Ray's assorted collection of small improvements [IMPLEMENTED]

[raystuttgart]

It is still a bit saturated for my taste, but if that is the look you want then no complaints here

"Grasland" colour has to be saturated (darker). It is a necessity for gameplay.
Oherwise you can not differentiate it ingame from "Savannah" or "Marsh" (the other green Terrains).

Take a look at it once all of this gets published.
(A lot of changes will occur until then anyways.)

 

[Warmoonger]

Not a problem. I have seen the new terrains and I like what I see

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I have improved Pedia of "Terrain Features" a bit.

It now splits that strange confusing lists of + modifiers and - modifiers nicely into 2 parts:
(Should make it a bit easier to read.)

• Yield Increases
• Yield Decreases

 

[Fürstbischof]

Agreed, there is still lots of potential to improve these Pedia Screens.
Once I find some more time and motivation I may try to improve Pedia Screens further.

However this could also be done by one of our new modders wanting to becomme programmers.
Stuff like that is a nice beginners task to learn Python.

Yes, indeed.

re pedia screens: often texts and their respective fields don't match while large parts of the screen are almost unused and empty. A revision of the backgrounds and the text fields would go a long way in improving the pedia. The scrollable list on the right side of the pedia screen would benefit from a larger width to avoid the occasional word-wrap.

 

[raystuttgart]

I expanded GameFonts a bit to make it easier for future modders to e.g. add new Bonus Ressources. ---> The green checkboxes.
(Which is actually what I am currently doing and was thus the reason for me to expand them.)

Will exapnd them again in a few weeks to e.g. add new Yields and new Special Buildings.
(But currently my focus is on the new Bonus Ressources.)

 

[raystuttgart]

Small change to Ship Movement Rules:
(Suggested by @Fürstbischof)

All "Non-Combat-Ships" (e.g. Coastal Ship, Caravel) can now enter Rival Territoriy (on Water) just like e.g. "Wagon Trains" can enter Rival Territory (on Land) as well.
Thus completely blocking AI cities by founding a settlement at e.g. a River or e.g. a Lake is not possible anymore.

Also it is a bit more realisitc and immersive.
The "Ocean" was generally considered "open unowned space".
(Except maybe a mile around a City.)

Why limit it then for "Non-Combat-Ships" and not also allow it for "Combat Ships"?

• to keep it equivalent to the land rules (easy to understand)
• to avoid any potential exploits of attacking AI too easily

----

Most of all this should:

1. Make gameplay a bit less tedious (e.g. with Large Rivers)
2. Help AI a bit (by having it blocked less often)

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Does the AI understand that while civilian ships being allowed to move through the water next to the city of someone else, that it is not good to do that if at war and those city has a fortress that fires on passing ships?

 

[raystuttgart]

Does the AI understand ... that it is not good to do that if at war and those city has a fortress that fires on passing ships?

No, it does not.

But it is unrelated to this change.
During War AI would not have cared about "Rival Territory" anyways.

It is however something we could consider in our AI improvements?
@devolution Do you want to maybe consider that case in your AI improvements as well?

 

[Warmoonger]

Small change to Ship Movement Rules:
(Suggested by @Fürstbischof)

Why limit it then for "Non-Combat-Ships" and not also allow it for "Combat Ships"?

• to keep it equivalent to the land rules (easy to understand)
• to avoid any potential exploits of attacking AI too easily

Sorry? Are you saying that combat ships can now freely sail through my coastal zones?

What am I supposed to do if I want to enforce my borders?

 

[raystuttgart]

Sorry? Are you saying that combat ships can now freely sail through my coastal zones?

No, I said the exact contrary.

This change is limited to Non-Combat Ships and does not affect Combat Ships.
(It is configurable in XML of the specific Units by the way - there is no hardcoding of that rule.)

1. Combat Ships (like e.g. a Frigate) are still not allowed to move through your Territory (on Water).
2. However Non-Combat Ships (like e.g. a Caravel) are allowed to move through your Territory (on Water).

The reasons for this change is mostly: AI friendliness.
(Especially Large Rivers could otherwise have become a problem.)

 

[Warmoonger]

I was confused by this line: "Why limit it then for "Non-Combat-Ships" and not also allow it for "Combat Ships"?"

There is no problem then, and thanks for the clarification.

 

[raystuttgart]

Well ok, I worked on the "Large Rivers" again.

1. Shores have been replaced by "gras green" shores.
2. The "River Fords" are now submerged. (They used to be floating on the water.)

I tried to keep the green in a colour so it matches all Terrains.

As comparison, this is how it looked before (also still in Release 3.0.1):
(Very easy to confuse with normal Coasts due to the sand shores.)

Spoiler :

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I had some time and once more improved Pedia again.
This time for Resources and Features.

They now show their requirements considering Terrains.
(or in case of Resources also the Terrain Features.)

 

[raystuttgart]

I once more worked a bit on Pedia Screens of Terrains.

 

[Raubwuerger]

Looks great ...

 

[raystuttgart]

Game Option to help to better see revealed Goodies on the map.

 

[Cacaso]

This is fantastic.

One of the best improvements imaginable.

the map view when the unit scout is selected could be this by default. so that even forgetting to check this effect is present in the game.

 

[raystuttgart]

The map view when the unit scout is selected could be this by default.

There are people like me that like to play immersive and do not want anything to be permanently displayed that damages immersion.
I like to enjoy beautiful realistic looking landscape and I actually also like to search the map for stuff I had missed on first sight.

Spoiler :

As a child I e.g. played CRPGs like "Eye of the Beholder" without ingame maps and me and my friends had to draw maps by hand.
One was actually playing and the other was drawing the map in parallel. Both discussing all the secrets they discovered.
After about half and hour we switched roles and 2nd one was playing and the first one continued drawing the map.
For today's players it may sound stupid but it was infact an incredibly social and fun thing to play like this together.

Summary:
I would really prefer to leave this as a Game Option that needs to be purposely selected.

 

[HiFiPanda]

Game Option to help to better see revealed Goodies on the map.

I don't like it, I love it. Especially as someone who is playing a lot of C2C I can tell you that seeing stuff like that on map with huge variety of tile types is rough.

 

[raystuttgart]

Another tiny change / improvement, I implemented today:
Garrison Troops in a the City (or other Units of the Player on City Plot) now contribute to Domestic Demand.
(A "Garrsion City" with lots of Troops may actually generate a lot of Domestic Demand for e.g. Beer or Coffee or Leather or ...)

In the Screenshot I have used Governors for testing, because they simply generate highest demand.
(But any other Units that has Domestic Demand - which also includes Military Units like Townguards, Militia, ... - works as well.)