FreeCol and FreeCiv

[Ladders & Snakes]

How do they compare to their inspirational source?

FreeCiv versus Civ II
FreeCol versus Colonization

Are they at least somewhat close in quality?

The AI probably sucks (as it always does in freeware games).

And where's FreeTauri?

 

[Destroid]

The AI mostly sucks in all games.

 

[kyrub]

C-EVO is a freeware civ-like game that has fantastic AI, I have heard from a university professor of AI programming (so, there should be some truth in it).

 

[Ulminati]

AI is meh in both, but better freecols AI is better than the AI in Colonization.

I haven't tried c-evo, but a friend of mine who programs robots for a living used to sing its praises.

 

[DakaSha]

AI in freeware and/or indie is generally the same as commercial titles.. if not better..

And C-Evo has an extremely competitive AI... note i said competitive.. it doesnt play like a human and doesnt make for a 'realistic' game.. (It sticks to a rigid plan.. for instance it will only ever produce a SINGLE wonder (temple of zeus).. and never builds the others)

It does have 'fan-made' AI's and some are good but they to have flaws or shortcomings (dont use diplo, no ships etc)

Having said that C-Evo is even better then civ2 in my opinion game design wise... more streamlined (without being like a spreadsheet), much much better non-cheating AI, customized units etc

 

[Zeus]

Except for Civ IV, is it possible to form lasting, beneficial allegiances with other civilizations in any of the official/remake games? I heard they're all pretty much PvE, with everyone bumrushing the fleshy hu-man players.

 

[MetalCraze]

In SMAC if you have AI ally and your relationships will start to cool down - he will let you know (like f.e. you started having policy he doesn't like) so it won't be an immediate "I'll fuck you good now bitch"

Besides in SMAC the nation that will break alliances and declare war for no reason will be frowned upon by other ones (this goes for AI players too) - and if f.e. one decided to fuck you up - even your former enemies will be more glad to form alliances with you against him in case they don't like him









What I don't understand however (after playing FreeCol, FreeCiv and checking out info about C-Evo) is the point in existence of these games.

They bring nothing new to the franchise, they are just clones with different tilesets and a few cosmetic gameplay changes.

So what's the point? Why not play a proper Civ that also has higher production qualities?

 

[Lord Rocket]

They're free. It says so right there in the title. Herp.

 

[DakaSha]

So what's the point? Why not play a proper Civ that also has higher production qualities?

Because the civ games are not better by default. i prefer C-evo.. to everyone his own of course but i for one am happy about the existence of the games

 

[Gondolin]

Having said that C-Evo is even better then civ2 in my opinion game design wise... more streamlined (without being like a spreadsheet), much much better non-cheating AI, customized units etc

Sounds interesting. I think I'll give this a try.

 

[Alex]

(...snip)
What I don't understand however (after playing FreeCol, FreeCiv and checking out info about C-Evo) is the point in existence of these games.

They bring nothing new to the franchise, they are just clones with different tilesets and a few cosmetic gameplay changes.

So what's the point? Why not play a proper Civ that also has higher production qualities?

While you may have a point with FreeCol and FreeCiv (though I still think that an open source version of these games is no small deal), C-Evo is significantly different from Civ. I have only took a quick glance on it, but the design philosophy of the game differed significantly. The idea here is that he eliminated aspects that were more of a simulation concern, instead focusing in creating a playing field where the player's skill in planning was the sole important point. I don't really think this is the only way to go about design, but from what I heard, C-Evo has a significantly "tighter" design than Civ.

 

[DakaSha]

If you want to see the C-Evo AI (AI's plural if you try the fan made ones) in action then just start an AI contest.. Then pause it at about 1900 and check out the playing field.
Chances are the (standard) AI will have built the temple of zeus, have a billion units on the way to its enemies while having built up its cities only meagerly.
Again it plays very "robotic" but it can be a challenge.

The non-standard AI's all act differently.. I think seti was an extremely challenging opponent who plays peacefully, never uses ships and when it reaches its beeline Air tech it starts crushing people.. however as with all fan made AI's it doesnt use all features (no ship building for instance)

You can mix and match AI's though.. so an interesting game would use some standard mixed in with some others

Another cool thing about C-Evo is that its filesize is EXTREMELY small.. i cant remember how small and I suppose that doesnt matter nowdays but its still an interesting point

 

[index.php]

FreeCol 0.13.0 Released​

The FreeCol team are pleased to announce the release of FreeCol 0.13.0. All 0.11.x (x != 4) and 0.12.0 games should continue to work with 0.13.0, but not vice versa.

User-visible changes since 0.12.0-release

• In-game music by Alexander Zhelanov.
• New skins for the minimap and the unit info panel.
• New animated rivers.
• Major river tiles now gets the minor river production bonus twice.
• The rendering performance has been improved.
• Rendering quality can now be modified using a new option in the Preferences.
• More high resolution versions of existing images have been added.
• Better support for screens with low resolution.
• Adding two new mods for changing the skins for the minimap and the unit info panel.
• Multiplayer savegame loading has been fixed.
• Over 30 bugs fixed.

Download FreeCol

 

[Alex]

 

[index.php]

FreeCol 1.0.0 released​

Monday, 2023-01-02

Stian Grenborgen​

On this very day, 20 years ago, we made the first public release of FreeCol. Our releases have until now been marked as alpha/beta even though the number of downloads for our game has long been counted in the millions. We are extremely proud to finally announce FreeCol 1.0.0!​ ​ Download FreeCol Some highlighted changes since version 0.13.0 are: New nation specific colony graphics. New forest graphics Major changes to the tile goods production so that the actual values matches the original game. Greatly improved artificial intelligence (AI) for the computer players. Much better stability (many bug fixes). We will continue improving the game through numerous new releases. Stay tuned! All 0.12.0 and 0.13.0 games should continue to work with 1.0.0. All user visible changes since 0.13.0​ Graphics New nation specific colony graphics. New forest graphics New graphics for deserts. New transitions between the base tiles. Minor changes to other graphics. Rule changes Major changes to the tile goods production so that the actual values matches the original game. Mod development It's now possible to define nation specific unit types that can be recruited and purchased in Europe. Added tools for easily making new base tiles from a single tiling texture. A bug that prevented certain images from being overridden by mods has been fixed. AI/computer players The AI now chooses better locations when constructing colonies, and also avoid placing the colonies too close to one another. The AI colony development and expansion have been improved. The AI can now construct docks. More efficient transportation of goods. The AI can now buy units from Europe without cheating. The computer players will now use more advanced tactics when defending and attacking. The AI no longer defends its colonies with scouts. Adding a new escort mission for protecting units. This mission is used for dragoons that are escorting artillery when attacking. National advantages will now change how the AI utilizes its military units. For example, the conquest advantage (spanish) will make the player focus on destroying the natives. The AI will no longer equip specialists (like Elder Statemen) with muskets. AI ships should no longer get stuck outside native settlements. Bug fixes Several bugs that might cause the game to crash have been fixed (for example when all settlements of a native player was destroyed). Fixed several issues with goto-orders that made the game hang after end of turn. Fixed several issues that forced a server reconnect. Fixed leaking file descriptors that crashed the game on Windows. Reduces the amount of jumping around on the map while animating the moves of enemy units. Accelerator keys can now be changed, saved and loaded in the preferences. It's now possible to add the same goods multiple times to the same stop in the trade route panel. Fixes the scaling of several different panels (preferences). Scrolling on the map should now be smoother. Units should no longer have their graphics clipped on the map. Smoother playback of audio. The colony panel is now properly updated when clearing the speciality of a worker. Recursive autosave directories should no longer be created. Several text template fixes. Lots of other minor bugfixes. Other changes The escape key can now be used to close most panels. There are now separate volume sliders for music and sound effects. Added a mod where basic buildings (level 1) needs to be constructed (except Town Hall and Carpenter's house). Added a mod for having 19th century nations. Treasure trains are now displayed in the cargo report panel. A malfunctional AI should no longer stop the game. Better handling of severe errors like out-of-memory and stack-overflow. Translation updates (a total of 5191 translation strings updated in 53 different languages).

 

[index.php]

FreeCol 1.1.0 released​

Sunday, 2023-05-07

Stian Grenborgen​

We have been working on the main parts of FreeCol since our last release. Six new musical tracks have been added to the game. In addition, we have included a new mod that adds hitpoints and ranged combat:​ All savegames from 0.12.0 and up should continue working with 1.1.0.​ ​ ​ ​ Download FreeCol ​ All user visible changes since 1.0.0​ Music​ New track: El Dorado New track: Free Colonist New track: Lost City New track: Rainy Day New track: Royal Troops New track: Wagon Wheels Updated the old tracks with new updated versions. Graphics​ New graphics for hills and mountains. Rule changes​ Jesuit Missionary can now recommision itself in colonies without a church. Added the mod "Hitpoints and Combat" that adds hitpoints and ranged combat to the game. Map Generator​ Great rivers (ocean like, navigable by ships only) are no longer generated by default, but can still be generated if enabled using the Map Generator Options. The number of rivers generated can now be properly controlled using the "Number of rivers" map generator option even when changing map sizes and/or amount of mountains. Enabled generation of rivers that are only two tiles long (the previous limit was three). User Interface​ Units in Europe are no longer included in the list of possible active units. Game options and Map generator options are no longer automatically saved and loaded. The default values are initially displayed for all new games. Panels/dialogs are now automatically resized and relocated when changing the size of the application window (including when switching between full screen and windowed mode). Allows the player to easily view all files while loading savegames/maps. The start game panel can now be resized to smaller than the initial size. The chat panel (start game panel in multiplayer) is now placed directly below the list of players making the dialog work better on small screens. The displayed occupation string on a pioneer now shows "C" for clear forest instead of "P". AI/computer players​ Greatly reduces the time needed by the AI (the wait time after ending the turn). The AI now gets less benefits on lower difficulty levels to make everything easier. Escort unit missions are now immediately aborted if the protected unit gets destroyed. More efficient transportation of goods and units (better utilization of the capacity of ships and wagon trains). The AI now produces fewer and better colonies. Mod development​ Allow mods to be loaded when making maps in the map editor. This allows maps to be made with new terrain types, and other resources, added by mods. New types of mountains and hills defined by mods are now used when generating maps. The specific type of hill/mountain is determined by the latitude. Partial modifications to the specification is now possible again. This fixes a regression introduced in 0.11.x that prevented the "partial" flag from working. Mods can now define new order buttons (and have them applied without having to restart the game). Bugfix: Mods are no longer loaded twice (thereby causing varius problems in the colony panel and other places when modifications were made). Bugfix: Units that are not available to a player can now be captured if a valid "unit-change" exist. Bug fixes​ Fixed a bug that caused the same maps always being generated when starting a new game. Fixes game hangs on end turn in some specific cases. Fixed scaling and placement of goods production icons on colony tiles. A unit in a building is no longer drawn at the top of the building (that is, the area for showing goods production) if the production is zero. Sound effects are now properly played when attacking. Fixed a bug that prevented the map shortcut buttons on the Map Generator dialog from working properly. The bug caused the button to have no effect the first time it was clicked after restarting the application. Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented mods from being deactivated in the Preferences. The game now fails gracefully if the server cannot be started. This prevents an application freeze when failing to start a new game or failing to load a savegame. Revenge mode is now working again. Fixes an issue that allowed a malicious client (in a multiplayer game) to attack with a unit that had no moves left. The "Train" panel in Europe now has five columns of unit buttons instead of just three. Fixes a bug that sometimes stopped trade routes / goto orders from working. For example, this happened if there was a lost city rumor in the search area of a wagon train on a trade route. Fixes activation of tile improvement actions (like "Plow") after reconnecting. Allows the founding father selection to be postponed without an error message. Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the map from being redrawn properly after a unit move/attack animation. Highscores can now be stored and displayed again.