a few questions and some general feedback

[code99]

Hello all,

Ill try not to make a text wall but can't promise anything.

First of all, im running v35 of c2c.

1) AI : what exactly does Ruthless AI do? (and aggressive AI) Does it give AI bonuses (cheats if you will) in units, production, gold etc. ?

2) What speed is the mod optimized? I normally play on snail but my last game i tried marathon and funny things happened.
I dont like others to be more advanced in tech than me so i started a military campaign to kill those that were closing to me tech wise (this started in classical era).
I killed 3 ais and by this time i had reached medieval era so i went after the last ai on my list who was mid-late classical.
I thought i had quite a vast army (total of ~100 units, largest stack of troops i ever had tbh) but was nothing compared to what this guy had.
Once i reached his capital (was the last city standing) i was "stunned" to see that he had over 250 composite bowman ... Dafuq? Plus the other loads of troops i had to kill to reach his capital.

This was possible i guess, i mean, i could make between 3-4 swordsman per turn at some of my cities, no reason he couldn't.
So here comes the question, what speed is this mod intended for?

and

3) Gold: i think its way too easy to make "money".
First of all, with the above example, the ai managed to maintain that amount of troops with just 5 cities (they were actually 7 but the last 2 were small and most likely werent making money) which i think its ridiculous.
Second of all, in that game, i never had to lower my research from 100%. In classic era i was making 200 gold, when i entered medieval i was at 400, early renaissance i was at 2500, late renaissance 4500, early industrial 8000 and now im mid-late industrial and im making 10.000 per turn and I've built all medical facilities that i could in my cities (they suck a lot of money) plus other buildings such as metropolitan administrations which have a +40% maintenance and other ...
I also have a much larger army, most cities have 6 medics and 6 sheriffs which have high support costs. I have 25 cities atm. 5 of them overseas.
Just to note, i dont have civics that give lots of free units.

Sry for wall of text.

 

[IronClaymore]

The Ruthless AI option doesn't give cheats or any material advantage. It's meant to increase AI "bullying" and "bystander apathy" behavior in terms of how they declare war and ask you to do things. If you're at war with one AI, some others that even have a chance of being an annoyance to you may declare war as well, just for the hell of it, while your "friends" may leave you to die. Even if they have only a fraction of your power. Just imagine every AI is a ruthless bastard: they'll be blustery and boisterous if they're bigger than you, and oily and sniveling if weaker, even as they try and stab you in the back.

I think snail is supposed to be the optimum speed for gameplay. The way the AI deploys its troops is weird at best. The gold thing is a common issue at any speed, but if you spread corporations to every city it can evaporate very quickly.

 

[JosEPh_II]

3) Gold: i think its way too easy to make "money".

Just stop building the money making crime buildings and the smaller +1 gold buildings and see what tune you sing.

Too many players griping about making a couple hundred gold a turn and then the balance gets screwed up again and again. This is a never ending cycle in this mod. And most of it is generated by players who discover an exploit and run with it and then come complain because they were using an exploit. That's called cheating.

Proper thing to do is report the exploit in the bug thread, not make threads that there is "too much gold in the mod". That way the exploit can get fixed.

We are just now going thru another one of those rebalancing phases that has seen maint. costs skyrocket because a deity player gave what sounded like a good way to reduce the "too much gold" and it's caused havoc.

JosEPh

 

[code99]

To point out something, i almost never build buildings that add to crime. Tried that once, didnt go well.

What i have (had actually, now im in modern era and my income went way down after applied economics and globalization) were guilds, they make insane amounts of money. That + some buildings that give +xx% (banks and the like) gold and some civics of same kind = loads of gold.

Also, i personally dont mind this much gold, i like being rich

And a last thing, a question, do ais take into account disease, air-water pollution? I see them training city guards (dunno of they are actively trying to fight crime or they just train them foe the defensive bonuses when in cities) but i almost never see medics and the like ...
I also noticed that in some of my automated cities, the ai governor doesn't seem to care about pollution. He kept building forges, smelters of all kinds and factories (etc) that increase air pollution, reaching a value of over 1000 thus wrecking havoc in said city even tho i checked the button to avoid unhealthiness.
He could build parks and coastal preserve to fight this but apparently he didnt think that was a good idea.
Not sure if player ai governor is related to normal ai tho ...

 

[Arakhor]

Just stop building the money making crime buildings and the smaller +1 gold buildings and see what tune you sing.

Isn't that a good argument for removing them in the first place?

 

[JosEPh_II]

Isn't that a good argument for removing them in the first place?

No, there's a time & place for them in every game. Just be judicious in their usage. And that's part of the strategy of it all.

But as code99 pointed out he's using guilds which is also a Game set up option (which I rarely use ) that can give lots of money if done right.

For mod testing the basic mod concepts, I use a very limited number of Options, nor do I use Mastery Victory. Otherwise the data base can be skewed by the number and kind of Options added in and distort the base results. By using many Options it sets up situations which then gets players coming in and making vague statements that there is "too much this or not enough of that". Not that code99 did this here, but it's all too common of a complaint till you start getting detail from the protesting players.

JosEPh

 

[Arakhor]

I think I'll try out a smaller, quicker game with fewer options next time around and see if I have less of a near-permanent glut of cash. In my current game, I'm virtually overflowing with the stuff.

 

[JosEPh_II]

The slower gamespeed have always been more easily manipulated for easy cash than the faster gamespeeds.

I played a couple of Snail games at DH's urging and it was no problem having sufficient funds to keep the Research slider at 100%.

But I generally use Epic with an occasional Marathon or Normal speed (to keep a feel for them)to test. Having an overflowing treasury on the faster speeds is not as easy as the slower speeds by a long shot. Not impossible of course but you need to be more aware of it.

JosEPh

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

The latest changes by alberts has made the prehistoric on snail good again. Except at the very start and for one push to get a tech and change civics in the golden age, I have not had my research rate above 70%. I have not made it to the classical period yet where I usually stop having money problems.

With the Guilds, they are better than they were but they still need some work. @Joe I don't think they are a game option any more.

 

[Hydromancerx]

But as code99 pointed out he's using guilds which is also a Game set up option (which I rarely use ) that can give lots of money if done right.

With the Guilds, they are better than they were but they still need some work. @Joe I don't think they are a game option any more.

Yeah Guilds are not optional anymore. However they are not the same as they were in RoM/AND either. They are now just National Wonders that give bonuses to other buildings. Not Early Corporations like they use to be. I would like to do more with them, but other stuff has been coming up on my plate and it keeps getting pushed back.