O.K, it's a done deal. It'll take me a day or so to wrap my head around the zip installer and upload the files but here are the details in the meantime.
The Resource Mod for Random Games
In a nutshell
ATG is still the same. No units, technologies, locations or terrain have been changed. Your ATG experience will be differ only in that you are given three extra options for random games. These affect resources and supply only. Each option makes your task harder to a larger or lesser degree depending on how you have set up your game. They have been designed to bridge the gulf that exists between AI and AI+ opponents.
If you find that beating the AI is too easy (after some experience with the game) and that the AI+ is overwhelming you then this mod could be a means of ramping up the difficulty to a happy medium somewhere between the two.
The difficulty is increased by providing a more strategic focus to the game. Resources, where they are and how they find their way back to your Capital along with supply and transportation routes matter even more than before.
None of the above applies to the AI. The options affect the Player only.
Micromanagement isn’t welcome here. The focus is on a practical implementation. You are provided with some management tools but they are fun ones.
Did I mention that they are options and that nothing else has changed? Think I did.
Take it up with my Lawyer, she’s Nasty
This mod wasn’t initially made for general use. I made it for myself because that’s the way I like the game to be.
As there seems to be a level of interest I’ve tidied it up, squashed every known bug, and given it a polish before releasing it.
However keep in mind that what you have here is one persons self-indulgent vision of how it should be and that he probably won’t be inclined to align it to somebody else’s view of the world.
Having said this I hope that you enjoy the Resource Mod as much as I do. It adds another layer of interesting decisions on top of an already excellent game.
The Three Options
Connected Resources
The biggie. Resources don’t count unless they can trace an uninterrupted path back to your Capital via rail lines and ports. Select this and your days of having teams of Oompah Loompah’s that magically transport resources through secret chocolate coated doors from over the hills and far away are over.
Transport Resources
Choose this and it’s no longer enough for resources to be connected to your Capital, they have to be physically moved. To facilitate this you gain a valued employee, The Fat Controller. He takes care of all the details while you concentrate on providing him with the necessary means and by telling him where to focus his efforts.
Beans and Bullets
Ever wondered how all that supply made it from your Headquarters to your units? It was the Oompah Loompahs again. Running around the map when nobody was looking, high on sugar, hunched over in pain, humping heavy boxes of beans and bullets to your hard fighting troops. That’s why you get the grey screen between turns. It’s not pretty.
This option fires the little chocolate chain gangs and replaces them with trucks. As your army grows larger you need more trucks. Fall short and you may find that your supply range (the 250 AP that shows up when you press F5) isn’t what it used to be.
Want a big army? Better go talk to General Motors about a deal.
Will this slow my Game down?
Nope. ATG, unlike many other games, has been built properly.
I have two computers. One new and fast and one old and slow. Running a very large map with all the mod options selected the old fella clocks in an extra five seconds of turn processing time. On the new box it’s negligible.
You can time it on your own system easily as all the code driving it runs while the ‘Round Events’ message is displayed. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Will it make my Game harder?
Yes it will. Each option you select adds to the challenge for the human player.
To give you an idea I normally play random games against the AI and can generally count on beating it with ease. Against the AI+ I have an uphill struggle. With all three mod options I now find myself having to work hard to beat the AI. It’s doable but I have to box a lot smarter than before.
I should point out that the mod’s impact on the game varies significantly depending on your map generation settings. As a rule the more spread out and watery your map is the tougher it gets. Island hopping across a randomly generated Pacific Ocean isn’t easy. On the other hand these types of maps are where the AI is at its weakest so it kind of balances out.
The idea of the mod is to bump the difficulty vs. the standard AI but do so in a way that adds interesting decisions to the game rather than just make it harder.
How Buggy is it?
Well it isn’t. Says I. Hopefully.
I’ve been kicking the h*ll out of it for the last two weeks and it hasn’t broken yet. See what you can do.
I’d like more Information please
The longer, more detailed explanation is here…
RESOURCE MOD documentation
Cheers,
Lancer
