Decided to experiment with some quite radical game changes I recently made...here's the info (for anyone interested)..
Changes:- For a looooooong time, I've hated how Archers work in the game. To me, they are just far too powerful. Extremely cheap and well just to cheesy for my liking. (e.g. a City Raider Axe vs A basic garrison I Archer fortified in a city, and the Archer wins every time, and yet the Axe is almost twice the cost, and heaven help the attacker if its on a hill). In a recent game, at the end of an early war, my enemies last remaining city was on a hill, and by the time my force of 6 cats and around 7 axes, 2 spears got there, the ai had whipped/built 14 (I kid you not) archers. Even if I built another 4 or 5 cats and 4 axes to take said city, the cost in
and time would be extremely pyrrhic to say the least.
Anyways....
Now with ~"better ai" (sic) it tends to favor mixed troops whenever possible, so I thought, what the heck, and changed Archers as below:
Archers:- 30% City Def, down from 50%, NO hill bonus (which is really a double bonus in normal civ..think about it, the Archer gets 25% def from being on a hill, and then gets another 25% because the city is on a hill
..no never really made sense to me either.)
Skirmishers same, but made slightly more expensive. All other UU unique archers similar on city def, slightly reduced bonuses all around
Longbows:- Just removed hill def, slightly more expensive
X-Bows :- Untouched
Quechea bonus down from 100% to 70% vs Archers.
Scythed Chariot down to 30% vs Archers to compensate.
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The above means several things (Im a huge map/marathon/Emp or so player) btw.
It probably hurts me more in the early days, which can become VERY dicey if you don't have horses or copper.
Walls actually mean something now, as in you had better build them to be safe. Protective gets a nice boost, in that with CIty Garrison II Archers, you have the odds vs the barbs axes and swords one on one, it also gets faster walls.
Metals are MUCH more important now (In my 3 trial "early days" games, the ai actually went well out of its normal settling pattern to get copper
. It also built more walls it seemed).
Ok, it makes cheesy super early axe rushes easier, but on huge maps, they are almost always pointless anyway (the other ai's are too far away, and even if you do take a couple of cities, the maintenance will kill you).
Overall, it really makes the early days a lot more colorful, and as I said earlier, the ai chooses to defend with spears, axes and chariots mainly, once it has them connected. In none of the games, did anyone (ais included) lose a city to the barbs.
Changes 2:- Great Wall:- Now needs at least 4 cities with Walls and Mathematics before it can be built. Pushes it back a bit, but in 2 or the 3 games I was beaten to it, so the ai knows what its doing too.
Idea again, was to make EVERYONE (me included) face a decent number of barbs, and takes away cheesy "build no cities, rush to Math, then chop the GW, then expand" strats. Also a slight buff indirectly to protective.
Changes 3:- Pyramids...never liked free city walls (why?). So changed it to a free Generic Temple in every city, seemed as close as I got get to what the Pyramids represented...not completely happy with it though..Ideas appreciated
....now requires Masonry AND Polytheism.
Changes 4:- Egytian Mastaba now gives +5%
for each and every of Ivory, Gold, Silk and Incense to represent grave goods...
Idea, well the Mastaba providing a free eng is FAR too much, and the thought of Pyramids now giving a free eng in every city
..so made them into something which is a nice bonus but not overpowering. Also makes the Pyramids more desirable as Egypt (which is right
), especially with say Gold and Ivory for example.
Last Change:- Possibly the most significant. Changed jungle and forest def bonus from 50 to 25%.
Idea, now Guerilla and especially Woodsman III promotions REALLY mean something. Previously, if a basic combat I axe happened to be in a forest,
and a woodsman III axe (who has obviously spent his whole career in forest combat to get the promotion) attacks him, then the WMIII guy will lose almost every time, as the forest def bonus cancels out its attack bonus
and the combat I str of the defender wins out. My way, the attacker now gets a 25% bonus minus the combat I of the defender.
It really makes combat more strategic, not just "stick to the forest and hills and we're untouchable". Of course, its still preferable to approach through forest and hills, just now less invincible. It also makes promotions again mean a little more...e.g. Shock promo for an axe will cancel out a forest bonus for another axe. The ai of course knows all the odds, and acts accordingly (I forgot in one game, and got my small stack sitting in a forest outside a Carth city totally masscred by Numidian Cavalry
).
Also makes "fog busting" more tricky, as previously you could just stick an archer with guerilla I in a forest hill, and he'd have +120% in bonus, making him a virtual longbow
and almost invincible...now that's down to 70%, which means that its approx 50-50 aganist an axe.....beware the barbs
So, apologies for long post, but since HiTM is my "vanilla" game, thought I'd put it here...Thanks if you've read to here, replies and thoughts appreciated
