Poll: Change Inca's start bias to "Prefer Mountain"

[azum4roll]

Some civilizations have their kit built around certain terrain, like Iroquois with trees and Songhai with rivers. Those two currently have their start bias set to "forest/jungle" and "river" respectively, but Incas only have a hills bias, which does not guarantee them any nearby mountains, which boost their UI and have good yields themselves.

I've added a brand new table Civilization_Start_Prefer_Mountain for this specific use. If we add Incas to this table, the start positioning code will give value to nearby mountains (otherwise junk tiles = minus points) and they should start near mountains much more often. They'll also be guaranteed to start in a region with the most mountains.

However, this could be a buff to the Incas and people may not like them getting "special treatments" (Venice already gets some, btw), so I'm making a poll here.

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Technical stuff for modders below:

I've also added the Civilization_Start_Prefer_Snow for a snow "bias", which gives a higher score for snow, tundra and coastal tiles and a lower score for grassland and plains, while making the civ start in a tundra region with the most snow. @pineappledan please take note

New priority:
Snow > Mountain > Priority Coastal (Venice) > Coastal > River > Region Prioritize > Region Avoid

Currently it's only possible to give ONE civ a mountain bias and ONE civ a snow bias. Not technically difficult, I just don't have time for that for now.

 

[azum4roll]

Some screenshots:

Spoiler :

 

[looorg]

Couldn't this turn out badly? There are maps that are very low in mountains (age etc) but I don't think I have ever created a map that didn't have ample forests and rivers.

 

[pineappledan]

To clarify, the starting bias is only on a per-game basis correct? So you could have 2 mountain bias civs, but maybe not in the same game?

at any rate, I think this is rad. great work!

 

[azum4roll]

To clarify, the starting bias is only on a per-game basis correct? So you could have 2 mountain bias civs, but maybe not in the same game?

at any rate, I think this is rad. great work!

Yeah it's per game.

 

[Heinz_Guderian]

How do I make this change? I am playing Inca right now but I wouldn't mind restarting with this bias. It is so annoying when you dont have loads of mountains around you, it doesnt feel like you are playing the inca even

 

[youngsteve]

Couldn't this turn out badly? There are maps that are very low in mountains (age etc) but I don't think I have ever created a map that didn't have ample forests and rivers.

That is a different scenario & understandable that Inca's don't have any mountains if in game. I usually play on lots of maps with rough terrain & with lots of mountains. The problem is if Inca are in game, the chance they are near any ranges seems the same as everyone else, & you have the silly situation when certain Civs are surronded by mountains whilst poor Inca's seem to have very few or none.

 

[CppMaster]

Wow, that must be the least controversial poll. I agree, obviously

 

[tu_79]

This is an old wish came true.

Thanks.

 

[azum4roll]

It's in... the pull request. Waiting for G.

 

[stii]

Does make Inca better but I don't think anyone thinks they are top tier currently (well someone probably does as no one agrees on what is good)

 

[tothePAIN]

It'll make the Inca better, maybe by a bunch, but worth it for them being more fun. Inca with mountains are just plain fun. It's always kind of sad being without mountains; I usually just reroll until I have at least a few.

 

[Melchizedek]

I voted no, but only because I'm afraid it'll lead to trying to nerf them too. I currently find it difficult to overcome an Inca civ that started in a good defensible mountain range, and I like that.

 

[DeAnno]

If the Inca reliably have a Mountain for their capital and semi-reliably have some more mountains around it'll be a huge boon for them. Being the perfect defensive civ is a little anti-synergistic with Mountains as they are now though, because they can't get freshwater from lakes so Tradition can be awkward to use.

 

[azum4roll]

Well I can always fix the freshwater thing. That IS a bug right?

 

[DeAnno]

Well I can always fix the freshwater thing. That IS a bug right?

Well, it didn't used to be that way, it is now, and I've bugrepped it and had it closed before, so I dunno. Maybe it's intentional, but if it is we never actually got an explanation.

 

[tothePAIN]

Well I can always fix the freshwater thing. That IS a bug right?

Yes.

 

[azum4roll]

You can try the changes with this (poorly put together) mod.

 

[pineappledan]

At least with Inca specifically looking for mountains… they are looking for mountains, rather than being agnostic to mountains.

with the hills bias, they might have had no mountains or lots of mountains, but since their main power relied on mountains, they could have very good or bad starts. Now they will have good starts all the time, so I view this as making them reliable rather than a buff.

if buffing a start location just means giving them a similar start to a TSL map, then I don’t see that as much of a buff.

 

[Stalker0]

Now they will have good starts all the time, so I view this as making them reliable rather than a buff.

I agree. Even in heavy mountains I never considered Inca to be OP. A pain in the ass to fight, sure....but no OP.