Probably Improved Gameplay Mod

[TheLazyHase]

So it does indeed look like Serfdom does best as a mid-game civic prior to Emancipation, unless you truly have Happy resources running out your ears. But for what it's best at, it's a darn good civic.

And making farm more useful in mid-game is very good. It help make all thoses plains city worthwile - irrigate everything, and you have a city with good prod and good commerce.

I love the new serfdom a great deal. It's still not strong enough to not use emancipation, slavery is still a powerhouse, but serfdom now look as a good way to help recovery from rexing. Late, yes, but still it does help.

 

[Lenowill]

Aye ... it also gives you some economic returns for going toward Guilds and Banking before you actually get to those techs, which is very handy even from a more general teching standpoint. And the fact that it helps a lot of REX recovery is also very good. Definitely gives me more of a reason to tech Feudalism sooner rather than later.

I've started another game with the mod, will see how it goes.

 

[ironied]

Is it possible to enable/disable some of the changes to the gameplay so that the original implementation is used? Maybe a panel in the BUG mod?

I don't agree to all of the changes, e.g. that castles obsolete with steel. castles were strong enough with the +1 trade route. Free market gets the +1 trade route and should therefore obsolete castles. it should not be possible to have both.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Is it possible to enable/disable some of the changes to the gameplay so that the original implementation is used? Maybe a panel in the BUG mod?

I don't agree to all of the changes, e.g. that castles obsolete with steel. castles were strong enough with the +1 trade route. Free market gets the +1 trade route and should therefore obsolete castles. it should not be possible to have both.

I don't plan to make any of the XML changes optional. However, it is very easy to change this yourself.

The tech that obsoletes the castle will probably be Corporation in the next version. For the moment, locate "castle" in \Mods\PIG Mod\Assets\XML\Buildings\CIV4BuildingInfos.xml

and change

<ObsoleteTech>TECH_STEEL</ObsoleteTech>

to

<ObsoleteTech>(your choice of tech)</ObsoleteTech>

Make sure to do it for the Citadel as well which will be just under the entry for castle.

 

[PieceOfMind]

By the way, another option regarding castles is to change the obsoleting tech for the Citadel (to Corporation?) but leave the usual castle as obsoleting with Steel. This would make the Citadel slightly more unique.

 

[AveiMil]

Quick update, we've actually played three LAN games with 5-6 people each time using the PIG Mod without any big problems. It's been quite enjoyable.

One thing to note: Users that have Civ4 installed on Vista and try to change settings with the BUG mod will start getting errors from the BUG mod in-game relating to the fact that it's unable to write the changed settings to the BUG mod .ini file that should be located under the user profile. Looks like it can't find the correct path for the user profile ini file or something. This problem occured on our first LAN run for one of my friends. We ended up just leaving BUG mod settings at default (just enabling Field of View would trigger an endless stream of errors in the "chat box" area)...

 

[usmle]

Quick update, we've actually played three LAN games with 5-6 people each time using the PIG Mod without any big problems. It's been quite enjoyable.

One thing to note: Users that have Civ4 installed on Vista and try to change settings with the BUG mod will start getting errors from the BUG mod in-game relating to the fact that it's unable to write the changed settings to the BUG mod .ini file that should be located under the user profile. Looks like it can't find the correct path for the user profile ini file or something. This problem occured on our first LAN run for one of my friends. We ended up just leaving BUG mod settings at default (just enabling Field of View would trigger an endless stream of errors in the "chat box" area)...

Running Civ4 as the administrator fixes that issue on Vista. (right click, run as administrator).

 

[EmperorFool]

Users that have Civ4 installed on Vista and try to change settings with the BUG mod will start getting errors from the BUG mod in-game relating to the fact that it's unable to write the changed settings to the BUG mod .ini file that should be located under the user profile.

The easiest solution to this is to launch BTS as Administrator. Another solution is to move the "PIG Mod" folder from the Program Files Mods folder to the My Games / BTS / Mods folder.

Edit: Ninja'd by usmle

 

[AveiMil]

There's a problem with PIG Mod that disables SHIFT+CTRL+X option available with BTS Better AI mod.

SHIFT+CTRL+X works with only BTS Better AI mod loaded and allows for automatic turn simulation.

 

[PieceOfMind]

There's a problem with PIG Mod that disables SHIFT+CTRL+X option available with BTS Better AI mod.

SHIFT+CTRL+X works with only BTS Better AI mod loaded and allows for automatic turn simulation.

I did notice that at one point. I assume it has something to do with BUG being included. I may have overwritten one or two files from Better AI with the BUG versions.

Thanks for reminding me of the issue.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

There is some genuine interest in your mod PieceOfMind, do you know when you will have opportunity to refine it?

 

[Lenowill]

After playing four more games at Emperor with PIG running, I can say quite securely that the Serfdom change isn't making me win when I shouldn't (i.e. it's not overpowering my gameplay) but is helping me recover from REX and bolster SE research.

Haven't tried it with a FIN leader yet since FIN really isn't my thing most of the time, but will see about it if I have the occasion to do so.

I'm interested in updates as well whenever PieceOfMind has the time and energy. Go viking piggies!

 

[TheWilltoAct]

My game with it continues, I had entertained the possiblity of a Serfdom switch but I needed Caste to pump out GP like I wanted so it just hasn't been possible for me to make the switch as of yet.
Without even trying it yet I feel that it pretty much couldn't be overpowered: it's a realitively modest change (+ 1 ) and comes with a penalty (-25% GP generation). But the real argument for it being balanced imo is the extreme power of its competing options, Caste and Slavery.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Well the good news is I now have a compiler function properly again. I won't give ETAs for a release but I'm happy to prioritise the changes that people feel are needed the soonest.

Of course, any XML changes that need to be made can be done straight away.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Let me give a short running commentary on what I've done so far:
-Granary is 60 once again.
-Food stored by granary is now 40 instead of 50 (in percent of the total food bar). This change is relatively untested so could be repealed in the next update depending on feedback.
-Updated included ACO to v1.5.
-Added (i.e. merged) Lead From Behind Mod. I especially appreciate that almost every part of the mod can be disabled. The parts that cannot be disabled only speed up the game and don't change the gameplay anyway. This was a fairly large DLL modification so I hope I didn't introduce any bugs.
...

 

[BobeBrown]

I not want to sound as though im pee on your mod that you put time into. Although all these small changes seem very unecessary and i dont think i would notice the difference in a game.

"Probably" Improved Gameplay doesnt get me excited enough to download it. If you dont even have the confidence to say its Definatly improved, why should i download.

 

[os79]

I not want to sound as though im pee on your mod that you put time into. Although all these small changes seem very unecessary and i dont think i would notice the difference in a game.

"Probably" Improved Gameplay doesnt get me excited enough to download it. If you dont even have the confidence to say its Definatly improved, why should i download.

I would counteract by saying, "Why comment at all?"

Seriously, you are verging on the edge of rudeness, imo.

 

[PieceOfMind]

I not want to sound as though im pee on your mod that you put time into. Although all these small changes seem very unecessary and i dont think i would notice the difference in a game.

"Probably" Improved Gameplay doesnt get me excited enough to download it. If you dont even have the confidence to say its Definatly improved, why should i download.

I and some other people don't get excited by over the top mods because often they introduce too many features that the new game becomes unfamiliar.

This mod is kind of intended for the people who enjoy the unmodded BtS (as I do) and are only looking for a little bit more. Many of these reasons are outlined in the first post of the thread, if I remember rightly.

Also, you might be forgetting this mod is still pretty young. There are changes still to come - it's better to take a softly softly approach than throw everything in without due consideration, including some play testing (which is thankfully being provided by some of the posters here) and light debate over the various changes.

By the way, I've left the option open that I could eventually rename it to PieceOfMind's Improved Gameplay Mod.

If you dont even have the confidence to say its Definatly improved, why should i download.

I don't have the arrogance to say it's definitely improved, is my answer to that question.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Changes so far in v0.5 since v0.4

Let me give a short running commentary on what I've done so far:
-Granary is 60 once again.
-Food stored by granary is now 40 instead of 50 (in percent of the total food bar). This change is relatively untested so could be repealed in the next update depending on feedback.
-Updated included ACO to v1.5.
-Added (i.e. merged) Lead From Behind Mod. I especially appreciate that almost every part of the mod can be disabled. The parts that cannot be disabled only speed up the game and don't change the gameplay anyway. This was a fairly large DLL modification so I hope I didn't introduce any bugs.
...

-Updated to BBAI 0.81. I am going to hold off on 0.82 for the moment because it's a development version, even though 0.81 has a known multiplayer bug ().
-Merged DaveMcW's Show Hidden Attitude Mod.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Well the good news is I now have a compiler function properly again. I won't give ETAs for a release but I'm happy to prioritise the changes that people feel are needed the soonest.

Of course, any XML changes that need to be made can be done straight away.

Super cool

The changes sound interesting so far, I'll have to read what the new Better AI brings to the table.

I was a little horrified to see the Granary nerfed (though I'm glad to see it's 60 again ), but I'm sure you have a reason. One way of looking at it is that it will not affect early city growth much (the food bar is small at first) but will more heavily impact growth later on... is this an intended result?

Again I'm excited to here that you are back in the trenches, keep up the great work!