August 2020 Update - Patch Notes Discussion

[SammyKhalifa]

I'm loving it so far. Adds a bit of trepidation as you stare into the fog wondering lol.

It just makes me want evil EA to loosen their stingy grip on Alpha Centauri rights even more, so the team can do it properly. Talk about trepidation and staring into the fog, haha, that's everything in AC.

 

[Daigotsu Max]

I'm hoping the mixed tech/civics trees will also make AI behaviour less predictable, in terms of always rushing to the same units for example.

 

[Aa602213x1023]

Is the Natural Wonder Picker not working for anyone else? In the Advanced Game Setup, there is an option called "Select Natural Wonders," but it is currently set to "Nothing" and I cannot change it. The background is grayed out and I cannot select the arrow to open what I assume is a drop-down menu with more options.

 

[JesseS]

Here's a table breaking down the changes by each amenity level. Effectively, amenities are shifted down by 1 threshold with no free amenity for the first 2 population. I have shifted the table to create an easy comparison accounting for this change alongside the other changes to amenity yields. Positive amenities are less worthwhile and harder to get bonuses from, but negative amenities in the range of -2 to -5 (equivalent to the prior -1 to -4) are more punishing.

• Added some bias towards getting governments with lots of wild card slots.

• Fixed an issue where the AI was overvaluing bonuses from governments for cities with governors.

• Increased desire for civics that unlock new governments. Capped desire for Theology for high Faith income civs (ensures they can move on to tier 3 or 4 governments).

These changes are a good tweak and should address many of my complaints around AI policy and government choices. Hopefully we will see less civil prestige and fascism and more democracy and rationalism.

The government plaza building changes are disappointing. Grandmaster's Chapel was already good and +5 faith is a pretty minor bonus by the time it's available. +3 diplo favor from the Foreign Ministry isn't bad (equivalent to +18-39 gpt depending on how much AIs value it) but it's pretty bland. I would rather see something like Hungary's ability added, like gain 1 envoy when levying. And it's surprising to see Audience Chamber go without a modest buff.

 

[Datgingah]

I did read that wrong. Here's how it was before (had to change them for my mod). It's the first table under Before. Ignore the After one.

So the distance to negative amenities stays unchanged, BUT the penalties are higher. So all in all still good, but not as aggressive as I first thought.

The difficulty to get Happy/Ecstatic state is the big change here. Welcomed in my opinion.

Am i reading this wrong or has ecstatic been buffed to +30%?

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Is the Natural Wonder Picker not working for anyone else?

Do you have Suk's Civ Selection Screen mod? If so, disable it.

 

[8housesofelixir]

Am i reading this wrong or has ecstatic been buffed to +30%?

Nope. I think it's just some people, me included, wish that Ecstatic should be buffed to +30%.

 

[bbbt]

I always feel like these NFP updates are half-baked. They tweak the right concepts, but the changes themselves are too little to be of effect.

I think this is because they are attempting to play to a very broad base of users. I.e. I would love it if lower amenities caused revolts more easily instead of just slowing down your empire, but it might cause a lot of people on say Chieftan to flip out.

Why they don't manage this by customizing difficulty level bonus/malus more, I don't know.

 

[Datgingah]

Nope. I think it's just some people, me included, wish that Ecstatic should be buffed to +30%.

Womp, got hopeful.

I hope they continue on some amenity changes, they're like halfway there. They just need that ecstatic boost, make arenas/ent complexes better. Maybe add something to entertainment district buildings so that they each give +2.5% of all yields if city is happy, and 5% if ecstatic.

 

[JJOne]

Tech and Civic Shuffle Mode - This new game mode adds variety to the tech tree, as it shuffles techs and civics within their historical eras, leading to different costs and prerequisites than normal. The resulting trees are the same for all players. Techs and civics are also hidden until a prerequisite is earned, preserving the mystery of discovery all the way until the end of the game.

Do I understand correctly, if you get the boost you still get to see where the tech is?

Fixed issues that prevented Apostles from receiving all available promotions.

Only took like... how many years??

 

[Aa602213x1023]

Do you have Suk's Civ Selection Screen mod? If so, disable it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have that particular mod, but I disabled the mods I do have, and the new Natural Wonder feature is now working.

 

[AriochIV]

I'm not sure I see the point of removing the free Amenity for each city if the minimum Happiness thresholds are also reduced by one.

 

[Datgingah]

I was watching thegamemechanics stream. Per Carl, you're still going to be required to pick all promotions for apostles, I think there was a bug in it, but don't expect the intended part to be gone.

 

[Tuvok694]

Could it be that there is a bug in the randomized civics tree? The information about what I can research next is different in the main window in the upper left corner and in the "tree view" on the other hand. (Sorry for complicated description, English is not my native language.)

 

[AriochIV]

Does the Natural Wonder picker work for anyone else? For me the option is there but it's inactive, and the tooltip says something that seems unrelated to natural wonders.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

It sounds like the random tech and civics is actually a pretty consequential change. Can't wait to try it tonight.

 

[Kwami]

Could it be that there is a bug in the randomized civics tree? The information about what I can research next is different in the main window in the upper left corner and in the "tree view" on the other hand. (Sorry for complicated description, English is not my native language.)

Are you able to select a tech from the upper left corner that isn't available in the tree view? That would be fun...

Does the Natural Wonder picker work for anyone else? For me the option is there but it's inactive, and the tooltip says something that seems unrelated to natural wonders.

View attachment 567484

Look up a few posts. Some mods are conflicting with the new wonder picker.

 

[AntSou]

Am i reading this wrong or has ecstatic been buffed to +30%?

You're reading it wrong. That's why I asked people to ignore the After table . Those are the changes I had made in a previous mod.
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Play close attention to your tree, it's not always what it seems:

In this case the Unrevealed tech needs State Workforce and Foreign Trade needed only Craftsmanship. Yet that's not what it looks like.

 

[KayAU]

I like the amenity and Theatre Square changes, and will check out the tech tree randomizer at some point. It seems like a good patch, but not enough to pull me away from my current game of (the sadly underrated) Beyond Earth.

 

[AntSou]

Does the Natural Wonder picker work for anyone else? For me the option is there but it's inactive, and the tooltip says something that seems unrelated to natural wonders.

View attachment 567484

You seem to be using a mod.