Economy Mod

As a way of explaining my relative silence lately... Been involved working on some things.

A small taste (this is finished, but not publicly available):

Changelog:
  • Happiness :) per Luxury Type reduced to 3, from 5
  • Excess Luxuries of the same type now grant +1 Happiness :)
    • Please note, this is only excess. The first instance of a resource is not considered.
    • New tag, ExtraHappiness, added to Resources. This tag controls the amount of happiness granted; Opted for a tag rather than hardcoding for easy tweaking of values. Currently set to 1 for all Luxuries, others are 0.
    • The code does not check specifically for luxury resources, it simply checks for a resource you possess more than one of, and then checks the ExtraHappiness tag. This means if you set that to a non-zero value on, say, Iron, it will grant happiness. Or, potentially, remove happiness. I have not tested negative values, but there is no reason it shouldn't work.


Comments:

I have made sure to output debugging data to FireTuner... A sample output:
Code:
 LuxuryHappiness: Resource ID: 22, Available: 3, Happiness per Extra Instance: 1
 LuxuryHappiness: Total Extra Happiness: 2
 LuxuryHappiness: Happiness Change: 2, Total Happiness: 14

If you have no excess luxuries, it will only output the middle line. The others are embedded inside of checks that would have been failed already. The first line will be duplicated for any applicable resource.


One thing I found out in the process of adding this... The SetHappiness() function is temporary. Happiness is recalculated each turn; I assumed it would be a constant addition. Meaning I figured out the scriptdata system, and then had to junk the entire thing. :mischief:
 
And yet another new mechanic... :p

I'll be making these available soon, as separate downloads (they contain lua, but are completely modular and do not affect InGame.xml. I'll have to post a separate version of the latest mod for EconomyMod, however, as it modifies TopPanel.lua for display purposes).


What is it this time? Dark Ages. ;)

Dark Ages v1

Alright, Dark Ages are implemented and should be functioning well. I have absolutely no idea if they are balanced yet, however, as I've done nothing other than test using FireTuner to make sure it behaved as expected. :lol:

Changelog:
  • Long periods of unhappiness now trigger Dark Ages
    • The Dark Age Meter is incremented if your empire's Unhappiness, minus the current Golden Age Meter, is greater than 0.
    • Once the Meter is equal to or greater than the Dark Age Threshold, a Dark Age begins. The Threshold starts at 500, and is decreased by 50 for each Dark Age you trigger.
  • Dark Ages consist of 10 turns of Anarchy
    • As of now, the length of a Dark Age is constant. I'm considering setting it to increase with each new Dark Age, but I'm not sure it's necessary. Opinions are welcome. ;)


Issues:

As far as I am aware, there are no non-graphical issues. From the point of view of the player, the GoldenAgeMeter simply moves into negative values; So long as it is positive, the DA Meter will not increase (unless Unhappiness - GA Meter > 0, in which case it increases by that difference, as should be expected), and the same holds for the opposite.

The top panel will also display Dark Ages accurately, including in the mouseover; The only graphical issue that I know of is the lack of a Dark Age icon. :lol: Looks slightly odd to see the Golden Age icon next to the text; If anyone would like to make an icon for it, feel free. Not really my area of expertise. ;)
 
I find there is one major issue here. When the mod is active, the bar where you pick the actions for your units is gone. So unless I just missed something to make it appear, this is a problem.

EDIT: 'Nother problem. When you click the "Choose Production" button, it doesn't work. Neither does it in the City Screen. I'm kind of assuming that the Research is the same.

EDIT #2: Ok, Research works, but Production doesn't.
 
GfxJG, both problems have been handled extensively in the thread.

Production: use ctrl or shift while clicking items to add them to the queue.
Unit panel: Use latest eco mod and/or reduce resolution.

@Valkrionn: The happiness mod is gonna be a optional/seperate too? I don't think I'd want those changes. Excess resources are supposed to be traded, ok the AI is broked in the last firaxis patch and now doesn't want to do any even remotely fair trade but that isn't an issue I'd solve through this eco mod.
 
I find there is one major issue here. When the mod is active, the bar where you pick the actions for your units is gone. So unless I just missed something to make it appear, this is a problem.

EDIT: 'Nother problem. When you click the "Choose Production" button, it doesn't work. Neither does it in the City Screen. I'm kind of assuming that the Research is the same.

EDIT #2: Ok, Research works, but Production doesn't.

Update to the latest version of Civ5 (either run steam in 'online mode' or tell it to update if you toggled no automatic updates).

GfxJG, both problems have been handled extensively in the thread.

Production: use ctrl or shift while clicking items to add them to the queue.
Unit panel: Use latest eco mod and/or reduce resolution.

@Valkrionn: The happiness mod is gonna be a optional/seperate too? I don't think I'd want those changes. Excess resources are supposed to be traded, ok the AI is broked in the last firaxis patch and now doesn't want to do any even remotely fair trade but that isn't an issue I'd solve through this eco mod.

The happiness mod is separate as well. However, trading is still very much encouraged, and the AI in the version I'm operating on (built for the test version ;)) will trade resources fairly (net advantage for net advantage).

Keep in mind: The current system, you only want to trade excess if you can get a new resource in return, regardless of my changes, unless you are selling it. And with my changes, you move from a case of +0:) for +5:), to a case of +0.5:) for 3:). Still a net gain, still very much encouraged.
 
Great!

The reason is that imho* excess luxery resources should be pretty much** totally useless except for trading against other luxery resources.

I remember that the idea is that resources are a bit regional. So for instance I might have 4 Ivory but no Incense, Wine or Dyes. While another civ has 4 Incense, another 4 Wine, etc.

Perfect situation of a peacefull nation would be me trading my excess 3 Ivory with three different civs and thus getting 3 different resources in return. And this way the other civs get a resource they didn't have yet.

Of course right now it doesn't work that way, but that would be the goal I'd strife for when picking (or creating) mods that adjust luxery resources mechanics.


* ie I think it's more fun
** Except for their tile bonus
 
GfxJG, both problems have been handled extensively in the thread.

Production: use ctrl or shift while clicking items to add them to the queue.
Unit panel: Use latest eco mod and/or reduce resolution.

@Valkrionn: The happiness mod is gonna be a optional/seperate too? I don't think I'd want those changes. Excess resources are supposed to be traded, ok the AI is broked in the last firaxis patch and now doesn't want to do any even remotely fair trade but that isn't an issue I'd solve through this eco mod.

I really couldn't be bothered to look through 30+ pages. But thanks.
 
Great!

The reason is that imho* excess luxery resources should be pretty much** totally useless except for trading against other luxery resources.

I remember that the idea is that resources are a bit regional. So for instance I might have 4 Ivory but no Incense, Wine or Dyes. While another civ has 4 Incense, another 4 Wine, etc.

Perfect situation of a peacefull nation would be me trading my excess 3 Ivory with three different civs and thus getting 3 different resources in return. And this way the other civs get a resource they didn't have yet.

Of course right now it doesn't work that way, but that would be the goal I'd strife for when picking (or creating) mods that adjust luxery resources mechanics.


* ie I think it's more fun
** Except for their tile bonus

Ah, but you see, that's a large part of why I made the change. Now, before you can trade, you actually have a use for your excess luxuries... But once you are able to trade them, there is NO reason not to.

Going back to your example: That 3 extra Ivory would grant +1.5 :), which rounds down to 1 (not sure why, 1.75 rounds up. 1.5 rounding down is odd to me. :p). But once you can trade them away... Trade one for spice: -0, +3. Net gain of 3. Trade one for silk. -1, +3. Net gain of 2. Trade one for gold. -0, +3. Net gain of 3.

Trading is still very much encouraged, now you just have a use for the extra. ;)
 
Are you planning to change the bazaar in your happy mod? Cause if you don't Arabia could be really OP as every bazaar will be up to 15 happy extra if i understand correctly
 
Just a thought as to how to improve resources (not just luxuries). What if multiple copies of the same resource gave you a slight boost to your yields & commerces? So, for example, each unit of Marble you have gives a +0.5 boost (per city) to production & a +0.25 (per city) boost to culture. Each unit of gold you have might give you a +0.5 boost to gold (obviously) & +0.25 boost to culture. There would obviously have to be some cut off (like +3 or something), to encourage some trade in surpluses, but this-along with the ideas you're suggesting Valk, would definitely increase the importance of having multiple copies of the same resource within their boundaries-as well as increasing the importance of obtaining multiple copies of the same resource via trade or war.

Aussie.
 
Possible consideration for a mod, yeah. The important thing to remember here though: These two mods, and Dale's ICS Killer mod, are not simply mods. They are more or less ideas that the testers have all agreed should be implemented, done as mods so we can test them and attempt to get the devs to implement in the core game.

There's one more mod coming from me that will consist of emigration/revolution, and then I will release all three to the public.
 
Possible consideration for a mod, yeah. The important thing to remember here though: These two mods, and Dale's ICS Killer mod, are not simply mods. They are more or less ideas that the testers have all agreed should be implemented, done as mods so we can test them and attempt to get the devs to implement in the core game.

There's one more mod coming from me that will consist of emigration/revolution, and then I will release all three to the public.

So we shouldn't wait any update until you are finished with all three mods? Damn! that's quite sad. =/

Actually I have a suggestion/idea for a mod: what about implementing some peacetime use for strategic resources? Right now you just trade 5 horses to an IA that has another 30 horses for some pieces of gold. Specially if you have a few city-states by your side.

I imagine maybe a very local increase of commerce/production and it would reflect the civilian use of those strategic resources.

Maybe make it something that you have to activate so that we can throw in some drawbacks? Like, if you buy some unit then you would be "confiscating" the resource, so you would get some unhappiness or a decrease of trading or have to pay more...

Just throwing some wild cards, maybe you can make some good out of it. lol
 
Actually I have a suggestion/idea for a mod: what about implementing some peacetime use for strategic resources? Right now you just trade 5 horses to an IA that has another 30 horses for some pieces of gold. Specially if you have a few city-states by your side.

I imagine maybe a very local increase of commerce/production and it would reflect the civilian use of those strategic resources.

Maybe make it something that you have to activate so that we can throw in some drawbacks? Like, if you buy some unit then you would be "confiscating" the resource, so you would get some unhappiness or a decrease of trading or have to pay more...

Just throwing some wild cards, maybe you can make some good out of it. lol

Another suggestion is using 3 or 4 horse resources for a Race Track improvement that either adds gold or happiness, maybe both, for the city it's built in.
 
The code does not check specifically for luxury resources, it simply checks for a resource you possess more than one of, and then checks the ExtraHappiness tag. This means if you set that to a non-zero value on, say, Iron, it will grant happiness. Or, potentially, remove happiness. I have not tested negative values, but there is no reason it shouldn't work.

:eek::eek: Imagine, Uranium -1 happiness...
 
:eek::eek: Imagine, Uranium -1 happiness...

But it's not like we (the people) know how much uranium our country have.

It makes more sense to add a -1 happiness to nuclear plants after a meltdown.

By the way, I REALLY want some random events in this game... =/
 
Dark Ages v1
Valkrionn;;9938828 said:
o As of now, the length of a Dark Age is constant. I'm considering setting it to increase with each new Dark Age, but I'm not sure it's necessary. Opinions are welcome.


You should stay in the dark age until your empire is happy.
Stop the dark age when the golden age meter reach -499.
 
That would make them essentially eternal.

A Dark Age is a period of anarchy, which means you generate NO gold, NO science, NO production. You also cannot spend culture on policies (though you still earn it). Not sure if you can buy things or not.... But even if you can, you cannot generate gold, so if you don't already have the gold for happy buildings (in which case you should not be in a Dark Age), you'll be absolutely hosed.

In short: That would be a very bad implementation given the penalty. And I cannot use a different penalty, as we're pretty limited with what effects we can have.
 
Top Bottom