Neo-liberalism and Domination

[Aeson]

Originally posted by zabrak
I'm currently staring at my other computer, in which I've got a lot more than 5 unhappy points associated with "We demand Emancipation!" Doesn't get much clearer than that.

How much is it?

I'm almost certain that there is a max effect, and that the ratio of civs emancipated to total civs is used to determine what percent of the max effect to apply. Just not sure what the max effect is.

[zabrak]

It ranges from 1 in size 4 cities to 7 in size 19 cities. There's only one civ remaining. It's the only saved game I've got, and perhaps not a great example. Does anybody else have some experimental data?

[Aeson]

Ok, so the effect is a percent applied to population. That is different than it used to be.

What is the difficulty level? There is a modifier PERCENT_ANGER_DIVISOR in the XML somewhere, likely difficulty. There also should be an entry in the Civics XML that gives the Emancipation unhappiness percent. (UNHAPPINESS_PERCENT?)

It looks like the number of cities matters now, not just number of civs. How many cities do you have, how many does the remaining AI have?

UnhappyPercent = UNHAPPINESS_PERCENT * CitiesEmancipated / CitiesTotal
CityUnhappy = UnhappyPercent / PERCENT_ANGER_DIVISOR * CityPopulation

(I can't say I like this method, as it seems that the Emancipation effect will diminish as you capture cities. Working by % of opponents left meant the applied effect would be relatively stable. This change should make Emancipation less of a factor in Domination, where a large percentage of the cities are yours or soon will be, and thus are not Emancipated.)

[Aeson]

Originally posted by zabrak
My point is simply that bombers make 10 XP troops from all cities, instead of just at the West Point city, unnecessary. If that's the case, the economic and other savings from avoiding Vassalage and Theocracy translate into a stronger position.

A single extra promotion, especially that 3rd one, makes a big difference in survivability of your units even post-Bombers. In the instance of Amphibious Tanks, it gets rid of that 50% penalty, which leads to a rather huge swing in odds. With the Amphibious penalty, you probably aren't going to be using the Tank's Blitz, winning the first fight may be problematic enough. Better off with Marines in that case (especially if AGG).

The 3rd promotion on Transports also gives (another) +1 Range. Moving faster with stronger units, better odds. You don't need that strong an economy if your war machine isn't taking losses that need to be replaced. Waiting for replacement units slows things down, especially on water maps.

Having your West Point city at 14XP is also a big boon. Tanks from there are usually a Blitz away from another promotion. City Raider III and Pinch. Amphibious and Pinch or Ambush. Or my personal favorite, Combat IV... with Commando looming on the horizon.

[zabrak]

Difficulty: Monarch
World Size: Small
Game Speed: Marathon

My cities: 44
Asoka's: 17

I'd certainly be interested in learning the inner workings of the Emancipation penalty. I've never done any rigorous experiments myself, and I have to admit my preference for it is based on getting burned by sudden unexpected switches by spiritual AIs. If it can be managed, I'd prefer Caste System for cash-based domination on marathon continents maps, for obvious reasons.

As for the economics of fewer, better-trained troops with more expensive civics versus more, less-trained troops with cheaper ones, it's definitely an interesting balance. There are other things to be considered as well -- culture, diplomacy, military surity, etc. I'll have to try it your way in my next game.