Doc Tsiolkovski said:
Thanks for summing this up, SJ_Frank!
...
I would apply the followíng changes
*AGR +2 (like you did)
*remove MP (same)
*remove trait synergy from MIL/COM and EXP/COM (but not AGR/COM, that helps insanely for early expansion)
*Keep the JT as 3rd tier (which UU did you move down instead?)
*give +1 for fast UUs (Chasqi, Jaguar, Impi, War Chariot, MW, 3MC, Celtic, Ansar, Rider, Samurai, Jumbo, Keshik, Conquistador, Cossack, Sipahi, Panzer; and Berserks - in the hands of the Human those are fast units)
*give +1 for the 3 best Civs for HoF (Mayans, Celts, Iros? I'm no expert here)
excellent article, doc TS. the discussion throughout the thread has been both interesting and challenging, which as a mid-level player i've appreciated learning from.
i couldnt help myself, and downloaded the excel file and made a few tweaks. with deference to your above suggestions, and based on some of the other feedback and my reading of ision's civ-review articles (which are also excellent), the changes i've made are:
* reduced the com/mil and com/exp synergy from 2 to 1
* added a "fast unit bonus" to the UU tiers. all the fast units listed above get +1 to thier tier. if they are already top tier, there's no extra bonus.
* eliminated the MP bonus
* converted the 20k/100k bonuses into a single bonus: 1 if you are amongst the 5 civs listed, 0 if not. (interestingly, this strongly correlates with the REL trait - all 5 are REL and the list includes 5 of 7 REL civs)
* changed the AGR bonus to +2
* renamed the +1 alphabet bonus to a COM or SEA bonus (as these are the traits that give you alphabet to start with)
* added an IND bonus of +1
* changed the german panzer UU/trait synergy to 1 (instead of 0)
* changed the mayan JT UU/trait synergy to 1 (instead of 0)
the rationale behind a number of these changes was to balance trait vs. unit vs. bonus points. for example, adding +1 for fast units makes a whopping 5 points available to units, as opposed to a max of +4 for trait synergy. i doubt we'd want more importance placed on units than traits! similarly, separate bonuses for two kinds of culture wins overstates the importance of this dimension relative to the others.
the addition of IND as a small bonus is to reflect the exponential way early development can give a long-term edge, no matter what it's paired with. i would suggest that over the long haul this peters out, with most civs on par by the modern age, if not sooner, in terms of development. but that said, early production advantages can be leveraged in any number of ways (faster exploration, faster growth/territory spread, more war units, faster tech, etc.)
finally, i believe the case is strong from ision's civ reviews that the UU units for germany and the maya are under-represented here. while it's fair to say that the panzer has no real synergy, to put it in the lowest tier, suggesting anti-synergy, is overstating it's weakness. similarly, strong arguments exist that the javelin thrower works well as an early deterrent when growing rapidly as well as a supplemental slave acquirer (tactical considerations of how to implement/balance this aside).
as a result, of all this, i've come up with a ranking list that credits:
* from 0 to 4 points for trait synergy
* from -1 to 4 points for UU/UU synergy
* from 0 to 3 points for specific traits (2 for agr, 1 each for ind/com/sea)
* from 0 to 1 points for cultural superiority (it is perhaps worthy considering whether this should be a straight +1 for REL)
because these last two areas are actually partially mutually exclusive, the scores range from a minimum of -1 to a maximum of 11.
the result:
1st Tier
10 Celts, Iroquios
9 Greece, China, France
8 Aztecs, Netherlands, Sumeria, Byzantium, Maya
2nd Tier
7 England, Inca
6 Arabs, India, Japan, Rome, Spain, Carthage, Egypt, Ottomans, Persia
3rd Tier
5 Scandinavians, Hittites, Germany, Korea, America
4 Babylon, Russia
3 Mongols
2 Zulu
1 Portugal
notably, this list reflects the general derision towards the expansionist trait, with 6 of the 8 EXP civs being the bottom six, and none making the top tier. i wonder if this is fair, since EXP can lead to a number of early advantages. OTOH, this requires a fair bit of luck! :shrug:
For anyone interested, the modified Excel file, based on Doc TS's original on the first page is attached below. Although I've tried to build on ideas presented here and elsewhere, all judgements, and therefore errors, are my own.
EW
Why?
