Sid Meier's Civilization V

Sid Meier's Civilization V

SMAN's World at War Scenario - The War to End All Wars (V2)
S-Man  [developer] 23 Nov, 2018 @ 2:25pm
Playing Tips
Please leave any tips you have to help other players get more out of the scenario.

I'll periodically copy from the tips and update the next post with the best ones.

Thanks!
Last edited by S-Man; 23 Nov, 2018 @ 2:51pm
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S-Man  [developer] 23 Nov, 2018 @ 2:34pm 
Initial thoughts from all the testing:

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GENERAL TIPS:

- Be prepared to clear cache when first using this mod, or using it again after other mods have been loaded/unloaded. It seems sensitive to having a clean databases

- Set game options to auto-save every turn. May need it if the game crashes on you.

- When you load saved games, be prepared to restart a time or two if it crashes while loading. Don't worry too much - I've never lost a saved game during testing. It might take 2-3 times/crashes to get it to load successfully, but I always got it working.

- The first turn takes longer than other turns. There's a lot going on that the scenario is setting up. Later turns are quicker.

- If the "Single Player Quick" Combat and Movement game options are set off, the turns will take MUCH longer.

- There's a lot of action occuring in many fronts during this massive war. Unfortunately, you can only see what's happening close to where your troops are. It's sometimes nice to use the Debug/Reveal Map (press tilde, "~", then select the Reveal Map option) - just to see how the Great War unfolds.

- If you do reveal the map, either through the Debug Menu or IGE "Reveal Map" - be sure to use the "Quick Turns" mod if you're NOT using the Quick Move/Combat options.

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SETTING UP - GAME TURN 0 ACTIONS

- On Game Turn 0, the mod has much work to do, to properly set up the scenario. This turn will take a bit longer than regular turns, so don't be too surprised if it takes a couple of minutes to get rolling again on Turn 1. Also, on Turn 1, there will be many, many, many - did I say many? - diplomatic responses to all of the "setting up" the mod performed on Turn 0. This lessens a bit over time.

- Happiness is only important if it's negative. Otherwise, ignore. Set up initial policies with bonus culture awarded at game start. If you need Happiness, this is a good way to equalize your civ.

- Avoid spending bonus culture on Turn 0. Wait until Turn 1, when you can pick Ideology first. Going with Order/Socialist Realism goes a long way to solving the initial unhappiness problem.

- Be sure to assign Spies/Diplomats on Turn 0. They will need some time to establish their networks. Once they are in place, they can see up to 6 tiles - unless Terrain is occluding their line of sight. Spies are the best way of seeing what's happening around your frontiers, if they're assigned to cities on the border (preferably, in enemy cities, so you can see further behind them - looking for reinforcements, troop movements, etc.).

- If you get a Great Scientist early in the game, you may want to wait a few turns before trying to use the 'Discover Tech' option. Seems like the amount of beakers he provides is dependent on what you're currently producing. Even a small change of science on your part yields a massive improvement on the G.S. part.

- You have a few turns at game start, before the Great War is declared. Use these turns to prepare for the coming storm - building/buying the things you'll need depending on your situation. You know that the Entente (UK/France/Russia) will declare war on the Triple Alliance (Germany/Austria/Ottomans) - so adjust to what you know is coming.

- An early problem for Minor Combatant civs is gold income. It's tempting to buy a lot of Caravans/Cargo Ships, but from what I've seen, at least in the early game, is these units don't last a long time. May take some thought to figure out the best balance for each civ.


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SPIES - FOG OF WAR - SITUATIONAL AWARENESS:

- Spies are critical to mitigating Fog of War. Spread them around to enemy/potential enemy cities on your borders.

- OTOH, Spies aren't much help in stealing tech, as in the normal game. I experiemented with many approaches, but it will impossible to properly balance. The large civs could steal fairly quickly, but it took hundreds of turns for the small civs to steal. Since it was so imbalanced, I added the "industrial espionage" event - that awards a large chunk of beakers towards discovering the tech you're currently researching.


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COMBAT

- If you send Naval Melee ships to attack cities, be sure to include 'several' land infantry units to actually capture the city when its defenses have been defeated. Remember: Great War Infantry attacking from the sea - they're not Marines. It'll hurt...

- Aircraft (Fighters/Bombers) have a much longer range than the normal WAW mod (Fighters x 2, Bombers x 3). You can reach out much further, but the earlier air-frames cannot take much damage.

- In latter turns, you cannot forget to bring Anti-Aircraft Guns forward. The AI will build fleets of bombers, and by this point in the game, they can do serious damage on your defenses if they're not countered. Having Fighters intercepting is OK, but AA guns are even better.


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TERRAIN

- Don't worry about Terrain Improvement all that much - other than making sure you have an adequate road/railroad network to move forces throughout your empire towards the battlefields where they're needed. Strategic resources are important as well.

- Use the new "Defensive Trench" Terrain Improvement when you need a defensive boost in a hurry. True, they're not as good as Forts, but they can be built in a turn or two, then replaced when you have a bit more time. Trenches cannot be built on Resource Tiles.


Last edited by S-Man; 25 Nov, 2018 @ 11:42am
Bodak Milos 26 Mar, 2019 @ 7:08am 
What do I do if the map doesn't show when I go to select it?
S-Man  [developer] 26 Mar, 2019 @ 7:43am 
@DVD - you need to move the map from the mod's folder to the game's Maps folder.

Instructions:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/1562925149/1744479063986176090/
Sledge115 28 Mar, 2019 @ 8:29pm 
How do you avoid spending culture? It always seems to force me to spend them at the first turn
S-Man  [developer] 29 Mar, 2019 @ 3:56am 
What I do is select a single policy tree (I usually pick Commerce and then the Privatization policies - helps generate a lot of extra gold each turn). After you pick these, you should be able to do anything else - select the tech tree to check if you have a free tech at the start, or select a unit to move, or a city to change production.

Once you break out of that select policy area, you should be able to end the turn normally, and save free policies for the next turn - after you select an Ideology.

But, TBH, I generally try to max out the Rationalism tree first - to get the free tech at the end. In many ways, WW2 was a technology race, so being competitive in the tech area is critical to success on the battlefield.

OTOH, if you're starting happiness is low (e.g. +10 or less), it might be a good idea to save at least one social policy until game turn 1 (after Ideology is chosen), as both Autocracy and Order have a couple of really good policies to significantly boost happiness at the beginning of the game.

You don't have to worry too much about unhappiness due to population growth. Unlike the WW1 scenario, in this mod I've almost eliminated population growth. I did this mostly because I noticed that in many test games, Germany and Poland fought over the capital Warsaw, with each side capturing and losing it multiple times. Once Germany had captured it for good, the population was often 1. However, by the end of the game, the population had risen to where it was at the start of the war.

This didn't make sense to me. Historically, once these cities were obliterated, it took years after the war to recover. I also didn't like how large cities could recover after a few dozen turns, then start producing the latest military equipment for the conquering civ's war effort.

So, eliminating population growth seemed to help in both of these areas - accuracy and realistic production. Sure, you can go on a large-scale invasion of your neighbors, but don't expect them to do very much in support of the effort once they're conquered.
Last edited by S-Man; 29 Mar, 2019 @ 3:57am
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