Ancient Mod/Scn available Now

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 1, 2001, 09:58

I have a fully playable ancient Scn/mod that starts in 250BC and allows
you to play as Dacia,Rome,Carthage,Rome,Seleucid, Pontic, Germanic and
Ptolemaic Egypt nations that all have 4+ starting provinces of their
core empire,the remainder of the map is populated by barbarian
provinces(ie Latium/Etruria/Campania/Samnium for Roman Italy) so that
its not a game of colinization but as much of a wargame as i have been
able to make it.Each nation has its own military units peculiar to it
as well as generic types available to most, by using personalitys and
tech tree combined with government type the ai will build those units
that were historically available to it, the map contains navigable
major river, highland and lowland hills each with their own values, the
nice villages from the samurai scn that are now called Allied Tribe
and provide better resources than any other terrain type,many changes
to buildings abilitys,tech tree stays prety intact but some are renamed
to stay in period but most give different bonuses,ie city wall +1
happy +100% defensive increase, this will be available as soon as i
find a site to post it on, its all complete except for great libary
some is put some isnt but i changed my mind about what info to put
in it and havent finished it yet but their are 2 readmes that have
most of the info you would want.This was inspired by harlans alex
scn which i used as a starting point for all my changes.In this mod i
have linked types of troops that historicaly were used by
a nation to the personalitys that control the civ, this allows you via
the unit build list to predict what will be produced by that country,
thus Rome will produce Legions while Greece produces Hoplites, this
will continue through the tech tree so that each countrys army will
have a more or less historical force mix of troop types.(Its not
perfect but close enough for now)As i said before its a more combat
oriented than research game so youll have to unlearn a few things about
how you play but i believe youll find it very challenging.

ive tried for some time to get this posted but your forms currently want a
zip code and i dont live in usa so this is where its currently posted.

The whole things in a zip, with 2 readmes and a replacement unit.txt
that has to overwrite the original. The version awaiting to go to omni
wont have this problem.

http://www.mydocsonline.com/

Pass word sparta
Login as spennick

Bluevoss · March 1, 2001, 14:26

I'm probably in on this one. Looking forward to giving it a spin!

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Bluevoss-

Steve5304 · March 1, 2001, 20:19

to get a file posted on Apolyton try getting ahold of OmniGod

OmniGod · March 1, 2001, 20:38

It will be posted in 5 minutes after I figure what to make the description to be... it's already in the db, just not accessible

http://apolyton.net/cgi-bin/ctp2/db/review.cgi?ID=589
[This message has been edited by OmniGod (edited March 01, 2001).]

Kull · March 2, 2001, 00:28

There's no "Readme" file included with the zip. Anything special I need to know before installing it, or is there a generic scenario installation thread which can walk me thru this?

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 2, 2001, 06:14

I made a poor choice in that i zipped it as i big file and this has
created problems for omni to recieve a file that big plus a form
filling problem didnt help many thanks for his efforts over the past
couple of weeks

Read the spqr.readme for an over view

The scenario folder itself must be placed along with the other scenarios in
the following directory:

c:\program files\activision\Call to power 2\scenarios

If you want the map for other games,Place the map in:

c:\program files\activision\Call to power 2\ctp2_program\ctp\save\maps

The scn will then appear as another in your choices of scn to play,
if some reason it does not you can still access the game by double click
on the savegame.2cg this will boot direct from there,not best practice
i know but at least your into the game.

Chose as per a normal game your playing level i suggest hard/raging hordes
is a good place to start,pick your country to play.

Actually the raging hordes is less important than your used to, each
country you play has a differnt relationship with the barbs due to way the
map is done,thus if your playing as seluecia youll have more probs with
them than you would if you play as greece,greece having only to generaly
worry about its northern borders, whilst selecia is almost totaly
surrounded by barbarian lands so in effect each country has its own
difficulty level,so to use greece again as the example for its opening
30 turns(1600 in full game)or so.
It might go something like this
Eastablish garrisons /for effective city management,
Build first field army/hoplit/lcav/psoli/led by general,
Use fleet to open up map even further/see whos going to be chopped first
Send field army via navel transport to capture crete/slave go to attica
Deploy field armys along northern borders and send out roving lcav to north
Reinfource and redeploy main army to southern italy or sicily to begin
first war so you see as a civilised country your main concern is where to
expand to,others have the problem of the barbs wanting to expand onto them.
If you picture the barbs as a collection of wannabe empires it may help

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 2, 2001, 08:05

No readme?
There still at http://www.mydocsonline.com/

Pass word sparta
Login as spennick

sorry for confusion

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 2, 2001, 09:38

Info pack also sent to omni containing all relavant readme info.
i guess itl be in files soon as an add on info pack.

John the kicked · March 2, 2001, 23:57

Just started this scenario, and it is cool!!! Thanks!

OmniGod · March 3, 2001, 01:01

Infopack included as secondary download... go get it... it's absolutely necessary to play the game the way it was mean't to be played. Sorry for the confussion.

Steve5304 · March 3, 2001, 01:53

didnt even work....put w/scenarios launched , it loaded a stupid Black Screen. Then i replaced my game files, Still no go. Btw plz include a Read me. next time

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Kull · March 3, 2001, 15:32

A few random comments from early in the game (Hardest Settings, w/Diplomod):

1) Oddly enough I didn't read your "Greek Game Example" post until this morning, and its humorous to note that I'm playing as the Greeks and did EVERYTHING you suggested! Too funny.

2) Descriptions: There are a HUGE number of errors here. A fairly cursory examination found problems with those for Imperium, Ringmail, Engineering, Coinage, Cartography, Banking, Medicen(sp), Agrarian Reform, Sanitation, Galley, Phalanx, Allied Tribe, City Militia, Chieftain/Noble, etc. You really should sit down and give this a thorough examination.

3) References: Even some of the otherwise correct descriptions refer to units and/or advances which have been replaced such as Coracles, Longboats, and Slavers.

4) Suffete: Description says he can establish embassies. He can't.

5) Cataphracti: Two are shown in the units list, and they appear to have identical characteristics.

6) New Units: I seem to recall that someone developed a chariot unit for CTP2. Given that this is an Ancient Scenario, you might want to use it.

7) Unit Appearance: Perhaps someone else can speak to this, but how hard is it to modify these sprites? Assuming they can be viewed in a typical graphics program like Paint Shop Pro, I'd recommend using different colors to distinguish between those units which use the same sprites. You don't have to be an artist for this and it would really enhance the "feel" of the scenario, IMHO. For example, the Suffete's toga could be changed to green, while the Senatorial Delegation uses the default red. Similar alterations could be made to Hoplites and Elite Hoplites, etc.

8) The AI seems quite flaccid, even more so than usual. There hasn't been anything approaching an attack on any of my cities (even though most were undefended for the first 5-8 turns!) At a minimum I expected all those Barbarian fleets to do something, but they just ignore me, even when parked next to them. Maybe this is because the Greeks are the "easiest" civ?

9) Time Periods: PLEASE use years! The seasonal count leaves me with no sense that time is passing. It feels like being in limbo.

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 4, 2001, 08:40

i think yoy may not have the readme docs and the unit.txt to enable you
to play properly,ive sent copies to your email so check yor post,

Scale concept, regardless of which nation you play you will be most
unlikly to meet any other units before turn 20(click on the turn sequence
to find out what turn number it is),this time is to allow you to build
your initial units/improvements and for some to expand into adgacent
provincesand allow some variation in the game before it starts to hot
up when you make contact with other nations.The barbs at sea are their
soely as blockers to prevent movement,and to give a chance to earn
vet status.

A realise my liking for a seasonal turn is not going to please everyone
but as the 1600 turns represents 400 years and the ancient peoples would be
live their lives ungoverned by clocks and an 8 hour work day, but be more
reliant on the seasons much as farmers are today,also this leaves open
the option to asign supply to all units so that they can operate away
from a supply source(city) or a new general unit,this will reflect the
ancient practice of having a campaign season that was unlikly to be
maintained through the winter months,unless led by an able field commander
so you will see that to wage an offensive war you will have to secure a
supply source,rather than just head of into the hills, a general will
also have other abilitys rather than just being a good stated unit as he
currenty is.As the thrust of the game is military conquest during the 3
centrys bc to 1 ad i have assigned new units to a tech to represent a new
evolution of a style of combat/equipment or new tactical concepts,so
to take greece as an example will move from a hoplite (med/hvy armour
long thrusting spear fighting in close order)to a phalanx(med armour
Pike fighting in close order)the ai will follow this path but as a
player you have the full range to chose from.The sythed chariot was
still in use by the pontics but had been replaced by cavalry elswere,
so due to its low numbers in actual use i left it out.

ok the library sucks in terms of info,
The great libary is a work in progres, but if you print off the the 2
readme docs you will know enough to understand the effects of any changes,
also use the info from a right click to evaluate what your looking at,if
in any doubt it will be correct.

Sprites are deliberatly as they are so as to be easly recognisable as to their
type,

There are 2 cataphracti one for each type of government that can build
them.

The tech tree as i have said is the same as in the original and its naming
of whatever is cosmetic as compared to the effect it has in allowing new
units buildings etc, similary the wonders names, its the effect that
is important not what its called, but as time allows that will be addressed.
If any one is able to help with names that would help, but i will repeat
its not a game of sientific advancement you have a fource mix at the start
suffiecent to conquer the entire map without a single advance, their there
to provide an evolution of syle of fighting and tactical use.

Sorces consulted for Troop type and class, orginization arms and armour
, and tactical use.

Armies of the macedonian and punic wars 359 to 146BC
author Duncan head. wargames research group.

Lots of good inf for anyone with an itrest in the ancient worlds military
arms/armour/orginization and tactics are dealt with

Immortal Wombat · March 4, 2001, 14:15

quote:

Originally posted by Kull on 03-03-2001 02:32 PM
7) Unit Appearance: Perhaps someone else can speak to this, but how hard is it to modify these sprites? Assuming they can be viewed in a typical graphics program like Paint Shop Pro, I'd recommend using different colors to distinguish between those units which use the same sprites. You don't have to be an artist for this and it would really enhance the "feel" of the scenario,

Sprites can only be edited by editing their component parts - .tif files. Unfortuanately these cannot be separated from the sprite files themselves, so the sprite would have to be completely remade just to change the colour of a tunic. Its a pity, but there is quite a few home-made units around that will do instead of duplicates and ctp1 has some more that are not included in the mod.

Kull · March 10, 2001, 15:57

I've been playing for a while now, and it's definitely a "fun-to-play" scenario. Something that may be a bug has recently cropped up, however. I built the Pyramids Wonder several turns ago, and was supposed to get a gold bonus. Instead, it looks like my treasury is losing about about 5000 gold every turn!

A few other comments. The Barbarians work very well. I (the Greeks) lost all my "outpost" cities to them. They regularly send in "pirate" ships that pillage my ocen improvements. This forces you to maintain a large, disperesd navy. On the other hand, the Barbarian land forces haven't pillaged any of my land improvements. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems odd. They'd be more deadly if they used larger stacks, though. The largest "active" stacks are between 3 and four units.

It's turn 102 and the AI Civs haven't really messed with me yet. They attack each other (several cities have changed hands), but other than killing off few of my scouts, they ignore me....even the ones that hate me (most) and/or are at war with me.

Hannibal Ad Portas · March 12, 2001, 01:08

Hi

Glad your having fun with it,the pyramid wonder is the same as is the
regular game and has no changes as to its effects but i will see if i
can duplicate what you describe.

The barbs are not pillaging because i used the frenzy ai as a place to
start from and it has no priority attactched to land pillage, as i have
now rewritten a full ai routine to replace strategy.txt this is now no
longer a problem, in fact the sea barbs are now as in the original civ
in that they are arrive loaded with troops but have the advantage of
being a stealth unit as well,the active size of barbarians has also
increased so 3/4 the norm 5/6 rare 8+ not impossible.

see post playtesters wanted as to other new concepts to game engine.

Hannibal

Kull · March 12, 2001, 01:28

When the new version is ready, let me know and I'll take her for a spin!