Balance - Ancient Ruins

Thalassicus

Bytes and Nibblers
Joined
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This component has been combined into the Balance - Fixes modcomp. This thread will no longer be updated.


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Slight fix to game-breaking Upgrade Unit reward.

Rationale: With some luck and a few ruins a Scout can turn into a Rifleman or better before 3000BC, and kill all enemies on your continent in 1 hit. Ruins will now instead give other possible rewards if an upgrade would potentially be game-breaking.

These Ancient Ruin - specific upgrades are no longer possible:

Code:
UNITCLASS_CAVALRY	-- > Tank
UNITCLASS_RIFLEMAN	-- > Infantry
UNITCLASS_PIKEMAN	-- > Rifleman
UNITCLASS_CROSSBOWMAN	-- > Rifleman
UNITCLASS_LONGSWORDSMAN	-- > Rifleman
UNITCLASS_SPEARMAN	-- > Pikeman
UNITCLASS_ARCHER	-- > Cho-Ko-Nu/Crossbowman

Some of these links are not individually problematic, but are part of chains that are (Scout > Archer > Cho-ko-nu).

Spoiler Version History :

v. 5
  • Added Harbor fix.

v. 2
  • Added Free Thought fix.

v. 1
  • First release.

Other version increases were changes to the mod name or description to make it more concise and clear, and do not affect gameplay.
 
i think a better solution would be, allowing upgrading but only once per unit
 
One approach might be limit upgrades to the Ancient Era? This seems quite doable by removing <GoodyHutUpgradeUnitClass> from each unit.

(Alternatively, you could limit unit upgrade to simply their own era, by removing GoodyHutUpgradeUnitClass from the last 'set' of units of each era.)
 
This is primarily just as a temporary quick fix for an issue that will likely be resolved in the first major Civ V patch, as it's clearly broken to get a rifleman in 3000BC. A lot of people have been disabling ruins entirely until this issue is resolved, so that's why I kept it simple, for those who might just want to remove the broken part while still keeping ruins enabled.

That said, there do seem to be many options for things to do with ancient ruins. I'll see about creating a mod to add more variety, at least until I can look into more options for limiting the upgrade (rather than removing it).


Edit:
After looking at your suggestion following some sleep, I now understand what you're saying in your second sentence Zetetic Apparat. As I look at the files, I'm realizing that's actually a good idea. Just break the chain... many units have the default NULL for that field, which likely causes the hut to always use some other reward. Fantastic idea, I'll change this mod to do that instead and give you credit. Thank you.
 
I'm using the mod, and I just popped my first goody hut, and got absolutely nothing (as in not even a message saying I got nothing). Emperor difficulty.

Is that normal, or an unintended consequence of the mod?

The only mods I'm using are balance mods of yours, so there shouldn't be any other conflicts.

EDIT
Actually I think I may have gotten the culture bonus from the hut, but the message didn't show. Maybe the index has been messed up?
 
What did you pop it with? If it was a scout or warrior, this mod would have no effect, as those units were not altered. It simply changes the goodie hut upgrade with the unit in the list to 'null', which is the default. Many other units have null, such as workers and modern armor.

To test the mod I created a map in the world editor and placed several dozen ruins with a scout and warrior. I then got about 30 ruins with each... they both upgraded about after 5 huts, then never upgraded again with the rest of the huts. All huts did give a reward and message.
 
It was a warrior and within a few turns of the start of the game. The only reason I realised afterwards I had gotten the culture from the hut was that I hit the first policy earlier than I expected.

Going on your explanation, does that mean if a modern armor or worker popped a hut and received the unit upgrade bonus, they instead get the null effect and no message? Is there supposed to a be a message saying something like "There was nothing in the ruins". Or when picking a reward for the unit it's supposed to skip over the upgrade bonus because it's set to null?

It's just a bit unexpected to pop a hut and have nothing at all happen. Maybe I did something wrong though... I'll let you know if I see it happen again.
 
Or when picking a reward for the unit it's supposed to skip over the upgrade bonus because it's set to null?

After testing with modern armor and workers, this answer appears to be the case. If a unit has no potential upgrade it ignores that possibility and chooses a different reward.
 
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