[Civ V] Rise to Power f.a.q.

My modding for Civ V includes new Civilizations, Rise to Power, Cultural Diversity, and a number of extended scenarios. I also maintain the most up-to-date version of Gedemon's Yet (not) Another Earth Map Pack. 

My modding practices have changed over the years and the availability of certain mods is in an ambiguous state, so in an attempt to clarify some things I have created a quick f.a.q. below.

1. What happened to Rise to Power et. al.?

Rise to Power, Cities in Development, and Exploration Continued were my three chief gameplay mods, each consisting of a single mod subdivided into different 'components' (like Piety, Sovereignty, etc.). Due to frequent compatibility issues between them, I opted to package them all together into one mod; what became JFDLC. The original, stand-alone versions of those mods, therefore, were long ago considered obsolete. 

2. What is JFDLC?

JFDLC was an informal term used to refer to the whole collection of my three chief gameplay mods: Rise to Power (RtP), Cities in Development (CiD), and Exploration Continued (ExCE). When I sought to package these three mods into one, I adapted the informal name JFDLC to refer to this packaged mod, but formally (i.e. in-game) that mod was known as Rise to Power. Since this packaged approach became unsustainable and I opted to abandon it in favour of a more eclectic approach to gameplay modding (see below), I use JFDLC now to refer to that specific package. In simplest terms, JFDLC is therefore the term for the obsolete collection of RtP, CiD, and ExCE.

3. What actually happened to JFDLC/Rise to Power?

After JFDLC's first (and only) public release, I continued to work on an update for over a year, in which I obssessively sought to improve its performance and stability. But this proved too difficult to manage; it was too large in scope with too many interconnected parts, and had too much grand ambition in its creation. It basically became difficult to do something without being bogged down by considerations on how that thing might affect the whole, or how it might impact on any other thing. Moreover, as time went on, my own knowledge about the concepts and themes that I sought to depict evolved and became more nuanced, so some of what I had previously implemented became obsolete or disingenuous. Coupled with the technical difficulty in continuing to work on it, it became a question of sticking to what I had created against my better judgement, or uprooting bits and pieces in order to conform to my newer ideas. Needless to say, the former led to extended periods of procrastination, whilst the latter inevitably caused other parts of the mod to become undone around me; both caused a great deal of misery and stress, and it made modding in generally incredible unfun.

Eventually, after a period of denial that this project had become unsustainable, I decided a more free-form, eclectic approach to my modding would be more productive (and engaging). And this is where we're at now. Although JFDLC is still available to be played, it is no longer supported by me.

4. What are JFD's Gameplay and Content mods?

My gameplay and content mods were my two collections of standalone mods that I released over the course of early 2019 in response to my decision to drop JFDLC. They were intended to be used standalone (and often without dependency on Gazebo's Community Patch, unlike JFDLC), but could be used together. The key difference here was an emphasis on eclectism and a lack of interconnectivity; they were the product of whatever idea I had at any given time rather than a part of some grand and complete vision for my gameplay modding; a chance for me to explore new ideas without being bogged down by extraneous considerations like I had been with JFDLC.

5. What is the current status of this gameplay modding?

Confusing as it may be, I've opted to reclaim the Rise to Power name in order to refer once again to my collective gameplay mods, in the same way that Rule with Faith now refers to my collection of gameplay mods for Civ VI (where before Gathering Storm it had been a singularly packaged mod). However, I am still opting for the eclectic, only-loosely connected approach that defined the immediate post-JFDLC period of my modding. 

Besides a mere nominal rebranding, I'm also using this as an opportunity to rethink and reorganize the structure of the utility mods on which my gameplay mods necessarily depend. With the 'Gameplay and Content' mods, there was a singular 'Conflict Resolution Patch' upon which most of them depended for shared utilities and core user interface replacements. However, this has since proven to cause more problems that it resolves simply because of how many core files I have had to replace. With the new Rise to Power collection, dependencies will be far less centralized; with major replacements being in their own mod and thus not necessary in all cases.