Thanks to Reveilled, we can now mod Colonization "2" to be more close to how old Colonization was.
Origins
Version 0.9
So What is it?
It's a mod that makes Colonization 2 feel a bit more like Colonization 1. All the old terrains and resources make their return, movement speeds are adjusted, and the game moves at a much slower pace.
What does that mean, exactly?
If you never played Colonization 1, there were some quite significant differences in the terrain and pacing. Plains terrain produced mostly food, while Prairie produced cotton, Marshes and Swamps were better for providing ore to your colony than sugar, and Sugar was produced on food-rich savannahs. In addition, yields were generally higher, and some extra resources existed, chief among them in importance being Prime Timber, which provided huge amounts of lumber to a colony.
The game was paced in a much more relaxed fashion, as production costs were about the same as Colonization 2, but in a 608 turn game. In Colonization 1 you almost always finished the game with plenty of time to spare, something many people have not found with the new game.
Ships and Scouts also moved quite a bit faster, with scouts (and dragoons) capable of moving 4 squares a turn.
I have done my best to replicate all of these aspects of the old game in this mod.
Why is it version 0.9? Is it playable?
There are two minor bugs which I want to fix before releasing Version 1.0, but neither make the game unplayable.
The first is that the Prime Timber resource does not clear the forest around where it is placed, so it may take a keen eye to spot, especially in Conifer forests.
The second is that changes in the XML that controls the cost of building buildings appear to have no effect on in game costs. Once this is fixed, the building costs in the mod will be the same as those of the Original Colonization.
Anything Else?
This is primarily a terrain mod, and it is built upon the amazing work done by Cold Fever in his Blue Marble mod. As such, it is made with Blue Marble users in mind, so I strongly recommend you install Blue Marble to enjoy this mod fully.
Download Here: Forums.civfanatics.com
The Prime Timber resource model is the work of Rockinrodger, who originally designed it for World of Civilization and was gracious enough to allow me to use it here. Please visit the WoC team's site and have a look at their marvelous work:
Woc.dreamhosters.com
The mod is fully compatible with the unofficial patch put out by Dale and Snoopy as of version 1.03, and you can use the two together by copying the contents of their patch into the Origins mod folder.
There are two folders in the download, one which includes the speed changes, and which will include the building changes when they are complete. The terrain only folder contains only the game length changes and the changes to terrain. You can keep both in your mods folder, or use only one, as you prefer.
Regarding gamespeed, the Marathon version is 3 times the length of the original colonization, and so double the length of a standard Marathon game. I'd recommend you start at the Classic gamespeed, but if you really want to play for over 1800 turns, knock yourself out.
I hope you enjoy the mod.
