Rebalance of 2/3 of all civs in April!

[UWHabs]

That's honestly what I would do. Have them being able to form a corporation at Exploration and let Shipyards hold a product slot. (This is assuming the monopolies and corporations game mode will also get changed)

The current trading bonuses on Radio Oranje isn't much but all the other aspects of the civ are so good there's no need to really change it. Though I do like the suggestion mentioned earlier about maybe more culture or loyalty from trade routes once you unlock the Radio tech.

I think the big problem is the trade route ability is just so bad that it's virtually useless. The rest of their abilities are fine, although I still wouldn't mind loosening things a little more on Polders too to make them a little more useful even still, even something like allowing them to be built if the tile has only 2 adjacent land tiles plus a neighbouring polder, so that you can more easily line the coastlines with them instead of now where it really takes a trick of the map to be able to even get 2 of them next to each other.

But yeah, if the trade route ability was, say, simply a clone of the monument for all trade routes, that would help. So maybe something like "All outgoing trade routes grant +1 culture and +1 loyalty. +1 culture if city is at full loyalty. +1 culture for incoming trade international trade routes." I don't think that would necessarily be game-breaking, but it would give them a little bit more bonus on their routes overall, and you don't have the awkward case of maybe using the +1 loyalty on routes for a few turns, and then having that expire a few turns later if the era changes or you capture another city and don't need the loyalty bonus anymore. And then giving that culture on all routes, domestic or international, would just be a more general bonus too.

 

[Unmitigated Gaul]

I think the easiest way to fix Scotland is to move the UU from a ranger replacement to a skirmisher replacement. By the time skirmishers come around you ought to still have a scout or two in use somewhere, so it would be more likely to be fun or relevant.

Call it the Border Reiver and give it bonus combat strength or cheap pillages(or both), and you give the civilization a much needed boost.

Scotland as a world power is somewhat ahistorical, but I think the late game is pretty fun as you minimax amenities and play science together. I do think one fun twist would be to make golf course amenities conditional on tile appeal.

I think an earlier UU would make fighting petty wars with neighbors in the mid game more fun.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I think the easiest way to fix Scotland is to move the UU from a ranger replacement to a skirmisher replacement. By the time skirmishers come around you ought to still have a scout or two in use somewhere, so it would be more likely to be fun or relevant.

I don't see that happening considering the Skirmisher unit came in GS, while Scotland came with R&F.

A simple fix that that could work is make the Highlander unlock at Gunpowder, so you could get your unique Ranger an era earlier.

 

[Unmitigated Gaul]

I don't see that happening considering the Skirmisher unit came in GS, while Scotland came with R&F.

A simple fix that that could work is make the Highlander unlock at Gunpowder, so you could get your unique Ranger an era earlier.

Good point. That would actually help them a lot.

Overall the theme centers just a bit too much on discovering the steam engine and penicillin, and there is not enough Sir Walter Scott in there for me.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Updating my suggestions for Scotland after some discussion on Reddit.

• Instead of getting just extra science and production, they should just get bonus to all yields, basically increasing the bonus yields from happiness overall.
  
  
• The Golf Course should be available earlier. Reformed Church is just a silly place to hide it in. Move it to Medieval Faires.
  
  
• Also for a 1 per city improvement, it's not particularly rewarding to place it well. You get 1 culture for managing to place one next to the city center... what? It should give 2 culture instead, and +1 if the city is happy, and another +1 if ecstatic.
  
  
• Trigger the bonus for wars when joining a liberation emergency too.
  
  
• Highlander.... ugh. Honestly, I'd delete the unit and make it a melee unit available at Military Science with a ranged attack similar to the Immortal.
  

 

[Francel]

It would be fun, even if unnecessary, to allow Vietnam to place forts in woods and jungles as part of “Nine Dragon.”

 

[Aurelesk]

It feels like necroposting to answer this threat, but I was wondering what are the odds they update some abilities, including the Vanilla ones? Any theories or wishes?

For example: Kongo was supposed to be played as a faithless populous cultural civilization. When Faith became more prominent for Tourism (Rock Bands), Housing less hard to come by (Mbanza), and Great Works less powerful, Kongo lost its prestige. Will they update the abilities?

I believe that Mvemba a Nzinga's ability was more about preventing him to have a religion than denying him to have Holy Sites. We know from the Maori it is possible to prevent a civilization to recruit a Great People. I can only hope they redo the ability to something like this:

Religious Convert (Mvemba a Nzinga):
Holy Sites' adjacency bonus, Shrines and Temples gives Food instead of Faith. Enjoys the founder and the enhancer beliefs of any religion when that religion has established itself in a majority of his cities. Can buy Missionaries, Apostles and Gurus with Gold at discounted price. Great Prophets cannot be earned.

It will still not be a great ability, but at least Mbemba a Nzinga could enjoy some of the beliefs like Choral Music, Feed the World, Religious Community, Warrior Monks and Work Ethic (5/9 of the follower beliefs needs Holy Site or its buildings), any of the Worship belief, or some way to slot additionnal Relics.

I also wonder how far they would go for the rebalance. Are they going to only retweak some value, or create new things? For example, can the Khmer have a unique Aqueduct (Barays), replacing the Prasat? Therefore creating a whole new ability?


My top of "what I would like the most" are:

Earlier unique improvement
We shouldn't have to wait the Renaissance era to unlock them. They could be at a weaker version and recover their power back at their original tech / civic. The UI that need the most are the Château (Feudalism with 1 Culture?), Golf Course (Theology with 1 Amenity?), Hacienda (Guilds with no Production?), Ice Hockey Rink (Medieval Faires with half Culture?), Mission (Naval Tradition with no foreign bonuses?), Open-Air Museum (Guilds with +2 flat culture?).

Discount to unique district
Some unique district are so powerful, like the Hansa, the Acropolis, the Lavra, the Hippodrome or the Seowon, that being able to have them at half price is a crazy thing on it self. Some unimpressive districts like the Ikanda or the Observatory or those civilizations built around that district like the Suguba or the Oppidum could justify a discount.

Make leader's abilities "independant" from the civilization
This is mainly because I want a game mode where you could put a Leader to any Civilization. Any mention to the civilization they are leading are removed. Some leaders like Aminatore, Magnificent CdM, and Jadwiga, need their ability updated to make my wish possible, because they rely on Nubian Pyramids, Château or Golden Liberty. Which means:

• Amanitore: Her ability needs to work without the Nubian Pyramids. For example: "+25% Production towards all districts. Receive +1 Production for every building and district built on a Desert or Desert Hills.". The Nubian Pyramid could also be updated and have "If adjacent to a City-Center: +15% Production to district".
• Basil II: It only needs to change "Byzantium" to "Basil II's civilization". That's how they did it with Eleanor.
• Catherine De Medici (Magnificence): Her ability needs to work without the Château. Either the Château could work like this (basicly: any France would have 2 Culture on luxuries with the Château, so clearly a "up") and Magnificence trigger it with Theatre Square as well, either the Culture bonuses on Luxury Ressources could work without any prerequisite when playing with this leader.
• Cleopatra: It only needs to change "Egypt" to "Cleopatra's civilization".
• Dido: Can we have dynamic text to the description when "Cothon" change to "Harbor" in case Dido do not lead Phoenicia, or "Royal Navy Dockyard" when leading England?
• Gandhi: "India" to "Gandhi's civilization". Heck, even his ability use "Gandhi".
• Hojo Tokimune: "Japan" to "Hojo Tokimune's civilization" and "Japanese" with "his".
• Jadwiga: It is a special case: her ability rely a lot on Poland's ability. Maybe it needs some switch of abilities: Jadwiga could lose the conversion on Culture bomb but gains the policy cards?
• Lautaro: change "If a Mapuche Unit" to "If any of his Unit".
• Montezuma: "Aztec" to "Montezuma's civilization".
• Mvemba A Nzinga: like Dido, can we have dynamic text to the description when "M'banza" change to "Neighborhood"?
• Peter: "Russia" to "Peter's civilization".
• Saladin: "Arabian" to "his".
• Victoria: like Dido, can we have dynamic text when "Royal Navy Dockyard" change to "Harbor" when Victoria does not lead England, or to "Cothon" when leading Phoenicia?

Also, this rise a whole new problem: balance. Now all civilizations and all leaders needs to have roughly balanced abilities if a game mode allows to put any leader to any civilization. Right now, some leaders are powerful because the civilization they are in are weak, or some leaders are weak of even detrimental because the civilization they are in are powerful. This whole idea need further research to work perfectly. Maybe with more switch of power between the leader and civilization

Some balance, obviously
I wonder how they will do it. Are they going to only rise the civilizations that are underwhelming, or also try to reduce the power of civilization that are too powerful? I am looking forward what they are going to change, and how they will do it.

For example: Babylon's ability: Enuma Anu Enlil. It is now clear that, even if the ability was fresh and fun, it is absurdly too powerful. But how they will change it?
Some people want to save a gameplay where you could ignore Science, and wants the ability to provide only 99% of the Science, meaning you have to do all prerequisites. Only those who actively do all the Eurekas would benefit from it, which leads the civilization to be powerful only by those who already mastered the game.
Some people want instead have Eureka be less powerful (80% of the Science) but still be able to jump in the Tech tree. In this change, you will need to invest in Science / Campus to progress early, assuming the team are able to make possible to research a tech with a completed Eureka even if you didn't have the prerequisites. Basicly, Babylon player have to dedicate ressource to Science early. You still have the fun of "cheating" the game with planned jump, while not be frustrated to waste Science into tech that you could complete with Eureka. Furthermore, it is also more casual friendly and enjoyable to everyone (no, I am not partial at all!).

Same thing with Korea and its infamous Seowon. Should it be less powerful (only +3? so can never enjoy Rationalism), expand the -1 Science to Mountain (and Coast?) tiles so you cannot corner them too easily, make the Seowon starts at 0 Science but gain +1 Science for each adjacent flat/hill land (but still have the -1 Science from districts), or make Korea to actually works for the adjacencies by putting +1 Science from adjacent unpillaged Farms and Hills?

Basicly, I looking forward if they try to balance some civilizations, and if they do: how they are going to do it.

 

[Pietato]

Highlander.... ugh. Honestly, I'd delete the unit and make it a melee unit available at Military Science with a ranged attack similar to the Immortal.

Hehe.

I hope they also look at Pantheons. Fire Goddess sucks, because you never want to work fissures, and Volcanoes need to erupt first. Making the tiles around volcanoes volcanic soil from turn 1 would help immensely.

 

[nauberry]

I would love to see the ziggurat of the Sumerians only able to be built, if no other ziggurats are adjacent to it. With the current placement rules, it's very spammy and takes away from the nice look of the UI. If the placement rules are changed, the improvement should be made stronger of course.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Soooooo weird .. that i once took (back in 2019) the Ziggurat Icon Symbol to represent "Wonders" for my GScoRow mod (score types/points).

And now.. they *do* release a real Wonder about it.

PS; Sorry for the Off-Topic comment but i couldn't resist.

 

[Abaxial]

Given the inclusions of vampires and zombies, most likely the new UU for Scotland will be the Loch Ness Monster.

 

[God of Kings]

Given the inclusions of vampires and zombies, most likely the new UU for Scotland will be the Loch Ness Monster.

...and Ogopogo for either the Cree or Canada.

 

[8housesofelixir]

...and Ogopogo for either the Cree or Canada.

Hojo: *Pulls out a long list of Japanese kami, obake, yōkai, and mononoke*

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

...and Ogopogo for either the Cree or Canada.

I'm still waiting for the graphical updates where Mounties can ride moose and Cossacks ride bears. It's not so farfetched any more.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Given the inclusions of vampires and zombies, most likely the new UU for Scotland will be the Loch Ness Monster.

I regret I have but one like to give

 

[God of Kings]

I'm still waiting for the graphical updates where Mounties can ride moose and Cossacks ride bears. It's not so farfetched any more.

...and rangers ride on flying canoes as part of Quebec folklore.

 

[ManoftheHour333]

Just redo Spain. With Portugal taking over the sea aspects it's high time to give this well-known flop/mess of a civ some more focus. Give us a reason to play them for religious/domination games besides a) trying to make the game harder, or b) making us want to play Byzantium instead.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

For example: Babylon's ability: Enuma Anu Enlil. It is now clear that, even if the ability was fresh and fun, it is absurdly too powerful. But how they will change it?

I hope they don't - it's a fun and unique twist, exactly what I want from a Civ. Especially now you can make sure they're not in your game just leave them be and concentrate on the base game civs that need some attention.

 

[Evie]

...and rangers ride on flying canoes as part of Quebec folklore.

Workers. These are traditionally lumberjacks returning home for the holidays from their forests far in the north, not hunters/rangers

La Chasse-Gallerie.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

There's a theatrical event every summer in Lac-St-Jean that refers to that folklore bag of Northern/Quebec storylines, mostly winter inspired. And yes.. the flying Canoe **IS** exploited in many staged commentaries.
When you go on vacations over there -- make sure you visit Chicoutimi/Saguenay region and its cultural places.
Plenty of strange stuff to learn about while there.