Tides of Crimson (FANTASY MOD)

[haluu]

Now at Turn 280-ish, and despite still being a little behind technologically (the Hobbits were the most advanced, but the Ramas and Dark Elves have since 'acquired' most of their territory), I am catching up, in part due to a recent research-project (Forging) which gave me a monopoly to leverage for some extensive tech-trading.

Am i gathering that you have found a tech (Forging) that the AI usually does not go for? Did not realize that. That's great! I believe Inundation is the same way. Great tech to get for trading purposes!
Hobbits doing well in your game then? Good to see! That seems rare ahah.

Militarily, the Tide (of Crimson!) appears to be turning in my favour. I'm at war — yet again — with the High Elves, this time because the Andori (with only 3 towns, and on the other continent) somehow convinced them that they needed to be fighting me, in addition to two of our mutual southern neighbours (Naga and Beastmen) — and even though those wars had already left them Weak against my forces.

Haha! A new race, and the Andori are already so cocky. If you ever get a chance to get near their capitol or other city with an Orb Core, let me know how difficult (or easy) it is to deal with their Orb Cannon. One of their biggest advantages are those Orb Cannons!

But I also took advantage of a Vampire-triggered GA to build some Succubi out of my larger towns, which proved very useful at swooping in across the borders to knock out the more stubborn D=8 Elven defenders.

Great job on triggering the GA! It was extended to 15 turns a few versions ago, thanks to your input. It was too short before and i never really noticed until you brought it up.

My current plan is to pop out a couple more Nurses and do some forward-Settlement just inside their borders, then make peace again (might even be able to get some concessions this time!). Then I'll build roads to the new border-towns, rebuild my forces to replace the lost units, and consolidate them on the new border, so that when the next war starts, I'll be able to attack their capital directly (if the Naga haven't beaten me to it).

Good plan! Does it look like the Naga are looking to launch an attack as well, i presume?

I also have another minor Pedia/.biq mismatch to report: the 'Pedia says Harpies have lethal land-bombardment — but in-game, I am not given the option to stomp on redlined units, i.e. that unit-flag has not been assigned in the .biq.

(I also can't use auto-bombardment with Harpies — not sure why not, nor if that's fixable. Flintlock's stack-bombardment works, though!).

Harpy lethal bombardment will be fixed in next version, thanks for pointing this out!
Very strange isse on the Harpie auto-bombard. I see what you mean but i can't seem to figure out why they can't. They have the same settings as other auto-bombarders. At first I thought it might be the 'pillage' flag (Harpies are not supposed to be able to pillage though) or the 'ranged attack animation' flag, but adding but those flags in Debug mode did not allow Harpies to auto-bombard still. I'll have to dig into that some more.

And I can't upgrade Work Mules to Drudges. Not sure if that's intended...?

Also, I had no problem upgrading Mules to Drudges (requires a city with a Barracks). This screenshot below was taken from version 2.85, but it should also work in your version since I have not touched the Mule -> Drudge upgrade mechanic at all. Let me know if you are still somehow having issues... maybe version 2.85 will resolve it for you?

 

[tjs282]

Am i gathering that you have found a tech (Forging) that the AI usually does not go for? Did not realize that. That's great! I believe Inundation is the same way. Great tech to get for trading purposes!

I looked in CAII for a tech that I could research that no-one else seemed to have yet. Forging was the one I picked, and the gamble paid off — this time.

(I'd previously tried this trick with Devotion, the precursor-tech to Education, neither of which were showing up in the CAII Trade-Options window — but when I got Devotion, Education suddenly appeared in half a dozen AI-Civs' "tradeable techs" lists. I conclude that Devotion must be 'Untradeable' — but it would be helpful to note in the 'Pedia which [other] techs [also] have that flag, pretty please...)

But generally in Civ3, beelining across the tech-tree tends to be more likely to achieve a monopoly.

Hobbits doing well in your game then? Good to see! That seems rare ahah.

They expanded well to start with (as Agricultural Civs usually do), and their tech-pace was impressive for the first age-and-a-half or so, but — even though they still somehow seem to have the tech-lead — they're now down to a rump-state of 2 towns.

And since they already lost their one offshore island-town to the Lizards, they're probably going to die.

Haha! A new race, and the Andori are already so cocky.

Yeah, they had 3 towns when they recruited the Elves against me, but now they have several more.

With any luck, they and the Ramas will decide to beat each other up, before either of them start coming after me...

Good plan!

That plan was modified.

I did the forward-Settlement, but once I'd brought most of my attack-units forward to the new towns, I realised I had enough available to continue pressing westwards, rather than making peace. I captured the Elves' original capital using [Balance Tower] Spell-bombardment, followed by Vampire-attacks, and they are now down to their last town, on the north-eastern coast of our continent.

It's proved surprisingly durable, though: I've had Harpies (and a Corpse-Bringer returned from mapping the Oceans) bombarding it for multiple turns, and Vampires attacking, but every time I managed to kill a Phoenix Guard, they drafted a new one. But they can't do that any more, because the town is down to Pop1...

Incidentally, you might be gratified to hear that the High Elves built a whole stack of their "Radar-Tower" equivalents. Given the numbers of Mules I've also captured from them, I assume they primarily (only?) used their Summoned Pixies for that purpose.

They especially liked to build the things on their Strategic-resource tiles...

Does it look like the Naga are looking to launch an attack as well, i presume?

I thought they might, but the Naga stack went south instead, to persecute a Jade Empire town just beyond my south-central border. They Sorcer-bombed it for multiple turns, failed to take it, and then apparently gave up and made peace.

That town was originally built by the High Elves, and has changed hands several times since; the Jades captured it from the Lizards (IIRC?) using a Water Elemental, which walked all the way through my territory from a now-demolished Tundra-town in the far northwest, and then across my border.

But once the Elves have departed, and my shiny new Midnight Drake has healed up and headed south, that town will change hands for the last time...

Also, I had no problem upgrading Mules to Drudges (requires a city with a Barracks). This screenshot below was taken from version 2.85, but it should also work in your version since I have not touched the Mule -> Drudge upgrade mechanic at all. Let me know if you are still somehow having issues.

I think this game was started in v.2.82 (or 2.83?), but I will check that again nonetheless.

I hope it wasn't just me being stupid (I mean, I know I need a Barracks to upgrade!)... but I fear it might have been!

Also (in this game/version), the Balance Nodes do not yet appear to have been fixed for destruction-on-capture. So I now have a second one (courtesy of the High Elves), and it already gave me an Elemental...

 

[tjs282]

I hope it wasn't just me being stupid (I mean, I know I need a Barracks to upgrade!)... but I fear it might have been!

Yes, it was

 

[haluu]

I conclude that Devotion must be 'Untradeable' — but it would be helpful to note in the 'Pedia which [other] techs [also] have that flag, pretty please...)

Thanks for being so observant! Devotion is supposed to be trade able. In fact, all techs should be trade able as long as they are not race-specific unique techs. I'll correct this for Devotion in the next version, it seemed to be the only "regular" tech that wasn't trade able. I've also added a note in the civpedia that unique techs are the only techs that aren't trade able.

they still somehow seem to have the tech-lead — they're now down to a rump-state of 2 towns.

I'm guessing that's because their initial tech lead must have been Huge!!!

but every time I managed to kill a Phoenix Guard, they drafted a new one. But they can't do that any more, because the town is down to Pop1...

Haha I love it! Persistence pays off again!

Incidentally, you might be gratified to hear that the High Elves built a whole stack of their "Radar-Tower" equivalents. Given the numbers of Mules I've also captured from them, I assume they primarily (only?) used their Summoned Pixies for that purpose.

They especially liked to build the things on their Strategic-resource tiles...

I've noticed this as well in my test plays, yes it's great to see the high elves taking advantage of their unique traits. I guess building them on strategic resources is even better, even more vital defense vs the raging Blood Cult resource thieves. . I kid I kid.

Pixies really have three purposes, scouting, military police, and building Guardian Stones. I'm actually happy to see the AI using them this way!

But once the Elves have departed, and my shiny new Midnight Drake has healed up and headed south, that town will change hands for the last time...

First Great Dragon of the game?? Nice work!!!! You are right, and now the sneak attacks can begin.. muahahaha.

Also (in this game/version), the Balance Nodes do not yet appear to have been fixed for destruction-on-capture. So I now have a second one (courtesy of the High Elves), and it already gave me an Elemental...

I tried again to replicate this. Could not do it. Everytime I captured a city in this way, I did not gain a second node, it was always destroyed. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the alignment of the citizens in the captured city? I.e. if there are more citizens with your "nationality", u are more likely to retain a captured small wonder?

It's definitely not the culture points, because all small wonders have culture points...

Yes, it was

Haha you crack me up... all good!

 

[Arexander]

Not the citizens either, since when I captured it in my Dwarven game, the city was full Wood Elf.

 

[tjs282]

I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the alignment of the citizens in the captured city? I.e. if there are more citizens with your "nationality", u are more likely to retain a captured small wonder?

No, that can't be it: the captured Balance Node in my game was (also, now I see that I'm X-posting) in a town that was purebred High Elf.

I think it might be more likely to be something to do with the Node-SWs being Sphere-specific? The High Elves had already switched to Fire Sphere(?) before I captured that town, so their Balance Node would already have become 'invisible' to them -- but if it was also essentially invisible to the game .exe(?), that might be why it wasn't properly destroyed when I captured it?

 

[haluu]

Not the citizens either, since when I captured it in my Dwarven game, the city was full Wood Elf.

Thanks! Saved me some time from having to test that!

No, that can't be it: the captured Balance Node in my game was (also, now I see that I'm X-posting) in a town that was purebred High Elf.

I think it might be more likely to be something to do with the Node-SWs being Sphere-specific? The High Elves had already switched to Fire Sphere(?) before I captured that town, so their Balance Node would already have become 'invisible' to them -- but if it was also essentially invisible to the game .exe(?), that might be why it wasn't properly destroyed when I captured it?

Very interesting theory! This could well be it. Im wondering how I would test this...

So here's what I'm thinking for a test on your initial theory. Since it might be hard to force the AI to switch governments mid-game, I'll just do it myself in Debug mode by cheating to get the Balance node tech, them gifting the AI the Balance sphere in trade from the start of the game. I'll wait until they build a balance node.

I myself will also be balance sphere and I'll build a balance node in one of my two cities. I will plant a few AI enemy units near that city, and start war with them so they attack me and take the city.

I will then check to see if the balance node in my now former city is (1) still there and (2) functional I.e. it creates a balance Elemental for the AI.

How does that sound? Think I covered everything.

 

[tjs282]

How does that sound? Think I covered everything.

I'm not a pro-modder, so I can't speak to how reliable your test might be!

But if the described test does reliably produce the same result, you might then want to run a new test, to see if you get a different result by switching to a new Sphere before you DoW and let your town get captured...?

Not sure if graphical glitches are worth reporting -- or whether you even have the technical knowhow to deal with them? -- but there seem to be pallette(?) problems with:

-- the Ramayanian Sultan's Residence GW Wondersplash_small(? the graphic which shows up on the F8 screen, anway): the 2-tone blue sky looks very ugly, like it's using 128 colours instead of 256
-- the Dark Elves leaderhead_small(? the one which shows up on the F4 screen) shows random splotches of civ-specific colour on Malegrith's helmet (although, interestingly, this isn't a problem in the CAII view)
-- the Naga LH_small(?) appears very pixellated, and surrounded by a square which (I think) should probably be transparent, but which instead is taking on the background colour of the Foreign Advisor screen, and thus partly covering both the civ-specific circular frame and the diplo-relationship lines

 

[haluu]

I tried it first without switching over to a different sphere. Had Balance Sphere and a Balance Node. Nothing abnormal happened, AI took my city and the Balance Node was destroyed.

THEN i tried it with your adjustment, first switching to Fire Sphere before declaring war on the AI. As soon as I switched to Fire Sphere, my Balance Sphere disappeared. Then i declared war on the AI (who was already in Balance Sphere and with a Balance node) and gave them an Emerald Dragon to attack me with, they took my city easily. And guess what? The attached save file shows that they received a SECOND FUNCTIONAL Balance Node! It appeared out of 'nowhere' because it was not visible in my city while I owned it after switching to the Fire Sphere.

Great theory TJS, and you have been proven correct! Now, the hard part is how to prevent this from happening while still maintaining the differences in the spheres and still allowing them to each have a node and other sphere-specific buildings.

**

Not sure if graphical glitches are worth reporting -- or whether you even have the technical knowhow to deal with them? -- but there seem to be pallette(?) problems with:

-- the Ramayanian Sultan's Residence GW Wondersplash_small(? the graphic which shows up on the F8 screen, anway): the 2-tone blue sky looks very ugly, like it's using 128 colours instead of 256
-- the Dark Elves leaderhead_small(? the one which shows up on the F4 screen) shows random splotches of civ-specific colour on Malegrith's helmet (although, interestingly, this isn't a problem in the CAII view)
-- the Naga LH_small(?) appears very pixellated, and surrounded by a square which (I think) should probably be transparent, but which instead is taking on the background colour of the Foreign Advisor screen, and thus partly covering both the civ-specific circular frame and the diplo-relationship lines

Regarding the graphics I can definitely fix them. Thanks so much for pointing these out!

I'll probably need to just replace the Sultan's Residence graphics altogether.
Never noticed Malegreth's helmet, i'll fix that!
Will also fix the Naga leaderhead in the Foreign advisor screen & (also on my to-do list) the Chaos Dwarves' "box" instead of a circle on the same screen.

 

[haluu]

I'm proud to announce that Tides of Crimson 2.86 Full installation has been released on Mod DB!

https://www.moddb.com/mods/tides-of-crimson-v-286

For those who already have ToC 2.0 or higher, the 2.86 patch is still available right here on civfanatics!

https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/tides-of-crimson-v2-86-patch.28864/

 

[tjs282]

Well, it's been a long hard slog, but at Turn 470-ish, my Blood Cult is now definitely in a winning position: having evicted the Lizards, and generously allowed the Naga to retain a small corner, we now own almost the entirety of our Continent.

Despite the long Lizard war (without prior Crucifixion, Lizard Gunners are brutal vs. Vampires and Succubi!), which eventually demanded a LUX%-rate of 60% to prevent WW-riots, we still maintained a high enough tech-pace to bring us into the Fourth Age ahead of all our rivals (the biggest AI-Civ left is the Ramas, who now own most of the other major landmass, but are still at least a couple of techs away, and paying me GPT for my tech).

But with the signing of the peace treaty, I could redirect that LUX%-spending into SCI% instead, allowing us to easily run 4-turn techs to get the Ultima victory -- if I decide to play it out.

Couple of thoughts on GWonders (in v. 2.83, so may no longer apply, after the latest patches):

According to the 'Pedia, the Sanctuary of the Sleeping Dragon is supposed to give +2 Happy in its town, and +1 Happy in every town (on the Continent?). But AFAICT, it only gives +1 Happy, and I'm not even sure if that applies to more than just the home-town(?). If not, then I guess I built a very expensive Shrine!

Similarly, my Domestic Advisor really wants me to build the Inferno Citadel -- but according to the 'Pedia, it gives (only) +25% production in the town where it's built. I fail to see how that is at all worth the 800+ shield pricetag, when I could instead build a(nother) generic Production-building, for about a tenth of the shield-cost (I can afford the upkeep).

And though the Thunderstrike Forge gives a better +75% production bonus, a similar argument applies here as well.

Conversely, if either of those GWs were to provide e.g. a free Stonemason's or Forge in every town (i.e. pay maintenance on those already built), it might actually be worth listening to my Advisor's advice...

 

[haluu]

I'm very happy to see you have fought through this so well! So it looks like it's only you run the continent, what are races are still left worldwide?
How is your culture doing overall? I've forgotten to ask, but one of the major Blood Cult strengths is their culture.

Great suggestions on the great wonders! I'll definitely look into these!

The Sanctuary of sleeping dragons definitely gives +1 happiness to all cities (not just the continent) and it's supposed to give +2 to the city that builds it. Let me check to make sure that's still the case. I might even boost this source-city happiness more for building this wonder, appreciate you pointing this out.

The Inferno's citidel's production bonus is indeed minor, but that's mostly due to the fact that it gives very high culture (+6 culture). Regardless, I'll look at this and see if I can make the Wonder more valuable. I agree with you it could use a boost.

Agreed regarding Thunderstrike Forge, i'll fix that for the next version.

Great suggestion on the free Stonemason/Forge. I'll see what i can do, maybe even slide that into the Thuderstrike Forge's new attribute.

 

[tjs282]

I'm very happy to see you have fought through this so well! So it looks like it's only you run the continent, what are races are still left worldwide?

On my continent, the High Elves and Ethropa Swarm were both expunged (by me ), and the Lizardmen recently exiled to a (formerly Naga) Tundra-island towards the south pole. This left me in overall charge of this landmass, with the Naga now confined as a rump-state (4 towns) on their starting peninsula, along with one town owned by the Ramayanians — who stole it from the Lizards (who stole it from the Naga!), right out from under my nose.

The Ramas also landed Bison Herds near a couple of other Lizard towns, but there I managed to pip them to the post in both cases (and then gifted another formerly Naga-town back to the Naga, because I'm so generous — plus it was 90% corrupt anyway). Then I sent my Virgins to slaughter the Bison that were left wandering around, to pre-emptively squash any temptation to backstab me (like the Brehton did in my last game!) that the Ramas might have developed.

On the other major continent, the Jade Empire and Hobbits are also extinct, leaving the Ramas (again) by far the most powerful tribe over there. The Andori still have 5–6 towns, but the Dark Elves are now down to one (thanks to their unwise Alliance with the Lizards against me, which was answered by my Alliance with the Ramas against them).

The Mountain Dwarves had a smaller island to themselves, so have also survived. I am feeding them (what I hope will be) helpful Resources, to allow them to stand against the Ramas, who took 3 or 4 Dwarf-founded towns from the Andori and Lizards.

I think that's everyone accounted for, apart from the Beastmen. I can't remember for sure where they started (I think also on my continent?), but I do know that they're finished!

How is your culture doing overall? I've forgotten to ask, but one of the major Blood Cult strengths is their culture.

I couldn't tell you offhand, but I certainly wasn't concentrating on Culture(-buildings) in this game.

I did build Sacrificial Altars in my earliest coastal- and border-towns, as the cheapest building which could pop the town-borders, but once I realised that I had been misled by the 'Pedia entry, and they didn't give happiness as well, I mostly stopped building them. And I just (finally) learned the Blood Coffins tech, so those have all now gone bye-bye. A few of my newer acquisitions might build the Altar-upgrades, but again, more for border-popping than sacrifice-boosting (with most of my continent now under my control, I won't find many potential victims over here anyway!).

Because I also didn't make much use of the Sacrificial option. With relatively low stats compared to most of my neighbours' units in this game, I didn't find Zombies (A.D.M=5.4.1) very useful fighters: Butchers are stronger attackers at A=6, and Mummies are better defenders at D=5. So I mostly used Zombies as border-watchers at first (stationed on Mountains — often with Bats — wherever practical, for better defence and longer visual range), then later as cheap military-police for my inland towns. Given the relatively low numbers of Zombies that I was generating, they seemed more useful in those capacities than as one-off sacrifices, or as recruiters of additional Zombies-to-sacrifice

I did sacrifice a Mule here and there, to pop town-borders in a couple of newer acquisitions rather than wasting (more) shields on Altar-building, but generally preferred to upgrade those to Drudges (once I knew that I could! ). But if Drudges(Foreign) can be sacrificed as well, I may still indulge in a small orgy of bloodletting before I wrap this game up...

But maybe if I'd had e.g. the Hobbits (or another tribe with low-D/ low-HP units) as neighbours, I might have made more aggressive use of my Zombies. Similarly, if I'd been playing at a higher level than Monarch, I would perhaps have made more use of sacrificing — if only to keep the AI-Civs from running away from me (my most recent epic-game DG loss was via a surprise French 100K Culture victory! I've never seen that happen at lower levels!). At higher difficulty levels, the AI-tribes would likely also have been able to provide a greater number of potential zombification-victims...

 

[haluu]

The Ramas always seem to play a pretty big role in your games, for some reason! Glad you were able to deal with those Bison!

Your strategy of gifting towns and resources is very smart, very forward thinking. I have yet to be that 'generous' in my games, but then again I don't do nearly as well as you do. Will need to try some of your situational strategic gifting in my next game!

Good point on the happiness of Sacrificial Altars, I initially removed happiness from un-upgraded Altars since the 'happy face icon' stayed on the "old" obsolete Altar once an upgraded one was built in the same city, making a player be misled that they actually still produced happiness. I believe I have now corrected this so that they 'old' Altars disappear, so I may need to re-impliment happiness for the standard Altars.

Agreed Zombie are very limited, but their main intended purpose is sacrifices or military police, as you have used them. They are means more as 'fodder' just like i would imagine Zombies in Left 4 Dead to be, not really a strength like summoned units from other races.

I definitely would like a player to prioritize sacrifices a bit more with them, they can give almost 100 culture for a single sacrifice in a city with Sacrificial Altar. Almost an instant tier 3 culture city can be created with them. Hoping that will help motivate for sacrifices, if for no other reason than to help expand city borders.

But if Drudges(Foreign) can be sacrificed as well, I may still indulge in a small orgy of bloodletting before I wrap this game up...

Haha! I love the spirit, you've got it down! yay bloodletting! Did you not find foreign drudges useful as workers at that point in your game?

But maybe if I'd had e.g. the Hobbits (or another tribe with low-D/ low-HP units) as neighbours, I might have made more aggressive use of my Zombies. Similarly, if I'd been playing at a higher level than Monarch, I would perhaps have made more use of sacrificing — if only to keep the AI-Civs from running away from me (my most recent epic-game DG loss was via a surprise French 100K Culture victory! I've never seen that happen at lower levels!). At higher difficulty levels, the AI-tribes would likely also have been able to provide a greater number of potential zombification-victims...

Very true, seems summoning races do well on higher difficulties and with raging barbarians.

 

[haluu]

TJS,
One more thing, I've added Wonder traits in the civpedia on more recent versions of ToC, so you can now have more direction if shooting for a golden age. This was a great suggestion by you, thanks again!

 

[haluu]

@ashen god , I've been testing on higher difficulty levels, and I do agree that a tech like Chivalry should stay optional (not required for era advancement). This was brought up by you a long time ago, due to it only allowing a great wonder for most races, but just wanted to let you know I appreciate the input! Will correct this in the next version.

 

[haluu]

Hi all,
Tides of Crimson Version 2.88 has been released. It's got some impactful changes with a focus on making the gameplay better. Thanks as always for your all your input to help me continuously improve this mod.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/tides-of-crimson-v2-88-patch.28864/

One thing i did want to mention that was a true revelation to me... for those who are using the GoG.com version of Civ 3 (Good Old Games) and are experiencing lag, there is a somewhat simple solution to this!

@tjs282 has mentioned in a previous thread (somwhere on the internet, i forget where) that changing KeepRes=0 in the conquests.ini file will resolve the lag, and this is true! Thanks TJS!
Additionally, for the GoG.com version, you also have to make sure you change the compatability mode. Unfortunately, you can't do this with the standard GoG.com installation. If you don't mind having a duplicate 'copy' of the game files on your hard drive, just copy the entire civ 3 folder to another place in your hard drive, and create a shortcut off of the new Conquests.exe executable to edit compatibility mode. This, combined with KeepRes=0, will allow your GoG.com Civ 3 game to run lightning quick again!
Detailed instructions are below (and also in the 2.88 patch ReadMe) in case you need a step-by-step.
I know clearing up the lag made Civ 3 more enjoyable for me (even on Huge Map Sizes), and I hope this helps somebody!

*****************************************************

* To solve Civ 3 GoG.com version lag issues in mid & late game *

(below instructions are for Windows 10, but might be able to be applied to other Windows versions)

- Copy the game folder "Civilization III Complete" to any other location on your hard drive. Make sure to COPY not CUT. Yes, this will take up more space on your hard drive to have two 'copies' of the default game, but will be worth it if you want to finally play a smooth game of Civ 3.
Example:
Default Directory: C:\GOG Games\Civilization III Complete
Copy to a new Directory you create: C:\Program Files (x86)\Civ 3\Civilization III Complete
- Create a new shortcut from the new Civ3Conquests.exe file by right-clicking on it
Example location of this file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Civ 3\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Civ3Conquests.exe
- Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties", then the "Compatability" tab
- Now you are able to select "Run this program in compatability mode for". Check this and select an option. Recommended "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)", but this may vary based on your computer. Also make sure "Run program as administrator" is checked. Click "Apply" and/or "OK".
- Open Conquests.ini located in your Conquests folder:
Example location of this file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Civ 3\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Conquests.ini
- In Conquests.ini, Add these lines or edit them if you already have them:
- "KeepRes=0"
- "PlayIntro=0" (recommended, this line might be optional)
- "VideoMode=1792" (recommended setting, this can be lower if you want)
- Note that you may need to allow yourself to edit files in this newly created folder by right-clicking the folder, selecting "Properties", then the "Security" tab. Make sure to have all checkmarks under "Allow" on.
- Confirm that the Tides of Crimson files are installed correctly within this new directory
Example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Civ 3\Civilization III Complete\Scenarios\Tides of Crimson
- Run the game using this new shortcut

 

[tjs282]

Was away from home last week, so didn't get the new update yet.

However, before I left, I did copy both ToC v.2.87 and my Flintlock-patched GOG .exe from my Win8.1 desktop to a thumb-drive, and have now installed both on our old WinXP laptop, which I'd taken with me (I was eager to finish off the solo epic DG game I had going on it) — the latter has made my laptop-Civving much less tedious

And buoyed up by that DG-win (my first ever!), of course I immediately started up a new ToC game on it, once more at Emperor, and with all-Random Civs. This time, I got the Orcs as my tribe. Sooo much fun!

Spoiler War stories :

Initially skirmished with the Frostlings to grab a couple of towns that they'd settled too close to my core, then wiped out the Chaos Dwarves after they DoW'd me for 'no reason' (I'd stacked most of my offensive units in Fortresses along our common border, so maybe they thought my towns were going to be easy to take...?).

A little over halfway through the second age, I'd already somewhow managed to scramble to tech-parity/superiority over most opponents, when I completed a Religious GWonder and triggered a GA (a little unexpected, but not unwelcome!), which put me well into the lead.

I'd been tooling up with Boar Riders to take the remaining adjacent Frostling towns, including the second-last formerly Chaos Dwarf town (some Arctic Wolves had grabbed it, the interturn after my troops had exhausted themselves killing all but one of the defenders), but then I got a sudden tech-demand from the Ossirians (on the other continent). I refused, she DoW'd — and then bought in both the Undead and then Dark Elves (on my continent) to fight me.

So right now the High Elves and Beastmen (on her continent) are fighting her on my behalf, and after konocking off a few Undead units and making peace with them, I'm going after the Dark Elvish towns instead (they were going to be my next targets after the Frostlings anyway, so I didn't mind 'rescheduling').

Really like the new terrain-set (is it Ares'?). Also had some ideas to make some of the unit-names a little more 'Orcish', if you're interested...?

 

[haluu]

What does DG stand for? Sorry I'm totally missing something obvious. Haha. Interesting that it runs better on your older machine!

Glad you're having a good time with the Orcs. Sounds like you were in a 3 vs 3 battle there for a while? Hopefully the Beastmen and high elves can stay your friends. I think a Beastmen Vs. Orc war could get nasty with the large amount of Brutes.

What type of unit combinations are you using with the Orcs during your invasions? How about for city defense?

Glad you like the new terrain. Yes its mostly Ares de Borg with some Snoopy in there (i.e. jungles/swamps). Also hope you like that plains are now more valuable tiles. .

Definitely interested in any unit naming conventions you have, let me hear em!

 

[tjs282]

What does DG stand for? Sorry I'm totally missing something obvious. Haha.

DG = Demigod

Interesting that it runs better on your older machine!

It's not so much that the patched .exe runs better, it's more the QoL improvements that it allows: the Worker- and bombardment-stacking, the elimination of 'haggling' while trading (where previously the only way to zero in on the best deal was by trying multiple gold-values), and the "Chopped" indicator on the terrain tiles (as opposed to first waiting for the CivAssist II Map-screen to finish loading, and the oh.so.slooooow screen-updates while shifting to any location of interest).

Glad you're having a good time with the Orcs. Sounds like you were in a 3 vs 3 battle there for a while?

Only in spirit! I never saw a single Ossiri unit, and after the Undead lost their meagre invasion forces, they were begging me for peace.

The Dark Elves have just expired though, and I'm now making inroads into Frostling home territory, because Rem'Gizal refused to get off my lawn when I told him to move it or else.

Hopefully the Beastmen and high elves can stay your friends. I think a Beastmen Vs. Orc war could get nasty with the large amount of Brutes.

As far as I can tell, neither the the Ossiri nor the Beastmen seem to have made any headway against on another — the Gors and Brutes appear to have successfully defended their towns, but didn't capture any.

The High Elves took a beating though, which surprised me because they had a really nice chokepoint-town between their peninsula and the Ossirian territory before the hostilities started. A human would have put (nearly) all their units into that one town, and it would never have fallen — but the AI let it get overwhelmed, and the Ossirians now own a salient into the heart of the Elvish territory.

If the High Elves end up in another war, and I don't help them, they'll probably get eliminated.

What type of unit combinations are you using with the Orcs during your invasions? How about for city defense?

Against the Dwarves I was using mostly slow units: Shootas, Stikkas and Rockas for softening up targets, covered by Spearmen who stayed behind when the offensive stack (generally Grunts and Kommandos) moved forward.

Once I learned Chivalry(?), I started building Boar Riders almost exclusively for offence; towns at Pop12 are set to building Boar Chariots or Shamans.

How about for city defense?

Who needs it...?

Coastal core towns and landlocked towns in no immediate danger are generally garrisoned with cheap units, some combo of Spears and/or Shootas (generally stabilising at 1 Spear + 2 Shootas in the coastal Pop12-ers, or 3 Shootas inland), but that's more for the MilPol-effect than actual defence. I have also acquired a rather large stack of Peons(Foreign), so I could use those as MilPol instead, once my land is fully improved. But there is still a lot of Jungle to clear...

Border-towns are of course more heavily garrisoned, with my offensive and bombardment units spread out across the high-value/high-risk towns.

In a pinch, I've moved Peons in as auxiliary defenders, so that incoming fast-units are less likely to be able to take any town in a single turn.

Also hope you like that plains are now more valuable tiles. .

I did notice that, and I much appreciate it!

Definitely interested in any unit naming conventions you have, let me hear em!

I started off thinking mainly about the "non-Orcish" unit-names, but then I got inspired, and this list got longer than I expected/intended!

Peon —> Digga, Wurka, Farma, Builda (and Builda —> Breeda?)
Spearman —> Stabba or Stikka (and Stikka —> Chukka, Tossa, Bomma, Grenada?)
Grunt —> Slasha, Choppa, Brooza, Masha, Shredda
Kommando —> Soldja, Sappa, Dakka
Boar Rider/Chariot —> Snorta, Snouta, Grunta, Skweela, Charja, Raida
Boar Chariot —> Wheela, Rolla
War Track —> Rolla, Trakka, Tredda, Skwasha, Skwisha, Skweeza
Sharp Shoota —> Shoota, Snipa, Kwivva
Sooicide Bomma —> Madbomma, Loonibomma, (Ka)Booma, Skreema, Splatta, Jibba

[Ship-types not ending in "-a"] —> Splasha, Surfa, Krooza, ...?

(Feel free to ignore any/all of it...)