Thanks for the observations Taxman.
The AI is much better, and no longer building massive number of early siege units.
Very good to know.
I only managed to get to first through better/earlier usage of thieves and rogues, particularly to keep my nearest neighbor stilted (killing gatherers and pillaging improvements) and later on with ambushers taking out anything they could get their hands on.
Yeah. This is one of the reasons I'm focusing so hard on the units I am. By the end of this cycle, the AI should be much better at this themselves and also better at countering it. Furthermore, with some of the rule limitations, I'm attempting to bring some balance back to this stuff. The Ambushers, being Strike Team units, in particular, will lose their ability to hide out in cities and take pot shots from there. They're too strong to be allowed to do this. Criminals will still be able to but if you're playing base Size Matters you'll find their abilities to do this are a bit limited by their reduced strength, keeping them more useful for simply hampering the city itself with other abilities. But suffice it to say, there are big plans for AI improvements in this region. After this version's release I hope to make this strategy a little more difficult to use to get the upper hand... and you'll have to watch more for the AI using it against YOU.
Thief/Rogue has backstab promotion and the Ambusher has 2 different promotions based on sneak attack as well. All of them kinda confuse me, and I didn't see/couldn't find any help on any of it. I'm not sure what the real difference is between the 2 the Ambusher could choose from, nor why the Thief/Rogue would need a completely different tree.
I realize they are similar. But there are reasons for the differences as subtle as the differences are. It wasn't intended though that Ambushers can get 2... I suppose the recent change to open up one of the lines to combatants must include them now. That's something I'm going to have to work out. They (being Strike Teams) are supposed to get their own special line but not have access to the others.
The difference is in the progression they offer. And its supposed to really be a statement on the differing flavors of the Combat Classes. They also now get different tech tree access points.
- Backstab - For criminals. All promos in this line add up to: 5 Stealth Strikes and 50% Stealth Combat Modifier.
- Waylay - for Ruffians and Pirates(and the first three only for Combatants - which I have to now remember to adjust so that Strike Teams are not included!) All promos in this line add up to: 2 Stealth Strikes and 80% Stealth Combat Modifier.
- Bushwhack - For Strike Teams. All promos in this line add up to: 7 Stealth Strikes and 30% Stealth Combat Modifier.
- Pounce - For Felines. All promos in this line add up to: 3 Stealth Strikes and 75% Combat Modifier.
- Crackdown - For Law Enforcement. All promos in this line add up to: 3 Stealth Strikes and 70% Combat Modifier.
I also plan to do another for Hunters as I forgot these in the process. It's always debatable what's better, 10% Combat vs 1 First Strike (and stealth is the same way) but probably the first strike is a little better if it isn't countered by the opponent. The Strikes represent how many attacks they can get in before the other unit can even respond whereas the combat modifier can make a big difference on how attacks resolve at all and the base strength ratio in battle. Either side of the coin can easily overwhelm the other.
So again, mostly a flavor determination but since I believe the Strikes have it a bit over the combat modifier, I think you can see which CCs are given some heirarchal benefits over the others in this arrangement.
Thanks for pointing out the flaw with Ambushers though.
I was a little confused at first about using the attack enemy in same hex button. It brings up a window with the odds, and at the bottom asks if you wish to cancel the attack but doesn't have one to continue/confirm it. Just kinda experimented in how to continue the attack. I suggest this be clearer.
I think the entire text with the odds is one giant confirm button.
Exactly. However I also understand the 'confusion'. This was made this way before the change to a mission made it possible to get the normal combat help hover to come up when hovering the mission button to begin with. I should probably just take out the odds showing on the confirm button at all and just say Attack! or something.
The AI seems to really like to send early merchants about on trade missions. So I tried one myself to figure out why. Got 83 gold. Meh, didn't seem that big a deal I'd rather use the hammers to help out smaller/newer cities. Anyway, my Ambushers helped feed me quite a few captured merchants that went a long way to helping my young settlements.
Yeah... noted problem I'm mulling over the best approach to still. Probably a combination of a unit line that's intended to (and instructed to) protect such trade lines and some other adjustments.
There may be something mildly wrong with the promotion notification, I don't remember exactly what unit (maybe a chariot archer), that I promoted to combat IV, but the message at the top of the screen said he got Amphibious. Everything seems right, just the wrong message.
We had a strange message ID glitch after an update in the MP games that cleared up later that acted similarly. Perhaps it's the same thing? Did you update at any time during this game?
I'd also like some message telling me a city's defenses have been beaten down to the minimum level, I wind up wasting rams learning that. Perhaps just a pop up saying the attack isn't going to do anything productive at that point.
I've noticed this minor irritation as well. Perhaps the best thing would be a graphic adjustment to the coloring of the defense % once its down to minimum. I THINK I could do this in the code somewhere... Pretty sure. I'll have to take a look soon.
