Dune Civ Scenario

[Gobalopper]

Has anyone had a chance to try this out and have any suggestions for David?

[Guest Steppenwolf]

I've tried it out, looking good but it seems unfinished :) I <I>did</i> try to complete my own version a couple of years ago, [i've looked for others like it because it was the first thing that came to mind when I got the editor; this is the first!!!] using the graphics included in the fantastic worlds packages (but ran into a serious problem with the 'yellow' sea never working properly. The graphic package contains a set that has yellow seas/rivers/coasts [how the game divides it]. He seems to have edited it more directly). A few things I included (trying to find the old files..on disk somewhere)

Use the included graphics in the other scenarios!! Cities, units, advances etc There's loads of great pictures to use (I particularily liked a blue eyed (she way be green though)woman I used for the wonder 'Spice Orgy/Oracle' :)

I've a fully working tec tree somewhere, using the technologies of the Books that my brother and I worked on for a summer. (I remember shiggawire leading to both minimic film (libaries) and Prisoner Detention; desert power to Fedaykin and worm riders) However, I ran into huge problems when I tried to create separate tec trees for the Fremen and the others...it proved a real headache to implement- though the manual suggests it's easy >;( There <I>is</i> a way to do it, but time consuming!

Likewise, the game really lends itself to the books and strategy (and is pretty certain to be in most people's collections somewhere). Bascially, I'd love to start it up again, possibly sharing stuff (dare I say collaboration?) with David. I'll try to mail him..if he checks these boards, I'm available on steppenwolf_@hotmail.com

Here's to a civ port!

[Guest Acumen]

If you manage to track down those files, Steppenwolf, would you mind if I had a look at your tech trees? I might be able to integrate some of your work into the Melange article. Thanks!

[Guest Steppenwolf]

The boards been down a couple of days, but here's my belated reply :)

I've read your [frankly quite stunning, *drool* ;0] piece and am impressed. I'm a bit of a purist regarding the whole 'mass weapons of destruction' issue, but hey :) What about allowing that they might just be useful <I>inside</i> the shield-wall rim of mountains- missions inside& out with only air/troops allowed on the outside ones? Might give the infantry units (especially the specialists) a good platform for strategy??

Anyhow, couldn't find the actual file (long gone, and so many of my old discs are unuseable it's a joke) <B>but</b> I've found some of the notes and have started to quickly reconstruct it, which might take a day or two. The only problem is the complexity of the damn thing...if you haven't got a Civ2 tec chart to help show where they all intercounnect it could be a problem (which I'll solve by putting it into a civ file and sending??)

Oh, btw. There are a couple of other Dune Civ2 mods out there, but hey mainly seem to be 'here's the units, go fight' rather than the strategic game I envisioned. So, yep, I'm working on me own one :)

[Guest Acumen]

I wanted to carry on this conversation privately via email, but as I couldn't get your address from the board, I'll have to post my reply here.

First of all, please don't put it into a Civ conversion on my account, as I don't own Civ2. I was hoping maybe you might have a rough transcript in a document file, or that maybe the Civ files could be viewed in a text reader. If not, then don't worry about it. Good luck with the continued conversion though!

Having got over the race-against-time warning, thanks for your compliments about Melange. Do me (and hopefully the rest of the Dune2k community) a favour and please add your comments to the Melange petition on the messageboard

(Speaking of which, the petition's been untouched for almost a month, guys. Please, I need your support if this is ever to become a reality; you remain anonymous if that's what's worrying you, I just need your opinions. Besides, if you have the kind of time it takes to actually get through the whole gargantuan Melange article, then a couple of seconds to add to the comments sheet shouldn't be a problem <g>).

Okay, so about the product-plugging. Let me get back on track again, Steppenwolf. I'll admit that I'm not too clear on your suggestion, so I'll expand on it to so if I'm on the right track, and then if I'm way off-base you can put me to rights.

Firstly, by "mass weapons of destruction", I presume you mean Death Hand-style nukes (or what I called "Tactical Missiles" in the article, as the WW approach to super-weapons are very weak in comparison to actual nukes)?

If that's what you're referring to, then I'll admit that they can be a bit unbalancing, especially as you can just fortify your base and then launch them off at the enemy without danger to yourself. I've been playing quite a bit of TS lately, and this is a favourite tactic of the AI, especially as Nod has access to a double selection of missiles, and I tend to favour defensive tactics. Here, the only real counter to "nukes" is to crush the enemy before he has a chance to get that far up the tech-tree, or to turn off that section of the tech-tree altogether.

Hence, I've tried to introduce more counters for Tactical Missiles into the Melange design. For one, you can use your own stockpile of missiles to defensively knock out incoming "nukes" (Patriot-missile style). Weather issues, such as storms, can also hinder your attempts to launch them. I'm debating also making missiles unable to penetrate Perimeter Shields, which have also greatly reduced the tank rush issue.

Having said that, let me get back to your suggestion, "allowing that they might just be useful <I>inside</i> the shield-wall rim of mountains- missions inside& out with only air/troops allowed on the outside ones? Might give the infantry units (especially the specialists) a good platform for strategy?"

Are you suggesting that Mountains (which I'd envisioned in the Warcraft2-sense) would be too tall for missiles to be launched over, and so can be used as natural defense against "nukes"? If so, sounds like a plan (using the terrain to your advantage, and encouraging the world of Arrakis itself as being your greatest enemy has been one of my prime emphases) and I'll write it into the next update.

Thanks, I need to hear more of this sort of stuff. I worked in a vacuum for most of this project, but I really want to hear the community's comments, criticisms and suggestions. I want to suggest a design for a game that we all want to play!

As you say, only aircraft are able to fly over Mountains, and there are some gaps, which only Infantry can pass through, much like in Dune2k. I debated whether Mountains could also be blown open to allow ground access, similar to WC2 Sappers, but with your suggested approach I think that should preferably be dumped. However, there will certainly be a recreation of the final assault on Arrakeen in the final scenario of the Atreides campaign, where stolen atomics from the Smugglers are used to blast through the Shield Wall and allow access to the Imperial encampment, under cover of an Electrical Storm.

Finally, on the subject of disks, I know exactly what you mean. They don't store well. Most of the games that I'd bought on floppies are now simply unusable. I managed to salvage a few to backup on CD, but most of my classic collections are lost. Oh, well.

Again, good luck with the Civ2 conversion. If during your development you run across any features that you think could work well in an RTS context, please let me know. Thanks again for the input.

[Guest Steppenwolf]

did you get my lengthy email?

[Guest kongxinga]

Hello! Has anyone tried doing it in alpha centari? Its a civ game. And could anyone design a terrain changing missle like the tectonic one in alpha centauri in civ 2?

[nampigai]

Please contact me if anyone make a decent civ scen.