March 27, 1996

Welcome to my first collection of scenarios for Civilization II, by Microprose.  

There are three historical scenarios included in this packet, but first, some technical notes.  

****IMPORTANT*****CITY.TXT NOTES**************
Don't simply dump all of these files into your main Civ2 directory.  Each scenario has a file named "City.txt" in its folder.  This is the file CivII uses to name the computer players' cities, and they have been customized so each scenario will have historically named cities.  To use this method, you need to follow these instructions:

1)  Make an archive folder for your original "City.txt" file included with CivII.  COPY "City.txt" from the main CivII folder into the ARCHIVE folder.

2)  Now, if you haven't already, drag the three SCENARIO FOLDERS into your main Civ2 directory.  They should stay here as separate folders.  You need to keep all scenario "City.txt" files in separate folders since they have the same name.

3)  Now, whenever you play a particular scenario, first COPY (NOT MOVE) the appropriate "City.txt" file into the main Civ2 directory, OVERWRITING the City.txt file that is already there.  This is OK, because you've already backed up your original City.txt into an archive folder.  If you haven't, you aren't following the instructions, so go back to number one.

4)  As long as you always COPY rather than MOVE the City.txt files around, you can do this ad infintum...when you want to play a normal game, COPY the City.txt from the archive folder into the main Civ2 folder.  Then when you want to play Holy Land, COPY the Holy Land City.txt into the main Civ2 folder, etc.

5)  You may want, as I have done, to create a "dummy folder" (nothing in it) which you rename each time you move a new City.txt into the main folder, so you can keep up with which City list you're using.  (Example:  a folder named "aaa Holy Land" is renamed "aaa Africa").  Of course, this isn't necessary, but it might keep you from getting freaked out by all the little City.txt files hopping around!  Just remember, as long as you use the COPY command you'll always have the originals in their respective folders!

********************

Now, the other files you'll find, besides the City.txt and this Readme file, can all be placed in your main Civ2 folder if you'd like.  The *.txt folders named after the scenarios (ex: "Africa.txt") display my description of the scenario when you start the game.  They must be in the main Civ2 folder (where Civ2.exe resides) to work, as far as I can tell.  The scenarios can also be placed in the main Civ2 folder, though they can be started from anywhere.

END OF TECHNICAL NOTES

***********************

THE SCENARIOS:

1)  Holy Land.  This is a simulation of the beginnings of Western Civilization in the Fertile Crescent.  The map stretches from what is contemporary Turkey to Iran and Turkestan in the north, and down through Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Egypt in the south.  The tribes are the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Medians, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Jews, and the Egyptians.  Goody boxes have been removed and science severely handicapped in order to try and prevent the extremely unrealistic development of Gunpowder.  I think if you play to the end, however, you'll still get too far ahead in technology.  	This was my first scenario and I feel now that the map is too large, if that's possible.  I can think of worse fates, but with the slow movement rate of the ancient units it takes a long time to move around.  However, this does have the realistic effect of highlighting the importance of rivers not just for trade, but also for movement.  This is by far the toughest game of Civ I've ever played.  The computer does extremely well on the King level.  The most interesting game is to play one of the central tribes, the Jews, Babylonians and Assyrians, so that you will have direct contact with most of the other Civs.  Of course, this also means that you're hemmed in by enemies on all sides (The Persians eventually swept westward and conquered everybody historically -- good luck replicating that result).  Trading technologies is a must in this scenario, so make a few friends.

2)  Asia1:  Named thus because I have another one planned on the way.  This is based on the map provided by Microprose with the game of the Pacific.  You play the Japanese, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Indians, the Russians, or, yes, the Australians.  Look out for those dangerous Kangaroo Calvary riders!  Everything else is set to normal.

3)  Africa:  You choose between 2 North African and 5 sub-Saharan tribes:  the Egyptians, the Moroccans, the Songhay, the Ethiopians, the Kongo, the Luba and the Zulu.  This is a great map.  Look for Africa2 soon, where I'll pit the winners of this one against the European colonists.  Please excuse the ahistorical Kings' names, as I don't know who the real king of the Songhay was, etc.  I'm not sure anybody knows.  They were wiped out by Morocco in 1591, before the French returned the favor to the Moroccans in the 19th century.  The Luba were located in what is now Eastern Zaire, near Rwanda and Uganda.

Hope you enjoy these.  Email your comments to "Radiospace@aol.com".  If anybody out there figures out how to manipulate the .gif files, get in touch with me, as I'd like to do a full set of military units for ancient games that doesn't have pictures of tanks and helicopters.  I think I can figure out how to change the rules.txt to make custom units, but I'm no good with the art.

Patrick Williams
Radiospace@aol.com 