2 things I think should be in the game that I have to use mods for

Unlimited XP from attacking any unit of any faction including barbarians.

Stolen settlers should remain settlers.

At the very least these should be options in Advanced Setup.

Who's with me?

I'm not too big a fan of either from a balance standpoint because Barbs are pests and making them farmable is a wrinkle that doesn't need to exist. But I think it's fair for it to be an option; you're a grown up player and should be able to make such decisions

As for captured settlers staying settlers I have to say no as well and with a bit more emphasis. This game is already rife with worker stealing but to keep a settler as a settler is a bit too much "Your loss = my gain". Getting a worker out of it and keeping their expo down is bad enough, but getting a "free" expo where you don't lose much at all in the process is just dirty.

That could be useful and units would rank up easier on both sides.

Lowpro said:

I'm not too big a fan of either from a balance standpoint because Barbs are pests and making them farmable is a wrinkle that doesn't need to exist. But I think it's fair for it to be an option; you're a grown up player and should be able to make such decisions

As for captured settlers staying settlers I have to say no as well and with a bit more emphasis. This game is already rife with worker stealing but to keep a settler as a settler is a bit too much "Your loss = my gain". Getting a worker out of it and keeping their expo down is bad enough, but getting a "free" expo where you don't lose much at all in the process is just dirty.

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I'm sure the AI could be trained to exploit these things as humans do.

Lowpro said:

I'm not too big a fan of either from a balance standpoint because Barbs are pests and making them farmable is a wrinkle that doesn't need to exist. But I think it's fair for it to be an option; you're a grown up player and should be able to make such decisions

As for captured settlers staying settlers I have to say no as well and with a bit more emphasis. This game is already rife with worker stealing but to keep a settler as a settler is a bit too much "Your loss = my gain". Getting a worker out of it and keeping their expo down is bad enough, but getting a "free" expo where you don't lose much at all in the process is just dirty.

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In reference to the settles/workers:

From a realism standpoint, I agree that it needs to be settler into worker. A family of settlers won't be able to settle the way that you want just because you conquered them. They're only real use is as slaves. However, from an in game standpoint, dogfighting and petty bickering is a good part of the game. The game is too geared towards peacemaking early on. As starting wars does little good and causes a lot of problems, with it only making sense to go to war late in the game. Kind of the opposite of real life.

revelation216 said:

I'm sure the AI could be trained to exploit these things as humans do.

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There's a LONG wait list of things we'd like the AI trained to do

On XP from barbs, if you have smarter barbs than the base game, it might be ok to bump the XP limit up to 45, partivularly if it includes a human nerf to ranged units, but in base game that's fine as is.

And allowing a human to convert the AIs unescorted Settlers into a settler (as opposed to base games worker) would be very much over powered.

i have no objection to these if they are only as options in Advanced Setup. You can already set game bonuses like policy/promotion saving which are powerful. (you could also add the minor setback that if they are checked you cant get Achievements. that would be a small way to say they are too powerful.)

i'd say that the barbarian XP option should just be the ability to earn twice the total XP (not double xp/kill) off barbs. something like that. also make it incompatible if Raging Barbs is checked. maybe, i dont know, these are just ideas really. i like the idea of them, but unlimited xp and free cities are really quite huge. id accept them toned down with some limits.

only mod I can't go without is the guaranteed great prophet at 200/300 faith. I've had so many times that I got to 200 faith, and then had to wait about 10 turns for another 4 civs got to pick their religions first. I get more frustrated with that, then with losing out on a wonder that I was building.

Personally I would redo all national wanders, starting with NC.

For all then I will keep cost the same like now( and current increase with number of cities), but I will make effects scale able. For example:

NC 5%*N cities in empire. So, for 4 city tradition it will be 20%, and get top what it is now at 10 cities.

Iron works 1 hammer per city.

Circus maximus 1 happiness per city.. etc.

Maybe if the barbs were capable of healing your suggestion would be a goer (regarding unlimited XP. I do play with that Mod though).