TBS Civilization III Mods

[tred]

So, the thing is that I will start playing Civ3 again after a long, long time. I've seen that there are a lot of options at CivFanatics, but I wanted to ask you. Any suggestions? Something you played and liked? Any good total conversions?
thanks.

 

[Turisas]

Any suggestions?

Play Civ 4 instead.

 

[Comte]

Dune mod for Civ 4

 

[KoolNoodles]

Gotta say, Civ3 seemed alright when I was 14 and it was the "new" Civ, but after IV and V are out, either one is better. If it's a hardware/nostalgia issue, the only mod I played was something called Rhye's and Fall of Civilzation or something like that. It just adds a billion units/techs etc. and not sure if they are even well balanced but it was fun back in the day. Only for single-player though. Used to play multiplayer vanilla and that's probably the best way to go with that.

Again though, Civ4 if you want just a better civ game in a similar vein, Civ5 if you want to try "new" civ with all it's advantages and drawbacks.

 

[tred]

Really? I've chosen 3 over 4 because nostalgia and because I think that 3d graphics doesn't fit the Civilization series very well...I don't know why....
Anyway, now you got me thinking. Well, why do you guys think Civ4 is better than 3? Isn't it more simplified or something like that?

 

[KoolNoodles]

Really? I've chosen 3 over 4 because nostalgia and because I think that 3d graphics doesn't fit the Civilization series very well...I don't know why....
Anyway, now you got me thinking. Well, why do you guys think Civ4 is better than 3? Isn't it more simplified or something like that?

Not to go into too much detail, but in Civ4 you have better combat mechanics(less chance of weird shit happening, like warrior beats battleship), with promotions and other neat stuff, plus the Rock-Paper-Scissors approach is handled much better. You also have religion, which adds a ton of flavor even if it muddles up diplomacy. There's an espionage/corporation system with BtS that adds more complexity to the end game. Culture is handled in a much better way than Civ3. Civ expansion is handled better, and there's a whole new layer to city growth with the health system. The tech tree is expanded and makes more sense, plus it allows some nifty slingshotting through techs for specific strategies. Luxury/health/strategic resources are handled much better than in Civ3(they matter a lot). Finally, Leonard Nimoy. Civ3 was a fine game, but Civ4 pretty much eclipsed it in nearly every way.

 

[pan]

So, the thing is that I will start playing Civ3 again after a long, long time. I've seen that there are a lot of options at CivFanatics, but I wanted to ask you. Any suggestions? Something you played and liked? Any good total conversions?
thanks.

Civ3 has some insanely good mods, though I can only remember two. I believe that the prosperity it's modding community enjoyed was due to the ease in which the map editor could be used. While Civ4 modding required some programming skill (and paid dearly for it), the Civ3 map editor could be used by anyone and consequentially had some inspired results. Civ3 mods consisted of more than just bloated content packages and shoddy, fucked up, half assed scenarios -- at least one of the two listed here was made by some sort of historian dude. So for that reason (amongst others) it's rewarding to choose Civ3 over Civ4 (a game in which modding was entirely composed of the negative elements I listed previously).

Rood and the Dragon
Scenario in which you play as a Saxon country in dark age Britain. It's well designed, as there are several malleable time pressures on you. Firstly the Irish are capable of a cultural victory and secondly there's the coming of the vikings, who pose a major military threat. Between those threats you interact with the other Saxon countries in typical Civ fashion (map painting). The author of this mod was the historian I speak of, so you can trust that the detail put into it's authenticity was high (for a civ game).

Age of Imperialism
Lots of content and really wacky gameplay changes made in order to better mimic the times in which it is set. Word of advice: choose one of the great powers, as the other countries have lacklustre tech trees and the great powers all have unique tech trees. Unfortunately it is rather easy, without any ingenious plot devices like those found in Rood to provide additional challenge. It is your standard map painting experience, an experience which hounds these types of games to no end.

Not to go into too much detail, but in Civ4 you have better combat mechanics(less chance of weird shit happening, like warrior beats battleship), with promotions and other neat stuff, plus the Rock-Paper-Scissors approach is handled much better. You also have religion, which adds a ton of flavor even if it muddles up diplomacy. There's an espionage/corporation system with BtS that adds more complexity to the end game. Culture is handled in a much better way than Civ3. Civ expansion is handled better, and there's a whole new layer to city growth with the health system. The tech tree is expanded and makes more sense, plus it allows some nifty slingshotting through techs for specific strategies. Luxury/health/strategic resources are handled much better than in Civ3(they matter a lot). Finally, Leonard Nimoy. Civ3 was a fine game, but Civ4 pretty much eclipsed it in nearly every way.

Do not listen to this man, he has proletariat tastes.

There are indeed improvements made in Civ4, but they are to do with the UI and overall level of content. Only the UI is meaningful if you intend to play mods, not vanilla. As you say, Civ3 has many notable advantages: modding, which I've listed earlier, but also to do with graphics, as you mentioned, as well as core gameplay mechanics which cannot be modded away. Civ4 can be worthwhile, and indeed it is the only one of the two I play any more, but it has more to do with the ease in which one navigates it's UI that makes it attractive than anything to do with aesthetics, content or gameplay. I would advise playing Civ3 first, lest Civ4 spoil you.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

True patriots play Civ 2. Not all that new popamole downgraded bullshit.

 

[DakaSha]

Civ 4 is hardly popamole and downgraded from civ2. Especially when played with certain mods.
Having said that, which one is better is arguable. I'd personally say civ2 is better, but still choose to play civ4 due to the abundance of mods that make the game more interesting.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Civ4 is easily the most complex of the whole bunch. The civics choices alone should make you prefer it over previous civs, unless you want something that is both simpler and good(then just play Civ2). There's a lot to be said for simplicity and function, so that's not to take anything away from earlier games, but I just think Civ4 offers a richer gaming experience once you dive into it.

If you have time to read, here's an old thread with fanatical civ players arguing about Civ3 and Civ4. It starts pre-expansion and goes past.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=196162

 

[Storyfag]

There's a sweet, sweet Warhammer mod for Civ 3. Can't recall the name though.

 

[Borelli]

True patriots play SMAC. Not all that new popamole downgraded bullshit.

FTFY.

 

[TOME]

Rise and Rule mod for Civ3

The nitty-gritty cold facts

200 techs
13 governments
100 Improvements
67 Great Wonders
36 Small Wonders
14 Specialist Citizen types
52 Resources
340 Units (including flavor units)
lots of changes and improvements over the Double Your Pleasure mod.

Warhammer Fantasy Mod version 2.5!
What to expect:
A thoroughly tested fantasy mod based on Games Workshop's Warhammer world. 29 civilizations, more than 450 units. Dwarfs, elves, orcs, vampires, demons, dragons and wizards.

Some of the changes:
-New Civilizations: Skaven and Beastmen
-New barbarians: Ghouls and Skeletons created by the evil Necrarch vampires
-Over 70 new building graphics
-Over 70 new and updated units, including unit lines for the Skaven and Beastmen
-New Wonders and Improvements
-New and modified techs
-and too much to list here!

 

[Eyeball]

Penta Genesis for Civ3. Very interesting setting, good variety of far-future Corporations/factions competing for control over a resource granting eternal life. Easily the best mod I've seen, but several of the Civ4 mods are more sophisticated.

 

[tred]

Thank you dear codexers!
I'll stay with Civ3 for now + the Rood and the Dragon Mod suggested by pan. It seems to be great stuff.
If I repent my sins truly I'll ask our Dark Underlord for his forgiveness and mercy.
Let's see what happens.
Again, thank you.

 

[Storyfag]

Warhammer Fantasy Mod version 2.5!
What to expect:
A thoroughly tested fantasy mod based on Games Workshop's Warhammer world. 29 civilizations, more than 450 units. Dwarfs, elves, orcs, vampires, demons, dragons and wizards.

Some of the changes:
-New Civilizations: Skaven and Beastmen
-New barbarians: Ghouls and Skeletons created by the evil Necrarch vampires
-Over 70 new building graphics
-Over 70 new and updated units, including unit lines for the Skaven and Beastmen
-New Wonders and Improvements
-New and modified techs
-and too much to list here!

That's the one!

 

[MetalCraze]

Civ 3 > Civ 2 > Civ 4 > Civ 5 > Civ 1

Civ3 too complicated giv dumb down civ


SMAC > all

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Skyway saves the day.

Although Civ 2 on Emprah/God King difficulty setting is the cruelest rape I ever suffered in a civ game. Worse than Call to Power AI.

 

[TOME]

Friend of mine is coming over tomorrow and we were thinking of playing hotseat Civ5 and Civ3. Last time we tried hotseating Civ3 we ran into a problem. The AI difficulty couldn't be changed from easy (at least not from the options) at all and the computer players sucked very badly. Is there a mod or something to change AI difficulty?

 

[KoolNoodles]

Try this thread:

http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/74515-Decelerated-production?s=

This is the solution though, apparently.

A known bug forces chieftain mode in hotseat, hence dedelerated production for the AIs. BUT, there is a workaround which I picked up on Civfanatics (and have confirmed works), namely: start any normal SP game and leave immediatey. Now, start your hotseat game, and it will NOT revert to chieftain. You can confirm this from the AIs first score which is +10 if you are playing in chieftain mode, and otherwise higher (+40 for monarch). This sounds crazy but worked for me. This was a tough nut to crack because it had nothing to do with my mod or my settings!