After play testing a bit with the Super Settler mod I got functional, I want to update this thread with some more detailed specifics and goals and where I plan to focus mod development next as I learn how to implement all this:
High Level Mod Goals/Vision:
- Reduce City Spam
- Encourage more Science/Civics focus earlier in the game by restricting / inhibiting Settler production through tech unlocks
- Force specialization to get lots of Settlers for cheap through Policy Cards and Settler cost increases
- Try to encourage Player Cities to be farther apart by giving a Science/Civic multiplier if cities are farther apart
0) Create a special Ruleset?
I'm unsure how Rulesets work, but it would be great to tie everything to a special Ruleset to not require uninstallation of the mod if Players want to play the base game unaffected.
1) Start the game with a "Super Settler" - extra movement ability and visibility
DONE: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/civ-vi-super-settler-wip-0-01.25768/
Notes: Need to fix artdef, among other things, to make this unique unit work correctly with the right art and icons. Maybe consider a rename to something like Colonist?
2) Disable the ability to manually create or purchase a normal Settler at the game's start
3) Increase the production/gold cost of normal Settlers and the ramp costs of building additional Settlers to increase more dramatically
Initial increase to be tested: 250% increase over base game settings, e.g.:
Vanilla: First Settler: 80 Production, Second Settler: 100 Production
New: First Settler: 150 Production, Second Settler: 200 Production
4) Separate the Economic Policy Cards Colonization and Expropriation:
Currently the Colonization card upgrades into the Expropriation Card. I'd like to detach them, and reduce their effects, forcing a player who want's to get a large cost reduction in Settlers to have to commit to using both cards to stack both the effects. At their peaks, combined the player could receive 60% cost reduction for Settler Production costs.
5) Tag specific technologies to reward you with a normal Settler or Super Settler and unlock manual construction of Settlers
- Early Empire (Civics - Ancient) - Unlocks manual building of normal Settlers and the Colonization Economic Policy (20% Settler production cost reduction)
- Engineering (Science - Classical) - Rewards one free normal Settler
- Exploration (Civics - Renaissance) - Upgrades the Colonization Economic Policy Card (30% Settler production cost reduction)
- Scorched Earth (Civics - Industrial) - Unlocks manual building of Super Settlers and the Expropriation Economic Policy (20% Settler production cost reduction combined with 20% cost reduction in plot purchase)
- Flight (Science - Modern) - Rewards one free Super Settler
- Rapid Deployment (Civics - Industrial) - Upgrades the Expropriation Economic Policy (30% Settler production cost reduction combined with 20% cost reduction in plot purchase)
- Robotics (Science - Information) - Rewards one free Super Settler
Design/Balance discussion - When each type of Settler is unlocked, when each free one is given, this will need to be balanced and play tested. Here are my current thoughts:
I want to encourage less city spam in the early game and more tactical decisions. I want to reduce pressure on land grabbing until players have gotten a grasp of their surroundings and have established relations with their neighbors. When manual construction is unlocked, I want production costs to be high and only minor reductions allowed (20% vs 50% in vanilla). The goal here is to allow/encourage early game strategies around rushing science and civics to get Settlers unlocked. Further, when the Super Settler is unlocked, with the extra movement mobility (10) - it allows rapid land grabbing expansion. The push back on this is the ramped production costs of Settlers. It should be quite high and not allow players to rush produce more than a couple.
6) To be decided: Increase City Health or Strength
I don't think this could properly be designed until parts 1-5 are implemented. With less total cities in the game, we want to make them stronger by a little bit. A natural Player reaction to there being less cities on the board is to capture more of them to compensate. This is perfectly valid, but we want to make Cities a bit more defendable if you only have one for the early game until normal Settlers get unlocked.
7) To be decided: Increase Science and Civics costs by 25%. Reduce Eureka/Inspiration bonuses to 30%
I don't think this could properly be designed until parts 1-5 are implemented. Initial thoughts here are that the game's science and civics are rewarded too quickly. This increases the game's length and increases the value/importance of getting additional science/culture buildings up.
NOTE: This is still being brainstormed. This might not be needed after all the Settler changes are in. With less total population/cities available then Science and Civics will naturally take longer to reach since the player can no longer city spam.
8) To be decided: Create Economic Policy cards that give a multiplier on Science and Culture Districts if the player has only 1 city within 7? tiles of the district
I don't think these could properly be designed until parts 1-5 are implemented. My ultimate hope here is to encourage players to spread out. If they are rewarded for spreading out, then there will be less clumped cities. This will boost effectiveness of lone cities and not stack effects with the District Adjacency bonuses because a city would need to be within 6 tiles to receive the Factory/Power Plant aura buffs (within 6 tiles).
NOTE: The Toronto City state increases th Factory/Power Plant aura buff to 9. Undecided if this should be left in or tweaked to not create an abuse of combining the multiplier and aura buffs
