Civ 1&2 vet who is new to Civ 3 looking for the best mods, maps, etc.

[SlingShield]

Howdy folks.

I played both Civs, Alpha Centauri and Colonization and am just now playing Civ 3. I have Civ 3 Gold and Civ 3 Conquests so I'm updated on all expansions. I've been looking at some of the mods and maps on Apolyton and am impressed. As a rookie to the Civ 3 scene, I was curious if anyone could give me recommendations on the "must have" mods and maps for Civ 3 and its expansions. Are there any scenarios or maps not included in the official games that are too fun to skip?

One thing I'm looking for is a huge world map with historically accurate starting locations as it seems that Civ 3 decided to throw that fun option away in its sequels. If I can't find a suitable map with historical starting locations, I guess I'll update the largest world map in the Civ 3 games and make my own starting locations.

Thank you for any recommendations.

[vmxa1]

I know some work has been done on it by a few. I think Ka-el has one in the creation forum. Have you looked there?

[Switch]

Well, first of all make sure you're using the 1.15 BETA patch, as there were apparently EXTREME problems with the forbidden palace.

Now, as to mods...some mods I like include Tethurkan's Test of Tme mod (be warned, if you play the all-cities version, you might as well make your dinner in the mean-time ) and the Mediteranean Mod. TEThurkan's mod includes an accurate map, capable of holding all 31 civs I think. The mediteranean mod is, obviously, an accurate mediterranean map/scenario. If you're looking for a change in graphics, sn00py's made some fairly nice looking terrain sets, as well as Warpstorm's watercolour terrain.

If you just want balance fixes (in the author's opinion, of course), player1's mod and the Apolyton University mod make decent changes without altering the stock rules much, especually player1's. The latest AU mod, however, has some changes that, though for the better, deviate more significantly from the stock rules, so if you don't want anything radical go with player1's.

That's all I've got for now. Good luck on your games

[Hagbart]

Take a look at civfanatics.com too when looking for mods/maps (sorry Apo )
Civfanatics has a larger creation comunity than Apolyton.