Branch "Yields" - Base Setup: Yields, Professions, Buildings, Experts, ... [IMPLEMENTED]

[Schmiddie]

@raystuttgart

The animation works now. I have modified it a little bit. However, it currently looks odd.

Any ideas where the graphic for this is open mine are located? I searched in the CIV4PlotLSystem.xml but could not locate it. I have currently no clue how to disable it.

Furthermore - the graphic of the mine from the set above generally looks good, because we have a "digging pit" below the crane- however, it is not shown on the map. Does anyone know how to "show" the hole? Because the map is flat (and I assume clay and peat have to be mined on flat land, especially peat) the hole is not shown.

Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[Schmiddie]

Ok, I figured it out that the bonus ressource itself has a working animation. That's the first step to solve this issue.

Nevertheless, the hole is not shown.

 

[Schmiddie]

Idea! Why not use the working animation of the bonus ressource as the improvement!

I will figure that out over the weekend.

 

[raystuttgart]

The animation works now. I have modified it a little bit. However, it currently looks odd.

We could also use something that is a lot simpler.

E.g. simply a Hut with that Crane and a few piles of Peat / Clay.
So not even really having a real "whole".

By the way:
We would also need a "2nd Level" Improvement.
(For our growing Improvement.)

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I will figure that out over the weekend.

Great that you are working on it.

 

[Kathy]

I think the hole is not shown, because it is a graphic which is below the surface. But there is nothing which removes the surface of the map, so it will be visible "in" the hole (and closes this).

 

[Cacaso]

Some non-combat-outdoor Professions now also require "Bakery Products" as equipment.
(Explanation / Immersion: Basically they need it as a form for "supply".)

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Comment on Immersion:
It feels immersive that some Units leaving civilization or working hard away from the City require "supplies".
(Remark: It is not really "supply" currently because it is not used up, but it still feels a bit more immersive that way.)

Comment on GamePlay:
It will make spamming Scouts a tiny bit harder. (I really like that, because Scous are very powerful.)
It will make equipping Missionaries come with a bit of cost, which I really like. (Never liked that it was for free.)
Getting Pioneers equipped will also be a bit harder. (But I feel that is also good for gameplay.)

Comment on AI:
AI will not have any problems with this - because since the "Settler"-Profession was implemented it can handle it.
(It can buy such supplies via gold in a special logic - in case it needs / wants to equip such Professions.)

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Ok, I have checked and finished the Terrain Balancing for Yields.


In general there are not 3 Tiers of Land Terrains:

Category A) Fertile:
(Ideal starting spots for growth)

• Grasland
• Plains (Bakery)
• Savannah

Category B) Average:
(Still offering good cash Yields.)

• Prairie
• Shrubland (Bakery)
• Wetland (Bakery)
• Marsh
• Taiga

As now some very common units like pioneers, scout, missionary, will use the "bakery supplies" as equipment. In order to balance I would like to suggest that on the "Marsh" tile the COCOA yeld be replaced by the RICE yeld. So that the more tropical areas of the map (such as Florida, the Caribbean, the Amazon rainforest area, the coast of Brazil) could also have easier access to the Yeld base, which will later be transformed into bakery supplies. Since currently the resources that can be turned into bakery supplies are available in Plains, Wetland, Shrubland tiles, and these will probably not be tiles that are available in these areas of the map, so this important resource would be scarce/unavailable.

As the yeld cocoa is already available in the jungle feature, and this feature is already very easily found (being very common to find it on the map, on top of the marsh tile itself, naturally placed by the mapgenerator) I think losing this yeld in exchange for rice it wouldn't be a problem.

So the rice yeld would be available on the Wetland and Marsh tiles, and the tropical zones of the map would have a resource to be used to turn into bakery supplies.

 

[raystuttgart]

So the rice yeld would be available on the Wetland and Marsh tiles, and the tropical zones of the map would have a resource to be used to turn into bakery supplies.

Not every region is now supposed to be able to produce everything.
It is the same with e.g. "Hemp", "Flax" or "Hardwood".

Also, there may be "Wetlands" in tropical regions as well. (e.g. near Mountains.)
It is basically just a question of how we write the MapScripts and how we design Maps.

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The regions will simply play a bit different.
Which will incentify the Player to expand and ship goods a bit more.

e.g. Tropical regions may be better suited for getting many "cash yields".
Temperate regions may be better suited for getting "strategic yields".

By the way, in the South the player should also find "Cassava" on "Shrublands".
(But as I said, there may also be "Rice" on "Wetlands" here and there.)

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Meaning that in some scenarios you may in fact have to e.g. buy Yields in Europe.

By the way:
AI will have no issues with this.
It knows how to buy Yields in case it needs them.

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I purposely tried to make "Swamp" and "Wetland" different.

But they can and probably will be placed in similar areas.
(Meaning there is no reason that there should be no "Wetland" in the south or in the tropics at all.)

Comment on immersion:
In a real swamp you will normally not farm anything.
(So having the base Terrain increase Cocoa feels better to me.)

I purposely tried to make "Swamp" a bit unfriendly for food.
(So being the Terrain where you normally want to leave the Jungle.)

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In other words:
I would not really like to have both Terrains feel the same.
And I would also like that the regions feel and play differently.

 

[Schmiddie]

Clay Pit is now fully implemented (build action button also ready, only commands need to be set up)

Open Clay Mine is now fully implemented as well.

I have also sightly improved clay bonus ressource on the map - fits better now into the landscape and the improvement.

I will upload the package when I have implemented peat as well.

 

[Schmiddie]

Clay and peat improvements are fully implemented now.

 

[Schmiddie]

Would it make sense to implement the system "pit" and "open mine" for salt as well?

 

[raystuttgart]

Would it make sense to implement the system "pit" and "open mine" for salt as well?

Not really, because you get salt either from undeground mines or salinas.
We have both of these already.

Pits are usually also wet, since it can rain into them. That is a pretty bad thing for mining salt.
(Most underground salt deposites are protected by hard rock that shielded it from ground water over the ages.)

 

[Schmiddie]

Is it correct, that we need hills for peat? Hm,....

 

[raystuttgart]

Is it correct, that we need hills for peat? Hm,....

No, Peat does not need Hills.
Just Clay needs Hills.

I will take care of balancing and minor text discrepancies when implementing the Builds.

 

[raystuttgart]

Ok, now the Build Actions for Peat Pit and Clay Pit are also implemented.
(So the improvements are now fully functional.)

 

[Mr. ZorG]

@raystuttgart , are you planning on doing something about the "tar pit"? because right now this terrain feature is preventing terrain tiles from being used. if you forgot about it, it's normal - there are so many new things)

 

[raystuttgart]

@raystuttgart , are you planning on doing something about the "tar pit"?

I originally had this technical concept of some Terrain Features giving (game mechanic) Bonusses to a City (if in City Radius).

e.g. "Tar Pits" in City Radius were supposed to give Production Bonus.
e.g. "Impassable Mountains" in City Radius could be giving a Culture Bonus.
....

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But actually this kind of overlaps with "Natural Wonders".
(It is technically 1:1 the same concept with just a different name.)

So I was not continuing to work on it and also will not do so for Release 4.0.
(It is just too much effort for too little benefit right now.)

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Need to think about it.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

then maybe remove them for now? and in the future, when the concept for them is implemented, return it back?

 

[raystuttgart]

then maybe remove them for now?

That would then just mean unnecessary effort to remove them and then to build them back in later.
(I have other things to do with my spare time than wasting 2 hours of effort like that.)

Normally they should not be generated yet by MapScripts.
So what is the problem with just ignoring it for now?

Also what is the problem with having (rare) Terrain Features that do not do anything generally?
e.g. the Tornado and the Volcano also do not do anything other than being a small atmospheric gimmic.

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In other words:
Let us please not generate unnecessary overhead effort.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

but they are just generated. I meant disabling the generation function, not completely deleting the files from the mod.
The tornadoes and volcanoes you mentioned are extremely rare on the map (tornadoes look amazing, by the way), and tar pits are fairly common.

 

[Schmiddie]

@raystuttgart

Due to the new scaling of the city screen it seems that the middle rows are a little to small now. I could scale the building graphics, but it would be easier if it would be possible to make the rows a little bit bigger. Is that possible?

Currently it looks not 100% perfect for me -and the city screen is something we see very often...