Release candidate 2.8.2.0 - testers needed

[Vaeringjar]

This event seems broken. I literally didn't build a single wagon and stole all of them from the AI (as in the pic above where they willingly drive into me), and the AI has more than those I stole, so I'm pretty sure the AI should have easily won this quest many turns ago, yet it triggered for me...

 

[Vaeringjar]

I'm having a problem where pressing the plunder button will plunder twice if the moves are available. Often I only want to use 1 move plundering and not 2, so this is a major problem, and Shift+P isn't working either.

 

[Taurus]

The bug(s) do(es) indeed cause the game to become unresponsive (not sure why you had to reboot though, I usually run in window mode so one can easily alt-tab etc.).

Well, I play in not windowed mode, and while the game becomes unresponsive because of that bug, the only thing is to reboot a computer as I said before. .

 

[Cueball252]

Having a problem in my current game (not a bug) - if you have wood boycotted you can no longer equip settlers in the old world. Needs to have a warning before you do this as its potentially game breaking.

 

[lethiel]

Having a problem in my current game (not a bug) - if you have wood boycotted you can no longer equip settlers in the old world. Needs to have a warning before you do this as its potentially game breaking.

Even if you have the wood in the settlement to create the settler? I doubt that it is intended to be like that.

 

[Cueball252]

Even if you have the wood in the settlement to create the settler? I doubt that it is intended to be like that.

On the Europe screen.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Having a problem in my current game (not a bug) - if you have wood boycotted you can no longer equip settlers in the old world. Needs to have a warning before you do this as its potentially game breaking.

everything is correct. wood is required to equip a settler.

 

[Cueball252]

everything is correct. wood is required to equip a settler.

My point is if you do not have gold in the bank to unlock wood in Europe from the boycott or not enough resources in the new world you have no way to gain new settlers.

Beyond that it is not a good user experience as there is no visual feedback on the reason you can no longer equip a colonist as a settler. Its like loosing your last ship. Perhaps a monarch event to give you a settler or the materials for a settler if youve locked yourself out, at the cost of some tax rate. Failing that add the cost of unlocking the boycotted good(s) to the equipping of a settler.

 

[Ramstormp]

My point is if you do not have gold in the bank to unlock wood in Europe from the boycott or not enough resources in the new world you have no way to gain new settlers.

Beyond that it is not a good user experience as there is no visual feedback on the reason you can no longer equip a colonist as a settler. Its like loosing your last ship. Perhaps a monarch event to give you a settler or the materials for a settler if youve locked yourself out, at the cost of some tax rate. Failing that add the cost of unlocking the boycotted good(s) to the equipping of a settler.

You can always find lumber to buy at the other European settlements. The only yield that is nearly impossible to settle without, is the almighty horse.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

everything you need to hire a Settler can be bought from other Europeans or obtained from your colonies. Colopedia has a description of the materials needed to equip this unit.

 

[Vaeringjar]

- AI built a farm instead of a plantation on a cotton bonus

- When a settlement is built on a tile with level 3 roads, they are replaced with level 1 roads

Not a bug, but misclicked and got this hilarious greeting:

which made me notice Peter doesn't like animals

 

[Vaeringjar]

An option to block pop growth would be useful. When making a bunch of settlers food can get too low to be able to just because a new pop spawned, which is rather annoying.

IMO trading with natives, Port Royal, etc, should not increment the goods-traded-count for tax increases, only those of Europe and Africa should. IMO it should also be based on gold traded rather than yields, as to not penalize trading raw resources / low-value goods (which should also help the AI as a secondary effect).

Is the health mechanic disabled for AI?
There are some glaring building priority flaws in the AI:
(these pics are from 2nd hardest difficulty)

Even here only now is it building a well, never mind the granary lol, 2 high-priority buildings for me at least. No crosses either, yet a maxed out port?

The reason this AI has gotten this far in Quebec is spamming wood/hammers from taiga forests. Which goes to show how massive a difference it would make if the AI would be able to manage hammers properly (both pics are from the same game).
Also, if the AI is living in permanent unhealth then that's a massive debuff. This Quebec is the only place I've ever seen the AI having hospitals at. Hospital lvl 1 should be high priority, like well & granaries. lvl 1 butchery is also pretty good due to its free +1 food.
In terms of crosses I'm getting a new migrant every 2nd turn, but seeing the AI not having nearly any churches that seems like another weakpoint vs the player.

AI also seems obsessed with arsenals, building them in every single settlement, yet with my 2 active lvl1 arsenals it seems like I outproduce the AI in terms of guns...
Though this could be because the AI likes fielding line infantry, while I either spam Dragoons (I have more horses than I can use lol) or militia, which are way more cost-effective.
Amsterdam above has a max level arsenal... what a waste of time lol, this AI has more arsenals than it has mines...

IMO the AI is focusing on bells to an exaggerated extent. I'm basically not getting any founding fathers, which for the player is annoying af, while the AI is prioritising it so much that it's not cost-effective for it. It would be better off investing in production/industry buildings and using those +2 or 3 pops on production as well.
AI should also rush lvl 2 walls (when it has a town hall), it's a no-brainer really.

My capital for reference. Notice the granaries, health stuff, abbey, lower level city hall, lvl 1 arsenal, and a healthy mix of production, most of which is in actual use.

 

[devolution]

An option to block pop growth would be useful. When making a bunch of settlers food can get too low to be able to just because a new pop spawned, which is rather annoying.

There is already a button on the city screen (top/left corner) that does that.

Is the health mechanic disabled for AI?
There are some glaring building priority flaws in the AI:
(these pics are from 2nd hardest difficulty)

Yes, the AI currently ignores the negative effects of health. Since this cheat is very immersion breaking it is high on my list of priorities to eliminate. I've already (well, mostly that is) implemented it in a private (i.e. unpublished) branch.

In terms of crosses I'm getting a new migrant every 2nd turn, but seeing the AI not having nearly any churches that seems like another weakpoint vs the player.

AI also seems obsessed with arsenals, building them in every single settlement, yet with my 2 active lvl1 arsenals it seems like I outproduce the AI in terms of guns...
Though this could be because the AI likes fielding line infantry, while I either spam Dragoons (I have more horses than I can use lol) or militia, which are way more cost-effective.
Amsterdam above has a max level arsenal... what a waste of time lol, this AI has more arsenals than it has mines...

The building selection of AI players are very poor indeed. Here are some comments specific to those buildings:
- The arsenal line is valued very highly since it unlocks units and allows the production of two high-value yields (muskets and cannons). Unfortunately the AI rarely or never builds units and there is no requirement that the input yield (tools) will be available so the slots often end up being unused.
- The value of crosses is undervalued so the AI rarely builds churches (unless by random accident).
-"...maxed out port.." Generally the same problems as the arsenal, the ships that are unlocked seem very desirable to the AI, yet it almost never ends up building them. Also, the food increase is double counted per upgrade (this is arguably a straight up bug!)

 

[Vaeringjar]

Alright, this time I really really need to be able to scorch the earth.
AI literally just sent a doomstack of 130 units (I counted in world builder), so I have no choice but to depopulate a border city (or 2 or 10) and fall back, and destroy the damn roads so the enemy can't use them...
I thought my power score was looking good, turns out I just have a massive navy lol
And then the friendly native neighbour whom I purposefully didn't settle into, yet got settled by other colonials, just randomly backstabs me because of course that makes sense and is totally not unimmersive, yet no native ever does anything vs AI colonials. Civ difficulty scaling gotta be the worst I've ever seen lol.

 

[Vaeringjar]

Have a look at this XD

 

[Vaeringjar]

It is bullfeathers that when your garrison outnumbers the native army, that whenever they kamikaze into you they somehow plunder your whole warehouse. It's obnoxious nonsense.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

It is bullfeathers that when your garrison outnumbers the native army, that whenever they kamikaze into you they somehow plunder your whole warehouse. It's obnoxious nonsense.

You just can´t stand their Ninja-tactics with which they leave your units cluelessly in the fog, while carrying tons of goods behind your back over small pathes in the wilderness to their home villages...

But more seriously - having numerical superiority is one advantage, but it does not make everything the enemy could do useless or impossible. Even if they did not actualy steal those goods, a burning arrow might have struck an open window and ignited the storage... Do not mistake the depiction on the screen to mean that the natives throw themselves into the gunfire of your units - they use Leatherstockings tactics of hiding behind trees, quickly moving around the tree to trick your units to fire preemptively into the tree and then charge your units after those have wasted their shot...

Realistically the squares on the gigantic mapsize are still so HUGE that a raiding force and a garrison unit in the same square should be able to walk past each other and not notice the other one.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

I like the "only 1 colonist learning from the native village at a time"-feature and probably won´t play without it anymore.

However the fiery warning in red that "other Europeans" are already learning there does not only warn that actually other europeans are learning in that village, but the same dire warning appears if I had send a colonist to learn there myself before and forgot about him.

Could the warning be split? The same red warning if actually other europeans have started learning in that village before you but one in yellow that your own colonist has not finished learning and so the next one has to wait...

 

[ConjurerDragon]

In this event option 2 and 4 give identical results (+hammers). Is that intended or an oversight?

Spoiler :

 

[Hibernian]

By the way, is there any ETA of the next stable release ? No pressure, just asking as I feel in the mood of starting a new game and don't want to start one and after a week there is a new version out.