Patch rundown:
Zulu get nerfed, but who cares. Overplayed, and impi should be junk on this type of map (or the player that picks this gets lucky and PB16's someone).
Work boat change nerfs Fishing civs, but they get fixed with the following changes.
New proposed changes:
All civs get double promo melee units so helps early on, so that is CR2 swords and W2 warriors specifically but AGG leaders get access to Amphib and Formation spears. Later on every leader, with Vassalage, Theocracy and Colosseums can get 10XP melee units for CR3 swords and maces. But I think it works better with CHM. Don't need stables for double promoted mounted (so easy sentry chariots, and easier to pull off HA rush), but can't get triple promoted mounted any easier. Later on, the +1XP to gunpowder units means double promo muskets and rifles without civics, and triple with civics. The Armour bonus is just flavour.
I don't see this as game breaking unless Boudicca somehow starts building Commando maces (Armoury, SoZ, Colosseum, Theo and Vassalage = 13XP).
The maintenance reduction actually self nerfs the gold bonus, so the SE needs to be cheaper to not be still considered junk unless Fin (to put it into perspective though, courthouse = 24 hammers per 5% maintenance reduction, Ikhanda is now 30 hammers, SE is 53, and you halve that cost for the trait bonus). So I don't think this does much to power level except to make people go "Oh, shiny".
If you accept Rep as a given, it takes a breakeven base bpt rate of 50 for the Pagoda to surpass the French Salon for beaker output. And France has better starting techs, and the Musketeer instead of a mace UU that gets free strikes when they are thrown away with bad odds to break open cities.
I'm still not convinced Japan is that good, because you essentially get locked into an Astro beeline to get the only useful bonus they have. But this isn't breaking the game either.
Discussed below, but the UB and starting techs are unchanged. And both UU are being nerfed, and a counter unit to both is available earlier in the tech tree. So I don't see how this breaks the mods either.
So Spain could theoretically run Free Market with the Castles trade route, and it means they can churn out 10XP cannons for longer. Still not seeing it when you start with Myst/Fishing unless you can somehow make Spain on a Lake(fish) work and then get the prophet.
Keshiks will now basically never fight against a PRO leader, because PRO leaders only get free strikes and not CD bonuses. But if you are running into archers with HA you are winning that war, and Keshiks are just a win more mechanic. If this is an unexpected boost, I don't think we see it on a Big and Small map.
Carrack become an earlier version of the galleon (same moves, same strength), but caravels become a weaker version of the original Carrack. So everyone can start colonising overseas, but ain't doing it quickly unless they get Astro. No one is spending 60 hammers to transport a single unit for a large invasion, so we should expect to see, at most, small stack combat on overseas islands in the gap to Astro. And Privateers now exist to force all players to divert coastal production into a boat that can't carry troops, which further limits the ability for players to build transport capacity, except for EIM which can be used instead of privateers, but the Dutch will now exist in a situation that is no different to any player fighting galleon versus galleon warfare in a normal RtR game.
End result, large overseas invasions become harder to pull off until you establish naval supremacy.
Then SoL are just the collateral of the sea, and eventually ironclads just murder any forward naval aggression until DD come on the scene and those players with a good tech advantage start the ball rolling to domination and concession. I don't think anything new is introduced here that creates a new, uncontrollable powerspike, it's actually a restriction on power.
PRO is nerfed, FIN now saves 22 hammers on each library, neither of which make me think "OMG broken". So IND is the only introduction that is new power, and I don't know how broken it is. SO to answer your question, IND is what will break this game, out of the new mod changes. But IND is nerfed for wonders anyway, and will only start seeing a benefit once teh second version of the national wonder comes online.
So will a trait that doesn't really kick in until T120 be any good? Probably will be if the game goes long, but that's fine. That's the way late game traits should exist, so long as players have to actually think to make it work. Personally, I think Stalin and De Gaulle getting a shot at setting up double commando factories is an interesting feature, double IW, double GT and double HE probably help a lot on smaller maps to produce large enough stacks to overwhelm people. But I'm not sure how Wall street and OU function if they can't be stacked in the same city.
Quote:Original changes:
Zulu: Ikhanda: -10% city maintenance (down from -20%)
Work boat: requires no tech (working water tiles still requires Fishing, stolen from Seven and ToW) (instituted in 2.0.8.5 for PB41)
Zulu get nerfed, but who cares. Overplayed, and impi should be junk on this type of map (or the player that picks this gets lucky and PB16's someone).
Work boat change nerfs Fishing civs, but they get fixed with the following changes.
New proposed changes:
Quote:Fishing Civs rebalance:
America - new UB Armoury - +1XP to Gunpowder, +1XP to Mounted, +1XP to Armour, +2XP to Melee
All civs get double promo melee units so helps early on, so that is CR2 swords and W2 warriors specifically but AGG leaders get access to Amphib and Formation spears. Later on every leader, with Vassalage, Theocracy and Colosseums can get 10XP melee units for CR3 swords and maces. But I think it works better with CHM. Don't need stables for double promoted mounted (so easy sentry chariots, and easier to pull off HA rush), but can't get triple promoted mounted any easier. Later on, the +1XP to gunpowder units means double promo muskets and rifles without civics, and triple with civics. The Armour bonus is just flavour.
I don't see this as game breaking unless Boudicca somehow starts building Commando maces (Armoury, SoZ, Colosseum, Theo and Vassalage = 13XP).
Quote:England - Stock Exchange changed to 160 hammers, +65% gold, -15% city maintenance
The maintenance reduction actually self nerfs the gold bonus, so the SE needs to be cheaper to not be still considered junk unless Fin (to put it into perspective though, courthouse = 24 hammers per 5% maintenance reduction, Ikhanda is now 30 hammers, SE is 53, and you halve that cost for the trait bonus). So I don't think this does much to power level except to make people go "Oh, shiny".
Quote:Japan - Change to Fishing/Agri, Pagoda to +45% science (no hammer bonus)
If you accept Rep as a given, it takes a breakeven base bpt rate of 50 for the Pagoda to surpass the French Salon for beaker output. And France has better starting techs, and the Musketeer instead of a mace UU that gets free strikes when they are thrown away with bad odds to break open cities.
I'm still not convinced Japan is that good, because you essentially get locked into an Astro beeline to get the only useful bonus they have. But this isn't breaking the game either.
Quote:Netherlands - Affected by caravel/privateer change, fine.
Portugal - Affected by caravel/privateer change, fine.
Discussed below, but the UB and starting techs are unchanged. And both UU are being nerfed, and a counter unit to both is available earlier in the tech tree. So I don't see how this breaks the mods either.
Quote:Spain - Citadel obsolete at Scientific Method
So Spain could theoretically run Free Market with the Castles trade route, and it means they can churn out 10XP cannons for longer. Still not seeing it when you start with Myst/Fishing unless you can somehow make Spain on a Lake(fish) work and then get the prophet.
Quote:Mongolia: Keshik now immune to first strikes (brought into line with HA and HA replacements, due to PRO change below).
Keshiks will now basically never fight against a PRO leader, because PRO leaders only get free strikes and not CD bonuses. But if you are running into archers with HA you are winning that war, and Keshiks are just a win more mechanic. If this is an unexpected boost, I don't think we see it on a Big and Small map.
Quote:Naval changes:
Caravel, strength 4, -30% against galleys and triremes, 1 capacity (can transport any units), remove ability to enter cultural borders [Other stats unchanged, 60 hammers, requires Optics, 3 moves]
Carrack: Increase to strength 4, -30% against galleys and triremes, 4 moves, 2 capacity. remove ability to enter cultural borders
EIM: Lower to 3 capacity (unsure if change matters, it probably isn't needed), remove ability to enter culture without OB
Privateer: Requires Optics and Paper (other stats unchanged, cost 80, strength 6, 4 moves, hidden nationality, requires iron or copper)
Ship of the Line: iCollateraldamage = 75, iCollateraldamagelimit = 70 (ie 30% hp max damage from collateral), iCollateralDamageLimit = 5
Ironclad: Decrease to 1 movement point. Starts with Navigation 1 and Flanking 1 promotions, 1 free strike strength 12, no defensive bonus, requires iron, coal, steel and Steampower, costs 120.
Carrack become an earlier version of the galleon (same moves, same strength), but caravels become a weaker version of the original Carrack. So everyone can start colonising overseas, but ain't doing it quickly unless they get Astro. No one is spending 60 hammers to transport a single unit for a large invasion, so we should expect to see, at most, small stack combat on overseas islands in the gap to Astro. And Privateers now exist to force all players to divert coastal production into a boat that can't carry troops, which further limits the ability for players to build transport capacity, except for EIM which can be used instead of privateers, but the Dutch will now exist in a situation that is no different to any player fighting galleon versus galleon warfare in a normal RtR game.
End result, large overseas invasions become harder to pull off until you establish naval supremacy.
Then SoL are just the collateral of the sea, and eventually ironclads just murder any forward naval aggression until DD come on the scene and those players with a good tech advantage start the ball rolling to domination and concession. I don't think anything new is introduced here that creates a new, uncontrollable powerspike, it's actually a restriction on power.
Quote:Traits
PRO: Remove free CD1, give free Drill 3 (+2 free strike chances) to Archery and Gunpowder Units
FIN: +35% production of Library
IND: Can build 2 copies of all national wonders (I figured out how to do it without SDK modding, slightly messy but completely functional), +25% production of world and national wonders, +100% production of forges
PRO is nerfed, FIN now saves 22 hammers on each library, neither of which make me think "OMG broken". So IND is the only introduction that is new power, and I don't know how broken it is. SO to answer your question, IND is what will break this game, out of the new mod changes. But IND is nerfed for wonders anyway, and will only start seeing a benefit once teh second version of the national wonder comes online.
So will a trait that doesn't really kick in until T120 be any good? Probably will be if the game goes long, but that's fine. That's the way late game traits should exist, so long as players have to actually think to make it work. Personally, I think Stalin and De Gaulle getting a shot at setting up double commando factories is an interesting feature, double IW, double GT and double HE probably help a lot on smaller maps to produce large enough stacks to overwhelm people. But I'm not sure how Wall street and OU function if they can't be stacked in the same city.