Vox Populi very very hard after update?

[tu_79]

I did It's going much better now, but now my game crashes. I seem to be struck with bad luck here...

Dude, that's bad luck for sure.
Things that make the game crash, other than some rare bug, are mod conflicts and some RAM hungry mods. My game crashed very often when I used InfoAddict mod, and some freezes when using FlagPromotions, but I can recover from these

There's a compatibility mod thread here in the forum where you can check if one of your extra mods may cause conflict.

 

[vyyt]

My war weariness was high too (guess it adds to unhappiness)

Correct, it does. If you hover your mouse over the happiness counter in the top panel, you will see the unhappiness breakdown - it is an essential function - you can see how much the war weariness contributes to your unhappiness

 

[ScooterDWiebels]

I was really surprised today, without ancient ruins my neighbour Attila rushed Mathematics and then attack me in turn 70, inmortal level, standard speed. I delayed walls 10 turns without need, and i payed for it. Really well played, sneaky bastard.

Edit: It was my mistake too, i wanted to grab a natural wonder, the city wasn't defensive enough without walls

My experience is that Attila is quite aggressive in the early game, I can usually count on him to attack his nearest neighbor early in the game, I like it, I'm seeing much more ancient warfare than earlier versions.

 

[chicorbeef]

Just wanted to share that my pathfinder was ambushed and killed by the Huns... on Turn 25. Really good yet really frustrating play by them.

 

[Meiu]

This is my first time trying this VP mod, I play multiplayer on LAN with a friend and we always play prince level. (no one gets advantages/disadvantages - even playfield)
I find this to be kinda broken ...I started near Zulu (as Arabia) and I knew Shaka would attack eventually so I was ready - but his units are ridiculously broken.
One of his spearman could wipe out my archer in one hit. So my entire army was gone quickly. Conversely, 3 hits from 3 of my spearman would bring his swordsman down only to 50% health.
This seems pretty unfair - are the units more properly balanced on other levels ? (Cheiftan.. ?)
I tried VP Mod because I wanted to play vs smarter AI - but if their units are all 4 times as strong as my same unit - that seems off.
Also I had an archer in a city and it still took damage as he attacked the city - is this normal ?

Thanks !

 

[Txurce]

This is my first time trying this VP mod, I play multiplayer on LAN with a friend and we always play prince level. (no one gets advantages/disadvantages - even playfield)
I find this to be kinda broken ...I started near Zulu (as Arabia) and I knew Shaka would attack eventually so I was ready - but his units are ridiculously broken.
One of his spearman could wipe out my archer in one hit. So my entire army was gone quickly. Conversely, 3 hits from 3 of my spearman would bring his swordsman down only to 50% health.
This seems pretty unfair - are the units more properly balanced on other levels ? (Cheiftan.. ?)
I tried VP Mod because I wanted to play vs smarter AI - but if their units are all 4 times as strong as my same unit - that seems off.
Also I had an archer in a city and it still took damage as he attacked the city - is this normal ?

Thanks !

It's normal for land units to take damage in cities.

For your other point -- the AI starts with units whose strength is identical to yours, and the only promotions they'll have at such an early are pretty much those that come from barracks and prior combat. However -- spear vs archer... you lose. And 3 spears won't kill a healthy swordsman, especially if he is well-defended.

If you play Prince level Civ 5, I would drop to Chieftain on VP, or maybe Settler until you get the hang of it. It's a much, much tougher game.

 

[Blue Ghost]

This is my first time trying this VP mod, I play multiplayer on LAN with a friend and we always play prince level. (no one gets advantages/disadvantages - even playfield)
I find this to be kinda broken ...I started near Zulu (as Arabia) and I knew Shaka would attack eventually so I was ready - but his units are ridiculously broken.
One of his spearman could wipe out my archer in one hit. So my entire army was gone quickly. Conversely, 3 hits from 3 of my spearman would bring his swordsman down only to 50% health.
This seems pretty unfair - are the units more properly balanced on other levels ? (Cheiftan.. ?)
I tried VP Mod because I wanted to play vs smarter AI - but if their units are all 4 times as strong as my same unit - that seems off.
Also I had an archer in a city and it still took damage as he attacked the city - is this normal ?

Thanks !

Archers are very squishy. You need to keep them off the front lines. In vanilla Civ you could field an army with just archers, but in Vox Populi you need melee units to protect them. And spearmen against swordsmen are a really bad matchup; you need horsemen or your own swordsmen to counter them.
Garrisoned units absorb some of the damage dealt to the city. If you didn’t have a garrison, the city would be taking a lot more damage.

 

[Moi Magnus]

This is my first time trying this VP mod, I play multiplayer on LAN with a friend and we always play prince level. (no one gets advantages/disadvantages - even playfield)
I find this to be kinda broken ...I started near Zulu (as Arabia) and I knew Shaka would attack eventually so I was ready - but his units are ridiculously broken.
One of his spearman could wipe out my archer in one hit. So my entire army was gone quickly. Conversely, 3 hits from 3 of my spearman would bring his swordsman down only to 50% health.
This seems pretty unfair - are the units more properly balanced on other levels ? (Cheiftan.. ?)
I tried VP Mod because I wanted to play vs smarter AI - but if their units are all 4 times as strong as my same unit - that seems off.
Also I had an archer in a city and it still took damage as he attacked the city - is this normal ?

Thanks !

Yes, units are balanced. Vanilla units were completely unbalanced in favor of ranged units. You could just defend yourselve with few archers agains an army of warriors/spearmens.
In VP, ranged units are far weaker. You are supposed to have melee units between the ennemy and your ranged units, becauses your archers will just die at the first attack.
Particularly as a beginner were you will frequently to mistakes, spearmens and horsemens are your go-to units, rather than ranged one that will just die.

About units in garnisons. In VP, they take damages when the city take damages. However, the damage are shared between the units and the city, so you SHOULD have units in garnisons. City without garnisons fall pretty easily to few melee units if your don't have walls.

In short, a lot of reflex of vanilla are counter-productive in VP:
+You should prefer melee units to ranged units, except when you have enough melee units to protect them.
+You should put almost full life units in a city to protect it.
+Taking a city with 3 spearmens is feasable (if the city has no walls and no garnisons).

Also, the AI does NOT have any direct bonus to combat units.
Scaling with difficulty, it has:
+A little more units
+Cheaper units.
+More XP to units.

But nothing else.

 

[ElliotS]

This is my first time trying this VP mod, I play multiplayer on LAN with a friend and we always play prince level. (no one gets advantages/disadvantages - even playfield)
I find this to be kinda broken ...I started near Zulu (as Arabia) and I knew Shaka would attack eventually so I was ready - but his units are ridiculously broken.
One of his spearman could wipe out my archer in one hit. So my entire army was gone quickly. Conversely, 3 hits from 3 of my spearman would bring his swordsman down only to 50% health.
This seems pretty unfair - are the units more properly balanced on other levels ? (Cheiftan.. ?)
I tried VP Mod because I wanted to play vs smarter AI - but if their units are all 4 times as strong as my same unit - that seems off.
Also I had an archer in a city and it still took damage as he attacked the city - is this normal ?

Thanks !

Others have given you good advice. Focus on proper army layout. All ranged was wildly OP in vanilla, in VP every unit has it's role.

 

[Owlbebach]

I believe his problem was mostly with Shaka's unique promotions, but i'm not sure how do they play our on Prince. On Deity Shaka is the worst neighbour possible

 

[Moi Magnus]

Right, the Zulu has +10% against ranged units (and +1 mvt, and +25% flanking bonus) on all their melee units. That would be OP if that was not the only thing Shaka is good at.

 

[ElliotS]

That would be OP if that was not the only thing Shaka is good at.

Their Tribute bonuses have been a huge boon to give them a bit of flexibility. Diplo victory is within reach (especially with autocracy) and they can support their early/mid game economy with Tributes.

 

[Soren L]

So an update from OP: Had 5 tries now and still haven't managed to win a single one. Not even close.... Played 1 on Emperor, 3 on Prince and latest 1 on Warlord. I retired from 4. 1 crashed. Let me repeat: I had to retire from a Warlord..... I can't say I'm a fanboy of this mod. What's the point of it being so pointless hard? I've clocked more than 4000 hours on this game and it is my all time favourite game, but this.... this ruins it. I'm loosing the the interest in the game. If Civ 4 was like this then I'm glad I never tried it.
It's the damn happiness and war weariness that kills me every time. And always... Always I'm waaaay behind in tech. And 'improved' AI just means civs won't swap resources for some bizarre reason. There's no logic to it...
Rant over...

 

[Txurce]

So an update from OP: Had 5 tries now and still haven't managed to win a single one. Not even close.... Played 1 on Emperor, 3 on Prince and latest 1 on Warlord. I retired from 4. 1 crashed. Let me repeat: I had to retire from a Warlord..... I can't say I'm a fanboy of this mod. What's the point of it being so pointless hard? I've clocked more than 4000 hours on this game and it is my all time favourite game, but this.... this ruins it. I'm loosing the the interest in the game. If Civ 4 was like this then I'm glad I never tried it.
It's the damn happiness and war weariness that kills me every time. And always... Always I'm waaaay behind in tech. And 'improved' AI just means civs won't swap resources for some bizarre reason. There's no logic to it...
Rant over...

Hard as it is to accept, there are players who win a healthy amount of the time on every level -- so the difficulty is definitely not pointlessly hard. The hours you've clocked are obviously playing a different game. Ther's no other reason for you to be way behind in tech, and unable to trade with the AI, on Warlord. Again, you can be more specific about how you play, and get the advice of the many helpful voices here... or not.

 

[chicorbeef]

So an update from OP: Had 5 tries now and still haven't managed to win a single one. Not even close.... Played 1 on Emperor, 3 on Prince and latest 1 on Warlord. I retired from 4. 1 crashed. Let me repeat: I had to retire from a Warlord..... I can't say I'm a fanboy of this mod. What's the point of it being so pointless hard? I've clocked more than 4000 hours on this game and it is my all time favourite game, but this.... this ruins it. I'm loosing the the interest in the game. If Civ 4 was like this then I'm glad I never tried it.
It's the damn happiness and war weariness that kills me every time. And always... Always I'm waaaay behind in tech. And 'improved' AI just means civs won't swap resources for some bizarre reason. There's no logic to it...
Rant over...

How is it possible you used to ace Emperor but retire from a Warlord game now? Maybe you're just feeling rusty and you forgot some VP basics. Tell us about your build order, maybe provide us some screenshots, and I can almost guarantee you that your play will massively improve from the feedback of the people here.

I can certainly tell you it's very possible to beat the game on Immortal/Deity right now.

Also, check to see if there aren't any weird bugs or anything (like there was a bug that gave an AI a policy every three turns) that are raising difficulty. Take note of the turns that AI enters new eras etc. and how many techs an AI has at X turns and see if they're reasonable.

Btw, in this quote

It was quite the opposite for me. I was in constant war from very early on. So building units and cities in production-mode made me come sooo behind in policy's. When I retired, I was 20 policy's behind the leader, who attacked with Modern destroyers and planes against my Frigates, in the year 1913!!! I ended on a -35 happiness and had to fight of hordes of barbarians as well... It was laughable.

You said that you were 20 policies behind the AI. I'm assuming that's exaggeration, but if true, then that's probably a bug. Do you have any other mod conflicts?

 

[Noob Fanboy]

So an update from OP: Had 5 tries now and still haven't managed to win a single one. Not even close.... Played 1 on Emperor, 3 on Prince and latest 1 on Warlord. I retired from 4. 1 crashed. Let me repeat: I had to retire from a Warlord..... I can't say I'm a fanboy of this mod. What's the point of it being so pointless hard? I've clocked more than 4000 hours on this game and it is my all time favourite game, but this.... this ruins it. I'm loosing the the interest in the game. If Civ 4 was like this then I'm glad I never tried it.
It's the damn happiness and war weariness that kills me every time. And always... Always I'm waaaay behind in tech. And 'improved' AI just means civs won't swap resources for some bizarre reason. There's no logic to it...
Rant over...

You know, more hard = more fun. Happiness is always a problem the first time you play with the mod. You need more practice, but when you do practice enough, you can actually puppet your entire continent, or you can have a empire of 10 - 12 well developed cities.

Vox Populi is a different game, those 4000 hours are actually playing against you, since you have to relearn new mechanics from Vanilla.

 

[LukaSlovenia29]

I agree with others, share your strategy, screenshots, save files etc.

I can routinely beat the VP mod on Immortal, so it's doable, albeit hard.

 

[Soren L]

So here are some screens from the latest Warlord game including my setup and mods. And a screen of how badly it was going. A few rounds later I lost a city to another Civ in a revolt. That's when I retired.
I had monopoly on Perfume, but not a single Civ wanted to trade resources with me. So I couldn't get happiness up. I couldn't get any trade routes except for one to a city state (off screen).
Btw, it's Earth map and I'm alone in south America.

 

[Soren L]

You said that you were 20 policies behind the AI. I'm assuming that's exaggeration, but if true, then that's probably a bug. Do you have any other mod conflicts?

I was literally 20 policies behind. I don't have the evidence any more. You have to take my word for it. Don't seem to have any mod conflicts. Not that I know of.

 

[CppMaster]

I was literally 20 policies behind. I don't have the evidence any more. You have to take my word for it. Don't seem to have any mod conflicts. Not that I know of.

Isn't +67 science on turn 261 on Standard speed like super low? Also +105 culture at this point is pretty low I guess. It's either bugged or you do some serious mistakes.