Unofficial BTS 3.13 patch

[snoopy369]

I would strongly suggest approaching Blake for information on this element. I don't know what restrictions he works under at all (as to how much he can help with a fan production - could be 100%, could be 0%, could be somewhere in between), but he certainly knows a LOT about the worker system.

[Bhruic]

Update:

• Privateers can only enter team members' or vassals' cities
• Automated Workers will no longer idle in cities within 2 squares of a hostile border
• Refixed Vassal/capitulation
• AIs less likely to build Executives if they can't afford to use them or already have sufficient

Bh

[PolarHki]

Originally posted by Bhruic
Well, I can do something to "fix" the problem, it's just not going to be as good a fix as a complete overhaul would do. It just strikes me as especially silly that if a worker is sitting in a city that's within 2 squares of the enemy border, it will sit there doing nothing, but if it's not, it'll think nothing about moving even closer to the border and starting working. Very inconsistent.

I'm still not sure which "fix" I'll use - I've been trying a couple of different things to see how the AI reacts to them.

Bh

Yep, now the workers start to do sth, thanks!

There is only a small graphical glitch left: One cannot see the automated workers' movement (even though enough moving points) until the next round after pressing the botton, in the situation as discussed before. While, if I press e.g. "improve next city only", the workers are seen to move to their target field in the same round.

[guermantes]

Originally posted by guermantes
Is it possible to correct the 'issue' new to BTS where workers building improvements are graphically improperly positioned in the grid so that it appears as if they are working the tile next to the one they are standing in.

Just to follow up on my previous comment, here are a few screens describing the issue that appeared for me when BTS came out. I am using a 1280x1024 on a standard 4:3 LCD monitor. I played around with resolutions but it does not change. It does not happen all the time, it is rather the exception, but it is wierd.

this guy is farming the tile behind him:



This guy is chopping the forest behind him:



This guy is building a mine on the tile with the road:

[snoopy369]

Yeah, that's a resolution issue is my guess; they optimized it probably for 1024x768 and built in a 20 pixel barrier or something, and then the animation stays inside the tile; but on 1280x1024 it seems to go a bit outside. I've seen this also now that you mention it, I just assume he's building an irrigation canal from the other tile or something

[PolarHki]

I'm also playing at 1280x1024, but haven't noticed this behaviour, even after particular checking having seen the above examples. Maybe some graphics driver issue?

Just to mention, this issue is not in any way related to the graphical glitch with automated workers in cities close to enemy borders, which I reported above.

[=DrJambo=]

I also play on 1280x1024 and have never seen this issue!

[ColdPhoenix]

On workers stopping, I've seen them sitting in a city while automated when there was still work to be done. All of the tiles had been improved but not all roads had been upgraded to railroad. If I changed them to the automate routes option then they would start railroading but change any back to standard automate and they'd return to a city.

[wodan11]

Bhruic's latest patch should fix that, ColdPhoenix.

Wodan

[guermantes]

I don't know if in the grand scheme of things this turns out to be a game-breaking suggestion, but I always lifted both one and two eyebrows to the fact that after I backstab my friendly neighbour (and prime competitor for the pole position going into the space race) with a war and capture all their cities but a measely 3pop city out in the tundra, I still have 'Pleased' with them if we share religion and have a long diplomacy history.

I almost wiped them off the face of the earth, FCOL!

They should hate me for the rest of the game. And they should hate me more if I grab 6 cities from them than if I just grab 3 cities from them.

Would this be game-breaking? Could it be implemented?

[snoopy369]

It would probably damage the AI's ability to make a losing peace, unfortunately (particularly since most of those sorts of things are 'numeric' not 'percentage'. If you put in a 'lost city' modifier of -1 per X cities, it would vary too much between a small 6 city empire and a 24 city empire (on the same map size and speed) losing the same 4 cities.

Telling the AI it needs to take revenge on a player is generally a bad idea, mostly because the AI is not good at revenge. You run into the problem where there's only + and - ; you don't have 'war' relations and 'trade' relations. So a strong - would encourage the AI to make a war it shouldn't make...

[guermantes]

That's a good point...

[marvinkosh]

It wouldn't hurt though to have an extra negative modifier for invading (after all, it's possible to fight a war and take none of their cities, just skirmish at the border). That way it doesn't scale specifically to the number of cities taken, but to the perceived aggression. It might also be an idea for AIs to perceive other nations that you've invaded as potential allies (positive modifier) even if hostilities are at present ceased.

[wodan11]

The # of cities problem could be solved simply by making it a percentage of cities owned. If you take 6/10 cities, that would be 60%. If you take 6/24 cities, that would be 25%. So, give some maximum negative, say, -10. 6/10 would mean -6 modifier. 6/24 would mean -2.5 modifier. Round up or down, whichever.

Wodan

EDIT: The above isn't quite right. This probably has to be a cumulative modifier to avoid making the game have to have memory. So, each time a city is conquered, the additional negative modifier would be -1/(current num cities). Probably multiplied by some constant X (to be determined by playtesting).

[wodan11]

Bhruic -- the hover to show full building benefits isn't quite working right. I'm seeing the +2 hammers from Apostolic, but I'm not seeing the +2 beakers from Sankore.

Wodan