Vanilla FF2 023c - Year gone - Am I missing anything?

[Micky Onimusha]

Hola. Anyway, I played FF2 a fair bit a year ago before kind of stopping with Civ4 altogether (not as much free time, drifted out, etc). Had some free time yesterday so I picked up Civ4 and FF2 again, so that sparked me into wondering what I've missed.

I'm aware that the 'official' updates for Vanilla Civ's FF2 ended at 023c, but have there been any other noteworthy add-ons since then that would be worth picking up? I noticed a "mod-mod" forum, and wondered if there'd been any add-ons there that have become 'must haves', or at least neat plusses.

I'll probably end up picking up the Civ4 expansions at some point, but it'd be nice to upgrade my currently available FF2 to its best. Anyway, that's all, thought I'd ask. Thanks in advance.

 

[Love]

Skip warlords. Just take BTS

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I'm fairly certain all the modmods are for recent versions, so for any new content, official or not, you will need the Beyond the Sword expansion (which also features a prequel scenario that we did). You do not need Warlords expansion (I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want more Civ scenarios.)

Since then, there have been added the Sidar and Svartalfar civilizations, the magic system was reworked such that there is only one branch rather than two (for simplification and to eliminate less useful spells), every civ has a unique one-time cast spell, many events were added in, the overcouncil & undercouncil, unique features are created on maps, an expanded equipment system, another leader, and a new trait, as well as the expected digital ton of new units, art, and balance tweaks. The next version will feature more lairs, similar to (and inspired from) marnok's modmod.

 

[Love]

To clarify, it is cooler than 23.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

I'm fairly certain all the modmods are for recent versions, so for any new content, official or not, you will need the Beyond the Sword expansion (which also features a prequel scenario that we did). You do not need Warlords expansion (I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want more Civ scenarios.)

Mm, that's the feeling I got. That's why I thought I'd ask, in case there'd been anything designed for/by "behind the times" lot like me. Still, thanks for the overview of what's new. Still need to wait on getting BTS before I can check it out of course.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Keep an eye on the bargin bins

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Keep an eye on the bargin bins

Aye, that's probably where I'd be grabbing it from. On that note, quick question, does BTS come with some kind of "code on in the manual" thing that prevents it being moved from comp to comp and so forth? Thinking of this in the terms of buying it used from a trade-in shop or ebay.

 

[reverend oats]

No it does not- Ebay should be fine.

 

[xanaqui42]

It's been a while, but Smarter Orcs was maintained past the end of 0.23c.

The brief summary is that it was less stable (for example, I don't think that multiplayer worked), but had far better AI.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

It's been a while, but Smarter Orcs was maintained past the end of 0.23c.

The brief summary is that it was less stable (for example, I don't think that multiplayer worked), but had far better AI.

Ah. Thanks for the link, I'll give it a go.

 

[CockyWizard]

There is Blaze's Mod, which is for 0.23c. That is what I currently use, along with some additions of my own that I've made. I tried BtS, but for whatever reason it stopped giving you good starting points to start out with, and after the 4th time being completely surrounded by forests (while not playing elves), I went back to vanilla.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

There is Blaze's Mod, which is for 0.23c. That is what I currently use, along with some additions of my own that I've made. I tried BtS, but for whatever reason it stopped giving you good starting points to start out with, and after the 4th time being completely surrounded by forests (while not playing elves), I went back to vanilla.

Was gonna ask where it was but found it with search. I'll give it a go Is it compatible with Smarter Orcs (just because I installed that too)?

 

[CockyWizard]

I've never tried Smarter Orcs, but I would guess it would depend on how you put them together.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

I've never tried Smarter Orcs, but I would guess it would depend on how you put them together.

Judging by the way Blaze is installed, it'd be Vanilla > Blaze > Smarter orcs. I'll give it a go but I got back ups of all copies so if anything goes wrong I can just delete the Frankenstein mix-up and just play 'em separate.

Edit: Ooh, it's got the Sidar and Svartalfar in. Coolies

 

[CockyWizard]

Yea, it makes the Svartalfar playing from Sureshot's old mod. Unfortunately, Blaze took it verbatim and didn't upgrade the units to make the .23 patch. Basically, all their units need a +1 to their strength (not that hard to do yourself).

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Yea, it makes the Svartalfar playing from Sureshot's old mod. Unfortunately, Blaze took it verbatim and didn't upgrade the units to make the .23 patch. Basically, all their units need a +1 to their strength (not that hard to do yourself).

So all of the Svartalfar units are 1 strength weaker than the rest of their counterparts?

 

[CockyWizard]

Basically. There was a patch that pretty much gave all units a flat +1 Str. You could just compare their Str with that of the Ljosalfar and fix their Str where it is different. Oh yea, it is the same with the Calabim recon units, because those came from Sureshot's old mod as well.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Basically. There was a patch that pretty much gave all units a flat +1 Str. You could just compare their Str with that of the Ljosalfar and fix their Str where it is different. Oh yea, it is the same with the Calabim recon units, because those came from Sureshot's old mod as well.

Ah right... um, how does one safely mod the game though? Looking over the "Modders Guide" thread, the file that coems with it seems to be BTS inclined. I've never even gone close to that kind of area of the game, so obviously I'm scared of basically breaking my game, heh.

 

[seZereth]

Ah right... um, how does one safely mod the game though? Looking over the "Modders Guide" thread, the file that coems with it seems to be BTS inclined. I've never even gone close to that kind of area of the game, so obviously I'm scared of basically breaking my game, heh.

go and get BtS, download 0.34 in two weeks and enjoy all the new terrain, interface and unit graphics, performance improvements, the real sidar and svartalfars and much more.

Don´t waste time with fiddling together stuff for the vanilla version

 

[Micky Onimusha]

go and get BtS, download 0.34 in two weeks and enjoy all the new terrain, interface and unit graphics, performance improvements, the real sidar and svartalfars and much more.

Don´t waste time with fiddling together stuff for the vanilla version

Still need to find a cheap BTS first