I had a chance to play a quick game last night. Unfortunately, it was 0.7 as I didn't realize that 0.8 would be out this quickly. Oh well ... from reading the change log in the other thread, I think these comments may still be pertinent.
I opted for a small map, random leaders, at monarch and normal speed. I had vision victory turned off, although I will try it again on the new version. It turned out to be quite an interesting little map. Evidently it was high sea level, because there was very little land to settle. With 2 close neighbors, I ended up with only 4 cities after the expansion phase. Most of the AI also had about 4 or 5 cities, although one AI on the other side of the map had 6 cities. Turned out to be a bit of a challenge ... quite enjoyable!
I had no oil nor munitions in my territory. Though I did have 1 armor and 3 silos.
I ended up with more Nukes than Guided Missiles, which was a bummer since I actually wanted to keep the land in this game. I must say, the Nuke needs a re-base option. I really hated leaving them outside my city after they spawned. It also looked like Nukes weren't destroying terrain improvements. Is this normal behavior? I don't normally bother with ICBMs in the base game.
I drew the financial and charismatic Montezuma, who evidently is not in the 0.8 version. After playing financial, I really do think it is underpowered. Given the terrain modifications and the need for strong production and health (ie forests), you really don't build as many cottages as you would in a normal game. I actually went broke at one point during my first war. Fortunately, I had enough cash from taking cities to tide me over until I could whip Markets. The financial trait needs something else. Possibly another trade route or maybe some sort of trade route modifier. Conversely, I think charismatic is way overpowered in relation to the other traits. Those 3 free happy faces (trait, Monument, Tower), combined with lower xp, make it a super strong trait. I think you should consider removing 1 of the happy faces. Probably from the Broadcast Tower, as that is normally a late game tech in the base game. Or give the happy face from the building to everybody.
I noted a problem from my last game with the size of the AI cities. Below is a screenshot from 200 turns into this game. You can compare my cities to those of the AI. My smallest city was size 9 IIRC.
Here is the demographics from that same turn:
I've got over 5x the pop of my closest rival. Population is raw power -- in the base game, as well as this mod. The AI just cannot compete effectively with these small cities.
I also came across this little gem of a barb:
I opted to let the AI capture that city!
Hero units really shouldn't be allowed to be barbs IMHO. I would later spawn my own Tankbuster, and frankly I ended up being disappointed. The unit really does not live up to its name, as it is still weaker than the Tanks even after its 200% armor bonus. Maybe upping its base strength as you did with the 0.8 Utility Vehicles would do the trick?
Nor for a few comments after reading the 0.8 change log:
I noticed this behavior last night. At first I thought I was nuts! Glad to see it is already fixed!
What's a Rangers Guild?
I'm not sure that I agree with this change. I understand why folks were clamoring for it, though. But the Anti-Tank unit is available from the expensive Heavy Weapons tech. Whereas the Flamethrower is made available at the cheaper Refining Tech, the same tech that enables the Jeeps that it would counter.
The problem I had in my game was that I had neither oil nor munitions. Thus I couldn't build either unit!
Neither of my neighbors had munitions, but they both had oil. I eventually had plenty of Flamethrowers after my first war. I get the impression that oil is a much more plentiful resource than munitions. If that is the case, this change could seriously impact the balance of the game's combat system.
I look forward to giving 0.8 a try! Keep up the good work!
I opted for a small map, random leaders, at monarch and normal speed. I had vision victory turned off, although I will try it again on the new version. It turned out to be quite an interesting little map. Evidently it was high sea level, because there was very little land to settle. With 2 close neighbors, I ended up with only 4 cities after the expansion phase. Most of the AI also had about 4 or 5 cities, although one AI on the other side of the map had 6 cities. Turned out to be a bit of a challenge ... quite enjoyable!
I had no oil nor munitions in my territory. Though I did have 1 armor and 3 silos.
I ended up with more Nukes than Guided Missiles, which was a bummer since I actually wanted to keep the land in this game. I must say, the Nuke needs a re-base option. I really hated leaving them outside my city after they spawned. It also looked like Nukes weren't destroying terrain improvements. Is this normal behavior? I don't normally bother with ICBMs in the base game.I drew the financial and charismatic Montezuma, who evidently is not in the 0.8 version. After playing financial, I really do think it is underpowered. Given the terrain modifications and the need for strong production and health (ie forests), you really don't build as many cottages as you would in a normal game. I actually went broke at one point during my first war. Fortunately, I had enough cash from taking cities to tide me over until I could whip Markets. The financial trait needs something else. Possibly another trade route or maybe some sort of trade route modifier. Conversely, I think charismatic is way overpowered in relation to the other traits. Those 3 free happy faces (trait, Monument, Tower), combined with lower xp, make it a super strong trait. I think you should consider removing 1 of the happy faces. Probably from the Broadcast Tower, as that is normally a late game tech in the base game. Or give the happy face from the building to everybody.
I noted a problem from my last game with the size of the AI cities. Below is a screenshot from 200 turns into this game. You can compare my cities to those of the AI. My smallest city was size 9 IIRC.
Here is the demographics from that same turn:
I've got over 5x the pop of my closest rival. Population is raw power -- in the base game, as well as this mod. The AI just cannot compete effectively with these small cities.
I also came across this little gem of a barb:
I opted to let the AI capture that city!
Hero units really shouldn't be allowed to be barbs IMHO. I would later spawn my own Tankbuster, and frankly I ended up being disappointed. The unit really does not live up to its name, as it is still weaker than the Tanks even after its 200% armor bonus. Maybe upping its base strength as you did with the 0.8 Utility Vehicles would do the trick?Nor for a few comments after reading the 0.8 change log:
I noticed this behavior last night. At first I thought I was nuts! Glad to see it is already fixed!
What's a Rangers Guild?
I'm not sure that I agree with this change. I understand why folks were clamoring for it, though. But the Anti-Tank unit is available from the expensive Heavy Weapons tech. Whereas the Flamethrower is made available at the cheaper Refining Tech, the same tech that enables the Jeeps that it would counter.
The problem I had in my game was that I had neither oil nor munitions. Thus I couldn't build either unit!
Neither of my neighbors had munitions, but they both had oil. I eventually had plenty of Flamethrowers after my first war. I get the impression that oil is a much more plentiful resource than munitions. If that is the case, this change could seriously impact the balance of the game's combat system.I look forward to giving 0.8 a try! Keep up the good work!
Go away !".
You have a point there ...
The missiles definitely had one. It would be nice if the ICBM had one, as well. Or if they automatically moved to the closest city on the following turn. But hardly a game-breaker either way ...
But that would/could happen on any game, any mod, or not.
as well - the AI did put 2 trucks in offensive stack not having gas powered units as well 
