(Rising Tides) Quill 18's Chungsu Gameplay

I also wonder how much things are sped up by the extra science he is getting from covert ops since he is playing as Chengsu. Seems a very strong sponsor!

 

If steal science is same as vanilla, steal science(25% of tech cost with special agents) itself would get much more science than the trait bonus.

And still, they have +2 agents too!

 

I still think that stealing science and stealing energy needs to be nerfed a bit.

 

the continental surveyor seems so strong in RT.

edit : nest on firaxite ?

edit : 13 culture for the first virtue instead of 20 O_o ? is it an aquatic city feature ?

edit : nevermind quick speed

 

From what I can gather all nests (land especially) to specific resources. I think they are a lot more free in water.

 

For the actual game length, it might not have done anything, but it terms of "endgame content", it will. Even if the game length is the same, it means you at least get the breathing room to actually play with the high-affinity level stuff instead of winning before unlocking it.

It might not be the ultimate fix, but it will allow you to play around with them a bit more. Plus, I'm getting the impression that basically nothing hands out full affinity levels any more (at least techtree-wise), but only affinity XP.

Given that hybrids have to be viable, I strongly expect that going from affinity 13 to 15 is, in terms of techs needed, a much bigger step than right now with techs handing out full level-ups like candy.

 

We did not get to see the contact victory movie because Quill18's preview is under an embargo (no load screens or cut scenes).

 

Well, that's true, but certainly not what I'm looking for.

Not sure what you're saying here. ^^ No tech ever handed out raw affinity levels, but if you mean "enough affinity exp to get a full level"... well, that's still the case. Even worse actually, with ring 1 Affinity Techs giving 20(!) affinity, which is almost 2 full levels.

Well, we saw 2 seconds of it. Pretty Standard "2d pictures layered over each other and slowly moving"-style.

 

True. Although we already suspected that would be how it works.

 

Have we seen the amount of affinity XP given by the outer rings yet? If it stays at 20, this becomes a lot less powerful later on - the cost per affinity level is, after all, 10 + combined attained affinity levels, meaning going from affinity 13 to 14 costs you 23 XP and from 14 to 15 costs you 24 XP.

Given that you are almost bound to pick up some hybridisation along the way (with affinity on the tree techs, not just the leaf techs), going from affinity 13 to 15 is probably going to be something like 50-55 affinity XP in total. On top of that, I'd wager that the formula might actually have changed in order to accommodate Hybrids.

 

Granted, the game was on quick speed and Chengsu can get a lot of extra science from covert ops. But wow. Quill18 was pulling in 400 science per turn on turn 170 and with mid and late game affinity quests back, he was getting techs and affinity levels left and right.

 

Ring 3 Leaf Techs also give 20 exp. The affinity gain seems to have been normalized. That's a whole level for most of the affinity levels, if the scaling in the upper affinity levels hasn't been increased.

 

Wait, did the covert ops always give you an indication of agent survival and success rate? Or has that been added so people can get a better read on the value of spy related political traits?

EDIT: Likewise, interesting how the affinity wheel highlights what it's currently considering your main affinity - not sure it matters now, but potential for how it affects minor things.

 

The rates are definitely not in vanilla.

 

Paean(orbital unit) is so so so cool AND it costs Nothing but production.

 

Also not sure if it's been mentioned, but finally got a look at the Missile Rover upgrade screen - no hybrid versions.

Which is ridiculous, seeing as siege is a core part of any army, especially once it starts to levitate, but no sense beating a dead horse on the hybrid core unit issue.

 

I think it is anything above 8.8...
They figure reaching 9.9 is too hard compared to reaching 14.

 

That does seem to cover all of the missing units except subs, but then the question becomes when to the Hybrid uniques upgrade? Is it a case where 8.8 get's you the First Throne or Elder Aquillon? Because from what we've seen, the tier 1 uniques are already in that general range (9.9-10.10, judging from the recent video showing Immortal upgrades).

 

Well there you don't have a 'core' option, they Only upgrade at hybrid.
I think the idea is that hybrid is always an 'add on' to the main affinity, so while
6.0->6.6 is easier than 6->11
9.0->9.9 is a lot harder than 9->14

I think they should have them, because the mechanics are easy (although art takes time, and you need to come up with nonoverlapping names that fit the concept.)

But I can see the argument for cutting it off.. They want to keep the focus on the core affinities, they want 'hybrid bonuses' not 'hybrid players'

 

Did anyone notice the station sentinel orbital unit. Doubles yields from a station, gives it defenses and prevents it from being abandoned. Add in the trait that gives big bonuses to station yields and stations might actually become quite powerful in the right circumstances. I can see a Hutama playthrough doing powerful station bonuses to leverage the trade routes. That would make the agreement that gives orbital coverage from stations you trade with awesome. COuld make them more useful especially for purity with the orb coverage bonuses for units.

Also I really like that orbital coverage actually increases respect. Add that and more useful and varied orbital units and extending my orbital coverage seems much more useful. The preliminary feeling I am getting is that the systems are more fleshed out in Rising Tide. With a couple balance patches or a community balance patch this game could be pretty cool.