Acken's Minimalistic Balance for singleplayer (and AI improvements)

[Acken]

Longswords are a lot better than pikes and swords come way earlier and are cheaper.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

Regarding posts about aggression. So I opened consentient's save, where he just conquered Venice. Guess what? I have 2nd strongest military, and Enrico is last with 2 spearmen. He still declares war on me. His 2 spearmen die. He accomplished nothing. Why would he DoW in the first place?

 

[adcarrymaokai]

Brazil picked ideology on t135. He is also influential with everyone, so if I take out Ethiopia, then Brazil will win, but if I don't take out Ethiopia, he will keep running away. Whoa. At least science-wise I am good. Looking at t160-ish artillery.

 

[Acken]

Maybe a problem with brazil its possible

 

[adcarrymaokai]

Meanwhile, Shaka... has no units? I am so confused as to why he would have Architecture, too.

 

[psparky]

Hi Acken. Thought I might give your mod a try as it is so highly regarded.

One thing, I have added some code to EUI to give better info on future GP, taking into account the three on the same counter and those being produced in other cities. I need to disable (or maybe update if i end up playing a lot) this code for your mod. Is there an easy test I can use in LUA to detect that I'm using your mod?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Acken]

Im far from being an expert in lua. Can5 you just check the value of a variable that i mod8fy ?

 

[Dahebbie]

Please, consider this upgrade path change
Chariots to xbow
Knigt to lancer to cav
Pike to musket

Would be more logical imo, since your promotion choices depend on unit type. (Amongst other things of cause )

 

[Acken]

Chariot and pikes upgrades are already in v7. Im more on the fence for lancer because of the small gap between lancer and cavalry but maybe a neef to lancer and making it earlier would do the teick.

 

[psparky]

Im far from being an expert in lua. Can5 you just check the value of a variable that i mod8fy ?

I'm far from being a being an lua expert too! I don't think I can see variables directly; I use calls to methods that are described here:

Spoiler :

http://modiki.civfanatics.com/index.php?title=Lua_and_UI_Reference_(Civ5)

I'm sure I can find something in there that will give a different response for your mod, so please don't concern yourself. I only asked because I thought you would already know the answer.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Chariot and pikes upgrades are already in v7. Im more on the fence for lancer because of the small gap between lancer and cavalry but maybe a neef to lancer and making it earlier would do the teick.

I am LOVING this, thanks so much! I am unsure about Knights to Lancers, too, I don't think it does all that much..

Now Lancers to Cavalry though? That's a great idea. Lancers to Landships would also work, it doesn't make much of a diff to me.

 

[Jaybe]

Knights to Lancers is good with Lancer's anti-horse (formation) promotion. Free Formation promotion as the Lancers upgrade to Cavalry is valuable.

I sometimes wish there was a Mounted Infantry: Cavalry which received terrain bonus but perhaps could not move after combat.

 

[consentient]

Surely Chariots to Crossbows completely destroys Mongolia???!!! (and Arabia)

I continued playing on the game that I posted. A really long tough war with Morocco got me his nearest city, but he would not make peace and I just don't know how to put together a Domination sweep in this mod. I can't keep any kind of momentum. It's really, really hard

EDIT: I'm beginning to wonder if I'm missing some tricks with manoeuvres on this mod. Let's imagine a city with a clear path to it, and perhaps some units behind it. I'm trying to get the melee units to it, and to attack it ASAP, but do you move them back out if there is significant reinforcement from behind the city? Do you accept that there will be higher casualties than in base game since melee units are 'more involved'? Are war roads far more important now?

Bring on Acken Challenge #2 I say! "D

 

[Ravellion]

Chariot and pikes upgrades are already in v7. Im more on the fence for lancer because of the small gap between lancer and cavalry but maybe a neef to lancer and making it earlier would do the teick.

When I follow the link to the latest experimental in the OP, I still get v6. FWIW, I've combined your mod with a pikeman to musketman mod before and spotted no imbalances.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

I continued playing on the game that I posted. A really long tough war with Morocco got me his nearest city, but he would not make peace and I just don't know how to put together a Domination sweep in this mod. I can't keep any kind of momentum. It's really, really hard

Yeah, it is. Here is how my game went:

1. Upgraded Xbows and took 4 Moroccan cities, sold one to Ethiopia. Used 1 siege tower and upgraded others to trebuchets.

2. The plan was then to go with muskets and cannons after Shaka, but I realized these were not enough to take him, so I reloaded to rushed artillery (t158). Then I stole rifling from Haile (of course) and liberated a bunch of Japanese cities, receiving a lot of upper tree techs from Shaka (archaeology, biology, electronics...).

3. At the same time I built a road to Brazil and took 1 city with artilleries super easy. However, it then became a stalemate because Pedro (!) spammed riflemen, and I simply could not break through his carpet with my own riflemen and artilleries. He had a non-stop carpet of units, and at the same time he also eliminated Attila (!).

4. Signed peace with Pedro because Haile, whom I sold a bunch of Zulu cities for 300+ gpt, got tired of paying money and DOW'ed me.

Right now, I took a couple of Ethiopian cities with great infantry and am building aircraft. I know I can get Plastics and Ballistics from Haile, but otherwise I am pretty much on par with the AI, thanks to the amazing Assyrian UA. Haile is also running away and spammed a bunch of crappy cities near me, so that's going to give me all these free techs, yay.

Also, I was forced to go Order because Brazil and Ethiopia got popular with me around t130-150, and if I adopted Autocracy, my happiness would drop by 60 (I reloaded to test).

I think I should win it now that I got pre t190 Flight, but we will see. Right now, Ethiopia and Brazil need influence over each other to win CV... so I really have to get my act together and conquer their capitals at once? Because Attila is all the way in the back. Interesting game, overall, but I reloaded a bunch. Who knew peacemongers can have such impenetrable forces.

@Acken: on the topic of Assyrian UA: currently when you have no techs to steal from the AI, you don't get anything? Maybe you could get a small science boost or a number of turns to finishing the tech you are researching? Or would that be too OP? What about city-states?

By the way, royal library with GW + barracks + armory + military base = 3 promotions right of off the bat. Nice to start with repair aircraft.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I think the Assyrian UA in general needs a rework. RNG is never ever a good idea and I despise it.

Since we are changing Great Scientists, why not make the Assyria UA similiar in that it gives you a flat science towards your current research path depending on era? It is a really simple solution and allows the player complete control over which technologies are "stolen".

 

[adcarrymaokai]

I think it's great on Deity for domination because you are already only researching the bottom tree techs, and in this game Assyrian UA saved me like 50-60 turns of research, not even kidding. Plastics alone would take about 15, and I am sure I would get it for free with the next Ethiopian city in a couple turns, while I am researching infantry and tanks. And then I can buy labs with commerce and order policies for cheaper and get culture, as well.

 

[wayneb64]

Sounds OP to me. Still struggling to beat Immortal myself, cannot seem to keep up in tech, this sounds almost like an easy way to do that but it wouldn't feel earned.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

Keep in mind that I reloaded a bunch, so I am not being an amazing player myself. I will upload a save when I get home, so others can pick it up with bombers and infantry and landships and/or give me advice because I have a bunch of units — probably more than I need — but I am not moving them wisely because I don't want to use several a turn and reload. :eyeroll: Most of my reloads were with muskets/riflemen because apparently those still can die easily to AI carpets.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

The Assyria UA is definitely not overpowered, that much I can tell you

Of course it is very strong in the lategame and I suppose it is useful early on, but it really isn't all that great when all you are getting are Naval technologies, just as an example