Subject: Does the username "Galle" ring any bells, by chance? (nm)
Author:
Posted on: 2016-01-20 16:41:00 UTC
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OT: I did a thing! by
on 2016-01-19 02:00:00 UTC
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More specifically, I did four things.
As those of you unfortunate enough to listen to me on a regular basis know, I love Civilization V. I think it is the best Civ game, and certainly my favourite. As such, I like to help make mods for the game... and a few new civs (playable factions, for those who don't play the game) of mine just dropped. Those aforementioned people might also know that my other great love is the history of precolonial sub-Saharan Africa. Because reasons. =]
Therefore, it is my honour and privilege to present the Kingdom of Rwanda, the Kingdom of Burundi, the Sultanate of Sennar (from what is now the Sudan), and the United Republic of Tanzania. Please consider checking them out, commenting on them, all that sort of thing.
As for why I'm posting this, well... I'm not always a positive presence on the forum, and I wanted to show y'all something of which I can be genuinely proud. =] -
Interesting... by
on 2016-01-20 20:14:00 UTC
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I don't have Civ V, but my brothers yes. I'll show them your mods.
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Very nice! by
on 2016-01-20 18:38:00 UTC
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I'm a big fan of Civilization V and I've always been interested in the kinds of mods people can create for it. It's admittedly a distant interest as using those mods is, unfortunately, not within my capability (I've never been able to get mods for the Steam version of Civ V to work on my Apple machine). I especially like how you've integrated your mods with multiple others. Seeing more diverse civilizations is also always a major plus.
My one nitpick ('cause I wouldn't be me if I didn't nitpick something) is that Rwanda seems a bit overpowered with its Inyangamugayo and Abiiru. Three gold per turn is admittedly a lot of maintenance, but that seems worth it for the happiness bonus alone. And getting 10 percent to a random yield in the capitol seems like it could unbalance the late-game (once you've run out of things to spend religious points on and depending on how many you get). But that might just be me. Good job all around, though. -
Allow me to clear that up a bit. by
on 2016-01-20 20:26:00 UTC
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The Inyangamuagyo is a Courthouse replacement; normally they're impossible to build in your own cities, so it's a lot more production time spent midgame to get the most out of it unless you take a very specific (and in its own way suboptimal) build order. As for the Abiiru, the bonuses are additive, not multiplicative, so if you luck out and get five Science boosts in a row, it, er, gives you the equivalent of a National College or Observatory. At considerably more cost. And it's dependent on you getting a Great Prophet, which is by no means a sure thing on Deity.
However, if you want to get the mods and do a bit of testing (there are a couple of bugs that people are finding, I can't fix them because I don't code), there are links to the direct downloads from Dropbox for each Civ on its Steam Workshop page. Those should work on a Mac, but I wouldn't know, I haven't used one since I was in primary school. =] -
Well done! by
on 2016-01-20 16:27:00 UTC
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I know you've been working on all of them for some time, and I'm sure they're all well balanced.
(I'm afraid of clicking the link to the Steam page lest something explode, though.)
I'll definitely hunt these down later for when I actually have internet to download things on, from.
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That looks good. by
on 2016-01-20 10:34:00 UTC
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Since I never got past Civ III, I probably can’t fully appreciate it.
HG -
A modder in the midst, mhm? by
on 2016-01-20 02:26:00 UTC
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You people are like drug dealers. Use your power for good.
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Awesome. by
on 2016-01-19 21:21:00 UTC
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It's always fun to see different nations than the old standbys getting some screen-time. (Civ IV was pretty bad at that in the expansion - they added the Holy Roman Empire to a game that already contained Germany, for instance.)
((For the following: please bear in mind that I've never played CiV.))
So how much have you had to do to get these working? Back in IV, it would've been... hrm, unique unit and building, some flavour text, choosing traits, a flag, and... I don't remember how much the styling varied between civs, I think some, but probably in cultural groups rather than individually for each. So what'd you need to make for CiV?
(I realise I could probably search up the answer, but when I do that I don't get to have conversations; it's terribly dull.)
hS, still wishing someone would remake the fantasy and space parts of Civ 2: Test of Time... -
Okay, so: by
on 2016-01-20 12:41:00 UTC
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You have to
get someone else tocode up the individual stuff, but that's generally speaking the easy part. Each Civ has a unique attribute (a passive bonus) and two unique things it can make in game, be they units, buildings, or tile improvements. The Dutch, for instance, can build Polders on Marsh or Flood Plains tiles, and have a Caravel replacement (an early mid-game melee naval unit) called a Sea Beggar. This can be tricky, but you still have a lot of other things to do before you can in good conscience release your modded Civ.
You then have to knock together art assets, especially if you have unique units. This involves an icon for the Civ in question, icons for the unique units, portraits for all the uniques, a map for the title screen that shows the relevant borders, and a leader screen. Civ 5 has dynamic, 3D, animated leader screens. There are maybe, like, two mods that have those, and only one of them has independent voice acting. By total coinkydink, that's one I also worked on in a minor capacity: Australia, by the Colonialist Legacies team. You also need to do the Civilopedia entries (background information on the Civ in question, its leader, and the unique units, buildings, &c), unique leader dialogue, and a Dawn of Man speech. This last part is my particular speciality; a bombastic speech meant to inspire you to victory as your chosen Civ. I love writing them, they're so pompous, it's wonderful. =]
Leader traits kind of went out the window in Civ 5, but there's a mod that brings them back, because of course there is. However, you do have to code particular AI flavours for when you're playing against the Civ - how much they'd use nuclear weapons, how loyal they are, that kind of thing.
Actually, that's a point - there are a LOT of mods for Civ 5 now, and compatibility with them and support for them is greatly encouraged. Events And Decisions, Cultural Diversity, Ethnic Units, and the aforementioned Civ 4 Leader Traits mods are the big ones, but there's also Exploration: Continued: Expanded, Rise To Power, Historical Religions... let's just say there's a lot to keep track of. There's also Mercenaries, which has just been released and is pretty awesome, but none of the Civs in my pack support it yet.
After all that, which is quite a bit of work, you're ready to release it onto Steam or direct download via Dropbox and have people report a shedload of bugs you missed and (if Colonialist Legacies' experience with our Afghanistan Civ is anything to go by) occasionally draw out all the crazy, racist rednecks who call you a terrorist sympathiser for having the gall to depict Afghans as something other than skerreh brown peepul to be Gouda-cheesed out of existence in interchangeable modern military shooters.
But hey, it also means you can nuke Thatcher, so Civ 5 mods rule. =] -
Does the username "Galle" ring any bells, by chance? (nm) by
on 2016-01-20 16:41:00 UTC
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Er, no, alas not. Prolly before my time. =] (nm) by
on 2016-01-20 16:54:00 UTC
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Congratulations! by
on 2016-01-19 16:53:00 UTC
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I don't play Civilization, but I admire mod-builders in general, and I didn't want this thread to go without replies. I'm glad that you've done something you're proud of. {= )
~Neshomeh