Which modmod should I play?

[Boshi]

I haven't played any Civ IV in a good long time and I just can't imagine playing Civ IV without it being a FFH spin-off. Since I last played there's been a lot of developments of various modmods and I only have experience with vanilla and (very early) versions of Master of Mana. The things that I'm looking for:

1. AI that knows how to use the features of the game. If I'm the only one who's using cool feature X then I don't get a lot of excitement out of it. I don't require genius, just being able to see the stuff being used. This was my number one frustration with vanilla FFH a couple years back.

2. Weird random stuff, especially when I go out exploring. Gobs of unique terrain features would be wonderful as are more random events. Event chains would be glorious.

3. Big scary stompy barbarians. Having there be a real and significant danger of the barbarians wipe me out in any game is a must. I especially like anything that sends the barbarians at me in waves instead of as a constant drip.

4. Interesting interaction with the AI. The more I have to deal with different Civs in different ways and the less that the AI feels samey the better.

5. Combined arms. Both reasons for me to use a mix of units and to have AI that uses an interesting mix of units.

6. Expanded flavor for existing civs. Good stuff. I love unique hero units and whatnot. The more each civ plays differently the better.

7. Not tooooooooooooo much micromanagement. Makes me crazy it does.

Stuff I don't care so much about:

1. Balance. I'm not playing multiplayer so I don't care to much, I just adjust the difficulty.

2. The late game. I'm cursed with a short attention span, I really want to play the late game but I've always liked the first hundred turns of Civ the most the lovely black map and all of the newness.

3. Gobs of additional Civs. Cool but not necessary.

Many thanks!

Also any small mods that are good to add in as well as the big modpacks?

 

[Calavente]

well, in order :

more Naval AI :
-same as vanilla FFH, with better AI.. and a little plus.


Wildmana 8.34
-hard to find version (pre-MoM)
-new civs
-most mechanics are identical with EDIT "comprehensible knowing those of" vanilla FFH. AI is improved but in different way as more NAval AI.
-Barbs : can't remember.
-AI knows how to use most things but is not very improved with regard to navies and magic.

Magister
-same civs as Vanilla FFH, same Lore, same AI as Naval AI... but many added feature. Can't say if the AI can use it or not.

RifE
-much more civs, more aggressive barbs. fun. However the AI is a bit less top-notch.
-barbs attack you
-however some known bugs that are not corrected as the team stopped working on it.


Orbis
-well I can't remember barbs action.
-some fun added civs
-the AI seemed kinda ok
-the most stable one.


MoM
-very nice; many very different interesting mechanics.
-team still work on it.
-nice new units.
-nice city specialisations
-fun-fun wild lands exploring. wild lands are defended/protected for a long time, by dragons, allosaurs, werewolfs...etc
however :
-arcane line is no fun, but spells are very strong.
-no barb stomping on you. they raid a bit, but will never try to destroy you unless you have very very bad luck
-AI is kinda good, but most strategic tricks added since Wild Mana are not learned by the AI (xp-farming, which is very strong ; spell casting and mana hoarding...etc)
-no combined arms. Well, you have an advantage to do it, but the AI almost never use combined arms. (the difference in strength, used for AI research path, doesn't exist and the side-kick differences are not strong enough with regard to the huge beaker costs to impact the decision of going to research additionnal unit lines.
- AI civs are not so good as their growth is curved by the presence of strong wildlife.

to be used with "Xtended MoMana" and Xpromotion, at least ; Xduskwood can also be nice if you accept blobs of red pink as ressource replacement.

well, I criticize it, but currently it is the one I play the most (as I really want to explore all the contents and learn to master all mechanics before going back to more "challenging" games)


COnclusion :
all of them are nice ones !!!!

The order I gave you is what I see can respond to your "requests" .. and Naval is top because no new civs / mechanics to learn.
However I like them all, but not for the same things.

 

[Boshi]

The wilderness stuff from MoM sounds awesome but I really hated how the barbarians were never an existential threat, I like some scary ones

Looks like Magister might be worth a shot. Is the AI decent at handling the magic?

 

[thadian]

-no barb stomping on you.

let someone explore a ruins and pop a group of Azer on turn 8...

 

[BvBPL]

If you haven't played RiFE that's a good one that's probably up your alley. Once you've tired of it you have several other options.

 

[sunbeam]

I was playing Magister's mod for a while, but he made a ton of big changes in that thing. I mean a lot. I think it is going to take an awful long time to iron out all the wrinkles in that thing. I think I am two or three revs behind where he is now, but he changed a bunch of stuff if you say More Naval AI is a baseline. It's hard for me to believe he has gone through all that in this amount of time as one guy.

Right now I am on a kind of hiatus from FFH. At this point when I do play it, it is usually Orbis or the More Naval AI. Orbis can be kind of wonky in the late game as far as how long it takes to finish a turn.

I played RiFE for about a month, but to me it doesn't seem to be a finished mod, and now never will be.

I tried MoM but the mechanics are very different. No idea what gameplay is like really, it was just a time investment I didn't want to take up. Seems like a different game in a lot of ways.

There is also a mod called Erebus in the Balance out there that is pretty good. I don't remember how that differs from More Naval AI (it does use a lot of that in the mod though). I think that mod is kind of based at Realms Beyond, not sure why that guy doesn't go through this site.

So far I think I like Orbis the best, but the AI isn't as good as the later ones, and it does have problems of some sort with speed and stability some of the later mods don't. I actually never finish games in that, I just get to the point where I'm pretty sure I win or lose, then quit. Well unless I am going for a tower victory or something. You really don't want to see round 500 or 600 with that thing.

 

[TheLazyHase]

I was playing Magister's mod for a while, but he made a ton of big changes in that thing. I mean a lot. I think it is going to take an awful long time to iron out all the wrinkles in that thing. I think I am two or three revs behind where he is now, but he changed a bunch of stuff if you say More Naval AI is a baseline. It's hard for me to believe he has gone through all that in this amount of time as one guy.

I agree. Since I haven't found any extensive modification log, let's just say that usually, if something look very bad in base game or even in the civopedia, then you should try it, because it's likely to do something completely different and kick ass.

 

[Calavente]

@TheLazyHase : that one made me laugh ... hard

to give MagisterCultuum his due credit, the current version is much more "balanced" than the 3rd before last.
(well, Odio is a bit (read "really") dangerous, but real balanced, with the Iras stomping on everyone, even yourself )

 

[Boshi]

After being quite busy I'm booting up the Magister mod, I love me the Master of Mana mod but I like my barbarians VICIOUS and that mod doesn't really do that. There's a mod mod that make some of the barbarian leaders nastier, but I like all the barbarians nasty

 

[esvath]

Boshi, try to download this module for MoMana : http://www.masterofmana.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=26841#p26841

I hope the experience will be thrilling for you

 

[Folket]

Try the more naval AI mod. It is FFH2 made perfect. It is the mod that makes the scenarios playable. It even made me start playing this again.

The computer on immortal is really dangerous.

It is the only mod I have seen so far that gives you an interesting challange.

 

[A Moon]

I think the conclusion to draw here is: Try ALL the mods.