InfoAddict = more immersion & understanding <3

I debated wether or not i should have posted this as a reply to the infoaddict mod thread ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=391069 ), but considering the number of screenshots (and the will to spread the knowledge about this mod) i thought it'd be best to make a seperate thread.

This is mainly about how this one mod completely changed my view on the AI nations in the game. Granted they are still stupid, but at least now i have an understanding of why, what they are doing, and why some of them are in certain situations.
How this could not be included in the vanilla UI, is the most backwards choice any of the Civ5 devs could possibly have made.
Keeping the civ numbers hidden for more "realism" is fine, but when it removes any sense of personality, as comically the full-screen leaders were supposed to help with, it doesnt help immersion one bit.


In this following example i'll just describe what i know about the other civs (from an immersion perspective), before looking at / using the infoaddict screen, and after.
And the various results of this.

First off, here's the world as it currently is explored.





Now, what do i know about the other civs from this, since this is all the knowledge you get in vanilla?
Well, i know that. Um, England is spread across the coast of one huge bay, with Japan and America on both sides.
I know that the Iroquois have dense borders with Greece and Rome.
And i know that i accepted a war request from Rome against Greece, and took over one city (Halicarnassus) before being offered a peace agreement in which Greece gave me 27 gold per turn.
Thats it really, idk anything about what the other civs relations are, what so ever.

Now..


(don't be fooled, this is the Political overlay, my selection thingy simply bugged out)

What do i know from this? I see that Japan is VERY isolationist, and the fact that they have cooperated with me for so long, even to accept my Defense Treaty the previous turn, was very lucky for me considering they only have 1 other Open Borders treaty.
With America, which seems to want to be friends with everyone, Open Borders and Research Agreement requests are thrown around from America like cookies!
I also see that the Iroquois and English have a pact of cooperation, and otherwise seem to be on pretty darn good terms.
And it seems Greece is pretty much "meh" to most other civilizations, noone really cares much about Greece, possibly due to Greeces very low score in all respects.



What more can we discover from the economic overlay then?
We see that the English is getting 11 gold per turn from the Iroquois, as a friendly gesture due to their pact of cooperation (they have never been at war, so it couldnt be a peace offer).
We also see that England trades Gold for Incence AND 1 Horses from Rome, indicating that Rome is threatened by England and willing to submit (due to the previous war between Rome and Iroquois, Englands friend).
Here we further see the isolationist nature of Japan (im playing with random personalities, so it was a nice surprise), and that they somehow got England to pay Ivory as tribute to Japan..
This strongly indicates that Japan was at war with the English, and won the conflict, suggesting that the English are now somewhat threatened by Japan.
Now i at least have some personality to the AI civs, some minor immersion in dealing with them, more than just numbers.


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So in summary, thanks to simply having SOME, ANY, information on what the global politics between the AI's are, i can deduce that Japan and England are on harsh terms, that my alliance with Japan is highly unorthodox and will likely get me in a war with England at some point, which will result in a possible war with the Iroquois due to their good terms with England..
I also happily notice that nobody really cares about Greece, so a future war with them is a nice option on the table.

See, if these kinds of normal "WTH is going on?" screens were in vanilla, we'd at least have a clue as to why the AI does certain things.
I honestly dont know what the devs were thinking.
Its not like they were trying to hide the stupidity of the AI, because frankly, since i started playing with this mod it appears a tad less stupid, if only as an illusion, i take what i can get.

That actually seems like a very useful mod. Something I fail to see was ever left out of the game.

Almost makes me want to start playing CiV again.

Maybe i should mention that im playing with these mods, combined making it rather playable and enjoyable
Vanilla with just the InfoAddict mod might not be enough

Economy Mod (includes InfoAddict and others)
My river colors mod.
Mapscript: Perfect World 3

That's a nice mod. I'll download it.

Wow, very cool. Kudos to the author - this is definitely a big aspect that's missing from 5 that would make the diplomatic aspect of the game a lot more enjoyable.

According to this hint about the upcoming patch (as you might well know already), we'll have a few supplemental features to monitor whatever we need to!

DIPLO

* AI's attitude towards you is now visible in the diplo screen and diplo drop-down.
* Added info tooltip for an AI leader's mood. Lists things that are making an AI player happy/upset.
* New diplo system: Declaration of Friendship (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
* New diplo system: Denounce (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
* New custom leader responses (Serious Expansion Warning, Aggressive Military, Luxury Exchange, Borders Exchange, Gift Request).

Click to expand...

But, you're certainly right... Info-Addict is a must-have for anyone serious enough about having some kind of control over Diplomatic issues.

PS; I see above that you've made a River colors mod - strangely, i also tried to fix it but only with a simple recolored diffuse file. Funny how minds think alike!

One point: The gpt from Iroquois to England likely isn't just a friendly gesture. Rather, fairly likely the Iroquois asked for a loan (lump sum of gold), and are paying it back.

Which means they wanted gold for something right away... Possibly to rush units for an earlier war with Rome?


Also: I've pointed out InfoAddict to the devs. I love it.

Just to give credit where it's due, this mod was developed by Robk.

Great work, man. I salute you.

Just as i expected, England declared war on Rome 12 turns later (after their deal expired), and the Iroquois joined the war the very same turn
Siam and Russia was encountered, and has TONS of gold, military and resources xD
Interesting to see how that affects the other civs later

Very.very.cool.indeed. What a difference InfoAddict makes.
This is the kind of information I was using all the time in Civ4, but this is better content and better presented.

Aaaand...... Now every civ in the game declared war on me, including Japan, because i took over my first city state (at turn 350) which was at war with my ally, Japan.
A city state that was at 10hp, that noone but Japan had even discovered (it was hidden in a mountain pass with untouched ancient ruins), a city state nobody cared about.

England declares war on you.
"Your warmongering knows no bounds!!"
Iroquois declares war on you.
"Ah, the brutal one shows his face.."
Japan declares war on you.
"Hmm, your lands would make a fine addition to mine.."
Greece declares war on you.

Siam is now hostile.
Russia is now hostile.
America is now hostile.


I take back everything i wrote in the topic above, what difference does it make if the diplomacy / relations AI is still broken?
Frack this game lol.

Thanks for the props Baleur and everyone.

Also, I friggin' hate it when a civ asks me to go to war with someone and I say to myself "sure!" and then the same civ that asked me to go to war starts complaining about how violent and warmongerry I am. I mean, really?