3 points i noticed :
- church of nativity can only be built if state religion is christianism, while religious wonders from other religions can be built whatever your religion
- carthaginian war elephant are really underestimated by Dido when played by IA
- pikemen seems really weak to me, armored spearman is as much powerful (-1 power, but bonus vs archery and +5%more city defense) while built eras ago.
Hi! I'm a long time fan of TAM, and have been self-religated lately to lurking.
As to your first comment, I recently played the Egyptians, and noted that I had to switch to the religion of the holy city prior to being able to construct the holy wonder. However, I was free to later switch to another religion and still maintain the benefit of the wonder. Was this not true in your game? I tried many times, and each time (built three religious wonders, animism, heliopolitan, and mesopotamian) I had to switch to the wonder's religion first.
The AI, in general does not seem to favor its UU as much as they should. Julius Ceasar doesn't get his UU rolling until 500ish AD, lol. However, when I play, I can swing the first Legionaires out around 700BC. I think this has something to do with the emphasis on acquiring new civics for expansion. The AI always favors improved civics over units (been my experience ever since civics were introduced in the civilization franchise). So, perhaps the emphasis on civics needs to be adjusted, and more weight put towards getting their UUs out in a more advantageous time frame.
I whole-heartedly agree about Armored Spearmen. LOL, am I the only one that thinks they are one of the most powerful units in the game?
I have yet to actually play with the latest patch, but under .72, I am still holding myself back, because over-expansion will kill my economy, not because the AI can stop me. I did review your changes for the latest version, and it will just mean that I will need more Javelineers and Chariot-Archers, and now I need more Rams (I applaud that change for sure!).
However, gunning for Armored Spearmen is still a great tactic. A couple of them in your border cities, and the AI will leave you alone until they get Cavalry.
My general strategy is to expand first, then build wonders in a few core cities while my outer ring focuses on militaristic needs. Start small and expand in "pulses." In Normal Speed though, I was getting hammered once the AI got to Cavalry. Now, it seems like the AI has gotten weaker. My guess is that this was unintentional.
I play on Monarch typically. I also find that the game is much more balanced on Epic speed. Normal starts to feel like a War Craft or Command and Conquer game. I also play on the huge and Standard maps, and find that I enjoy the resource distribution much more on the Standard map. Resources seem so scarce or spread out in the Huge map, especially in Africa.
Finally, Rome...please figure out why Rome under AI control doesn't get off its peninsula in the Huge map. It may be an economic issue, I'm not sure. I know that I play around 20-50% research for about 70% of the game myself, and that's with the best civics, and a tailored research path to ensure that I don't go bankrupt. Money and commerce are my main focus early on. However, I think the AI is bankrupting themselves with over-expansion. This last fact is especially evident in the huge map. Again, however, the above is predicated on my experience with the previous version. I will download this version and test then come back here and report my findings.
I love this mod.
Please keep up all of your hard work!
Thank you for your quick responses.
