Undocumented patch improvements.

[THE_COW_IS_OK]

I noticed:

More Inter AI RA. (Better use of their cash.)
More Naval AI and must smarter use of them.... (They encircle you so you can't run then bombard you)
Faster wait time beetwen turns.
Lux valued at 150g. Good since now my cities income are higher then trade income....
Better combat AI. Though worker baiting still works....
Civ Allies with CS much more. (Now I have to compete hard for maritimes. Also they tend to ally to CS clost to you during wartime!)
Scrolling seems faster on my machine.
City trades valued more fairly. No more 4G for pop 1 city!
AI don' give you everything during peace deals.

So far, the only downside for the patch is inability for 1-1 lux trading (Which IMHO encourage more combat to grab resources. Happiness gets harder and harder...) But overall Firaxis ARE listening to our complaints. I am now convinced that Civ5 was rushed since a lot of improvements were made in relatively short time. Now I look forward for more patches. I want them to balance the game so builders enjoy Civ5. Maybe adjust cost benefits of national wonders and buildings can help here. CIV5 gameplay still heavily focused on combat

 

[cf_nz]

1:1 luxury trades are possible, they're just less common than previous. The only problem I have with this is that you don't really know why a deal isn't acceptable (but it's been that way in every Civ game I remember playing).

 

[Rohili]

1:1 luxury trades are possible, they're just less common than previous. The only problem I have with this is that you don't really know why a deal isn't acceptable (but it's been that way in every Civ game I remember playing).

Yeah, the problem with AI diplomacy is that it is so opaque. From interviews with the game developers, you get the sense that they did put in effort to make diplomacy interesting, but since players cannot see what goes on in the AI's heads, we are unable to appreciate why the AI does what it does, and simply attribute it to arbitrariness and stupidity on their part.

I really don't see why there was a need to make diplomacy more opaque. Who cares if providing transparent mood modifiers is unrealistic, breaks immersion and encourages players to treat the AI as just another "game mechanic"? This is not an RPG - it is a strategy game, and gamers need more information to strategise properly. Nobody seriously believes the AI are real human players!

 

[Sock Bramson]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I actually LIKE the more opaque AI. Depending on how I generally treat a given civ/ what deals I do or do not sign/ what random things a given civ say to me, I can usually suss out what my neighbors probably think of me. (key-word= "usually") I personally think this is much better than the all-to-readable +/- system of CIV. Granted, there are cases where a rival may throw you a loop and suddenly DoW, but in my experience it's never been a case of AI schizophrenia; there were at least some warning signs before war was actually declared. I find this to be much more interesting than the completely transparent system in CIV. There's more guess-work, to be sure, but it is this guess-work that helps keep things amusing.

 

[kaltorak]

I can usually suss out what my neighbors probably think of me.

I can too. They hate me.

 

[Morningcalm]

Why didn't they include these changes in the patch notes? It would have helped people deciding whether or not to download the patch. :S

 

[Sock Bramson]

Hehe, touche kaltorak. Oddly enough, I have gotten a few civs on my side over the course of several games. But for the most part, yeah... they are all jealous of our superior human rationale/ inhuman drive-to-crush-all-opposition. (the latter of which they at least try to emulate... poorly.)

 

[eoc]

Why always someone like the patched AI trade? Why are someone so glad to be exploited by no reason?
For me, the patched AI trade is much more ridiculous, I think I don't need to meet them at all.

 

[Technoluddite]

There seems to be quite a few undocumented changes in the 1.0.0.62 patch:

Satellites reveals map
Leader name correct when choosing random leader
Prince AI unit cost reduced from 100% to 85%
King Barb bonus reduced from 33% to 25%
King AI unit cost reduced from 85% to 80%
Emperor Barb bonus reduced from 33% to 20%
Emperor AI unit cost reduced from 80% to 75%
Immortal Barb bonus reduced from 33% to 10%
Deity Barb bonus reduced from 33% to 0%
Cultural civs tweaked to be much more likely to build the utopia project
Ghandi tweaked to favour growth and diplomacy more
Ramesses tweaked to favour wonders more


Which if I think means that none of the difficulty levels are 'fair' anymore now that the AI gets a unit cost discount on Prince, which is an interesting decision.

ak

 

[a barbarian]

Haha, the AI cost reductions are kinda funny. What the AI lacks in intelligence it has to make up in numbers. But at least it will raise the challenge a little bit

I am also not so sure about the improved naval combat AI. Maybe the AI builds more navy units but in the 2 games I played since the patch, it was really dumb using them. In one game it had 4 destroyers sitting in the harbor of one of their cities. I was able to pick up one by one with 1 submarine + 1 destroyer. Never occured it to the AI that it could use all 4 destroyers to attack my 'fleet' .

In the other game it was about the same, just 1 of my destroyers against 2 of the AI destroyers and again, the AI was moving around their ships aimlessly and only occasionally even firing back with one destroyer instead of using both to destroy me.

Also, it's pretty weird that ships can destroy units on land much faster than other ships

 

[Ambo]

So far, the only downside for the patch is inability for 1-1 lux trading

I really don't understand this change.
Most civs will only trade me a (spare) lux resource if I give them 4 lux resources, a stack of gold and open borders. Seriously.. WTH.

Fair enough, their happiness is high already and mine is not but more is always good. If I offer 2 lux for one of thiers, there is really no reason for them to turn that down. It just makes no sense to me at all.

Sure, it makes the game harder, which can only be a good thing, but it does so by rendering a game mechanic essentially worthless.

 

[MeowTau]

Thanks Akamal.

I was wondering my scouts and warriors were getting instagibbed by barbarians on diety when I'd never had trouble before.

Yeah, I guess it is harder, but it just isn't fun. The only strategy they AI has is randomly suiciding their units, often single file, in the hopes of overwealming the opponent.

And trading for happiness is now mostly gone as well. Yes it is harder, but as others have said, is there really even any point diplomacy anymore? Even the AI's won't trade luxuries with each other anymore. Note how all of them have a full stack available all game. This doesn't even feel like we're at beta yet. This could be a good game in a year or two.

 

[mihaifx]

Better combat AI. Though worker baiting still works....

Combat still sucks kinda hard. The only improvement I found is that AI seems not to charge with archers and catapults too often (but they still DO sometimes).
But there is still no focus fire, no use of great general, no retreating when outnumbered etc. To be tested if the AI still embarks when enemy ships are around.