Davane's Daily Mod Release Thread

[davane]

Human Vassal States will most likely require either extensive python scripting or changes in the .dll itself. In order to keep the flavour of vassal states, the player will need to be restricted just as the AI vassal states are, depending upon whether it is peaceful vassal states or capitulation. In theory, this would mainly consist of modification of existing vassal states code so that it also applies to Human players. The main features would be the inability to declare war or make peace with other civilizations directly, but be restricted to your master's war/peace status, and the inability to break from capituation unless you become more powerful than your master. Both of these could technically be handled by python, although .dll might speed it up a lot (depending on how the vassal states code works). These should work though the diplomacy screen, as with any other trade negotiations. The war/peace limitations could be overcome by allowing the player to ask their master to declare war/make peace with a given civ. Refusing tribute to your master would have to result in automatic war declaration, just as with AIs. Likewise, you would have to be prohibited from declaring war on your master until you are bigger than them, but this could be handled simply enough, although it would be tempting to possibly adapt CivCol's Independance system to the purpose of breaking away from your master's empire. Ultimately though, all of this is really outside the scope of the mods right now, but I am fairly sure that if some other mods include this, it will inevitably get included in these mods in the future.

Now on with the mods!

The Tank (Released 04/02/10)

The rise of automatic and semi-automatic firearms in the Industrial era saw a massive reduction in the use of mounted units in warfare. This had the effect of reducing the advantages of the attacker, and turned things around to favour the defensive. This resulted in catastrophic loss of life during the trench warfare of WWI, and spurred civilizations to come up with another means to break through defensive lines when attacking. The answer was the first Armoured unit. The Tank moved almost as fast as previous mounted units, although they sacrificed some of their maneuverability for heavy armor plating giving them substantial protection against the firearms that had obsoleted mounted units previously. Although they had a slower rate of fire, they were typically mounted with increasingly larger caliber weaponry, able to punch through enemy forces and break the defensive deadlock.

Tanks have a Combat Strength of 20 and 1 First Strike. They have a 20% Withdrawal rate, and start with the Blitz promotion. They are ideal for breaking through enemy forces.

The Barracks (Released 04/02/10)

War has been a constant issue throughout human civilization, and even the most peaceful civilizations have seen the need to develop and maintain military forces for defensive purposes. While sheer numbers is important, in balanced situations with identical weapons, the forces with the better training are often the ones that win the battle. It was important, therefore, for nations to train their armies before sending them into battle ith the ememy.

The Barracks provides 4 XP to all land units built in the city (even in Warlords and BTS), which allows them one free promotion at least. The Barracks increases city maintainance by +5%. However, the Barracks is not available until Bronze Working is discovered. Please note that because production balancing has not been considered yet, the production bonus for Agressive leaders has currently been removed. The Barracks should be built in the cities producing your land units. In addition, Settlers and Workers also benefit from this bonus XP as well, so building a Barracks in cities producing these units may also be an option - perhaps to gain a headstart towards Woodsman II for it's double movement in Forests and Jungles.

 

[Lachlan]

If human vassal can be handed by only python code should be nice because game with your mod is much harder...

I played Romans on MunchEarth 18 Civs, i got killed by Mongols in 1625

 

[davane]

Keep at it, Lachlan! Please bear in mind that this mod is far from complete, so there may be some initial power issues - as I'm currently at the Industrial era units, you may experience a rapid power jump in your games around this era as you get a mix of pre- and post-mod units at this time. I'd be extremely interested to hear if there are any specific issues with the mod at the moment; in particular, which areas of the game you find harder than normal. Also, if you find AI vassal states a pain, I'd recommend turning this feature off - as vassal states can easily turn a cutthroat diplomacy game into a one-sided king-of-the-hill style game.

 

[Lachlan]

Wars are nearly impossible to be managed, too much turned to defense...
By example : in 1625, Mongolians have Keshiks, these Keshiks have killed well promoted Musketmen (at +25 % city defence)

 

[davane]

Thanks for the feedback, Lachlan. The main problem here, it seems, is that none of the UUs in the game have been rebalanced yet, so in most cases they are over-powered compared to standard units they replace.

 

[davane]

The Cannon (Released 05/02/10)

It wasn't long after the advent of gunpowder brought about firearms that the same technology would be applied to siege engines. These weapons were essentially big guns, that fired balls of stone or metal in a direct line of fire, rather than in an high arc as the previous Catapult and Trebuchet units did. This had the advantage that the weapons would more easily penetrate the high walls and other defences surrounding the city, as well as having a more significant impact upon opposing forces targetted with them. Cannons would soon become significant weapons that helped counter the defensive deadlock often provided by fortifications.

The Cannon has a Combat Strength of 14. Cannons have 1 First Strike, and a 20% Withdrawal rate. Cannons also cause Collateral Damage to up to 5 additional units when attacking. Although Cannons no longer ignore city defences, they get a massive +75% bonus when attacking cities. They can also reduce city defences by 20% per round. Use Cannons to target stacks of enemies, especially in cities.

Note that city attacking bonuses do not simply counter the defensive bonuses provided by cities, because the strength of the units attacking and defending are also taken into account (amongst other modifiers). For example, a CS 14 Cannon with a +75% city attack bonus would gain +10.5 strength, for an effective CS of 24.5 would still be closely tied to a CS 16 Infantry with +50% city defence from Walls that has an effective CS of 24 even though it only gained +8 strength.

The Monument (Released 05/02/10)

Since the Ancient age, leaders have seen fit to inspire their populace with images, idols, and statues, commonly representing their own greatness or that of their civilization. Even now, such monuments continue to be constructed, inspiring civic pride and fierce nationalism, although many older statues have fallen into neglect.

The Monument, formally called the Obelisk in Vanilla, is an early building that provides +1 Culture to the city. In addition to this Culture boost, Monuments provide +1 Happiness but increase City Maintainance by +5%. Monuments should be used to help expand borders early and allow cities to grow. They are essentially early Temples without the ability to add Priest specialists that do not require a religion to be present in the city. Monuments no longer obsolete, and remain potent throughout the game. Note that in the interests of balance, the Charismatic trait has temporarily lost the +1 Happiness bonus it provides with Monuments for the moment.

 

[Lachlan]

I'm play RafEarthMap18civs, Romans, me, have conquered a Turkish city...

War are not impossible, finally it depend of the map which i play

Current game is 04/02 release of your mod

 

[davane]

The Artillery (Released 06/02/10)

It wasn't long before the advances of rifling were applied to the larger scale siege units. The result was the Artillery unit, a large breach-loading gun capable of firing shells accurately over a significant distance quickly.

The Artillery Unit has a Combat Strength of 18. It has 1-2 First Strikes and a Withdrawal rate of 30%. It causes collateral damage to up to 6 units, and has a +100% city attack bonus (giving it an effective Combat Strength of 36 when attacking cities). Artillery no longer gains a bonus against opposing Siege Units. It should be noted that Siege units are no longer immune to Collateral damage from other Siege Units - the range of Siege Units is considered equal, and thus any such units moving in range to fire at other Siege units would also be in range of opposing Siege units as well. Note that the Drill II+ promotions reduce Collateral damage the unit recieves.

Stonehenge (Released 06/02/2010)

Stonehenge is considered the oldest wonder from human civilization that still remains largely intact, and continues to inspire awe and wonder of ancient civiliztions that have long since been lost due to conquest and conversion throughout the ages. Just how the massive stone monoliths were moved and erected remains a mystery, as this task required technology that is thought to have been dscovered centuries later on the otherside of the world, and no other testements to the ancient civilization that constructed it remain today.

Stonehenge is largely unchanged. It still provides a free Monument in every city. However, Stonehenge never obsoletes, so the civilization that builds it will continue to gain this benefit throughout the game. Stonehenge only provides +4 Culture, which does not double with time, but capturing Stonehange no longer causes this Culture to be reduced. Stonehenge increases City Maintainance by +20%. Note that this wonder also has a hidden cost: each Monument also increases City Maintainance by +5%. Stone no longer provides a production bonus for Stonehenge. The Civilization that builds Stonehenge will find that they are able to grow their cities larger and expand their borders earlier, thanks to the +1 Happiness and +1 Culture provided by these free Monuments.

 

[Lachlan]

I will restart the game with your new iteration

Now...

What sort of map you recommend to play with your mod ?
It changes all

I'm playing currently Ban Tasi map with 06/02 iteration of your mod

 

[davane]

Personally, I'd recommend a map that allows you early contact with rival civilizations, as this means war will occur earlier, using the modified units, such as a Pangaea map. Most early UUs either match or have very slight power upgrades compared to the modified units - the power disparities between UUs and starndard units increase with each age at the moment. However, once I have done the standard units, I will dive straight in with the existing UUs to remedy this issue.

I am working on buildings too right now, although it's still early right now. Once I get through some of them, I plan to work on the terrain, feature, and improvement ideas I have, before heading on to civics. Once these are done, I can start looking at the tech tree itself, including adjusting research times to allow longer in each era and converting some of the projects to techs. Finally, I'll get around to traits, civilizations, and leaders. This will make the mod fully playable and complete, giving me a decent backbone for adding the features of other mods.

 

[Lachlan]

Noted

EDIT 21:09:00 :

Finally i play the smallest Ban Tasi with Marathon speed with 18 civs in regular conditions, problem is fixed, i'm not behind the score at the moment...

 

[davane]

The Machine Gun (Released 07/02/10)

The Machine Gun has a Combat Strength of 16, matching standard Infantry units. However, the Machine Gun has 2-3 First Strikes compared to the Infantry's 2 First Strikes, and has a +25% bonus against Gunpowder units. It also gains a +25% bonus when defending Cities, as well as gaining defensive bonuses. They are ideally suited to defending your cities, and can be very hard to shift. However, they are not immune to Collateral Damage, so other Siege units like Cannons and Artillery are better suited to tackling these foes. The Machine Gun upgrades to Mechanized Infantry and SAM Infantry.

The Walls (Released 07/02/10)

Walls provide +50% defence for your city, and reduce bombardment damage by 25%. They also increase City Maintainance by +5%. In addtion, in BTS, they provide a +25% Espionage Defence and help thwart Rival Spies. They no longer get double production for being a Protective leader or having access to Stone. Walls never obsolete - and gunpowder-based weapons do not automatically ignore building defences.

 

[davane]

The Ironclad (Released 08/02/10)

The Ironclad is a steam-based naval vessel that is limited to sailing through coastal tiles. It has a Combat Strength of 14 and 1 First Strike, and can bombard city defences by 10% each round. The Ironclad does not require any resources, and can be upgraded to Destroyers and Battleships.

Update (09/02/10): The Ironclad now has a +10% Withdrawal rate along with it's First Strike (not sure how I missed this one!)

The Pyramids (Released 08/02/10)

The Pyramids is an early wonder available with Masonry that grants the civilization that builds it access to all Government civic options. In addition, it provides +1 Happiness, and an additional +1 Happiness to all cities on the same continent. The Pyramids do not obsolete. The Pyramids provide +6 Culture, but this does not double with time not does this get reduced upon capture. The Pyramids does not get a production bonus from Stone. The Pyramids increases City Maintaince by +20%.

Design Principles: I do not like the idea of obsoleting buildings through tech, especially World Wonders. These buildings take a huge amount of effort to build, which could be better spent elsewhere, so having these simply stop working when you gain a relevent technology is somewhat counter intuitive - especially as obsoleting techs often replace the Wonder's effects with the same ability anyway, so the Wonder is essentially just providing the bonus earlier. As such, I am rebalancing all buildings that obsolete taking into consideration that they remain throughout the game. This includes those Wonders that provide one-shot effects, as well as those that do not technically obsolete, but still become redundant through time (such as the Pyramids above, which normally becomes redundant once you have all the techs enabling the Government civics).

To help facilitate this change even further, buildings that provide Culture do not double with time, but they also do not have their Culture reduced if they are captured. Thus, cities with World Wonders often re-establish their borders quicker than other cities when captured, making these viable targets. Civilizations will often fight over powerful Wonders, and the only way to get rid of a World Wonder's effects from the game is to raze the city completely.

 

[Afforess]

Human Vassal States...<snip>

Just wanted to point out, it's really easy to turn on human vassals. It's just controlled by a simple !isHuman() check in CvPlayer. (In the DLL)

Also, I've really enjoyed reading your idea's, Davane.

 

[os79]

Just wanted to point out, it's really easy to turn on human vassals. It's just controlled by a simple !isHuman() check in CvPlayer. (In the DLL)

Also, I've really enjoyed reading your idea's, Davane.

Yeah, me too .

I plan on modifying Davane's ideas for RoM in my modmod when he is done with all of units. Of course it will be somewhat different for some units and buildings because of RoM's bigness but I think I have ideas along the way. So look forward to it .

 

[davane]

Thanks - I am glad you like these ideas. I am certainly looking to incorporate features from Rise of Mankind in my mod eventually.

It's useful to know about the Human Vassals in the .dll - has anyone actually tried doing this mod, and what are the effects? I can understand my Firaxis didn't incorporate Human Vassals, given that these are essentually the same as giving up to a more powerful civilization while still remaining in the game. However, it does give the AI a huge advantage turning things into a 'king of the hill' style game - especially with certain civilizations that capitulate if you so much as sneeze on them! That said, it would make a pretty good option, particularly for multiplayer games, and even more so if the requirements for breaking out of capitulation are modified. While Vassal States cannot directly attack their Master, they can attempt to capture enemy cities to increase their own land, or simply stand by and let the enemy capture their Master's cities, possibly even seeking to reclaim it as their own. This is perfect for a cuttthroat diplomatic scenario. This could even be modified further, by allowing Vassal States to declare independance as they come close to being able to breaking out of capitulation, with the effect that if the Master does not let them go free, the Master and the Vassal State enter a state of war, pretty much like if the Vassal State refuses to give tribute. Thus, war losses could cause a mighty empire made out of vassal states to fragment and break up, as the states use the confusion and war to declare independance...

 

[Afforess]

It's useful to know about the Human Vassals in the .dll - has anyone actually tried doing this mod, and what are the effects? I can understand my Firaxis didn't incorporate Human Vassals, given that these are essentually the same as giving up to a more powerful civilization while still remaining in the game. However, it does give the AI a huge advantage turning things into a 'king of the hill' style game - especially with certain civilizations that capitulate if you so much as sneeze on them! That said, it would make a pretty good option, particularly for multiplayer games, and even more so if the requirements for breaking out of capitulation are modified. While Vassal States cannot directly attack their Master, they can attempt to capture enemy cities to increase their own land, or simply stand by and let the enemy capture their Master's cities, possibly even seeking to reclaim it as their own. This is perfect for a cuttthroat diplomatic scenario. This could even be modified further, by allowing Vassal States to declare independance as they come close to being able to breaking out of capitulation, with the effect that if the Master does not let them go free, the Master and the Vassal State enter a state of war, pretty much like if the Vassal State refuses to give tribute. Thus, war losses could cause a mighty empire made out of vassal states to fragment and break up, as the states use the confusion and war to declare independance...

It seems to me that Firaxis originally intended to allow humans be vassals, but dropped it at the last minute. There is code the SDK for it, that is never executed otherwise. A completely new and never seen before popup shows up occasionally as a vassal to an AI, where they demand a resource, or else!

The downside is that it is only half-finished. There is no AI code behind the deal, so the AI will accept your surrender under any terms. Even to the detriment of the AI.

However, in the Better AI mod by Jdog, he added a new global alt define to enable human as vassals, and added some AI code so that they wouldn't be stupid when humans tried to surrendur. I highly recommend you try Fuyu's Better AI + BUG + BULL merge.

 

[davane]

Thanks for the tip off, Afforess... now on with the mods!

Transports (Released 09/02/10)

Transports are late-game naval units designed to carry troops across oceans. They are stronger than Galleons, with a Combat Strength of 14, making them comparable in strength to Ironclads. They are capable of carrying up to 4 land units. They are available with the Combustion technology. This unit is pretty much end of the line for naval transport vessals, as the Flight technology provides the ability to air-lift units for quick transportation across the world.

(Update: 10/02/10): Transports now upgrade to Carriers.

Great Lighthouse (Released 09/02/10)

The Great Lighthouse wonder is a prime example of a wonder that is obsoleted by a tech that essentially replaces the wonder's ability, although in this case, there is a slight modification - the Great Lighthouse's +2 Coastal Trade Routes becomes +1 Trade Route with Corporation. With this in mind, the Great Lighthouse now only provides +1 coastal Trade Route, but it no longer obsoletes with Corporation and it's +1 Trade Route. As with other Wonders, it's Culture does not double with time, but also does not get reduced if the city is captured. In addition, it increases City Maintainance by +20% (although, the extra coastal Trade Routes should offset this increase a bit, making it more efficient as you get more coastal cities). The Great Lighthouse requires the Sailing and Masonry techs (the tech requirements have been adjusted so that the GLH icon shows up under Sailing rather than Masonry). It also requires that the city already has a Lighthouse.

 

[davane]

The Destroyer (Released 10/02/10)

The Destroyer is the iconic combat naval vessel of the Industrial and Modern Era. Armed with guns capable of firing on other naval vessels and coastline cities, it has a Combat Strength of 16, 1-2 First Strikes, and a 20% Withdrawal rate. The Destroyer requires Combustion, Astronomy, and Rifling to build. The Destroyer can upgrade to Battleships (and Stealth Destroyers in BtS). The Destroyer no longers spots Submarines, and no longer has a chance to intercept Air units.

Design Notes: Submarines require Radio, and Air units require Flight, both of which are Modern era techs. Since Destroyers are available in the the Industrial age, the threat provided by these units was as of yet undiscovered. This means these new units become more deadly to the older vessels. Air units should be countered by your Fighters (Carriers are available with Flight, so your Naval forces can have a Fighter escort at sea). Meanwhile, any naval unit can counter a Submarine, although you will require a Submarine to spot enemy Submarines. Late-game naval units added with BTS (such as the Stealth Destroyer and Missile Cruiser will retain their abilities to intercept Air units and spot Submarines.

The Parthenon (Released 10/02/10)

The Parthenon wonder essentially remains unchanged, continuing to provide +50% GPP in your cities. However, it has been updated to match other World Wonders, so that the Culture does not double, but neither is it reduced when captured, it increases City Maintainance by +20%, and it no longer obsoletes.

Update (19/02/10): The Parthenon now provides +100% Great People Points in your cities.

 

[davane]

Da' Vane's Mods (11/02/10)

The Battleship
The Battleship is a late Industrial era naval unit that can be most accurately described as the Artillery of the seas. It has a Combat Strength of 20 and 2 First Strikes. It causes Collateral Damage to up to 4 additional units. It has a 30% Withdrawal Rate. It can Bombard city defences, reducing them by -20% per turn. The Battleship requires Industrialism, Astronomy, Artillery, and Combustion to build, but requires no resources. The Battleship can be upgraded to Missile Cruisers with BTS. These ships should be used to take out enemy naval stacks and bombard city defences, although they are vulnerable to the Invisible submarines which they are unable to spot.

The Monastery
With Missionaries no longer requiring Monasteries to be built, the primary use for Monasteries is to increase a city's Research rate by +10%. This gives civilizations that have access to religion a research boost before Writing and Libraries become available. Monasteries no longer obsolete, so continue to provide their research bonuses even after Scientific Method. The more religions in a city, the more Monasteries can be built, and the higher the city's Research modifier can become. Monasteries also provide +2 culture, which does not increase with time. Monasteries increase City Maintainance by +5%, however.
Design Notes: Thematically, Monasteries were originally centres of learning and training. Their primary focus was their religion, but scholars from Monasteries also contributed to early advances in science in general. Despite contention between religion and science following the Enlightenment, many monasteries continued to add to the knowledge of civilizations, primarily through what would become known as the Social Sciences in the Modern era. Even as Social Sciences shifts away from religion to become more acceptable in the Scientific Community, many religious scholars continue to help the progress of social reforms through enlightened debate, although it remains to be seen exactly how much religion will contribute to the knowledge of the future.
Because there are so many religions in the game, and because Monasteries no longer obsolete, the Monasteries remain with a +10% Research rate, despite losing their primary use of enabling Missionaries. Hopefully, this will allow them to remain useful without becoming broken - while most cities will have access to 2 or 3 religions for a +20/+30 Research rate from Monasteries, a city with all 7 religions could gain a +70% research rate from Monasteries alone.
Update (04/05/10): Monasteries now provide +1 Culture instead of +2 Culture, and no longer provide a flat +10% Research bonus. Instead, they increase GPP in the city by +25%, and provide an additional bonus depending upon their religion, as follows: Judaism: +25% Wealth; Buddhism: +25% Research; Taoism: +25% Culture; Islam: +10% Wealth and +10% Research; Christianity: +10% Wealth and +10% Culture; Confucianism: +10% Research and +10% Culture; Hinduism: +5% Wealth, +5% Research, and +5% Culture. You can only build Monasteries for your current State Religion.