New Beta Version - August 16th (8/16)

[Gazebo]

Hey all!

New beta version inbound! Exciting stuff! Lots of behind-the-scenes improvements, especially for the DealAI. It's a WIP of course, as the key is the human 'feel' of the system.

Changes
    Reverted embark rule for land units - can now stack underneath naval units as before.
        Todo: AI will still avoid this somewhat, but not critical.
    Completely overhauled DealAI for more consistent, logical deals, better interaction with demands/request system, and better performance in UI
        Biggest feature: deals now only expire AFTER you've had a chance to renew with an AI.
            Deals with AI will always be offered for renewal (usually with new demands/terms), unless the deal is somehow impossible (i.e. the AI no longer has the resource, GPT, etc. required for the deal)
            This will prevent things like defensive pacts or open borders from expiring before renewal is possible.
    Optimized AI aggression logic, and cleaned up additional DiploAI logic
    Many tactical AI adjustments and improvements, including AI fleet performance for air units on naval units (i.e. guided missiles)
    Tweaked AI building and unit construction priorities
    Adjusted AI policy seleciton criteria
    Fixed airplane despawning bug
    Tons of smaller bugfixes from Github
    Improvements to AI promotion selection criteria
    Performance improvements and AI optimizations
    Added 50 new great musicians, and 40 new great artists (thanks, Asterix Rage!!)
Maps
    Added Communitu_79a v.2.0
    Added improved AssignStartingPlots.lua to 6a/6b
Balance
    General
        Border growth from culture
            Slightly faster than before
    Difficulty
        AI no longer gets bonus production on capital settling, city-based handicap bonuses are now divided by number of owned cities
    Religion
        Pantheons
            Ancestor Worship - now +1f per 4 (was 3)
        Enhancers
            Sacred Calendar - now 33%, +3 (was 15%, +2)
    Wonders
        Terracotta - now +15 culture from kill (was 20)
        Alhambra - Jinete - now global for all mounted melee units
        CN Tower - removed pop change; reduced GW yield change for tourism to 2 (Was 3)
    Policies
        Tradition
            Finisher - added 4 flat supply to Throne Room
        Progress
            Equality: now +1 happy per 15 (Was 10), +1 happy per city
            Liberty - now +3g (was +2)
    Tourism
        Tweaked tourism influence tier thresholds:
            Exotic: 5%
            Familiar: 25%
            Popular: 50%
        Base Tourism per GW: now 4 (was 3)
        Shared Religion: 25% (was 20%)
        OB: now 15% (was 10%)
        Differing Ideologies: -10% (was -15%)
   
    Promotions
        Barrage - now +10% RCS per level (was +5%)
        Logistics now requires Barrage III instead of Infiltrators, and Indomitable instead of Targeting III
        Firing Doctrine now requires Field III instead of Siege III
        Range and Indirect Fire now gated behind Siege III only
        Field II loses access to the Volley promotion
        City Assault - % bonus VS cities reduced to 33% for both (was 50/50)
        Anti-Sub I/II
            Now gated behind Navigation I
            Anti-Sub I tech locked behind Nuclear Fission (submarine unlock tech)
        Detect Submarines
            Now gated behind Anti-Sub-II
       
    Units
        Destroyer/Missile Cruiser
            Removed free anti-submarine promotions
    Civs
        Zulu
            New 'base' promotion for Ikanda: Iklwa
                +10% CS when attacking; +2XP per turn when in enemy territory
            Horns - +10%CS, +33% from flanking
            Chest - +10% CS, +25HP
            Loins - +10% CS, +1 Movement
            Tier 3 (Loins) unlocks tier 4 promotions from normal tiers
            UA - fixed % mismatch on maintenance mods - now 50% for melee/gun units as intended.
        Inca
            Terrace Farm now +1f for every adjacent Terrace Farm
            UA grants +1g on mountains as well
    Minors
        Faith from CSs - now +1 for friends in Ancient, +2 in Classical; +2 for allies in Ancient, +3 for Classical

Online as of 4:00pm CST. Not save game compatible.

https://mega.nz/folder/2Jdw3aQT#Z49gV7KAyMq6YiG5BD9jaA

 

[Voremonger]

Generally good changes, I'll play a game after I've had some sleep.
I especially appreciate the auto-renewal of deals; means I will spend less time doing boring stuff and more time doing interesting stuff.
I still think that even with the old values City Assault was not a worthwhile Promotion outside of a few Civ-specific Units; I think with the current values I won't use it on any Unit ever.

Question regarding AI bonuses to Food/Production: were the raw values for the bonuses changed or do the AI now just get a third of those yields when they have three Cities?

 

[danymatrix]

oh B0y! W3 L0V3 U!

 

[Erikose]

Deals with AI will always be offered for renewal (usually with new demands/terms), unless the deal is somehow impossible (i.e. the AI no longer has the resource, GPT, etc. required for the deal) This will prevent things like defensive pacts or open borders from expiring before renewal is possible.

Awesome change - along with many of the others, ofc! Having fleets or armies scattered along the (formerly open) borders of a civ due to that one turn closure... Return of embarkation/naval unit stacking appreciated, and excited about the deal logic.

Also looking forward to the behind the scenes changes/fixes and diplo adds as well. Thanks,, Gazebo,, and thanks to the rest of the team for getting this out by today. Making a press pot of coffee and clipping a nice cigar I was saving for this new version!

- E

 

[Stalker0]

A lot of really good things in here, excited to try it out. The fact that I now get a chance to reopen borders before they close is alone worth the price of admission.

Only a few notes:

1) City Assault: other than a few voices I’ve heard complaints in this, I have heard no consensus that CA is OP.

To me, CA actually just does it’s job, it makes infantry units capable of attacking cities, instead of sitting there and waiting for ranged to do all the work.

this is a very large nerf, especially changing the amount of damage the unit takes from cities, that translates into a good bit more damage.

I think CA is solid, and I use it at key times, but I also use shock plenty as well. I don’t see why the change was needed.

2) if I’m reading it right, in order to detect subs now you need.

BPI -> Navigation I -> Antisub I -> Antisub II -> Detect Subs

that’s a level 5 unit extremely niche unit... is the AI even going to make this?

My guess is you meant that detect subs is a feature of anti sub II, but it doesn’t read that way in the notes.

 

[Recursive]

I'd be very interested to hear any playtest feedback anyone has on diplomacy in this beta version, particularly when it comes to AI aggression.

Please post feedback in the dedicated thread: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/diplomacy-ai-development.655040/

Also worth noting that this beta should include fixes for the CTDs from last version as well as that infernal city starvation bug, which I don't see specifically noted in the changelog - but they did make it in.

Happy gaming, everyone!

P.S. Your tags are funny, G.

 

[Kim Dong Un]

I've been anxiously waiting while watching all the positive strides taken behind the scenes on Git. The amount of problems addressed (deal AI, Throne Room supply, no AI hammers on capital setting, are among my favourites), on top of new goodies like the great works, is absolutely tremendous. Kudos again, VP team!

It's a great testament to the dedication, that I'm left further and further on the edge of my seat in anticipation of every new version -- there's rarely ever been a step backwards, despite providing consistent updates spanning almost a decade.

Now, the only question is: Do I start off my first game with a progress Inca, authority Zulu, or try out the new tourism/CV balance with a 'traditional' civ?

 

[tothePAIN]

The nerf to Progress's culture seems out of left field and called for from no one?

I'll definitely play an authority zulu game and then a Progress Inca game for feel.

Very excited for this version!

 

[Deljade]

The nerf to Progress's culture seems out of left field and called for from no one?

Just what I was thinking, it was even considered to buff Progress' culture in the preview thread? I guess the change to Happiness proved way too powerful?

Also the extra Great Works probably mean I should remove Krazjen's Artists and Musicians (but not Writers? Those were the first to run out)

 

[InkAxis]

There was a storm where I live and the internet got knocked for today. I still have data on my phone so I can see this post but I can't download it, it's like it's taunting me..

Reverted embark rule for land units - can now stack underneath naval units as before. Todo: AI will still avoid this somewhat, but not critical. Completely overhauled DealAI for more consistent, logical deals, better interaction with demands/request system, and better performance in UI Biggest feature: deals now only expire AFTER you've had a chance to renew with an AI. Deals with AI will always be offered for renewal (usually with new demands/terms), unless the deal is somehow impossible (i.e. the AI no longer has the resource, GPT, etc. required for the deal) This will prevent things like defensive pacts or open borders from expiring before renewal is possible. Optimized AI aggression logic, and cleaned up additional DiploAI logic Many tactical AI adjustments and improvements, including AI fleet performance for air units on naval units (i.e. guided missiles) Tweaked AI building and unit construction priorities Adjusted AI policy seleciton criteria

Recursive is doing great work here. I'm particularly excited for the increase in AI aggressiveness. I don't know what the changes in the policy picking AI is, but I'm hopeful for that as well because the AI has picked weird policies before. But then again I don't play on deity, meaning that choices are semi-random.

Added 50 new great musicians, and 40 new great artists

Have great writers not been added? It's nice to have more GM and GA, but I tend to run out of GW pretty often.

Added Communitu_79a v.2.0

Nice to see this integrated, I play with it all the time. Give it a try if you haven't already.

Tweaked tourism influence tier thresholds: Exotic: 5% Familiar: 25% Popular: 50% Base Tourism per GW: now 4 (was 3) Shared Religion: 25% (was 20%) OB: now 15% (was 10%) Differing Ideologies: -10% (was -15%)

I really like this change but we'll need to see how it plays balance wise.

Edit: I noticed progress got it's culture nerfed, which surprised me. I like the change to equality. Is the change in culture to compensate for the +1 in liberty? Seems strange.

Edit 2: nevermind, it was just a change from the other change, aka same as before

 

[pineappledan]

Anti-Sub I tech locked behind Nuclear Fission (submarine unlock tech)

You mean Penicillin? Penicillin is when subs unlock.

And yeah, gating anti-subs behind a level 5 promotion seems extreme. I am in support of gating sub detection, but I was hoping for level 3

Still can't reckon that 33% flanking bonus for buffalo Horns. That is only 7% less than shock 1/2/3, and Overrun combined. Either that's too strong or Shock is too weak by half.

 

[Stalker0]

So i don’t think progress got nerfed, it’s just a miswriting in the notes.

It looks like Progress was reverted from the buff it got in the preview. (If you look at the “new value” it changed to our current version...aka no actual change). But since that preview never actually had a version, the patch notes should not say any change at all.

 

[ElliotS]

Lot of good stuff, with a couple changes seemingly from left field.

Let's see how it goes! I don't want to be negative without playing first!

 

[tu_79]

Nice to see this integrated, I play with it all the time. Give it a try if you haven't already.

This is for a little thorn I had stuck in it. I once promoted some time ago some changes done (not by me) to Communitas mapscript, which apparently fixed fish spawning, but it had some other changes that were not appreciated. Now I hope to have been redeemed by finally pushing up a fine mapscript. You have to thank @azum4roll for the more complex technical stuff. He's the mind behind offering so many options to players and resource balance.
Beware that some of the integration was done in the last minute, so some bugfixing might still be needed.

Let's see how it goes!

Too bad it is too late for me to start a new game. It's already late for sleeping,

 

[Gazebo]

The nerf to Progress's culture seems out of left field and called for from no one?

I'll definitely play an authority zulu game and then a Progress Inca game for feel.

Very excited for this version!

progress is just a reversion of changes from last version.

 

[arthurF]

So excited, but then MEGA says "transfer quota exceeded" ...which is weird, since i don't use mega for anything but this. Doubt i have downloaded anything from there in the past 7 weeks.

 

[Gazebo]

So excited, but then MEGA says "transfer quota exceeded" ...which is weird, since i don't use mega for anything but this. Doubt i have downloaded anything from there in the past 7 weeks.

excess of downloads. Already had 500 in just 2 hours. It’ll cool down shortly.

 

[stormfallen]

Tweaked tourism influence tier thresholds: Exotic: 5% Familiar: 25% Popular: 50%

What were the old values?

Excited to give this a try; Inca have always been one of my favorites. So much so that I keep trying to move though hills/mountains with other civs >_>.

 

[DaniSciB]

Bug Report:

1) Ikanda seems to give units Buffalo Loins (Not Iklwa).

This makes impossible to get the other Buffalo Promotions, but instead it gives you the chance to promote your unit to other Tier 4 upgrades (March, City Assault, Stelwart, Overrun...)

Possible Bugs:

Note: This is KING (5) Difficulty.

1) Some AI not rolling out culture fast enough?

In my game Sweden (Progress) and America (Authority) got their first policy 10-15 turns after everyone else. Now, they are still at 1 policy, but other have 3 or 2.

2) Some AI staying at 2 pop without reason?

Sweden got a nice spot in my game... But they are stagnated with 2 pop (Turn 70).

...

...

...

Can't give screenshots since WIFI is not working lol.

 

[stormfallen]

1) Ikanda seems to give units Buffalo Loins (Not Iklwa).

Can confirm: