Ironclad Needs Work

[nokmirt]

It should work okay on real-earth maps. The only downside of such a map is it gives us an advantage, since we know the layout of the terrain while the AI does not. Some maps I'd recommend trying are the PerfectWorld script included in the package, or continents-plus / pangaea-plus from the Explorers DLC.

I like your changes.

Your right about humans knowing more about Geography, but the AI sure does know how to thwart your plans and catch you with your pants down. I was about to invade Korea, and Siam invades me in Southern China with this huge army of elephants, along with some pike, and archers. I was thinking of writing a story about this game, its beginning to get interesting.

 

[Soryn Arkayn]

It should work okay on real-earth maps. The only downside of such a map is it gives us an advantage, since we know the layout of the terrain while the AI does not. Some maps I'd recommend trying are the PerfectWorld script included in the package, or continents-plus / pangaea-plus from the Explorers DLC.

I like most of these changes... however, why do the Nuclear Submarine and Missile Cruiser require Oil resources instead of Aluminum?

If Uranium wasn't so scarce, I'd say that it should be required for the Nuclear Sub; but Aluminum makes more sense than Oil.

I suppose the Missile Cruiser could be Oil or Aluminum, so it's a toss up.


Slightly off-topic, but it seems like most ships should require more than one type of resource to produce. Oil makes sense as a required resource for a Battleship, but why not Iron? I know that Battleships are made from Steel, but the only difference between Iron and Steel is 0.2-2% carbon -- Steel is mostly comprised of Iron. I understand that Iron and Steel are plentiful in modern times, so that's probably why they're not required to produce units.

I suppose my point is that for over half the game, Iron (and Horses) are vital strategic resources -- Players often fight wars for them. I understand why Horses become obsolete strategic resources. However, Iron shouldn't become obsolete and unnecessary, because virtually every military unit from the Industrial to the Future era uses Iron.

If I were to create my own mod, ships would require the following resources:

Frigate = nothing
Ship of the Line = Iron
Ironclad = Iron, Coal
Destroyer = Iron
Battleship = 2 Iron, 1 Oil
Carrier = Iron
Submarine = Iron
Nuclear Submarine = Iron, Uranium
Missile Cruiser = 2 Iron

I'd also modify how Iron was distributed over time, so that in the Industrial era, all Iron deposits provide +50-100% as much Iron; the Modern era +100-200%; in the Future era Iron would remain the same, but Aluminum and Uranium would increase by +100% (but perhaps Oil would drop -50%).

 

[Thalassicus]

Aluminum is used by aircraft in vanilla enhanced (fighters, bombers, and modern equivalents). Oil is used for strategic land and sea units (battleships, tanks, modern armor, etc). The upgrade paths use the same resources as their precursors. Aircraft favor quantity over quality with lower strength and abundant aluminum, while sea/air favor quality over quantity with strong tanks/battleships and scarce oil reserves.

 

[Spatzimaus]

In my own mods, one of the things I'm doing for this (this change hasn't been released yet, but it's done on my internal versions) is give the Ironclad and Battleship a promotion called "Damage Reduction". Simply put, these units take 1 less damage in every combat, which is especially good against weak bombardment since there'd now be a minimum of 0 damage per fight instead of 1. I use that ability for a lot of my futuristic and mythological units, so it's been heavily playtested, but it seemed ideal for these two mundane units as well; the big advantage of the ironclad wasn't raw firepower, it was that it was effectively immune to the infantry weapons and even light field artillery of the time and only really had problems with the heavier cannons mounted by forts (or mines). And Battleships need it because I finding myself preferring Destroyers for their mobility, air defense, and sub-hunting ability, so being able to basically ignore light attacks makes the battlewagons far more desirable.

If you want to add something like this to your own mod, the way it works is just that at the end of each combat in which a unit with this custom promotion took damage, it heals back 1 point through a simple Lua command. So if you're at 1 HP and get hit by a weak attack that'd normally do 0, it'll still kill you, but that's a minor issue. The bigger problem is that EndCombatSim (the Lua trigger needed) isn't compatible with Quick Combat or Strategic View, so it's something you need to be aware of.

 

[nokmirt]

In my own mods, one of the things I'm doing for this (this change hasn't been released yet, but it's done on my internal versions) is give the Ironclad and Battleship a promotion called "Damage Reduction". Simply put, these units take 1 less damage in every combat, which is especially good against weak bombardment since there'd now be a minimum of 0 damage per fight instead of 1. I use that ability for a lot of my futuristic and mythological units, so it's been heavily playtested, but it seemed ideal for these two mundane units as well; the big advantage of the ironclad wasn't raw firepower, it was that it was effectively immune to the infantry weapons and even light field artillery of the time and only really had problems with the heavier cannons mounted by forts (or mines). And Battleships need it because I finding myself preferring Destroyers for their mobility, air defense, and sub-hunting ability, so being able to basically ignore light attacks makes the battlewagons far more desirable.

If you want to add something like this to your own mod, the way it works is just that at the end of each combat in which a unit with this custom promotion took damage, it heals back 1 point through a simple Lua command. So if you're at 1 HP and get hit by a weak attack that'd normally do 0, it'll still kill you, but that's a minor issue. The bigger problem is that EndCombatSim (the Lua trigger needed) isn't compatible with Quick Combat or Strategic View, so it's something you need to be aware of.

Reminds me of a ship's onboard damage control parties during combat.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Reminds me of a ship's onboard damage control parties during combat.

Similar, but I'm using it mainly to represent units with really thick armor/skin. The Godzilla-type stuff, where it'll basically ignore the little pinprick attacks and only worry about the fire from heavy units. It really does work well; for most units you can just wear the opponent down with weaker attacks (especially ranged attacks, like from air units); 10 ancient-era archers can kill a giant robot, or you could use Scouts if you didn't care about their survival. But with this promotion, the opponent really feels helpless as he sees your unit shrug off all of his bomber attacks without taking any damage at all.