice playing as Wessex and the game crashed about turn 15. Perhaps I will try again as another civilization

 

I will try Wessex on my own.. in my play tests, I have not had a crash in ages.

Are you using any mods? I have noticed my scenario doesn't play nice with non-vanilla dlls.

But it is something I will look into right away.

Thanks- for the feed back.

 

I played as Wessex for 50 turns on a Quick map just last night. I had no CTDs occur. Not certain what happened to cause the crash listed 2 posts above.

If anyone experiences similar crashes, I'd be grateful to know the circumstances.

One thing is, as noted, mods may cause conflicts with the scenario. As well, the maps are set at certain difficulties and game lengths. So if you change the difficulty of a map from the game menus, differences with the map settings may cause a crash... similarly, the game length set by the particular map should be accepted as is.

In future, I hope to make this scenario into a DLC in which scenario length and difficulty will be independent of the map... and only on map will be needed rather than one for each difficulty that I use now.

 

I am having better luck this time. After getting through 50 turns as Sweden just fine, I went back to Wessex and am now at turn 120 without crashing. So, maybe it was a one-time thing where the AI was making some move that made the game crash, and in a different setup it didn't happen (the great Marbozir said that happens sometimes).

Anyhow, without the crashes, I am free to focus on the issue of survival, as Normandy, the Britons, and what's left of Mercia all took advantage of the Danes' attack on me to attack at all corners of my kingdom. I'm playing on Immortal, which is at the end of my abilities, and will keep you posted. It's definitely a fun scenario.

 

Version 8 of the Scenario is uploaded to Dropbox.

The second and third posts have had much more information added as to traits and uniques.

Many changes have been made. Artwork is vastly expanded. Worked on the text descriptions... there are still more to do. Refined the Uniques of the various civilizations... in some cases, quite a bit. Changed some civilizations traits (especially Normandy).

Refined the idea of Cultural Units. These are "levy" type units that are cultural in nature... for example, the Irish have Ceithern and Kerns, while the Scottish civilizations have Clansmen. The Carolingians have Franscisa units. Usually, these will be limited in number in relation to the Barracks a civilization has constructed. They normally do not count towards maintenance and number of units and do not require iron (it is assumed they are provided under feudal obligation and are supported by "barons" in your empire).

Again, feedback is welcome.

I will continue working on the artwork (it's about 90% complete). I am satisfied with the flow of play when I do AI vrs AI and there seem to be no bugs. I will look at balance as feed back comes in.

Two main tasks remaining:
- randomize Viking invasions as to location, time and strength.
- Try to create a Custom Game menu so scenario attributes can be chosen more easily (ie. not having to use 1 map for each game speed).

Regards,
Craig

 

I don't seem to be able to select a tech to research on the first turn (clicking "Choose Research doesn't bring up the tech tree), and thus can't progress into the scenario. Has anyone else had this problem?

The only other mod that I have on is EUI.

 

EUI does not work properly with this scenario. Sorry. I tried it myself. You can go directly to the tree to select... but the problem recurs.

I may try to address it in the future... but it may be beyond me.

 

Perhaps you could start the scenario without EUI... then save and continue. Haven't tried that... it may work.

 

Version 9 updated on first post.

- Irish Missionary changed so it suffers much less attrition than other Missionaries... this will allow it to dig for Relics in foreign lands without dying so easily.
- Changed Handicaps... settings were too difficult for small kingdoms. They can have more units now without going over the supply limit. It is a flat number and so should have little effect on wide empires.
- set open border trading to nobility from civil service. Too many great musicians were sitting around with no place to go.

Still figuring out how to randomize the Viking attacks. Working on artwork as well... how many different icons of Ship making facilities can one find?

I updated Version 9 to correct a Database error in Handicaps as of July 17... uploads before then may have an error on certain handicaps.

 

Best civ5 Scenario I have ever seen

 

Well.... I got a CTD.

Lod in the attachment file:

 

Logs don't show any errors. Nothing unexpected (except, what is city banner manager?... just that there was a transfer of a city between a subkingdom and its civilization ally just before the crash...).

When Deira captured York... it transfers the city to Northumbria by design. At that time, there is a ownership transfer via lua and also the Northumbrian capital moves to York. I have never had a CTD at this point... but perhaps something to do with a mod you are using that does something with Citybannermanager may have been unable to handle it.

I have never seen that entry routinely in my lua logs... and I have play tested hundreds of times.

Are you using mods... scenario doesn't play well with them, especially dll mods.

 

I see you are using IGE... I use it routinely in testing, so it shouldn't be causing a problem.

I hope you are enjoying the scenario, in any case.

Keep me posted... I hate generating CTDs, especially since I have play tested so much without any in the longest time.

 

I'm up to around turn 225 with Alfred and am starting to build the elements to a "science" victory. Fighting off Viking invasions is a blast. I love the complexity, the new units, the challenge of resources, and the map. It's also replayable. The main problem I have it with my slower computer. At this point, it's a couple minutes of waiting for each turn, and that's not really worth it.