Tides of War, a balance mod

[SevenSpirits]

No changes to civics?

Correct! No one was banning any civics, and I think that the current civic dynamics, while not perfect, are perfectly OK.

Does CRE still receive double speed theaters and Colosseum's?
Edit: and libraries. I have no idea why I forgot them and not the others.

Yes.

Nice.

What is an active espionage mission? Anything that requires a spy?
Is the productive bonus hammer applied before or after golden age hammers?

Yes, "active" here means "using a spy". The productive hammer bonus works the same way as the financial commerce bonus - it's applied before the GA hammers/commerce.

Still need AH to pasture animals?

Yes.

Naval Mechanics
“Naval Initiative” mechanic: Naval units that attack with their first movement point from a water tile get +15% attack.
New Naval Promo: Vigilance I. +20% defense.
New Naval Promo: Vigilance II. Req. Vig I. +25% defense.

I don't understand the purpose of this. It looks like these mechanics push in opposite directions and end up just about where we are now - except that you need to spend some naval XP to get there.

You only get an attack bonus if you're adjacent to the enemy ship at the start of the turn and therefore attack with your first point of movement. The defense bonus applies regardless. Also, not every ship will take the defense bonus. It's a strong effect, but as there is a mechanic which says that ships can move next to other ships to force either combat or running away, there's extra value in having promotions which apply to attack as well as defense. There are a lot of things the Naval Initiative mechanic is supposed to do; we'll just have to see if it works how I expect!