Last modified: >>
Wednesday, 15 September 1999
The Civ 2 test of Time Unit-Mania Mod-Pack was developed so that
I could fit in a large number of
modern land, sea & air units into the empty slots made
available as a result of the Test-of-Time
enhancements to the Civ 2 game.
I wanted to go MAD with unit options
to try to make
unit choices difficult as time went on (without compromising the
AI too much)
and to explore the diversity of real-world units that became
available after the
invention of Gunpowder.
I also wanted to 'smooth' the capabilities of new units so that
smaller jumps in
ability occurred from one advance to another.
And so the new progression of defensive land units goes :
Warriors - Phalanx - Pikemen & Archers - Musketeers -
Infantrymen - Riflemen
- Advanced Riflemen and Machine-Gun group and Bicycle Troops -
Modern Infantry and Mechanised Infantry
As well as :
Musket Militia - Reservists
And Slow offensive land units :
Legion - Longbowmen - Catapult - Bombard - Cannon - Artillery -
Modern Artillery - Howitzer
And Fast offensive land units :
Horsemen - Chariot - Elephant - Knights & Crusaders -
Dragoons - Cavalry & Tank
- Armor - Advanced Battle Tank & Self Propelled Howitzer
And Sea Transport units :
Trireme - Caravel - Galleon/Frigate - Clipper Ship - Transport
& Hovercraft
And Air units :
Zeppelin - Biplane - Fighter & Fighter-Bomber - Heavy Bomber
- Jet Fighter & Jet Bomber - Stealth Bomber
Marines, Paratroopers and so forth have largely been left asis.
But Alpine Troops have been replaced by Commandos.
As well I wanted to try out the "Domain 3" Land/Sea
capabilities and so the
"Navy SEALS" and "Naval Artillery" Units were
born. (I have long been frustrated
by enemy warships bombing my ports and not being able to shoot
back at them.)
(A slight problem or bug, the AI tends to put the Naval Artillery
on a barge
and send it across the ocean 1 square at a time, making it an
easy target for
any passing warships, this probably gives the human player/s a
distinct advantage.)
I have added as well an intermediate Naval Superiority Unit
- Dreadnought (Early Battleship)
I have added in a few other unique or oddball units for example :
- Suicide Squad
- Mortar Unit
- Stinger Unit
- Scouts
- Poison Gas
- Civil Defense Unit
- Advanced Freight
See Describe.txt or Civilopedia for Details.
Even then I didn't have room for a few I would have liked to
include such as :
- Gatling Gun
- Air Freight (Alas, I haven't been able to get that one working)
- Mech. Cavalry
- Pioneers
- Terraformer
- SAM Launcher
- Raft
- Patrol Boat
and so on.
I changed the Legion Role from Defense to Attack so that it would
upgrade to Longbowmen
if the Player has Leonardo's Workshop. (The old upgrade to
Musketeers seemed to reduce
the attack rating of the Unit from 4 to 3, not always desireable.)
Note also that the Partisans Unit cannot now be built by the
human player
(The Commandos, which replace the Alpine troops, are stronger and
have
the same abilities as the Partisans and are of the same cost)
but Partisans will still be created automatically if a city is
taken
(and will be upgraded to Commandos on the next scientific advance
if
the player has the Leonardo's Workshop wonder and it has not yet
expired.)
(I also tested this under CIV2-FW)
I have also tried to experiment with the new "Invisible
Until attack"
and "Non-bribable" features of the new Test-of-Time
game.
See the CIVILOPEDIA for further details as to specifications for
all the
new and modified Units and the rationale behind the creation of
some of them.
See also DIFFERNCE.LST for a file comparison of the differences
between this
Modpack and the original CIV2-ToT Rules.
Some new advances have been added and some modified,
but the details of those can await your game-play.
More details as to what new Units require what new Advances can
be found
by using the Civilopedia or by looking in the DESCRIBE.TXT file
included,
or by looking in the Rules.Txt itself.
Other than that I have tried to leave the other Civilisation
rules alone
and retain the traditional objectives as I am not sure that any
other mods
I could make would add much value to what is already a fine
mixture.
(I was very tempted to change the expiration for Leo's Workshop
from "Automobile" to "Mobile Warfare" but
ultimately felt that
this made it too powerful a wonder.)
I *did* modify the GAME.TXT file to make some of the diplomacy a
little
more humorous, but if this annoys you or is not your style, (my
sense of
humour may not please everyone, and some of the jokes were rather
lame
3 a.m. attempts to inject humour where it may not be necessary)
merely replace with the original GAME.TXT
Gameplay will probably be as for normal CIV2 until
Gunpowder is developed when masses of ever-improving military
Units
become available with new Technologies discovered, muddying the
strategies as to what is the best thing to build at any one time
(and hopefully confusing the player with all the myriad
possibilities).
Use as a Modpack.
See the Accompanying "Read-Me" File for more details.
See also the Unit-Mania REALMOVE Rules.txt
which has a few extra changes
from the original for many of the original Units and is perhaps
best fitted for play on a large world.