There is something seriously wrong with my Barbs!!!

[Sincro]

Isn't it a bit more likely that the player selected "choose religions"?

Ah. That must be a Warlords/BTS option. I've tried to find it and set it in my games, but I'm either looking in the wrong place, or it's not an option in Vanilla.

Sorry to sound dumb.

-Sinc

 

[wioneo]

Quoted for truth.

I personally like the change of pace that the events provide, and I'm too lazy to disable the gamebreakers in the XML. Rather than throw away a game though, there's really no harm in just deleting the VAs.

I agree with this. Events *usually* are a nice little change of pace. Somehow I have managed to never see the result of a barabarian uprising. I've seen several of them triggered, but never a stack, that would suck and all...but one click in wb could fix this.

 

[admtanaka]

And here Tatran posts some proof for us that even after this event is well-documented as being problematic, it's still not been officially patched. I guess they wanted a "you lose instantly" event in the game after all . Part of the "fun" of events I suppose...but hey. At least it happens early.

I personally find it funny that some programmer was probably working 15 hour days patching the game and one of the priorities was to modify the code to create more barb galleys to pillage my fishing nets. Forget removing the game breaking, completely unstoppable random event that causes most players to quit, remove with the worldbuilder, mod the XML, or, in a desperate gasp of annoyance, just disable events altogether. "Leave that in! But forget those fishing nets!"

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I personally find it funny that some programmer was probably working 15 hour days patching the game and one of the priorities was to modify the code to create more barb galleys to pillage my fishing nets. Forget removing the game breaking, completely unstoppable random event that causes most players to quit, remove with the worldbuilder, mod the XML, or, in a desperate gasp of annoyance, just disable events altogether. "Leave that in! But forget those fishing nets!"

Yeah 3.17 really felt like an imbalanced low blow in that regard. It quadrupled the galley spawn rate, making it impossible to cost-effectively stop galleys when they show up using galleys of your own.

Fortunately, on most maps you can completely own the barb galleys by using culture walls and warriors who cast "no spawn" spells on them if positioned correctly. Teching sailing too early is actually bad since it gives it to the barbs sooner. If you hold off on it, you can frequently eliminate galleys before they're seen even in isolation.

 

[fizikis]

I'm in the camp of those who like the random events exactly because of their randomness. I welcome anything that makes the game less predictable.

Events that eliminate a civilization or give one a critical advantage are part of the fun and it increases the realism of the game.

I certainly don't want to be sure that I can win this level, but can't win that level. I want each time I play the game for it to be a surprise (to a certain degree).

Also winning the game is not a goal for me. I much rather play an interesting game even if I don't win. Occasionally I will play arctic starts just to see how long can I survive/how far can I advance and if I outperform a civilization that started in temperate regions I consider it a win in its own right.

Conclusion: events are good even the powerful ones. Leaving only the weak events would reduce the importance of events thus reducing their usefulness.

 

[admtanaka]

Events that eliminate a civilization or give one a critical advantage are part of the fun and it increases the realism of the game.

I suppose I agree, but it's certainly no fun if the VAs eliminate me on turn 20. I'm not crazy about the other uprising events, but I suppose I can live with them. Only the Aryans require an automatic use of the WB.

 

[oyzar]

Yes, HoF pushed the vedic aryan timeline back to requiring a 2nd tech (polytheism IIRC), and also removed many of the most ridiculous early game vents (tower shields, elite swords, etc). IMO many of the events are still broken (hello, global +3 diplo with all AIs or forcing you to declare war on the AI!), but this isn't the thread for that, and I'm somehow in the minority on that issue.

I got the free CR for swordsman event with romans with hof once...

 

[bestbrian]

Ah. That must be a Warlords/BTS option. I've tried to find it and set it in my games, but I'm either looking in the wrong place, or it's not an option in Vanilla.

Sorry to sound dumb.

-Sinc

Not dumb at all, my friend. It's an additional option that was made available in BTS. Since you have Vanilla you couldn't be expected to know this, hence no need to apologize.

Happy Civing. (oh, and get BTS - waaaay better than 'nilla)

 

[Tatran]

It seems when you're playing the Aztecs you'll not get an early warning.



The second picture had the same situation (posted in funny screenshots part deux).

 

[Grumbling Bear]

I completely agree with Fizikis. If i start ridiculously pinned in by Charly and Shaka who adopt the same religion, and end up in 3rd place on the leader board in a 10 player game when Ghandi scores a religious victory that's a win in my book.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I completely agree with Fizikis. If i start ridiculously pinned in by Charly and Shaka who adopt the same religion, and end up in 3rd place on the leader board in a 10 player game when Ghandi scores a religious victory that's a win in my book.

Unless you're Gandhi, it's a loss, in any book of reality.

When you have outcomes based on luck vs outcomes based on skill in games, it is the outcomes based on skill that we can control. In single player, against the AI, the threshold at which an event can turn the outcome of a game is rarely crossed unless someone is playing above or below their level. This is true for *most* events.

However, in meaningful competitions it's logical to minimize the impact of luck in the game, otherwise the person who wins only did so due to chance...but if the outcome is a dice roll what's the point in doing the competition? Just roll a die and give someone a trophy.

Some events are so strong that they turn outcomes in games by themselves. The archer uprising is the most glaring one. This event might as well say "YOU LOSE!!!" and just quit the game.

Later in the game, it's possible some of the diplomacy events do this too. You want to go 2 hours into the game and then have it auto exit? That's fun, right? If it is, more power to you, but these things shouldn't be on by default. They have more impact than many of the custom game options.

 

[Crusher1]

AGREED! Huts and Random Events both severely destroy game balance and should be avoided unless luck is intended to be the prime source of skill.

game balance > variety and what if's

 

[Malician]

The difference between screwed up situations (being next to warmongers, bad start, etc) and these events is that you can plan for one but not the other. These events are such extreme outliers and so unpredictable that it would render your playing dysfunctional if you prepared for them every game. Unless you want to move down a difficulty level or two below what you could otherwise accomplish, you're just screwed when they show up.

 

[CornPlanter]

I believe events were supposed to be minor "flavor" addition to the game. +1c in the field, whale appearing in BFC, etc. those are nice and certainly have impact, but not gamebreaking. I just couldnt play with events off, its like moving back to silent cinema!

But who could come up with vedics, hurricanes and stuff like that, I just dont know. And how those events could made past testing stage I cannot even imagine. Yes, things happen in real life. So called "barbarian" uprisings can destroy civilizations, hurricanes whipe out cities, bad weather can destroy fleets and so on). But its a game, not real history simulation. I do not hesitate to load after every tarded event - and thats the sole purpose why I have "new seed on reload" on.

I just need to force myself to load after "good" imbalanced events, like those unit promos...

 

[huerfanista]

@TMIT:

However, in meaningful competitions it's logical to minimize the impact of luck in the game, otherwise the person who wins only did so due to chance...but if the outcome is a dice roll what's the point in doing the competition? Just roll a die and give someone a trophy.

My advice: don't ever take up golf.

 

[vanatteveldt]

I think disabling barbs in SP is boring because the AI is so timid initially, you can just keep the starting warrior as your only military four thousands of years

Disabling events in general is overall a sane idea, however the slavery event is fairly frequent and devastating, so disabling events skews it (even more) in favour of BW / slavery

 

[Grumbling Bear]

@ TMIT

"Unless your ghandi it's a loss in any book of reality"

Not really. In just about any reality based situation there is always an element of randomness and luck. Barring the fact that maybe i'm just not good enough to pull a win out any situation in this game, it still isn't going to deter my enjoying what by my standards was a "valiant effort". Each plays the game to his own ability and standards and settings. Personally .. and just my opinion .. whenever a PC game gets to a point where I am unbeatable .. whether by becoming "uber skilled" at it or setting options to where I can't possibly lose .. it's time to give it to a neighbor and buy a new one .

 

[JBossch]

Some events add balance to the game. The slave uprising, though it obviously sucks when you get it, adds balance to an otherwise over-powered civic.
To say that playing with huts and events makes luck "the prime source of skill," whatever the hell that means, is a major exaggeration. As has been pointed out, variations in the map, neighbors, the RNG etc. are the real "luck" factors and contribute far more than any hut or event to shaping a game.

 

[6K Man]

I've said it before about the Vedic uprising... at least it happens early enough that I've only wasted 1/2 hour on the game before it is lost.

I leave events on because it's usually more entertaining to have them on than off. But I recognize that they probably skew my game results a little bit, and occasionally a lot. And I'm fine with that.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Some events add balance to the game. The slave uprising, though it obviously sucks when you get it, adds balance to an otherwise over-powered civic.
To say that playing with huts and events makes luck "the prime source of skill," whatever the hell that means, is a major exaggeration. As has been pointed out, variations in the map, neighbors, the RNG etc. are the real "luck" factors and contribute far more than any hut or event to shaping a game.

It's still logical to reduce the impact of luck as much as possible.

Also, revolts do not balance slavery, because they 1) do not deter either human or AI from the civic (optimum strategy doesn't vary) and 2) do not happen consistently to each civ when they happen. So rather than balance the game, the slave revolts reward or penalize certain civs in the game that could in fact be running an identical strategy.