Pests Revisited

[JosEPh_II]

Modmod is now in main C2C Mod, pre v36 SVN 8644


From the Pest thread discussion http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13850332&postcount=18, after doing some research thru the SpecialBuildings_CIV4BuildingsInfos file I have decided to post a modmod of that particular file and in particular the Pest section.

Pest show up in the game when a city's Pop reaches size 5, 6, 7, and 13, for a Total of 20 Pests.
Every Pest carries at least -1 hit to Happiness. Some now have -2.

13 of the 20 also carry Hits to increase Disease in that city. The problem for me was that city pops 5 and 6 bore the brunt of both number of pests occurring (13 of the 20 Pests) And the number of Disease being add (+ 41 Disease) for those 2 adjacent city sizes. Both are ill prepared for handling these loads coupled with the -5 total and -8 total Happiness hits that May occur also. There is at least 1 Pest that has only a terrain prerequisite, Most have a Tech Prereq, several others with no Tech prereq other types of prereqs.

So I made changes to this File.

1st I split the Pests up into 6 groups. Groups 1-4 have 3 Pests each. Groups 5 and 6 have 4 each.
2nd I assigned a City size for each group. The City sizes run from size 4 to size 13. So it works out like this:
Group1: City Size 4, 3 Pests (Fleas, Flies, Ants), 2 with Disease giving +10 Disease to that city size.
Group2: City Size 6, 3 Pests (Cockroaches, Mosquitoes, Ticks), 3 with Disease +15 Disease
Group3: City Size 8, 3 Pests (Lice, Locusts, Rats), 2 with Disease +10
Group 4: City Size 10, 3 Pests(Bedbugs, Slugs, Termites), 1 with Disease +1 Disease (real break here!)
Group5: City Size 12, 4 Pests (Aphids, Crows, Moths, Wasps), 1 with Disease +5 Disease
Group6: City size 13, 4 Pests (Gophers, Pigeons, Raccoons, Sea Gulls) 3 with Disease +15 Disease.

There is 1 Pest I removed Disease property from and that was Gophers in Group 6. Gophers are not considered eve as major disease carriers. They already have other malus in Commerce.

So while I preach testing I have not had time, since diggin into this, to do much in that regard. But I feel this presents a more logical and progressive approach that doesn't "swamp the boat" at City Pop 5 and 6 like the Mod does now. It also reflects, to a degree, why Disease can have Major upticks during the gameplay of C2C along with other related factors that increase Disease "under the hood".

This Modmod is not designed to remove these Pests and associated penalties but to alleviate the massive drop in citizens that leads to complete stoppage of city production and tile working that has been occurring. It will still occur (the citizens) but with better diligence you will be able counter it a bit quicker and have a a bit more time to fight the rising Disease tide.

Hopefully you all will try this and with enough favorable sentiment get this added to the Mod as a revision to the core mod. If not it will stand on it's own as a Modmod.

Thank you for trying this out. I truly think and Hope you will be pleased.

Pest|PrereqTech|MinSize|PrereqBonuses|MaxLatitude|||Base effects|Disease|Comments
Pests (Ants)|TECH_COOKED_FOOD| 4 |||+1||-1 ||
Pests (Aphids)|TECH_PLOUGH| 12 |BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1||-1 -1 ||
Pests (Bed Bugs)| TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE | 10 |||+1||| 2 |
Pests (Cockroaches)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE|6|||+1| +1 |-1 |5|
Pests (Crows)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE| 12 |BONUS_CARCASS ; BONUS_GRAIN|70|+1||-1 | 2 |
Pests (Fleas)|TECH_DOG_BREEDING| 4 |BONUS_DOG ; BONUS_CAT||+1| +1 | |5|
Pests (Flies)|TECH_SCAVENGING| 4 |BONUS_RAWMEAT ; BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH ; BONUS_FERTILIZERS||+1||-1 |5|
Pests (Gophers)|TECH_AGRICULTURE| 13 |BONUS_VEGETABLES||+1||-1 | RMvD |
Pests (Lice)|| 8 |||+1| +1 | |5|
Pests (Locust)|TECH_AGRICULTURE| 8 |BONUS_GRAIN||+1||-2 -1 -1 ||
Pests (Mosquitoes)|| 6 |||+1| +1 | |5|Requires Flood plains or Swamp
Pests (Moths)|TECH_PERSONAL_ADORNMENT| 12 |BONUS_CLOTH ; BONUS_CLOTHES||+1|| -1 -1 ||
Pests (Pigeons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|BONUS_STONE|70|+1||-1 |5|Obsoleted by Falconry School
Pests (Raccoons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|||+1||-1 -1 |5|
Pests (Rats)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE| 8 |BONUS_GRAIN ; BONUS_CHEESE|70| +2 | +1 |-1 -1 -1 |5|+1 with cats
Pests (Seagulls)|TECH_SANITATION|13|BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH|70|+1||-1 |5|Requires water tiles
Pests (Slugs)|TECH_PLOUGH| 10 |BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1||-1 -1 ||
Pests (Termites)|TECH_WOOD_WORKING| 10 |BONUS_WOOD ; BONUS_TIMBER||+1||-1 -1 ||
Pests (Ticks)|| 6 |||+1| +1 | |5|
Pests (Wasps)|TECH_APICULTURE| 12 |||+1| +1 | ||

EDIT: File goes in Assets\XML\Buildings folder. Be sure to save the original some place safe.

Version 1.1 added below.
To install unrar or unzip. Go to Assests\XML\Buildings and Replace the old SpecialBuildings_CIV4BuildingInfos file with this one.

JosEPh

 

[Toffer90]

Great initiative Jo.

 

[Thunderbrd]

Agreed! And I think what I'm seeing in your rework is much how I would've suggested it be done so I think we're on the level with this one.

One thing while you're evaluating these. I would challenge you to consider more tag usage on pests as well. Differentiate them a bit more as they seem a little one trick ponyish. Gophers, for example, would probably kill crops and thus create a -% food problem. Just an example and a suggestion.

 

[JosEPh_II]

I can't promise much on tag usage especially for properties. But I will look and see and think some more. Some of the Pest have quite the laundry list and others are relatively short. Those seem to have been, impo, thrown in in the last minute to get a set made. I could obviously be wrong on that. Maybe Hydro was just short on ideas at the time. Who really knows but him.

On a sidenote: while going thru the Pest list the Pollution and tourism "buildings" follow and I was very surprised to see the amount of Disease attached to Pollution. Of course Pollution brings disease but many had +25, but what really intrigued me was Tourism. It has 10 levels (buildings) and every one of those gives Pollution, and Pollution in turn gives Disease. Layer upon layer upon layer. It's no wonder no one seems to have a good grip on the mechanics/calculations of Disease. Now maybe I'm all wet here. And the Pollution Tourism gives doesn't get counted towards the Pollution levels which in turn generates Disease. But I think it does.

JosEPh

 

[Thunderbrd]

I can't promise much on tag usage especially for properties. But I will look and see and think some more. Some of the Pest have quite the laundry list and others are relatively short. Those seem to have been, impo, thrown in in the last minute to get a set made. I could obviously be wrong on that. Maybe Hydro was just short on ideas at the time. Who really knows but him.

On a sidenote: while going thru the Pest list the Pollution and tourism "buildings" follow and I was very surprised to see the amount of Disease attached to Pollution. Of course Pollution brings disease but many had +25, but what really intrigued me was Tourism. It has 10 levels (buildings) and every one of those gives Pollution, and Pollution in turn gives Disease. Layer upon layer upon layer. It's no wonder no one seems to have a good grip on the mechanics/calculations of Disease. Now maybe I'm all wet here. And the Pollution Tourism gives doesn't get counted towards the Pollution levels which in turn generates Disease. But I think it does.

JosEPh

That's not necessarily bad design. One property getting out of hand can and probably should cause others to be mysteriously difficult to manage. Or the opposite in some cases. I often try to improve education as a first step to helping with crime and disease for example. Pollution would certainly make people more likely to get sick by all the chemicals weakening the immune system, though perhaps there should be some further direct unhealth effects from pollution and a little less disease. That's where I feel those numbers are a little flawed.

 

[Faustmouse]

Do we have a list of all pests and their effects (andprereqs etc) somewhere here? If not, is it easy to make with your tools, rwn? If you'd had to do it by hand as well than I can do it myself, I just thought there was an easy way.

I'd really like to take a look on them and flesh them out a bit more.

 

[Rwn]

Here's what we have now:

Pest|PrereqTech|MinSize|PrereqBonuses|MaxLatitude||Base effects|Disease|Comments
Pests (Ants)|TECH_COOKED_FOOD|6|||+1|-1 ||
Pests (Aphids)|TECH_PLOUGH|6|BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1|-1 -1 ||
Pests (Bed Bugs)|TECH_CAVE_DWELLING|5|||+1| |1|
Pests (Cockroaches)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE|6|||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Crows)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE|13|BONUS_CARCASS ; BONUS_GRAIN|70|+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Fleas)|TECH_DOG_BREEDING|5|BONUS_DOG ; BONUS_CAT||+1| |5|
Pests (Flies)|TECH_SCAVENGING|6|BONUS_RAWMEAT ; BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH ; BONUS_FERTILIZERS||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Gophers)|TECH_AGRICULTURE|6|BONUS_VEGETABLES||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Lice)||5|||+1| |5|
Pests (Locust)|TECH_AGRICULTURE|6|BONUS_GRAIN||+1|-2 ||
Pests (Mosquitoes)||5|||+1| |5|Requires Flood plains or Swamp
Pests (Moths)|TECH_PERSONAL_ADORNMENT|7|BONUS_CLOTH ; BONUS_CLOTHES||+1| -1 ||
Pests (Pigeons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|BONUS_STONE|70|+1|-1 |5|Obsoleted by Falconry School
Pests (Raccoons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Rats)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE|6|BONUS_GRAIN ; BONUS_CHEESE|70|+1|-1 |5|+1 with cats
Pests (Seagulls)|TECH_SANITATION|13|BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH|70|+1|-1 |5|Requires water tiles
Pests (Slugs)|TECH_PLOUGH|6|BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1|-1 -1 ||
Pests (Termites)|TECH_WOOD_WORKING|7|BONUS_WOOD ; BONUS_TIMBER||+1|-1 ||
Pests (Ticks)||5|||+1| |5|
Pests (Wasps)|TECH_APICULTURE|13|||+1| ||

 

[Thunderbrd]

You know... the same thinking as was brought up for crime and disease buildings applies here - most of those modifiers should be %s so as to scale with the city size rather than statick +/- values.

 

[Arakhor]

That would be consistent and more fair, yes.

 

[JosEPh_II]

Pest|PrereqTech|MinSize|PrereqBonuses|MaxLatitude||Base effects|Disease|Comments
Pests (Ants)|TECH_COOKED_FOOD| 4 |||+1|-1 ||
Pests (Aphids)|TECH_PLOUGH| 12 |BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1|-1 -1 ||
Pests (Bed Bugs)|TECH_CAVE_DWELLING| 10 |||+1| |1|
Pests (Cockroaches)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE|6|||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Crows)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE| 12 |BONUS_CARCASS ; BONUS_GRAIN|70|+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Fleas)|TECH_DOG_BREEDING| 4 |BONUS_DOG ; BONUS_CAT||+1| |5|
Pests (Flies)|TECH_SCAVENGING| 4 |BONUS_RAWMEAT ; BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH ; BONUS_FERTILIZERS||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Gophers)|TECH_AGRICULTURE| 13 |BONUS_VEGETABLES||+1|-1 | RMvD |
Pests (Lice)|| 8 |||+1| |5|
Pests (Locust)|TECH_AGRICULTURE| 8 |BONUS_GRAIN||+1|-2 ||
Pests (Mosquitoes)|| 6 |||+1| |5|Requires Flood plains or Swamp
Pests (Moths)|TECH_PERSONAL_ADORNMENT| 12 |BONUS_CLOTH ; BONUS_CLOTHES||+1| -1 ||
Pests (Pigeons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|BONUS_STONE|70|+1|-1 |5|Obsoleted by Falconry School
Pests (Raccoons)|TECH_CIVIL_ENGINEERING|13|||+1|-1 |5|
Pests (Rats)|TECH_SEDENTARY_LIFESTYLE| 8 |BONUS_GRAIN ; BONUS_CHEESE|70|+1|-1 |5|+1 with cats
Pests (Seagulls)|TECH_SANITATION|13|BONUS_RAWFISH ; BONUS_SHELLFISH|70|+1|-1 |5|Requires water tiles
Pests (Slugs)|TECH_PLOUGH| 10 |BONUS_VEGETABLES ; BONUS_FRUIT ; BONUS_FLOWERS||+1|-1 -1 ||
Pests (Termites)|TECH_WOOD_WORKING| 10 |BONUS_WOOD ; BONUS_TIMBER||+1|-1 ||
Pests (Ticks)|| 6 |||+1| |5|
Pests (Wasps)|TECH_APICULTURE| 12 |||+1| ||

What I changed in this modmod is highlighted in red.

JosEPh

 

[Harrier]

You know... the same thinking as was brought up for crime and disease buildings applies here - most of those modifiers should be %s so as to scale with the city size rather than statick +/- values.

I Agree. (+)

 

[Faustmouse]

Ty for the list, already working on them and will post my concept table tomorrow

 

[JosEPh_II]

Agreed! And I think what I'm seeing in your rework is much how I would've suggested it be done so I think we're on the level with this one.

One thing while you're evaluating these. I would challenge you to consider more tag usage on pests as well. Differentiate them a bit more as they seem a little one trick ponyish. Gophers, for example, would probably kill crops and thus create a -% food problem. Just an example and a suggestion.

From the Table you can see Gophers do reduce food.

As for using %s vs +/- integers, I would suggest that %s are too easily misused/overused. It has been pointed out that %s when layered (as Pests are) give greater numbers than anticipated because sometimes following the path of the layers itself is confusing and convoluted. It's just not straightforwardly plain, (% x % +/-I x %, etc,) not knowing well enough or at all if it is "%x%" as 1st operator or +/-Ix% is 1st operator(x = multiplication here) in coding. I don't remember any more. And then players come in and say too much of this or too little of this. They give a formula for what they "Think" is going on to prove their point when in fact it's missing Layers of calcs.

I'm not saying all % calcs are bad, but not all % calcs are understood well by those that propose them and sometimes use them or have to manipulate them. Just think %s can be dangerous grounds, tread with caution advised.

But 1st of all even these simple pop size changes need a wider audience to see how they play out for different playstyles and Options settings, imo.

JosEPh

 

[Faustmouse]

Ok I got a first draft on pests:


Ants:
- Are mostly annoying because of anthills in the garden and bites, thus unhappyness
- Some collect / steal seeds, but on the other hand they significantly increase soil quality and kill harmful bugs and beetles, so not sure if they should give -food.
- Actually many people eat some kind of ants
- Some invasive ant species can destroy foods

Conclusion:
- Change prereq Tech from Cooked Food to Agriculture
- Change +1 to +0.1 per Pop
- Change from -1 to -1%
- Agricultural Engineering [=Pesticides]: +1% [to counter the initial effects]


Aphids:
- strong rain and excessive heat can kill them or make them infertile, thus I'd limit their latitude
- I'd decrease the pop requirement from 12 down to 3 since they are not really influenced by humans

Conclusion:
- Decrease Pop requirement to 3
- Drop -1
- Change -1 and -1 to -5% and -2%
- Agricultural Engineering: +2% :food, +1%
- Obsolete at Genetic Manipulation


Bedbugs:
- Origin in Asia where humans shared caves with bats; in the mediterran area since ancient times, europe since 1700 AD when they started building proper houses
(according to wikipedia)
- can transmit various diseases: +5


Conclusion:
- medival houses (and what is connected to that) OR lat 0-30
- max lat 70
- +5 disease
- +0.2 per pop
- Sed. Lifestyle
- Agricultural Engineering: -3 Diease
- Agricultural Engineering: +0.1 per pop
- obsolete with Nanotechnology



Cockroaches:
- Only carry diseases which makes them irrelevant in places with good healthcare like europe, but dangerous in Africa.
- most common insect plagues in houses -> lower pop requirement
- even eats lether or paper -> -2 ?


Conclusion:
- prereq are houses
- +0.2 per pop
- -5%
- +5% with Food Conservation
- can't be in the same city as (any TH houses)


Crows:
- most of all: annyoing
- they feed on seeds
- they do transmit diseases, but also prevented them by feeding on corpses
- there is no method to completly get rid of them today
- They will "obsolete" at Farmscapers as they can't gather seeds from there and we stopped hanging people for a while by then

Conclusion:
- +0.2 per pop
- -5%
- prereq: Plough
- drop the Bonus Prereqs; there would be way too many OR reqs
- Can't be in the same city as FarmScrapers


Fleas:
- There is a species of flea that only lives in human hair; this is BY FAR the most comman human flea and I'll focus on that one.
- can carry and transmit diseases, but very rarely in developed countires.
- Need a certain huminity to reproduce
- Mostly annyoing nowadays

Conculsion:
- +0.2 per pop
- +5 Disease
- -5 Disease with Modern Healthcare
- obsoletes with Nanotechnology (or a bit earlier?)
- remove the Cats/Dogs requirement


Flies:
- can carry diseases
- annyoing

Conclusions:
- +0.05 per population
- +1 Diease


Gophers:
- life from Canada to Panama; do we have lantitue control in the Building XML? Or over Animals maybe
- can cause serious damage on plants (mostly vegetables)

Conclusion:
- requires Culture (North American)
- 5%
- can't be in the same city as Farmscapers / obsolete with Vertical Farming



Locusts:
- can be devastating for all plant life
- swarms form only occasionally
- pesticides and monitoring can somewhat controll them

Conclusion:
- -5% (they can destroy a lot, but only every X years, not allways.This would be a median. It would be better represented with an event thought.
- remove the Grain requirement.
- +3% and 3 with Agricultural Engineering
- Can't be in the same city as Farmscapers

 

[Faustmouse]

Part 2:

Mosquitos:
- Can transmit dangerous diseases
- there is no relation between city size and their appearance; thus I'd drop the Pop req
- Maybe we need two versions of this building for equatorial regions and one for the rest
- OR, if possible, a +10 Disease with Jungle.


Conclusion:
- +0.3 per pop
- no pop Req
- +10 Disease with Jungle
- -5 Disease with Lasers
- Obsolete with Nanotechnology


Moths:
- There species that cause havoc on Forests and Fruit-Farms and species that destroy clothes.
- I think Hydro focused on the cloth eating species and we also have enough pests that hits agriculture.


Conclusions:
- -2% with clothes, cloths
- +0.1 per pop
- obsolete at Plastics



Pidgeons:
- Only rarely transmit diseases to humans
- Annoying, mostly of their droppings


Conclusion:
- +0.3 per population
- remove the -1
- Change obsolation to...?



Raccoons:
- Can carry dieases
- can cause damage to chicken farmers or corn farmers
- cause financial damage when dwelling in houses

Conclusion:
- drop the -1
- +0.1 per pop
- +5 disease
- -5 disease with Modern Healthcare
- -1%
- -1% from Corn and Poultry.


Rats:
- can carry various diseases
- omnivores


Conclusion:
- drop Grain and Cheese requirement
- -5% and +10 Diseases
- +3% and -5 Diseases with Cats
- +0.1 per pop
- obsolete with TH houses


Seagulls:
- Quick research didn't revealed anything usefull about them as pest


Conclusion:
- Change -1 to -1%
- Change to 0.2 per pop


Slugs:
- Some can cause damage on plants
- Iron Phosphate can kill them very effectivly without causing damage to any other animals or humans
- mostly annyoing for small, private gardens, not for farms

Conclusion:
- -2% and :food
- +2% and :food at Agricultural Engineering
- +1 at Agricultural Tools


Termites:
- Even termite resistent wood can be infected
- they too can destroy a complete harvest
- major economical costs

Conclusions:
- -1%
- -3% with Carpentry
- +2% with Plastics
- Obsolete with TH Houses


Ticks:
- can transmit many diseases
- Nothing you can really do to get rid of them

Conclusion:
- 10 Disease
- +0.1 per pop


Wasps:
- just annyoing
- stings (especially multiple) can cause deadly allergic reactions

Conclusion:
- +0.2 per pop
- +0.1 per pop


This would leave you with 1.75 per pop for size 13 pre industrial cities. That's more than before, but smaller cities are hit much weaker and bigger cities can take that hit more easily. As you progress through the industrial era you get Seagulls and Pidgeons as well, but many others are weakened due pesticiedes, so things should get better then.

An alternative to the automatic weakening effect at Agricultural Engineering (=Pesticides, unless somebody knows a better tech for that?) would be a speudo building, an ordiance. This would allow the usage of some heavy pesticides, that could kill (= replace) around half of the pests, but at a cost of high , and (not per pop) costs. This would make pests something to interact with and adds a choice of: Ignoring pests or fight them with stuff that causes harm to humans as well.

What do you guys think?

 

[Rwn]

An alternative to the automatic weakening effect at Agricultural Engineering (=Pesticides, unless somebody knows a better tech for that?) would be a speudo building, an ordiance. This would allow the usage of some heavy pesticides, that could kill (= replace) around half of the pests, but at a cost of high , and (not per pop) costs. This would make pests something to interact with and adds a choice of: Ignoring pests or fight them with stuff that causes harm to humans as well.

What do you guys think?

Not much to say about the individual changes (they sound reasonable, will have to see in-game if further balance tweaks are needed), but I definitely agree what you say here: there should be a way to do something with pests, otherwise it's equivalent to just another plain +/+ per pop level - having a bonus help to fight them (ex. cats & rats), or not having a kind of building or improvement or civic prevent them from appearing (ex. farms and locusts), having an ordinance or a building that actively fight one at the cost of something else...

Just one thing, when the pest appears at, say, pop level 13, you suddenly have a big penalty associated with the pest as it applies to the whole population. It'd be more fluid (and less frustrating) to have the penalty apply only for the pop that exceeds the pop threshold (even if it means increasing the penalty to compensate).
To implement that, you'd need to give a and bonus to the pest equal to the penalty it applies to the pop under the threshold (i.e. if you have a pest that give 0.2 /pop that starts at level 11, it'd give +2, so that at level 11 it'd give +0.2 , at level 12 +0.4 , etc.).

 

[Faustmouse]

Just one thing, when the pest appears at, say, pop level 13, you suddenly have a big penalty associated with the pest as it applies to the whole population. It'd be more fluid (and less frustrating) to have the penalty apply only for the pop that exceeds the pop threshold (even if it means increasing the penalty to compensate).
To implement that, you'd need to give a and bonus to the pest equal to the penalty it applies to the pop under the threshold (i.e. if you have a pest that give 0.2 /pop that starts at level 11, it'd give +2, so that at level 11 it'd give +0.2 , at level 12 +0.4 , etc.).

That sounds reasonable, too. But I'm afraid this would make it a bit to complicated for the average player

 

[Rwn]

That sounds reasonable, too. But I'm afraid this would make it a bit to complicated for the average player

You mean, because there would be a +X with a +Y per pop? Aren't both added in the building column tab in the city screen?

 

[Arakhor]

Let's be honest: I very much doubt the "average" player plays C2C at all, but if one did, I think they'd be far more confused by the multiple Argumentative Awareness traits and other issues, then by what fraction of applies to any given pest.

 

[Faustmouse]

Let's be honest: I very much doubt the "average" player plays C2C at all, but if one did, I think they'd be far more confused by the multiple Argumentative Awareness traits and other issues, then by what fraction of applies to any given pest.

The thing is, when you see Pest Pidgeons in the tech screen it reads:

+2
-0.2 per Pop.

And at least I'd wonder why there is a at all. In the hover over in the city screen it would be more clear, since these take pop size into account and calculate the current value. But the civilopedia and the techscreen doesn't.