Firaxis: Beta Patch Info

[JesseSmith]

Final Version of the Patch Release Date: Q2, 2004

I'm trying to release an updated EXE with 'Reduce Corruption' flagged buildings having their own cityranking (& SPHQ fix) and MP Random fixed by the 10th of January. A separate English only installer will be provided as well as a method for easily switching between 1.00 and the latest BETA Patch version.


Currently Targeted Items:
Planting Forests not returning shields, AI Pathfinding War Declarations w/ Invisible Units, infinite bombard, Anarchy Limited to 8 turns (weighting the roll for 3-5 turns), Religious requiring only 1 End Turn for gov't switch, Stealth Attack hitpoints listed & canceling possible, Tile Info displaying Terrain Defensive Bonus & ManMade Defensive Bonuses, Bombard Collateral Damage, load popup showing remaining movement points, worker gangs, conquest updates, civilopedia updates

Editor: setting max length of anarchy, setting combat rolls, enslaving to same unit, Debug Command for in-game reloading of Civilopedia/Scripts/Labels.txt, missing assets allowing continue into game, government-specific units, obsolete flag fixes, toggling palace popup, allowing civs existence without cities

Art: I am not going to be able to get an artist assigned. If any of the creators are interested in submitting City View artwork for the new Epic Game Wonders or packaging a Conquests City View Artwork, please help! That goes for these assets too: 2/3/4/5 unit Worker Gangs (full anim set)

MP: PBEM Reveal Map/Cheat, MP Specific Map Generation for more competitive maps (including tiny/small maps w/8 players), MPTournament Update, Aircraft Bombardment Messages displaying, Balance Adjustments (??? necessary - Enkidu 15??)

Translations: Full localizations for all of the Holiday Beta Patch text and as much of the new text as possible.


Thanks for your patience!!

[WarpStorm]

This looks real good, Jesse. (And what are Worker Gangs? A way to give multiple workers the same command?)

[Arrian]

Looks great, with one possible exception:

Balance Adjustments (??? necessary - Enkidu 15??)

It may be that such an adjustment (and/or other adjustments, *coughStatueofZeuscough*) are necessary, but why not iron out the actual bugs first, and do balance a bit later, once people have some time to play the game (when it's working the way it's intended to work)?

-Arrian

[JesseSmith]

Warpstorm: Worker Gangs will allow you to combine workers into teams that perform worker actions at the combined worker speed. This is intended as a late-game I'm tired of managing 80 workers solution.

Good Point Arrian - I was hoping that by Feb the MP community would have agreed (hehe) on some adjustments.

[kring]

Thank you Jesse.

[Arrian]

Great idea with the worker gangs That sure will help for the late game!

As for a concensus on balance by Feb, maybe. Perhaps an official thread asking about balance issues would assist?

-Arrian

[Harovan]

Originally posted by JesseSmith
Warpstorm: Worker Gangs will allow you to combine workers into teams that perform worker actions at the combined worker speed. This is intended as a late-game I'm tired of managing 80 workers solution.

That's great , as long as you can disband these gangs into single workers again (i.e. not like armies), because with government switches and the discovery of Replaceable Parts the efficiency of Workers changes.

[JesseSmith]

That's the plan! I forgot to mention a couple of other items for the editor, Leader toggles On/Off, Leader Effect Options (ie: rush wonders, rush swonders, create armies - you decide!)

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
can disband these gangs into single workers again

[Arrian]

Originally posted by JesseSmith
That's the plan! I forgot to mention a couple of other items for the editor, Leader toggles On/Off, Leader Effect Options (ie: rush wonders, rush swonders, create armies - you decide!)

That's fantastic Probably good for MP balance - shut off Great Wonder rushing altogether. Have MGLs & SGLs capable of improvement/small wonder rushing.

-Arrian

[Stuie]

Re: Firaxis: Beta Patch Info

Originally posted by JesseSmith
I'm trying to release an updated EXE with 'Reduce Corruption' flagged buildings having their own cityranking (& SPHQ fix) and MP Random fixed by the 10th of January.

January 10th!! Happy Birthday to me!!

Currently Targeted Items:
AI Pathfinding War Declarations w/ Invisible Units

Hoozah!!

[CanuckSoldier]

So, Jesse, what are you thinking off for the MP Tournament biq?

Personally, my observations within the MP community are that Sumeria and/or the Statue of Zeus are not particularly unbalanced. In MP games anyway.

CS

[vmxa1]

Is it xmas again? Wow more good new from Mr. Smith, thanks yet again for keeping us updated.

I think the civpedia being updated is very usual. I feel it needs to reflect accurately how things work.

[ducki]

Tile Info displaying Terrain Defensive Bonus & ManMade Defensive Bonuses

Awesome!

On all the editor-settable features, kudos!!!
Unless it's hardcoded for a special reason, everything possible should be moddable, IMO.


Lastly, you guys at Firaxis really seem to be embracing the whole community-feedback/interaction thing in a bigger/deeper way. Thanks a million! (No QA dept can catch as much as a big community of players.)

[Catt]

Thank you for the continuing updates (both information and actual releases!).

Catt

[JesseSmith]

Thats a good start CS! I'm hoping the community will provide the rest (if any)!!

Originally posted by CanuckSoldier
So, Jesse, what are you thinking off for the MP Tournament biq?

Personally, my observations within the MP community are that Sumeria and/or the Statue of Zeus are not particularly unbalanced. In MP games anyway.

CS