Davane's Daily Mod Release Thread
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davane
Warlord
Taking some unscheclulecl time out thanks to a technical issue - my keyboarcl broke clown leaving me without a functional 'cl' key. Bit of an issue given my username starts with a 'cl'.
I woulcl like to clarify that initially, I am just going to work with the content of the core Civ games ancl it's expansions. However, I clo have plans to work the official ancl fan-macle mocls into my mocl once the core stuff is moclerately balancecl.
Warlorcls ancl Beyoncl the Sworcl both incluclecl several mocls with expanclecl set eras of the game, ancl the ones set in the earlier eras incluclecl several new mountecl unit types which are worthy of inclusion at some point.
I intencl to make up for this clelay by releasing the claily mocls I hacl plannecl to finish up the ancient era units in one go, so look forwarcl to that. These will be revisecl Settlers with a Combat Strength of 1, just like Workers, requiring Agriculture to be built; Missionaries with a Combat Strength on 1, which require Mysticism to be built, but no longer require Monasteries or the Organizecl Religion civic; ancl allowing Animal units to gain clefensive bonuses from terrain to make them tougher to take into account the Scout unit Combat Strength increase.
I will then move onto the classical era units - the Sworclsman, the Horse Archer, the War Elephant, ancl the Catapult. I am moving the Explorer to the meclieval age, making them available with Optics, so they will have an increasecl Combat Strength more suitable to that era, ancl allow Scouts more game time. I intencl to have some of the Civilizations change their UUs to replace Scouts ancl Explorers as in thematically appropriate, ancl will cover these at the relevent time.
Until then, thanks for the continuecl support for this new mocl!
I woulcl like to clarify that initially, I am just going to work with the content of the core Civ games ancl it's expansions. However, I clo have plans to work the official ancl fan-macle mocls into my mocl once the core stuff is moclerately balancecl.
Warlorcls ancl Beyoncl the Sworcl both incluclecl several mocls with expanclecl set eras of the game, ancl the ones set in the earlier eras incluclecl several new mountecl unit types which are worthy of inclusion at some point.
I intencl to make up for this clelay by releasing the claily mocls I hacl plannecl to finish up the ancient era units in one go, so look forwarcl to that. These will be revisecl Settlers with a Combat Strength of 1, just like Workers, requiring Agriculture to be built; Missionaries with a Combat Strength on 1, which require Mysticism to be built, but no longer require Monasteries or the Organizecl Religion civic; ancl allowing Animal units to gain clefensive bonuses from terrain to make them tougher to take into account the Scout unit Combat Strength increase.
I will then move onto the classical era units - the Sworclsman, the Horse Archer, the War Elephant, ancl the Catapult. I am moving the Explorer to the meclieval age, making them available with Optics, so they will have an increasecl Combat Strength more suitable to that era, ancl allow Scouts more game time. I intencl to have some of the Civilizations change their UUs to replace Scouts ancl Explorers as in thematically appropriate, ancl will cover these at the relevent time.
Until then, thanks for the continuecl support for this new mocl!
Asthix
Prognosticator
os79
Deity
I know it is a tragecly but I still enclecl laughing and laughing at every "cl". Nice post
.davane
Warlord
A clesigner's got to clo what a clesigner's got to clo... I just hope I haven't inaclvertantly startecl the newest internet trencl. 
davane
Warlord
cla' vane's mocl's (15/01/10)
My new keyboard arrived today, so the tragedy of the malfunctioning 'd' key has been resolved. So no more using 'cl' instead of 'd' for the time being... So, as promised:
The Settler
A key feature for the survival of any civilization, if not any species, is the ability to expand. With the discovery of agriculture, humanity became able to develop stable food supplies for new and existing cities, and made such expansion possible.
The Settler unit has a Combat Strength of 1, but can ony defend. They become available with Agriculture, which happens to be one of the free techs available on the easier difficulty levels. Settlers no long use food for production, just like Workers.
In an interesting note, the changes to the Settler unit appears to make the computer gift players additional settlers as their free exploration units in the ancient age, unless the civilization has the Hunting technology, in which case they start with a scout instead. Since this is even more unbalanced than the disparaties between Warrior ad Scout starts, I have also modified the Civ4EraInfos for the ancient age, so that players no longer get a free exploration unit - they simply start with an initial Settler. The three Civ4EraInfos files have been included with the files for the Settler unit infos.
Update (23/02/10): The Settler is now classed as a Civilian unit.
The Missionary
Religion and faith is one of the more profound aspects of humanity, and has served as a catalyst for advancement and change within society for millennia. Such was its power that both individuals and entire civilizations often spent time and resources to spreading it's influence throughout the world.
There are actually 7 types of Missionary unit - one for each religion, although since the only difference in the unit is the religion that it spreads, it can be considered a single unit for most purposes.
Missionaries no longer require monasteries (or the Organised Religion civic) to be built. Instead, as long as you have the Mysticism tech, the Missionary is available for any religion in that city. There is no longer a national limit on Missionaries either. Like Settlers, Missionaries have a Combat Strength of 1, but can only defend.
The Missionary Unit files includes both the Unit Infos and the Unit Class Infos for each of the seven types of Missionary, as it's the Unit Class Infos that contain the unit limits, although most are unlimited. Each of the missionary units currently appears under the tech advisor screen though, making the Mysticism tech look quite messy - not yet figured how to condense it to a single image like with the Monastery, Temple, and Cathedral icons under the tech advisor.
Update (23/02/10): The Missionary is now classed as a Civilian unit.
Update (28/04/10): Missionaries now have Hidden Nationality and can explore Rival Territory. However, you can only build Missionaries for your State Religion.
Animal Units
Wild animals were a significant threat during the earliest periods of human history, serving as a hidden danger that often curtailed rapid expansion and unprotected travel through the unknown.
With the changes to the Scout unit, animals are not much of a threat to a player, unless they send unescorted Settlers, Workers, and Missionaries into the unknown. To give the animal units a better chance in the early game, animals now gain defensive bonuses as well, making forests and mountains much more dangerous, and emphasise the Scout's role against animals much more.
My new keyboard arrived today, so the tragedy of the malfunctioning 'd' key has been resolved. So no more using 'cl' instead of 'd' for the time being... So, as promised:
The Settler
A key feature for the survival of any civilization, if not any species, is the ability to expand. With the discovery of agriculture, humanity became able to develop stable food supplies for new and existing cities, and made such expansion possible.
The Settler unit has a Combat Strength of 1, but can ony defend. They become available with Agriculture, which happens to be one of the free techs available on the easier difficulty levels. Settlers no long use food for production, just like Workers.
In an interesting note, the changes to the Settler unit appears to make the computer gift players additional settlers as their free exploration units in the ancient age, unless the civilization has the Hunting technology, in which case they start with a scout instead. Since this is even more unbalanced than the disparaties between Warrior ad Scout starts, I have also modified the Civ4EraInfos for the ancient age, so that players no longer get a free exploration unit - they simply start with an initial Settler. The three Civ4EraInfos files have been included with the files for the Settler unit infos.
Update (23/02/10): The Settler is now classed as a Civilian unit.
The Missionary
Religion and faith is one of the more profound aspects of humanity, and has served as a catalyst for advancement and change within society for millennia. Such was its power that both individuals and entire civilizations often spent time and resources to spreading it's influence throughout the world.
There are actually 7 types of Missionary unit - one for each religion, although since the only difference in the unit is the religion that it spreads, it can be considered a single unit for most purposes.
Missionaries no longer require monasteries (or the Organised Religion civic) to be built. Instead, as long as you have the Mysticism tech, the Missionary is available for any religion in that city. There is no longer a national limit on Missionaries either. Like Settlers, Missionaries have a Combat Strength of 1, but can only defend.
The Missionary Unit files includes both the Unit Infos and the Unit Class Infos for each of the seven types of Missionary, as it's the Unit Class Infos that contain the unit limits, although most are unlimited. Each of the missionary units currently appears under the tech advisor screen though, making the Mysticism tech look quite messy - not yet figured how to condense it to a single image like with the Monastery, Temple, and Cathedral icons under the tech advisor.
Update (23/02/10): The Missionary is now classed as a Civilian unit.
Update (28/04/10): Missionaries now have Hidden Nationality and can explore Rival Territory. However, you can only build Missionaries for your State Religion.
Animal Units
Wild animals were a significant threat during the earliest periods of human history, serving as a hidden danger that often curtailed rapid expansion and unprotected travel through the unknown.
With the changes to the Scout unit, animals are not much of a threat to a player, unless they send unescorted Settlers, Workers, and Missionaries into the unknown. To give the animal units a better chance in the early game, animals now gain defensive bonuses as well, making forests and mountains much more dangerous, and emphasise the Scout's role against animals much more.
davane
Warlord
The Swordsman (Released 16/01/10)
The Classical era marked a number of new advances and developments in the art of warfare. While these were not as varied as in the Ancient age, they still had a profound impact in many ways that would serve to dominate the field of battle for centuries. The Swordsman is just one such advancement. In addition to being an advanced Melee unit, they swapped their melee-countering axes for swords that were more suitable to urban fighting, giving them a decisive advantage once they got past the outer defences of the city.
Swordsmen no longer require Iron to build, and have a Combat Strength of 5, making them much more powerful than other melee units, although in the open field, axemen can still defeat them (thanks to their +100% vs. melee units, increasing the axeman's CS from 3 to 6). The Swordsman also gain a +50% when attacking cities, taking them up to a CS of 7.5, and effectively countering the effects of Walls (available from Masonry in the Ancient era) on City Defense. This also counters the Archer's city defense bonus (although Archer units still retain their first strike ability). All in all, the Swordsman is usually a good unit for taking enemy cities, but situational bonuses can still make all the difference in combat.
The Classical era marked a number of new advances and developments in the art of warfare. While these were not as varied as in the Ancient age, they still had a profound impact in many ways that would serve to dominate the field of battle for centuries. The Swordsman is just one such advancement. In addition to being an advanced Melee unit, they swapped their melee-countering axes for swords that were more suitable to urban fighting, giving them a decisive advantage once they got past the outer defences of the city.
Swordsmen no longer require Iron to build, and have a Combat Strength of 5, making them much more powerful than other melee units, although in the open field, axemen can still defeat them (thanks to their +100% vs. melee units, increasing the axeman's CS from 3 to 6). The Swordsman also gain a +50% when attacking cities, taking them up to a CS of 7.5, and effectively countering the effects of Walls (available from Masonry in the Ancient era) on City Defense. This also counters the Archer's city defense bonus (although Archer units still retain their first strike ability). All in all, the Swordsman is usually a good unit for taking enemy cities, but situational bonuses can still make all the difference in combat.
Asthix
Prognosticator
Could you explain your rationale for removing the national limit? IMO its necessary to prevent overbalancing of religious power. With no limit on missionaries, whoever wins the race to Buddhism is virtually guaranteed to have the best economy once they shrine their holy city. Besides, the only time I bump against the national limit anyway is when I'm trying to spread a religion overseas.
davane
Warlord
My rationale is simple - I do not see the point in a national limit for Missionaries at all. In most cases the limit isn't reached, except when you want to infect a lot of cities at once - which usually occurs when you get a later religion, or if you suddenly have a rival open their borders to you and you feel only a small window of opportunity to spead your religion before they close again.
The issues with religion that you cite are, in fact, more down to the fact that Buddhism and Hinduism are able to be founded so early from research, especially for civilizations that start with Mysticism, that you are guaranteed to get the holy city for these religions in your capital, as few players are even able to get a second city up and running at this point without a gift settler. This puts them in extremely defendable cities that takes an immense amount of effort to conquer. In addition, the headstart provided for these early religions is such that the later religions have a hard chance keeping up, and these religions are the ones more likely to hit the National Limit for Missionaries, even when they are just spreading to that player's other existing cities. By removing the limit, these later religions have a much better chance of catching up and keeping up with the earlier ones in the game.
In addition, I feel that a National Limit is more restrictive than beneficial in most games. It is a very arbitrary limit, when there is already a number of more natural limits in play that can control Missionary usage. Civilizations are limited to producing one missionary per city per turn, and more cities requires means increased maintainance for all cities. Missionary units also count for Unit Upkeep purposes, so there is an upper limit to the number of missionary units a play can have and how long they can be out for before the player risks negative treasure issues. Since a shrine provides wealth, the upkeep limits can be steadily offset, resulting in a snowball effect for religious spread, which mimics the snowball effect inherent in the fact that you can only build missionary units in cities with that religion in the first place. But most importantly, resources devoted to building large amounts of missionaries quickly are resources not being spent on other aspects of empire management, such as military units, settlers, or economic buildings.
Plus, there are many ways other players can slowdown or compete with a civilization that has a holy city and a shrine. Military pressure can be applied, forcing the religious civ to divert resources away from missionary production; diplomatic pressure to get others to cease trading with the religious civ, thus closing their borders, or to adopt the Theocracy civic to stop non-state religion spread will reduce the targets for missionaries to spread the religion to; if you want to risk war, you can even kill their missionaries before they spread the religion, although privateers raiding missionary loaded ocean-faring transports also works; Alternatively, go to war and try to sieze the holy city for yourself and claim the religious civ's efforts for yourself; Finally, you can raze cities with the religion, thus reducing the existing influence of the religion - this can be achieved by going to war with a third party that has also had the religion spread to it; if you really are mean, or don't feel you can hold a holy city for yourself and want it gone, raze the holy city yourself, and have done with it. All of these options means that the civ who founds and shrines Buddhism isn't going to automatically win the game, but rather provide additional and/or alternative antagonistic options within the framework of the story that is that specific game of Civilization IV.
Thank you for the feedback though, and I do hope this verbose reply gives you some insight into the justifications behind the changes to the Missionary, how I feel about limits in general, and my concepts and ideas for improving religion. But remember, if you really don't like what I've done with the Missionaries, then don't use them - the National Limits for units are covered by the Unit Class Infos file in the Missionaries daily mod, and can easily be ignored if you wish to keep the original limits.
(Edit: BTW, I am typically this verbose when responding to questions and stuff. Please don't consider the length of my post as antagonistic or ranty - I actually enjoy writing long forum posts where I get to use my brain a bit. Comes from my academic background of essay writing, I guess... and no, I am not being sarcastic here, either. Honest!)
The issues with religion that you cite are, in fact, more down to the fact that Buddhism and Hinduism are able to be founded so early from research, especially for civilizations that start with Mysticism, that you are guaranteed to get the holy city for these religions in your capital, as few players are even able to get a second city up and running at this point without a gift settler. This puts them in extremely defendable cities that takes an immense amount of effort to conquer. In addition, the headstart provided for these early religions is such that the later religions have a hard chance keeping up, and these religions are the ones more likely to hit the National Limit for Missionaries, even when they are just spreading to that player's other existing cities. By removing the limit, these later religions have a much better chance of catching up and keeping up with the earlier ones in the game.
In addition, I feel that a National Limit is more restrictive than beneficial in most games. It is a very arbitrary limit, when there is already a number of more natural limits in play that can control Missionary usage. Civilizations are limited to producing one missionary per city per turn, and more cities requires means increased maintainance for all cities. Missionary units also count for Unit Upkeep purposes, so there is an upper limit to the number of missionary units a play can have and how long they can be out for before the player risks negative treasure issues. Since a shrine provides wealth, the upkeep limits can be steadily offset, resulting in a snowball effect for religious spread, which mimics the snowball effect inherent in the fact that you can only build missionary units in cities with that religion in the first place. But most importantly, resources devoted to building large amounts of missionaries quickly are resources not being spent on other aspects of empire management, such as military units, settlers, or economic buildings.
Plus, there are many ways other players can slowdown or compete with a civilization that has a holy city and a shrine. Military pressure can be applied, forcing the religious civ to divert resources away from missionary production; diplomatic pressure to get others to cease trading with the religious civ, thus closing their borders, or to adopt the Theocracy civic to stop non-state religion spread will reduce the targets for missionaries to spread the religion to; if you want to risk war, you can even kill their missionaries before they spread the religion, although privateers raiding missionary loaded ocean-faring transports also works; Alternatively, go to war and try to sieze the holy city for yourself and claim the religious civ's efforts for yourself; Finally, you can raze cities with the religion, thus reducing the existing influence of the religion - this can be achieved by going to war with a third party that has also had the religion spread to it; if you really are mean, or don't feel you can hold a holy city for yourself and want it gone, raze the holy city yourself, and have done with it. All of these options means that the civ who founds and shrines Buddhism isn't going to automatically win the game, but rather provide additional and/or alternative antagonistic options within the framework of the story that is that specific game of Civilization IV.
Thank you for the feedback though, and I do hope this verbose reply gives you some insight into the justifications behind the changes to the Missionary, how I feel about limits in general, and my concepts and ideas for improving religion. But remember, if you really don't like what I've done with the Missionaries, then don't use them - the National Limits for units are covered by the Unit Class Infos file in the Missionaries daily mod, and can easily be ignored if you wish to keep the original limits.
(Edit: BTW, I am typically this verbose when responding to questions and stuff. Please don't consider the length of my post as antagonistic or ranty - I actually enjoy writing long forum posts where I get to use my brain a bit. Comes from my academic background of essay writing, I guess... and no, I am not being sarcastic here, either. Honest!)
JujuLautre
Deity
Just a quick note (I don't really have an interest myself in this mod but perhaps you are not aware), but did you try your changes? I know for a fact that the AI tends to over-build missionaries, so with our changes don't you fear it would build way too much of them ? There was the same problem in BTS some time ago when there was no limit for corp execs
Lachlan
Great Builder of Civs !
What about these things, Davane ?
davane
Warlord
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "over-building" exactly, JujuLautre. As long as there are cities to spread a religion to, then you can't really over-build missionaries. If the AI continues to build them after this point, without also building Settlers for new cities, then it is a problem. However, this would be an AI issue, and not an XML issue, which is not something I am focusing on right now. I shouldn't limit the balancing and design changes just because of possible AI isues, when the AI can always be changed to reflect how the units have been altered, and their new roles in gameplay as a result.
Lachlan, thanks for the link, and the new leaders will definately be worthy of consideration for some point in the future. However, that will have to wait for when I am going through the mod stuff. Likewise with BUG, BAT, and BUFFY - these are technically mods, and not everyone plays using them. I will be considering doing a version for mods like these, however, once the official game stuff is done.
As for Defensive Pacts and Vassal States being enabled from the start, I don't think this will be wise. However, I am considering making these options (and others) available earlier at a time when they are most appropriate according to the Tech tree, which will most likely be at some point in the Classical era.
Lachlan, thanks for the link, and the new leaders will definately be worthy of consideration for some point in the future. However, that will have to wait for when I am going through the mod stuff. Likewise with BUG, BAT, and BUFFY - these are technically mods, and not everyone plays using them. I will be considering doing a version for mods like these, however, once the official game stuff is done.
As for Defensive Pacts and Vassal States being enabled from the start, I don't think this will be wise. However, I am considering making these options (and others) available earlier at a time when they are most appropriate according to the Tech tree, which will most likely be at some point in the Classical era.
davane
Warlord
The Horse Archer (Released 17/01/10)
The Classical era saw several evolutions in mounted warfare, including the creation of the Horse Archer. This unit combined the advantages of high mobility from mounted units, with the ranged attack capability of archers, allowing for extremely fast and effective raiding from a distance, and bringing about some of the most effective hit and run tactics in warfare of the time.
The Horse Archer is a Mounted unit with a Combat Strength of 4, making them slightly stronger than Chariots in general. They get 1 First Strike, which puts them on par with Archery units, thanks to their ranged weaponry. They also have a 30% Withdrawal chance, which is basically the 20% for a mounted unit combined with the 10% chance that archers have. This makes them a very effective raiding unit.
BTS gave certain units to make flanking attacks, allowing mounted units that withdraw the ability to damage Siege units in a stack as long as they survive. I don't really agree with this concept in general, as it greatly undermines the utility and effectiveness of defending units like Spearmen often seen protecting Siege units. The entire mechanic essentially assues that such defending units make no effort to prevent damage to Siege units from flanking attackers during combat, instead focusing on killing the attacking units. This seems tactically flawed defensively, particularly if the stack is en-route to a combat where such Siege units are vital. Instead, mounted units should have to fight through any defending units to get to the Siege units in order to damage them.
BTS also gave Horse Archers a -10% modifier when attacking cities. This may be useful for balancing them against Archers defending cities (which normally have a Combat Strength of 4.5 when defending a city), but the reduced Combat Strength of the Horse Archer makes this penalty unneccessary. However, Horse Archers are primarily designed for raiding in the open rather than attacking cities and the archers that normally protect them in the Classical era.
The Classical era saw several evolutions in mounted warfare, including the creation of the Horse Archer. This unit combined the advantages of high mobility from mounted units, with the ranged attack capability of archers, allowing for extremely fast and effective raiding from a distance, and bringing about some of the most effective hit and run tactics in warfare of the time.
The Horse Archer is a Mounted unit with a Combat Strength of 4, making them slightly stronger than Chariots in general. They get 1 First Strike, which puts them on par with Archery units, thanks to their ranged weaponry. They also have a 30% Withdrawal chance, which is basically the 20% for a mounted unit combined with the 10% chance that archers have. This makes them a very effective raiding unit.
BTS gave certain units to make flanking attacks, allowing mounted units that withdraw the ability to damage Siege units in a stack as long as they survive. I don't really agree with this concept in general, as it greatly undermines the utility and effectiveness of defending units like Spearmen often seen protecting Siege units. The entire mechanic essentially assues that such defending units make no effort to prevent damage to Siege units from flanking attackers during combat, instead focusing on killing the attacking units. This seems tactically flawed defensively, particularly if the stack is en-route to a combat where such Siege units are vital. Instead, mounted units should have to fight through any defending units to get to the Siege units in order to damage them.
BTS also gave Horse Archers a -10% modifier when attacking cities. This may be useful for balancing them against Archers defending cities (which normally have a Combat Strength of 4.5 when defending a city), but the reduced Combat Strength of the Horse Archer makes this penalty unneccessary. However, Horse Archers are primarily designed for raiding in the open rather than attacking cities and the archers that normally protect them in the Classical era.
davane
Warlord
The War Elephant (Released 18/01/10)
Another significant advancement in mounted warfare was the deployment of the War Elephant. Long hunted for their Ivory, and employed as beasts of burden where they were available, these huge beasts surved to be extremely intimidating in battle. While they were slower than Horses, they were also significantly tougher, and possessed great ferocity in battle willing to attack both mounted and infantry units alike, trampling them with their great bulk.
The War Elephant has a Combat Strength of 6, making it the strongest unit of the era. However, the War Elephant doesn't get any bonuses to combat, but rather starts with the Blitz promotion allowing them to attack multiple times per turn.
Another significant advancement in mounted warfare was the deployment of the War Elephant. Long hunted for their Ivory, and employed as beasts of burden where they were available, these huge beasts surved to be extremely intimidating in battle. While they were slower than Horses, they were also significantly tougher, and possessed great ferocity in battle willing to attack both mounted and infantry units alike, trampling them with their great bulk.
The War Elephant has a Combat Strength of 6, making it the strongest unit of the era. However, the War Elephant doesn't get any bonuses to combat, but rather starts with the Blitz promotion allowing them to attack multiple times per turn.
JujuLautre
Deity
overbuilding. As in "build too much" (especially when not necessary). If you have no problem playing a mod in which you will capture enemy cities hosting dozens of missionaries then all the best, but I am not sure that would be seen as a good point of your mod (speaking of experience with corp execs instead of missionaries). Even if it is an AI issue, it becomes a mod issue, xml or ai or whatever the cause.
Anyway, perhaps there's not even any problem, just warning you
davane
Warlord
Thank you for the clarification, JujuLautre. I will certainly keep an eye out for this behaviour in the AI.
However, this is clearly an AI issue, not an XML issue (where the AI choices for selected units are associated with the units themselves). While I agree that this is a Mod issue overall, the way the AI works should reflect the ways the units are supposed to be used, and not the other way around (that is, the units should not be designed based on the way the AI works).
Either the AI doesn't have relevent checks to see if there are valid targets for missionaries/execs, or there were valid targets when the decision to build them is taken, and this later changes - this is particularly relevent when war breaks out between civs where there was an Open Borders agreement, or with relevent civic changes preventing the spread of certain religions/corporations. It is highly likely that because a limit was inherent in the unit, the AI check for spreading is based solely on whether a missionary/executive is useful/needed, rather than whether an additional missionary/executive is needed, resulting in potential buildup of excess missionaries/executives as targets change.
I should point out that this is a mod in progress - made up of a collection of descrete mods combined for ease - so if there are issues with certain mod elements, that can be pulled/adapted until the issue is resolved without affecting the rest of the mod itself. So, please, if anyone can confirm this behaviour for me, let me know so I can resolve it, even if I have to temporarily pull the Missionary unit mod for a short period.
However, this is clearly an AI issue, not an XML issue (where the AI choices for selected units are associated with the units themselves). While I agree that this is a Mod issue overall, the way the AI works should reflect the ways the units are supposed to be used, and not the other way around (that is, the units should not be designed based on the way the AI works).
Either the AI doesn't have relevent checks to see if there are valid targets for missionaries/execs, or there were valid targets when the decision to build them is taken, and this later changes - this is particularly relevent when war breaks out between civs where there was an Open Borders agreement, or with relevent civic changes preventing the spread of certain religions/corporations. It is highly likely that because a limit was inherent in the unit, the AI check for spreading is based solely on whether a missionary/executive is useful/needed, rather than whether an additional missionary/executive is needed, resulting in potential buildup of excess missionaries/executives as targets change.
I should point out that this is a mod in progress - made up of a collection of descrete mods combined for ease - so if there are issues with certain mod elements, that can be pulled/adapted until the issue is resolved without affecting the rest of the mod itself. So, please, if anyone can confirm this behaviour for me, let me know so I can resolve it, even if I have to temporarily pull the Missionary unit mod for a short period.
davane
Warlord
The Catapult (Released 19/01/10)
The Classical Era also saw the first early Siege units, as the need to counter increasignly sturdy city fortifications and mixed troop formations arose thanks to developments in military technology and warfare tactics employed by warlords and generals. These units caused massive amounts of damage compared to other units, able to power through walls and armies alike, with a range greater than the archers previously used to soften up targets.
The Catapult has a Combat Strength of 4, but gains a +25% bonus when attacking cities. In addition, they have 1 First Strike and a 20% Withdrawal rate thanks to their increased range over Archers. They can Bombard city fortifications, reducing them by 10% percent per turn. They also cause collateral damage.
Collateral damage has been modified so that there is no combat damage limit for collateral damage at all, allowing Catapults to kill several enemy units per turn. These units also deal full combat damage (not reduced as was seen in BTS). However, because of the potency of this ability, the maximum number of units recieving collateral damage from a catapult has been reduced from 6 to 3. In addition, Siege units are not immune to collateral damage (as was added in Warlords) from catapults. This makes Catapults extremely dangerous, and useful against cities and other situations where massed units are prevailant. However, the Chariot and Horse Archer continue to remain effective counters against Catapults. However, do not forget that you can counter Catapults with Catapults of your own, and deal collateral damage to them (even possibly killing them).
The Classical Era also saw the first early Siege units, as the need to counter increasignly sturdy city fortifications and mixed troop formations arose thanks to developments in military technology and warfare tactics employed by warlords and generals. These units caused massive amounts of damage compared to other units, able to power through walls and armies alike, with a range greater than the archers previously used to soften up targets.
The Catapult has a Combat Strength of 4, but gains a +25% bonus when attacking cities. In addition, they have 1 First Strike and a 20% Withdrawal rate thanks to their increased range over Archers. They can Bombard city fortifications, reducing them by 10% percent per turn. They also cause collateral damage.
Collateral damage has been modified so that there is no combat damage limit for collateral damage at all, allowing Catapults to kill several enemy units per turn. These units also deal full combat damage (not reduced as was seen in BTS). However, because of the potency of this ability, the maximum number of units recieving collateral damage from a catapult has been reduced from 6 to 3. In addition, Siege units are not immune to collateral damage (as was added in Warlords) from catapults. This makes Catapults extremely dangerous, and useful against cities and other situations where massed units are prevailant. However, the Chariot and Horse Archer continue to remain effective counters against Catapults. However, do not forget that you can counter Catapults with Catapults of your own, and deal collateral damage to them (even possibly killing them).
davane
Warlord
The Explorer (Released 20/01/10)
The Medieval era marked an important point in human civilization, particularly in the arena of warfare. It was during this period that some of the most advanced elite units emerged to dominate the battlefield before the discovery of gunpowder radically changed the way battles were fought forever. Units that had been usable since their initial discovery in the ancient era were becoming obsolete, unable to cope with advances in military technology that demanded newer, more powerful units to replace them. These changes also occured outside of combat, where roles in society were having to adapt with the fact that the need for survival was slowly being eroded in the face of human civilization, resulting in a world where humanity's deadliest predator was his own kind. The Explorer is just one such example of this non-combat evolution. As the danger of wild animals diminished in the face of the expansion of civilisation, many of the Scout's abilities became redundant, and these units developed to become Explorers, famed for discovering new lands and new opportunities in a new world.
The Explorer unit has been moved to the Optics technology, making them a Medieval era unit, rather than a Classical era unit. Their combat strength has been increased from 4 to 6 to bring them in line with other Medieval units. Like the Scout, they are no longer only limited to Defense. This combined with their ability to ignore terrain costs and their free Guerilla I and Woodsman I promotions make these units ideal for exploring, recon, and attacking targets of opportunity such as workers, settlers, and missionaries. They are comparable in strength to other Classical are units, particular when defending, and often capable of handling barbarians that may be found in the unexplored areas of the world at this time. Explorers upgrade to Crossbowmen, Knights, and Spies.
(Update: 12/02/10): Explorers can see Spy units, and also start with the Sentry promotion.
The Medieval era marked an important point in human civilization, particularly in the arena of warfare. It was during this period that some of the most advanced elite units emerged to dominate the battlefield before the discovery of gunpowder radically changed the way battles were fought forever. Units that had been usable since their initial discovery in the ancient era were becoming obsolete, unable to cope with advances in military technology that demanded newer, more powerful units to replace them. These changes also occured outside of combat, where roles in society were having to adapt with the fact that the need for survival was slowly being eroded in the face of human civilization, resulting in a world where humanity's deadliest predator was his own kind. The Explorer is just one such example of this non-combat evolution. As the danger of wild animals diminished in the face of the expansion of civilisation, many of the Scout's abilities became redundant, and these units developed to become Explorers, famed for discovering new lands and new opportunities in a new world.
The Explorer unit has been moved to the Optics technology, making them a Medieval era unit, rather than a Classical era unit. Their combat strength has been increased from 4 to 6 to bring them in line with other Medieval units. Like the Scout, they are no longer only limited to Defense. This combined with their ability to ignore terrain costs and their free Guerilla I and Woodsman I promotions make these units ideal for exploring, recon, and attacking targets of opportunity such as workers, settlers, and missionaries. They are comparable in strength to other Classical are units, particular when defending, and often capable of handling barbarians that may be found in the unexplored areas of the world at this time. Explorers upgrade to Crossbowmen, Knights, and Spies.
(Update: 12/02/10): Explorers can see Spy units, and also start with the Sentry promotion.
Asthix
Prognosticator
you're referring to the 85% (or something like that) damage cap, right? In regards to killing multiple enemies per turn, do your modifications cause a difference in the amount of collateral damage applied to the three non combat enemies? I mean, is the damage going to be applied evenly to all units or work as in vanilla civ4?
I like those upgrade options!
