Colonization Overhaul Planned

[Dom Pedro II]

Hi, just a word about performances. I feel that the problem is not the game itself (i.e.: the Yield and whatnot) but a huge memory leak. Try it. When the game start slowing down after a few hundred turns, save... reload... voila! Responsiveness!

At least that was my experience.

Ya i think the new col has some major memorey leaks later in game

Interesting. I think myself and other modders will have to look into this possibility. Hopefully we can correct this problem.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I've been thinking of ways to prevent people from using wagons and ships to get around the storage limitations of yields. The basic idea I have is that idle wagons will dump yields back into the city storage. Idle/fortified wagons outside of the city will be subject to "bandit" events that will cause a loss of part of the yields they're containing.

Another possibility is to have a prompt appear every turn when you have a wagon full of goods idling. Would get pretty annoying if you were systematically holding wagons not being moved to a location

 

[Polobo]

I really don't have a problem with the mobile depots, and in fact would like to be able to have colonists obtain guns from them. Bandit events are a good idea though, but I would not restrict that event to only idle wagons but to any wagon.

A better way would be to tie weapons production to REF size, since the King most likely has some idea of what is going on and that weapons are being stock-piled.

The King should have spy units!

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Well, to quote somebody from your thread:

Why not? Simply build some wagon trains and/or galleons (or any ships for that matter) and load them full of food. Then, after declaring independence, suddenly unload all of them. BAM, +1 free colonist for every full food wagon unloaded

This sounds like an exploit to me. Seems like it should be stopped or at least strongly discouraged somehow.

 

[Polobo]

For food I wished they would just allow you, in an overview screen, to assign excess food-per-turn to other colonies without requiring physical transport of the food, and disabling food transport all together. Even buying food from Europe seems gamey.

 

[Ambreville]

Well, to quote somebody from your thread:



This sounds like an exploit to me. Seems like it should be stopped or at least strongly discouraged somehow.

What if food exports are only allowable with automated wagons or ships? I.e. food cannot be loaded manually on transport vehicles. Should this fix the problem?

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Alright, I've added the code necessary to have the plantation system I was discussing earlier. I still have to actually add the plantations in.

Right now though I'm working on adding in the loan system I was discussing earlier. That's going pretty well and hopefully I can have that done by the end of the weekend.

Getting a great formula for it might take a little longer and will require more community feedback I'm sure

But the basic formula is that you will be able to get small loans in the early game at moderate interest rates. As you develop, the banks will offer bigger and bigger loans, and if you keep your debt low, at reasonable interest rates. You can take out several loans in a short period of time, but the interest rate will build up quite rapidly that way. Accumulated debt will also reduce the amount of money the bank will be willing to lend in the future.

My plan is that if you have outstanding debt, goods sold in Europe will go towards paying that debt. You will not get gold from transactions until the debt has been paid. Gold traded through diplomacy, however, will not go directly towards the debt (but you can pay the debt at any point obviously).

Debt will also count negatively toward your final score as well. I figure this is a good way to prevent players from taking out a huge loan at the very end of the game and then declaring independence with no intention of ever paying the money back. If you're not going to be doing much trading with Europe anyway in the end, there's no incentive to pay it back. Negatively affecting the score then seems like a good solution. Huge debt will also make it less likely that other European players will intervene on your behalf.

 

[Jeckel]

Nice DPII.

Can't wait to see how you do some of this.

For those that have mentioned the Trade Route system, I'm about half done with a complete overhaul of system. It will have a completly new interface and a slightly different mechanics that will make it work much more like those from other games. I'm going to start a thread for it when I get home tonight and will post some Screen Shots of the new interface.

Good luck with your project, your mods rock.

EDIT: JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion Thread

 

[Melinko]

I like the idea of a happiness slider per city other then one the main screen. It seems colonization is about city management more then empire management, and that fits right in. Also that it could require actual luxuries from what you have stored in the city fits as well. So maybe the higher the slider the higher the drain of those luxuries?

I also like the idea of the debt system, but I wonder if that isn't exploitable? I am on the fence because how you balanced it out with the trade paying back the debt is a really good idea, but you don't have to trade to make all you need, and if you get a large enough loan at once late game... I don't know I am probably seeing something that isn't there as I am not able to make a specific example so just keep an eye out

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Nice DPII.

Can't wait to see how you do some of this.

For those that have mentioned the Trade Route system, I'm about half done with a complete overhaul of system. It will have a completly new interface and a slightly different mechanics that will make it work much more like those from other games. I'm going to start a thread for it when I get home tonight and will post some Screen Shots of the new interface.

Good luck with your project, your mods rock.

Looking forward to the changes! And thanks for the good words

I like the idea of a happiness slider per city other then one the main screen. It seems colonization is about city management more then empire management, and that fits right in. Also that it could require actual luxuries from what you have stored in the city fits as well. So maybe the higher the slider the higher the drain of those luxuries?

Yes, that's the plan. I based the idea off of the internet game Ikariam which has a slider that consumes Wine at a Tavern based on the slider you set. The higher the slider, the more happiness and the more wine consumed. It seems like the best option for a game like this.

I also like the idea of the debt system, but I wonder if that isn't exploitable? I am on the fence because how you balanced it out with the trade paying back the debt is a really good idea, but you don't have to trade to make all you need, and if you get a large enough loan at once late game... I don't know I am probably seeing something that isn't there as I am not able to make a specific example so just keep an eye out

I was concerned about that too. My solution was to A) base your final score in part on your debt much in the same way that it's based partially on how high the king's tax is on you. And B) tie debt into foreign relations. Since I plan to add the ability to get foreign countries involved in your revolutionary war, they could be more reluctant to join you if you seem to be up to your neck in debt. Also, since I plan to revamp the immigration system, debt could negatively affect the rate of new immigrants. Of course, we don't want to tie it into too much, but I think we can make it so that it's got sufficient downsides to keep people from abusing it.

 

[SerriaFox]

I've been thinking of ways to prevent people from using wagons and ships to get around the storage limitations of yields. The basic idea I have is that idle wagons will dump yields back into the city storage.

Bad idea, IMHO

Better idea every wagon(or maybe every loaded wagon)= some maintenance cost.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I wanted to show a screenshot of some things I've been working on. I haven't had much time to do anything lately, so all I've got at the moment is a simple SDK interface change.

I've added a new infotype called YieldClassTypes. It's editable in the XML, so people can create their own yield classes and/or change the yield class associated with each yield type.

I thought it would be easier to find what you're looking for if yields were grouped.

I've added the same groupings to the trade routes popup, so now you can easily sort through trade routes via the popup. I think this will work well with Jeckel's trade screen for those few times when it's easier to just click the unit's button rather than enter the trade route screen.

 

[SerriaFox]

Dom Pedro

I think a good way around the food exploit is to create a new resource call pop growth. The resource would be created at one per settled colonist, and totally non exportable. after you get 200 pop growth, a new colonist.
1 settler = 200 turn
5 settler = 40 turns
20 settlers = 10 turns

 

[marciv]

With all of these ideas manifesting I think that we will need two expansions 1) Colonization Landlords followed by 2) Beyond the Sugar Beet.

 

[VladDark]

Please include Portugal as a colonizing nation.

Portugal not only colonized Brazil but also:

Angola
Mozambique
Guinea
Cape Verde Islands
Sao Tome e Principe Islands
East Timor

Looking forward for your MOD.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Yes, Portugal will be added, but right now I'm concerned with interface and mechanics changes rather than new content.

I had another thought:

How about being able to sell your ships in Europe?

 

[.Spartan]

This thread just keeps getting better Dom.

 

[Yashed To]

What about adding the possibilities of cities loyal to the king splitting from your colony when the liberty bar is beyond 50% in general but some cities have no rebellion movement at all?
This would force a player to keep a general level of independance and not just in the major cities.

So, the higher your independance level is beyond 50% the higher the chance that a homeland loyal city might sort of switch to the king (like the king conquering one of your cities during WoI, just without any troops).
But if your general culture level is high enough these independant cities might be "convinced" to rejoin the colony without any need to start a war to regain them due to the cultural border. Just like convincing those indian tribes to give up their settlements, but without losing the city, of course.

 

[Ambreville]

Please include Portugal as a colonizing nation.

Portugal not only colonized Brazil but also:

Angola
Mozambique
Guinea
Cape Verde Islands
Sao Tome e Principe Islands
East Timor

Looking forward for your MOD.

Add to this the Macau trading post in China. Portuguese had trading posts in India as well, but these were later taken over by the Dutch or the Brits. The Portuguese also had trade arrangements with Japan at the time it was still closed to other Gaijin powers -- a concept that really isn't available in Civ4Col.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Add to this the Macau trading post in China. Portuguese had trading posts in India as well, but these were later taken over by the Dutch or the Brits. The Portuguese also had trade arrangements with Japan at the time it was still closed to other Gaijin powers -- a concept that really isn't available in Civ4Col.

But this game only covers the New World. And in the New World, the Portuguese only had Brazil. However, that said, Brazil is bigger than the combined French possessions in the Americas and vastly larger than the combined Dutch possessions. That justifies them being included as opposed to whatever else they might have held elsewhere in the world.

I'm not entirely surprised that Portugal was left out because Brazil is somewhat the odd man out in the Americas. It is a Portuguese-speaking country surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries, and Americans see far more Hispanics than they do Brazilians. When I was applying to college, my guidance counselor would come to me with countless scholarships for "Latino" students. And invariably, there would be a place on the form that would say "Brazilians need not apply"