Chat Log?

[dunk]

Has a log for Friday's chat been made yet?

[kring]

I second the question.

I wasn't able to get it to copy for me, and MarkG said it would be available later when I asked him. I have some of the stuff copied by a friend, but a lot was missed.

Here is most of what was copied by Bolan for me:

Alex: Diplomacy (and all other events) are on the wishlist for PTW.

Alex4892> are there any plans to enable editing of terrain in a specific scenario, for expample, could it be possible to specify a location in a scenario that links to a pcx file with custom terrain?

Not currently...the terrain system we have is pretty complicated. We're looking at it, but no plans currently.

You will be able to place your new terrain in the folder that jeff mentioned and it will show up for that scenario

Will we be able to trade or sell units in PTW?

Bolan: Wishlist

Babylonian: Prior to 1.29, when placing, for example, mines, it checked to make sure the terrain was land. Now it checks for a shield-bonus from the terrain type. In other words, I un-hardcoded it.


Bolan: no

Jeff_Morris_FIRAXIS> Bolan: We've added victory points to PTW, which can be used to determine when a game is over or who is the winner.

Pat and I played turnless today and we got well into the middle ages in an hour.

How does the Military advisor now assess the unit strengths?

Mike_Breitkreutz_FIRAXIS> chiefP: It now assess strentgh the same way the AI does - by relative strengths and weaknesses of individual units.

I don't remember the exact calculation off the top of my head but it takes their stats into account. I don't believe it goes by the actual tech level of the unit since that really has no effect on it's strength.

It's more based on it's HP, offensive and defensive power and bombard ability.

Jeff_Morris_FIRAXIS> You must understand though that we're wrapping up and are already in test. There is very little that is available for change at this point.

jeff, the pc answer for that in this room is ''apolyton only''

We love ALL our fansites.

Jeff can't get back in: LOL

jimmy: I've been loking into that but it's not been implemented at this time. It's still on the wishlist

Why do I never see my coastal fortresses bombarding enemy ships?

ljuin_kun: You don't see anything happen unless the bombardment was successful.

jimmy: No release date has been set yet.

ljuin: In PTW you'll see misses finally...water spouts

IW: Events are on the wishlist. As we near completion, we begin to re-evaluate priorities.

Are there any improvements to Spy/Diplomacy in PtW?

Kring: All functionality is localized to a single new screen.


Will it be possible for 4 against 4 play in PtW

Yes

King: Somewhat, but not much new functionality beyond what's in PTW.

Any chance to modify the terrain page to add a Change to property so that workers can terraform?

King: yes. NB: This was an answer to a kingjoshi question.

Kring...jeff was answering kingjoshi, even more lol

Jeff_Morris_FIRAXIS> Kring: We may 'unyear' the turn count, so it'll be turn 1, turn 2, but that too is on the wishlist.

What about changing the static numbers on WoW? Ex ToE give more than 2 advance

Markg: We're working on a japanese dating simulator (thanks Tim Train)

The game and the editor use completely different graphics drawing code

Anyway, I would like to be able to lock two AI civs in eternal war or eternal peace

Jeff_Morris_FIRAXIS> ljuin: we know. It's a matter of time, money and resources not whether the idea has merit or not.

A techy question, Does Civ3 use Direct3D or does it use DirectDraw?

jimmy: none of the above.

SirRalph: Added existing deals to the foreign advisor screens, which saves a lot of unnecessary communicating..
Could all 16 civs go on one diplo screen?

nye: Sure, just not all at the same time.

Any chance of faster naval units withdrawing from combat, like faster ground units?

Kring: neat idea but not on the menu for this expansion.

Jeff : rally points = units produced in a city go automatically to a tile ?

spiffor: yes

Can Firaxis disclose any PTW deadlines (ideas deadline, alpha coding deadline, alpha test deadline, beta coding deadline, beta test deadline, gold)?

coldfever: No way.

Pioneer: New interfaces and micromanagement reducers, 8 new civs, new terrain features like airfields...

Here's a question: How could you let down the Civ-community with the unfinished work you call Civilization 3?

Are there any plans to improve expantionist trait?

OPD: I think our MP players would be very upset if we changed it.

If I make a scenario that starts all the players in the Modern Age will they have all the techs?

Sheik: They will have all techs prior to Modern Era. They will still have to research the Modern Era techs.

To start with all techs you need to set the starting era to Future Era

Oh!! Any chance of adding the ability for SMALL Wonders to give buildings to cities?

I'll start asking PTW-related questions: How does the real-time MP mode work?

Roadkill: It's not real time, it's turnless

Bolan: I'm looking into it

Gramphos: map size has something to do with it since larger maps take more memory.

If this PTW is turnless, then does that mean that faster speed access computers will get ahead of the slower computers or is there something that keeps the game even across their uneven platforms?

Bolan: the system keeps the game evebn - it moves at the speed of the *slowest* machine connected.

nye: The editor is continuing to be developed for PTW

SorenJohnson_Firaxis> um, I'm having a hard time reading... the AI doesn't dynamically switch its units from offense to defense, there are some underlying archtiectural problems with that. However, fixing the upgrade bug will solve most of the manifestations of that limitation.

Q: Are you going to make the AI more clever, or are you just going to make the AI ''cheat''?

Alex: no new movies...just gameplay stuff.

Any chance of bringing back the space race, ala civ 2?

well, the game would need a high-level manager to make the decision for when to switch a unit's plan (so that an attacking unit doesn't turn around and then change its mind again and so forth...) don't get me wrong... if I was starting from scratch, I would definetly make that part of the AI. But for right now, it is too risky (lesson learned from 1.17)

Soren : what exactly are the lessons learned with 1.17 ?

the mechanics of the diplo victory are not changing... although the AI which determines who they vote for has been tweaked a little.

the amount of turns to build act as a drag on the heuristic weight of each unit/improvement. so the AI is much less likely to build certain buildings in 1 or 2 shield cities versus their core.

Soren: Are the AI's decision to declare war based on something - missing resources, techs? Or is it kinda random?

chiefpaco: it is based on attitude, history, relative strength, map position, etc.

and a random factor as well..

Soren : how does the agressiveness of a Civ exactly work ? In some situation, would the very pacifist France not attack, while the very warlike Germans would attack ? How is it calculated ?

another changeg I should mention is that tech cost is now constant across difficulty levels, so Deity so no longer be (quite) the tech race it has been.

spiffor: each civ has an aggressivenes rating from 1-5 (you can see it in the editor) which affects various heuristics, such as willingness to declare war and make risky attacks.

seraphin> soeren why is the AI that lazy about researching literacy? (repeat-sorry)

searphin: not sure... is literacy the Great Library tech?

I noticed that the AI will pay more for a tech if there is a wonder that hasn't been built. Would they know if I'm about to finish the wonder the next turn so I trade the tech with them the turn before?

that's what i thought... in 1.21 the AI devalued optional techs, but I decreased that effect in 1.29

Was the human tech cost higher at Deity then?

bigfurry: that's right... the human cost is increased instead of the AI cost being decreased

'' the human cost is increased instead of the AI cost being decreased'' : do you mean the human researches slower on higher levels ? It was the other way around previously (AI got bonuses, but Human didn't get research maluses)

spiffor: correct

This is great ! It means the tech race is completely changed ! Now, it isn't too slow on low levels and too fast on high levels !

the commercial trait is moved from 12.5% increase of optimal # of cities to 25% increase.

Soren, how about the AI's trading techs between each other? They seem to trade any new techs as soon as one of them gets it

well, as the cost of techs go up, the AI's ability to trade them goes down accordingly (can no longer afford it...)

the same should be true for a human who shortchanges researching.

Soren, are you planning on making a group attack...like bombard till you can't blow any more up

if you are the first civ to research a tech, the value goes up in trading...

well, you will only get a big boost the first time you sell it as you are the ''sole possessor''

gondor: strictly empire size, which is by far the most crippling one. a police station/courthouse is pretty effectivfe against distance corruption.

bolan: there is an auto-bomabrd planned for the expansion

what am I, chopped liver?

I am curious. Is there an option where you can get a warning that by building a new city you are surpassing your empire limit? I am foggy about how many cities a commercial civ can build before being penalized for empire size corruption

gondor: well, the penalties only affect the new cities (unless you are in Communism) so I don't think it is too big of a deal.

accelerated production basically halves the cost of everything (population, techs, units, improvements) It was added with an eye to multi-player, but it was so simple, we threw it in the patch.

I was shocked during an AI test run of Accelerated Production in which the world was railroaded by 200 AD!

i think fixing the AI upgrade bug will help them build more arty though...

actually, it doubles it (under Communism)

actually, I was always afraid that Commercial was the best trait as it is _way_ more important in the late game.

late game Rel/Com or Mil/Com seem pretty powerful.

the Ai will only trade cities as part of peace settlements. Valuing the cost of a city is almost impossible to do with out introducing exploit.

but I can end a commercial civ's life before they get to the late game

chiefpaco: well, that's the trick, isn't it?

gondor: let me just say that the ''best civ trait'' arguement is going to be turned upside down for multiplayer

Sorne: is there a chance to make the operational range higher? Like for Stealth bombers they can pretty much go around the world (with refueling) of course. can it be edited

darkside: it is either up to 8 or infinite.

If we get obsolete units ther should be an option not to make units obsolete with the unit they upgrade to. (So that Infantry still can be built as a foot unit when the Mech. inf. is invented)

Soren: What major improvements to the AI can you point out?

trip: better balance of offensive/defensive units.

also, you could try increasing the Optimal # of Cities in a sparsely populated map... then the AI will build larger empires.

Soren, In PTW will cultural buildings and values be the same?

actually, the ai's are less aggressive early so they can focus on expansion

agression flag? um, each civ leader has a different aggression level...

[dunk]

Jeff_Morris_FIRAXIS> You must understand though that we're wrapping up and are already in test. There is very little that is available for change at this point.

If they're already "wrapping up", what does that mean for "wishlist" items (editable diplomacy, trading units)? IMO, that would mean they have a low probability of being added.