View Full Version : Warlords scenarios!
I've patched Warlords to 2.08. Isn't it a good time to start some PBEMs with it? [charge]
IMHO, even though I have not played them to the end in SP mode, most of them might be quite playable in PBEM. Especially those like Rise of Rome, Chinese Unification, may be Alexander and Peloponnessian Wars, may be Omen. Not sure about Vikings (have to try that in hotseat first) and certainly Genghis Khan is unlikely just because of weird scoring.
Any takers out there? Those Conquests PBEMs were of great fun, I've played them a lot and they were very enjoyable!
killercane
14-11-2006, 18:48
I'm game. I havent played any of the scenarios yet, but they look interesting. Which one is the most balanced?
I have absolutely no idea about balance. :)
There are a few technical problems with playing multiplayer with them which require minor editing of scenario ini files and of actual WBS files to enable multiplayer for these scenarios. This is not difficult, just has to be checked out. I'm planning to dig into this during the weekend and will post the resulting WBS files.
IMHO, at a first glance Rise of Rome looks the most tempting but the balance there might be somewhat questionable. While Omen and Peloponnessian Wars might be more balanced, Omen does require some knowledge of the Indian AI and how it can be manipulated (or killed, hard to tell). Chinese Unification is not really well balanced but it might be OK for the human players against each other.
killercane
14-11-2006, 23:47
I'll run through Rise of Rome tonight, let you know my thoughts. How many playable civs are there in that one?
It is supposed to be 4 including Rome, Greece, Celts, and Carthage. Other powers are minor however in human hands, they might be playable as well.
romeothemonk
15-11-2006, 13:44
Im game.
Alexander is a totally worthless scenario however.
Chinese Unification is unbalanced as well.
killercane
17-11-2006, 01:58
Looked at Rome and Carthage in Rise of Rome, Rome isnt TOO powerful, their main benefits are that they are in good civics at the start, and are 10 turns closer to Praet IIs than Carthage is to their UU upgrade. Carthage has a bit better seapower to start, so it would be interesting to see how that plays into checking the Romans. Would pairing up Greece and Egypt vs. Rome vs. Carthage be equitable?
Don't know about that but this scenario can be played at locked war (always war between various teams) imho. That would allow to avoid any "unusual" alliances from the historic point of view like an alliance between Rome and Celts. Since Celts have to be conquered for the Rome to rise. [aargh]
I got warlords today:D and have it patched and ready to go.
I'd be interested in playing a scenario against some humans.
From what i've seen of Rise of Rome so far it looks interesting. Rome, Greece, Carthage and Egypt start off as established while the Celts have 12 Settlers dotted around Northern Europe and Britain. Its not totally balanced but with 5 humans in diplomacy anything can happen
OK, I've took a closer look at Rise of Rome and it actually needs 5 players. Egypt seems to be a minor power on a first look but it is actually not a minor power in human hands. So, we need 1 more player and can start this apparently as a PBEM.
Just a reminder:
Augustus of Rome (Creative, Organized, Imperialistic)
Ptolemy of Egypt (Spiritual, Creative, Protective)
Brennus of Celts (Spiritual, Expansive, Charismatic)
Hannibal of Carthage (Aggressive, Financial, Charismatic)
Pyrrhus of Greece (Phylosophical, Aggressive, Industrious)
are playable by human players.
There are also 4 minor AIs: Hispania (2 cities in Iberia), Seleucids (Antioch), Sabines, and Samintes. The latter two are apparently supposed to complement barbarians with their units appearing on the map at some point.
Scoring is based on VP which are contributed by VP resources. Each resource brings 10 VP per turn. But this is all in single player while in MP I could not figure out how VP scoring works. It seems that Domination and Conquest are still in effect though but VPs are considered only if the game does not end with these victory conditions. Domination however would be pretty hard to obtain since it for some obscure reason requires 60% of land and with considerable areas of desert especially south of Carthage this condition would be notoriously hard to achieve if not completely impossible. We can try to reduce that to a more reasonable number or leave it like it is.
Also, this scenario had not been patched essentially and a few features that had been implemented with patch in Warlords might be non-functional or incorrectly functional in this scenario. TBH, I have no idea and we can figure this out on the road imho.
We might also consider putting some artificial limits on diplomacy between human players but may be not. The tech paths are really non-overlapping so there is basically no tech trading and resources are pretty scarce except Greece which has a few extra clams for trade. It is not a game-breaker imho and we might leave it to player discretion.
Otherwise, we can start at any time, just need one more player and can pick up the civs.
It seems also that Warlords do not handle xml cashing correctly. So, for this (and every other game in general) to work correctly, it has to be loaded with xml cashing turned off. holding down the shift key while loading is not enough since some xml or other settings are not correclt loaded in the case.
This scenario is hence essentially unplayable in hotseat due to different tech trees which are not properly refreshed on the F6 screen but tool bar on top still allows to make a correct choice of tech to research. [confused]
quote:Originally posted by akots
It seems also that Warlords do not handle xml cashing correctly. So, for this (and every other game in general) to work correctly, it has to be loaded with xml cashing turned off. holding down the shift key while loading is not enough since some xml or other settings are not correclt loaded in the case.
This scenario is hence essentially unplayable in hotseat due to different tech trees which are not properly refreshed on the F6 screen but tool bar on top still allows to make a correct choice of tech to research. [confused]
There is something on the cfc about that. Firaxis relaesed a special patch for the hotseat problem but its not compatible with people who don't have. It really for people that use hotseat which i don't. What i did notice while trialing the scenario in hotseat mode, is that VP scoring is off, only time, conquest and domination are on. Egypt and Celts start in a slightly weaker postion then Rome, Greece and Carthage but can easily catch up.
Darkness
20-11-2006, 12:45
quote:Originally posted by akots
IMHO, even though I have not played them to the end in SP mode, most of them might be quite playable in PBEM. Especially those like Rise of Rome, Chinese Unification, may be Alexander and Peloponnessian Wars, may be Omen. Not sure about Vikings (have to try that in hotseat first) and certainly Genghis Khan is unlikely just because of weird scoring.
The only one I've played so far is Alexander. This one may be playable, but there would have to be some serious balancing. Also, more than 2 players would be a waste I think. Alexander and Darius would be playable, but I doubt Egypt would make a fun game...
killercane
25-11-2006, 00:31
I dont know if we will get a fifth, maybe someone can take Egypt and Celts if we have no more takers so we can get this game up and going.
Or we could leave one to the AI
OK, not much interest here but we can still try to make it with 4 players. Leaving Celts to AI would be too cheese from Rome so might be Egypt can be played by an AI. However, Darkness had also shown some interest here, might be we still have 5 players? That would be indeed an optimal variant.
I'm pretty indifferent as to what I would play except that I don't like desert and would prefer Celts, Greece or Rome and not Carthage or Egypt.
I thik I'll also pm all other interested just to make sure.
I'm also thinking about Monarch or Prince (less desirable) difficulty and speed is normal by default. Otherwise, this map is essentially multiplayer-ready and can be run without any other major tweaks. But this mod does not have many of new features implemented in the patch 2.08 for Warlords.
I happy to play Carthage if no one else wants them, but i'm open to play any of the 5. Price or Monarch is fine with me
Darkness
11-12-2006, 09:13
I'm going to have to skip this one.
RL is very busy atm...
romeothemonk
12-12-2006, 02:57
I can play egypt or the Celts.
I won as Carthage on Emporer by domination.
WW can really kick your buttocks in this scenario.
OK, so lets wait for killercane to show up and we then can decide who plays Rome and who plays Greece. Honesty, I'd prefer Greece while romeo might take Celts. This leaves Rome to killercane and Egypt to AI with Robi D taking Carthage.
killercane
15-12-2006, 01:17
Back in the saddle again. Rome works for me; I might be a sacrificial lamb if you all decide to team up on me early :(.
OK, we are ready to go then. I'll check it out again and make sure how the game can be started properly. Let's also exchange e-mail addresses for diplomatic purposes. Just a reminder:
Rome - killercane
Celts - Romeo
Greece - akots
Carthage - Robi D
The only thing we might want to consider is to prohibit alliance of Rome with Carthage. This is cheesy and not historically accurate. All other options might be well open imho.
And Greece is always ready to negotiate. :) For the price. ;)
killercane
15-12-2006, 02:15
cjh2b AT yahoo.com is my email.
OK, instructions for starting the game sent to killercane.
Order of play:
Rome - killercane
Celts - romeo
Carthage - Robi D
Greece - akots
These legions look scary. They can beat the hell out of any other unit. Especially the advanced variants.
romeothemonk
15-12-2006, 04:53
Rome and Carthage also have the best units, so allowing an Alliance would be really bad.
Elephant II's are just plain EVIL to fight, or awesome if you have them.
jacob DOT colvin TA mchsi DOT com
I'm happy with no alliances, wasn't planning on one anyway.
My email is;
rdragoljevic AT hotmail DOT com
I would wish you all the best of luck but i think i'm the one thats going to need it ;)
killercane
15-12-2006, 18:55
And its GAME ON! Sent to fair Romeo. Hopefully I did change Egypt to AI...
killercane
16-12-2006, 16:01
Turn 2 to Romeo.
Romeo can you resend the save to me, i can't open it.
Well the second time didn't work either. I've never had that happen. I know from time to time you get one that wont open but works after resending it. It stops just before putting in the password.
Heres the screenshot.
http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/Robi D/2006121893233_problem.JPG
122.51KB
This might happen when Civ attempts to send the file on its own. It seems, Romeo has to replay the turn and turn off the automatic mailing function by deleting the smtp and e-mail entries from player properties. Or else I don't know why it is corrupt.
It can also happen if the game was saved manually without pressing the end of turn button.
Problem solved :)
Save is with akots
romeothemonk
22-12-2006, 02:17
I will be out for 4 days for Christmas. I will leave tomorrow and return to Morrow night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEilPR1PXko
(Maybe I am just not funny, but I hope you like this joke)
killercane
29-12-2006, 16:41
I didnt receive Turn 4 (even checked junk mail). Could you resend?
killercane
29-12-2006, 20:40
Received and playing now. Edit: Sent, some suspicious looking characters in red are hanging around Rome's iron. The Emperor has decreed the area a battle training ground for Rome's legions due to barbarian activity. Wandering Irish rogues may get accidently disposed of if they remain in the area.
romeothemonk
30-12-2006, 03:11
I don't think you want to start that. He is small but he has lots of friends.
He is also not so hostile right now.
you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
killercane
30-12-2006, 20:26
On to Rome + the o.
romeothemonk
06-01-2007, 02:06
there was a minor problem in the war on rome, but they are down a praet and an archer now.
Damn, i would love to come over and watch but i'm have enough problems with these suped up barbs, i have to go retake one of my cities off them
romeothemonk
09-01-2007, 13:40
I am having problems in all my civ saves. Any thoughts?
http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/romeothemonk/200719134034_problem.jpg
49.86KB
You've changed some Civ files, may be installed a mod. Please uninstall, there is no other way.
romeothemonk
14-01-2007, 17:05
Hey guys, I might need to back out of this one. I tried a full uninstall/reinstall which got all my other PBEM's working, but this one still refused to move forward. Same error.
When you start the game, I assume by double-clicking on the save file (this is the safest way), does it actually load the Rise of Rome mode? (There should be a fancy music and mod screen picture appearing for some time.) Also, for this and a few other Warlords mods you have to have clean install of Civ4 vanilla as well, not only Warlords. It does chack for files there also. I also hope that killercane sent you the correct file. Because if he did not ... [confused]
Please do not give up, just tell me what had happened so that we can fix that. It should not be that difficult.
killercane
14-01-2007, 19:52
I have had to reinstall multiple times before due to a variety of errors (Python, XML). Sometimes that leaves backup files that for me caused some problems, so you might have to manually go in and delete those before you reinstall.
Im pretty sure I sent the right file. After Romeo had problems, i replayed the turn exactly and resent it. The only thing I can think of on my end is I played Omen and Chinese Reunification, but I doubt that would affect the save or Romeo being able to open it.
romeothemonk
15-01-2007, 02:27
I open by right clicking on the file from my email. It launched the RoR Mod. I haven't downloaded any other mods.
I did a full install of both vanilla and warlords.
I am still having that same error.
I am kinda lost and confusticated.
killercane
15-01-2007, 03:30
Can you load the turn before the current one?
romeothemonk
15-01-2007, 04:28
I lost it in the uninstall
killercane
15-01-2007, 04:43
Resent the last two.
quote:Originally posted by romeothemonk
...
I did a full install of both vanilla and warlords.
...
Did you manually remove the files that were still left there? Because this can be on of the reasons.
romeothemonk
16-01-2007, 14:19
I retried stuff and still nothing. The Gremlins are mighty strong in my computer it appears.
Any luck with the gremlins?
killercane
24-01-2007, 18:24
We could try to start again or start a new scenario in the meantime. Chinese Unification is a pretty good one I would think in MP. I emailed Firaxis (I have had this problem before too) and they confirmed that the only way is to manually uninstall and reinstall Civ.
I think Romeo still can try to fix it if time permits. :)
It is not the first time people run into problems with this particular scenario in PBEM and 2 games at CFC had been already dead for similar reasons. It also does not guarantee that the similar problem does not show up in another scenario we try to play. Obviously, there had been some remains of some mod or some files remaining in the Assets/Custom Assets folder which had not been removed. Especially hard is to find these files if one is runnning a "decompressed" version of Civ because some files there are having wrong time stamp and also the hard drive has to be on NTFS still for some strange reason.
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