General discussion thread

Thomas SG, congratulations (again) for this excellent mod!
I myself didn't have enough time to check this mod but even from the description this is a major and great modpack and certainly should receive more praise than it is getting!
Just checked all the mods/changes you did and I have to say BRILLIANT! ( Although I not necessarily agree with all the changes you made, but I like them over 90% which is an amazing feat for a mod not made by me;) )
And that you made changes to the AI to use all the shiny new features! Just the testing of all of this must have been a HUGE work.

But enough of the (well deserved praise), onto business;)
- Terraforming - I absolutely like the changes you made, but I have a question: how do you see the gameplay balance with Forest Planting and Terraforming, not requiring the city to work on it? Would this not leave a door open for exploit, i.e.: plant a lot a forests at once, then leave those and then chop for a massive production boost?
 
Some thoughts on that:
I think it would also be nice if migration during a war was affected by the success of the respective civ. So, if you storm over a civ and are able to loot quite a bit, people might be more willing to stay (or even happy to join your empire).

:) That's already happening. But as it seems the balance between this effect an others is not good at the moment.
 
One more thing - well, I know you said you don't have time, but I couldn't resist directing your attention to it ;) -, what do you think of avain's hunting mechanics in his Quot Capita mod? It gives some flavor to the stone age and might not be so difficult to add ("if an animal is killed, a few pieces of bread (or whatever that is) will be added to the nearest city" + an according message).
(In that case you could perhaps slightly increase the no. of animals walking around and the time span for that.)

The game doesn't start in the stone age. :mischief: And the only animal I could imagine at the moment to produce food are mammoths. If you like it - why not. But what about the regions where no mammoths will be seen? Are perhaps gnus and buffaloes available? I'll check Quot Capita. I don't know that mod.
 
Thomas SG, you mentioned a new civic system. Is that something for the near future (meaning it is already "on you HDD")? ;)

The concept is finished and should stay as it is. But as it seems at the moment the details of the civics will become part of a big deal. :espionage:

With regard to the civic screen I would like to ask two things:

1.) Would it be possible to make the different look of the civic screen optional? So that players could revert back to the original civic screen if they would like to? IMHO, the orginal BTS civic screen is a bit easier to play with since everything can be seen at once without having to scroll down. (In one of the other mods - either Quot Capita or an old version of LoR, I am not sure - I saw that this was possible and the additional texts due to the RevDCM stability feature did not necessitate a scrollable screen).

I think so. But as I said I don't know what will exactly happen with the civics. If the new screen is not neccessary I'll try to do it.

2.) If you rework the civic system, do you think it would be possible to add something like the empire stability civics that Rhye implemented in his official mod "Rhye's and Fall of Civ"? Or something similar that accounts for the revolution feature a bit more than the current civic system does? I always thought that RevDCM wasn't completely finalised with its only very subtle changes of some civics.
But perhaps Rhye's system is not the optimal solution for CCV and you think about something a bit more sophisticated (reg. advantages and disadvantags of the individual civics) to make selecting civics an even more difficult choice... ;)

All I can and want to tell you is what categories I desire for the future:

government, ideology, society, market, army and religion
 
The game doesn't start in the stone age. :mischief: And the only animal I could imagine at the moment to produce food are mammoths. If you like it - why not. But what about the regions where no mammoths will be seen? Are perhaps gnus and buffaloes available? I'll check Quot Capita. I don't know that mod.
Well, you are right, it's not the stone age... ;) I just wanted to make sure you know what I am talking about. :) Regarding animals, Quot Capita has quite a nice selection of animals, IIRC. And btw, what about some bear meat? ;)
In any case, it should only be for a little flavor and definitely not be too overpowered.

Just in case that you think that concept is interesting, animals should be around a bit longer than they are now.

P.S.: If you check Quot Capita you might want to also take a look at one or two of the other flavor concepts there (e.g. special Great Person and Event messages).
 
The concept is finished and should stay as it is. But as it seems at the moment the details of the civics will become part of a big deal. :espionage:
That is good to hear. I am lookig forward to it.
I think so. But as I said I don't know what will exactly happen with the civics. If the new screen is not neccessary I'll try to do it.
Thanks, I would appreciate that.
All I can and want to tell you is what categories I desire for the future:
government, ideology, society, market, army and religion
Very nice. You will really overhaul the whole game. :) Btw, may I add my two sense here?
- I think "economy" would be better than "market". "Market" is a more limited concept, not all countries have markets, but all have some kind of economy (even if it is a centrally planned economy).
- IMO "military" would be a better term than "army" as it is broader. "Army" is also used for land forces, in contrast to navy and air force.
 
Thomas SG, congratulations (again) for this excellent mod!
I myself didn't have enough time to check this mod but even from the description this is a major and great modpack and certainly should receive more praise than it is getting!

Thank you very, very much.

Just checked all the mods/changes you did and I have to say BRILLIANT! ( Although I not necessarily agree with all the changes you made, but I like them over 90% which is an amazing feat for a mod not made by me;) )

What changes don't you like?

And that you made changes to the AI to use all the shiny new features! Just the testing of all of this must have been a HUGE work.

Yes and no. There are not so many changes needed as you may expect. For example the AI for terraforming comes with BBAI. You just need to know how to use it. Or the AI for terrain and feature damage came with BTS. It just needed some modification.

- Terraforming - I absolutely like the changes you made, but I have a question: how do you see the gameplay balance with Forest Planting and Terraforming, not requiring the city to work on it? Would this not leave a door open for exploit, i.e.: plant a lot a forests at once, then leave those and then chop for a massive production boost?

You can exploit it. But it is not so IMBA as it seems at the first moment. The terraforming of desert and hills is a one way ticket. Here is no exploit possible. And the AI only produces so much flatland as it needs to get the calculated food target. The only chance for an exploit is the replanting forest thing. Some thoughts on it.

Under normal gamespeed the production of a new forest needs 20 turns. And you need min. one turn to build and min. one turn to chop. So you can produce 30:hammers: in 22 turns. A lumbermill or a workshop can produce min. 2:hammers: + 1:gold: per turn. So they produce min. 44:hammers: and in most cases much more! So the cycle replant->chop->replant->... is no effecient way to produce :hammers: if you can work the plot. The problem are small cities that can't work all their plots. Here you can produce additional :hammers:. But the AI also knows that the production of a tree nursery is better than doing nothing. Even on unworkedplots! The BBAI also looks for unworked plots and calculates needed workers. So the AI also produces additional nurseries to chop later but for sure not so straight as a human may do.

I think and hope it's okay. :)
 
What changes don't you like?

Oh, you asked! ;) A word of caution before reading my comments: they are of course subjective and (shame on me:blush:) I did not really play with the mod, so it's based on your description. If you are still interested, please read on:

  • Forest Protection - in my opinion this is not needed, especially since you have the forest replanting mechanic. The world would remain greener, but I actually like the fact that you have to battle the effect of deforestation, like in the real world. Not to mention you have a great global warming mod included, so it's not that bad any more.
  • Natural and Artificial Irrigation - sounds ok, but I'd need to see it in action. Also what I personally would like is a combination of the vanilla Civ and your system...
  • The Great Commandment - again, excellent changes, nice ideas, just one small gripe: this actually increases the benefits of a huge stack, which is sthg I'd really like to minimize in effect.
  • Terraforming - see below
  • City Radius by Technology - I'm still debating about this one with myself, whether I like it or not;) Generally I think I prefer the 2 tile limit...
  • Feature and Terrain Damage - Nice, nice, but somehow I feel this one is not really needed - but I might change my opinion later;) (does the route calculation take into account feature damage?)
  • Village Protection - how does this one affect gameplay? Realistic somewhat, but fear that gameplay might be harmed by it.
  • Assimilation - question: Is it like Kael describes it, so an Egyptian city will always be Egyptian? Or it switches to the highest culture?
  • Hybrid Helicopters - I still prefer the old way for Helis (with ability to venture to coastal sea plots).
  • Cold War - is it graphically enhanced? Meaning, it was a total lackluster to see all those nukes deploy without any real explosions, etc. This is exactly what prevented me from using the MAD mod.
  • Great Generals From Barbarian Combat - I also use this one with the limitation that only the first GG can be acquired like this. I think it's better balanced that way.
  • Motivated Defenders - is it always active for holy cities or just in cases when it's a significant religion for your civ? (i.e.you just take over a holy city without much of that religion in your territory, and the next turn you get a defence boost against the enemy religious zaelots trying to retake it?)
  • Force Production Infrastructure - how does this affect the AI? In my previous experience AI tends to do poorly with these kinds of (multiple) requirements.
  • Next War - it's a small Next War;)

The list above might be long, but I really like what you are doing! :goodjob:

You can exploit it. But it is not so IMBA as it seems at the first moment. The terraforming of desert and hills is a one way ticket. Here is no exploit possible. And the AI only produces so much flatland as it needs to get the calculated food target. The only chance for an exploit is the replanting forest thing. Some thoughts on it.

Under normal gamespeed the production of a new forest needs 20 turns. And you need min. one turn to build and min. one turn to chop. So you can produce 30:hammers: in 22 turns. A lumbermill or a workshop can produce min. 2:hammers: + 1:gold: per turn. So they produce min. 44:hammers: and in most cases much more! So the cycle replant->chop->replant->... is no effecient way to produce :hammers: if you can work the plot. The problem are small cities that can't work all their plots. Here you can produce additional :hammers:. But the AI also knows that the production of a tree nursery is better than doing nothing. Even on unworkedplots! The BBAI also looks for unworked plots and calculates needed workers. So the AI also produces additional nurseries to chop later but for sure not so straight as a human may do.

I think and hope it's okay. :)

I understand. But there is also the fact that you can replant forests even outside the fat cross (even if you have bigger cities) -> no production lost in the city, just a big boost after 20 turns. I'd bet the AI won't do this mass scale, but the player can.
 
My two cents to avain's post (btw, great to see more people getting interested in this mod): :)

1.) First of all, most of these features are optional. So if the player doesn't like them he can switch them off. I think this is one of the great advantages of CCV.

2.) The replanting of forests is, IMO, not such a game breaker as you think. First, you would need much more forests than just one for a gamebreaking effect. Second, for a player to achieve that, he would need quite a huge number workers (as replantation needs quite some time) and he must be able to spare all these workers for replanting forests (so there has to be nothing else important to improve). Until he can do that it would be quite far into the game. And since building all these workers will stall city growth, replanting IMO will be even less "game breaking" than using the whip for rushing. But maybe I am wrong here.

3.) With regard to the natural/artificial irrigation: I am still thinking about this and testing it in my games. So far, however, I haven't built that many more farms than usual - so for me the effect is not that big yet. I admit, though, that I like the concept. So, I might be a bit biased.

4.) I am not sure if the Next War should be extended. If so, I would be glad if the "Extended Next War" would also be an option - so we would have the possibility of a "small" (=Firaxis) Next War and a "big" one.
 
Oh, you asked! ;) [...] If you are still interested, please read on:

Of course I want to know what you are thinking. And I will read on! :) Maybe I can't or won't answer all questions but I will try it.

[*]Forest Protection - in my opinion this is not needed, especially since you have the forest replanting mechanic. The world would remain greener, but I actually like the fact that you have to battle the effect of deforestation, like in the real world. Not to mention you have a great global warming mod included, so it's not that bad any more.

You must still battle the effect of deforestation. And it seems more realistic to me. Why are we chopping trees? For farmland, urbanisation and profit. And you will suffer exactly from this problems. But not from a few huts.
And the great global warming mod is on the list for improvement. My last CCV 3 version had a better system. :mischief:


[*]Natural and Artificial Irrigation - sounds ok, but I'd need to see it in action. Also what I personally would like is a combination of the vanilla Civ and your system...

Vanilla? I can't remember Vanilla. :lol: Details please.


[*]The Great Commandment - again, excellent changes, nice ideas, just one small gripe: this actually increases the benefits of a huge stack, which is sthg I'd really like to minimize in effect.

Your right. And I'm already thinking and working on a solution to reduce the stack sizes. But nothing I tried in the past had the effect I desired. A task for the future...


[*]City Radius by Technology - I'm still debating about this one with myself, whether I like it or not;) Generally I think I prefer the 2 tile limit...

The radius 3 comes very late with Automobiles. "Nearby" effects are still limited to radius 2 and most of the time there is no effect of radius 3 because the cities are too near. But many people like it. It's optional.

[*]Feature and Terrain Damage - Nice, nice, but somehow I feel this one is not really needed - but I might change my opinion later;) (does the route calculation take into account feature damage?)

Have you ever started a game in a massive jungle? You will be happy that the invaders suffer from that damage and (if playing with Terrain Tactics) and you won't. And yes, the route calculation should take account. But in the past the AI suffered from mistakes in the healturn calculation. The AI is better than it seemed in the past. Sorry, my mistake. Should be better with patch C if I don't create new mistakes with the new reference to the current strength. This change destroyes every known calculation and AI behaviour. But the major part is done and looks fine. :)


[*]Village Protection - how does this one affect gameplay? Realistic somewhat, but fear that gameplay might be harmed by it.

Older AI versions had a very stupid behaviour. The AI created settlements and destroyed them for unnecessary farms some turns later. And just to replace those farms some turns later again by (smaller) settlements. So I invented this little mod to improve the AI behaviour. It's optional, too.

[*]Assimilation - question: Is it like Kael describes it, so an Egyptian city will always be Egyptian? Or it switches to the highest culture?

It's Assimilation from Kael (with a little bugfix and some modifications for Dynamic Civ Nation). An Egyptian city will stay an Egyptian city.


[*]Hybrid Helicopters - I still prefer the old way for Helis (with ability to venture to coastal sea plots).

You like triremes attacking helicopters? Helis staying on a water plot? And no chance to attack an ocean plot although the target could be in range? Okay. :crazyeye: ;)


[*]Cold War - is it graphically enhanced? Meaning, it was a total lackluster to see all those nukes deploy without any real explosions, etc. This is exactly what prevented me from using the MAD mod.

I've tried it. I also don't like it. But it seemed impossible. It never worked.
I got a new idea how to do it but I don't really think that I will be successful. But optional, too. And there are some differences from the old known MAD Nukes. ;)

[*]Great Generals From Barbarian Combat - I also use this one with the limitation that only the first GG can be acquired like this. I think it's better balanced that way.

Okay. But I dislike limits very, very much! Limits are sometimes good for gameplay but unrealistic. I removed limits where ever possible.


[*]Motivated Defenders - is it always active for holy cities or just in cases when it's a significant religion for your civ? (i.e.you just take over a holy city without much of that religion in your territory, and the next turn you get a defence boost against the enemy religious zaelots trying to retake it?)

I don't remember. :sad: But good thoughts. :goodjob: I should check it for a new better version. But optional feature, too. :D


[*]Force Production Infrastructure - how does this affect the AI? In my previous experience AI tends to do poorly with these kinds of (multiple) requirements.

There is AI code! But I haven't written it. And I don't play. So I have no real experince with it. But in AI autogames it seemed to work very well. But maybe that's not true. I don't know. But if the AI is okay it gives a so much more realistic feeling. And in combination with the Bombing Missions it's fantastic.
Building super carriers and supersonic fighters with the infrastructure from stone age? No more!!!!!!!! WW3 will be fought with arrows. :nuke:


I understand. But there is also the fact that you can replant forests even outside the fat cross (even if you have bigger cities) -> no production lost in the city, just a big boost after 20 turns. I'd bet the AI won't do this mass scale, but the player can.

The solution seems simple. No :hammers: from chop if the plot is out of range of a city. It's more realistic too. And quite easy to change the AI (if neccessary).
 
Well, while we're at it, some of my thoughts on some of the features mentioned.

  • Forest Protection - This still plays a big role when it comes to things like mines, windmills, etc., that don't destroy the forest, as with dirty improvements, you can offset part of the negatives by leaving the forest. It also means the woodsman promotions can actually stay partially relevant past the ancient era:rolleyes:. And, as Thomas pointed out, it's not very realistic to cut down a whole forest just because you put a mine into a hill.

  • Feature and Terrain Damage - This is one of my favorite things in this mod, though a few changes could make it better in my opinion(I'll get to that). I always though it odd that a large army could march into a desert with no repercussions, or that the troubles that plagued the French and the Germans invading Russia weren't represented in game. Now it's much more difficult for those who are unprepared to enter such hostile environments to launch an invasion, creating the kind of natural geographic boundaries we actually see in real life.

  • Assimilation - my main question here is if the 'bug' described by some where for instance a viking city is captured with a 'lighthouse' (meaning the trading post was reverted to a light house upon capture) then the conquerers can also build a trading post, resulting in +2 food on all water tiles. Obviously this could happen with any UB, so a check needs to occur for this, automatically replacing the generic with the UB, if it's not already done.

    On that note, for gameplay purposes, I just assume it either stay 'assimilated' forever(as I think it currently is), or at least for a very long time before losing it's cultural identity, despite the cultural makeup. Especially since conquered civ's lose all their culture:rolleyes: (another thing that might be due for a change... .. . ;))

Now, getting back to terrain and feature damage. There are a few things about this that might be improved. The biggest concern I have is when I see a civ that is on mostly desert(tundra, jungle, etc.), yet almost none of their units have desert promotions. So their units are wandering around their territory, taking damage, and yet the people live pretty much exclusively in the desert. This would be like the bedouin tribes never figuring it was important to figure out how to live in the desert.

The problem comes up I think because you have to make the choice between desert promo, or that extra combat or drill or what-have-you, which makes it a kinda big price to pay for civs in such circumstances, especially when most new units can only count on one or two promos initially. Heck, I wouldn't want to waste my promotions either. Nor does it make sense to.

A potential solution is that under the right circumstances (city is almost all desert), the first promo would be given to units produced there, basically representing that you are recruiting from a populace that knows, is adapted to, and is provisioned/equipped for that terrain. This could work on some threshold of tiles (e.i. 75% desert), or based on percentage of tiles to give a probability (e.i. the city has 33% desert tiles, new units have a 33% chance of receiving the promo), a combo of the two, or some more complex model even.

Personally, I'd think (initially without any testing) that a percentage based approach that scales up to 100% chance @ 75% of tiles (e.i. (% of tiles) * 1.33333 = % chance) would work well. This prevents the necessity of hard cutoff lines(I don't like thresholds:devil:) without needing the city to be in 100% desert to guarantee the promo(that would be rather difficult, harsh, and most importantly, unrealistic I think).

Obviously, units that don't automatically get the promo are still eligible to get it the traditional way, and invaders hoping to go after desert dwellers (or jungle, etc.) will still have to earn it the hard way.

In addition(this part's more iffy and certainly would be a lot more involved), maybe at some point in the industrial or modern era, it becomes possible to 'train' units, for a price, to have a weaker (let's say 50% or 75% reduction in damage at least) promo. This would be something like Americans training and equipping otherwise fresh troops to fight in the jungles of Vietnam. The AI would have to know however that if they have war plans against an enemy occupying largely inhospitable terrain, it might be a good idea to give such training and ignore it otherwise. Just spitting out ideas :).

I also like the idea put forward recently that damage be based on remaining hit points rather than total, though units very low on strength in inhospitable terrain should have a chance of dying(without this, units would never die on their own, even if they would be more vulnerable to animals/barbarians/enemies), so crossing the terrain is not guaranteed. I personally very much appreciate systems that aren't 100% predicable, and at present you know that if I spend 7 turns in inhospitable terrain, I die.
 
Just to post a few more observations:

1.) I encountered some very nice AI thinking during my last round. Zara (friendly) was pursuing physics and I jumped in as well to snatch the free scientist.
1-2 turns into that "race" I saw Zara increasing his research (reducing the no. of turns for his research), thereby taking the lead again.
So I pulled whatever I could to overtake him again. I think we were both at our research limit at that time. And when it was clear I would win (4 turns to go), he DoWed.
Even though, he was friendly. I was a bit astonished, but attributed that fact to myself having a vassal (even though I had made sure that Zara was at least pleased
towards him when I capitulated him and I was still able to trade with Zara due to his being friendly (others already told me wfyabta).
However, even though I was a bit surprised, I actually liked this DoW - strategy-wise. What I liked less was that all he sent to attack me was one lone culverin,
nothing else... He was probably too tied up in a war with the Mongols. But then why didn't he stop that war first? Or refrained from opening another front with me.
Taking on more than one war on purpose? That felt a bit strange. (Boudica had no problem with starting several wars simultaneously either, but well,
she is a bit more aggressive anyway - so that was okay, I thought).

2.) Why does a shipyard give culture?
Actually, I really like the feature that you have to build shipyards before you can build bigger ships.

Hope you are well, Thomas SG, and your next patch is coming along nicely. :)
 
Thomas SG, the new patch is great news! So, now I really get in trouble with my still ongoing game... ;) Sorry, unfortunately right now I can only dedicate about an hour or even less per day to playing.
Btw, the AI makes some really nice decisions right now. The turn after I (and Zara) had researched Physics he was willig to make peace. So it seems he just wanted to divert my attention (well maybe it was just conincidental, but who knows...) ;)

Actually, what version of BetterAI is included in the last patch? Did you update it to the current BetterAI? Or did you already do that for one the last patches?

Regarding your question about second UUs (btw, I am looking forward to that one, too :goodjob: ): Do you mean because of the musketeer you don't want another gunpowder unit for France?
In that case, what do you think of the "compagnie d'ordonnance" (would make a unique "diverse" unit)? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnies_d'ordonnance for more information.
Well, but maybe it is better if we browse the units forums and look what is available there.
 
Thomas SG, the new patch is great news! So, now I really get in trouble with my still ongoing game... ;) Sorry, unfortunately right now I can only dedicate about an hour or even less per day to playing.
Btw, the AI makes some really nice decisions right now. The turn after I (and Zara) had researched Physics he was willig to make peace. So it seems he just wanted to divert my attention (well maybe it was just conincidental, but who knows...) ;)

Actually, what version of BetterAI is included in the last patch? Did you update it to the current BetterAI? Or did you already do that for one the last patches?

Regarding your question about second UUs (btw, I am looking forward to that one, too :goodjob: ): Do you mean because of the musketeer you don't want another gunpowder unit for France?
In that case, what do you think of the "compagnie d'ordonnance" (would make a unique "diverse" unit)? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnies_d'ordonnance for more information.
Well, but maybe it is better if we browse the units forums and look what is available there.

Patch B included BBAI 1.00e. Patch C includes 1.01f.

And the second UUs should be "near" the first UU. I don't want to replace the first UU.
 
Sorry, I misunderstood you then. I didn't understand what you meant with "near". Do you mean that "time-wise" (=getting it with the same or a tech close to the first)?
Would a French Cuirassier be an option? See http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=243668

Well, I will continue looking. Perhaps I find something else.

And thanks for the info about BetterAI.
 
Sorry, I discovered that the link I posted might be a dead end. This should be better (bernie packed the unit together with others and posted them again):
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7154

Btw, I don't know the poly count of this unit. It seems quite high. As I don't have a high end machine, my pc will probably not be able to cope with a lot of high poly units. Would it be possible to look for units that have a similar poly count as the original Firaxis ones? I think Phungus420 used only such units in his LoR mod. Perhaps you find suitable units there and take them. You might also talk to avain as I think he mentioned something about reducing the poly count of the units he uses in his Quot Capita mod (and maybe also his Varietas Delectat mod).

Btw, I play with low resolution and encountered a weird thing: While in the city screen the buttons for buildings are all very sharp and clear, however the unit buttons are somehow blurred. Do you know why there is a difference? (I don't know whether that difference also exists if you play with a higher resolution.)
 
Okay, a French Dragoon is fine. :goodjob:

And I got good news. I solved the bugs you reported. Ready for a patch D. Just the culturbomb isn't solved if still existing. Have never seen something like that with patch C. All tests were okay. So I will soon upload patch D for you. :cool:
 
Great news! :goodjob: You are fast!
Will patch D only contain bugfixes or also new features (e.g. the new UUs)?

Btw., so far I have not seen the culturebomb in any of the games I started.
 
Great news! :goodjob: You are fast!
Will patch D only contain bugfixes or also new features (e.g. the new UUs)?

Btw., so far I have not seen the culturebomb in any of the games I started.

It's a debug patch but one or two new UUs are included. I was short on time and the weaking up unit was a much bigger bug then it seemed. :mischief:

The patch is uploading at the moment... After dinner I'll do a last test run and after that you can run a new game.

€: AUA is updated to 1.33 and was improved by me. And I saw some bugs you didn't notice in 4.14C. ;)
 
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