The Campaigns Update v2

Update has been released! It contains fixes and improvements all over the place. Especially the campaigns, be sure to check them out. Actually, check everything out and report all problems you find!

Go to the features tab and read all the update notes from version x.x. Those are changes made through the patcher.

Everything is ready for version 5.5 but I will postpone until I'm sure there are no major bugs. So please, report all problems and help me out a bit (more)!

I've noticed a little bug recently, regarding the UI and gathered resources not being displayed correctly.
The way to fix this is to go to "Options" and press the "Restore Defaults" button. This will fix the UI and afterwards you can change any setting any way you want, make them like they were before loading the default settings, but you need to press the "Restore Defaults" button at least once.

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Alright, so, as some of you know, some time ago I began to work on the game's campaigns, improving scenarios and cutscenes, fixing bugs my mod created and making them more enjoyable. I focused mainly on the vanilla campaign "Blood, Ice and Steel"(1) and TWC campaign "Fire and Shadow"(2).

The vanilla campaign went smoothly, no major problems, a real joy to work on. But then I got to TWC campaign... It is a real damn mess. Just play it and you'll see, one minute you're Iroquois, the other you're a cheap, poorly made American nation, the other you're Sioux, and at all times you're a combination of all 3...
This had to be fixed to make a proper campaign which offers what it promises, the American Revolution and the American-Indian war.

Both acts from the "Fire and Shadow" campaign have about 3 scenarios in which the player controls a Native civ, and in the rest of the scenarios the player controls an American civ. I basically used the American civ I already made for my mod and gave it to Act3 (Steel) from vanilla and to the "Fire and Shadow" campaign. The "Fire" act version of the civ is made to feel a bit older, a bit more British, to fit the timeline.

The real problem here were the Home Cities. Like the civs, the "Fire and Shadow" HC is a mess, so I transformed it into an early American HC with some British flavor in it. It has less Native cards but I think its better this way.
Another problem here is a feature which TWC added for campaigns, a Home City button present in the campaign menu which allows you to visit the scenarios HC at any time. This button is present in TWC and TAD campaigns but not in the vanilla campaign. I tried everything I could to make it appear in the vanilla campaign, no luck, it seems to be "hardcoded"(3). I can however transfer the button from one campaign to another, but it can't be used by both.

So, I did the following thing: Both vanilla Act2 and TWC Act1 use the same HC, Philadelphia. Meaning that, when you edit the cards in one campaign, it transfers to the other one as well. Which means that I can transfer the HC button from TWC campaign to vanilla. Why? Because vanilla is the first and a player is suppose to play it before TWC campaign to understand everything well, plus the vanilla campaign is bigger so it makes sense.

Actually, I know most of this doesn't really make sense and please hold your suggestions/criticism until you see it.(4)
When do I release this update? Well, I promised it will be soon, but it looks like it will take longer. I also plan to release updated hotkeys for all the new buildings and units I added so stay tuned, I will announce the release in this post.
Thank you.


1 - "Blood, Ice and Steel" means: Blood - Act1 - Morgan Black; Ice - Act2 - John Black; Steel - Act3 - Amelia Black
2 - "Fire and Shadow" means: Fire - Act1 - Nathaniel Black; Shadow - Act2 - Chayton Black
3 - "hardcoded" means something beyond current modding capabilities and/or beyond my capabilities
4 - Yes, I used the word "campaign" a lot in this post. Please excuse my poor English and also please excuse my exaggerated use of commas and dots...

Summary

Someone requested something on the forum and my response, well, I want everyone to see it since it basically describes how things are going for the mod and how they will go in the future.

http://impmod.freeforums.org/civ-changes-t53.html

"These are not "basic things"...
To be honest, its a bit late to request these. The only work I'm planing to do in the following weeks is add hotkeys to the new buildings and units I added, revisit TWC campaign and find a use for a beta tower I got my hands on.
And that's pretty much it. The mod will probably take a very, very, VERY long break and I'll probably just work on bug fixes, if any appear.(1)

I had enough modding for a good while, kept doing it almost continuously for many years now. Plus, my PC is dying, my social life is crap and did I mention my PC is dying...?(2)

Please don't take me wrong, you're ideas are not bad. Especially the Spanish one, I also thought about it and I totally agree about the Cranequier. But you are missing an important point relating the game. The Cranequier and Longbowman, they are not in the game for historical accuracy and they might not have super stats either, but they do one thing extremely well, add some well deserved variety and eye candy. I know everyone wants muskets and rifles everywhere, but it won't happen while I'm in charge. If I can make something even slightly accurate and good looking at the same time, then fuck logic, I'll add it. And it also needs to require a small amount of work.

Thank you for playing.(3)"


1 - No, the mod is not dying, but I do have less motivation to work on it than I had before.
2 - It is indeed true. Everyday when I start my PC I fear it will be the last time or it won't start at all. And yes, I am too poor to buy a new one.
3 - Thank you to everyone that has ever laid an eye on my mod and considered its not total crap.

As always, we will have to see what the future brings. I will probably still do big things to the mod even if I said I won't, but nothing is guaranteed.