The Harpy Event

[Turinturambar]

I'll switch it from revolt turns to hurryanger. I didnt intend for the bard to mitigate the negative impact.

I guess that means 15 angry faces with the corresponding 150 turns of hurryanger (i.e. whip 15 times)?
That will kill pretty much every city. Even 5 hurryanger reduces a city at the start of the game to size 1. As the AI loves to take the great bard and settle it even with only 1 city, this will become a game killer event for every AI that gets it in the first ~70 turns.

If it just means 15 turns of +1 unhappy then the penalty is once again trivial. I'd rather turn it into something like permanent +2 unhappy.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I don't see 4k culture in random city x to be that big of a positive boost. It's only powerful when you get a powerful effect from it, extra defense and wider borders in a place that needs neither is of no use.

It is sorta lame that you can negate the penalty right now, but such a usage is rarely a good use of the great person. There is almost always something much better to do with it.

I almost exclusively use Great Bards for early-mid game border pushes. I often am very aggressive with my city placement to try and cut out the biggests wath of land for my civ and so I'm often very pleased when I get a great bard.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

indeed some civ, alignment or religious specific choices would be great for this event.

 

[Neomega]

15 turns of riots is no downside?

new patch has made this event a godsend without the riots. Bad move IMHO.

The 15 turn riots are punishing, esp in early game:
1. if it happens in the capital, you essentially have 15 turns of anarchy, which can be debilitating
2. your rioting city has no defense bonus for 15 turns, and in MP, that can be a deadly mistake... esp if you culture bomb a neighbor. They'll get pissed and hunt down the rioting city if they are smart.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

you mean the unreleased patch e? how is that so?

 

[Tasunke]

with riots though, there IS NO riot, because the pop always happens in the rioting city, if the player is smart, unless it happens to be a backwater settlement with no intrinsic value.

Which is why I like the new version, because otherwise if you know whats what, its just a free pop for a random city, instead of any real decisions.

 

[hbar]

This event is particularly OP when Drama is the next on the bard-bulb list, because you get a free tech AND (assuming you're the first) another great bard. I like the hurryanger solution, because it forces a real choice. Now, about those Muris clan goblins...

EDIT: This reminds me of the heavy orb event, in that the obvious choice is the wrong one, and once you know the 'trick', it is arguably an exploit.

 

[Onionsoilder]

This event is particularly OP when Drama is the next on the bard-bulb list, because you get a free tech AND (assuming you're the first) another great bard. I like the hurryanger solution, because it forces a real choice. Now, about those Muris clan goblins...

EDIT: This reminds me of the heavy orb event, in that the obvious choice is the wrong one, and once you know the 'trick', it is arguably an exploit.

Heavy Orb?

 

[hbar]

yeah, you find an orb that's unusually heavy. You have the option to add it to your library for 100g (+2 ) or break it (-2 armageddon counter). I always chose the library route, until I found out that breaking it grants you a free tech. This event used to always trigger as soon as you had a library and 100g, so you could manage your gold until you needed an expensive tech (Strength of Will or Mithril Working, for example) and pop it for a ridiculously low cost.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

shouldn't it give a random tech with a max number of beakers cost, instead of letting you choose one?

 

[hbar]

Should. Might now, I know Kael changed a few things about this event several patches back. I was merely reminiscing.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I haven't had the Harpy event but once in about the last 10 games. How common is it? Most of my recent games have been short on small worlds where I'm just testing ideas, rather than fighting to the end. Is it a late term event?

 

[Tasunke]

I once got the harpy event during 2 separate MP games in a row

 

[Onionsoilder]

Once I got the harpy event 3 times in the same game. It's a nice benefit when I get it, though I rarely actually NEED the culture. What pisses me off about it is when the AI gets it, their borders cut off several good city locations.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Under any civ's lore, I wonder if a Harpy inside city walls would be a big enough deal to complain about? Maybe the Kuriotates wouldn't bat an eye. Grigori maybe are tolerant enough too, whether of funny looking citizens or knowing that their Adventurers bring home funny loot all the time ("hey, that's Carrow the Hunted's adopted daughter, maybe we shouldn't be rioting...")

True, maybe a few more options are in order. Maybe not ones that produce an automatic Great Bard for those civs though (strikes me as a bit too much of an advantage) but maybe tamer options such as "So? +5 in City" and the like.

I think the penalty for the event is a bit too rough though. 15 turns of riot, I don't think I'd ever take that for a Great Bard if it wasn't for the fact I could pop it away the next turn. I'm curious to hear what the Hurry penalty will be like... as in "will the city be at all usable after accepting the Harpy?" A city having its productivity severely reduced is okay but being absolutely unusable, for 15 turns no less, is pretty rough - especially when you consider the other GP events just cost you gold (ironically, I think maybe those events are too kind: "100 for a Great Engineer? Sure! That's cheaper than upgrading two Warriors!"). On one hand one event is too harsh (in my opinion) and on the other hand similar events are too lenient (in my opinion)... we must find the balance!

 

[Neomega]

"100 for a Great Engineer? Sure! That's cheaper than upgrading two Warriors!"). On one hand one event is too harsh (in my opinion) and on the other hand similar events are too lenient (in my opinion)... we must find the balance

Yet gold can be so hard to come by in the early game. Now I try to keep 100 on hand at all times for such events, but sometimes that means foregoing a rush upgrade.

I dunno, my games always seem to be do or die almost every turn. I mean how many times have you missed out on buying great person or other event. I have missed plenty.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Yet gold can be so hard to come by in the early game. Now I try to keep 100 on hand at all times for such events, but sometimes that means foregoing a rush upgrade.

I dunno, my games always seem to be do or die almost every turn. I mean how many times have you missed out on buying great person or other event. I have missed plenty.

I find I always have lumps of gold early on from tribal villages

 

[Onionsoilder]

I tend to miss more GP because I'm Neutral than because I don't have enough gold. But yeah, I get really pissed when I get the GE event, and I have enough gold to get supplies, but got the engineer(usually just 5-6 gold short, too!)

 

[Turinturambar]

I guess that means 15 angry faces with the corresponding 150 turns of hurryanger (i.e. whip 15 times)?
That will kill pretty much every city. Even 5 hurryanger reduces a city at the start of the game to size 1. As the AI loves to take the great bard and settle it even with only 1 city, this will become a game killer event for every AI that gets it in the first ~70 turns.

If it just means 15 turns of +1 unhappy then the penalty is once again trivial. I'd rather turn it into something like permanent +2 unhappy.

So the patch is here and as expected the Harpy Event is now an AI killer. See the screenshot, where Garrim Gyr can expect to grow to size 2 around turn 150 normal speed.

15 hurryanger is far too much. Unless the city that triggers the event is someplace in the ice, a great bard is not worth ~100 turns of city output.

 

[Lone Wolf]

So the patch is here and as expected the Harpy Event is now an AI killer.

It was way more of an AI killer before, when the AI's settled their artists, and plunged their cities in revolt.