More random thoughts

[Ahriman]

1. The Man at Arms appears twice for Brettonia. There are two of them, both identical, that show up in build queues etc.
Also, the MaA seems overpowered. Its better than a Pikeman, but doesn't require Advanced Smithing (unlike Halbardiers) and has no National Unit cap. I also thought that the theme for Bretonnia was uber knights/cavalry with *weak* mean at arms peasant support. So why do they get an uberstrong spearman replacement rather than a weak one?
Also, should Brettonnia really get catapults, treuchets *and* cannons? I'd take away cannons.
Bretonnia probably also shouldn't get War Chariots in addition to all their knights. Feels out of flavour.

2. Related to this; I'd like to see all of the different civs given unit boosts/nerfs relative to their strengths. Bretonnia gets better knights/cav with worse/cheaper infantry. Dwarves get Hardass/expensive infantry and better siege machines, with weaker cavalry. Ork chariots have good offensive power, but poor or no withdraw chance (orcs retreating?). Maybe ork infantry get higher attack/lower defence. Maybe lizard cavalry is weaker or slower, but doesn't get the same jungle/marsh penalties. Undead units are cheaper for massing, but without particular strengths.
So, even without adding in all the unique units for all the civs, we can start adding more flavour to the different civs with some mild unit buffs/nerfs.

3. Removing the 4-university/observatory requirement for the Colleges might help with making the AI build them. Just require a single university/observatory in the city you build them. But the AI is always bad at building wonders that have a build requirement.
Alchemist lab is still a pile of junk.

4. Some wonders are still massively over-priced. Sisters of Shallya, Spice Road, Silk Route are very expensive. Every really expensive wonder should have a resource affinity that halves costs.

5. Civic balance isn't great.
Vassalage: too strong. Remove the free happy from units, but increase the number of free units given.
Hereditary rule: very weak compared to City states, representation or Tyranny. Give this free happy from units, or maybe an extra bonus from citadels (milunit production bonus?)
Militia: Very weak. Why would you ever use this??
Slavery: Weak atm. Remove the -1 hammer from mines.
Serfdom: strongest civic in the game. Remove the +50% worker production (serfs really aren't that productive!). Make it +1 food from farm and removing the -1 commerce.
Caste System: Very weak. Make it give +1 influence for all specialists (including serfs and lords), +1 gold +1 hammer for serfs, and +1 gold +3 influence for lords.
Roaming tutorage: Boring and useless. Gold and research are already freely interchangable with the slider.
Dogma: Useless without any boosters for cleric specialists, and without any particular use for great clerics. Create a wonder that boosts them? Will be slightly more useful once none-state religion starts giving nasty penalties.

6. I really think that fortifications aren't working at the moment. This is a fairly serious bug...
I think that all units are getting the ignore fortifications like gunpowder units. I think this was a FFH bug fixed in a recent patch, you should talk to Kael and integrate the fix into this. This is a much bigger deal for this mod, where all the walls and citadels are supposed to make cities much harder to assault.
It seems like cultural defences work, but none of the buildings do.

7. It would also be nice if there was a tech that allowed Permanent Alliances. Its a pain to have to declare war on very close friends in order to win.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

1. all very valid comments, your right men-at-arms should be weak for the brettonians, and they shouldnt be able to get cannons. as for chariots, your right again ill see if i can get around to this in my mod mod, which im starting work on today.

2. again, good ideas and what has been in my mind for some time

3. agreed. im going to change college prerequesists in my mod mod.

4. want to suggest cost changes and ill mod those in too.

5. ive never really looked at civics too hard, some interesting ideas there though.

6. hmmm ill definately take a look at this.

7. i agree but im no tech-modder

 

[Ahriman]

4.
Bloodweiser Stadium, 400 hammers. Requires Bloodbowl Stadium (just 1)
Great Forge, 500 hammers, double construction speed with coal.
Palace of the Wizard Caliph, 500 hammers, double speed with marble.
Philosopher's Stone, 500, double speed with Gold. Make the wonder provide +6 gold (money, not the resoruce) instead of +2
Amber Brotherhood, 400 hammers, Requires University (just one, not 4), double speed with Breeding Grounds (the strategic resource). Reduce science bonus to 50%. Also, take the Archmage requirement away from Monster Bonding, make it require Monster Breeding instead.
The Amethyst Order, 400 hammers, double speed with incense, reduce science bonus to 50%.
The Black Pyrmaid needs to do something. I'd like to see it autospawn Horde of Zombies, maybe 20% chance per turn. Cost 400 hammers.
The Bright Order, 400 hammers, requires University (just one), double speed with Brightstone. Reduce science bonus to 50%.
Celestial College, requires Observatory (just one), 400 hammers, double speed with Marble, reduce science bonus to 50%.
Golden Order, reduce science bonus to 25%, 400 hammers double speed with Gold.
Great Bazaar, 400 hammers.
Grey order, make it +6 espionage, 400 hammers. No affinity, no building requirement.
Jade College, 400 hammers, no affinity, no build requirement.
Silk Route, 500 hammers, requires market, gives +4 gold instead of -3, double speed with Silk.
Spice Road, 500 hammers, requires market, gives +4 gold instead of -3, double speed with Spices.
Throne of Power. Assume there is some lore-related reason for this Wonder?
War Academy, 500 hammers.
Tristan's Theatre, requires Theatre (1), 400 hammers, double speed with Dyes.

Cap the number of colleges at 2 per city.

5. I find at the moment I use the same civic choices nearly every game; Adopt Clansmanship, God King , Agriculture and Mysticsm as soon as they become available, then shift to City States, Vassalage, often Serfdom once they become available. Sometimes switch to . I'd make City States reduce distance penalty by 75%, not 100%.

6. I think the issue is that all units somehow get the "ignores city walls" ability. In any case, cultural defence seems to work but others don't. When testing, look at the difference between displayed defences when you have units selected and when you don't, and watch the reported results from bombardment vs the visual display on the city.

8.
Another thought; once you make elemental magic work. Make sure that they level2 mages start with Channeling 2. When you're making Channeling2 require literacy, but making elemental magic require nature lore, you shouldn't have to get both research paths to get elemental mages. I like the idea of Winds magic being something you get with education, colleges and learning, while elemental magic being something you get through nature research.

9.
There needs to me more in the way of tech options at the top end of the tech tree. Almost every game, I finish or 95% finish the tech tree well before being near winning, unlike FFH where I've only completed 1-2 high end research lines (religious, arcane, metals, cavalry, recon/nature).

10. Inflation is too high relative to the general flow of the game. I hate that inflation crowds out all other expenses, because the player has no control over it. FFH its not so bad because Agriculture civic or ancient forests mean that in general civs grow much faster. Plus, terrain is usually better.

 

[Ahriman]

This thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=174422
might explain some of the strange bombardment discrepancies - is there some mod that makes bombardment function differently here?

 

[rocklikeafool]

There aren't any currently usable. There are some changes to bombardment planned by users such as Magister_Cultuum (for FfH, of course). But those changes aren't in downloadable form yet.