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

[snoochems]

Its not a bug, but i would like to see the number of possible players in multiplayer increased.

Currently its stuck at 8, and although i don't even have 8 people i know to play with, i like to have a few human and a bunch of computer AI civs.

[Inverse Icarus]

considering they went out of their way to reduce the number of civs in the official conquests, i think you're out of luck.

[Mad Bomber]

One comment on the Byzantines:

They tend to make too many dromons and not enough defenders or attackers to adequately defend against a determined attack. Perhaps they should also have the flag "Build defenders often" as well as naval units.

Uber:

I second the Log, it is most needed in PBEM, but It would be welcome in SP as well.

[dexters]

Alex, I wrote this several weeks ago but forgot to bring this up to your attention.

This is my Debug game observations. I leave it up to you to pick out things you agree with to put in your list. If you don't agree with any of my oberservations, that's fine also.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=101690

[snoochems]

When playing on a larger than usual map, the AI never spreads out its cities. They still cramp all there cities up on one part of the map. There could be a 100 tile radius until the next civ, yet they just bunch up there cities, as if they were running out of room to build.
This means cities never use a full 20 squares for resources etc, as most cities will share tiles.

ALso, there may be lots of luxury/strategic resources aroung the map, yet the AI never builds cities out to it. Even on emperor, i kick AI arse with out even trying on such size maps.



..... or are my maps TOO big for the AI to handle.... i usually have a 256x256 HUGE map with 12-16 players. Is this just too big for the AI?

[pauli]

you could increase the optimal city number, but the game *will* turn into a logistical nightmare.

[snoochems]

I have increased the optimal number of cities.
Is that what is giving me the trouble?

[alexman]

dexters, your debug game thread gives some good insight on some AI shortcomings, but I don't see anything that can be considered an 'easy fix'.

You can't just say 'build more marines' for example, because that depends on the map. I don't think we need more marines on a pangea.

'Feed the beachhead', and 'fortify more units' is part of a greater problem of the AI, which is that it doesn't make use of city specialization. When it needs extra defenders, it builds them where it needs them instead of producing them in its core cities and transporting them where they are needed. Unfortunately, I doubt it's an easy matter to teach the AI how to specialize its cities in a patch.

[snoochems]

WHen you've made your own map, there is no way of playing that map in multiplayer in anything but Regent difficulty.

I have made a cool map for 8 players (2 human, 6 AI). I set the 'default AI difficulty' to emperor, and then went to play the game.

By about 1000AD, i noticed that the AI were really pathetic... later, when we loaded the game we noticed that that load screen you get just after loading, said the difficulty was set to Regent. Hmmm...

In the set up screen when starting a MP game, the difficulty is set to custom, as i loaded a map/scenario.

WE're very pissed off now, as we've spent the last 3 days playing only to find out the AI civs are PATHETIC.

[Catt]

Originally posted by snoochems
I have made a cool map for 8 players (2 human, 6 AI). I set the 'default AI difficulty' to emperor, and then went to play the game.

With respect to this specific issue, see my post in the Bugs thread - you actually hurt the AI's performance by doing this.

Catt

[Jaybe]

snoochems, (adding to Catt's post) if you want a game that is harder for the players, then set the 'default AI difficulty' to EASIER levels. That gives the number of happy cits, etc.

[RobC]

Stealth attack pop-up should show HPs remaining for every unit

[Stuie]

More of an enhancement than a "fix", but I would like a Great/Small Wonder flag to grant One Free Tech instead of just the currently available two.

[Azaelus]

Only one bug to report, but there are some things that just don't make sense, or things that appear to have slipped through the net... such as:

* Rise of Rome scenario - the Bacchanalia should require wine, surely?
* All artillery units, tanks, Panzers, modern armour, and mech infantry - shouldn't they have the Wheeled flag, so they can't move through jungles and mountains unless there is a road?
* Stealth fighter, stealth bomber - is there any reason why they don't have stealth attack? After all, the (technologically inferior) F-15 does. And the name is a clue.
* Why do slave workers construct things slower than regular workers? Is this a design decision, because you would expect slaves to work quicker, right? They are slaves, after all.

Some ideas:
* Coal and nuclear plants - shouldn't these cease to function if your coal or uranium supply ever runs out? You should no longer get the pollution or the production bonus, but you still have to pay for it's upkeep until you get a new coal/uranium supply.
* If your only supply of a resource runs out when you are in the process of building something that requires it (ex. if you run out of uranium when you are building a nuclear missile), production should be halted.

And for the interface:
* Domestic advisor (F1) - some colour coding (as with cities in disorder) for cities that are: (a) starving, (b) in resistance, (c) celebrating "We love the ??? day." Civ 2 had colour coding for celebrating cities, IIRC. And starvation happens pretty often in large cities as a result of pollution... even when workers clear the pollution, no citizen is assigned back to the empty tile, so it goes unworked indefinitely. Ditto for large cities growing via Longevity... if you get to a point where this is one population unit too many, everyone starves.
* Cultural advisor (F5) - if you build the Internet, research labs don't appear in the culture advisor's city lists, and it isn't shown whether or not the culture value of the research lab is added to the city. It may be a hidden bonus, but I'd have to check. If it isn't, it's a bug. If it is, it should be shown on the F5 screen.
* Wonder list (F7) - some text to mention which wonders are now obsolete.

-- Azaelus

[RobC]

I know that there were other threads about this, but I don't think we mentioned it here -- it would be nice if stealth attack (selecting target unit from a stack) would be enabled for air units also.