well, not late then, maybe expensive ?
The issue with patrol is that it occupies expensive xp of units (3 levels) that become thus weak versus their level...
Normally we already want units in the city to Defend... so you want to give them combat or CD...
Another way to put it : for solving a city issue, you propose us to use a Unit solution.
This is a first.
Normally there is only 1 civic that makes use of units to solve happy issues in city ; otherwise, units are for military, and cities manages themselves using ressource, commerce and buildings.
ok, that part is actually intended. i really want to up the synergy between units and cities. Having units that sap or boost yields and commerces, and other city stats.
On the dungeon, i could decrease its cost a bit.
I cannot currently test it's balance rightfully as I'm grigori, and with quests, I quickly get lvl 4 warriors with patrol III to garrison my cities, so it's currently easy.
Some other 4 random ideas that might help make the "use units to fight crime" less hurtfull (for me):
- Combat I-V & City Defense I-II and Drill I-III, Guardsman each give -1 crime fighting : thus, garrisoned units help fighting crime, in small bits (but you still need many units in city for crime fighting) .
- Use the promotion "Patrol" you have but as a 1 time specialisation, after combat II or drill II: -8 crime. ( can combine with idea above for - 10 with C2-D2)... 1 promotion only for dedicating a unit against crime fighting. (like we have 1 promotion for guarding, 1 promotion for pillaging...Etc)
- Keep patrol as is... but
°°° Each Patrol promotion gives +10% against recon, higher chance of defense against recon: Police force are useful to guard and survive against assassins... (but not sniper) (but as it's 10% instead of 20% for combat, it might still not twart assassination too much)
°°° Only 2 Patrol promotions : -4 & -6 (currently the 1st patrol only alleviates 1 pop !)
°°° Patrol III (or II?) gives "no-cost" to the unit : it becomes free from supply cost : at least this unit you specialise doesn't cost you much.
-Combat no, city defense and guardsman maybe.
-patrol will stay as a promotion line
- Yeah, definitely agree for a bonus against recon ( well, rogue when i actually separate the two unitlines, but in the meantime, recon is good)
Does Unyielding Order .... removes crime ?
Does Order temple reduce crime ?
Maybe Templar could get -2 crime ?
Maybe CoEsus could alleviate crime issues ? (but not by removing crime, only by removing some negative aspects, or by increasing the positive aspects of crime)
Unyielding Order decreases crime a lot, as does Order temple. Templar is a good idea, and Esus is definitely going to have some specific bonuses (basically, unique versions of crimes that will be much more positive). It just wasn't part of the first pass on the mechanic.
First of all – awesome work with the new version. You sir rock - I can tell you how much I love playing this game right now.
Comments on 336 – Early Wraiths kill AI (and me). In the new version it seems that Wraiths spawn quite frequently very early, and kills AI. A 6(+3 death) Wraith kills everything early game. I just lost Elohim at around turn 100 to one, and my crazed Swordman which wandered into Svartalfar lands took down their capital in one battle, as a single Wraith had taken out every single warrior in good order, including burnt their city second biggest city. My Swordman was quickly massacred the next turn, and the Wraith continued his merry genocide.
Some turns later TWO more pop down from the north and destroys my main army, and only spamming Fawns saved me. The skeleton – Spectre – Wraith evolution should maybe be toned down?
i wasn't aware it was this bad. I'll definitely look into it.
Crime – the biggie. Impressive setup! My main concern is two fold.
1: The early game now becomes ENTIRELY about mitigating crime. Everything from research order (need that courthouse before EVERYTHING) to build que (bee line to training yard or Archery range to get some promotions for new cities) to early expansion (no hammers to build an army for anything expect policing) to micro growth (no more pumping up cities with animals, to fast growth is a killer).
2: It’s a little less fun I must admit. The main problem is that the crime stays when the city destroys itself. A city can end up with 1100 crime and be size one, making it almost impossible to get down due to Outbreak that gives +30 crime. Almost better to destroy the city and start from scratch…
There needs to be some balancing.
Yeah, it definitely needs balancing. Some of the crimes have a population prereq. I could probably generalize that, so that small cities get no-to-minor maluses. Could also make it so that the crime rate per pop only starts at pop 5 or so. Would delay crime as a mid-life city crisis.
Proposal one: Crime should only be able go to a maximum level of pop*100. So a size 5 city can have 500 crime, and so on. This also works lore-wise – as city descend into chaos, the rioters die or flee. Thus going from size 10 to 5 automatically brings crime down to 500, but if you don’t mitigate the rise-rate, it will descend into chaos again when and the loop continues.
Proposal two: (Needs balancing) Every promotion gives -1 crime. It makes little sense that posting an entire army in a crime-ridden cesspool of a city has no effect unless there is a special promotion. This also works lore-wise. The great hero (or large army) arrives in town, and the rascals hid in the shadows afraid to come out. This police-promoted units will stay behind when the army moves out, but they suck at general combat so you leave your cities exposed. It could be that the police-promoted units give their effect straight away, while normal promotions crime reducing effect scale up starting from 0% to 100% over 10 turns (Lore description; needs to get organized, identify criminal networks takes time etc)
Proposal three: Going back to Alpha Centauri – you could nerve staple those pesky drones in dire situations. When everything has gone to hell, and you have 1000 crime for a starving city there should be an option to institute martial law. It could work by sending an equal amount of units to a city as there is people (so 5 units for a 5 city town). EITHER this stops new crimes being committed (thus stemming the flood of new angry citizens and gives you a chance to deal with what has already happened) OR leaving the army fortified for X (1 turn per 100?) amount of turns resets the crime timer (lore: the army spend months rooting out every single element of sedation and corruption), if the city grows during these X turn, you need to send in more troops to continue the reset timer.
Martial law could be an option as a city action. i'll think about it
Third comment (just flavor): It seems that lair results are less “fun” now. Not a single item but plenty of fur coats early game. Getting an early jewel (10% domination) is really fun as you can find yourself with really fun units.
yeah i did a rebalance or the lair results to prevent really game breaking results, and also help the ai avoid getting wiped by deadly lairs. i may have been a bit too harsh on certain positive results. i will do a second pass at it. Some lairs do lack some specific results too and could use more for flavor.
Fourth comment: I really hate the "no-one" return lair result, maybe make it so that the lair never disappear from that event, and you can send down a unit to try to rescue the first one, maybe getting another one trapped, or saving both?
that's a good idea and i have an existing tool that could work for that. i'll look at whether it's adapted or need tweaks.
Proposal for new item: Scroll of town portal. Works as Hunter’s prize, but is a one time charge. Would be really fun to use in a pinch for a hero or to retrieve a hunter trapped between civilizations that refuse open borders – it just not fun having unit trapped for the entirety of a game when they can shuttle back animals.
that could work.
in my 11size city.
