Ray's assorted collection of small improvements [IMPLEMENTED]

[raystuttgart]

I gave Cougar and Jaguar Buttons in the same quality as the other Animal Units already had.

Spoiler :

For comparison other Animal Units:

Spoiler :

 

[raystuttgart]

I implemented the new Bonus Resource "Wheat".
(We just had "Corn" and "Barley".)

 

[raystuttgart]

I added another small Terrain Feature "Wild Flowers", which increases production of Pigs and Geese a bit.
(But it also decreases production of Food and other Yields, so you have to chose what you want - it can of course be removed.)

Also "Shrubs" now increase the production of Chicken.
(But of courswe it decreases production of other Plot Yields. Also it is only valid on Shrubland now.)

 

[raystuttgart]

I implemented a "small" change to gameplay.
However I consider it a huge improvement in balancing.

All Unit buy prices in Europe, Africa and Port Royal are now capped at 200%.
So e.g. a Free Colonist that costs 500 gold at start can never become more expensive than 1000 gold.

Two main reasons for this:
1) It should incentivise to buy Units again without being afraid of "cost explosions".
2) Is is actually a really good idea for AI because AI buys Units more often than Human Player.

 

[raystuttgart]

I implemented another "small" change to gameplay.
Again I consider it a huge improvement to balancing.

Buying Units will not drive up Gold costs of Hurrying Units anymore. (They are not connected anymore.)
This game mechanic was basically causing most player to not buy any Units at all anymore.

Hurrying a Unit at the Docks will never cost more Gold than the original Starting buy gold value of the Unit.
(Thus Hurrying will always be at least equal or more interesting than Buying.)

So hurrying will increase from starting value of 100, but e.g.

• Hurrying Cost of a Colonist is limited at 500 gold
• Hurrying Cost of a Miner is limited at 800 gold
• Hurrying Cost of a Statesman is limited at 2000 gold
• ...

In Summary:

• Buying Units has become more interesting, since the "cost explosion" has been limited at 200%. (see post above)
• Buying Units can be done without fear of driving up Hurrying cost, which prevented some players to ever use Buying. (see this post)
• Hurrying a Unit is still always the better alternative than Buying a Unit. (Because Buying can become twice as expensive.)

In other words:
Players can use Buying function again without being totally afraid of messing up their game.
Still Hurrying function is still the superior choice since it will always be cheaper than Buying.

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I implemented another small improvement.

"Forced Peace Period" is now also "Forced Open Borders Period".
( "Forced Open Borders Period" ends a bit earlier to prevent exploits.)

Reasons:

1. It allows Scouts to move more freely in early game and thus increases competition in early game to get all the juicy treasures.
2. It prevents the issue of AI Starting Units being landlocked and thus the AI Player effectively being taken out of the game

e.g. like this:

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I gave a few weak FFs also "Goody Reveals" similar to the one that Malinche already had.
(That way they are a bit more useful / valuable / interesting as they used to be until now.)

See here:

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys, I once more worked on improving our Terrain textures.
(I was still not happy with Grassland and Savannah, because they looked boring and their style did not match the others.)

Here you can see the difference of these new Terrain textures in close up:

Spoiler :

And here are some ingame graphics so you see how these new Terrain textures blend with the environment:
(from my personal opinion it looks better and more natural than before.)

Spoiler :

By the way:
The old Terrain textures are all saved in the folder "Unused".

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Grasslands look unusual, but I think it will be easy to get used to. Savannah looks amazing!
great job Ray!

 

[raystuttgart]

Grasslands look unusual

I tried to make it a little bit more realistic and natural.
Also the transitions to other Terrains should look good.

----

see how it e.g. blends in here with (cold) northern Terrain textures:

Spoiler :

or how it e.g. blends here with (warm) southern Terrain Textures:

Spoiler :

Also they need to blend smoothly into each other.

Spoiler :

 

[Mr. ZorG]

I just said "unusual", not "terrible") I'm sure when I see them on a large home monitor they will look great)

 

[Tucker8]

That looks awesome!

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

here is a short preview of my current version of Terrain textures.
(I actually reworked quite a lot today, since I was not really happy with e.g. the colouring.)

This comparison shows the difference in texture and colours quite clearly:
(Affected are this time: Shrubland, Prairie and Plains --> the "brown Terrains")

Spoiler :

This is how it looks right now.
I hope you like it, I am pretty happy with the current result.

Spoiler :

 

[raystuttgart]

Here are some more images for the preview:

Spoiler :

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I created a new alternative for our desktop icon:
(Actually we use this already e.g. in our GIT.)

 

[raystuttgart]

I adjusted number of colums in Colopedia a bit so it requires less scrolling.
Also it looks a lot better like this in my opinion. (It was commited to "develop".)