Thoughts on Bolivar Patch?

[Jkchart]

Curious as to what others think here. So far I'm mostly liking the changes. There's a lot of good here so I think the game is in a much better state (but I enjoyed it before so more good is just good):
- the new war support system makes much more sense calculating it per unit lost. Enjoying this change greatly, but the AI does keep offering surrender instantly as i could force demands and it forces me to choose between giving them 20 war support or me taking their terms...is that how it is supposed to work? Feels wrong that the turn I can force surrender they are the ones that can instead force peace. Happened in every war so far with this first game.

-The new text summarizing what we gain from an infrastructure is by far the BEST thing they have added. Makes me know exactly what is useful to me in a city and what is not. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Same for the civic unlock conditions and any other UI improvments.

-New natural wonder effects are welcome to have! Makes these much less stale.

-This note: "War Score is not reset to zero anymore after a peace is concluded." seems wrong? When I declare peace War Support goes to zero for both sides. Am I just misunderstanding?

-New options and most other AI improvements seem to be noticeably good. I like that the AI won't suicide its militia units outside of walls that often, but they still REALLY love sorties when sieges are confirmed.

I definitely think that there are some things that could use more improvement (example: late game faith, would be nice to have religion as more interesting/more uses for faith, otherwise it's mostly a CB generator by that stage). I'm also a big fan of the Latin American cultures so far! Haven't yet got to try the free Mississippians, but the other 6 new cultures all seem to have good niches/perks without being way too OP or underpowered.

What do you guys think?

 

[Siptah]

I think the game is in the best state is has been in in all regards, which is really good imho. That doesn't mean there aren't any issues, but they managed to improve stuff without breaking other things (except for the Taino LT that in a way breaks the game).

I've read about the surrender spam, apparently, you can just close it without making any decision. I think there is a cool down needed here though. Same for making demands. If I refuse a demand, the AI just puts it back instantly.

The war score reset only applies to white peace afaik.

I also noticed that the AI is much more competitive (and somehow also likes to declare more wars on me).

The LA culture pack is simply great. There are a few balance issues, such as Taino and Inka units unlocking immediately. But all cultures feel great and interesting to play.

 

[Jkchart]

I think the game is in the best state is has been in in all regards, which is really good imho. That doesn't mean there aren't any issues, but they managed to improve stuff without breaking other things (except for the Taino LT that in a way breaks the game).

I've read about the surrender spam, apparently, you can just close it without making any decision. I think there is a cool down needed here though. Same for making demands. If I refuse a demand, the AI just puts it back instantly.

The war score reset only applies to white peace afaik.

I also noticed that the AI is much more competitive (and somehow also likes to declare more wars on me).

The LA culture pack is simply great. There are a few balance issues, such as Taino and Inka units unlocking immediately. But all cultures feel great and interesting to play.

I agree with your thoughts on it, Siptah. More competitive AI, less afraid of war, great LA culture pack (yes the Taino and Inca units should be tech locked i agree).

Didn't know about the closing of the surrender box though, I wasn't sure how I could do that because I only saw options for "accept" and "refuse", I'll have to take a look.

I agree with the cooldown suggestion on demands/surrenders as well - should be implemented otherwise it's too easy to spam war support in either direction without it for the AI in a simultaneous turn. Gotta be some kind of limit.

And that's good to know about the white peace.

 

[CoconutTank]

Summarizing infra gain is great and such a welcome quality-of-life change.

I should probably pay more attention to the civic unlock conditions, but I'm accustomed to just play and let whatever events come by, and I guess I treat civics similarly. I don't doubt that I will also enjoy this change a lot when I put it to use.

War support and war score changes are... well I guess they're alright. Battle results being scaled on units lost is a pretty okay change, and makes the choice of holding ground or retreating more interesting. With my given play-style though, it was really funny that my sphere of influence could contribute towards war support too lol. I'm not sure when or how that bonus kicks in, but it basically lets me declare war after two or three turns, it's quite entertaining.

Here's an example of what I mean:

I wish war score was a little more transparent though. I don't get why my war score is sometimes too low to take a city and its territories, when I'm already occupying it, on top of me having 100 war support and the enemy having 0 war support.

Also, even though it took a lot of salted beef to get the army upkeep costs down, I think the Argentinians will likely be my go-to Industrial culture for most of my future sessions. Gauchos are gunner cavs that don't require niter, and their legacy trait is fine.

There are two things that really tick me off that didn't get fixed though:

1. Siege units can't attack enemy units on destroyed fortifications. I don't think this is on purpose (is it?), but siege units becoming useless in a siege feels... odd...

2. The influence cost for merging cities together is still insanely high, especially considering that raze -> capture -> attach is still way cheaper and faster to do, even with multiple territories involved. I don't get why the merge city mechanic even exists.

Edit: added a funny picture.