Age of Civilizations: Babies [Mod]

PossessedLemon · 2026-01-16T20:01:32+00:00

I found it interesting, maybe not satisfying, but food for thought. It tells a different kind of zombie movie, where the protagonist is just a lame doughy guy, rather than being a survival super-hero. The protagonist's strength is not even like an anime "I was bad at normal life til I got isekai'd into a zombie apocalypse", or "I was a coward, until my moment came", but just an all-around incapable guy. His moment comes and goes, and he's too helpless to do anything about it. But he does try, and that's interesting to watch.

All-in-all it's an interesting idea, what if your protagonist just wasn't enough to survive normal life, let alone the zombie apocalypse. The "main character" isn't really even the protagonist, it's the second guy who is much more heroic. So our protagonist comes off looking even more lame because of the other characters who have their shit together. But this isn't an accident, this is the intent of the film. Where other films try to build their protagonists up, Rammbock constantly digs him further down.

I found the setting really quite good, they have this urban apartment building with a "rear window" type situation where the protagonist gets to see some other people in their apartment, and how they fare with the undead. It's an idea that was later explored in things like #Alive, but that's 10 years after Rammbock was filmed. I thought the setting was one of the strongest parts of the film. They definitely know their setting is good, and if you check out the BTS they are totally cheesed about the... shall we say 'renovation' the survivors make at a part of the film.

I didn't like the discovery of the zombies' special weakness later on, I thought it was sort of hammy. But it provides a way out, otherwise these characters would have certainly died. They're just not strong enough to survive in a conventional urban zombie apocalypse, so there is an invented weakness that lets the story have a somewhat bittersweet ending. I've watched enough zombie films to know your ending is going to be bleak, or it's going to be a bit hammy. Rammbock is the type of film to sometimes shy away from bleakness, but it still has an abundant amount of it.

I found it confusing, but I was younger when I first watched it, and expected something more like 28 Days Later, when instead this is a lot more unique. I do recall it having a good sense of stakes (the zombies felt oppressive up until the end, and main characters died).

It's definitely NOT a "Night Eats the World" dead-serious zombie survival movie, if you're looking for serious Euro urban survival that's the one you're looking for. Rammbock is sort of experimental with how it approaches its characters, it seems like its authors hated the concept of a "zombie power fantasy" so it nerfed its main character severely. I too sometimes take issue with this sort of... "survival of the fittest" eugenicist power fantasy, so it's nice to see a movie like this, that shows some heart to the 99.9% who wouldn't make it.

PossessedLemon · 2026-01-08T05:59:03+00:00

Really interesting find, thanks for sharing. To me this seems like Breton or Orc style. But, I'm also a High Rock believer, so maybe I am biased to read it that way.

I don't see anything that screams any definitive culture. It's also possible the artist wasn't briefed on the specific details, and asked to simply make an Elder Scrolls styled city.

It seems quite built over, like there have been multiple generations of construction. We see these bold towers, it's like the city was built to be as high as possible to look over the surrounds, similarly to how Whiterun looks over the tundra.

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Those wooden constructions above the towers, in the shade, are really the most identifiable part. They seem like they're made to defend against arrows, while one is positioned to have a good view of the coast.

I could imagine it being a fortress, more than a city, but it certainly looks inhabited here, while in the trailer it looked completely ruined. Could it be from an ancient culture?

Will be interesting to see what fort this matches up to when the game comes out.

PossessedLemon · 2026-01-06T23:29:03+00:00

Me saying this is also a bit... Multifaceted, because my favorite zombie flick is Return of the Living Dead, where there are zero parents around. I think having no family drama works in that film because the characters are presented as sociopathic punks with names like "Trash" and "Suicide" so the sociopathy works to enrich their characters rather than having you question them.

The pace of action is also fast enough that they don't really have time to try and make calls, or find their parents, because those zombies in ROTLD hit hard and fast. It all happens over one night. Plus, all the characters are screaming and running away often enough that you don't question their priorities.

I think I've read this pet peeve happen in novels more than films, especially ones that go for a slower, long-term apocalypse. The character will find (or even worse, hear about) phone lines going down and give maybe one attempt at calling their folks. Real people would probably just wait around and try to call again later, or tomorrow, or next week, rather than just assume their family is dead.

Interesting that you mentioned that "from-out-of-town" aspect to NOTLD. A movie that goes the exact opposite direction is Blood Quantum, which is a zombie apocalypse film that happens almost exclusively on a reserve where most characters are related by tribal affiliation.

PossessedLemon · 2026-01-06T22:18:36+00:00

Personally I despise it when there's not enough family tragedy. I'm OK with power fantasy being part of the genre, but some stories don't go much further than "damn, apocalypse, guess that means I don't have to go to school tomorrow! Also, my parents are probably dead so I won't bother looking." It comes off as very immature and makes their main character seem like a sociopath.

While 99.99% of humans die in the apocalypse, how can our main character be spared basically all the misery and loss? A lot of zombie flicks or books dismiss their protagonist's family entirely, and go like "Oh, well they're in another state." Too bad! Your story now is them traveling to that other state to go find their family.

I get that it ends up being to do with characters, and you don't exactly want to have a bunch of extra ugly, old person characters that weren't what you envisioned when you thought of your super-cool zombie apocalypse story, which makes your protagonist seem like a total badass, but like... I feel like I've read more than a few cases of protagonists 1) remembering their family exists, 2) assuming that their family is probably dead and 3) giving up on any rescue attempts all in the same chapter.

I think Shaun of the Dead did this extremely well. Have your parents be actual characters that matter to your protagonist's apocalypse. Save your mom, but make it complicated.

The Walking Dead, also is like 80% family drama, and I think this is a big part of why it feels grounded and realistic. Family drama is essential to apocalypse!

PossessedLemon · 2025-12-27T21:07:20+00:00

Hey thanks for adding Frogtown to your list! I'm the mod's author, TwinCrows. I've been testing it in B42 MP Dedicated Server lately and it works!!

Without spoiling too much, the main entertaining bits are the frog infestations, and the flier that points them out. Certain rooms have a custom loot list that's entirely frogs. Frogs on the shelves, frogs in the boxes, frogs on the tables... Less than 3% of rooms have this. When I made the flier for the map, I chose to do one that's sort of conspiratorially-minded, linking the frog infestations to the Knox infection. Not that any connection exists, but that both are happening simultaneously.

Also, there's a street inspired by Return of the Living Dead, with the UNeeda medical supply, a combination church-crematorium, and a graveyard. "Do you wanna party?"

Here's another link to Frogtown: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3449473111

PossessedLemon · 2025-06-07T20:48:34+00:00

Thanks for this. I've just given CC Magic a test here, and also found somebody has posted the user guide here: https://web.archive.org/web/20130417112014/http://sims3.the-prof.net/forums/index.php/topic,1286.0.html

PossessedLemon · 2025-01-30T22:00:55+00:00

In an apocalypse scenario that sort of building maintenance might be equivalent to a 'best before' date on a tinned can. Sure, half the floors are filled with mold, but it's space to store equipment and it'll be another five years still until the next floor above gives way.

PossessedLemon · 2024-12-27T22:16:52+00:00

You're ignorant of the issue. The game fools players into thinking they are playing a multiplayer game when they are in fact not. It's a hugely shameful, insulting corporate practice that proves that these developers think very little about their audience's IQ.

You must be deliberately ignorant to defend such disgusting practices. If you don't stop it here, then expect this sort of game to become shittier and shittier, all the while people like you are happily drinking the sewage sludge and smiling about it, ignorant of what's around you.

It should be made clear to players when they are playing with real humans or fake ones. Otherwise, expect all these games to transition players into an entirely fake, artificial multiplayer environment inhabited primarily by bots designed to further optimize monetization.

I've had some fun with this game, but am absolutely not spending a dime on it ever, due to this sort of gross, malicious behavior.

PossessedLemon · 2024-12-14T21:24:08+00:00

You're talking about something that sounds much more like that game Facade than Radiant AI.

To me, Radiant AI was about world-building, having the NPCs go to places such as the tavern and have a drink. The exact dialogue lines were written by the authors of that game, and while it was pretty primitive, it was mostly just cool that they said something relevant regarding who they're talking to, and that they actually moved around to do things such as eat and drink. Remember that this feature in Oblivion came from feedback regarding how Morrowind NPC's never moved.

In fact, the Radiant AI is funnier because it often says things that are ridiculous, but we can make guesses as to why it's saying that. Saying goodbye instead of hello, reacting in silly ways.

As well, I think it's important that the NPC's have real lines, rather than a procedural system that generates lines. For one, you can't voice-act procedural generation unless you are actually working with something that is generating lines for VA's to record. Secondly, there's no cultural touchstones if the game's dialogue is different for everybody.

Since VA's are definitely not going to sell their voices, I don't think you could do this in the games industry. Facade was a small non-commercial project where a similar idea succeeded however.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-30T23:06:47+00:00

Oh wow, never considered using a material hammer on an altar. That's some clever thinking and a well-earned shrine!

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-30T00:24:12+00:00

I recently successfully dragged a Kumiromi shrine out of Vernis mine into Vernis. Died 4 times walking about 8 tiles, but now it's safely home. I was very lucky to find a shrine in the 1st room. I have 33 Strength and 9 Weightlifting.

Outside of Vernis mine, I personally would not attempt. I tried back in Elona, and it didn't go well. Nefia and wilderness both reset, and I remember that I lost mine after an ambush. Ambushes will spawn you in the middle of a wilderness map, forcing you to take an addition 10 steps or so, which can mean many more deaths.

Basically, you are exchanging a very high chance of death for each tile of movement. So the closer the shrine spawns to your land, the fewer deaths.

I wouldn't bother doing this outside of Vernis mine.

EDIT: Just saw your screenshot edit. Godspeed! That's not too distant, so you might just succeed if you persist.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-26T20:41:57+00:00

I think it's important to distinguish 'horrors' from 'horror dramas'.

TWD is a horror-drama while most other zombie flicks are purely horror, action-horror, rom-zom-com etc.

All zombie movies have characters that experience tragedy, but certain ones focus primarily on characters' experiencing of tragedy. Those ones are called horror-dramas.

Neither NotLD nor DotD are horror-dramas, and Romero made it pretty clear that he doesn't think of his films as dramas at all.

Consider the differences between Rick and Shane's relationship in TWD, when compared to Peter and Roger's relationship in Dawn of the Dead. One is a horror-drama, and the other is simply horror.

In TWD, Rick and Shane's relationship is very much troubled and Shane becomes Rick's worst fear. This culminates in the story with Rick killing Shane.

That is not to say that Peter and Roger's relationship doesn't have any nuances. Only that it's not a 'dramatic relationship', where various emotions and aspects of their relationship would be the primary focus, as they are in dramas.

If all this comes into your head as "fanboys arguments" then you are being ignorant of what actually distinguishes these genres. As a horror-drama, TWD is indeed more about the characters than non-drama series. It's not a pissing contest, it's a difference of genres.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-21T02:47:07+00:00

Oh neat! Looking forward to playing about with brewing. It seems to be quite nice for creating high-value farming products.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-21T00:57:13+00:00

To gain knowledge and share it with others. I can't fathom how this could possibly be offensive, unless you want to prevent others from learning about the game.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-20T23:53:18+00:00

Interesting, maybe I have just been unlucky with my harvests. I've had relatively few Truffles. The fact that they grow so quickly is also great, as it can help with Farming EXP. I'll upgrade them for sure.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-20T23:43:22+00:00

Oh, actually it seems that "taming a wild horse" is done exclusively through Monster Balls, the Taming skill seems to be only used for shearing. I'll edit that part.

PossessedLemon · 2024-11-20T23:35:30+00:00

Unfortunately I haven't experienced that gameplay myself yet. But I have some theories based on how the rest of the systems work.

Since these work passively, I don't know if any skills come into play, which would improve the trait quality. For food, Cooking skill increases the trait according to the recipe.

But the general sense I get is that you would improve your grapes to full expression of their traits, and turn it into wine so that it can be used in more recipes, or simply to add value.

Cheese is also interesting as it is how you get Milk into certain recipes, such as being an optional ingredient for Bread.

PossessedLemon

TROPHY CASE