Hey all! I can try to provide some answers to some of the reasons why I went the route I did.
I am testing the new version of COMM and I have a few remarks. First of all, it seems all techs are tradeable and AI's WILL trade them aggresively so even if I have the best bakers/turn, I am not guaranteed tech lead. In previous versions of COMM some impottant features (trade contacts, establish embassies, military alliances, ROP's, double worker speed, improved navigation) were associated with the techs in the Other branch, never researched by the AI. Now they are scattered around the tree and AI's will use them, like in any regular Civ3 game..
Yes, most all tech's can be traded.It is somewhat limited though, since civ's can use tech's that branch out, to trade for other ones. The AI will get a tech lead in the beginning usually, but if you build your libraries (Mage Guild's) as soon as you can, and continue to expand, you can catch up and outpace them. You can use weaker civ's and sell them techs for gpt, and can get a nice bankroll coming in usually, to keep your research higher. Even the toughest levels, aren't quite as tough as a normal civ game.
I am not sure if buildable Settlers (instead of being auto-produced by Palace) are a move in good direction, because it makes Agricultural "civs" much stronger. I wonder why domestic workers built by the player work with half speed (in my current game I play as the Rampart lead by Gelu - at last, because in the previous COMM's their workers were extremely lazy) while the ones autoproduced by Palace (and the one available from the start) work with normal speed.
I really thought about making this change for a while, and did so for a few reasons. The first is, that every civ starts with units that have different stats/weaknesses/strengths. So while a regular game, which starts e.g. with all 1.1.1 warriors, and then your 1.2.1 defensive unit, etc, having only auto-production of settlers makes sense. CoMM3, if that is the case, it made it too easy for the human to just find and destroy enemy civs, or wipe out their only settler in early game, especially if you start with a civ that has a slightly stronger level 1 unit. In the same way, AI civ's early game are pretty aggressive sometimes, and I think the game is a bit more exciting planning your build priorities, than just waiting.
The game doesn't start like normal games either. Because each civ has it's own unique city graphics, it forced some of the normal aspects of the game to be altered (like limited governments settings). The game starts where production and gold can be gained from the start, with an excellent form of government.
The Workers that are auto-produced are special, and work faster, and can defend (move 1). The workers the player/AI can build are slower working, and can be captured (but are move 2). This is primarily done so that the entire world isn't fully developed so fast. Irrigation civ's have higher costs for settlers, which does offset their 1 food to a degree, and I believe their workers cost more also, which slows their ability to improve their land to a degree. Although they can irrigate desert, which is a big boost once pathfinding is discovered... from tests the AI has a small advantage making settlers, but not over-the-top (much less than a normal game civ on a bunch of cows!)
But I like lower unit costs very much, the same with the possibility to build high level units (instead of waiting for being autoproduced by a proper building in a town). Some other good changes are: if you want to build a higher level Mage guild (+Bakers) you need to go ahead in tech, the same with the availability of Castles and Water Reservoirs.
There are at least two things I have not figured out yet:
[- which tech unlocks Cobblestone Roads (COMM version of railroads)] Edit: Grail
- are there any buildings which increase production in towns (previously this was done by Citadels and Castles).
S.
Right now, there are several +Production buildings (they will have a ^ next to their names). Each town's Castle and Grail building. Level 6 and 7 creature dwellings, the Taverns of Might and Magic, and the Statue of Legion improvement. Most of these are later game structures. The reason is that because the land can be fully developed from the beginning, you can still reach a pretty high amount of shields per city by mid game. And there is not a lot of corruption. All cities will be able to do pretty well. Once late game hits, the extra production allows you to build the end game units more easily.
I can try to add this information to each town civilopedia page, I agree it would be helpful to have easy access to see it.
