FIRAXIS: A list of EASY fixes for the next C3C patch

[alexman]

The following is a dynamic list, with suggestions added (or removed) as we gain more experience with the new expansion pack. Please share your ideas and observations, but remember that we need easy fixes, so make suggestions if you have a definite solution.

GAME MECHANICS ISSUES

• Disable city-view arrow buttons in production phase. Because commerce is calculated before food/production, these arrows allow you maximize both commerce and food/shields in all cities that come after your first completed build of the turn. These arrows also allow more than one city to possibly use your best tiles during the same turn.
• Make all ground bombard units airliftable. Or please once-and-for-all explain to us the reasoning behind them not having this ability. Please also consider the same for Settlers and Workers.
• Resource requirements for worker actions do not work. If you mod the game so that a worker action requires a resource (e.g., so that Clear Wetlands requires Saltpeter) and you do not have the resource, the Clear Wetlands button is disabled (correct) but the Automated Clear Wetlands is still available and can be used even if you do not have the resource (bug).
• Stealth attack pop-up should show HPs remaining for every unit. The AI seems to target the weakest unit, but the human player can't.
• Stealth Attack should be enabled for air units. The F-15 even has the stealth attack flag checked in the editor, but it apparently does nothing.

GAME BALANCE ISSUES

• Remove the better sinking odds for the Seafaring trait. The AI does not take advantage it, and the seafaring trait is powerful enough even without it. The +1 ship movement already provides improved odds against sinking.
• Triple the bombard defense of Coastal Fortress. Ironclads will then have a 20% chance of destroying this improvement, which they must do before they can harm any units in the city. Currently the beefed up ironclads destroy fortresses 43% of the time, rendering the city improvement basically useless, as it is better to let the AI bombard your units (which heal), than to build a fortress to be destroyed so easily.
• Reduce the shield cost and/or maintenence for the Colosseum. It is too expensive for an ancient build, and it's less cost-effective than Catherdals, even for non-religious civs. Even with the luxury scarcity in C3C, Colosseums are probably currently the least-built improvement along with coastal fortresses.
• The Javelin Thrower is too powerful when used as a barb-farming unit. Combining free workers with the industrious/agricultural traits, the Mayans have an unbelievable early-game advantage without even having to waste their Golden Age. Potential fixes: a) The Javelin Thrower should capture Warriors instead of Workers, b) Barbarian units should not be able to be enslaved, or c) they should have a reduced chance of being enslaved.
• Remove ability from Curragh to enter ocean. Suicide runs by the human player make early exploration of the map too easy.
• Add amphibious attack to an early unit for all civs. Medieval Infantry, for example, after increasing its cost to 50. This would add a new element of strategy, currently present in the middle ages only with the Vikings, and it would benefit the AI more than the human, who more often tends to leave coastal cities undefended. The new C3C AI bombard tactics (ignore resources and undefended cities in favor of bombarding units in cities) are good only when there is an amphibious threat.
• Reduce free unit support for Republic, especially for cities (size 7-12). With a large number of captured workers and an empire consisting mostly of cities, the increased unit support cost for this government is more than offset by the increased free unit support. This makes the government even more suited for industrial or modern age warmongering than before, and Democracy even less desirable.
• The Statue of Zeus should be weakened. Due to the clustered distribution of luxury resources, the player with ivory has an enormous advantage, especially in multiplayer. In single player, the AI doesn't understand the value of ivory, and when it has ivory, it doesn't understand the value of mathematics (see "AI behavior isses" section, below). Possible fixes: a) Remove the ivory requirement from the ToZ, b) Change the ToZ to have a strategic resource requirement (which is more evenly distributed on the map), c) Reduce attack and/or HP bonus of Ancient cavalry.
• The resistance and propaganda modifiers of other governments with respect to fascism and feudalism have not been set. They are currently all zero.
• Strengthen Feudalism. Currently, Monarchy is almost always better than Feudalism, for both war and peace. A good solution would be to reduce Feudalism's corruption to minimal.
• Remove Electronics requirement from Motorized transportation. The Ancient and Medieval technology trees are very well designed. These ages offer a short branch that provides an advantage to the warmongerer (Monarchy and Cavalry), but the bulk of the ages' benefits come in the longer, "builder's" branches. The Industrial Age does not provide such a choice. Builders and Warmongerers follow the same predictable path. If this change is made, players will have a choice: Do I go for Tanks as soon as possible, or do I build up my infrastructure with the Hoover Dam so I can produce tanks in greater numbers later? Do I spend my two free techs from the ToE on the expensive tech branch that leads to the Hoover Dam, or do I select the upper branch so I can be the first to Motorized Transportation? Do I attack with Tanks as fast as possible, or do I wait for Modern Armor?
• Free tech with Philosophy should be chosen randomly among all available techs. Free techs from Theory of Evolution should be chosen randomly from all available techs (and chosen sequentially, so that it's still possible to get Atomic Theory then Electronics). This would make the game a lot more interesting, by reducing the power of these "no-brainers" (for instance, in every game where you have a shot at Philosophy, there's no reason not to beeline for it).
• Strengthen Fascism. Currently, Fascism is always worse than Communism, and much worse for medium to large empires.
  

AI BEHAVIOR ISSUES

• AI rule: use naval bombardment against cities only if you also have land or amphibious units able to attack the city in the same turn. The new targeting priorities, along with the AI's new tendency to bombard cities instead of tile improvements without following up with an invasion, make the AI navy less of a threat.
• AI rule: do not bombard units that cannot be damaged. The AI currently targets lone workers and artillery in otherwise unimportant tiles, even though they cannot be harmed by bombardment.
• Remove the ability from the Celts to build Medieval Infantry. This prevents the AI from upgrading the Gallic Swordsman, which is usually a superior unit due to its retreat ability.
• Remove the AI offense flag from Musketeer. This unit now has the same attack strength as the Musketman, which has only the defense flag checked.
• Remove AI offense flag from Mech. Infantry, Impi, and possibly Numidian Mercenary. Similar to the Musketeer, this change prevents the AI from attacking with these units, which are too expensive for their attack rating. Each unit can have only one AI strategy, so Carthage and Zulu build their defensive UU for part of their offense. Infantry built for attack is converted to a defensive role when upgraded. This makes the AI have to build new offensive units, and Tanks are always available whenever Mech. Infantry is.
• Remove the AI deffense flag from Javelin Thrower. Otherwise the AI builds some of these expensive units instead of spearmen. When time comes to upgrade to longbowmen, the AI actually loses defensive strength on a unit it built for defense. Note that the Babylonian Bowman has identical A/D/M to the Javelin Thrower, but is not flagged for defense.
• AI rule: Don't accept peace with a civ that has a MPP with another enemy civ. Makes for more intelligent AI behavior, which would be nice if the implementation is as easy as this.
• Set a maximum for simultaneous worker damage repair, as there is for other worker actions besides pollution. Bombardment damage removes roads, causing AI workers to waste turns getting to the damaged tile.
• AI city governor should factor corruption and city improvements in citizen assignment. Often, governors chose a low-food, high production tile, even if the extra production makes no difference after corruption. But instead of comparing raw tile values when determining the next used tile, it's better to compare total food/production/commerce after corruption and city improvements.
• Make AIs value Ivory more than other luxuries until the Statue of Zeus is completed. You can trade for Ivory at the same cost as any other luxury, and the imported ivory is sufficent to enable the wonder build.
• Make AI with ivory place higher priority on Mathematics. Even with a ivory monopoly, the AI is known to research Mysticism, Polytheism, Philosophy, Map Making, and Literature before Mathematics.
• Refine AI decision regarding declaration of war. This one is probably tough, but there is virtually no reason for an AI civ, without Map Making (or Writing!) and halfway around the world, to declare war on another civ. It gives a happiness bonus to the enemy, and potentially skews the AI's build choices disproportionately towards units in the early game. We are not sugesting a whole reworking of the war decision process -- but perhaps some sort of check on whether the AI can even actually mount any sort of an attack on the rival.
• Restore PTW barbarian AI behavior. Barbarians often won't try to destroy a worker that is within two tiles, a 'massive uprising' often won't attack a neighboring city even if it is defended by a single spearman, and two barbarian units in a camp are known to not even bother to move when a city is founded (guarded by a spearman) one tile away, destroying the camp.
• The AI in Despotism should not normally irrigate grasslands without a food bonus. This was fixed in PTW but it happens again with C3C. In PTW, the AI used to irrigate grassland in Despotism only if it gained some benefit like bringing irrigation somewhere else.
• Give some invisible benefits to Literature. With the addition of Wonders to previously low-priority required techs (Mathematics and Polytheism), the AI now usually ignores Literature until the Middle Ages. If you give Literature a benefit already given by Writing, such as Military Alliances, there will be no difference in game play, but the AI will research Literature earlier.
• The AI places a high trade trade value on optional technologies that allow nothing else but an expired Wonder. This was not the case in PTW but it happens with C3C. The AI trade value for such a technology (Free Artistry, Music Theory), should be minimal.
• The AI to build its first harbor as soon as it gets map making. Other harbors can wait. The AI delays building harbors until it has a food shortage in its coastal cities, and misses potential happiness benefits from trade.
• The AI doesn't build Armies! In C3C, the AI uses leaders to rush units or improvements instead of creating Armies, as it used to do in PTW. If you use the editor to give the AI a leader at the beginning of the game, the AI will rush a Warrior!
  

USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENTS

• Fix civil engineer display in city view The shields produced by the civil engineer are currently not added to the display of the city's total number of produced shields.
• Domestic advisor: Highlight cities that are about to go into civil disorder (more unhappy than happy citizens) instead of cities that are already in disorder. Also, an indication of cities in WLTKD celebration would be useful.
• Remove the explore command from Leader, Catapult, Trebuchet, Cannon, Hwach'a, Artillery, Radar Artillery, Settler, Worker. These units are not meant for exploring territory, and the change reduces erroneous commands (the E key is right next to the W key!). You can currently fix this using the editor.
• Display difficulty and AI aggression level on the Victory Status Screen
• Skip battle animations along with movement animations when you hold down the SHIFT key. Currently, a nice (if obscure) feature is that even if you have 'animate friend/enemy moves' checked, you can temporarily change that to show but not animate moves by holding down the SHIFT key. It would be nice if this feature included battles as well as moves.
• Please include a decimal point in the Victory Status Screen domination limits. The difference between 66% and 65% is often many tiles.
• Add a shortcut to remove cities from mini-map display. When playing on huge maps, the city 'dots' almost merge and hide the civilization colors.
• When a city using civil engineers completes a build project, the drop down list of available builds from the pop-up do not reflect the effect of the specialists, even though once selected the map view of the city (and the city view) will show a build time that includes the CE effects -- and selecting "zoom to city" brings you a view of the proper build times for various builds in the improvement lists.
• Have victory conditions 'grey out' instead of disappear from the Victory status page. The land and population percentages are useful information even when not playing for domination, for example.
• Show the number of lost cities for all civilizations in the Victory Status Screen in elimination mode. Currently only your own number of lost cities and one other civ's number of lost cities is shown. Example: Fall of Rome.
• Cultural Advisor: If you build the Internet, research labs don't appear in the culture advisor's city lists.

GENERAL SCENARIO HANDLING

• Make it possible for scenarios that have a scenario folder to record their own highscore. Instead of not saving the highscore for scenarios, save them to a file in the scenarioname directory if that directory exists.

SCENARIO-SPECIFIC FIXES

• The civlopedia entry for Dias' Voyage in the Age of Discovery scenario is in the entry for the Palace.
• Possible to win Napoleonic conquest in 1st turn, any difficulty: sign MPP with all civs that you are in peace with and ask for some cities in the deal. They'll give enough cities to achieve domination in 1st turn. AI's should not give cities in exchange for MPP agreements.

EDITOR ENHANCEMENTS (might not be as easy)

• Give Small Wonders access to the "Gain in every city" and "Doubles Happiness" flags.
• Add a "requires tile improvement" dropdown for tile improvements in the editor. (barricades require fortresses, railroads require roads, etc)
• Add a "Immune to lethal bombard" to units. This would allow air power to kill tanks but not infantry, for example. Alternatively, add a "lethal stealth attack" list, so we can select specific units that can be killed by a stealth attack. (One 'hack' to get this to work would be to overload the existing 'stealth attack targets' list so that when applied to a plane/artillery unit with 0 attack value and lethal bombard selected, it turns into a 'lethal bombard targets' list).
• Add the ability to modify the rebase multiplier
• Restore the shield cost upper limit to 10,000
• Fix the "collateral damage" flag to work for bombard units, as described in the help file.
• Add ability to edit army movement bonus
• Define walls to be any city improvement with defensive bonus and bombard defense, or add a new property "works only for level-1 cities". With the current definition of walls (which is any improvement with bombard defense), it's not possible to add an improvement with bombard defense that works on cities above size-6.
• In the units tab, add ability to change enslavement chance.
• Update the editor help with the correct information regarding resource distribution ratios.
• Make the 4% of tiles used for resources modable in the editor. See the link in the previous item for details.
• Add a Wonder flag for granting just one free tech. Half the effect of the Theory of Evolution. Many feel its effect is too strong and would like to mod it.

OTHER BUGS (introduced in C3C)

• Ground bombardment destroys improvements (even Wonders) before units, against the civ with the Great Wall.
• Error in the #RACE_BYZANTINES section of PediaIcons.txt Under the neutral victory, Isabella is the leader head when it should be Theodora. Change art\leaderheads\x_isabell victory neutral.pcx to art\leaderheads\X2_Theodora advisor.pcx in that section.
• Missing Tourism Civlopedia Link. From the city view screen, if you right-click on the gold icons next to Great Wonders generating tourism gold, the only civiliopedia options presented are the wonder itself and "culture." This is true even for captured wonders which do not produce any culture.
• Error in Longbowmen Civilopedia Entry. The civilopedia entry for Longbowmen describes them as a powerful "attacker of the ancient age." Longbowmen are not available until the middle ages.
• Railroad sometimes can not be laid to recently captured cities. The game treats the city tile as having just a road, even if there is a railroad running into it.
• Battle results hard to see when attacking cities. A change in the display of battles, apparently to help speed up multiplayer games, makes it very difficult to see the outcome of battles in cities, if you don't have battles animated.

Any more suggestions? Or perhaps objections to anything in this list? Remember, we want easy, well-defined solutions to commonly accepted problems.

[Dominae]

Please let's not give them any half-measure ideas concerning a fix to the Seafaring trait (no offense, alexman). What we need is either: 1) an AI that knows how to use Curraghs, or 2) a change to the Seafaring trait to balance it when playing against the AI (my suggestion is to give Seafaring civs a Curragh at the start, and remove Curraghs as a buildable item entirely).


Dominae

[alexman]

No offense taken, of course.

The problem with giving out a starting ship is that it's not possible to ensure that a civ will start by the coast. And I suspect that teaching the AI how to perform suicide runs is outside the scope of a patch, although I hope I'm wrong.

[joncnunn]

Uh, don't forget fixing the FP merely redistrubtes your corruption and waste problem which is probably the most important one.

[joncnunn]

Why not simply make Seafaring civs ships that are vetran or elite immune to sinking in sea tiles and if that makes the traight too powerful then remove half price harbors.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by joncnunn
Uh, don't forget fixing the FP merely redistrubtes your corruption and waste problem which is probably the most important one.

Yeah Alexman, don't you understand corruption?

[WarpStorm]

And fix land and sea bombard to work the same as air.

[notyoueither]

That one involves some controversy, WS. Many actually like the new way.

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by alexman
The problem with giving out a starting ship is that it's not possible to ensure that a civ will start by the coast.

I'm sure that I could write code that did this, so I assume that Firaxis could also.

I agree about removing better odds against sinking. It really isn't needed.

[Backpack]

Simple Changes - I'll Ignore Corruption with OCP and the FP, and the Gold per turn issue


Make Arty units airliftable - Catapults through Radar Arty. - Moddable by me, but it would be nice to have this as standard since workers are now airliftable.

Make Small wonders have access to "Builds X in every continent city", "Builds X in every City". - This is an essential change for many planned mods, that should be a sinple code change in the editor.

Thanks for listening

Kevin P.

[Inverse Icarus]

give the mayan UU a zero-range bombard defense

[dexters]

I've got two for you Alexman.


AI should recognize MPPs and not engage in peace treaties when its at war with another Civ tied to the target civ with MPP.

Better use of navies pre-Frigates/Gallons. AI still has trouble handling multi-purpose caravels and galleys.

Oh, make that three!

AI BUILD CURRAHS!


ps. I like the new bombard rules. I think Alex's list is general and obvious AI issues and gameplay issues we all agree should be fixed. So I say no on fixing arty bombard.

[alexman]

Updated the first post with the new suggestions I thought fit the 'easy fix' category.

Thanks, and keep the suggestions coming!

[Thoth]

The AI will build curraghs if you mod them to be able to carry one unit. I'm part way through a modded game, and I've now run into several AI curraghs.

[Catt]

It should go without saying, but never hurts to put it in bold text in the first post from the esteemed alexman so that Firaxis / BA doesn't push this one to a P2 bug: Fix the GPT Bug that pays per-turn income from other civs (through trade) twice each turn.

Catt

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

I'm with KWPullium, in that I want: Small Wonders have access to the 'Counts as ______ in every City'; 'Counts as ______ in every city on same continent' and 'Doubles Happiness effects of _____' flags!!
These things are absolutely VITAL to my planned mod!!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by alexman
[*]Remove the AI offense flag from Mech. Infantry, Impi, Numidian Mercenary, Musketeer. This change prevents the AI from attacking with these units, which are too expensive for their attack rating. Each unit can have only one AI strategy, so Carthage and Zulu build their defensive UU for part of their offense. Infantry built for attack is converted to a defensive role when upgraded. This makes the AI have to build new offensive units, and Tanks are always available whenever Mech. Infantry is.

Would this change mean these units would never attack? Maybe I don't understand the "flag". I understand the purpose of your recommendation which is to encourage the building of new offensive units.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by alexman
Updated the first post with the new suggestions I thought fit the 'easy fix' category.

Thanks, and keep the suggestions coming!

are you confusing the inca with the maya?

inca = scout
maya = Jav Thrower

the mayan UU is an archer based unit without the bombard.

[alexman]

Yes, I'm totally confused, sorry!

In that case are you sure it's a good idea to strengthen an already very powerful unit though?

[alexman]

Originally posted by Thoth
The AI will build curraghs if you mod them to be able to carry one unit. I'm part way through a modded game, and I've now run into several AI curraghs.

The AI actually builds curraghs as they are now too. I've seen them. It just builds them at a low priority (lower than expansion and land units).

[alexman]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
Would this change mean these units would never attack? Maybe I don't understand the "flag".

The AI does attack with "defense" units when it has very good odds of winning.

[dexters]

Originally posted by alexman


The AI actually builds curraghs as they are now too. I've seen them. It just builds them at a low priority (lower than expansion and land units).

In that case, the fix would be to up the priority They are cheap and the AI's first port city should make one of these for early exploration.

[RobC]

Originally posted by WarpStorm And fix land and sea bombard to work the same as air.

Originally posted by notyoueither That one involves some controversy, WS. Many actually like the new way.

Okay, how about: enable the 'collateral damage' flag in the editor, and have the result be that any bombard unit (land, sea, or air) with that flag checked operates the same way as air units currently do in conquests. This flag could be unchecked by default for land and sea bombard units if desired.

Also, I would like to ask that the editor also give you the option to make barricades buildable without requiring a fortress on the tile first (a more general approach would be to add a 'requires tile improvement' drop-down list for every worker action, then you could by default make barricades require fortresses...this would also make it easier to have upgraded irrigation/farms for example). I have a lot of mods where I would like to give infantry-type units the ability to dig trenches (== build barricades) but not the ability to build forts (which require engineers/workers). I believe this should not be too hard, as you can already put barricades on tiles without fortresses in the editor.

[dexters]

air units bombard do take out pop points and can kill defenders. We don't need to change that.

Most of the griping is with arty bombardment.

[alexman]

Originally posted by RobC

Okay, how about: enable the 'collateral damage' flag in the editor, and have the result be that any bombard unit (land, sea, or air) with that flag checked operates the same way as air units currently do in conquests. This flag could be unchecked by default for land and sea bombard units if desired.

I believe the suggestion for a change to the civil defense improvement (see above) would satisfy both sides of the argument. Check it out. More effective catapults (as they are now), but artillery that has to break things before hitting units.

Also, I would like to ask that the editor also give you the option to make barricades buildable without requiring a fortress on the tile first

This might be a bit much to ask of a patch, and the fact that it doesn't affect the unmodded game does not help either. I'll group it with the other requests for editor enhancements.

[Backpack]

Two More Simple Requests -

In the Domestic Advisor - A Color flag on the City name (Change the Color, red or blue or purple - I don't care) for all city's that have more unhappy than happy citizens. - The code already exists for city's in civil disorder, i.e. the city name turns red. - Would it really be that difficult to impliment the same graphics code based on a flag of Happy-Unhappy = Neg Int ?
This would allow me (and Others) to not rely so heavily on the Governors, and still catch problems without counting faces every turn on every line.

This next request may be bigger, but at first thought it doesn't seem it would be.

Settlers on Automatic - Why are thier movement points being spent before the end of the turn when there is nothing the auto-system see's as important. Often when I want to make a minor tweak, or bring up a dozen for some RR in recently enemy territory, it always takes a turn to activate them. Can the "Expend my Turn" for the workers be moved to the end of turn bookkeeping, instead of midturn or beginning? - This is another fix I kept expecting to show up in a patch or expansion.

Thanks again for listening


Kevin P.

[notyoueither]

alexman, wasn't Inf and MechInf attacking a partial solution to AI weakness a looooong time ago?

[alexman]

I remember looong ago people complaining that the AI doesn't attack enough with Infantry, as it is the unit with the best attack in the period between Rep. Parts and Tanks, so Soren messed with it. I'm not advocating a change to Infantry. But in the case of Mech. Infantry, you can always build Tanks to attack, which have much more bang for the buck than MI. This change has been implemented in the AU mod (from player 1's mod) so I know it works well.

[notyoueither]

Hmmm. Soren would be interested in the specifics, I am sure. I am positive that having these units flaged for attack was part of a general fix of limp AI that sat in its cities while the human overran them.

[Catt]

First off, good work alexman!

Secondly, a number of the requests are quite clearly balance issues / opinions versus true bugs. I'd prefer that the first patch deal exclusively with true P1 bugs and be released quickly, rather than encompass a wider scope but be delayed.

FWIW, I'd count the FP bug and the GPT bug as most pressing, with a better RCP fix a close runner-up.

Catt