Suggestions and Requests

[FraggleJock]

Here's a wacky idea: (AI only?) Greeks and Phoenicians could have access to a unique unit that's a Galley that starts with a Settler, therefore encouraging them to go settle random parts of the Med.

I'd prefer an amphibious settler, call em Lost Atlanteans. Unfortunately Greece already has two uniques 3 would be somewhat excessive.
It might also lead to the islands in the Mediterranean actually getting settled by the AI

 

[Publicola]

I'd prefer an amphibious settler, call em Lost Atlanteans. Unfortunately Greece already has two uniques 3 would be somewhat excessive.
It might also lead to the islands in the Mediterranean actually getting settled by the AI

So perhaps a Phoenician UU, called 'Colonist' (or an equivalent ancient term)? Unit art looks like a ship, but produced like a settler. Limited movement on sea, no defense, but cheaper than a standard settler. Automatically builds city when & wherever it lands.

 

[TinCanManiac]

I have a suggestion that the AI should build more guided missiles late game, at least in coastal cities. It would make late game naval invasions a bit more challenging, and is also a lot more realistic.

 

[Askii2D]

Historicaly Russian UP didn't work on Sweden/Mongols

their winters are as cold as/colder than russian

 

[SultanRedSnake]

The new Rise/Expansion system at large has been a big hit in my experiences so let me add another feather to your clever cap. The nut-and-bolt mechanics have been flawless as far as I can tell in game.

A few particulars might at least be brought to your attention as data points. I ***super pinky promise*** no personal opinions are being smuggled in to sway in any direction. Anyway, in my capacity as Playtester of the Republic ( see what you did?) I rely on the method of repeated autoplay observation to try to get close to consistent patterns and to put my own gut-feeling type impressions to the test.

Both cases concern Spain’s actions. The first datum is that Spain attacks Moors immediately upon expiration of birth protection at a rate of 100% with the sample size being 20 observed games. What isn’t consistent, and if anything made the game more interesting, are the varied outcomes of this behavior. These range from a 1 turn conquest of Cordoba to the Moors pulling of a technical victory. The duration of the first war can also vary broadly. I thought this deserved your attention because it seemed more deterministic than what I’ve gathered you would prefer.

The second case concerns Portugal. The human player has a chance to avoid war. Results show that the AI player does not. In 20 out of 20 games Spain attacks. However the timing varies noticeably in contrast with Moors, which I’ll repeat was on the first turn possible under birth rules.

If these results are consistent with your design intent, ignore. If not, maybe remove Lisbon from Spanish Expansion area would help? Of course, I also have to acknowledge for epistemology’s sake that something different happened on the 21st replay that I *didn’t* watch.

 

[Leoreth]

Yeah, I think using the expansion mechanics for Spain wasn't the best idea in general.

 

[SultanRedSnake]

Trying it on Spain was a great idea. Just turned out that the standard rules w/ script have worked best as they could all along in this situation.

 

[Glorfindel of Gondolin]

Hello, I am a huge fun of the mod, and I have many ideas so I am starting to post them, thanks for reading.
I have a couple of Norse related suggestions:
1)
a single forest could be placed in Greenland's south-eastern tundra hill, to represent the Qinngua valley and the ancient Greenlandic forests.
Scientific teams found fossils of trees along Greenland's shores, and although they date back 2 million years, it is widely speculated that the Norse found some remnants of the lush forests on the narrow strip of habitable land at the coast.
it is very possible that they were razed by the settlers.
Sadly, the sole remnant of those forests is a 15 square km of a preserved wood, known as Qinngua valley.
I think it will be a great addition to the Viking gameplay, as well as it wouldn't have much effect on the game.
In addition, it would add more contrast between southern Greenland, which is a completely different ecosystem than the northern areas.
2)
My second suggestion relates to the resources in Greenland.
By the way, I noticed the clam resource 1 south of Greenland, and I must say that I appreciate your choice to put it there.
does it represent the cold water shrimp fishing industry in Greenland?
Anyway, I thought about adding one sheep resource on the same hill (with the forest), to represent modern farms (Sheep accounts for 99% of Greenland's meat production) and also to hint at Norse agriculture, that consisted mainly of grazing animals that they transported with them.
3)
In America, there are native units that attack the colonies, Aztecs and US.
So how about an Inuit native unit?
They could spawn with few tribal villages in northern Greenland and on the Canadian islands.
I think it would give a little more taste to the northern part of the map, as well as make it a challenge for the Vikings to settle in Vinland and Greenland. (The sagas does record hostility with the natives, and it ended with the Vikings leaving Vinland, and struggling on Greenland)
This could also be a temporary addition, until and if an Inuit civilization would be added.

Thanks for reading, I hope it was interesting and offered something valuable.

 

[Leoreth]

Thanks! I am currently in the process of developing a new map for the mod (which has been going in the background for a few years), so the best thing to do is to direct your feedback there. Most of what you suggest seems to be applicable there as well, but I want to make you aware that this is going on so you can review the related threads and adapt your suggestion if you think that makes sense.

 

[Glorfindel of Gondolin]

okay, thanks!

 

[Dracosolon]

More of a "would be neat" idea than a serious suggestion but:

-Have Hidden Nationality as a promotion that can only be granted by using up a Great Spy (either through a special building or just gifting the promotion to units on the tile),
-The Byzantine UP of bribing barbarians is now a regular Spy mission, its new UP is something like a bonus to + Great Spies can conduct Trade Missions,
-All barbarian units start with Hidden Nationality and keep it if they get converted (through bribing or the Turkic UP).

 

[Publicola]

On the one hand, I love that idea. On the other... I feel like that would be part of a much bigger barbarian overhaul. I do really like the idea of giving Great Spy units the ability to add the promotion to your units, though certainly some units (Privateers at least) should come with it by default.

 

[freethink]

On the one hand, I love that idea. On the other... I feel like that would be part of a much bigger barbarian overhaul. I do really like the idea of giving Great Spy units the ability to add the promotion to your units, though certainly some units (Privateers at least) should come with it by default.

I assume the overhaul would take heavy programming work to get it done. Maybe privateers could have promotions though. Maybe unique ones like

-Navigator - distance bonus
Swashbuckling- Retreat bonus
Plunder- Cash bonus for attacking ships and bombarding cities
Scallywag- Attack bonus maybe?

 

[need my speed]

Random thought; should Tzintzuntzan be an independent city on the map? It was the heart of an often overlooked empire (a bit larger than modern Mexico's Michoacán state, except for the coastal part, I believe - you may know it as the Tarascans, and I thought they existed in the game, but upon quickly checking I didn't see them) that successfully repelled the Aztecs, and were in fact never conquered by them. If yes, it should have the name Ts'intsuntsani (which is its name in Purépecha), and transform into Tzintzuntzan if the Aztecs manage to conquer it.

 

[Leoreth]

It absolutely should. I am going to do a first pass over independent cities / minor civilizations (represented by independents) that should exist soon, basically restarting from scratch without attempting to reproduce what currently exists in the mod.

 

[mccp77]

Played an America game to 2023 last night (USA! USA! USA!). Anyway, I noticed that global warming never melted any arctic sea ice -- it just turned grasslands/plains to desert and forests to grasslands/plains.

I thus suggest that global warming melt arctic sea ice revealing resources (drill baby drill!) and opening up northwest/northeast passages.

***bonus: It would also be nice (though not necessary) to add some type of UN climate change resolution to vote on. Maybe something that either (1) bans dirty energy or (2) adds unhappiness to a city for every building using dirty energy? By 2023 I REALLY wanted to save the planet

 

[Dracosolon]

Climate change is in an odd position in this game. It happens too late to really matter besides flavor, so it's hard to justify extensive game mechanics for it. One way to make it more relevant would be to make environmentalism an actual victory type, which would require a mix of science, production and especially diplomacy, based around having a critical number of civs to make deliberately crippling choices like banning dirty power, preserving forests and maybe certain resources, etc. before too much damage is done.

I'm not sure this would actually work as a whole victory type since if you're dominant it might be trivially easy to accomplish by bribing civs, etc. Maybe as part of a humanitarian victory, which I think was discussed here at one point?

 

[mccp77]

Climate change is in an odd position in this game. It happens too late to really matter besides flavor, so it's hard to justify extensive game mechanics for it. One way to make it more relevant would be to make environmentalism an actual victory type, which would require a mix of science, production and especially diplomacy, based around having a critical number of civs to make deliberately crippling choices like banning dirty power, preserving forests and maybe certain resources, etc. before too much damage is done.

I'm not sure this would actually work as a whole victory type since if you're dominant it might be trivially easy to accomplish by bribing civs, etc. Maybe as part of a humanitarian victory, which I think was discussed here at one point?

No, I think an environmental/humanitarian victory would be far far too much (and maybe even overly politically controversial as a victory type).

Having it put that way, I would say it should still be minor and about flavor. It just seems like a very small minimalist coding tweak to have sea ice melt and tundra turn to grassland, so that global warming isn't only a negative flavor addition.

Just a suggestion -- very ignorable

 

[Leoreth]

Anyone who considers a humanitarian victory too controversial is someone I'd happily lose as a player. This game can be won by literally destroying every other civilization on the planet.

 

[mccp77]

Anyone who considers a humanitarian victory too controversial is someone I'd happily lose as a player. This game can be won by literally destroying every other civilization on the planet.

I repent!