Now that Gods & Kings has rearranged the tech tree, I decided I would revisit my old Code of Law mod and update it for the new expansion. That updated version is now uploaded onto the Steam Workshop.
The new Code of Law technology requires Writing and leads to Philosophy and Civil Service.
It allows Courthouses and Open Borders treaties.
The primary intent of this mod is to move the Courthouse building away from Mathematics so that players do not gain access to the building that nullifies unhappiness from city occupation at the same time that they unlock the first siege weapon. This way, overly-aggressive players who beeline to Iron Working and/or Mathematics so they can capture cities will have to take a minor detour through the culture and science path of the tech tree in order to be able to annex those cities and start using them as unit-farms.
The mod also has a few other changes:
- Open Borders treaties were moved to Code of Law to make them accessible a little earlier (and to make the technology useful to players who aren't capturing cities).
- The locations of the 'Philosophy' and 'Drama and Poetry' technologies was swapped. This was done for both aesthetic and functional reasons. I didn't quite understand why Philosophy required Calendar, so that prereq was moved to Drama and Poetry (hey, no one's going to go see your fancy play if they don't know what day it is!).
- Drama and Poetry is no longer a prereq for Civil Service. It now requires Code of Law instead.
Since the Gods & Kings expansion managed to successfully eliminate the "Great Library to Civil Service" exploit by adding the additional prereqs of Currency and Horseback Riding, this mod no longer functions to alleviate problems associated with that exploit.
Includes a fix for a Tech Tree glitch
I also had to apply an update to the TechTree.lua script in order to fix an annoying glitch in the way that the game draws the prereq pipes.
The original TechTree.lua file had to be modified with a script from whoward69 to correct this prereq piping glitch.
The fix that I applied is credited to whoward69 from the official 2K Civilization V forums. Whoward, by the way, has some of the best UI mods available for the game, and I highly recommend checking them out!
But I'm not finished yet...
This mod is just a preliminary version for a slightly heftier mod. I plan on experimenting with changing the function of the Courthouse and moving its current function onto a different building. I had originally hoped that I could give the Courthouse multiple functions: remove unhappiness from occupied cities and an additional function in non-occupied cities. However, this ended up being impossible, since the same variable that gives the Courthouse its function in occupied cities also makes the Courthouse only able to be built in occupied cities. I might try looking for a work-around though.
Eventually, I plan on doing a full tech tree overhaul starting with the ancient and classical eras, and this one technology is one part of that eventual mod. So stay tuned!
Downloading the Mod
To download the mod, open the Steam Workshop through the "Get Mods" button in the Civilization V in-game Mod menu. Then type "Code of Law" into the search bar in the right side of the Steam window. Click on the "Code of Law" mod in the search results, then click the "Subscribe" button. The mod will now be automatically downloaded the next time you run Civilization V. You can also subscribe through the Steam Workshop website at SteamPowered.com.
"Code of Law" mod on Steam Workshop
To view other mods by me, click on the "MegaBearsFan's Workshop" link under the mod title. At the time of this publishing, the "Fat Man and Little Boy" mod is the only one that I have published on the Steam Workshop, but that will hopefully change soon.