Into the Nebula

[Starrynite120]

This is a Mod that is currently in development. Here are the goals:

-Some general balance changes (not too much, just a few things that are ridiculous like Titanium mines. Finished, though changes may still be included)
-Loadout balance (finished)
-Tech web layout (done, but still open to changes)
-Tech "era's" (there are 5 tiers to the tech web. The fifth tier will have only the victory tech's on it. To research something in the tier you're beyond, you will need to have a certain amount of techs in the previous web researched. This will prevent ridiculous beelining to end game techs. It will also add some time to the game, but hopefully without adding simple waiting time)
-Building/wonder changes, putting them on different places in the tech web
-Giving affinities different playstyles (Harmony-growth, Purity-culture, Supremacy-economy)
-Changing the victories so they are more unique. Supremacy will require you to have amassed, say, 20,000 energy to build the Emancipation gate. Harmony will require a city with 40 population to build the Mind Flower. Purity will require you to have adopted 25 virtues. Contact will be a science victory, where you have to research 3 tier 5 techs to build the beacon. This will hopefully require varying strategies to win for the different affinities).
-Changing affinity gain to be less tech dependent. Affinity will still be gained from the tech web, but much less, and the player will gain affinity from which buildings and improvements they choose.)
-Maybe virtue changes, but I really like Machiavelli's mod for this so it doesn't seem quite necessary.

Attached is a current version of the mod. It is unplayable right now. The tech web has been reorganized, but very little has been placed on it yet. If anyone would be willing to look at it, I want to know what anyone thinks of the tech web and how its been arranged. Once you have looked at it, tell me what you think below. The top is all the harmony techs, the bottom left is supremacy, and bottom right is purity. Hybrid stuff and the contact victories are in between. You will notice there are almost no leaf techs. I did not like leaf techs as they led nowhere else and were only good for what was on them (which in the base game was usually very little, often a lousy wonder or a unit).

Also, I do not have a ton of experience modding, especially with lua, and I am currently working on figuring out how to do lua. However, if anyone would like to help me do these 3 things via lua, I would appreciate it very much and would of course mention you in special thanks. The 3 things are: tech web eras (ex. being unable to research a tier 2 tech without researching a certain amount of tier 1 techs), a way to assign affinity experience to buildings and improvements in the same way its assigned to techs, and editing the victory conditions. If anyone would like to help, just comment below. If no one does though, I'll eventually figure it out.

***There is a bug with the loadout options. the Fusion reactor actually gives 300 energy, and weapon arsenal gives a Tacjet. For some reason I couldn't get the text to update.

 

[Starrynite120]

I've done quite a bit more work with this, and I'd like some other people to take a look at it. Wonders have been completely redone, and I did something interesting and different with Improvements that will make the early game quite different. All that's left is to place Buildings on the tech tree, which tier one has already been placed. Let me know what you think!

 

[MasterEcabob]

Just took a look at this and the basic structure looks really interesting. The tech web looks interesting, although obviously still a WIP. I like that the Quantum Computer is available right off the bat, although you should probably change the production costs of the wonders to reflect their new spot on the web. I'm not sure if I like the +1 culture from farms right off the bat with floatstone quarries, that seems like a bonus you should save for later down the tree.

I don't recall seeing the spy national wonder on there-where were you planning on having that?

 

[Starrynite120]

Production costs for wonders haven't been changed at all yet, I had just finished with their effects. Their production costs will be scaled by what tier of the web they are on. As for the farms thing, something I am doing is I will be making an era mechanic, so you have to research, say, 5 techs in tier 0 and 1 before you can research tier 2. This will delay that culture bonus. Also, I am assigning to all improvements an affinity. Generator and Nodes, for example, belong to supremacy (and will actually yield supremacy experience when finished), and generators are supposed to be an early game weak node, later to be replaced with them. Same for farms and domes. Domes will have, when fully upgraded, a yield of 1 food, 1 energy, and 4 culture. Farms will have 1 food and 1 culture, as weaker version of the dome. Though I do see your point with this, and may move it on to, say, the leaf tech so you have to invest a bit more. I should point out that Generators are given a similar boost on power systems.

As for the Spy Agency, I put that in with the other buildings and those haven't been placed yet, though it will be on tier 2 of the web.

I also am nearly done adding some national wonders to the game, hopefully those will work well. I'll post another version in the next week or so, hopefully with buildings placed.

 

[Gorbles]

Bookmarking to give this a spin when I have the time. Interesting premise and changes!

 

[MasterEcabob]

I'm used to the super farm from the main game so I was mostly thinking in terms of that. Kind of interesting that farms could have diminishing returns now, as in the main game there is never any reason to upgrade farms beyond roleplaying purposes.

One piece of advice with adding affinity to improvements mostly going off of the Affinity as Yields mod is that the AI loves to spam Biowells. This means that when you conquer one of their cities, you get a huge affinity boost from those tiles that you might not want.

 

[Starrynite120]

You only get the affinity boost when your worker finishes building it, so conquering a city wouldn't provide you any affinity.

 

[MasterEcabob]

Now that's an interesting solution. So how many Purity levels would you get for, say, building 10 Terrascapes?

 

[Starrynite120]

Terrascapes, since they have the longest build time, yield 4 purity. Most other advanced improvements will yield 3. I haven't done the scaling for affinity levels yet, but I'm thinking something like the first level costs 15 or 20, and every subsequent level will be an additional 5. I'll have to test this of course to see how it goes. Nothing by itself will ever provide a whole affinity level like techs can in rising tide, but there will be many ways to gain some boosts, from techs, improvements, buildings, and wonders.

 

[Starrynite120]

The Tech web and everything to be placed on it is now finished. There may still be some tweaks here and there, but this is what it will look like. All buildings are finished, as well as all wonders. There are now 12 buildings per affinity, instead of 8, one being a national wonder. I have also added national wonders to the game.

I would like for some other people to take a look at this and tell me what they think. I would like particular notice to be paid to the affinity buildings, as they were changed the most and I am trying some new things with them. You can post here what you think. Attached is the latest version.

 

[Starrynite120]

Just added affinity gain to the tech web and wonders. Affinity gain has been previously added to improvements (1-3 per improvement, based on how advanced it is). Affinity will be added in the future to buildings and virtues, along with a rework of the virtue trees. Here is the updated version. Anyone who looks at it, tell me what you think! No one else has looked at it yet, so I'd really like some other opinions.

 

[Starrynite120]

Its been awhile, but new version with quite a bit of new stuff. Here's what I've got done since the last post:

-redone virtue trees with affinity gain added
-Sponsor abilities
-Affinity perks
-building quests (still implementing, not done yet)
-buildings edited a bit further
-a redone health system that is much more impactful. Every percent of negative or positive health changes all your yields by 1% either up or down. Also, basic resources, when improved, now provide 1 health (kind of like CiV's luxury resources, the exception being minable ones which inherently have 1 health before improved). Health on virtues has been entirely moved to kicker bonuses.
-loadouts were redone. Colonists now provide half the yields they did before, but improve their relative specialist yield by 1, thus making colonists have a greater impact on the game

These are just the big things. If anyone wants to take a look I'd greatly appreciate some more opinions. What I want input on the most is virtues, as I feel they are not done and could still use quite a bit of tweaking. Of particular note is the free satellites early on. I'm curious to see if anyone likes that. I should note that I made knowledge, prosperity, and industry have 2 affinities each associated with them, leaving out the third. Might I just redid for military victory, as I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Also, I redid the virtue formula so you will get less of a policy rush in the beginning of the game and overall will get less Virtues, however this mod is also aiming at making the game longer. Virtues should come slower in the beginning but at a steady rate throughout the game.

Of secondary importance is sponsor bonuses and affinity perks (though I'm curious what people think of Al Falah). I feel they're pretty good, but they could probably sue some tweaking as well.

NOTE: This version is probably not very playable and is not intended to be played. Most things have been tested to make sure they are functioning correctly, but balance could be way off and things such as experience required for affinity levels are probably way off. Flavors are also not yet set, so the AI will be very confused. I just want some other people to give some input, and I am open to suggestions.

Lastly, there are some things in this mod that are not original and have been borrowed from other modders (if someone does something great, why do something different?). I fully intend to give credit to them for what is here, but this credit has not yet been assigned since this is an unfinished and unplayable version.

 

[Starrynite120]

I have moved the posts for this to another thread, as this mod has changed quite a bit from the description here. Post there if interested.

Link: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=566284