[MOD] More Naval AI

[lfgr]

If you don't add anything at all there is a good chance that you will run out of leaders and civs on large maps.

Its not at all uncommon to have up to three separate revolutions/factions break away from a declining empire over time with RevDCM. Especially on large map/marathon games.

I don't think the number of civs is a problem, since most revolutions in this mod just split an empire into two factions of the same civ type. And all minor leaders are included, so every civ should have at least two leaders.
At all, I have not had too much revolutions in the games I played up to now, but because of my computer I play on Standart and Epic. I don't know if bigger maps run out of leaders.

Stopping barbarian cities from spawning into civilizations will help some here but I doubt it will be enough. Stopping barbarian civ spawning also removes the single most strategically challenging aspect of RevDCM. Having an Orc city spawn into dwarfs would I agree be really dumb, but at the same time it is a shame to completely disable such a challenging and fun game feature.

Should diversify the barbs, like we'd tried in RifE

I would love that. I think it shouldn't be very hard to split barbarians, just give some cities and units a different artstyle and race and tell them just to defend their own cities. How did you solve that in rife?

 

[lfgr]

Should it? Doesn't that hurt Undercouncil civs who will have smuggler ports and cheaper gambling houses? While a higher crime rate resulting in instability makes some sense, I'm uncertain if it makes for good gameplay.

Maybe if the crime rate could be tied to the finance status of the empire, that is an empire who is making more money can more easily ignore the instability resulting from crime than an empire not making quite as much gold.

The crime rate has just a really little effect. I don't think it will be determining often. Some test games will maybe tell more.

 

[Valkrionn]

I don't think the number of civs is a problem, since most revolutions in this mod just split an empire into two factions of the same civ type. And all minor leaders are included, so every civ should have at least two leaders.
At all, I have not had too much revolutions in the games I played up to now, but because of my computer I play on Standart and Epic. I don't know if bigger maps run out of leaders.




I would love that. I think it shouldn't be very hard to split barbarians, just give some cities and units a different artstyle and race and tell them just to defend their own cities. How did you solve that in rife?

We expanded lairs, and added a new barb spawn mechanic so we could spawn specific groups of barbs.

I had wanted to add cityclasses so barb cities would only build certain units. I could not intercept what buildings/units are valid build choices.

 

[Terkhen]

Revolutions also punish some evil strategies such as Sacrifice the weak or the Governor's manor.

 

[Nilor]

First of all, thank you a lot for creating this fantastic modmod (or is it a modpatch?!).

Recently, I wanted to start a game with 1.7, but then I saw that you were already beta testing a 1.8 version. So, I decided to postpone it. I noticed your beta patch became better and better, and was really looking forward to it. Then I noticed you were trying to add a few new extras in your modmod, so more testing is/was needed. I have to say your new ideas remind me to CIV I, and therefore I do like the sound of it.

However, I would like to say that I hope you can resist the temptation to make your modmod bigger and bigger and implement many new ideas, which will no doubt lead to a nice game, but the FFH-patching idea will be gone forever. I think you are making an awesome mod when you restrict yourself to the patching of FFH. As long as you keep to bugfixing, improving AI and maybe a few balancing tweaks, you can't go wrong in my opinion.

BTW: When do you think that the next stable version of your mod will be finished?

Thanks again for all the fantastic work!

 

[Tholal]

However, I would like to say that I hope you can resist the temptation to make your modmod bigger and bigger and implement many new ideas

I agree. My intention was to always keep my mod as close to FFH as possible as far as game mechanics go and just focus on bugfixing and AI improvement. Though I have to admit I have one more new Option I'm working on adding before the next official release.

I was getting a bit burnt out on AI and internal code stuff, so I decided to try and merge in Revolutions (now I understand why most mods focus on adding new things rather than AI... it's a lot more fun!), using the RevDCM code. Unfortunately, it was tangled with BUG, and after a week of trying unsuccessfully to disentangle it, I decided to just go for broke and try to merge all of BUG in as well. I think ultimately this was a good decision, but it certainly created a lot more work for me.

Now that BUG is merged, adjusted to fit FFH and mostly bug-free, I plan to release version 2.0 with the two new options (Puppet States & Revolutions and the upcoming Advanced Tactics) in a beta state.

I'm still working on AI bits and bugs as I go along. For example, last night I added some code that should help the AI better guard its initial Settler unit by having the starting Warrior shadow them instead of going out on patrol. I've also done some work on city site selection and promotion selection since my last beta.

Anyway, glad that you're enjoying it. Keep an eye out for a new official release sometime in February!

 

[Tholal]

RE: Revolutions

I'm open to suggestions for altering the Revolutions code. Particularly in regards to XML values for Civics and Buildings that affect RevIndexes. For the Civics, I initially just tried to copy some of the values from the Rev mod. And though the code had tags for buildings as well, none of the ones in the mod had any values, so I had to kind of wing it there.

Here are some details about how the tags work:

BuildingInfos:

• iUnitUpgradePriceModifier -Spefies a % modifier to UnitUpgrade gold cost (Leonardo's Workshop)
• iRevIdxLocal -RevIDX penalty applied locally to the city in which the building is constructed
• iRevIdxNational -CivStability penalty applied nationally; negatively effect RevIdx through Empire stability
• iRevIdxDistanceModifier -Modifier applied to city distance local RevIDX penalty (use negative number to reduce, positive to increase; see CivicInfos)

CivicInfos:

• iRevIdxLocal -RevIDX penalty applied locally in each city
• iRevIdxNational -CivStability penalty applied nationally; negatively effect RevIdx through Empire stability
• iRevIdxDistanceModifier -Modifier applied to city distance local RevIDX penalty (use negative number to reduce, positive to increase; see CivicInfos)
• iRevIdxHolyCityGood -RevIDX bonus for controlling state religion holy city
• iRevIdxHolyCityBad -RevIDX penalty applied if heathens control yoru state religion holy city
• iRevIdxSwitchTo -Civ stability effect (applied for a coule of turns) for switching into civic
• fRevIdxNationalityMod -RevIDX multiplier applied to "nationality" local revolution effects
• fRevIdxBadReligionMod -RevIDX local penalty for having non state religions
• fRevIdxGoodReligionMod -RevIDX local bonus for city having state religion
• fRevViolentMod -Multiplier applied to insurgency effects (increases strength of rebellions)
• iRevReligiousFreedom -Religious freedom, effects Revolutions calculations
• iRevLaborFreedom -Labor freedom, effects Revolutions calculations
• iRevEnvironmentalProtection -Environmental protections, effects Revolutions calculations
• iRevDemocracyLevel -Political protections, effects Revolutions calculations
• iRevDemocracyLevel -Is communist, effects Revolutions calculations
• iRevDemocracyLevel -Is free speech, effects Revolutions calculations
• bCanDoElection -Allows elections to be done in luie of default Reject/Accept options in Revolutions pop up

And here's an example of the values I chose for the civ Palaces

<iUnitUpgradePriceModifier>0</iUnitUpgradePriceModifier>
<iRevIdxLocal>-5</iRevIdxLocal>
<iRevIdxNational>-2</iRevIdxNational>
<iRevIdxDistanceModifier>0</iRevIdxDistanceModifier>

At the moment I only have values for a handful of buildings (Palaces, Courthouses, Monuments). I dont want to add Rev values for every single building, nor even most of them. I'm not familiar with the workings of the Revolutions code itself, but I know it already factors in things like Happiness, Health and now Crime, so many buildings already have an indirect effect on the RevIndexes.

Any and all feedback is welcome!

 

[Nilor]

"Though I have to admit I have one more new Option I'm working on adding before the next official release."

I can imagine that you want to do something else after all the AI work. Great to hear that you intend to release 2.0 soon!

 

[Doug Piranha]

I've been getting a strange graphics glitch on the tech tree page (F6). When I click on a tech to select it for research, its title shifts about half a column to the left. For example:



Note how the text for Engineering has moved over onto the right side of the Mathematics box, and the Mathematics text is in the lower right corner of the Feudalism box.

 

[Valkrionn]

Tholal, one thing I'd recommend if you're going to add new content (or even if you're not, would make seeing what an object does far simpler): Invest a few hours and modify your schema as in FF or RifE. This way empty tags don't have to be listed, and you can list them in any order. The schema change takes five minutes, at most. But then you have to make sure default tag values are sensible, and clean out empty lines in the xml files.

Makes adding new tags far simpler (no worry about exact positioning, no need to add it to all uniys/buildings/whatever, easier to see at a glance what you added).

 

[Tholal]

I've been getting a strange graphics glitch on the tech tree page (F6). When I click on a tech to select it for research, its title shifts about half a column to the left.

I've seen that as well. The problem is that it doesn't seem to happen all the time and no errors are being reported. I'm not sure what the trigger is that's causing the problem, so if anyone can narrow down when it is that those graphic glitches start happening, I can try and fix it.

Tholal, one thing I'd recommend if you're going to add new content (or even if you're not, would make seeing what an object does far simpler): Invest a few hours and modify your schema as in FF or RifE.

OK. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. You happen to have a link to a guide on what needs to be done?

 

[Terkhen]

What is Advanced Tactics?

 

[Valkrionn]

I've seen that as well. The problem is that it doesn't seem to happen all the time and no errors are being reported. I'm not sure what the trigger is that's causing the problem, so if anyone can narrow down when it is that those graphic glitches start happening, I can try and fix it.



OK. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. You happen to have a link to a guide on what needs to be done?

I don't have a guide, could tell you once I get to my laptop though (on my phone). It's just a tiny bit to add to the schema, goes quickly. The part that takes a while is the default values and the whitespace clearing.

 

[Tholal]

What is Advanced Tactics?

New Game Option I'm putting together. Off the top of my head it will include the following:

• Units have a chance to gain experience from pillaging
• Units have a chance to gain experience from bombarding
• Players can pillage their own roads
• Combat with other players generates Great Generals (can be attached to units for bonuses. cant create any buildings)
• Mechanized units have a chance to be captured as a result of combat
• Advanced Diplomacy features
  • Right of Passage (open borders for non-combat units only)
  • Embassies (allows you to see power ratios in scoreboard; allows Open Borders; allows trading of units)
  • Can trade/sell Mechanized units
• Forts will exert Culture and can be used to claim Resources (havent started on this feature yet)

 

[Broken Hawk]

Players can pillage their own roads

Also, Orthus was killed early in my current game only to reappear late in the game minus his axe.

 

[Tasunke]

Tholal, one thing I'd recommend if you're going to add new content (or even if you're not, would make seeing what an object does far simpler): Invest a few hours and modify your schema as in FF or RifE. This way empty tags don't have to be listed, and you can list them in any order. The schema change takes five minutes, at most. But then you have to make sure default tag values are sensible, and clean out empty lines in the xml files.

Makes adding new tags far simpler (no worry about exact positioning, no need to add it to all uniys/buildings/whatever, easier to see at a glance what you added).

This would be pretty awesome for people wanting to use your mod as a base for future mods.

 

[Tasunke]

If you are going to add/change content ... is there a way to make the Air Recon mission reveal a bit less tiles? like perhaps half as many tiles?

Also, have you considered Royal Guards

1) not requiring aristo

2) requiring buildingclass_palace

 

[Ororo]

Ok I got this strange combat result, probably a bug.
Playing as clan I managed to get a pretty high level Goblin due to killing Lucian when fending off Mahala's rush. Mahala decided to attack me again, triggered her worldspell and suicided against my city. Next turn, I found out that for some reason I have 3 high level wolf riders which all kept the name I gave to the goblin (Ushnartz). It probably has something to do with wolf packs maybe?

Screen:

Spoiler :

I'm also attaching the current save and the autosave from previous turn.

Needless to say, I'm totally going to roll over Mahala now

 

[Broken Hawk]

Python Exception. Also, Orthus keeps showing up as mentioned in my last post.

 

[Tholal]

Ok I got this strange combat result, probably a bug.
Playing as clan I managed to get a pretty high level Goblin due to killing Lucian when fending off Mahala's rush. Mahala decided to attack me again, triggered her worldspell and suicided against my city. Next turn, I found out that for some reason I have 3 high level wolf riders which all kept the name I gave to the goblin (Ushnartz). It probably has something to do with wolf packs maybe?

Well Goblins do auto-promote to Wolf Riders when they defeat a Wolf or wolf Pack. Did you only have the one goblin in the city? If so, then it's weird that you ended up with 3. I tried to load your save but I dont know what version you're using.

Python Exception.

Will be fixed in next version.

Also, Orthus keeps showing up as mentioned in my last post.

You have a save I can look at? Also, what version are you playing?