Like I mentioned in the other thread, the release of DoC 1.17 is coming up soon. So I want to use the moment to already talk a bit about what the plans for DoC 1.18 are.
The next big thing I will work on is finally the inclusion of the new, bigger world map. It has been iterated on for a long time and I believe it has reached an incredibly high quality, and furthermore I have now completed all the prerequisites for its inclusion, so I cannot wait to include it into the mod. For the time being, it will entirely replace the existing world map and become the new default map.
Mechanics and Systems Changes
Even though the map itself is already of extremely high quality, that doesn't mean there isn't still a lot of work to do before it becomes actually playable. Just to illustrate, here is a non-exhaustive list of aspects of the mod that need to be adjusted for that:
Civilizations and Balance Changes
Speaking of balance, the map itself, and all the other aspects mentioned here, will also have a big impact on the historical behaviour of every civilization, as well as their overall balance and the challenge of their UHV goals. Not only do victory goals have to be adjusted to the size of the new map and e.g. what the appropriate number of required resources for a goal are. But in general the power of a civilization is fundamentally based on the terrain that they can control, and now with the different maps that has to be accounted for in their modifiers etc. and likewise in the challenge of their victory goals.
As before, I have a long list of changes I want to make to many civilizations in my backlog that I postponed because now would be the best time to make them, when everything else is also up in the air. These include changes to spawn dates and unique assets, but it is just as likely that many civilizations will wind up with different goals as well.
Additional Civilizations
But beyond that, I have also decided that the initial playable version of the new map will already come with 12 additional civilizations that are not part of the current mod. Part of the goal for the bigger map is to have the space to accomodate new civilizations that are historically relevant and would provide an interesting playing experience. Some of these civilizations would have never fit into the current map. Others might have fit, but with the same rationale as above I decided the work spent accomodating them is most effectively spent on the new map, rather than balancing them for the current map first and then later again for the new map.
The reason that I decided to include them right from the start instead of adding them in bit by bit is that the existence of a civilization also affects balance, most importantly by the space they occupy and how they serve as an opponent and counterweight to neighbouring civilizations. I selected these initially added 12 civilizations based on exactly that aspect: which civilizations impact the development and balance of the game significantly and should be factored in when designing and balancing the map. It is not a list of all civilizations that might ever be included, nor are these the "most relevant" or "most important" civilizations from a historical point of view necessarily. To avoid speculation, here is the current (but always subject to change) list of civilizations I would include for this purpose:
Nothing about their attributes etc. is decided yet. I have some rough ideas but the actual decisions are going to be made as they are actually added into the game, because the circumstances and balance concerns are relevant here.
Timeline
Finally, I would like to provide a rough outline of the timeline that I expect this to follow (take this with a lot of salt considering my previous timeline estimations):
Step 6 is where I will definitely publish the current state on the develop branch, so everyone can participate and experience the new map in that state. This step will probably take a significant amount of time. I plan to play every civilization at least once, probably more than that if it is impacted by changes since I last played it. Player feedback will help a lot during that time to get more perspectives on balance and more opportunities to find bugs. I am considering to resume my "Leoreth Plays ..." AAR series for this purpose as well.
So that's the plan. I will not start on it immediately - there is still a lot of work to do for v1.17 and I also want to take a while off from modding to get some distance after the frantic effort to finish this release. But I am still excited to be able to start on it soon.
The next big thing I will work on is finally the inclusion of the new, bigger world map. It has been iterated on for a long time and I believe it has reached an incredibly high quality, and furthermore I have now completed all the prerequisites for its inclusion, so I cannot wait to include it into the mod. For the time being, it will entirely replace the existing world map and become the new default map.
Mechanics and Systems Changes
Even though the map itself is already of extremely high quality, that doesn't mean there isn't still a lot of work to do before it becomes actually playable. Just to illustrate, here is a non-exhaustive list of aspects of the mod that need to be adjusted for that:
- Different starting scenarios
- Settler maps, war maps, stability maps
- City name map and city renamings
- Region map
- Scripted resource, feature, and improvement spawns
- Scripted barbarian and independent cities spawns
- Scripted historical events affecting particular areas
- Historical victory goal requirements
- Incorporating new resources into buildings etc.
Civilizations and Balance Changes
Speaking of balance, the map itself, and all the other aspects mentioned here, will also have a big impact on the historical behaviour of every civilization, as well as their overall balance and the challenge of their UHV goals. Not only do victory goals have to be adjusted to the size of the new map and e.g. what the appropriate number of required resources for a goal are. But in general the power of a civilization is fundamentally based on the terrain that they can control, and now with the different maps that has to be accounted for in their modifiers etc. and likewise in the challenge of their victory goals.
As before, I have a long list of changes I want to make to many civilizations in my backlog that I postponed because now would be the best time to make them, when everything else is also up in the air. These include changes to spawn dates and unique assets, but it is just as likely that many civilizations will wind up with different goals as well.
Additional Civilizations
But beyond that, I have also decided that the initial playable version of the new map will already come with 12 additional civilizations that are not part of the current mod. Part of the goal for the bigger map is to have the space to accomodate new civilizations that are historically relevant and would provide an interesting playing experience. Some of these civilizations would have never fit into the current map. Others might have fit, but with the same rationale as above I decided the work spent accomodating them is most effectively spent on the new map, rather than balancing them for the current map first and then later again for the new map.
The reason that I decided to include them right from the start instead of adding them in bit by bit is that the existence of a civilization also affects balance, most importantly by the space they occupy and how they serve as an opponent and counterweight to neighbouring civilizations. I selected these initially added 12 civilizations based on exactly that aspect: which civilizations impact the development and balance of the game significantly and should be factored in when designing and balancing the map. It is not a list of all civilizations that might ever be included, nor are these the "most relevant" or "most important" civilizations from a historical point of view necessarily. To avoid speculation, here is the current (but always subject to change) list of civilizations I would include for this purpose:
- The Javanese (to replace the Indonesians)
- The Malays (to replace the Indonesians)
- The Vietnamese
- The Burmese
- The Kushans
- The Swahili
- The Nubians
- The Assyrians
- The Hittites
- The Celts
- The Swedes
- The (Kievan) Rus (split from the (Muscovite) Russians)
- The Toltecs
Nothing about their attributes etc. is decided yet. I have some rough ideas but the actual decisions are going to be made as they are actually added into the game, because the circumstances and balance concerns are relevant here.
Timeline
Finally, I would like to provide a rough outline of the timeline that I expect this to follow (take this with a lot of salt considering my previous timeline estimations):
Finalising and releasing DoC v1.17Incorporating remaining suggestions into the map, including suggestions that will have been made by then- Making changes to the existing game mechanics and adapting them to the new map, like mentioned above (we are here)
- Applying my current list of desired changes for civilizations and their victories
- Adding new civilizations
- Balancing, balancing, balancing
Step 6 is where I will definitely publish the current state on the develop branch, so everyone can participate and experience the new map in that state. This step will probably take a significant amount of time. I plan to play every civilization at least once, probably more than that if it is impacted by changes since I last played it. Player feedback will help a lot during that time to get more perspectives on balance and more opportunities to find bugs. I am considering to resume my "Leoreth Plays ..." AAR series for this purpose as well.
So that's the plan. I will not start on it immediately - there is still a lot of work to do for v1.17 and I also want to take a while off from modding to get some distance after the frantic effort to finish this release. But I am still excited to be able to start on it soon.
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