Protector of Éa Victory and related game systems

[Pazyryk]

Everything here is in v7. It'll need a good testing of course...

Renounce Maleficium

This is a trade item that is always present for a player that is Fallen to a player that is not Fallen (after Prophemi Tzimtzūm; see below). It's very highly valued by AI though, on par with medium to largish cities, and valued more with number of relevant techs/policies the player has. So in general the only way to get it is part of peace offer where the player has been badly beaten. A civilization that is very far down this path (for example one that knows Breach) is unlikely to offer it even then.

When a player Renounces Maleficium as part of a deal, they lose all their Maleficium techs (includes all downstream) and all anti-Theism policies, and can never gain them again. Cultural Level will drop for the latter depending on how many policies are removed (but that's only a temporary setback because Approach CL isn't affected). All spellcasters desert the civilization (I have plans for these "renegade" spellcasters, but for now they just disappear). The civilization become un-Fallen at this time, although that can be reversed still if Aŋra is or becomes dominant religion.


Prophemi Tzimtzūm

"Prophesy of Va" has been modified and renamed "Prophemi Tzimtzūm". It's a real theological concept that happens to fit the mod lore very well. It becomes available to any Devout from any civilization after any civ learns Reanimation or Sorcery. When made, all civilizations that know Maleficium become Fallen. It is necessary that this prophesy be made before any civ can research tier 4 and higher techs downstream of Maleficium (Necromancy, Summoning, etc.). However, the prophesy also makes Renounce Maleficium and Seal Ahriman's Vault possible, and is a condition for the Protector of Éa Victory.

Although the maker of Prophemi Tzimtzūmgains the normal 100 xp for making a prophesy, he or she pays a stiff price. The Devout will age 20 yrs instantly if Man, or begin to age if Sidhe (from present age or as if 30 yrs old, whichever is less, with 80 yr nominal lifespan).


Seal Ahriman's Vault

This is a ritual (takes 8 turns) that permanently seals Ahriman's Vault preventing further mana consumption and spellcasting by the Fallen. It removes all Breach from the world and prevents subsequent generation of Blight, Demons and Undead (though not removing existing). It can happen only after Prophemi Tzimtzūm and must be performed adjacent to Ahriman's Vault by a non-Fallen great person meeting one of the following requirements:

• (Devout or Thaumaturge) civilization has Knowledge of Heaven and 10000 accumulated divine favor;
• (Devout or Thaumaturge) civilization has Esoteric Arcana and 10000 accumulated mana;
• (Devout or Thaumaturge) civilization has all Pantheism policies and 20000 accumulated mana;
• (Any great person) all Fallen civilizations have been destroyed or forced to renounce Maleficium and the Aŋra Holy City has been razed to the ground.

Note: There is a map check at the beginning of the game to make sure that this feature is present and that it is accessible. If not, then the mod pops the Lua error screen at the start. I've found that pressing Restart Game usually gives me a map without this problem. I'll do what I can to fix AssignStartingPlots.lua (which places NWs) to make this not happen, but it's gonna happen some at v7 release.


Purge

This action is available to any great person after the Aŋra Holy City has been razed to the ground. It takes 3 turns and removes 1 Aŋra follower from any city, own or foreign, reducing city population in the process.


Protector of Éa Victory

Victory Conditions
All must be met (in any order):

• Prophemi Tzimtzūm has been made.
• All civs that have Maleficium techs or (Anti-)Theism policies have been destroyed or forced to Renounce Maleficium
  [*][Not yet implemented for v7: All "renegade" Fallen spellcasters have been killed; these are spellcasters from above civs that have converted to barbs. --This won't be implemented for a while; spellcasters just disappear now with Renounce Maleficium.]
• The Aŋra Holy City has been razed to the ground
• All Aŋra followers removed by one means or another, which includes city razing, religious conversion or the new Purge action (see above).
• Ahriman's Vault has been Sealed preventing further spellcasting by the Fallen or progress in related techs/policies

Scoring
When all VC conditions are met, the player with highest Protector Score wins. Note that the Fallen never get any points for this VC even if they happen to meet a condition below. Points are broken down into 3 categories in the Victory Overview screen:

• "Prophs./Rituals":
  • Prophemi Tzimtzūm: 25 pts
  • Sealed Ahriman's Vault: 50 pts
• "Civs Corrected" (the civ that finally kills or forces Renounce Maleficium gets full credit):
  • 5 pts x tier for each Maleficium tech known
  • 10 pts for each (Anti-)Theism policy adopted, including opener and finisher
• "Followers Destr.":
  • Destroyed Fallen Spellcasters (whether currently renegade or not): 2 pts per level
  • Razed Aŋra Holy City: 50 pts
  • Each Aŋra follower removed by conversion or purge: 2 pts

 

[Doopliss]

I'm slightly worried about the 'falling' game flow. Does Prophemi Simsūm still found Aŋra if it's not already founded? Is there any way Thaumaturges could perform Prophemi Simsūm if none of the humans go for Theism? Could Renouncing Maleficium auto-raze the Aŋra Holy City if the renouncer happens to own it, just for edge cases (mainly the player trying to un-fall)? This sounds like a lot of moving parts if you're playing with a skewed race-list or on Tiny.

In Protector's current state (and before, I suppose) it sort of seems like a much easier version of Domination/Conquest. Instead of conquering every civ or filling half the map (via conquering every civ), it's a race to beat up a smallish chunk of the civs that nobody else will really care if you beat up. Purging and GP-hunting seems difficult to paint as something other than cleanup. It doesn't seem to have a simple fix, so I'll reserve any further complaining about this until v7 is up and running.

Beyond that, like everything else about v7, it sounds fantastic. Godspeed, sir.

 

[Pazyryk]

Prophemi Simsūm will found Aŋra in one specific scenario only: that is, if it hasn't been founded already and the owner of an Azzandarayasna-majority city somewhere Falls with the prophecy because they learned Maleficium. That should be a minority of cases because the "holy focused" civs really only have a small percent chance of going bad.

I have some code in place that tries to force one civ to go bad after a while (if none decided to do this on there own) and something similar for Azzandara founding. But a "bad" civ might focus on pure arcane evil rather than religious evil. In that case, you could have a game where Aŋra is never founded. The Protector Victory still works. The condition is really "Aŋra Holy City doesn't exist".

It's hard to make things work with 1 opponent on a Tiny map. Actually, I don't really know if my "force one AI civ to go evil" works in this case. Or if it does, is this a good thing? It's one of those game settings that I'm just not prioritizing for now. (At worst, this VC is never possible, but all others still are.)

The only path that depends on what someone else does is pure arcane evil. There has to be at least 1 Devout somewhere in the world to make the prophecy. But that's almost always going to be true with 3 or more AI players (and they will always make the prophesy although maybe not immediately). Both Man and Sidhe can generate their own Devout if they have to by opening and taking one policy in Theism (Man only) or Pantheism (either). But they really shouldn't have to in most games. Just research to Reanimation or Sorcery and then start teching elsewhere, for example in the knowledge branch since you may need these anyway to reach tier 6/7.

Good point on Aŋra Holy City. Civs that have ever fallen won't ever raze it. But I'll make sure that other civs auto-raze it if they capture it. That way you won't be in a situation where you have to DoW on a "good" civ. But when conquering an evil civ, you might have to plan to take this one city specifically by force. Although maybe you can get it as part of peace settlement with the Renounce Maleficium if it is not a capital (which is often the case).

 

[BrokenSky]

Just a check, but capitals can be raised in v7 right?

Also: the AI knows and cares about the cost of the prophesy of Simsum, right?

 

[Pazyryk]

Just a check, but capitals can be raised in v7 right?

They can be razed in hotfixed v6. And that includes CSs.

Also: the AI knows and cares about the cost of the prophesy of Simsum, right?

Well... not exactly. They value it based on game turn so that it is certain to happen eventually. Sooner or later depends on how that value compares to other possible options (discounted for travel time) that the Devout GP is looking at when it is looking for the next thing to do. This is a case where game need trumps AI player need.

I'll add some modifiers so that a Priest or Paladin is very likely to do it quickly, but the value is lowered for Druid and particularly Sidhe Druids - so they will still likely do it but maybe much later. (Yes, it may seem paradoxical that Azzandara followers are in a hurry, but paradox is the nature of Simsūm.)

It's going to be interesting though to see how to best "game" this prophesy: Is it better to wait a while or do it immediately? If you are the Azzandarayasna founder (or if no one is yet) then you may be able to wait a while without any AI player doing it. Although some Sidhe Druid is going to do it eventually. Even if you can delay it, is that a good thing? An evil AI that is blocked for Necromancy/Summoning will use that time to pursue other techs (e.g., knowledge branch techs or even a military tech) that might make it that much worse to deal with.

 

[Lplate]

Will the AI defend Ahriman's vault against being sealed if it would come second/third on the Protector victory (until the Protector leader has been defeated)?
Will protector allies turn on each other once the world is safe from the fallen?

 

[Pazyryk]

Will the AI defend Ahriman's vault against being sealed if it would come second/third on the Protector victory (until the Protector leader has been defeated)?

No. I really dislike the "victory competitiveness" approach in Civ5 where AI's attack you or work against you simply because you're winning the game. (I think the devs decided this was a bad idea too and backed off of it from initial Civ5 release.) It's fine if they work against you for being big or for any other "non-gamey" reason, but I prefer AIs that don't act like they are playing a game.

A related question is whether an AI that is Fallen will defend Ahriman's Vault, since they have a very good (non-gamey) reason to do so. Unfortunately, not really, at least at v7 release. I am working on a system where the AI near Ahriman's Vault is more likely to go evil, so maybe they will already be nearby to defend it. (That's very bad news for your GPs if they have Mass Energy Drain.) Hopefully something better can be done eventually.

Will protector allies turn on each other once the world is safe from the fallen?

We don't really have Allies in Civ5 anyway, unless you set up a game with players on same team in Advanced Settings (which, come to think of it, will surely break Éa so remind me to make that not possible). AIs will just go about their business after this.


I haven't set up "Grand Strategies" for AI yet for Éa specific victories. I don't feel too bad about that since base Civ5 isn't very good at zeroing in on victory either. I've seen Armageddon Victory in autopaly sessions - which happens naturally from AI techs/policies and GP actions (which are all controlled by my code). One With Nature also works for AI (except I think I unbalanced the criteria in v6) because it is mostly from GP actions. The other VCs are more "patchy" for AI. The GPs will certainly value Seal Ahriman's Vault very highly. And I just added code for AI to raze Aŋra Holy City if they conquer it (and aren't and haven't been Fallen). But there isn't (as yet) any code to tell them to target Aŋra Holy City for conquest.