My proposed changes

[LORD ORION]

To be used in conjunction with the patch changes.
Any feedback is appreciated.

These are all additive to the existing entries unless indicated

Sponsors
Franco-Iberia:
+1 Culture per city

Slavic Federation:
Remove +50% Orbital Duration
Add +25% Production towards Orbital units

People's African Union
-1 health per city (cities cost -5 health instead of -4)

Colonists
Artists
+2 Culture (normally +3)

Cargo
Weapons Arsenal
Begin with an experienced soldier unit

Virtues
Might
Military Industrial Complex
Gain a free Soldier

Public Safety
+1 Health for each Rocket Battery, Defense Perimeter, Command Center and Node Bank

Scavenging
Reveal Pods within 7 hexes of a city

Joint Operations
Gain 2 Free Tacnet Hub Orbital Units

Prosperity
Gift Economy
+1 Food from your land-based trade routes to foreign cities.
+1 Food from your sea-based trade routes to foreign cities.

Knowledge

Field Research
Gain a free Explorer

Creative Class
Earn Energy equal to 30% of the culture you generate

Industry

Entrepreneurial Spaceflight
Gain a free Miasmic Repulsor Orbital
Gain a free Solar Collector Orbital

Superior Engineering
+1 Production from Dome Improvements
(remove 50% orbital duration bonus)

Technology Changes

Physics
Observatory
Remove Firaxite requirement
+1 Science (normally +2)
Reveal all excavations within 7 hexes of the city an observatory is built in
city receives +1 Sight
+1 Science from firaxite

Cognition
Academy
Yields +2 science when worked

Bionics
Biowell
Maintenance 3

Ecology
Add access to Miasmic Repulsor

Alien Biology
Add Trade Convoy Miasma Immunity

Units
Orbitals
Disallow energy purchase of orbitals

 

[legalizefreedom]

A lot of good ideas here. I might stay away from negatives for leaders though. Look what happened to Gandhi.

 

[Gritf]

A lot of good ideas here. I might stay away from negatives for leaders though. Look what happened to Gandhi.

But Gandhi is awesome, everybody talks of Gandhi. First mention of civ I heard was Gandhi this or Ghandi that. Nukes anyone? Just Gandhi.

Anyway, I believe negatives may enforce you to play in ways you don't always do, to experiment. Just look at lilgamefreak's SMAC factions mod.

 

[LORD ORION]

A lot of good ideas here. I might stay away from negatives for leaders though. Look what happened to Gandhi.

The point is to slow down African Union's later game, while still giving them a strong start.

eg: If you have 5 cities, AU should have 4 and more pop to help mitigate the large advantage of the free earth relic while putting some focus on the 10% healthy growth bonus.

 

[legalizefreedom]

The point is to slow down African Union's later game, while still giving them a strong start.

eg: If you have 5 cities, AU should have 4 and more pop to help mitigate the large advantage of the free earth relic while putting some focus on the 10% healthy growth bonus.

The rationale is good, but when choosing a civ the one with a negative unique would likely be the last choice of the not so rational.

 

[ShagVT]

The rationale is good, but when choosing a civ the one with a negative unique would likely be the last choice of the not so rational.

It's an interesting idea. I've tried writing a response to this several times and I keep going back and forth between agreeing and disagreeing. Ultimately everybody can already build the OER themselves, but having it instantly means that you save all of those build turns and get the virtue bonus instantly. AU will still have a significant culture bonus, but that would have a cost.

AU still has a good advantage, but since it is tied to getting cities built, this puts a little bit of a damper on getting the extra cities built.

 

[LORD ORION]

With the 6 new seeing options I'll need to make some adjustments.
Mercenaries takes care of my desire for a Veteran soldier with Weaponry
Electromagnetic Sensor allows you to go for excavations.

 

[Doviello]

Slavic really needs to change. The orbital units you want to last longer are the military ones, holomatrix and solar collector. But the REALLY good ones (resource generator satellites, miasma repulsor/condensor) have to do their job asap and then disappear. If his duration bonus were to apply only to the first type, his trait would be better already. Maybe give him +hammer from resources, like ciV russia.

But Elodie is the weakest sponsor right now. +1 culture seems fair.

PAU could be changed to +growth, and a free OER (in the capital only), that would make him nice enough already.

What about the reactor ship cargo (100 energy)? Thats pretty bad. But this cargo can't just be so much energy that you could purchase anything, that would make machinery or weapon arsenal bad, so maybe make it +2 energy/turn for the first 100 turns (it's supposed to be an energy source right)

 

[LORD ORION]

What about the reactor ship cargo (100 energy)? Thats pretty bad. But this cargo can't just be so much energy that you could purchase anything, that would make machinery or weapon arsenal bad, so maybe make it +2 energy/turn for the first 100 turns (it's supposed to be an energy source right)

100 energy was sorta balanced before the 2 resource pod options showed up as a choice.

I'm wondering if it should be changed into a free solar collector. (that will ensure energy, and will ensure pods will yield other things)

 

[Amrunril]

What about the reactor ship cargo (100 energy)? Thats pretty bad. But this cargo can't just be so much energy that you could purchase anything, that would make machinery or weapon arsenal bad, so maybe make it +2 energy/turn for the first 100 turns (it's supposed to be an energy source right)

Even independent of any balance considerations, the fusion reactor option seems out of place. Each of the other spacecraft options options works by providing information about the map and the ability to exploit that information, while the fusion reactor instead gives a straightforward resource bonus. I would certainly be in favor of editing or replacing this option to make for a more cohesive set of choices in each category of seeding options.
(And as far as balance is concerned, fusion reactor is difficult to use because you can't really plan a strategy around it without knowing whether the 100 energy will be supplemented by resource pod yields or favorable terrain)

 

[LORD ORION]

Even independent of any balance considerations, the fusion reactor option seems out of place. Each of the other spacecraft options options works by providing information about the map and the ability to exploit that information, while the fusion reactor instead gives a straightforward resource bonus. I would certainly be in favor of editing or replacing this option to make for a more cohesive set of choices in each category of seeding options.
(And as far as balance is concerned, fusion reactor is difficult to use because you can't really plan a strategy around it without knowing whether the 100 energy will be supplemented by resource pod yields or favorable terrain)

There is also the consideration that the new 2 resource pod option can produce more energy than that choice.
eg: A pod can drop 50 or 70 energy or a Solar Collector.

The other possibility is simply to increase the energy amount to allow a faster purchase of a colonist unit when using pioneers.
eg: 150 energy