CRADLE 1.35: Thoughts on game balance

[itsamic]

Unfortunately I don't know much about SLIC so the question to the experts: would it be possible to define the prio for GOAL_SETTLE_LAND in strategies.txt (if this is the right switch) dynamicly, depending to the gov type and the current number of cities to prevent the AI from overgrowing?
I have the same problem on a 200x400 map and it is too easy. I've only to wait and the AI grows into self-destruction.

[Martin Gühmann]

Originally posted by itsamic
Unfortunately I don't know much about SLIC so the question to the experts: would it be possible to define the prio for GOAL_SETTLE_LAND in strategies.txt (if this is the right switch) dynamicly, depending to the gov type and the current number of cities to prevent the AI from overgrowing?
I have the same problem on a 200x400 map and it is too easy. I've only to wait and the AI grows into self-destruction.

Well I think the best sollution on ultra gigantic maps is to increase the city caps, that will give the AI some room and also for the human so that it is possible to achieve the bloodlust victory. Also the priorities of the goals can be changed by switshing the strategies via slic during the game. But on oversized maps as I said the real problem are the city caps.

-Martin

[Immortal Wombat]

itsamic, the way I did it was to make a strategy which simply removed settlers from the AIs priorities altogether, and force that strategy to be adopted once they hit the city limit.

[itsamic]

I have already increased city caps, but it should be in a limit because to much cities speeds up the game too much. I'm using 22 Civs because I think a large map and many civs make the game more "realistic", there are much more interactions possible. At the moment I'm trying with the modified pop.txt but I'm not sure if entertainers will solve the problem. If a civ grows to fast at the beginning (with many smal cities) the problem still appears.
@Immortal Wombat
Would you please post the code for changing the priority according to the city limit? I know that it is the wrong way to learn the SLIC syntax but....

[Martin Gühmann]

Increasing the city cap is needed if you increase the map size, also necessary is to modify the pollution settings.

By the way in my last test game I found an AI that was 7 cities over the city cap without any problems, they lowered the slider settings but only a few cities had minor problems of happiness of 72/71.

-Martin

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by itsamic
@Immortal Wombat
Would you please post the code for changing the priority according to the city limit? I know that it is the wrong way to learn the SLIC syntax but....

I'm afraid my modem's bust so I can't post from home, where the files are... I'll try to respond when I get a new modem.

[itsamic]

I have already increased city cap and pollution settings. Additionally I gave water filter the ability to decrease pollution, reduced the probability to find settlers and citys in the huts, increased the min distance between cities and the nice factor for founding new cities. Currently I'm testing these settings. I think this will keep me busy for a week or so, so far it looks fine.
The next I want is to stretch the time line and the tech tree and after this it could be necessary again to steer the growing of the AI.

[Immortal Wombat]

oops, forgot about this...

Actually, it seems I lied. What I did was to stop the AI building settlers when it hadn't built a city for 'a long time', and had a certain number of cities already. I don't know if this is needed, but it saves the AI hauling a whole load of settlers around a map that's already fully settled.

It's quite simple actually:

// In strategies.txt
STRATEGY_ENOUGH_OF_THE_SETTLERS {
    SettlerUnitsCount       0
}
STRATEGY_ALMOST_ENOUGH_OF_THE_SETTLERS {
    SettlerUnitsCount       1
}

// In a SLIC file

int_t	CityCountdown[];
HandleEvent(BeginTurn) 'settler_watcher' pre{
	if(g.year <=  1){
                           for(i=0;i < preference("NumPlayers"); i = i + 1){
                                 CityCountdown[player[i]] = 0
                           }
                }
	CityCountdown[player[0]] = CityCountdown[player[0]] + 1;
	if(CityCountdown[player[0]] >= 200 && player[0].cities >=15){
		SetStrategicState(player[0], StrategyDB(STRATEGY_ENOUGH_OF_THE_SETTLERS_ALREADY));
	} elseif(CityCountdown[player[0]] >= 100 && player[0].cities >=15){
		SetStrategicState(player[0], StrategyDB(STRATEGY_ALMOST_ENOUGH_OF_THE_SETTLERS_ALREADY)); 
               }
}

HandleEvent(CreateCity) 'reset_city_watch' pre{
	int_t	tmpPlayer;
	tmpPlayer = player[0];
	CityCountdown[tmpPlayer] = 0;
}

If you have Dale's WhatGovAmI? code installed and running in the mod, it wouldn't be too difficult to make it check for city limits.

// assuming GOVT_WhatGovtAmI array is set up.

HandleEvent(BeginTurn) 'check_city_limits' pre{
int_t   maxCities;
   government[0]=GOVT_WhatGovtAmI[player[0].owner];
   maxCities=GovernmentDB(government[0].type).TooManyCitiesThreshold;
    if(PlayerCityCount(player[0].owner) >= maxCities){
                  SetStrategicState(player[0], StrategyDB(STRATEGY_ENOUGH_OF_THE_SETTLERS_ALREADY));
   }
}

Or something.
Untried, untested, don't sue me, hate me, or trust me ever again if it all goes pear-shaped.