Cossacks OC Mod Balanced - Trying a Different RTS

[Crazy Cossack]

A Different RTS

When it comes to RTS, variety is the spice of life. Would some people like to try learning a bit of Cossacks OC Mod Balanced for a change? It doesn’t mean you need to give up FAF. Just to catch your interest, I will describe Cossacks OC Mod Balanced for you. I did not create the Mod but I have rebalanced it to fix some overpowered and underpowered nations. If you know standard Cossacks I, this mod is very different and requires you to use proper formations and strategies and not just wild swarming hordes to win.

The game covers the period of European warfare in the 17th and 18th Century. As such it features (on land) infantry, cavalry, artillery, fences, walls, log cabins, towers, mines and various economic and military buildings. It has two tech levels, these being the 17th and 18th centuries with the troops and weapons appropriate to each century. Individual units can also receive attack, defence, armour and weapons upgrades.

The distinguishing feature of this Mod is that it can grow into a large game with full armies used mostly in large formations. A game that proceeds to a full blown 18th C stage will see each player end up with about 1,500 peasants gathering six resources of food, wood, stone, coal, iron and gold. This worker base plus all the mines and economic buildings that are needed will support a full sized army of about 5,000 units.

A complete 18th C army with some 17th C remnants will look something like this;

Artillery
18th C Cannon = 12 pieces
Howitzers = 6 pieces
Mortars = 24 pieces
Siege Guns = 4 pieces
Multi-barrels = 6 pieces
Subtotal = 42 pieces

17th C Scouts (remnants)

Heavy Horse = 40 units (loose and spread, not in formation)
Spotters (Drummers) = 40 units (spread for sight of map)
Subtotal = 80 units

18th C Units

1st Infantry Muskets = 432 men
2nd Infantry Muskets = 432 men
3rd Infantry Muskets = 432 men
4th Infantry Muskets = 432 men
5th Infantry Muskets = 432 men
6th Infantry Muskets = 432 men
Subtotal = 2,592 men

1st Grenadiers = 144 men
2nd Grenadiers = 144 men
3rd Grenadiers = 144 men
Skirmishers = 288 men (loose)
Miscellaneous = 180 men (loose)
(Miscellaneous covers assembling units and stragglers from defeated formations.)
Subtotal = 1,000 men

Cavalry
18th Hussars = 100 units
18th Dragoons = 1,200 units
Subtotal = 1,300 units
TOTAL = 5,014 units

The games are played on large land maps. There are no air units of course and it works better as a land game without navy units although some ferry transports and gunboats (sloops or yachts) can be permitted by agreement.

Some interesting facts about the game are as follows. There are 21 separate nations each with their own capabilities. They fall into groups with similarities but each nation still has one or more aspects that are totally unique to it. The resource model uses 6 resources and it is a storage model not a flow model. However, in practice for creating units it works like a flow model with infinite loop production of peasants and troops. Game control is surprisingly easy for a large unit limit game because it uses formations. The smallest possible formation is 24 (pikemen or muskets) and the largest possible formation is 432 men. Thus with one select and click you can control 432 men and send them on a march, on the attack or onto the defence to hold a defensive position. Infantry can be formed into formations of 24, 36, 72, 144, 288 and 432 men. Different formations are possible for different tactical and strategic situations (lines, columns and squares) Cavalry can be formed into formations to 20, 40, 80 or 120 in line, column or wedge formations, the wedge being best for charges.

The need to create formations actually stops spamming and swarming. Yes, you still spam units in the production sense but you do not spam them at the enemy in streams or swarms. If you do so you will lose badly. You need to form the men up into formations with drummers, flag bearers and officers. Units in formation gain strong attack and defence bonuses and are much more effective in combat. Battles start to be about proper manoeuvring of formations and putting them in the best position compared to enemy placements, your other supporting formations, cannon fire support and features like hills, lakes, obstacles, and impassable ground.

If you are interested, post your interest here. Then I will work out how to get a copy of the mod to you. You could buy a copy of Cossacks off eBay or even off Steam. Get Cossacks I in the 1.35 Back to War Version. Don’t get Cossacks II, it’s bad like SupCom 2 is bad. The Steam copy may not give you the serial number to play on the GSC server but we can get around that. I will help you with installing the mod files on top of the basic game. The game is a legacy game so there are some (easily correctable) issues with getting it to run on Windows 7 and with maybe avoiding the latest laser mouses. Just use an older optical mouse if need be. The entire game folder is less than 1 gig.

There is lots more I could tell you but that’s enough for starters. Please express interest or ask questions.

[buletproof_bob]

I want in. Have the game on steam.

[Crazy Cossack]

OK, that is great buletproof_bob. Tell me, does your steam version give you a product key number? You know, the number you would need to register the game on the GSC server. If it doesn't we should have ways around that. For example, I have a 2nd key on a second game copy I could let you use. Also, does your game copy present the title or splash screen where you get the multiplayer option and then one of those multiplayer options is the GSC server?

The next thing to say is that you need to have Cossacks I - Back to War installed plus the Baddog Mod which normally comes on the disc, if you buy the disk. I hope it comes with Steam too. The installed version number will look like this BTW 1.35+Baddog.

Once you have version BTW 1.35+Baddog installed, I advise you create another folder in Program Files (x86) called Cossacks - BTW OCMOD. And copy the entire contents of your current BTW folder into Cossacks - BTW OCMOD. Then you can have both versions available. For OCMOD balanced I can then send you just two files called mods01.gs1 and mods02.gs1 which you place in folder Cossacks - BTW OCMOD. This makes the new Mod.

Currently, I can supply the mod files by Outlook's Skydrive. I just upload the files to the Skydrive and email you the links. As I am still doing some further fine balancing, I can renew these files each week if need be before a game and you can d/l and install. The files are not large about 95 megabytes and 9.5 megabytes.

Now, there is much more information I can supply. The first bit of information is about how to get a legacy game like Cossacks to run best on Win 7.

Quick Starting OC Mod

1. Your new parent folder will be called Cossacks – BTW OC MOD
2. You paste in the new files mods01.gs1 and mods02.gs1
3. The .exe for the game is called dmcr.exe
4. In Windows 7 you need to run it in compatibility mode for XP.
5. Also you will probably need to set up and run a batch file to kill Explorer for the duration you run Cossacks. This solves some pixel colour faults you will get otherwise. The Explorer process is restarted when you exit Cossacks.

The batch file has just 3 lines as below. I call it dmcr.bat and put it on my desktop.

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
dmcr.exe
start explorer.exe


I can directly email you more information if you give me your email.

Now, I have to be honest, there is currently no community left for this mod. I am trying to revive it. Currently only myself and one good mate play it. However, it is such a good game with 21 nations to play for variety that we never get bored with it.

I have written large guides on how to play it and I can tutor you on how to play it step by step. I don't throw a new player in the deep end and then beat him up so he gets no learning or enjoyment. Games can last from 10 or 20 minutes to 2 hours or more for long games. It will support 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and probably 4v4 if we get enough people. 1v1 and 2v2 make for the best games I think. I doubt that 4v4 would work very well.