Civilization Epochs

[Drawmeus]

Civilization Epochs

Epochs is a comprehensive Civ 5 overhaul featuring a greatly expanded technology tree with many new units, wonders, and buildings. Epochs is being developed as an advanced version of Civilization 5 - a version of the game with a more detailed tech tree, an economic system requiring more management and with more good and bad consequences for your decisions, and a much longer play time.

This is not more stuff for the sake of more stuff. Civilization 5 is a brilliant game, but a playthrough does not have enough time to really feel like the broad sweep of history. You might be using Battleships and Tanks later in the game, but you're probably still fighting the same war you were fighting with Spearmen and Archers. Epochs aims to fix this by giving each era its own personality, by reducing the memories of the AI and by limiting the consequences of early game warfare. Epochs has been expanded enough to achieve these goals, and no more.

Compatibility: This mod requires Civilization 5, Gods & Kings, and the Denmark DLC pack to play. Compatibility is not guaranteed with any other mods at this time, and it is almost certainly not compatible with any other mod which updates the game's database with new units, civs, balance tweaks, etc. This is alpha software. It may be unstable and is most certainly unpolished. If you're the kind of person who doesn't want to play a work in progress, you will want to wait for this to hit beta or release.

This mod replaces NotificationPanel.lua, and will be incompatible with any other mods that also alter the notification panel.

Download it here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=20332

Versions
Version 12:

Spoiler :

• Tax Collectors now give +2 Gold.
• New Building: Fisherman's Wharf. City must be on the coast and have an improved source of Fish. +1 Food, and +2 Food per Fish worked by this City.
• Lighthouse Update: Now gives +1 Food and +1 Gold on Water tiles worked by this City.
• Notifications for when a City-State you've invested in receives a new military unit from investments now fires only if you have a Military investment.
• Survivalism Promotions now give +Combat Strength in Rough terrain. Other bonuses have been removed, except for Survivalism 3's Heal Every Turn. This is a preliminary step in an overall Promotions rework.
• City growth has been retuned. It will now go much faster for the first few population points, but overall slower from population 5 on. This should get cities functioning as interesting entities faster, but should make it generally more difficult to get very high population cities.
• Multiple crash bugs fixed.
• Created a new debug log - Investments.log

Versions 10-11

Spoiler :

• Fixed several crash bugs.

Version 9:

Spoiler :

• Integrated City-State Investments into Epochs.
• Moai now require Civil Service to build.
• CS Investments: Notifications no longer give away unmet players.
• CS Investments: City-State Popup Investing mouseover no longer gives away unmet players.
• Emigration: Converted to whoward's UI - Notifications format for notifications.
• City combat strength slightly reworked - if a city has a unit garrisoned, if the city's total modified combat strength is less than the defense strength of that unit, the city will use that unit's defense strength.
• CS Investments: "Stop investing" notification text fixed.
• CS Investments: Now fires a notification whenever a City-State which you're investing in gets a free new unit.
• Cleaned up a lot of the mod's lua code. This should improve turn times (note: they'll still be rather long).
• Tech Diffusion: Now goes much faster between civilizations with Open Borders.
• CS Investments: AI players will now stop investing in City-States which they are allies with if there are no other players within 20 influence of them.
• Tech Diffusion: Notifications converted to whoward's UI - Notifications format.

Version 8:

Spoiler :

• Barbarian camps now spawn much more often.
• Great Lighthouse reworked - it now requires Shipbuilding, gives +XP to naval units built in that city, and gives ocean embarkation to land military units.
• Great Wall now obsoletes at Metallurgy.
• Fixed a bug with Game Speeds that was causing Standard and Quick speed games to use improper values.
• Rationalism text keys fixed - confirmed working. I had missed a location that I had to update.
• East India Company now gives a Great Person Progress increase rather than specialist slots.
• Constitution now gives Great Merchant points and culture, in addition to its other effects.
• Submarine ranged combat value decreased to 35.
• Nuclear Submarine ranged combat value decreased to 45.
• Radar now requires Refrigeration.
• Grenadiers now obsolete at Infantry Tactics and upgrade to Infantry.
• Brandenburg Gate cost radically increased.
• Destroyer, Privateer, Machine Gun and Gatling Gun no longer cost Strategic Resources.
• Harbors now require Lighthouses.
• Barbarian camps now give much more gold when cleared.
• The AI will now prioritize building Settlers lower than before. They are still highly variable in their approaches to expansion.
• AIs will now be less likely to attack and conquer City-States.
• Elizabeth's aggression values have been brought in line with other Leaders (decreased across the board).
• Revolts from unhappiness will now spawn several more units.
• Polynesia is now playable.
• Ethiopia is now playable.

Version 7:

Spoiler :

• Fix for the Ceilidh Hall - it will now properly count as an Amphitheater and not an Opera House. Previously it replaced both.

Version 6:

Spoiler :

• Resolved some crashes and inconsistency with the World's Fair lua scripts.
• Three Gorges Dam has final art assets.
• Many technologies have new icons set.
• When buildings receive increased yields as the result of a technology (e.g. Academies at the Scientific Method), the icon for the building is now shown in the tech tree.
• The Medieval tech tree has been significantly reworked to move Crossbowmen and Trebuchets earlier.
• Bridge Building is now unlocked at Machinery, while Engineering now gives +1 movement on Roads.
• Crossbowman ranged combat strength reduced by 1.
• Cavalry now begin with the Withdrawal promotion.
• It now takes much more Faith to unlock a Pantheon or research your first Great Prophet.
• Religion has been modified slightly in an effort to provide more dynamic religion during the middle eras of the game.
• Cities now generate religious pressure only up to 6 tiles away.
• Temples, Cathedrals, Revival Churches, Megachurches, the Great Temple and the Holy See now increase religious pressure from the city in which they were built.
• Fixed a bug where certain buildings were charging much more maintenance than intended.
• Technology costs from the second column of the Industrial Era on have been reduced significantly.
• The National Treasury now requires a Bank in the city in which it is being built, and a Market in every other city.
• West Point now requires a Military Academy in the city in which it is built, and Training Grounds in each other city.
• Deer give +1 Food.
• Farms no longer get +1 Food on Fresh Water Tiles from Pottery.
• Irrigation gives +1 Food on Farms bordering Fresh Water instead of on Farms with no Fresh Water access.
• Grenadier art updated to use the Spanish Tercio, to resolve a conflict with the Janissary art (which is also used for the Insurgent).
• Explorer art updated to use the Spanish Conquistador.
• The Celts are now playable! Their UB - Ceilidh Hall - has been slightly toned down and reworked into an Amphitheater replacement. Their UU - Pictish Warrior - is a Raider replacement that has significant combat bonuses and generates both Gold and Faith on destroying units.
• El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth will no longer spawn.
• Fixed a bug where the Republic social policy had no prerequisites.

Version 4:

Spoiler :

• Tech Diffusion into an empire occurs much more quickly if that empire has unlocked The Internet technology.
• Liberty Social Policies have been modified for a more natural flow. This is an intended net buff.
• Representation and Republic policies have swapped places in the Liberty tree.
• Republic increases production by 2 and building production by 10%, up from 1 and 5%.
• Representation no longer gives a Golden Age.
• Republic now gives a Golden Age.
• The Rationalism Social Policy tree has been significantly weakened.
• Secularism now gives only +1 Science per Specialist, down from +2.
• Rationalism now gives +10% Science while the empire is happy, down from +15%.
• Completing the Rationalism tree now gives 1 free Technology, down from 2.
• Research Stations and Mills now have graphics on the map, borrowed from the Trading Post.
• AIs are now more tolerant of warmongering, and forgive warmongering faster.
• Submarine attack strength reduced to 40.
• Granaries have been reworked. They now give only +1 base food and can only be built in a City with a Deer, Banana or Wheat resource.
• Aqueducts now provide 2 free Food.
• Sewer Systems now provide 2 free Food (ew).
• Hospitals now provide 2 free Food.
• Aqueducts, Sewer Systems and Hospitals have had their Gold Maintenance reduced.
• Quarries now receive +1 Production upon researching Engineering.
• Colonial Charter renamed Constitution.
• Flight no longer requires Sanitation.
• Trench Warfare now requires Sanitation.
• Privateers no longer keep the Prize Ships promotion on upgrade.
• Many buildings have new building dependencies:
  • Hydro Plant requires a Watermill.
  • Factory requires a Stonemason's Guild
  • Agora now requires a Storyteller.
  • Winery now requires a Storyteller.
  • Observatory now requires a University.
  • Fusion Plant now requires a Research Lab.
  • Telegraph Station now requires an Academy
  • Stoneworks now requires a Craftsman.
  • Coal Plant now requires a Factory.
  • Mint now requires a Tax Collector.
  • Jeweler's Guild now requires a Market.
  • Caravaneers now requires a Market.
  • Forge now requires a Barracks.
  • Circus now requires a Stable.
  • Stable now requires a Barracks.
• Forbidden Palace build cost increased from 600 to 1200.
• Financial Building reworked - now costs 750 production, costs 10 Gold Maintenance, increases Gold in the City by 50%, and no longer provides base Gold yield. It will provide a net benefit to the city if the city has at least 27 base gold (from terrain, buildings and specialists).
• Cannons correctly obsolete.
• City Combat Strength increases slightly less per Technology researched.
• Population will now emigrate from unhappy Civilizations to happy ones - see the Emigration mod by killmeplease and Thalassicus for details.
• Honor Policies have been reworked to encourage early aggression, and the total Happiness bonuses from the tree have been toned down to make it less attractive for Builders building wide empires.
• Military Caste now gives +1 Happiness from Courthouses and causes Courthouses to be built in half the time, instead of its previous benefits.
• Professional Army now provides +1 Happiness and +1 Culture from Walls and Castles, rather than +1 Happiness from Walls, Castles, Arsenals and Military Bases.
• Autocracy policy Police State no longer causes Courthouses to build in half time, and now gives only +2 Happiness from Courthouses.
• The Broadway Wonder now has final art assets, courtesy of Pouakai's More Wonders mod.

Version 3

Spoiler :

• Tech Diffusion is implemented to a functional level.
• Cities now require a minimum of 2 tiles between them, down from 3.
• Mod data structure has been organized.
• Eliminated SaveUtils file - I'm not going to use it.
• Holy Warriors belief has been duplicated into Crusaders and Jihad. There will be additional functionality added to these beliefs in a later version.
• Roman Legion combat strength increased to be slightly higher than the Swordsman.
• Increased the combat strength of Longswordsmen and all unique versions of them.
• The Refrigeration technology now requires Flight.
• Forts no longer provide any increased yields.
• Base yields for all Great Person improvements reduced greatly.
• Great Person improvement yields increase at many different points in the tech tree.
• Several Lua functions updated for better/more consistent functionality behind-the-scenes.
• Caravaneers base gold reduced by 1, gold per luxury reduced by 1.
• Market Gold Maintenance increased to 3.
• Bank Gold Maintenance increased to 6.
• Stock Exchange Gold Maintenance increased to 8.
• Factory Gold Maintenance increased to 8.
• Laboratory Gold Maintenance increased to 8.
• Coal Plant Gold Maintenance increased to 6.
• National Highway System no longer provides bonuses to Specialists, now gives a 25% increase to gold from Trade Routes.
• Global inflation values increased slightly.
• Aqueduct Gold Maintenance increased to 2.
• Hospital Gold Maintenance increased to 5.
• Windmill Gold Maintenance increased to 5.
• Cavalry Combat Strength increased to 29.
• Knight Combat Strength increased to 24.
• Pikeman now upgrade to Musketmen.
• Grenadiers now upgrade to Riflemen.
• Warriors now obsolete at Fealty rather than Iron Working.
• Great War Infantry renamed to "Infantry".
• Great War Bomber renamed to "Bomber".
• World's Fair script made more robust - should be more consistent than before.
• World's Fair Wonder can again be captured.
• Maceman art changed.
• Grenadier art changed.
• Sweden is now playable.
• Denmark is now playable.

Version 2

Spoiler :

• Fundamentalist Revival now doubles Religious Pressure from this City.
• Great Temple now uses the Grand Temple art defines.
• Units garrisoned in Cities now provide half of their Combat Strength to the City, up from 1/3.
• Cities now require only 2 Tiles between them, down from 3.
• Mills and Research Stations now use the Trading Post art instead of being invisible.
• Trading Post gold increased by 1, with an additional 1 on Automobiles.
• Research Labs now require the correct (new) Laboratory. Before, they couldn't be built because they required an unused building.
• Hoplites now receive the Cover promotion for free, like other Phalanxes.
• Minutemen now cost substantially more production, making them intermediate between Militia and Musketmen.
• Purchasing items in Cities now costs more Gold - still less than in the base game, but more than in v.1
• Unit upgrades cost less gold per production.
• Academy Help text updated to spell out the +2 Science on Scientific Method - it works but is not reflected in the Building's display in the City Screen.
• Vineyard text keys fixed
• Armories now require Training Grounds.
• Training Grounds now have a gold maintenance cost.
• Landsknecht text key updated.
• Cannons have been given back their 75% City Attack bonus. Artillery, Rocket Artillery and Mobile Artillery have had their City Attack bonuses reduced from 200% to 75%.
• Longswordsmen and Knights no longer cost extra Gold Maintenance.
• Dragoons can now move after attacking.
• Dragoons have reduced Combat Strength (Ranged Combat unchanged).
• Catapults now require Code of Laws rather than Civil Service.
• Catapult Ranged Strength increased by 1.
• Fixed "Increased Factory Production Yield" Text Key.
• Swordsman strength increased to 18 from 15.
• Swordsman production cost increased slightly.
• Maceman strength decreased to 15.
• Maceman production cost increased slightly.
• Bronze Working no longer gives +1 Production on Mines.
• Text keys cleaned up: Academy, Caravaneers, Monastery.
• Records Hall renamed "Tax Collector" and no longer provides a bonus Happiness.
• Storyteller now gives +1 Happiness, but no longer gives +1 Science.
• AI personalities for all leaders have been updated. Most leaders are now much less deceptive and much less aggressive than before. Napoleon, Montezuma and Attila are still fairly psychotic, and several leaders are still very Deceptive (find out which ones for yourself!). Note that while aggression has been reduced, many leaders are still perfectly happy to go to war.
• Victory Conditions now have much less impact on how much AI leaders like you.
• The World's Fair wonder now gives a free technology to every Civilization when built, but is destroyed if the city it was built in is ever captured.
• Holy See and Hermitage were not working properly. As a temporary stopgap, Holy See now gives much more Faith and a free Great Prophet, while the Hermitage increases Culture in the City in which it was built by 100%.
• Pottery, Guilds, Animal Husbandry and Sailing now have final Civilopedia, Help, and Quote text, and icons.

Version 1

Spoiler :

-Initial Alpha build

Who are you?
I'm a professional game designer with a passion for Civilization. I have played every entry in the series, most for hundreds of hours or more. I can beat Civ 5 on Deity, but prefer to play on Prince/King/Emperor difficulties, with no clear path to victory charted out from the start.

If you want to get to know my design philosophy a bit better, please visit my game design blog: http://strabogaming.com

Contributions
I am not an artist, and you will notice that all of the assets in this version of the mod are borrowed from the base game. I need to fill out an extensive asset list with new art, and I can't do that without your help. If you like what you see here and want to contribute, please do.

I have some scripting and programming skills, and will be implementing via Lua and C++ (when it arrives)... slowly. I'm not a professional programmer, and code support would be greatly appreciated.

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE FULLY CREDITED. With that in mind, if at any point you made a contribution and don't get a credit, or if you would like the credit written a different way, please get in touch with me. This is a huge project and it's possible that I will make mistakes, but I am serious about credits, so if I miss anyone, I will fix that.

What does alpha mean?

I've defined Alpha, Beta and Release here: http://strabogaming.com/?p=122

The short version is, quite simply:

• Alpha: All planned units, wonders, buildings and technologies exist. Units have distinct graphics in game from each other. Necessary Game Help text exists, sufficient to know what features do.
• Beta: All units, wonders, buildings and technologies exist and have final art assets. Significant game balance passes and iteration has occurred. All planned scripted features are implemented.
• Release: I like it, you like it, it's good, it's nearly bug-free, and it's addictive.

This is horribly imbalanced!
I know. Alpha is defined as a starting point for balance. I have tweaked as I've playtested, but I have not yet performed a comprehensive balance pass. That will be one of my next goals and will be achieved through a combination of detailed spreadsheets and theorycraft, my own playtests, and, most importantly, community feedback.

I want to know more!
Hit my blog. I've posted in much more depth there, and will be posting regularly on this mod. In particular, this post might interest you: http://strabogaming.com/?p=132

Can you give us a changelist from the base game?
Not really - the short answer is "Every technology, building, unit, and wonder, along with combat balance, economic balance, some improvement changes, and a large number of miscellaneous changes." I'm linking screenshots of the tech tree from each era to give you a sense of the scale of this mod.

Ancient Techs

Spoiler :

Classical Techs

Spoiler :

Medieval Techs

Spoiler :

Renaissance Techs

Spoiler :

Industrial Techs

Spoiler :

Modern Techs

Spoiler :

Atomic Techs

Spoiler :

Information Techs

Spoiler :

Assets List
This is a list of required assets for the Mod to be considered Beta. It includes game text, icons, unit models and animations, wonder splash screens, and a number of other components.

Technologies are currently excluded from this list, until I hook up the art assets I already have in hand.

Last updated 11/21/2012

Spoiler :

NATIONAL WONDERS - Icon and Game Text
Grand Lodge
National Academy
Grand Palace
Globe Theatre
Constitution
Holy See
West Point
National Reserve
National Highway System
Uranium Enrichment Program

WORLD WONDERS - Icon, Wonder Splash, Game Text
Nomad's Gathering
Magna Carta
Principia Mathematica
East India Company
Cottonworks
Theory of Evolution
World's Fair
Fundamentalist Movement
Hoover Dam
Empire State Building
Red Cross
Hollywood
Propaganda Ministry
MI5
Colossus Computer
Sputnik
Three Gorges Dam*
Burj Khalifa
Large Hadron Collider

BUILDINGS - Icon and Game Text
Pharmacy
Robotic Factory
Cell Phone Towers
Geothermal Power Plant
Wind Power Plant
Fusion Power Plant
Consumer Electronics Store
Supercomputer
Medical Lab*
Megachurch
Airport
Hydro Plant*
Solar Plant*
Oil Refinery
Manufacturing Plant
Nuclear Plant*
Sewer System
Paved Roads
Food Plant
Financial Building
Research Lab*
Coal Plant
Town Hall
Sculptor
Telegraph Station
Revival Church
Stonemason's Guild
Union Hall
Steelworks
Laboratory*
Training Grounds
Craftsman
Storyteller
Tax Collector
Academy
Jeweler's Guild
Winery
Caravaneers
Cathedral*
Monastery*

UNITS - Icon, Strategic Map Icon, 3d Model, Animations, Game Text
Rocket Artillery**
Special Forces
Predator Drones
Insurgents
Grenadier
Conscripts
Phalanx
Maceman
Dragoons
Horse Archer
Explorer
Bombard
Raider
Axeman
Levy
Militia

RESOURCES - Icon, small icon for TopPanel display***, Game Text
Electricity
Hit Musicals
Hit Movies

IMPROVEMENTS - Icon, In-game Art, Game Text
Trenches
Research Station
Mill

IMPROVEMENTS - Game Text only
Orchard
Vineyard

GAME CONCEPTS - Game Text, Icon
Tech Diffusion (start tech diffusion on Alphabet)
Tech Diffusion (being given research in a given tech notification)
Tech Diffusion (new tech awarded notification)
Tech Diffusion (accelerated tech diffusion on The Internet icon)

FINISHED
Broadway

*Assets may already exist but may not already be hooked up
**Existing Rocket Artillery assets will be used for Mobile Artillery instead.
***Resource display may require construction before hookup is possible

CREDITS
lemmy101 - I have integrated his ISEventHandler code into this mod. Little of his original code remains, but I couldn't have gotten started without it.
killmeplease, Thalassicus, Sneaks, alpaca, gmJamez - I have integrated Emigration v.3 into this mod. I have made changes to resolve compatibility with Gods & Kings.
Pouakai, Sukritact - I have integrated game art from the More Wonders mod series into this mod, using my own game effects for them.
whoward69 - I'm using his UI - Notifications mod as the basis for custom notifications in this mod.

If you are not on this list and should be - message me and I will correct the error. If you would like your credit written differently, or would like a link to a homepage or your own mod, contact me and I will work with you on it. It is very important to me that everyone who contributes gets the credit they want and deserve.

 

[Kas Naraida]

Great mod! I also do not like all in the expansion, especially in the tech tree. And me as a lover of ancient wars great to see the beginning of a promising new project. So the tester from Russia you already have.

 

[Pouakai]

I can see this getting big, looks very promising so far!

You are more than welcome to use any of my wonders (credit also goes to Sukritact for icons) in your mod, whether this is as they currently are, with modified effects or even with just the icon. The link to my topic can be found in my signature. I would also like to know why it would be incompatiable with mods that add new civilizations - typically mods that add new civilizations are fairly self-contained and don't edit the databases in any way, although they may be imbalanced with the changes imposed. Most solely use XML, much like my own wonders. Would it be possible for you to provide some screenshots in order for me to get an idea of the changes in the mod? Cheers

 

[Drawmeus]

I've rebuilt the entire tech tree from scratch and rebalanced units across the board, so while it's likely that a new civilization will technically function, its uniques will likely be totally out of whack with the rest of the mod. If it had, say, a unique Battleship that was 10% stronger than the base Battleship, that unique would be something like 90% stronger than Battleships in this mod are.

Feel free to mix and match whatever mods you like - that's just my disclaimer that you may not have a good experience with it.

I'll get some screenshots up in the near future. It's not so pretty - the tech tree uses the "Hunting" icon for every technology, for example - but that's part of the work slated to be done before Beta.

 

[darkedone02]

sadly i don't got the dlc's but i wish you luck in developing this mod.

 

[Drawmeus]

The only required DLC is Denmark, which I'm actually going to cut as a requirement soon (I just scavenged some unit art) - unless you mean Gods & Kings. If you're avoiding G&K, well, your loss >.> the two marquee features (Religion and Espionage) aren't great but a lot of the other changes it makes - naval combat, naval AI, improved City-States - are very good.

 

[Gorhaax]

Now that the Source code is out this mod can do some really interesting things!
Look forward to play-testing!

 

[Drawmeus]

Just so people know what I'm working on next, here's my schedule for the next few weeks (my free time is highly variable, or I'd give a more firm ETA):

1. Playtesting. I didn't do enough of this in the last couple weeks while I was in 'sprint' mode getting to alpha.

2. Bug fixes and minor tweaks. These will be ongoing, but for example, the "Records Keeper" building will be losing its happiness and be renamed "Tax Collector". The Vineyard text keys are currently broken, and will be fixed.

3. Learning Lua, culminating in the building of a Tech Diffusion component for this mod. The goals for this feature will be to limit how far behind an empire that neglects research can get, while still allowing the more tech-focused empires to build a big enough lead to matter.

4. Integrating the Emigration mod (by killmeplease and Thalassicus) - with the tighter Happiness balance in the early game, this mod provides the perfect way to make sure that sinking into deep Unhappiness is not a permanent disaster, and provides a way to recover from a losing position. I've asked killmeplease for permission but have not heard a response, and in the absence of a response in the near future instructing me not to use it, I will be integrating it based on the Modiquette, fully credited of course.

Additionally, any critical problems that community members run into in playtests will be given as high a priority as I can manage.

The next problems I'll be tackling after these are economy balance, and building creep - essentially, by the late game there are so many buildings available that it can paralyze with choice, so I'll be looking for ways to keep make it easier to decide what needs to be built. No ETA on them.

 

[darkedone02]

The only required DLC is Denmark, which I'm actually going to cut as a requirement soon (I just scavenged some unit art) - unless you mean Gods & Kings. If you're avoiding G&K, well, your loss >.> the two marquee features (Religion and Espionage) aren't great but a lot of the other changes it makes - naval combat, naval AI, improved City-States - are very good.

it's not that i'm avoiding it, i'm just waiting for the perfect time to get the game, and the DLC's.

 

[Drawmeus]

it's not that i'm avoiding it, i'm just waiting for the perfect time to get the game, and the DLC's.

Makes sense, presumably there'll be a steam sale sooner or later. By the way, if it wasn't clear, I think you're missing out because it's a major improvement on the base game, not because you're missing out on this mod.

 

[BSPollux]

I'm missing something like an overview of your changes, Is it hidden somewhere? Couldnt find it in the Blog either

 

[TheLoneAmigo]

The Holy See wonder doesn't work - for reasons that are beyond me, you can't add Faith or Culture yield to specialists. It shows up in the specialist tool-tip, but doesn't actually contribute any faith to the city's production.

 

[Drawmeus]

The Holy See wonder doesn't work - for reasons that are beyond me, you can't add Faith or Culture yield to specialists. It shows up in the specialist tool-tip, but doesn't actually contribute any faith to the city's production.

Interesting. With the CPP out, I'll treat that as a bug, rather than force a total redesign. I'll get some placeholder buffs into that and Hermitage along with a text key update clarifying the intent and the placeholder implementation in the next update (probably Wednesday).

Thanks for the report.

As for an overview of changes - the changelist is pretty much everything in the whole game. I'll grab some screens of the tech tree today and put them up.

EDIT: Added screenshots of the Tech Tree to the original post.

 

[darkedone02]

Makes sense, presumably there'll be a steam sale sooner or later. By the way, if it wasn't clear, I think you're missing out because it's a major improvement on the base game, not because you're missing out on this mod.

I'm debating if I should get the game and the some of the DLC's next week or wait for a steam sale this coming winter and get it cheaper along with the DLC's.

 

[Pouakai]

It's almost guaranteed that Civ 5 will be on sale during the Christmas sale, as well as potentially another DLC - I'd say sit tight for now, but definately buy them during the sale - they're worth it

 

[darkedone02]

sounds good... i'm not in a rush to get this game when i got other games to occupy me since Planetside 2 is around the corner.

 

[Drawmeus]

Version 2 of the Alpha is up. As I mentioned, it's a relatively small update - I spent my time playtesting and getting the hang of Lua.

Changelist:

Spoiler :

• Fundamentalist Revival now doubles Religious Pressure from this City.
• Great Temple now uses the Grand Temple art defines.
• Units garrisoned in Cities now provide half of their Combat Strength to the City, up from 1/3.
• Cities now require only 2 Tiles between them, down from 3.
• Mills and Research Stations now use the Trading Post art instead of being invisible.
• Trading Post gold increased by 1, with an additional 1 on Automobiles.
• Research Labs now require the correct (new) Laboratory. Before, they couldn't be built because they required an unused building.
• Hoplites now receive the Cover promotion for free, like other Phalanxes.
• Minutemen now cost substantially more production, making them intermediate between Militia and Musketmen.
• Purchasing items in Cities now costs more Gold - still less than in the base game, but more than in v.1
• Unit upgrades cost less gold per production.
• Academy Help text updated to spell out the +2 Science on Scientific Method - it works but is not reflected in the Building's display in the City Screen.
• Vineyard text keys fixed
• Armories now require Training Grounds.
• Training Grounds now have a gold maintenance cost.
• Landsknecht text key updated.
• Cannons have been given back their 75% City Attack bonus. Artillery, Rocket Artillery and Mobile Artillery have had their City Attack bonuses reduced from 200% to 75%.
• Longswordsmen and Knights no longer cost extra Gold Maintenance.
• Dragoons can now move after attacking.
• Dragoons have reduced Combat Strength (Ranged Combat unchanged).
• Catapults now require Code of Laws rather than Civil Service.
• Catapult Ranged Strength increased by 1.
• Fixed "Increased Factory Production Yield" Text Key.
• Swordsman strength increased to 18 from 15.
• Swordsman production cost increased slightly.
• Maceman strength decreased to 15.
• Maceman production cost increased slightly.
• Bronze Working no longer gives +1 Production on Mines.
• Text keys cleaned up: Academy, Caravaneers, Monastery.
• Records Hall renamed "Tax Collector" and no longer provides a bonus Happiness.
• Storyteller now gives +1 Happiness, but no longer gives +1 Science.
• AI personalities for all leaders have been updated. Most leaders are now much less deceptive and much less aggressive than before. Napoleon, Montezuma and Attila are still fairly psychotic, and several leaders are still very Deceptive (find out which ones for yourself!). Note that while aggression has been reduced, many leaders are still perfectly happy to go to war.
• Victory Conditions now have much less impact on how much AI leaders like you.
• The World's Fair wonder now gives a free technology to every Civilization when built, but is destroyed if the city it was built in is ever captured.
• Holy See and Hermitage were not working properly. As a temporary stopgap, Holy See now gives much more Faith and a free Great Prophet, while the Hermitage increases Culture in the City in which it was built by 100%.
• Pottery, Guilds, Animal Husbandry and Sailing now have final Civilopedia, Help, and Quote text, and icons.

If anyone has questions or concerns about the reasoning behind any of these changes, please ask. I'm happy to talk about it.

A note on the World's Fair:
The Lua script handling the World's Fair currently has a few issues - it's a bit clumsy at the moment, but it works perfectly within a session. If you save the game and then load, and then the World's Fair is captured, it will re-trigger the Free Tech for everyone. I've dodged the issue by making it be destroyed on capture, but when I have some time to clean up the utilities on which it depends, I'll eliminate that clause.

In addition, I do plan to give a diplo bonus with everyone when you build it, but ETA on that is not soon.


The big problems in the mod, as I see it, are:
- Late game economy is wildly unbalanced.
- Building creep is out of control; late in the game you might have 30 building options in a new city, which is overwhelming.
- There aren't enough mechanics to keep things interesting in the late game. By the Modern Era, there will generally be only a couple of runaways left in the game, and nothing to spice things up.
- Honorary mention: ranged units are king in pretty much all eras. I'm addressing this incrementally with unit-by-unit balance, so I don't think it will require any major initiative to fix, but it's a noticeable problem at the moment.

I'll be tackling the Building Creep issue first, as the economy balance issue is downstream of it and the late game issue is going to require a lot of thought and probably a lot of programming.

 

[Drawmeus]

Building Creep

The Problem: Epochs presents many more buildings than the base Civ 5 game - overwhelmingly so. Many of these buildings have related functions - there are often multiple gold options, many happiness options, etc.

Spoiler :

Some of the 30 Buildings (not including Wonders) that this city can build right now.

Proposed Solution: I will treat building prerequisites as a Build Tree, similar to a Skill/Talent Tree (or the Tech Tree), organizing nearly all of the existing buildings into a small number of categories. For example, the Market, Bank, Caravaneers, Jeweler's Guild, Stock Exchange, Financial Building, Mint, and Tax Collector will be organized into a Financial tree.

Later items in most trees will have population requirements - you will need 6 Population before you can build a Bank, for example. Because later buildings in a Build Tree typically increase the yields of each Citizen, this requirement is a bonus for going Tall over going Wide.

Building Costs and Gold Maintenance in most trees will be arranged to reward heavy investment in trees. Most of the Gold Maintenance will be on the earlier buildings, so taking the early portion of several different Build Trees will result in very heavy Gold Maintenance in that City.

Most National Wonders will no longer require a building to be constructed in every City, but will instead require the City in which they are built to be very highly developed - requiring high populations and deep investment in build trees. Because of the Happiness mechanics of Civ 5, building up a powerful City comes at the expense of having more Cities, so National Wonders will still be much easier to get in smaller empires, but in an empire with enough Happiness, you will no longer need to wait to build new Cities just to get a National Wonder. I reserve the right to require X of a building or require a building in every City for some NWs.

Buildings will be labeled in their Help text with the Tree to which they belong as well as the buildings which they lead to.

There will be N trees:

• Financial: Focused on increasing the Gold output of this City.
• Construction: Focused on increasing this City's ability to construct Buildings and Wonders. Limited bonuses to military production.
• Government: Focused primarily on Empire Stability (Happiness), and secondarily on Gold. Also provides protection from Espionage.
• Infrastructure: Food and general bonuses.
• Entertainment: Focused on Culture and Happiness bonuses.
• Science: Improve the City's Science output.
• Military: Improves the speed with which this City builds military units and the quality of military units produced in this City.
• Defense: Improves this City's defenses, including providing bonuses to nearby military units.
• Naval: Provides substantial food, gold and production bonuses to Coastal cities, as well as bonuses to Naval unit production and to the quality of Naval units built in this City.
• Core: Not a tree per se, Core buildings are cheap, easily constructed buildings that nearly every city should have. Examples include the Monument and Town Hall buildings.

This is still a lot, but much reduced from the dozens that you can currently reach, and the game has conceptually sorted them for you, simplifying the decision-making process.

An example Build Tree might be as follows:

Spoiler :

Two further thoughts:
I had been limiting the number of buildings I assigned because of the Building Creep problem that I noted above. In switching to this kind of model, there may be opportunities to add in new buildings that would provide better gameplay without complicating cities too much.

The UI could potentially be updated to reflect this approach - displaying the Buildings selection screen as a series of Build Trees rather than in the unsorted approach currently taken. I have not explored this too far, either from a prototyping or a conceptual stance, but it would be possible.




Thoughts? I have not committed to this design, but I am committed to solving the initial problem presented.

 

[FramedArchitect]

The Holy See wonder doesn't work - for reasons that are beyond me, you can't add Faith or Culture yield to specialists. It shows up in the specialist tool-tip, but doesn't actually contribute any faith to the city's production.

Specialists generate culture via the Specialists table (CulturePerTurn column), rather than the SpecialistYields table.

I recently submitted an extensible mod allowing building specialists to generate faith.

You can check it out here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=479812

 

[Drawmeus]

Specialists generate culture via the Specialists table (CulturePerTurn column), rather than the SpecialistYields table.

I recently submitted an extensible mod allowing building specialists to generate faith.

You can check it out here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=479812

Thank you. I'll check that out.