New Beta Version - January 8th (1-8)

[Gazebo]

Hey all,

New beta inbound. Changelog includes changes from prior beta. I cleaned up the changes and added a few missing things from my list (compared to the list posted earlier).

Bugfixes
    Merged bugfixes and improvements from Infixo and Ilteroi (thanks!)
    Pushed through github issues list
    Major bugfixes for AI city specialization logic
    Major improvements to unit production AI
    AI should be a bit more aggressive overall, and a little more adaptive to shifts in the battlefield
    Fixed some bugs that caused the AI to DOW then bail out on their attack
    Adjusted some tactical postures
    Adjusted some voting logic for WC
    Tweaks to deal logic re: cities
    AI should be less likely to voluntary submit to vassalage
    Unit Cycler now looks for the nearest unit, instead of jumping around randomly
    Reworked Tech AI logic quite a bit - should be more tailored to strategic play.
    Fixed a few more bugs here and there
    Improvement city citizen management (fixed a big bug too)
    Fixed a hilarious tactical AI bug that kept the AI from attacking cities
UI
     Added ability to sort by XP Level in Military Overview

Balance
    General
        Randomized Victories - now only randomizes between science, diplo, and culture. Unlocks at Atomic.
        Difficulty Model
            Removed Digs and CS TR historic event bonuses
            Reduced GP bonus to /3 (was /2)
            Removed local border growth bonus
            Reduced AI barbarian combat bonus
            Reduced starting units for Deity AI
            Tweaked barb spawn rate so that more barbs spawn on higher difficulties, and fewer on lower ones
        Adjusted disbanding logic to be more aggressive and to function for AI properly
        Can no longer indiscriminately gift units to CSs if they're at their unit cap (roughly 5 or so units per city)
        Reduced City defense scaling from tech/pop slightly
        Reduced growth exponent for cities slightly
        Tweaked building/unit purchase cost formula a bit
            Units now scale with empire size in cost (same as buildings)
            Building and Unit base cost increased slightly
        City-States can now upgrade their units when they have the tech (gold limitations removed for them)
            They're already behind on techs, so no reason to double-punish them.
        City-State influence scaler adjusted to be less powerful at longer gamespeeds
        General/Admiral rates required for a GA/GG to spawn now scale with gamespeed
    Beliefs
        Pantheons
             Earth Mother gives +1 Faith from Iron
             Springtime gives +2 Gold from Plantations, but no Culture
             Festivals gives +3 Gold from a Resource
             Expanse gives 6 Production instead of 15 Food
        Divine Inheritance and Theocratic rule now 10% for yield buffs (were 15%)
    Buildings
        Removed maintenance from Stock Exchange
        Barracks/Ikanda Science reduced to 1 (was 2)
        Adjusted purchase cost formula a bit (should be a little cheaper late-game)
        Bank - changed Caravansary/Mint bonus to local, increased to +3g (from 1)
        Caravansary - reduced connection bonus to 10% (Was 25%)
        Dropped Modifiers on CSD Ideology NWs to 5% (were 15%), 10% for Production on Hall of Honor
        Culture Modifier on Opera House now 5%
        Reduced pop science growth on University (but not Seowon) to 25% (was 33%)
        Reduced science per citizen on Public School (but not Skola) to 1 per 4 (was 1 per 2)
        Windmill - dropped Food on Grocer/Granary to +1 (was +2)
        University/Seowon - removed Forest Science
        Herbalist- removed food on Forest
        Workshop - removed Jungle buffs
        Factory/Steam Mill - removed Specialist bump, now grants Manufactories +2 Production
        Stock Exchange - now provides Towns with +2 Gold, dropped Gold per Citizen to 1:5
        Medical Lab- the 3 specialists now produce +1 of their base yield (instead of all science), and food kept dropped to 15% (Was 30%)
        Well/Watermill - now divided - Well generates +1p per 5 citizens, Watermill +1p per 4 citizens.
            These buildings scaled surprisingly well (ha), and needed a nerf.
        Floating Gardens - now +1f/p per 5 citizens (was +2 per 5)
        Agribusiness - loses 10% food, but gains +1 food on all worked farms
        Increased maintenance costs for buildings from Renaissance-on.
        Church - now boosts starting religious strength for all missionaries by 5% (up to 50% global)
            Prior effect created weird and un-fun strategies to only build missionaries in one city. This spreads the bonus out, encouraging investment.
    Wonders
        Heroic Epic - +1 Production per 5 citizens in city added.
        National Epic - added +15 culture when citizen is born in city.
        Grand Temple - removed Golden Age, but buffed Temple bonuses to +2 (Was +1)
        East India - now grants an extra trade route
        Parthenon - gains 10% supply modifier for city
        Terracotta Army - now flat 3 supply for city in which it is built
        Himeji - loses free Scientist, now +1 supply per city.
        Machu Pichu - Reduced gold bonus to 15% (Was 33%)
        Oracle - free social policy gone - now grants 500 Golden Age Points and Culture instantly and a free Temple
        Hagia - now gives a free church
        Borobudur-  now gives a free stupa
        Angkor - now gives a free Mandir
        Removed Extra movement from Grand Canal promotion
    Civs
        Huns - UA now 75% chance to capture barb in encampment (was 100%)
    Corporations
        Reduced modifier for Trader Sid's TRs to 25% Gold (was 50%)
        Reduced modifier for Firaxite TRs to 50% Science (Was 100%)
        Giorgio and Firaxite Office bonus reduced by 1 (now +2 culture/science per office, respectively)
    City-States
        Reworked bully metric, removed tiering (now scales direcly from power) and made the proximity bonus tighter
        Adjusted production/growth modifiers
        Have fewer starting units at higher difficulties
    Improvements
        Pastures: +1 food (fresh water) at Mathematics, +1 gold (no-fresh-water) at civil service
        Lumbermill/Logging Camp (was Lumbermill (Jungle)) - shifted tech yield increases around a bit
            Moved Industrialization yield bump to Metallurgy - boosts Lumber mill by +1p, Logging Camp by +1g
            Bump at Combustion - now +2p (Logging Camp), +2g (Lumbermill)
            These no longer depend on fresh/nonfresh water (as that was always weird for feature-based tiles anyways)
    Units
        Units purchased with gold now receive half of the potential XP from the city (so if a city has a barracks, you get 7xp, not 15xp)
            Can be disabled in CBO if desired.
        Increased Guided Missile Damage (150, from 100), can only attack units (and attacks garrisons alone when hitting cities)
        Great Merchant WLTKD now 10 (was 20)
        Great Engineer - reduced potency of hurry base value, but increased production boost from manufactories (20%, from 10%)
        Naval Ranged units are now all a base 1 range
            Much like the artillery conundrum on land, the shift to 2 range dramatically changes the naval landscape, too much so.
        Naval Ranged units now get access to Splash I/II (from Targeting III)
        Captured military units start at 25 health (was 50) - nerf to Huns, Prize Ships, etc.
        Moved Nuclear Sub to Robotics
        Workboat starts with Sight Penalty, moves reduced to 2
        Battleship and Cruiser start with Range (so they'll max out at 2 range)
    Specialists
        Specialist food costs increased by 1 (so starts a 3, goes up using old formula in the same linear manner)
        Removed 1 Engineer from Trainstation
        Removed Civil Servants from CSD ideology NWs (3 total)
        Removed 1 Scientist from Military Academy
        Removed 1 Engineer from Factory
        Removed 1 Merchant from Stock Exchange
        Removed 1 Scientist from Seowon
        Removed 1 Scientist from Monastery
        Overall: potential specialist slot amounts are roughly equal (not taking into account extra slots from UBs)
        Normalized Specialist yields from tech (Engineers always get Production, GWAM always get Culture, etc.)
        Specialists produce .5 unhappiness (was .25) - so 2 specialists = 1 unhappiness
        Reduced Culture from GWAM Specialist yield bumps at tech (2 to 1, 3 to 2)
        Remove 1 Tech-based yield increase per other Specialist type:
            Theology for Scientist
            Flight for Merchant
            Rocketry for Engineer
    Techs
        Light adjustments to tech costs in light of balance changes
    Policies
        Progress
            Opener- Dropped Science from pop to 20 (Was 30) and retroactive to 15 (was 20)
            Organzation - moved TR bonus to Fealty (Burgers)
            Expertise - dropped Production to 10% (was 20%)
            Equality - Happiness per is now 15 (was 16)
            Finisher - Now 15 per Citizen (was 20)
        Authority
            Tribute - border expanding yields now 15 (Was 20)
        Tradition
            Buffed faith from astrologer (+3, from +2); reduced Happiness from National Wonders/Palace to +1 (was +2)
        Fealty
            Burghers - Trade Routes to Civilizations with more Techs and/or Policies than you generate +2 Science and/or Culture.
            Nobility - now +3 Food on Castle (was +10% Food)
            Shifted purchase bonus from Organized Religion to Opener
        Artistry
            Opener: gains +100% construction rate of guild buildings
            Refinement: all guild buildings gain +1 happiness
            Cultural Exchange: now +3c/p from guilds (was 2/1)
        Industry
            Opener - now 5 Gold per building (was 15)
            Reduced production/gold bonus on Division of Labor to 2% per building, but added Forge and Airport (so 10% total, but more spread out)
        Rationalism
            Reduced GA Science to 5% from Enlightenment (was 10%)
            Reduced Science from GWs to 2% (was 4%) on Academics (still caps at 20%)
    Tourism
        Reduced influence TR bonuses slightly
            Growth now 5/10/15/20/25%
            Gold now 2/4/6/8/10

Online as of 10:30pm EST. Not savegame compatible with previous versions.

Link: https://mega.nz/#!OAEFGDxB!0HEpeQCViOS-28jEOVMYLOt6B3pF_ck1GG51IgIVAQE

Cheers,
Gazebo

 

[pineappledan]

Oracle - free social policy gone - now grants 500 Golden Age Points and Culture instantly and a free Temple
Hagia - now gives a free church
Borobudur- now gives a free stupa
Angkor - now gives a free Mandir
Removed Extra movement from Grand Canal promotion

Yaaaaaaay!

Do battleships still have indirect fire? was there a change in RCS for cruisers and Battleships to compensate for the -20% on range?

Opener - now 5 Gold per building (was 15)

Dayum! 20 gold at industrial? you can pretty much ignore that part of the policy now then.

 

[Txurce]

Looks great. I like the added religious buildings and the buffs to Artistry.

 

[Ziad]

@Gazebo not sure if it's just me but there are a few text errors in the social policy tree.

The Fealty opener has the 25% cost reduction not the spread pressure change. I personally prefer this, but it's not what you said in the notes.

In Artistry, the guild 100% increased construction rate is in the scaler. That would be funny tbh.

Industry opener still says 10g per building not 5.

 

[Gazebo]

@Gazebo not sure if it's just me but there are a few text errors in the social policy tree.

The Fealty opener has the 25% cost reduction not the spread pressure change. I personally prefer this, but it's not what you said in the notes.

In Artistry, the guild 100% increased construction rate is in the scaler. That would be funny tbh.

Industry opener still says 10g per building not 5.

I'll fix those typos later - but the cost reduction is correct, not pressure (fixed that in notes).

G

 

[Ziad]

Now that specialists have been nerfed across the board, have you looked into perhaps buffing Mastery in some way? Maybe add some GPI yields?

 

[Gazebo]

Now that specialists have been nerfed across the board, have you looked into perhaps buffing Mastery in some way? Maybe add some GPI yields?

Why? It's better now by virtue of its relative boost to Specialists. Definitely not needed.

G

 

[IcyAngel]

Now that specialists have been nerfed across the board, have you looked into perhaps buffing Mastery in some way? Maybe add some GPI yields?

The nerfs to Specialist yields were a buff to Mastery in a way, because +1 yields translates to a bigger % increase than before.

edit:

Why? It's better now by virtue of its relative boost to Specialists. Definitely not needed.

G

damn it x.x

 

[CrazyG]

Why? It's better now by virtue of its relative boost to Specialists. Definitely not needed.

G

It competes fairly poorly with many other beliefs. It was only slightly too good at 2 per specialist in my opinon. I like the idea of it giving all great person tiles +1 of the right yield too, its a way to buff it without making it wordy at all and it addresses the problem of great people tiles vs specialists

The nerfs to Specialist yields were a buff to Mastery in a way, because +1 yields translates to a bigger % increase than before.

That extra food consumption really adds up to hurt mastery. It doesn't matter that its a larger % buff, its the same raw yields and its competing against beliefs with about the same raw yields as before. In fact things like synagogues and mosques just got better because the number of % modifiers decreases, making each one more valuable than before

 

[pineappledan]

It competes fairly poorly with many other beliefs. It was only slightly too good at 2 per specialist in my opinon. I like the idea of it giving all great person tiles +1 of the right yield too, its a way to buff it without making it wordy at all and it addresses the problem of great people tiles vs specialists

This also aligns with the push to get more yields out "onto the field":

the big push [this patch] was to move more yields out to tiles, and give less passive benefits from the existence of population

 

[IcyAngel]

It competes fairly poorly with many other beliefs. It was only slightly too good at 2 per specialist in my opinon. I like the idea of it giving all great person tiles +1 of the right yield too, its a way to buff it without making it wordy at all and it addresses the problem of great people tiles vs specialists


That extra food consumption really adds up to hurt mastery. It doesn't matter that its a larger % buff, its the same raw yields and its competing against beliefs with about the same raw yields as before. In fact things like synagogues and mosques just got better because the number of % modifiers decreases, making each one more valuable than before

Agree that it competes poorly; I like the GPTI buff because it's flavourful but marginal enough to ensure the belief doesn't become autopick like before.

 

[Chandler]

Ouch. No love for Epic and Marathon (and Quick)?

 

[Stalker0]

G, forgot your Agribusiness bonus to pastures in the notes again.

Also note on mastery. Keep in mind the total number of specialist slots has been nerfed as well, so that does impact mastery.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Both the well and watermill are giving production per population now. Well should be food, right?

Also noticing that the gold cost formula got changed again. Now it's much more efficient to buy units, at least at the start. Only 100 gold for a worker?

 

[Deadstarre]

something new with the inflation or is it bugged? started a test game and planted 6 cities, the price of a granary never changed. unit prices only budged once and i think it was from tech

 

[BiteInTheMark]

Wells and watermills are now mainly production buildings with some food. And its good. In a 30 pop city, a watermill would produce 8 food and 9 production, way too much for such early and easy building. Only production increase is fine.
To Mastery: Look at the other pure yields by follower beliefs. Their maximum is 10/15, and keep in mind, sometimes other religion pressure decrease this value. While you can have 20 specialists in your city, without any need to watch for religios pressure.
But I agree, mastery also buffing GPTI fits the "back to tiles" idea and doesnt increase it too much.

 

[HungryForFood]

Steam Mill still gives +2 Gold to Engineers and +2 Production to Merchants. I do believe this is not intended, right?

 

[MorphBer]

Time to play England

 

[Ziad]

Why? It's better now by virtue of its relative boost to Specialists. Definitely not needed.

G

Yeah but there's less specialists now, and other beliefs were also boosted by the drop of yields, so it isn't any relatively stronger.

Ascetism is more food in the early game when food just got reduced significantly.
Diligence is more farms being worked for more growth as production is passive.
Mandir survived the % food purge
etc.

Mastery takes far too long to overtake these in yields, at a time when early game needs more support than ever.

Adding +x to GPI would avoid issues with having to buff Mastery directly. You will work FAR more specialists than you'll ever have a GPI tiles unless you're playing OCC, so its contributions would help offset the number of specialists that were lost at least in the capital. Also gives it some value if you work tiles!

 

[BiteInTheMark]

Maybe double the effect of mastery for cultural specilists? Their numbers are much more limited than other specialists.
And even it has a downside to me, cause i love it, Mandirs are op. I think, 5% food and 2 flat food, and its balanced. (Remember, you still need to purchase it, instead having the effect immidiatly.)