This is an update for the previous thread on my plans for DoC version 1.18. Let's have a look at the roadmap from that post:
I mention in the other thread that at some point I will make all of this available in the develop branch during the balancing process, so the most important question is what is required until that can happen. Eventually to fully balance everything, I definitely need feedback from the full community. However we are not ready for that yet.
I also want to properly manage expectations about what is currently missing and will not be addressed in some time.
As far as I see it, the following things are left to address at this point:
Balance:
Immersion:
I use aesthetics to refer to art assets for units, buildings, leaders, city sets etc. Documentation is mostly in reference to full strategy texts and other civilopedia entries being available. I will get to "additional content" later.
Let me start by saying that these things have the lowest priority and probably will only be addressed at the very end: documentation, aesthetics, and all forms of immersion that are not related to balance. In particular that means there will not be great people names or dynamic names for new civilizations and no civ specific city names (currently the game uses a shared city name map for all civilizations).
So what is the priority? Currently AI performance still leaves some things to be desired. The major reason for this is that I skipped defining any flip zones that exceed a civ's core, so civs where there is a difference between those areas have a much weaker start than intended. Similarly, when I defined the settler/stability maps I mostly focused on having the stability aspect done and only eyeballed the settler AI aspect. The AI could definitely do better in settling more aggressively and more ideal/intended locations. So I will have to revise the settler maps for all civilizations. Starting units also have not been adjusted yet.
The second most important thing to do is research speed - I added a lot of turns to the game, especially in its early third, without adjusting tech costs. In some cases this actually addressed a distortion present in the current state of the mod (civs being behind of where they "should be") but generally civs reach the medieval era too soon.
The third most important thing is available slots: I did not increase the number of slots from the 1.17 state (where I significantly reduced it) but added a lot more civilizations. So I have to monitor if more slots need to be added.
When it comes to player challenge in the balance perspective, none of that can really be balanced for until the goals are known. At this point, I will need to implement the UHVs of the new civilizations (I already have rough plans), adjust UHVs of all existing civilizations to the new map (this has not happened yet), and also potentially implement some suggested/planned changes of entire goals. To actually do so I need to at least cursorily test these goals - which in practice means I need to at least briefly play every civilization in the game. At that point I should have at least some confidence that every UHV is fun / interesting / challenging / possible.
All of this taken together results in the new list of priorities:
But in addition, I am fairly certain that I will eventually add more scenarios than these. With 1.17 scenarios became a lot easier to manage, and the only reason I haven't added more in that version is that they would need to be redone with 1.18 anyway. Scenarios do not only exist to save loading time but also to remove the element of randomness / "historical butterfly effect" from the game to have a most historical situation. Currently I am thinking of this set of scenario dates:
I think that's it for now. I hope this makes sense! I will update the list of priorities as I progress through them but keep in mind that steps 4-5 in particular will probably take some time. So the move to develop might take some time, but at least I will be able to share more concrete content as it develops. It's possible that I will share information on new UHVs and related changes on a civ by civ basis instead of doing a huge drop like this time.
By that list of tasks we are now on the one final task of balancing all the changes and additions. From the perspective of 1.17 where this was written, that was probably as much as I could say at the time, but now that the other steps are completed it's a bit too broad.
Finalising and releasing DoC v1.17Incorporating remaining suggestions into the map, including suggestions that will have been made by thenMaking changes to the existing game mechanics and adapting them to the new map, like mentioned above (we are here)Applying my current list of desired changes for civilizations and their victoriesAdding new civilizations- Balancing, balancing, balancing
I mention in the other thread that at some point I will make all of this available in the develop branch during the balancing process, so the most important question is what is required until that can happen. Eventually to fully balance everything, I definitely need feedback from the full community. However we are not ready for that yet.
I also want to properly manage expectations about what is currently missing and will not be addressed in some time.
As far as I see it, the following things are left to address at this point:
- Balance
- Immersion
- Aesthetics
- Documentation
- Additional Content
Balance:
- Relative power of different civilizations
- Challenge for the player
- Historical behaviour
Immersion:
- Historical behaviour
- Great people names
- City names
- Dynamic names
I use aesthetics to refer to art assets for units, buildings, leaders, city sets etc. Documentation is mostly in reference to full strategy texts and other civilopedia entries being available. I will get to "additional content" later.
Let me start by saying that these things have the lowest priority and probably will only be addressed at the very end: documentation, aesthetics, and all forms of immersion that are not related to balance. In particular that means there will not be great people names or dynamic names for new civilizations and no civ specific city names (currently the game uses a shared city name map for all civilizations).
So what is the priority? Currently AI performance still leaves some things to be desired. The major reason for this is that I skipped defining any flip zones that exceed a civ's core, so civs where there is a difference between those areas have a much weaker start than intended. Similarly, when I defined the settler/stability maps I mostly focused on having the stability aspect done and only eyeballed the settler AI aspect. The AI could definitely do better in settling more aggressively and more ideal/intended locations. So I will have to revise the settler maps for all civilizations. Starting units also have not been adjusted yet.
The second most important thing to do is research speed - I added a lot of turns to the game, especially in its early third, without adjusting tech costs. In some cases this actually addressed a distortion present in the current state of the mod (civs being behind of where they "should be") but generally civs reach the medieval era too soon.
The third most important thing is available slots: I did not increase the number of slots from the 1.17 state (where I significantly reduced it) but added a lot more civilizations. So I have to monitor if more slots need to be added.
When it comes to player challenge in the balance perspective, none of that can really be balanced for until the goals are known. At this point, I will need to implement the UHVs of the new civilizations (I already have rough plans), adjust UHVs of all existing civilizations to the new map (this has not happened yet), and also potentially implement some suggested/planned changes of entire goals. To actually do so I need to at least cursorily test these goals - which in practice means I need to at least briefly play every civilization in the game. At that point I should have at least some confidence that every UHV is fun / interesting / challenging / possible.
All of this taken together results in the new list of priorities:
- Adjust AI start conditions and settler behaviour
- Balance tech speed
- Adjust number of available slots
- Implement, playtest, and balance UHVs for new civilizations
- Adjust, playtest, and balance UHVs for existing civilizations
- Rebase the map branch on the develop branch
- Merge the map branch into the develop branch - balancing and bug fixes continue from here based on community feedback
- Additional content
- Aesthetics
- Remaining immersion features: great people, dynamic names, city names
- Documentation
But in addition, I am fairly certain that I will eventually add more scenarios than these. With 1.17 scenarios became a lot easier to manage, and the only reason I haven't added more in that version is that they would need to be redone with 1.18 anyway. Scenarios do not only exist to save loading time but also to remove the element of randomness / "historical butterfly effect" from the game to have a most historical situation. Currently I am thinking of this set of scenario dates:
- 3000 BC
- 1200 BC
- 250 BC
- 600 AD
- 1500 AD
- 1700 AD
I think that's it for now. I hope this makes sense! I will update the list of priorities as I progress through them but keep in mind that steps 4-5 in particular will probably take some time. So the move to develop might take some time, but at least I will be able to share more concrete content as it develops. It's possible that I will share information on new UHVs and related changes on a civ by civ basis instead of doing a huge drop like this time.
Last edited: