March Patch Notes (formerly february)

[Cicerosaurus]

You're counting tiles incorrectly; perfectly understandable, can be confusing.

But it's x---x. The city isn't included in the count.

It wasn't me counting- that was the error message I received.

 

[tbrichter]

I'm not sure if this the right place to ask this, but since it came up after I downloaded the patch, I'll put it here. I also don't know if this has been asked on any other thread, but after downloading the update and lauching Civ V, at the bottom of the main menu is an option stating that Polynesia dlc is available. I opened the steam overlay, but could not find the dlc. Has anyone else seen this and do you know if it's available or not? For that matter does anyone know what this is exactly - a new civ? a map? or something else entirely?

 

[Ceedub]

Anyone else getting much slower load times since the patch (not that it was quick before)?

I just timed it at 3:12 just to get to the copyright and ESRB warning text. It's at least that slow every time.

 

[magnus333]

Is there an official bug thread for the new patch?

I started an immortal earth game, and I started with an AI three tiles away. I settled in place, so that he couldn't settle where he started with the new city spacing rule. The next turn, instead of moving, he froze in place and stayed frozen for several turns until I took him out with my warrior, eliminating his civ. Later I noticed a city state that was sitting a few squares from an AI capital, just sitting there.

Looks like the AI doesn't know what to do when it starts too close to another player or AI and can't settle in place. Instead of moving and settling, it freezes. Even after the settler is bumped back by culture expansion, it doesn't move.

On the positive side, AI seems tougher and better with units, and the game's turn time is much faster. City buildings seem more balanced. Diplomacy still seems deeply troubled from my point of view so far, but it's too early to say for sure.

The Earth map has been messed up like this for a long time now. The resource distribution is also messed up on it.

 

[Jimbo30]

Playing a game as France on King and Greece, Egypt and Aztec's all declare war on me within 2 turns. After Egypt loses a bunch of units it pretty much capitulates offering 3 cities and a bunch of resources.

The AI has a long, long way to go yet. Sure I was holding my own but I wasn't exactly in a position to go attacking out, and what's more Greece would have been the obvious choice.

 

[sav]

Absolutely. Especially late game.

YAY! Might have to give this game a second (third? Fourth?) chance...

 

[Calouste]

Anyone else getting much slower load times since the patch (not that it was quick before)?

I just timed it at 3:12 just to get to the copyright and ESRB warning text. It's at least that slow every time.

Not for me, the game loads markedly quicker.

 

[Sneaks]

It helps to disable the opening video to speed up loads.

 

[markusbeutel]

It helps to disable the opening video to speed up loads.

I found that can help - but, at least on my machine, the game crashes probably around 25% of the time while the other 75% of the time you're worried that it might crash.

Also, it seems that Civ - and all games on Steam for that matter - load slower starting around 12am pacific time until around 2 am. Again, might just be me.

 

[Drill IV]

Medical Lab now stacks with Aqueduct. Still says Hospital in the description.

Hospital now gives a whopping 5 food.

Just played a game up until 2010 AD or so on Prince and did not get a single DoF offer. Funny.

 

[LegionSteve]

Played with the new patch for a few hours last night, and I am enjoying the game a lot more now. I'm actually having fun deciding what to build while I pwn the AI. I finally feel that I can give Civ 5 one of these:

 

[janboruta]

I'm sorry to say that, but in terms of research speed, tile yield and building balance (plus the re-introduction of Aqueducts), the patch obsoletes Thal's Balance mods... But there's still a lot to do in diplomacy and combat. I hope Thal's mods will soon work with the new patch, as well as an updated What Would Gandhi Do.

Otherwise, the yesterday's fix makes Civ 5 a new game.

 

[lietkynes]

Patch is very good (finally) and improved the game much.

There are still some problems:
- Combat AI is dull as ever
- Diplomacy has been improved but it needs more work
- On Deity level, AI huge bonus to city growth means that all AIs have infantry and artillery by 1000AD and nukes by 1200AD, WTF

 

[Mustakrakish]

Well one thing I can say for sure... Building is now fun again.

In general, people who complain that alliances shift too quickly in Civ5 should look into a bit more history. For example France fought with the Netherlands against England in 1666-1667, and then just 5 years later fought with England against the Netherlands. In more recent times, Italy had a treaty with Germany and Austria before WWI, fought against them in the war anyway, and then joined with them in WWII.

@Calouste, @AfterShafter... Complain? No one was complaining. What does historical accuracy have to do with it? I said do not conduct diplomacy with Washington, not "hey, Washington is not acting historically". If you want to justify Washington's behavior with history then please do have in mind that Washington was merely an example... They ALL pretty much behave this way, Washington is just a bit more crazy. Which is why I said, do not conduct diplo with him.

That is not to say I don't like it. In the very post I said it's BETTER than before. I like the horsehockystorm. That's how it should have been in the first place. BUT... see below:

I am glad for the new options, but it appears (have not checked the code) that civs do not remember past DoFs or take them into account. Same goes for denounces. The result is an AI that seems as crazy as ever, and still not enjoyable to play with.

So far I think I have to agree with that.

I triggered a mass denounciation with the other 3 civs by attacking a CS that was being protected by one of them. The part that was lame was that at first it was alright. I attack, I get a warning, I tell Ghandi to get a job, I take the CS, and 2 turns later he denounces and then declares war the next turn. Then suddenly the other two civs denounce me for being a war monger and then start a war with me.... That was kinda lame.

Actually that is quite logical. It might be lame that you got attacked, but at least it wasn't random and you deserved it... sort of. You attacked a CS under his protection and refused to back off, so he attacks you. I'm actually surprised he reacted so fast, never ever happens to me. In my games they are all talk and no walk. You captured a CS and therefore a warmonger. So you got attacked by the other 2...

Anyone else getting much slower load times since the patch (not that it was quick before)?

I just timed it at 3:12 just to get to the copyright and ESRB warning text. It's at least that slow every time.

No, it's actually much faster now. I only see the tip of the bonfire now. Before I had to watch as far as "This is a lash, fertile land...".

 

[Thalassicus]

I hope Thal's mods will soon work with the new patch, as well as an updated What Would Gandhi Do.

Otherwise, the yesterday's fix makes Civ 5 a new game.

You can watch for updates at civmodding.wordpress.com, and there's a beta up compatible with the patch. It's undergoing testing to squash possible bugs.

I agree the patches have done a lot of fantastic work balancing the game. There's still more to do but it's looking good. I've been working on additional leader balance lately in preparation for Firaxis's own plans there.

Now that balance work is mostly complete (at least what's possible with the existing modding tools) I've been shifting focus to enhancing the user interface like BUG did for Civ 4. There's been a lot of advancement with this in the "Civ V Unofficial Patch" part of the download.

 

[brxbrx]

Is there an official bug thread for the new patch?

I started an immortal earth game, and I started with an AI three tiles away. I settled in place, so that he couldn't settle where he started with the new city spacing rule. The next turn, instead of moving, he froze in place and stayed frozen for several turns until I took him out with my warrior, eliminating his civ. Later I noticed a city state that was sitting a few squares from an AI capital, just sitting there.

Looks like the AI doesn't know what to do when it starts too close to another player or AI and can't settle in place. Instead of moving and settling, it freezes. Even after the settler is bumped back by culture expansion, it doesn't move.

On the positive side, AI seems tougher and better with units, and the game's turn time is much faster. City buildings seem more balanced. Diplomacy still seems deeply troubled from my point of view so far, but it's too early to say for sure.

o'er at 2k, yeah, there's an "official" bug thread started by some guy that knows very little about what constitutes an actual bug

 

[Civsassin]

I really like the updated liberty and tradition branches. Being able to garrison units for no maintenance and double the cities ranged attack is extremely helpful. If you have a large empire, you can garrison units everywhere, keeping units on hold with 0 upkeep until needed. It used to be a no brainer to go for tradition, but now it is a toss up between liberty and tradition, especially since policies are easier to get early on with the increased culture available.

It is definately way more difficult to earn gold early on, and new cities take time to become productive.

 

[JamesCivFan]

I really like the updated liberty and tradition branches. Being able to garrison units for no maintenance and double the cities ranged attack is extremely helpful. If you have a large empire, you can garrison units everywhere, keeping units on hold with 0 upkeep until needed. It used to be a no brainer to go for tradition, but now it is a toss up between liberty and tradition, especially since policies are easier to get early on with the increased culture available.

It is definately way more difficult to earn gold early on, and new cities take time to become productive.

This is definitely good news. One of my main issues with the late game especially, were the upscaling costs of units and buildings. So what about building costs? Do they upscale as well?

 

[V. Soma]

I haven't playeed it yet, but the new patch seems to be a giant leap for Firaxis, at least comapred to previous ones.
It raises me the question: who is behind all this as lead developer? Who is the new captain on the deck of civ5?

 

[lietkynes]

It raises me the question: who is behind all this as lead developer? Who is the new captain on the deck of civ5?

Most of the changes were "inspired" by some of the more successful mods.