swordspider
Dread Multiplayer
And here it is peeps, this will effectively change the ENTIRE SCOPE of the multiplayer experience:
> Can no longer promote a unit that has fought during the turn (instead, the promotion comes up the beginning of the following turn).
-and-
> Promotions must be picked the turn they're earned. (no stacking promotions).
And there you have it. Sure, it may not seem like a big deal at first pass, but I assure you this is the night/day change of the multiplayer experience. If you don't know why, you're a noob; but, I'll explain it anyway because I have EXPLOITED it (yet I am 100% happy to see it go, I simply exploited it to remain 'even' on the playfield since everyone else exploited it too!).
Here's why: You'll no longer be able to instantly heal like 10 times in a row in a battle. I have won many, many games because I have 4-5 or more upgrades cued when one of my units attacks an opponent; effectively making him the equivalent of bringing in 4-5 units! You used to be able to leave a warrior on a hill (with forest) and the barbiess alone would get him up to 5 upgrades and then he can become warrior > swordsman > longswordsman etc and wreck havoc. If you don't agree with me that this is the biggest change (again for MULTIPLAYER only) you're wrong. This will effectively stop/minimize rushes and make the early game much, much longer. It will also promote 'veteran' units that you will pull out of battle to protect because they are so wickedly upgraded you can't bear to lose them. I really think this will make the gameplay so much more enjoyable and both strategic and tactical.
Sure, you can still game it a bit because you WILL get upgrades when attacking a city and they WILL happen when your guy is almost dead, BUT, that will be once or maybe twice and only on certain units, so it will be the luck of the draw. You won't see a guy attack every turn though and heal each time for 6 turns in a row anymore, that is for sure!!!
A couple other big items multiplayers should note:
YOU CAN STOP YOUR HORSEMAN RANT THREADS NOW!
> All melee horse units get penalty attacking cities.
> Lowered combat value of Horseman and Companion Cavalry.
Summary: You're not going to be able to rush a capital city with a general and two horses anymore and take it down. Plus, that was tied heavily with the healing upgrade anyway, so that will be gone too. This change though makes IRON a very, very important resource.
SORRY, NO MORE CATAPULT SUPER-DEFENSIVES.
> Both Reduced effectiveness VS cities
> And Siege Reduced effectiveness VS units
Summary: Got to love the guy who used to make 5 catapults and use them as the ultimate defensive weapon in his cities. Well, that ain't going to work very well anymore. Likewise, you won't see China with 1 Swordsman, 5 Chu-ko-nu's, and a General take out an entire civilization. Granted, they will still be deadly as hell, but not vs. the cities.
THERE IS A LITTLE LESS HONOR IN THE HONOR TREE.
> Reduced some combat bonuses: flanking (15 to 10), Great Generals (25 to 20), Discipline (15 to 10), Military Tradition (2x to 1.5x)
Summary: This is a big deal for those who like to war, and for those that are their victims! Between the General and Discipline alone, you've shaved off a 10% bonus. Might not seem like a lot, but that adds up really quick in a war!
CAVALRY CAN GO BOOM, TOO!
> Cavalry now upgrade to tanks.
Summary: maybe not a 'huge' deal, but a nice addition so now your 'horse' units are not completely useless after they upgrade; Horsemen > Knights > Cavalry > TANKS!
NO MORE MARITIME GOURMET SHOPS
> Reduced bonuses from Maritime city-states - Friends: +2 food in capital, +0 food in other cities - Allies: +3 food in capital, +1 food in other cities
Summary: for those that used the maritime tactic, this is a huge blow! for those that didn't, no big deal right? Wrong, if someone else was using it you were at a huge disadvantage. Like the Horsemen, although I loved using this tactic, it needed to be nerfed. If you didn't know the tactic, suffice to say you could 'pay' your way to the equivalent of 2 free food tiles in your cities! Talk about cheap extra growth!
HELP OUT THE LITTLE PEOPLE, BROTHER.
> Killing a barb inside a city-state's territory now gives a 5-turn buffer where there is no Influence intrusion penalty.
Summary: Again, not a big deal, but a great addition if you are actually trying to help a city state. Used to be if you attacked a barb you would go positive that turn, but since you couldn't get out of their territory, you eliminated it next turn which gave you no benefit at all. Now you may be able to 'protect' a city-state early game with a spear or axe and actually get them to like you (or better yet, protect them later to keep your influence up!).
THE END OF THE SPAMILIZATIONS
> If an empire reaches -20 Happiness, it goes into revolt, and rebels start appearing throughout the empire, based on the number of cities.
> Liberty now provides a Settler training bonus to only the capital, and not every city.
Summary: No more 'spamilizations' where someone pumps out 7 cities in 1000BC and then 'catches up' to them with happiness by farming those cities resources. People will be forced to expand strategically and carefully. I'm REALLY curious to see who the 'rebels' are! Are they your units turned against you or are they random spawns, and if so, how strong?
CULTURE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES.
> Players must now always adopt Policies immediately, and cannot defer picking until later.
> Have culture cost for policies never go down (trading away cities to reduce culture cost exploit). Razing cities will not raise your policy cost ceiling.
Summary: You can't hold out your policies early game to see if you get attacked or not, and you likewise can't hold out your policies until you can research your way to your desired path. You also can't do the ultra-cheap city-trade to culture up, nor will you be penalized for your military offensive when razing pwned cities.
Well, that's my take on it anyway. Hope to see you in a game. Don't worry, this won't make me any less deadly, in case you were wondering, because I know a few of you out there are plotting to exact revenge on me.
Source of this upgrade data: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=402271
> Can no longer promote a unit that has fought during the turn (instead, the promotion comes up the beginning of the following turn).
-and-
> Promotions must be picked the turn they're earned. (no stacking promotions).
And there you have it. Sure, it may not seem like a big deal at first pass, but I assure you this is the night/day change of the multiplayer experience. If you don't know why, you're a noob; but, I'll explain it anyway because I have EXPLOITED it (yet I am 100% happy to see it go, I simply exploited it to remain 'even' on the playfield since everyone else exploited it too!).
Here's why: You'll no longer be able to instantly heal like 10 times in a row in a battle. I have won many, many games because I have 4-5 or more upgrades cued when one of my units attacks an opponent; effectively making him the equivalent of bringing in 4-5 units! You used to be able to leave a warrior on a hill (with forest) and the barbiess alone would get him up to 5 upgrades and then he can become warrior > swordsman > longswordsman etc and wreck havoc. If you don't agree with me that this is the biggest change (again for MULTIPLAYER only) you're wrong. This will effectively stop/minimize rushes and make the early game much, much longer. It will also promote 'veteran' units that you will pull out of battle to protect because they are so wickedly upgraded you can't bear to lose them. I really think this will make the gameplay so much more enjoyable and both strategic and tactical.
Sure, you can still game it a bit because you WILL get upgrades when attacking a city and they WILL happen when your guy is almost dead, BUT, that will be once or maybe twice and only on certain units, so it will be the luck of the draw. You won't see a guy attack every turn though and heal each time for 6 turns in a row anymore, that is for sure!!!
A couple other big items multiplayers should note:
YOU CAN STOP YOUR HORSEMAN RANT THREADS NOW!
> All melee horse units get penalty attacking cities.
> Lowered combat value of Horseman and Companion Cavalry.
Summary: You're not going to be able to rush a capital city with a general and two horses anymore and take it down. Plus, that was tied heavily with the healing upgrade anyway, so that will be gone too. This change though makes IRON a very, very important resource.
SORRY, NO MORE CATAPULT SUPER-DEFENSIVES.
> Both Reduced effectiveness VS cities
> And Siege Reduced effectiveness VS units
Summary: Got to love the guy who used to make 5 catapults and use them as the ultimate defensive weapon in his cities. Well, that ain't going to work very well anymore. Likewise, you won't see China with 1 Swordsman, 5 Chu-ko-nu's, and a General take out an entire civilization. Granted, they will still be deadly as hell, but not vs. the cities.
THERE IS A LITTLE LESS HONOR IN THE HONOR TREE.
> Reduced some combat bonuses: flanking (15 to 10), Great Generals (25 to 20), Discipline (15 to 10), Military Tradition (2x to 1.5x)
Summary: This is a big deal for those who like to war, and for those that are their victims! Between the General and Discipline alone, you've shaved off a 10% bonus. Might not seem like a lot, but that adds up really quick in a war!
CAVALRY CAN GO BOOM, TOO!
> Cavalry now upgrade to tanks.
Summary: maybe not a 'huge' deal, but a nice addition so now your 'horse' units are not completely useless after they upgrade; Horsemen > Knights > Cavalry > TANKS!
NO MORE MARITIME GOURMET SHOPS
> Reduced bonuses from Maritime city-states - Friends: +2 food in capital, +0 food in other cities - Allies: +3 food in capital, +1 food in other cities
Summary: for those that used the maritime tactic, this is a huge blow! for those that didn't, no big deal right? Wrong, if someone else was using it you were at a huge disadvantage. Like the Horsemen, although I loved using this tactic, it needed to be nerfed. If you didn't know the tactic, suffice to say you could 'pay' your way to the equivalent of 2 free food tiles in your cities! Talk about cheap extra growth!
HELP OUT THE LITTLE PEOPLE, BROTHER.
> Killing a barb inside a city-state's territory now gives a 5-turn buffer where there is no Influence intrusion penalty.
Summary: Again, not a big deal, but a great addition if you are actually trying to help a city state. Used to be if you attacked a barb you would go positive that turn, but since you couldn't get out of their territory, you eliminated it next turn which gave you no benefit at all. Now you may be able to 'protect' a city-state early game with a spear or axe and actually get them to like you (or better yet, protect them later to keep your influence up!).
THE END OF THE SPAMILIZATIONS
> If an empire reaches -20 Happiness, it goes into revolt, and rebels start appearing throughout the empire, based on the number of cities.
> Liberty now provides a Settler training bonus to only the capital, and not every city.
Summary: No more 'spamilizations' where someone pumps out 7 cities in 1000BC and then 'catches up' to them with happiness by farming those cities resources. People will be forced to expand strategically and carefully. I'm REALLY curious to see who the 'rebels' are! Are they your units turned against you or are they random spawns, and if so, how strong?
CULTURE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES.
> Players must now always adopt Policies immediately, and cannot defer picking until later.
> Have culture cost for policies never go down (trading away cities to reduce culture cost exploit). Razing cities will not raise your policy cost ceiling.
Summary: You can't hold out your policies early game to see if you get attacked or not, and you likewise can't hold out your policies until you can research your way to your desired path. You also can't do the ultra-cheap city-trade to culture up, nor will you be penalized for your military offensive when razing pwned cities.
Well, that's my take on it anyway. Hope to see you in a game. Don't worry, this won't make me any less deadly, in case you were wondering, because I know a few of you out there are plotting to exact revenge on me.
Source of this upgrade data: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=402271
