Mod Feature
Most Popular Civ IV Mod Ever: Fall from Heaven 2
There are some mods which eventually become large enough and popular enough to where they nearly become games in their own right. Fall From Heaven 2 for Civilization IV: Beyond […]
There are some mods which eventually become large enough and popular enough to where they nearly become games in their own right. Fall From Heaven 2 for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is one of those mods.
Fall from Heaven 2 abandons the historical setting of the base game for the dark fantasy world of Erebus. It is still to this day the most popular mod for Civilization IV in terms of downloads due to the massive changes it makes to almost everything about Civ IV.
The mod was developed by Kael, whose real name is Derek Paxton, and who went on to develop the Elemental: Fallen Enchantress game with Stardock.
Fall From Heaven 2 is probably the most successful successor to Master of Magic, the highly beloved 90’s Fantasy 4X that has spawned a bunch of mediocre successors.
Fall From Heaven successfully captures the chaotic and mysterious nature of Master of Magic while going completely its own way in terms of design and atmosphere.
The mod changes tons about Civilization IV including adding all-new races, a magic system, and an “Armageddon Counter, among other things.
Pequel
The mod was first released for base Civ IV in 2005 but included fewer races and less unique mechanics. It was re-released as the far more popular Fall From Heaven 2 for the Beyond the Sword expansion.
There is also a prequel called Fall from Heaven: Age of Ice that was also released for Civ IV: Beyond the Sword. Age of Ice featured only four Civs (Compared to 21 in Fall 2). These factions are the: Illians, Doviello, Amurites, and Barbarians.
Age of Ice is a single scripted scenario where only the Amurites are playable. While the Illians and Doviello ar played by the AI due to scripted events that take place.
The Age of Ice has ended, what is left of the once great empires of man have formed into small tribes, ready to rebuild and retake that which was lost.
Both Age of Ice and the sequel are heavy on lore. The deep lore the mods have is one of the main draws to them, so if you have no interest in learning the history and abilities of fantasy races then these mods likely aren’t for you.
Age of Ice was my introduction to Fall From Heaven and will always have special place in my heart. It expanded why I thought Civ IV could possibly be and basically made it a whole new game.
Here’s a short primer on Age of Ice for set up:
“Age of Ice speaks of the fall of man in a large war between mythical gods, namely the God of Nature, Sucellus, and the God of Ice, Mulcarn. Eventually, Mulcarn triumphed, and man’s former ally, fire, turned against them. Because of a pact signed between the gods and humans, civilization could not rise again. Mulcarn started another Ice Age and thus threw man into mere tribes.
However, there is a sword called the Godslayer, which, as implied by its name, can kill a god, and, in this case, Mulcarn. The former sorcerer-ruler of Patria, Kylorin, reawakened by the goddess Nantosuelta, has risen to the challenge and seeks the three pieces of the Godslayer that were broken apart before the inter-deity war. One piece lies with the Doviello, Mulcarn’s followers. Another lies with Mulcarn. Finally, legend speaks of an island that is untouched by the snow or ice. Perhaps the final piece could be there? You must find out!”
Introduction to Age of Ice
The amazing thing about the Age of Ice is that since the original was so impressive that this scenario was packaged with Civilization IV Beyond the Sword. Yeah, it was that good.
Development
According to Kael the Fall From Heaven universe was based on a long-running Dungeons & Dragons game. While that provided the background lore for the world, the mod team continually looked to update different aspects of the game’s setting.
The mod team began with six members before expanding to 14 after Beyond the Sword was released.
The mod changed so much about the game that the team broke up development into separate projects:
- “Light” – Covers the spell system and introduction of 16 distinct civilizations
- “Fire” – Introduces Armageddon and the Mercurians (Angelic) and Infernal (Demonic) civilizations
- “Shadow” – Introduces quests, equipment, and the Sidar and Svartalfar civilizations
- “Ice” – Covers the scenarios and the Illian civilization
The mod received extensive media coverage, even being featured in print articles of PC Gamer but many of those reviews are now defunct, and can no longer be accessed. Soren Johnson, the legendary designer behind Civilization IV, also gave Kael, encouragement, and advice on the engine.
The Fall from Heaven mod team stopped development on the main branch of Fall from Heaven 2 in December 2008. But since the Mod was so popular other modders have attempted to keep the flame alive and continue their own Modmods (submods). Most of these have also ceased development at this point but their efforts have further expanded Fall From Heaven 2 in unique ways.
Overview
Since this game takes place after the Age of Ice, where civilization was destroyed, all civs start as small tribes. This is a neat way to tie the mod’s lore into the classic civ start of having a single settler.
While the maps themselves are randomized each civilization will start near a zone affiliated with their race, for example, Dwarves will start in a mountainous region.
The playstyle of each Civ is unique. They each have their own leaders, heroes, units, patron gods, historical enemies, and World spells. This makes playing each civ a far different experience and adds huge variety to each game. Sure, playing the Mayans is different from the Indians in the base game, but it’s not like playing the difference between playing the Amurites or Illians.
Civilizations
Most Civilizations also have a “goal” to the campaign. This could be anything from wiping all evil from the world to bringing about the literal apocalypse. This adds a unique sense of direction to each game and brings further variety to each civilization.
The Illians, for example, want to bring back the Age of Ice where they were the dominant race on Erebus. Their leader, Auric Illvan wants to be the new god of winter. To do this they’ll need to build certain Wonders to start the process. As their plans unfold they’ll need to declare war on everyone in the game.
The Kuriotates are a confederation of peoples, most of which are Centaurs or Humans. Their unique mechanic is to have their cities control a larger area, allowing them to spread out using and control larger territories. They also have one of the most powerful heroes in the game: Eurabatres the Gold Dragon.
It’s so refreshing to see each faction and their leader have their own motivations, struggles, and ancient enemies. It creates the feeling of a world and its people who’ve been here for countless ages, struggling against each other.
In some ways, the Civilizations aren’t very balanced, but each has its own “trump card” which they can exploit to its fullest, some of these may cancel each other out but the idea is that each is unique and provides a different advantage to the civ.
Mechanical Changes
The game provides an insane number of gameplay changes but here are some of the main ones.
There’s the introduction of all-new civics some tied to certain factions. This provides for interesting new strategies like the Aristograrian Strategy which combines the Agrarianism and Aristocracy civics to supercharge certain food tiles.
Each civ is also given a Dungeons & Dragons-style alignment which determines your diplomacy and overall objectives. Good civs fight to lower the Armageddon Counter, while Evil civs want to increase it. Neutral civs just want to stay alive. Civs can change their alignment though by converting to different religions.
Replacing the UN mechanic from the base game is two new mechanics: the Undercouncil and the Overcouncil. The Undercouncil is the league of bad guys who can enact resolutions such as slave trading, and forcing war on other civs. The Overcouncil does the same for Good nations, their resolution focuses more on things like free trade and implementing a single currency. Wait they’re really more like the European Union than the White Council.
Barbarian units have also received a buff, the world of Erebus is dangerous and these creatures will mess you up in the early game. Barbarians can also receive promotions giving them the potential to become real forces on the map.
Magic System
Magic is another huge feature added. It is used through Mana which is represented as a strategic resource to be acquired on the map itself.
Mages can choose from 14 “Spheres” of magic, including fire, entropy, and nature. They will gain experience automatically and use the Civ IV upgrade system to gain new spells.
Spells have a variety of effects as the number Spheres suggest. They can buff your entire empire, cast a damaging fireball, or change the terrain.
The magic system is somewhat clunky as Civilization wasn’t designed as a fantasy game. Still, the creative use of unit promotions and effects is a massive achievement. The magic generally works well, though I’ve found the AI struggles to use it effectively.
Units
In an attempt to cut down on the late game unit spam which often plagued Civ IV, Fall From Heaven places the emphasis on having a smaller group of elite units. This makes veteran units far more valuable as the difference between an experienced unit and a new one is stark.
Units can also specialize, for example taking special promotions which buff them when fighting against certain races, meaning you’ll want to keep some units on certain fronts to eventually unleash them against those enemies
This ensures that even if your enemy is pumping out tons of units they’ll be no match to your veteran troops. This change helps units feel both unique and valuable. Every unit isn’t just another tank or spearmen. These could be your anti-orc slayers which have been with you on countless campaigns.
Beyond these veteran units, you have unique hero units who can be built to serve as the commanders of armies and saviors of the nation. They work similarly to Master of Magic, in their power and effect on the game world.
They can only be built once per game and once they die they cannot be brought back. Each civilization and religion has its own unique hero, while others can be recruited more generally.
Like spellcasters heroes will gain experience passively over time, meaning recruiting them early is a must. They’ll be by far the most powerful units in the game, with the most powerful having the ability to smash small armies or take cities by themselves
Religion and Research
Religions are also now unique and tied to the alignment scale. As I mentioned before if you adopt a certain religion you can shift your alignment.
So if you’re a neutral nation and choose to worship the Ashen Veil, then your civilization will begin to take on the precepts of an evil nation. In return, you’ll get certain bonuses like access to new powerful magic spells and summonable demon units. Or you can adopt the Runes of Kilmorph, ensuring you cozy up with the reclusive dwarves and gaining access to their mining expertise.
Research has also received an overhaul here, now specialization of certain paths is the focus. You’ll want to gear your civilization toward a path, hopefully, one in tandem with your race’s abilities. You can focus on combat, religion, arcane knowledge, etc.
Each religion also has its own unique technologies which add further variety. Tech progression is also slower than in the base game. The idea is that you’ll want to have the chance to use these units, spells, or abilities before they’re made obsolete
Armageddon Counter
The Armageddon Counter is a mechanic that was introduced to ensure that the late game would not become a stalemate with each nation keeping to themselves. Instead, it seeks to create the world-spanning apocalyptic conflict that Fall From Heaven is billed to be.
The idea is that as more evil things happen the Armaggeddon counter will start counting up. What are these bad things? The spreading of hell terrain on the map, the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the summoning of this universes version of Satan; really metal stuff like that. Good nations will have to fight this spreading evil which inevitably causes large late-game clashes between the good and evil alignments.
It’s a great mechanic which reminds me a lot of Hearts of Iron IV’s World Tension mechanic. Things will ramp up and it’s your job to be ready for the inevitable conflict when it comes.
Scenarios
On top of all of this Fall From Heaven 2 also features several campaign scenarios that are broken up into different arcs. Each arc needs to be completed before completing the final arc. Each focuses on a few of the civilizations, allowing players to explore the different narratives of the races of Erebus.
In addition to the Arc Scenarios, there are several stand-alone campaigns as well. My favorite of these being The Splintered Court, which depicts the rekindling of the brutal civil war between two elven factions after the Age of Ice ends.
Balance and ModMods
When the main branch of Fall From Heaven 2 stopped development in 2008, the project was left somewhat unfinished. There were still bugs, unfinished design, and the AI struggled with the new mechanics. To fix these the ardent Fall From Heaven community set out to finish the work they loved so much. In short, they began to create their own Modmods.
Note: This part of the article draws on the great work of Ash over at OdinGaming who put together a list of ModMods and how they fit together. I highly recommend you check that article out over on his blog: here.
For my part, I’m truly not sure what the difference between a Modmod and a sub-mod is? Perhaps one is greater in scope than the other, but I digress.
The main Modmods are as follows:
Master of Mana, This work extends the magic system from Fall from Heaven, improves the AI, and further develops on the hero mechanics. It’s great if you liked the magic system in the base mod but wanted something more developed.
Ashes of Erebus– This is an extension of the lore and units for the base mod. There are new civs, new units, and just more stuff. This inevitably means the game is less balanced than the other two main Modmods but if you love the weird and unique world of Fall From Heaven then this mod is for you.
Extramodmod– This introduced some limited new features but mostly focuses on balance and AI improvements for multiplayer games.
You can read more about each ModMod and how to install them over at the Wiki.
Conclusion
Fall From Heaven 2 is everything a Total Conversion mod should be. It’s expansive, creative, and original. It adds entirely new mechanics like the Armageddon Counter and Magic to a base game that had nothing like these mechanics.
While it’s sad to see that the base mod was never truly “finished” most mods never are. They’re in a constant state of development as Mod leaders like Kael work to rally volunteers for the grueling and often tedious work of mod development.
Where Fall From Heaven 2 truly sets itself apart with its character. Games like Alpha Centauri thrived on the feeling of each of their leaders is their own person with consistent ideologies, and every part of the game from the cutscenes to the flavor text on technologies serviced building that up.
Fall From Heaven 2 succeeds by doing the same thing. There’s such care in how the game world was crafted to fit the Civ IV engine and how they crafted Civ IV to meet with their ambitious goals.
If you’re interested in downloading Fall From Heaven 2 or learning more about it, you can do so below:
ModDb Page to Download Fall From Heaven
