[ModMod] K-Mod-Z

Zholef

Warlord
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
192
Some of the balance changes to K-Mod I recently proposed in the main thread attracted a bit of interest, which motivated me enough to turn my ideas into a modest "modmod" of K-Mod, version 0.01 of which I am now, with generous permission from Karadoc, happy to present to you. Perhaps some of you will enjoy it, maybe some of the changes will find their way into a future version of K-Mod, but what I'm really hoping to achieve with this is to kick start a discussion about how Civ4 in general and K-Mod in particular could be improved without expanding the game with additional content.

Spoiler K-Mod-Z_readme.txt :

K-Mod-Z (v0.01) by Zholef is an XML changes only "modmod" of the Civ4:BtS
modification K-Mod (v1.44) by Karadoc. "K-Mod aims to build on standard Beyond
the Sword game-play without changing the flavour. The focus is on fixing flaws
in the game-mechanics for some of the weaker elements of the game, and
improving balance and the AI." In its own balance related XML changes, K-Mod
is very careful not to overcorrect, usually leaving buffed game elements still
relatively weak and nerfed elements still fairly strong. K-Mod-Z is more
aggressive in this respect, not lastly in the hope of provoking feedback,
because truly balancing a game as complex as Civ4 is not something that can be
done single-handedly. But K-Mod-Z goes beyond mere balancing and into
smoothing some of the game's particularly annoyingly rough edges, for example
trying to make building obsoletion more graceful, removing disadvantages from
unique units and buildings, and increasing the opportunity cost of chopping
forests.

Please direct any K-Mod-Z specific feedback, preferably of the brutally honest
variety, into the CivFanatics.com forum thread located at:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=542818

As for credits, all changes listed in K-Mod-Z_changelog.txt by Zholef. For
everything else, see the documentation of the underlying K-Mod, which is
included in this release.


Spoiler K-Mod-Z_changelog.txt :

Changes from K-Mod v1.44 to K-Mod-Z v0.01:


Land units

Quechua: -5 Production Cost
Quechua: -25% vs. Archery Units
War Chariot: Not immune to First Strikes
Skirmisher: -1 First Strike Chance
Dog Soldier: +1 Strength
Dog Soldier: -50% vs. Melee Units
Numidian Cavalry: +1 Strength
Numidian Cavalry: -50% vs. Melee Units
Keshik: -1 First Strike
Keshik: Immune to First Strikes
Jaguar: +1 Strength
Jaguar: +5 Production Cost
Praetorian: -1 Strength
Praetorian: -5 Production Cost
Praetorian: +10% City Attack
Explorer: Starts with Sentry
Ballista Elephant: +10% Forest Strength
Ballista Elephant: +10% Jungle Strength
Ballista Elephant: Requires Archery
Samurai: Can be built with Copper
Samurai*: Requires Iron Working
Cataphract: Immune to First Strikes
Camel Archer: +1 First Strike
Camel Archer: +10% Desert Strength
Camel Archer: +10% Oasis Strength
Musketeer: -15% Withdrawal Chance
Conquistador: Can upgrade to Tank
Cavalry: Can upgrade to Tank
Cossack: Can upgrade to Tank


Water units

Galley: +1 Cargo Space
Trireme: +1 Cargo Space
Trireme: Carries Infantry
Carrack: +1 Cargo Space
Galleon: +1 Cargo Space
East Indiaman: +1 Cargo Space
Privateer: Does not require Copper or Iron
Frigate: Can be built with Copper
Frigate: +1 Cargo Space
Frigate: Carries Infantry
Ship of the Line: Requires Iron
Ship of the Line: +2 Cargo Space
Ship of the Line: Carries Infantry
Ship of the Line: +1 Movement Range
Ironclad: +1 Movement Range
Transport: +2 Cargo Space
Destroyer: +1 Cargo Space
Destroyer: Carries Infantry
Battleship: +2 Cargo Space
Battleship: Carries Infantry


Buildings

Academy: +1 Culture
Academy: +3 Culture after 1000 years
Monument*: Not obsolete with Astronomy
Monument*: Obsolete with Mass Media
Obelisk*: Not obsolete with Astronomy
Obelisk*: Obsolete with Mass Media
Stele: -5% Culture
Stele*: Not obsolete with Astronomy
Stele*: Obsolete with Mass Media
Monastery: -10% Research
Monastery: +1 Research
Monastery: +1 Research after 1000 years
Monastery: +1 Culture
Monastery*: Not obsolete with Scientific Method
Walls: +1 Trade Route
Walls*: Not obsolete with Rifling
Walls*: Obsolete with Economics
Dun: +1 Trade Route
Dun*: Not obsolete with Rifling
Dun*: Obsolete with Economics
Stable*: Double production speed for Aggressive leaders
Stable*: Not obsolete with Advanced Flight
Ger*: Double production speed for Aggressive leaders
Ger*: Not obsolete with Advanced Flight
Madrassa: +1 Culture
Cothon: -20 Production Cost
Forum: +25% Great People Birth Rate
Colosseum: +30% Culture
Colosseum: +80 Production Cost
Colosseum*: -50% production speed for Creative leaders
Ball Court: +30% Culture
Ball Court: +80 Production Cost
Ball Court*: -50% production speed for Creative leaders
Garden: +30% Culture
Garden: +80 Production Cost
Garden*: -50% production speed for Creative leaders
Odeon: +1 Culture
Odeon: +30% Culture
Odeon: +80 Production Cost
Odeon*: -50% production speed for Creative leaders
Market: -30 Production Cost
Forum: -30 Production Cost
Forum: +25% Great People Birth Rate
Hippodrome: -1 Happiness
Hippodrome: +1 Happiness with Dye
Castle: -1 Trade Route
Castle: -25% Espionage
Castle: Does not require Walls
Castle: New Siege Weapons receive +2 Experience Points
Castle*: Not obsolete with Economics
Castle*: Obsolete with Physics
Citadel: +1 Culture
Citadel: -1 Trade Route
Citadel: -25% Espionage
Citadel: Does not require Walls
Citadel*: Not obsolete with Economics
Citadel*: Obsolete with Physics
Courthouse: -1 Espionage
Courthouse: +20% Espionage
Rathaus: -1 Espionage
Rathaus: +20% Espionage
Sacrificial Altar: -1 Espionage
Sacrificial Altar: +20% Espionage
Sacrificial Altar: +25% Anger Duration from Sacrificing Population
Ziggurat: -1 Espionage
Ziggurat: +20% Espionage
Ziggurat: +1 Happiness
Cathedral: +10% Culture
Seowon: -20 Production Cost
Jail: +1 Espionage
Jail: -20% Espionage
Mausoleum: +1 Espionage
Mausoleum: -20% Espionage
Salon: -1 Free Artist
Salon: +3 Culture
Salon: +25% Great People Birth Rate
Salon: Can turn +1 Citizen into Artist
Military Academy: +2 Culture after 1000 years
Bunker*: Requires Physics
Bunker*: Does not require Electricity
Bunker*: Double production speed for Protective leaders
Bomb Shelter*: Requires Physics
Bomb Shelter*: Does not require Electricity
Bomb Shelter*: Double production speed for Protective leaders
Hydro Plant: -25 Production Cost
Hydro Plant*: Requires Electricity
Hydro Plant*: Does not require Plastics
Nuclear Plant: -50 Production Cost
Research Institute: -2 Free Scientist
Research Institute: Can turn +2 Citizen into Scientist
Research Institute: -30 Production Cost
Research Institute: +10% Research
Research Institute*: Requires Electricity
Research Institute*: Requires Chemistry
Research Institute*: Does not require Superconductors


Wonders

Forbidden Palace: +1 Happiness
Forbidden Palace: +4 Commerce
Forbidden Palace: +2 Espionage
Forbidden Palace: +2 Culture
Forbidden Palace: +40 Production Cost
Stonehenge: +4 Culture
The Great Lighthouse: +1 Culture
The Great Lighthouse*: +50% production speed for Organized leaders
Moai Statues: -2 Culture
The Temple of Artemis: +2 Culture
The Temple of Artemis: +25% Gold
The Temple of Artemis: Can turn +1 Citizen into Merchant
The Temple of Artemis*: Obsolete with Corporation
The Temple of Artemis*: Not obsolete with Scientific Method
The Great Wall: +50% production speed for Protective leaders
The Pyramids: +1 Culture
The Oracle: +2 Culture
The Colossus: +1 Culture
The Parthenon: +2 Culture
The Parthenon*: Not obsolete with Scientific Method
The Statue of Zeus: +2 Culture
Shwedagon Paya: +2 Culture
Shwedagon Paya: -100 Production Cost
The Hanging Gardens: +1 Culture
The Mausoleum of Maussollos: +2 Culture
The Great Library: +2 Culture
The Great Library: +50 Production Cost
The Great Library*: Not obsolete with Scientific Method
Notre Dame: +2 Culture
Chichen Itza: +1 Culture
Chichen Itza: +50% production speed for Protective leaders
Chichen Itza*: Not obsolete with Rifling
The Sistine Chapel: +2 Culture
The Sistine Chapel: +1 Culture from All State Religion Buildings
Angkor Wat: +2 Happiness
Angkor Wat: +1 Happiness with Incense
Angkor Wat: +8 Culture
Angkor Wat: +100 Production Cost
Angkor Wat*: Not obsolete with Computers
The Hagia Sophia: +2 Culture
The Hagia Sophia: +200 Production Cost
The Hagia Sophia*: Requires Construction
The Hagia Sophia: Requires a riverside location.
The Hagia Sophia: +1 production from river tiles
Versailles: +1 Happiness
Versailles: +6 Commerce
Versailles: +4 Espionage
Versailles: +6 Culture
Versailles*: Requires Feudalism
The Spiral Minaret: +2 Culture
University of Sankore: +2 Culture
The Taj Mahal: +2 Culture
The Taj Mahal: +50 Production Cost
West Point: +4 Culture
West Point*: +50% production speed for Aggressive leaders
The Pentagon*: +50% production speed for Aggressive leaders
Standard Ethanol*: Requires Scientific Method
Airport*: Double production speed for Aggressive leaders
Mt. Rushmore*: +50% production speed for Aggressive leaders


Traits

Aggressive*: 50% Faster Production of West Point
Aggressive*: 50% Faster Production of The Pentagon
Aggressive*: 50% Faster Production of Mt. Rushmore
Aggressive*: Double Production Speed of Airport
Aggressive*: Double Production Speed of Stable
Aggressive*: Double Production Speed of Ger
Creative*: 50% Slower Production of Colosseum
Creative*: 50% Slower Production of Ball Court
Creative*: 50% Slower Production of Garden
Creative*: 50% Slower Production of Odeon
Imperialistic: Free Promotion (Drill I) for Siege Weapons
Organized*: 50% Faster Production of The Great Lighthouse
Protective*: 50% Faster Production of The Great Wall
Protective*: 50% Faster Production of Chichen Itza
Protective*: Double Production Speed of Bunker
Protective*: Double Production Speed of Bomb Shelter


Civics

Slavery: +1 Upkeep Level
Serfdom: +1 Upkeep Level
Serfdom*: +1 Production from Lumbermill
Serfdom*: +1 Commerce from Watermill
Serfdom*: -1 Commerce from Farm
Serfdom*: +1 Commerce from Town


Improvements

Farm*: -1 Commerce with Serfdom
Town*: +1 Commerce with Serfdom
Lumbermill*: Does not require Replaceable Parts
Lumbermill*: Requires Machinery
Lumbermill: -1 Production
Lumbermill*: +1 Production with Replaceable Parts
Lumbermill*: +1 Production with Serfdom
Watermill*: +1 Commerce with Serfdom
Watermill*: -1 Commerce with Electricity
Watermill*: +1 Commerce with Plastics


Technologies

Iron Working*: Enables Samurai
Construction*: Enables The Hagia Sophia
Machinery*: Enables Lumbermill
Feudalism*: Enables Versailles
Divine Right: First to Discover Receives a Great Prophet
Economics*: Obsoletes Walls
Economics*: Obsoletes Dun
Economics*: Does not obsolete Castle
Economics*: Does not obsolete Citadel
Replaceable Parts*: Does not enable Lumbermill
Replaceable Parts*: +1 Production from Lumbermill
Rifling*: Does not obsolete Walls
Rifling*: Does not obsolete Dun
Rifling*: Does not obsolete Chichen Itza
Astronomy*: Does not obsolete Monument
Astronomy*: Does not obsolete Obelisk
Astronomy*: Does not obsolete Stele
Corporation*: Obsoletes The Temple of Artemis
Chemistry*: Enables Research Institute
Scientific Method*: Does not obsolete Monastery
Scientific Method*: Does not obsolete The Temple of Artemis
Scientific Method*: Does not obsolete The Parthenon
Scientific Method*: Does not obsolete The Great Library
Scientific Method*: Enables Standard Ethanol
Physics*: Enables Bunker
Physics*: Enables Bomb Shelter
Physics*: Obsoletes Castle
Physics*: Obsoletes Citadel
Electricity*: -1 Commerce from Watermill
Electricity*: Enables Hydro Plant
Electricity*: Enables Research Institute
Electricity*: Does not enable Bunker
Electricity*: Does not enable Bomb Shelter
Plastics*: +1 Commerce from Watermill
Plastics*: Does not enable Hydro Plant
Mass Media*: Obsoletes Monument
Mass Media*: Obsoletes Obelisk
Mass Media*: Obsoletes Stele
Computers*: Does not obsolete Angkor Wat
Advanced Flight*: Does not obsolete Stable
Advanced Flight*: Does not obsolete Ger
Superconductors*: Does not enable Research Institute


Misc

Forest: +0.2 Health in nearby cities
Drill II: Heals Extra 10% Damage/Turn in Neutral Lands
Drill III: Heals Extra 10% Damage/Turn in Enemy Lands
Judaism: Founder receives +1 Jewish Missionary
Confucianism: Founder receives +1 Confucian Missionary
Taoism: Founder receives +2 Taoist Missionary
Christianity: Founder receives +2 Christian Missionary
Islam: Founder receives +2 Islamic Missionary


*: Indicates changes that are listed twice
 

Attachments

  • K-Mod-Z_v0.02.zip
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Changelog for v0.02:

Changed Chichen Itza culture from 1 to 6 as was intended in v0.01.
Updated included map script Caldera from v1.0 to v1.1.
 
Probably can't comment on everything at once.

Versailles benefit is just positively better now. Not so sure about Hagia Sophia. Do they require the listed techs in addition, or do these tech requirements replace the old ones?

About giving cargo room for various ships; does the AI treat certain ships as warships and others as transporters? If so, I'm not sure if it is a good idea to blur that line. Though various ships could definitely thematically carry spies and such light cargo still. Perhaps not an issue.

I assume that change to Numidian cavalry is a nerf? If not, I would recommend its original form as it works quite nicely. Monastery changes look bad. Drill II & III changes do not go with the theme. I don't quite get the production penalty for Creative. Thematically IMP could probably use some more offensive siege promotion than Drill. The wonders that AGG produces faster now - could as well rename it "American" trait :D.
 
Thanks for sharing!

I'm wondering that too, if the AI can handle the additional cargo ships. It's an interesting change, one I haven't seen proposed before. The various tweaked numbers look good (though I'm not really qualified to say). Monasteries not becoming obsolete and Cavalry upgrading to Tanks seem like a big changes flavor-wise. About Monasteries, I recall this suggestion from page 2 of the K-Mod main thread:
[...] Organized Religion gives double production to building Missionaries instead of being able to build them without a Monastery.

Monasteries are pretty good for the science boosts but they're obsolete even earlier than Sci Method because you can just skip them and use OR. OR incidentally makes building your religions Monastery easier... which you don't build because you're in OR. By giving +100% production on Missionaries they aren't such easy 2-pop whips which is fitting because I don't really think of using slaves to spread a religion.
 
Probably can't comment on everything at once.

That's alright, I didn't come up with all of that in a day either. Some of them took a lot of pondering and can't be fully appreciated unless one sees the whole picture. Others are as superficial as they seem. Take your time.

Versailles benefit is just positively better now. Not so sure about Hagia Sophia. Do they require the listed techs in addition, or do these tech requirements replace the old ones?

Yes, I tried to really buff Divine Right. May have overdone it, not sure. Considering that it's in direct competition with Liberalism, it's probably still a bit weak even with the free Great Prophet. Adding Versailles' extra requirement (yes, these are on top of the normal requirements) was a last minute addition. Historically these wonders would have needed those techs, but they could be removed again to make the wonders stronger. I mainly added the Construction requirement to the Sophia because I was afraid it would be too powerful, especially considering the other Theology wonder is the mighty AP.

About giving cargo room for various ships; does the AI treat certain ships as warships and others as transporters? If so, I'm not sure if it is a good idea to blur that line. Though various ships could definitely thematically carry spies and such light cargo still. Perhaps not an issue.

The AI is actually more complicated than that and quite adaptive. I ran some tests and was surprised how well it coped with the changes. I observed the AI dropping Galleons full of Knights and Trebuchets along with two Macemen transported in the escorting Frigates.

I assume that change to Numidian cavalry is a nerf? If not, I would recommend its original form as it works quite nicely. Monastery changes look bad. Drill II & III changes do not go with the theme. I don't quite get the production penalty for Creative. Thematically IMP could probably use some more offensive siege promotion than Drill. The wonders that AGG produces faster now - could as well rename it "American" trait :D.

If you're playing Immortal or Deity, the changes to the Numidian are a nerf. If you're playing below that, they're a buff. You decide. Horse archers are strong either way.

I'm not perfectly happy with the Monastery changes either, but I wanted them to not obsolete with Scientific Method and in front of that background, the +10% Research was too powerful. I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Similar situation with the Drill promotions. They are weak, but making them better in a way that doesn't screw something else up isn't exactly easy.

As for the production penalty for Creative, that's actually just a bonus reduction. Look at the changes to the Colosseum. That is one of the key changes: My attempt at restoring the balance lost through K-Mod's changes to the culture mechanic. As a result, you may have noticed, I could restore a lot of buildings to the culture values they had in stock BtS.

What other promotion would you suggest for the Imperialistic trait?

Yes, lots of American wonders accelerated for the Aggressive trait, but what did you expect? Only about have the wonders in the game are American...

Thanks for sharing!

I'm wondering that too, if the AI can handle the additional cargo ships. It's an interesting change, one I haven't seen proposed before. The various tweaked numbers look good (though I'm not really qualified to say). Monasteries not becoming obsolete and Cavalry upgrading to Tanks seem like a big changes flavor-wise. About Monasteries, I recall this suggestion from page 2 of the K-Mod main thread:

That about the ships, I answered above. As for the monasteries, I considered something similar, but I wouldn't know how to do that without changing the DLL, and that's a can of worms I'd rather not open.
 
For IMP, City Raider I (or Barrage I) would fit best I think. Those lead to Accuracy. This way IMP would assist in founding or capturing cities.

Divine Right and Theology I usually skip in my games, unless I decide to have a game with a religious theme. I don't think you can make them too good accidentally. Free GP from DR is good. If these techs had only one wonder, it would basically go to the first one who discovers them (I assume..) and as such these techs would be good only if you are the first one to get them.. At first I thought that adding extra tech requirements for these wonders would be good, as it may improve the chances of someone else building them, but I'm not sure, it may even do the reverse. For a late discovery, Theology can be useful for a SPI leader, and DR is useless.

I would almost make DR a cheaper tech and throw Versailles to Monarchy with an additional requirement. DR still requires Theo and has Spiral power for the lone discoverer. But it would cause Islam to be founded too early, thematically (also affects supposed spread rate modifier).

Similar to Versailles, Angkor Wat seems to have these fun one-city bonuses that are so rare in world wonders. Chichen Itza remains rather uninteresting.

Hagia Sophia in isolation is not too strong, considering it gets obsolete. With AP, the question is, does one civ get them both or do they go to different civs? If they tend to go to one civ, extra tech requirement makes sense.. if not, it is not necessary and just makes the wonder last less time. I wonder if just giving more worker production bonus would be better though. It would be a bit silly to get slower workers with Steam Power, but gameplay-wise a few efficient workers would be more attractive than a large army of gold eating non-military folk. River bonus works but I'm not sure how fun it is.

On Numidian the change means less differentiation between units. I probably consider it a nerf in any case, as it is a less universal troop now (yet superior to HAs, and now better against stacks without spears). Keshiks (also nerfed, for someone like me who takes Flanking) are a bit poor in comparison, either way. Well, balance-wise you can do anything you want with Numidian (e.g. remove them :lol:) and Hannibal will stay good, not so sure about Mongols.

On monasteries. Why don't you want them to obsolete? IIRC, you can still build missionaries even after SciMet if there is an old monastery (am I wrong?). If so, I think they could go obsolete. Thematically monasteries could give one hammer, one beaker and some culture, and that, I think, would be fine. But the original monasteries seem OK to me as well. Extra beaker after a long time doesn't really feel significant to me in any way. But all that depends on what monasteries should be. Missionary-allowers? A light mixed bag of bonuses for folks who managed to gain a religion? Could they give bonuses only as long as you have a state religion selected?

On Drill, should something be done to the promotion tree to help that promotion line? Do we have some math in some thread that examines how weak or strong Drill is..? Or are they weak because some units are Immune to first strikes?
 
On monasteries. Why don't you want them to obsolete? IIRC, you can still build missionaries even after SciMet if there is an old monastery (am I wrong?). If so, I think they could go obsolete. Thematically monasteries could give one hammer, one beaker and some culture, and that, I think, would be fine. But the original monasteries seem OK to me as well. Extra beaker after a long time doesn't really feel significant to me in any way. But all that depends on what monasteries should be. Missionary-allowers? A light mixed bag of bonuses for folks who managed to gain a religion?

Yes, if you're lucky enough to have built a monastery of a particular religion before SM, you can still use it later, which just makes monastery obsoletion even stupider. If something is obsolete, it should no longer function and something else should be there to replace it, which there isn't. The only way of spreading religions past SM that may be left to you is OR, which is also stupid. Why should OR be more suited to spreading religion than Free Religion? What real countries have the greatest religions diversity? Countries without freedom of religion? The main reasons, however, for me wanting monasteries not to go obsolete is my disapproval of graceless obsoletions (e.g., Great Library going obsolete with SM, graceless; Hagia Sophia going obsolete with SP, graceful). They cause the player to avoid certain techs under certain conditions. Doing that for the purpose of bulbing is already silly, but to not research something so your stuff continues to work is positively insane. That's just bad game design.

Another problem I have with the original monasteries is that they make most sense in commerce or science cities, which makes no sense historically. Monastics historically sought out remote places, bringing with them their religion, culture and modest education opportunities for the local population. That's one reason why I think yields make more sense than modifiers for monasteries. Gameplaywise, in my opinion, they should serve to spread religion and help small, remote cities in culture battles. Yields make them easier affordable for such cities than tiny modifiers. In their current configuration, for example, you might, given a particular city, value the two culture points and the one research point the same as two hammers. Then you'd have your investment on the monastery back in thirty turns. Having monasteries yield extra hammers or gold or even commerce (akin to cottage improvements) are all options. I'm just not yet sure how much exactly they should get, which may be because I somewhat lack experience in that regard. When faced with culture pressure, I tend to react by building more military.

Could they give bonuses only as long as you have a state religion selected?

Unfortunately, I don't think that's possible without changing the DLL.

On Drill, should something be done to the promotion tree to help that promotion line? Do we have some math in some thread that examines how weak or strong Drill is..? Or are they weak because some units are Immune to first strikes?

Yes, there's quite a bit in forum threads and among the War Academy articles. I also ran World Builder tests of my own. Basically, disregarding some special cases, Drill is only superior to Combat or specialized promotions when your unit already has the advantage (e.g., Longbowmen in cities on hills defending against Axemen). When going up against more powerful units (e.g., Longbowmen vs. Macemen in the open), then the difference the Drill promotions make shrivel significantly. The reduced collateral damage aspect can be interesting when defending or when your opponent has no mounted units, but that's, again, very circumstantial. In general, you're unlikely to regret promoting Combat instead of Drill, which makes not promoting Drill an easy decision, and easy choices are, in my opinion, a bad thing in a game that's all about making good decisions.
 
On drill, I can see two paths: either alter the promotion tree so that Combat is not obviously better, or increase Drill bonus to start its progression from +1 First Strike, so half strike further bonus.

On monasteries, I think the original logic goes with "religion allows instant bonuses vs science allows long-term benefit". Just like going DR is suboptimal vs Lib, a religious playstyle strays you away from science, allowing you monastery science boost for less scientific tech paths. Also, it slightly increases the value of a religious playstyle when pagans going SciMet have a harder time gathering the benefits of multiple religions. In general I agree with you with gracelessness being a bad thing, but I'd think of this as a good exception.

You mentioned bulbing. In a way it would be cool if settling GPs was more attractive than it is now. Now the best uses are clearly shrine/corp, golden age and bulbing. If you dislike bulb-management, perhaps having less techs in the bulb tree would make it more relaxed, though not sure if the game allows the occasional situation of no bulbable techs.
 
On drill, I can see two paths: either alter the promotion tree so that Combat is not obviously better, or increase Drill bonus to start its progression from +1 First Strike, so half strike further bonus.

Not sure what you mean by the former, considering that K-Mod already did that. As for adding more First Strikes, I've tried that. It makes Drills much stronger in the rare situations where they already are strong, but not much more so in situations where they're not.

I think the Drill promotion line was conceived as a generalist defensive counterpart to the generalist aggressive Combat promotions. It just didn't turn out very well because there's too many situations in which these promotions are simply weak. Perhaps letting them heal faster in friendly territory is worth considering.

On monasteries, I think the original logic goes with "religion allows instant bonuses vs science allows long-term benefit". Just like going DR is suboptimal vs Lib, a religious playstyle strays you away from science, allowing you monastery science boost for less scientific tech paths. Also, it slightly increases the value of a religious playstyle when pagans going SciMet have a harder time gathering the benefits of multiple religions. In general I agree with you with gracelessness being a bad thing, but I'd think of this as a good exception.

I'm sorry, but I don't get what you're trying to say here.

You mentioned bulbing. In a way it would be cool if settling GPs was more attractive than it is now. Now the best uses are clearly shrine/corp, golden age and bulbing. If you dislike bulb-management, perhaps having less techs in the bulb tree would make it more relaxed, though not sure if the game allows the occasional situation of no bulbable techs.

No, bulbing is fine by me. Things like avoiding Fishing so one can bulb Engineering are a bit silly, but it's too integral a part of the game than that I'd want to mess with it.

As for settling GPs, I think that's strong enough, considering it's the fallback option that ensures GPs are always at least somewhat useful.
 
A minor update occurred. Changelog in second post.
 
Hej I think there is a mayor problem with the mod and that is the catapult/any other siege weapon damage problem and that they don't die,

I play on deity giving myself 15 ancient base buildings via game builder in the one city capitol (seems like much but it ain't with that setting, the game just too hard anyway but it's more fun to play this way for the massive AI bonuses,if you have all science buildings unlocked the AI is still faster in research with massive cities spam). No quechua rush just normal game.

the enemy ends up attacking me with a huge army in late medieval game or when I research grenadier unit, let's say I have 10 super trained archers with everything unlocked, the enemy attacks me with siege weapons (trebuchet), no enemy trebuchet dies but 1-2: my defending forces are seriously crippled so my 6 promotions for archers are garbage (even a prehistoric unit can kill me)

I repeat almost no enemy siege died in the process, so please balance this thing out the siege is just OP, -2 on health or bigger dying probability (at least look into it), now I know if I want to win I can go 10 maceman vs 10 super trained rifleman just bring 6 trebuchet, something is off, try play with my setting and experience the trebuchet spam. I don't remember this in other game mods or vanilla and I have like 2.000 hours vs AI on all levels with or without game builder. That is to say: 1) I am not a total noob 2) the super trained archers units like longbowman on hills should at least kill some trebuchet but they don't (WTF)

also the leaving vassal state is happening way too often, ''you're no longer able to protect us'' whilst I have an army of 20 grenadiers and the enemy just archers

btw. I love k-mod for the AI challenge, really a huge improvement, I seem to like other balances but the praetorian (which is sacred, you should never touch my fav unit haha:)

please make this great mod even greater
 
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Oh, I didn't think anyone was actually playing with this little experiment of mine (which has since greatly changed in an unreleased version on my hard drive).

Anyway, I'm not convinced that this is a balance problem (as opposed to a realism problem). Nor would I know how to fix it if I was convinced. The thing is that allowing units on the same plot to defend each other (which allows the forming of "stacks of doom") gives defending units an extreme advantage that somehow needs to be counterbalanced. "Collateral damage" is how the designers of Civ4 have done that.

So if siege units were significantly weakened, the advantage in any war would shift to whoever can produce the biggest army at the expense of players who cunningly use collateral damage and "flank attack" units.

Siege units are expensive, slow and weak on defense (trebs are even only good for attacking cities and forts). Opposing siege units in your territory are what make you need and want to not hide behind your city walls. The 10 "super trained riflemen" in your example could simply kill the 10 macemen in the field and watch the 6 trebs run for safety. Although, writing this, I'm thinking maybe their max. damage could be reduced slightly to lessen the impact of mass siege unit attacks. I'll definitely look into that.

In the meantime, thanks for your interest and suggestions.
 
Oh, I didn't think anyone was actually playing with this little experiment of mine (which has since greatly changed in an unreleased version on my hard drive).

Anyway, I'm not convinced that this is a balance problem (as opposed to a realism problem). Nor would I know how to fix it if I was convinced. The thing is that allowing units on the same plot to defend each other (which allows the forming of "stacks of doom") gives defending units an extreme advantage that somehow needs to be counterbalanced. "Collateral damage" is how the designers of Civ4 have done that.

So if siege units were significantly weakened, the advantage in any war would shift to whoever can produce the biggest army at the expense of players who cunningly use collateral damage and "flank attack" units.

Siege units are expensive, slow and weak on defense (trebs are even only good for attacking cities and forts). Opposing siege units in your territory are what make you need and want to not hide behind your city walls. The 10 "super trained riflemen" in your example could simply kill the 10 macemen in the field and watch the 6 trebs run for safety. Although, writing this, I'm thinking maybe their max. damage could be reduced slightly to lessen the impact of mass siege unit attacks. I'll definitely look into that.

In the meantime, thanks for your interest and suggestions.

I like all other ideas of yours like monastery not becoming obsolete,
(also I would leave the economic bonus and spy bonus on the castle which makes logical sense, the castle was the focal point in a medieval city and the centre of power similar to the palace in the game, leaving castle at just + culture is plain wrong in my opinion, should be more production cost, more aforementioned bonuses).

last suggestion is if you could implement the ''cease bothering us'' line in the diplomacy interface (the one under the animated leaders, I think revolution DCM has it), the AI seems harassing me way too often and that ruins the flow (I don't want to use the stop trading, I still want to trade and bully the AI)

cheers and good day to you (now I know that the only mod I will be playing is your mod and I;d love see it improved)
 
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I like all other ideas of yours like monastery not becoming obsolete,
(also I would leave the economic bonus and spy bonus on the castle which makes logical sense, the castle was the focal point in a medieval city and the centre of power similar to the palace in the game, leaving castle at just + culture is plain wrong in my opinion, should be more production cost, more aforementioned bonuses).

last suggestion is if you could implement the ''cease bothering us'' line in the diplomacy interface (the one under the animated leaders, I think revolution DCM has it), the AI seems harassing me way too often and that ruins the flow (I don't want to use the stop trading, I still want to trade and bully the AI)

cheers and good day to you (now I know that the only mod I will be playing is your mod and I;d love see it improved)

Sorry for the late reply...

I'm looking into the "cease bothering us" thing. I suppose that's useful when you play with lots of civs. Personally, I almost never play with more than eight, so I've never been too annoyed by AI requests.
 
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