FfH2 0.32 Changelog

[mahazel]

I have a question about Acheron- is it possible to give him 2 or 3 movement, but also the item that is reducing movement to 0? My personal quest in almost all games is to catch Acheron, because he is my favorite dragon. Or instead of that kind of item give him possibility to choose also second movement promotion (mobility 2 is available for animal unit, but not for beast).

2. Added a No Techs game option (for scenarios).

Are scenarios included in this new release?

1. Priests don't have a resource requirement anymore.
2. High Priests have resource requirements (all are Incense except for the RoK High Priest who requires Gems).
5. Dies Diei reveals all invisible units within your borders.
6. Nox Noctis makes all your units within your borders invisible (if they aren't in cities).
13. The Tower of Eyes provides a free Dungeon in every city.
27. Added the Two-Headed Cow event.
3. AI won't attack with Heroes (world units) if his attack odds are beneath 95%.
4. AI won't attack with true Spell Casters if his attack odds are beneath 95%.
5. AI realizes it wont destroy forests when laying improvements if it is bMaintainFeatures (the Ljosalfar and Svartalfar).
6. AI is more likely to build unit enabling buildings (if no ai building prereqs aren't enabled).
7. AI is more likely to prefer high strength units.
8. Rewrote the AI_getStrategyHash function to base decisions on FfH functions instead of vanilla configuration.
9. AI taught when to vote for and against the new voting mechanics (they will no longer vote positively for everything).
10. AI is less likely to build forts together (added a pPlot::isBuilding check).

These changes are great!

 

[TheJopa]

Wohooo! Nice changelog, and my proposal made it in as well!
Especially glad to see more events, and eventchance going from 2% to 4%, so double. Does this mean we get 8% with living world?

 

[xienwolf]

Are the new options, meant primarily for scenarios, set to be non-visible? That way a scenario writer can still set them quite easily (make them visisble for himself, or edit the scenario file to toggle options), but there isn't quite so much option-clutter for the normal games to sort through.

That or a new tab for all of the Scenario-Oriented options in the Custom Game screen.

 

[Kael]

Are the new options, meant primarily for scenarios, set to be non-visible? That way a scenario writer can still set them quite easily (make them visisble for himself, or edit the scenario file to toggle options), but there isn't quite so much option-clutter for the normal games to sort through.

That or a new tab for all of the Scenario-Oriented options in the Custom Game screen.

Yes, if its marked for scenarios its not visible in the custom menu (I think No World Spells is the only visibile new option in 0.32).

 

[marioflag]

The Sovereign city and City Split event are for me the most interesting addon in 0.32.
Are these new events something which will be further developed or are these just events?What i mean is: will these event be triggered by particular elements like religion,city culture,happiness, other events or they will randomly appear without any prerequisite?
Can you use diplomacy with these new city states and will they get a leader to interact with?Any idea if these events could be further developed with introduction of minor cults or ideological zealots willing to declare independence?

 

[Xuenay]

8. Rewrote the AI_getStrategyHash function to base decisions on FfH functions instead of vanilla configuration.

Just curious, what's this do? (What role does the AI_getStrategyHash function serve? What vanilla functions did it use for input that got replaced with FfH-specific ones?)

 

[TheJopa]

The Sovereign city and City Split event are for me the most interesting addon in 0.32.
Are these new events something which will be further developed or are these just events?What i mean is: will these event be triggered by particular elements like religion,city culture,happiness, other events or they will randomly appear without any prerequisite?
Can you use diplomacy with these new city states and will they get a leader to interact with?Any idea if these events could be further developed with introduction of minor cults or ideological zealots willing to declare independence?

Yeah, I was wondering about this too. Internal strife and civil war is something I'd like to see in FfH. Of course, not in annoying way like in civ2 - bang, you are now in civil war - but as a slow process in which you have a great deal of influence. Adopting civics like city states would destabilize your empire, theocracy would increase religious tensions, so you'd have to combine with strong inquisitors presence... People would want to change to republic and liberty, generals (therefore your units, but not those with loyalty) would want aristocracy or god king, nationhood, military state, conquest. Slaves would revolt in case of slavery...


As far as I know Kael wanted to implement civil wars (and city states were designed to increase chance to start a civil war) but it was removed as unfun and unpredictable. I think we reached a stage (with all SDK possibilities and events) where it can be implemented in very nice manner.

For one, it wouldn't be *AN event*, but always a series of events. So you would know when your civ is unstable and why. They you would be faced with demands of the one side. You could deny them, or go ahead and bow down to their demands. So what if you have to abolish slavery - sure, you will lose slaves and you will suffer somewhat, but you will always have an option to avoid civil war. Or option to bribe them with gold, or assassinate their leaders, or suppress them... You will have the choice and be able to predict the events.

 

[Kael]

Just curious, what's this do? (What role does the AI_getStrategyHash function serve? What vanilla functions did it use for input that got replaced with FfH-specific ones?)

AI_getStrategyHash is the routine that AI players run through to determine what strategy's they should be pursueing. They strategy's accepted here determine everything above (what units they build, what those units do, if the ai declares war, if it feels threatened, etc). So it is about as low level as you can get in AI decisions and the place I wanted to start in reworking the AI.

Specifically there were some strategies that didn't make any sense in FfH terms. For example the Ai has a programmed strategy called land blitz that becomes acceptable if it has enough land units with high movement, shared borders with a potential enemy, etc. One fo those etc's is that the player has to have some anti-aircraft units befopre it will consider the strategy. That makes sense in vanilla where it wouldnt be wise to rush a bunch of non-AA units into an enemies area only to be decimated by aircraft. But in FfH all that means is that they will never see that a land blitz is an effective strategy.

0.32 is really the first step of working on the AI. Id like to add strategy hashes for new things eventually like trying to compelte the altar of the luonnotar (the ai rushes prophets and moves them to the altar city to add to it).

And we also begin to move up through the elements, once the player strategy is set we begin to look at the use of the units in that strategy, what makes since, where spell casting figures in, etc. For exampel there is a peace strategy hash where the ai doesn't feel threatened, that would be a good trigger to start sending adepts out to cast spring and such. Ai's preping for war may be better off sending adepts around casting enchanted blades and those waging wa may be best off hooking their units up with stacks. There is a lot to do, it isnt very sexy work (like adding new features) but for the rest of the project that sort of work (and the scenarios) will probably be taking most of my time.

 

[MaxAstro]

Yes, if its marked for scenarios its not visible in the custom menu (I think No World Spells is the only visibile new option in 0.32).

Actually, Capture All Buildings sounds like it would be kind of a fun option sometimes; would be nice if all the scenario-specific game options could just be moved to a different menu, so they didn't clutter things but were still selectable for when you wanted a crazy game.

 

[smjjames]

a couple more comments here from me

23. Added the Sobs event (rewards spirit).

Kael, could you explain this one? while the other events are clear from their names, I don't get this one.

5. Dies Diei reveals all invisible units within your borders.
6. Nox Noctis makes all your units within your borders invisible (if they aren't in cities).

I might be the only voice of dissention on this one, but this combo sounds very powerful if one player manages to get both, unless there is more to it than you're not telling us.

5. The Circle of Gaelan events now trigger correctly.

I assume the witch event chain is also fixed?

 

[Xuenay]

AI_getStrategyHash is the routine that AI players run through to determine what strategy's they should be pursueing. They strategy's accepted here determine everything above (what units they build, what those units do, if the ai declares war, if it feels threatened, etc). So it is about as low level as you can get in AI decisions and the place I wanted to start in reworking the AI.

I see, neat. Thanks for the explanation.

I might be the only voice of dissention on this one, but this combo sounds very powerful if one player manages to get both, unless there is more to it than you're not telling us.

It doesn't sound all that powerful to me - and currently the two new religions don't seem as strong as the old ones in the first place. This is boosting them a bit, which is a good thing.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

On one hand, I consider Empyrean the best religion right now. Chalid is wearing Hemah's old mantle of "uber arcane hero", the temples are good, and Blinding Light is still awesome. But then, I think the Deis Diei boost is a lot weaker than the Nox Noctis one, unless it works on HN units instead of just invisible ones.

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Empyrean weak? Are you kidding? Radiants and Rathas can immobilize massive armies with just a handful of troops, Luriduses (Luridi?) turn entire stacks into fodder to train up your troops and mages with, and Chalid does the same thing except even more so. Oh, and the extra council vote (which applies to BOTH councils) is just icing on the cake.
edit: What Monkeyfinger said, basically.

CoE, well, there you have a case. Esus isn't that great IMO as a primary religion, though I always try to grab it for the Undercouncil if I can.

2. Adjusted all leaders tolerance for battle odds, some take less risk (Elohim), some take more risk (Doviello), some randomly decide from turn to turn (Balseraphs).
3. AI won't attack with Heroes (world units) if his attack odds are beneath 95%.
4. AI won't attack with true Spell Casters if his attack odds are beneath 95%.

Does #2 affect #3? In other words, will Doviello take more risks with heroes while Elohim won't? Likewise for #4. Also, is it possible to make #4 XP/promotion-dependent? In other words, will the AI try to level up its newbie adepts on mid-range combat chances (50-70%), but keep the adepts/mages that already have a few spheres out of combat? As it is, the AI rarely if ever has any mages, and doesn't use the casters it has effectively anyway.

 

[xienwolf]

By the comments Kael has made so far, the fix to Gaelan is very specifically just fixing Gaelan. It isn't an overarching change to how events work.

The Witch Event, from what I recall seeing, doesn't have any follow-up events written yet. So technically they all work perfectly as intended.

 

[smjjames]

I thought someone had said that the witch event was part of an event chain, but heck.

I'm still wondering what the Sobs event is about, although I'll probably have to wait for release.

 

[TheJopa]

As far as my knowledge of English is concerned, to sob is to cry, weep. So probably some haunted area event, or depression related. Anyway it has an extra option if you have spirit mana, which fits the my impression.

 

[smjjames]

I know what the word means (and you're correct), just the word alone doesn't give alot of definition to what the event is.

I have a little idea here that could connect the sickness event with the plague one which can give a graveyard. If you choose the wrong option for the sickness event, you will have a higher chance of getting the plague one which gives the graveyard as one result, which resets it's chance of happening after it triggers. If you choose the right option for the sickness event, the chance for the plague one does not change. Of course though, I have no idea how easily codeable this would be, and the sickness event might be different enough from the other one, or maybe similar enough, that they couldn't really be chained.

Whether or not you use this idea is up to you Kael.

 

[Kael]

The Sobs and Soverign City events.

 

[smjjames]

nice Kael.

Although I'd have to say that your only other city wanting to go soveriegn that early in the game has got to suck. Just a little thought here, did you add a check to make sure your capital city doesn't get targeted by the soveriegn city event? Since you would think your government seat would be almost immune to that type of rebellion.

 

[Kael]

nice Kael.

Although I'd have to say that your only other city wanting to go soveriegn that early in the game has got to suck. Just a little thought here, did you add a check to make sure your capital city doesn't get targeted by the soveriegn city event? Since you would think your government seat would be almost immune to that type of rebellion.

Yes, and I forced that event to trigger there. It would be incrediably unlikely in a normal game (in fact the event is pretty rare to ever occur).