[BTS] Your best suggestions?

kazapp

Emperor
Joined
Apr 2, 2006
Messages
1,058
What I would like is
1) a mod that adds a small curated selection of civs, the best and most elegant the fans can offer. Not a humongous mod with scores of new civs of variable quality that takes ages to load.

2) a mod that mixes mainly the ancient and medieval periods up a bit. Not massive changes with entirely new gameplay. A select unit tweak here, an inserted tech there.

Do you have any suggestions?

I looked around in the downloads areas but couldn't really find what what I was looking for... I sorted the various offerings on rating and on number of downloads. All I could find was either very massive changes (huge modpacks - fifty new civs there, a hundred new techs there) or very small atomic mods (changing or adding one specific thing).

I don't want a new game, and I don't want a huge number of changes with little-tested interactions.

Consider the unit changes from Vanilla throughout the official expansions. Each change and tweak is considered and well-measured (at least for the most part), with the focus on quality over quantity, as well as subtly enchancing gameplay rather than entirely replacing it.

What I envisioned is a well-crafted mod that with a simple install adds maybe a dozen new civs (leaders, unique buildings/units), a dozen tweaks and additions of units (anything from warriors to musketmen), maybe the odd building or new terrain or resource to support it. Something that isn't flashy, just works, without unbalancing things. Something that still remains the "core" game, just spiced up a little.

Thank you.
 
Legends of Revolution is probably the closest thing I can think of that fits your.....ha....very specific bill. (On phone so cant link at the moment). Basically the modus operandi of that mod similar to your description

If you”d like something more era specific, as you mentioned ancient and medieval, you might give PIE”s Ancient Europe a try. This is a great mod that has not only been worked on for years but is still actively updated by PIE, a very nice bloke. All the changes are well thought out and tested.


I suspect that you’ve at least tried RFC (Rhys). Are you aware of the modmods like Dawn of Civilization or Medieval Europe.

Edit: Okay, here is a link to LoR:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-legends-of-revolution.359/

Note that some of the features of the mod components in LoR, like RevDCM, can be disabled via the options. Like I really don't like having the Revolutions feature active, but I like the minor civ option, where basically minor civs pop as essentially barb type civs, but evolve into full-fledged civs.

Here's a link to the RFC subforum:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-rhyes-and-fall-of-civilization.204/

At the top you will see all the modmod subforums, like Dawn of Civilization (DOC), Europe, and some more era specific things like Greek World, Sword of Islam and Classical World.

DOC is basically the definitive version of RFC now, but the other modmods add some nice flavor and variation as well. And DOC actually adds a few new civs as well that base RFC does not.

RFC does have some changes to core gameplay with the scripted map, stability and Unique Historical Victory options, but overall is such a nice change of pace to playing the game if you are looking for something different. As well as offering new challenges. But overall much of the core gameplay is still very much intact.

Oh..and here is the link to Pie's Ancient Europe:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-ancient-europe.494/

Very much an era specific mod, but very well done if you are looking for ancient flavor. The additions are well thought out and balanced, with civilizations specific to that time including some new ones. This is one of my favorite mods in the many years I've played this game.

Overall, these mods may have a bit more or a bit less than what you are asking for, but in many ways seem in line with what you may want. All of them are well established and in very stable states. LoR is the only one that was essentially abandoned a few years ago, but was very stable at its completion point. (and I actually think this mod most matches your request...it does not change the game dramatically but adds enough to be very interesting, while being stable and the developer emphasized performance) Pie's Ancient Europe and DOC are still very much maintained. As for Pie's, there is a stable version you can play, but also he is working on a new version in beta that he updates frequently (you can get an SDK version of it that can be updated daily). Pie tends to release whole new versions of the mod at once - and then works diligently to update that version consistently until it reaches its final state - and the current beta is iteration VI of this mod.

Lastly, I would mention Realism Invictus. Another very popular mod, which you may have head of. It is a bit of a bear with performance though, but may be something you'd like to check out if you haven't :

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/realism-invictus.411799/
 
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I play LoR almost exclusively and can vouch for the latest version being very stable.

There are probably a dozen new techs and new units – mainly bridging gaps where there is a big jump in unit power (e.g. the gap between Frigates/SoL and Destroyers). There are new features you can opt out of (Revolutions, Legends, etc), but other tweaks (Axeman now STR 4, new promotions, different UUs, for example) are baked in. Takes a bit of getting used to, but the changes are minor enough that it still feels like Civ4.
 
Thank you.

Still - you'd think there would be a "market" for "core tweaks" as it were (as opposed to total overhauls).

Well I thunk it, maybe I was wrong...

Anyways, I shall definitely check out Legends of Revolution and/or Ancient Europe!
 
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