merijn_v1
Black Belt
As you probably noticed, a late start scenario is in development. This thread is to talk about the development of that scenario.
Currently, the scenario isn't online. When RFCE 1.3 is released, I will upload the test version to the SVN.
My thoughts on the progress so far/ decisions I made. Feel free to comment.
Map
Basic map
The basic map is ofcourse unchanged. Resources that would spawn before 1200 AD (like 1000 AD rice near Alexandria and Valancia). The cities are connected with roads.
Most resources in the vicinity of the city are improved, but not connected by road. Many cities have 1-2 preplaced farms in the vicinity. Remote resources are generally untouched.
My intentions is that some terrain development is done, but the player still has something todo for their workers. I think that the current situation does that pretty good.
City placement
I tried to put the most important cities on the map. Many of these cities are the cities normally spawning on the original map, as these are generally the most important cities. Therefore, there isn't a huge difference in general city placement between both scenarios.
Personally, I'm really pleased with the current setup. I think only some minor changes have to be made. I've been playing with the idea of removing some cities and replace them with an additional settler for that civ. This to create a little more diversity between different games.
City balance
This is a hard one and will require a lot of testing to balance them out. A few important aspects.
City size
Most cities are sized 5-6. Some cities are bigger and only a few have 10+. I don't know much about the historical sizes of cities compared to others. I only know some obvious ones, like Alexandria being a large city in its time.
Preplaced buildings
All cities have some preplaced buildings. Granaries, barracks and similar basic buildings are very common. Basic religious buildings (temple/ monastery) are also quite common. Bigger cities have some additional buildings.
As most cities already existed for some time, it is quite obvious many cities were already quite developed in 1200AD. However, I don't want to preplace to many buildings because that means you can't build any yourself anymore, which isn't fun. But no buildings would imply that these cities didn't develop over time. We should try to find a nice balance in that.
Culture
Most cities have the first cultural expansion. This is to represent a small amount of cultural development and it connects the cultural borders of the cities. Some cities have a bigger amount of culture.
This is something that needs to be balanced. I think it's not really a bad thing that most cities only have 20 culture (the first cultural expansion). The more developed cities need to have their culture level adjusted.
In general, cities are less developed as they would have been when you loaded a 500 AD start. I don't think that is an issue though, because I think this gives a more balanced start of the scenario.
Religions
Most of the cities have historical religion(s) present. Many cities have temples/monasteries. A few important cities have a cathedral as well.
Judaism is spread similar as it would in the 500 AD scenario. Judaism is spread to a random city in a certain area. (This to create a little diversity in the games)
I'm pleased with the current setup. Although I'm not sure if the amount of religious buildings is balanced.
Wonders
Wonders that were historically build before 1200 are preplaced in historically accurate cities. (Or the city that is closest to, like Florence is to Pisa for the Leaning Tower.)
I added some new code settles a random GP in Florence, so the Leaning Tower's effect isn't wasted.
Units
Currently, I only placed a single unit in all cities to defend it. My idea is that all cities have some garrison. (1-2 units. Maybe 3 for bigger cities) The capital has a small stack of units.
All civs start with some workers. I'm undecided about the distribution yet. I think I will go for that the capital will receive a few (about 3) and some other cities receive 1. (The amount of additional cities which have an extra worker depends on the empire size)
Civs
All civs spawning prior to 1200 AD are present, except Cordoba and Burgundy. I tried to make there empires historical accurate. I used this and this map as primary maps to base the scenario on.
There is one big thing that isn't historically accurate. Germany doesn't control Italy. I'm aware that the HRE did historically control Italy, but for balance reasons I decided that the cities in Italy are independent.
All civs have do start with a certain amount of gold, faith points and stability. The exact numbers need to be balanced ofcourse.
Some info about civs:
- Start with LH which is most accurate for 1200 AD.
- Historical state religion
- Preset civics (I'm not sure if all are historically accurate)
- Preknown explored area. Usually (slightly) bigger than the one they have when they spawn in the 500 AD scenario.
- Contact with nearby civs.
- Some civs have a relation boost with another civs, while others have the opposite.
- Some civs have a chance to start at war with another civs, similar to war on spawn.
UHV
Most UHV which have an end date in the past are set as accomplished. As it can still be a challenge to get the other UHV. To help, some have a small boost. (Scotland starts with some Attitude points toward France for example)
I didn't make the scenario so every UHV is still possible. Some are too close to the start of the scenario. The player needs to start with almost all conditions of the UHV met to have a chance. That would ruin the balance and historicity of the map. It would also go against the idea of UHV, as you don't have to do anything but you get anything you need at the start.
However, some UHV do get a nice twist when they are played from a different start.
Techs
Currently, all civs start with the same techs. (The ones that Aragon has on spawn) This needs to be balanced ofcourse.
Undecided feature
There an idea I've been playing with in my thoughts, but I don't know if it will work out. That depends how much the inertia rule is affecting the situation. It comes down to this:
Some civs did own certain areas in 1200 AD, but they lost it soon afterwards. (Almohads in southern Spain for example) It is historic to let them start with those areas controlled. However, due to the inertia rule, they will usually keep them, which is historically inaccurate.
I would love it if they could start with those areas, but I'm afraid that the development of the game will become unhistorical because of the inertia rule.
My idea is the following. The civs do start with the areas they are supposed to lose in the next few years. The civs that are supposed to conquer those areas receive additional unit to conquer those areas. However, I don't know how the AI will handle this. I hope they will use these units to conquer those areas. But I don't want them to use those units for something else. (The extra units could make them OP if they are used for something else) The stacks should be big enough that they have a good chance to conquer the cities, but not much more. And I don't want a 100% success rate. I would like it if there is a small chance that the civ which is supposed to lose the area can keep it for some alt-historical scenarios.
What I will do is implanting this anyway (for now) and run a few tests to see what will come out.
The "supposed to be conquered" areas are:
- English presence in France
- Moroccan presence in southern Iberia
Similarly, I want to give Venice an additional stack, so they have a shot at conquering Constantinople.
Currently, the scenario isn't online. When RFCE 1.3 is released, I will upload the test version to the SVN.
My thoughts on the progress so far/ decisions I made. Feel free to comment.
Map
Basic map
The basic map is ofcourse unchanged. Resources that would spawn before 1200 AD (like 1000 AD rice near Alexandria and Valancia). The cities are connected with roads.
Most resources in the vicinity of the city are improved, but not connected by road. Many cities have 1-2 preplaced farms in the vicinity. Remote resources are generally untouched.
My intentions is that some terrain development is done, but the player still has something todo for their workers. I think that the current situation does that pretty good.
City placement
I tried to put the most important cities on the map. Many of these cities are the cities normally spawning on the original map, as these are generally the most important cities. Therefore, there isn't a huge difference in general city placement between both scenarios.
Personally, I'm really pleased with the current setup. I think only some minor changes have to be made. I've been playing with the idea of removing some cities and replace them with an additional settler for that civ. This to create a little more diversity between different games.
City balance
This is a hard one and will require a lot of testing to balance them out. A few important aspects.
City size
Most cities are sized 5-6. Some cities are bigger and only a few have 10+. I don't know much about the historical sizes of cities compared to others. I only know some obvious ones, like Alexandria being a large city in its time.
Preplaced buildings
All cities have some preplaced buildings. Granaries, barracks and similar basic buildings are very common. Basic religious buildings (temple/ monastery) are also quite common. Bigger cities have some additional buildings.
As most cities already existed for some time, it is quite obvious many cities were already quite developed in 1200AD. However, I don't want to preplace to many buildings because that means you can't build any yourself anymore, which isn't fun. But no buildings would imply that these cities didn't develop over time. We should try to find a nice balance in that.
Culture
Most cities have the first cultural expansion. This is to represent a small amount of cultural development and it connects the cultural borders of the cities. Some cities have a bigger amount of culture.
This is something that needs to be balanced. I think it's not really a bad thing that most cities only have 20 culture (the first cultural expansion). The more developed cities need to have their culture level adjusted.
In general, cities are less developed as they would have been when you loaded a 500 AD start. I don't think that is an issue though, because I think this gives a more balanced start of the scenario.
Religions
Most of the cities have historical religion(s) present. Many cities have temples/monasteries. A few important cities have a cathedral as well.
Judaism is spread similar as it would in the 500 AD scenario. Judaism is spread to a random city in a certain area. (This to create a little diversity in the games)
I'm pleased with the current setup. Although I'm not sure if the amount of religious buildings is balanced.
Wonders
Wonders that were historically build before 1200 are preplaced in historically accurate cities. (Or the city that is closest to, like Florence is to Pisa for the Leaning Tower.)
I added some new code settles a random GP in Florence, so the Leaning Tower's effect isn't wasted.
Units
Currently, I only placed a single unit in all cities to defend it. My idea is that all cities have some garrison. (1-2 units. Maybe 3 for bigger cities) The capital has a small stack of units.
All civs start with some workers. I'm undecided about the distribution yet. I think I will go for that the capital will receive a few (about 3) and some other cities receive 1. (The amount of additional cities which have an extra worker depends on the empire size)
Civs
All civs spawning prior to 1200 AD are present, except Cordoba and Burgundy. I tried to make there empires historical accurate. I used this and this map as primary maps to base the scenario on.
There is one big thing that isn't historically accurate. Germany doesn't control Italy. I'm aware that the HRE did historically control Italy, but for balance reasons I decided that the cities in Italy are independent.
All civs have do start with a certain amount of gold, faith points and stability. The exact numbers need to be balanced ofcourse.
Some info about civs:
- Start with LH which is most accurate for 1200 AD.
- Historical state religion
- Preset civics (I'm not sure if all are historically accurate)
- Preknown explored area. Usually (slightly) bigger than the one they have when they spawn in the 500 AD scenario.
- Contact with nearby civs.
- Some civs have a relation boost with another civs, while others have the opposite.
- Some civs have a chance to start at war with another civs, similar to war on spawn.
UHV
Most UHV which have an end date in the past are set as accomplished. As it can still be a challenge to get the other UHV. To help, some have a small boost. (Scotland starts with some Attitude points toward France for example)
I didn't make the scenario so every UHV is still possible. Some are too close to the start of the scenario. The player needs to start with almost all conditions of the UHV met to have a chance. That would ruin the balance and historicity of the map. It would also go against the idea of UHV, as you don't have to do anything but you get anything you need at the start.
However, some UHV do get a nice twist when they are played from a different start.
Techs
Currently, all civs start with the same techs. (The ones that Aragon has on spawn) This needs to be balanced ofcourse.
Undecided feature
There an idea I've been playing with in my thoughts, but I don't know if it will work out. That depends how much the inertia rule is affecting the situation. It comes down to this:
Some civs did own certain areas in 1200 AD, but they lost it soon afterwards. (Almohads in southern Spain for example) It is historic to let them start with those areas controlled. However, due to the inertia rule, they will usually keep them, which is historically inaccurate.
I would love it if they could start with those areas, but I'm afraid that the development of the game will become unhistorical because of the inertia rule.
My idea is the following. The civs do start with the areas they are supposed to lose in the next few years. The civs that are supposed to conquer those areas receive additional unit to conquer those areas. However, I don't know how the AI will handle this. I hope they will use these units to conquer those areas. But I don't want them to use those units for something else. (The extra units could make them OP if they are used for something else) The stacks should be big enough that they have a good chance to conquer the cities, but not much more. And I don't want a 100% success rate. I would like it if there is a small chance that the civ which is supposed to lose the area can keep it for some alt-historical scenarios.
What I will do is implanting this anyway (for now) and run a few tests to see what will come out.
The "supposed to be conquered" areas are:
- English presence in France
- Moroccan presence in southern Iberia
Similarly, I want to give Venice an additional stack, so they have a shot at conquering Constantinople.