Anyone use Explorers?

[Panag]

Originally posted by Demerzel
seems a shame that the best thing we can do with the unit is something it was never intended to do

hi ,

well it has its pro's and con's , it depends on what map you play , .....

but its really nice to see the explorer fight with his sword , actually its not a "sword" , just a type of it , .....

have a nice day

[Demerzel]

I was referring to Firaxis' implementation not what people have modded it to do on their own PCs.

I disapprove of the former's waste of a unit and approve of the latter's resourcefulness.

[Kuciwalker]

I just made a mod that makes them pretty essential to *gasp* exploration (I hope )

[Naiveplayer]

Sometimes, but just to pillage.

What annoys the hell out of me is that I run out of turns and then the AI captures it Which is why I like to play player1mod's mod because it gives defense to the explorer so it can't be captured.

[Agathon]

I'll try using them to pillage. I'd never even thought of that. Strange...

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by skywalker
I just made a mod that makes them pretty essential to *gasp* exploration (I hope )

How did you do that please ?

[Demerzel]

I'm interested too. pray do explain.

[Kuciwalker]

It's in the files forum. Modern fixes mod.

Modern Fixes Mod *PTW Only*

Little Changes:

- SETTLERS NOW COST 8!
- Aqueducts now cost 18 (from 10)
- Citizens eat 3 food
- Palace now counts as Aqueduct
- Police Stations and Courthouses now reduce propaganda, corruption, and war weariness.
- Lighthouse now becomes obselete with Steam Power
- Colossus and Oracle never become obselete
- Now there is an 80% chance to intercept normal air units
- Seriously upgraded bombard power and range of all air units
- Cruise missiles do more damage and count as Tactical Missiles
- All bombard units (including ships and aircraft) after the Catapult can sink ships
- Battleship, Bomber, Radar Artillery, Jet Fighter, F-15, Stealth Fighter, and Stealth Bomber can kill land units
- Bomber, Stealth Fighter, and Stealth Bomber can no longer be on Carriers
- Aegis Cruisers now carry 2 tactical missiles
- Nuclear Submarines now carry 6 tactical missiles
- Added Nuclear Carrier, comes with Nuclear Power, carries 6 air units, requires Uranium, Aluminum, and Iron, same stats as Carrier otherwise
- Tweaked Marine and Paratrooper stats
- Added Marines (upgrade from Marine), comes with Miniturization, attack 20 defense 16 cost 12, same stats as Marine otherwise
- Destroyes now see invisible; Aegis Cruisers do not
- Added Paratroopers (upgrade from Paratrooper), comes with Synthetic Fibers, attack 18 defense 18 cost 12, same stats as Paratrooper otherwise
- Added Modern Infantry (upgrade from Infantry), comes with Synthetic Fibers, attack 12 defense 20 cost 11, same stats as Infantry otherwise
- Mech. Infantry now costs 6, has attack 4 defense 4, moves 3 and ignores all terrain penalties, does not draft or upgrade from Infantry, carries 2 foot units, comes with Motorized Transportation
- Guerillas now ignore all terrain movement penalties.
- Added Special Forces (upgrade from Guerilla), attack 22 defense 14 cost 13, require Oil and Rubber, can Airdrop, have ZOC, otherwise same stats as Guerilla
- Added Engineer (upgrades from Worker), comes with Radio, same stats as Worker, see below

Tech Changes:

- Embassies and RoP's now require Literature
- Military Alliances now require Feudalism
- Trade over sea tiles and Map Trading now require Navigation
- Trade over ocean tiles and Communication Trading now require Steam Power

BIG Changes:

- ALL "infantry" (not arty, horsie, or vehicle) can Amphibious Assault except Spearmen, Pikemen, Hoplites, and Impis. (Conquistadors can too)

My thinking here is that historically, they COULD assault from ships even back in the Ancient Ages. Game-wise, the Berserker is too powerful, and it also removes the invincible one-tile-island.

- ALL "infantry" (same defination as before) after and including Riflemen move 2.

This increases the mobility of infantry units, making them more viable for offensive roles (or even just escorts to Cavalry). It also makes terrain more of a concern, because infantry units WILL move faster in open terrain.

- ALL land units except Scouts, Explorers, Guerillas, Special Forces, and Engineers, are "wheeled". Moreover, now Jungles do not prevent passage of wheeled units; only Mountains do.

I saw this in the Civ3 General forum a while ago and thought it was a good idea. Now, Mountains are effectively impassible; you can't even build roads on them until Radio (that's the purpose of the Engineer - so you can build terrain improvements and roads on Mountains). The only military units that can move through them are Guerillas and Special Forces, giving these units a very important role.

- Aqueducts now required to have more than TWO pop, Hospitals for more than 6

This is even more drastic than it seems. This means that only cities with your Palace, Aqueduct, or that are next to a river can produce settlers. Coupled with the insanely expensive Settlers and Aqueducts, this should REALLY cut down on expansion. It also makes Rivers VERY important, which is historically accurate.

- ALL Sea units after and including the Ironclad (and the Transport) treat all terrain as roads. Ironclad, Transport, Submarine, Battleship, Carrier, Nuclear Submarine, and Nuclear Carrier all move 2. Destroyer and Aegis Cruiser move 3. Ocean tiles require 3 movement points, Sea tiles require 2.

This increases sea mobility quite a bit later in the game. With Steam Power (and therefore Ironclads) you finally have ships that can traverse the ocean in something less than forever. However, before that, it is VERY difficult, slowing exploration.

The Big Idea:

Half of this mod started because I was annoyed about how air units were pretty worthless. So way back when, I modified my own .bic file (yep, vanilla civ) to have much more powerful air units (and added the whole bombardment kill stuff too). With

PtW I increased the range (now the Stealth Bomber has a range of 24!), and I liked the result. I also didn't like the Mech Infantry, so I created a Modern Infantry and turned the Mech Infantry into a troop transport. Also, Paratroopers and Marines were useless, so I created modern equivalents.

The other half was done because I hated the slow movement of ships in the modern era, but I like the slow movement in the ancient and middle eras. So I made Ocean and Sea tiles have high move costs (also making them almost impossible to survive),

but gave Ironclads on up low moves (2's and 3's) but All Terrain as Roads, making them move quite quickly and be unaffected by Ocean and Sea. I also added the Nuclear Carrier, which I felt was missing. I toyed around with a Cruiser, but it was just unecessary clutter.

The third and final half was prompted by some recent discussions on the Civ3 General board about how to keep the whole map from being discovered etc. by 200 AD. That's also where I encountered the Impassible Mountains idea (actually, that may have been on Creation). Increased Settler cost, increased food consuption, and drastically moving back map trading, etc. were all proposed. I did, however, come up with the pop limits thing on my own. I'm not sure what effect it will have, as I haven't tested it, but I think it will work well.

[Kuciwalker]

Basically, Explorers come JUST as you're able to go to other continents, so they're very useful.

Edit: also, they're one of only a few units that can cross mountains.

[player1]

Interesting...

Pretty unconservative mode.
Changes almost everything (needed and unneeded).
Could lead to pretty much different experince in later era (thing like food needed are big deal).



P.S.
Marine and Marines?

[Kuciwalker]

Yep, I didn't want to call them "Modern Marines".

PS: Yes, I did want to call them "Modern Infantry".

[player1]

You could try Paratrooper and Airborne, instead Paratrooper(s).
(don't know for Marine(s), maybe Amphibious Infantry for one of them?)

[epics]

Did I got it right? You gave Settler 8 pop??!!

[Kuciwalker]

No, 8 shields (actually 80)

[Nym]

Originally posted by skywalker
No, 8 shields (actually 80)

Completly different!

[epics]

Oh, now I see. It's still very much.

[Noble713]

The only time I've tried to use Explorers is on huge Earth maps when I play as America. I try to explore South America (since no one else seems too), but they always get annihilated by the huge # of barbarians down there. So yeah, it's a pretty useless unit.

[mrboo123]

nope

[PrinceBimz]

I hardly ever use Explorers. Reason being is that by the time I get them researched alot of the map is already visible. This is usually because several turns have passed and I explored alot of my land and I traded maps with the AI civs.

Something to think about though is map size and number of civs you play the game with. If you play with a larger map and less civs, you may find Explorers can come in handy. That is because there is alot of land out there and only a few civs. Then you may go a very long time before contacting any of them. Which means map sharing will not be possible for a while. So you will have to get out there and do your own exploring.

[pedrojedi]

I tried to use explorers to make sappers's jobs. But a mislocation of troops caused their ruin, and then I just gave it up.