MOD: The Balancer 3.0 - Page 2

Desert Dog · October 10, 2002, 16:00

Elucidus has wisely decided to approve a hardware section for the web site.

For now it is called Hardware Questions & Answers. Access to the Hardware section can be found at the future CDG Main Front page here: http://www.cdgroup.org/forums/

This section is being Sponsored by NeoTech Solutions. This company is local to Las Vegas & dedicated to building custom gaming computers. They do service calls for for on site repairs and/or upgrades. The company is owned an operated by Shawn Webster. He has about 7 years experience in the industry. He will post relevant messages regarding the latest hardware to enhance your gaming pleasure. He will answer questions as well, that you may have regarding tweaks, best cards to buy, building your own PC, or whatever you need.
He will post special deals he is offering for gaming upgrades or complete systems too. Not that it will be a place peppered with ads for his business.

He is only posting current specials just in case someone is interested in saving some cash. Could be something used or special item hard to find. The main point of this new section is to help you when any problem arise when playing a game or whatever questions you may have. Enjoy.

Cuff Dunk · October 28, 2002, 19:33

I'm really enjoying the new and improved Balancer, and I just thought I'd share a few thoughts.

- The naval changes you made are great. I love having super-early sail units. Helps a lot on Island maps. Also, changed stats are good too.

- Guerilla unit should have more power. It really isn't much more than a rifleman, and there isn't much reason to upgrade. Maybe someone else has a strategy for it? Also, it is a long wait to get Commandos. Maybe a basic footsoldier near Marines and Paratroopers w/ reduced cost?, minus the Naval, paradrop stuff of course.

- City State Gov't seems to have very little use as well. With the massive corruption it creates, not much gets done. Again, if someody has ideas about usefulness... speak up.

More critiques later...

Thanks for the good work!

Elucidus · October 28, 2002, 19:40

Glad you enjoy it, but you can check out information on the newer version here...

Or if you would like to get on the beta team for 3.1 which adds to the usefulness of those governments as well as a host of other things sign up here...

Bolt · November 5, 2002, 18:58

I thought the Balancer would be included in PTW.

Elucidus · November 5, 2002, 19:05

Well, so did I. In the 11th hour, Firaxis came out and said that all the work we put into the mods was naught. They said we could make a graphics-free version and put it on the disc, but since the disc was in for reproduction the best they could do was a patch. We had 72 hours to get in to Firaxis for the Patch. Well, we turned it in in less than 48 hours and then we were told it wouldn't make the patch either and that if we were lucky it would go on the remaster they are making in a few weeks. Lucky? If that is lucky, what is unlucky, getting struck by lightning 7 times? Geez. Sorry this is still a sore subject with me.

Bolt · November 14, 2002, 03:29

Any news?

I love this mod, so good to fill in the holes with new units and buildings. One thing I'm missing is something between catapult and cannon, like maybe a trebuchet.

Sirtris · November 14, 2002, 10:06

Have you checked out the site?

We are hosting a bunch of forums on their, and you can get the latest version of the Balancer both the PTW version and the regular version.

As far as the Balancer on PTW...I am told it will be released on the next installment of the CD, the remaster. Which is due out in a few weeks. You still need the graphics for it though.

Lordprotector · November 30, 2002, 18:58

I have installed the Balancer but dont know how to start it. Is the Mod only for Civ3:PtW or also for a Civ3-only installation?

The balancer.bix is not found if i start a scenario i see only the standard xxx.bic files.

I want a Civ3 Mod ...

Regards

Lp

Elucidus · November 30, 2002, 19:07

Well there are two version out. One for Civ3 and one for PTW. If you want the Civ3 version, the latest is installed in the scenario folder, or at least the bic is. Did you get the latest verison of the balancer from our forums? That is where we upload the most current releases. Let me know if you have any suggestions or anything.

Also between Catapult and Cannon we had installed a ballista, but never found any unit graphics for it so it was removed a few versions ago. If you know of any a link would be greatly appreciated.

Lordprotector · November 30, 2002, 19:12

Thx for the fast answer, i loaded the file from this thread in your forum:

http://www.cdgroup.org/forums/tbs/ci...opic.php?t=747

so i downloaded this file:

http://www.cdgroup.org/Files/Balancer3.1xp.zip

In this zip was the mod with the balancer.bix

regards

Lp

Elucidus · November 30, 2002, 19:25

Yeah balancer.bix is the PTW version

You can download the civ3 version here I am sorry the link wasn't put in the downloads section. It was in the testers only section. Sadly I thought I released it to the public. Give this a shot and let me know what you think.

Lordprotector · November 30, 2002, 21:17

thank you very much, now i can play it

The first 3000 years BC i see that there are very much ressources more than in the normal game.

And you can say what you want, the "canabis" resource is in the game not only used for paper production i think.

One negative aspect is that there are sometimes no descriptions for new Units in the ciliopedia, so for the Caregie Steel Trust, the Monolith and the Mecha-Units (are you a BattleTech/MechWarrior Fan?)

But in the end i have much fun with your mod, great job!

regards

Lp

Elucidus · November 30, 2002, 21:22

Thank you, and while I am a mechwarrior fan at the time we were making this, there weren't a lot of modern/future units available and we needed to flesh out the modern age a bit. I am glad you enjoy it, feel free to post any feedback, it is all welcome.

Lordprotector · December 1, 2002, 16:08

Quote:

I am glad you enjoy it, feel free to post any feedback, it is all welcome.

Yeah, i will do so !

BTW: I have add your website to the linklist of my BattleTech/MechWarrior Fansite

regards

Lp

Elucidus · December 1, 2002, 16:19

Actually we are probably going to be starting up a MW and Mech Commander forum. Although those aren't the P&P games. I don't know if oyu'd be interested in that, butg it sounds like you might.

Lordprotector · December 1, 2002, 17:19

You want to create an MechCommander Forum? Mmmh there are some english boards for that but many have not much visitors and few have most visitors.

I'm admin in one of the few german BattleTech discussion boards (called BaTCOM ) and we have no MW or MC Forums cause there are not much people who are interested, so there is only a general forum for battletech computer games and programs.

i don't know how known the bt universe is to you but have you ever played with the idea of a battletech mod/scenario for civ?

The bt universe has many different units like rifle and laser troopers, battle armor troopers, aero fighters, tanks and mechs, of course.

I think this would be an interesting idea for a new discussion forum (and so for a very cool topic) and i know sources for information and people who would be interested on something like that.

Ok, that was only a idea which came quick to my mind after i read your response

What do you think?

regards

Lp

Elucidus · December 1, 2002, 17:25

Well, the BT universe was well known to me, but that is years ago, also the problem with a mod based on it is the grphics there aren't a whole lot of BT units for civ3 around. I am sure if someone started a mod for civ3 based on BT it would be a hit, but I don't have neough time between the forums and the Balancer I got going to start another.

MiloMilo · December 6, 2002, 02:20

Elucidus, I noticed that your mod has new buildings with new effects, stuff that can't be done with the editor alone. How is this done?

I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of railroads. To this end, I would be interested in how to make a building that would increase food production by one in irrigated squares and shield production by one in mined squares. Can this be made and easily inserted into the game (civ3 1.29)?

For that matter, would it be possible to restrict the airlift ability to cities connected by roads? (and then lift this restriction with discovery of a certain advance, i.e. flight?)

Elucidus · December 6, 2002, 18:57

Those are all wonderful ideas, unfortuneatly everything I have done was done strictly with the editor. I am sorry to say I haven't figured out much more than what can be done in the editor.

I do like you ideas and will mention them to Firaxis QA if you haven't already. From the looks of the data stored in the bic/x I don't think any of that is doable with or without the editor. There are certain variables/constatnts that would need to exist for that to work.

One last thing you may be able to find another mod maker that has a better idea of how to do any of these or if they are possible. Just visit their forums...

Elucidus · January 19, 2003, 19:14

Whew, been a long time since we updated this thread. The balancer is still alive and kicking, I just haven't updated this thread about it. I guess I should have. Balancer is up to 3.1 for Civ3 and 3.1J for PTW.

I hope there are no problems with me linking to my site, but you can find both the pure Civ3 and the PTW versions here. Dan, Markos, or any other ACS Staff if there are any problems with me posting a link to my site please let me know right away and I will remove it immediately. I do not want to cause any anomosity here.

Myrddin · March 6, 2003, 18:24

Some thoughts on 3.1

Expanded tech tree, governments, wonders, goods, all seem to work well and change pace of game - I thought speed of advnces very slow at first, but it speeded up dramatically later

Changes to sea units (earlier availability, greater steps in movement and attack values) work very well

I think large number of AI starting civs weaken their chances, but will play around with this

Some things to change

Splash screen still says 3.0

Some tick boxes seem to have been missed:

Advances
Criminal code required for era advance

Units
Ironclad
Frigate
Bombard Cannon
Upgrade unit box not ticked

Ranger
Operational range of zero, cannot paradrop outside starting city

Governments
City State has required advance Feudalism
Facism has required advance Radio (pre-requisite of Facism advance)

Internet has research labs as a requirement, so is not buildable if you build Einstein's Lab which gives free research labs

There seemed to be no marble in my first game, so several wonders were not buildable

Elucidus · March 6, 2003, 18:33

Is this for Civ3 or PTW? Just so I know where to go. Thanks.

Luc

Myrddin · March 7, 2003, 17:28

Civ3 - such an obvious point that I overlooked it

Elucidus · March 7, 2003, 19:19

Ahh, yes, that does have a few problems remaining. Sorry about that.

Myrddin · March 16, 2003, 18:34

Having completed a space win at Monarch, a few further points

Guerillas seem too powerful - the AI uses them as their main attacking unit instead of cavalry. Reducing movement to 1 would make sense

Modern age advances - these seem expensive, even leading in population and research labs everywhere, advances were still taking 9 turns min

Space Race - multiple component requirements slow it down nicely, except you can only build 1 of each at a time - I asume that there is no way around this

Naval units - I like this even more - the higher move rates make moving units by sea more feasible and mean that intercepting opposing naval forces needs careful searching of the ocean as they move far beyond visual range

I reduced starting civilisations to 6, which allowed longer for expansion and more solid opponents than starting with 16. It took me to near the end of the industrial age to catch up after starting on an island off the main continent, and a tank war to move into the lead.

Elucidus · March 16, 2003, 18:47

As far as the space race thing. Our latest rendition, changed that to an increased cost (matching the total of each part) and that seems to be working a little better.

I will definately look at the guerillas. And modern age techs were ment to be expensive. otherwise your units are obsolete too quickly, before you even finished bulding them.

Thank oyu for the excellent feedback. I will post it in our mod's forums shortly.

Mizaq · April 2, 2003, 15:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Myrddin
Internet has research labs as a requirement, so is not buildable if you build Einstein's Lab which gives free research labs

So did PTW fix this? This was the other huge thorn in my side a year ago (the first being the tech icon bug which someone already told me PTW fixed).

Elucidus · April 2, 2003, 15:16

You know...I don't remember if it did fix this, I will check when I get home.

How have you been Mizaq? It has been a while.

Mizaq · April 2, 2003, 15:20

ahh, well I'm struggling to get a job since I graduated in December from the UW, otherwise I've been good. I'm at my wits end though trying to find a good job.

barkwaffle · April 29, 2003, 16:30

A quick question? Is there a newer or patched version of the Balancer Mod after the PTW U.S. version? That seems to have a few bugs with crashing while upgrading units? Thanks!