Krill already mentioned that he wants a new game option that turns the combat deterministic at least when defending against the barbarians. I already started work on it and this is how deterministic combat works.
Standard combat
1. Compare the odds of Attacker winning and loosing (as shown in-game)
2. If AttackerWinning is higher, attacker wins
3. If AttackerLoosing is lower or same, attacker looses
With withdrawal it gets a little bit more complicated
1. Compare the odds of Attacker winning and loosing (as shown in-game)
2. If AttackerWinning is higher, attacker wins
3. If AttackerLoosing is lower or same add up withdrawal odds with Winning Odds aka survive odds
4. If SurviveOdds are higher then LoosingOdds, then withdrawal is triggered
5. If SurviveOdds are lower or same as LoosingOdds, then attacker looses
The winning unit is still damaged. For the damage you can expect the most likely outcome as shown by the BUG combat odds feature. In case of a draw the result with the higher HP amount is used.
The unit still receives XP like in standard BtS.
Now while implementing this I had a different thought. What about if I could turn all the combat in Civ4 deterministic in another game option. The single unit combat is already been taken of by the explanation above. This leaves only these combat aspects with random elements:
- Collateral damage
- Flanking damage
- Air unit interception
- Air bombing
- Nuke interception
As for how it could work:
Collateral damage: Here we generate a random number between 0 and 10000 and multiply it with the current HP of each unit being damaged. In general units with higher HP are damaged more likely and this could be made deterministic. The problem though is that if you have enough immune units the will be choosen everytime once every other unit is damaged once.
Flanking damage: Here we generate a random number against the defending unit odds (not the unit being flanked). If the number is higher the unit is damaged. One way to make this deterministic is to just inverse the defending units odds and damage that many units. eg. The defender has 60% odds of defending therefore we would damage 40% of the units or the flanking maximum.
Air unit interception works similar to standard single combat aka combat over multiple rounds with a change to hit the other. Like above I could just calculate the most likely outcome and damage the units accordingly.
Air bombing is hard as here we just make a random number from 0 to airBombRate and compare it to a random number from 0 to airBombDefense. The main problem here is that there is no way for the player to manipulate this by promotions or anything.
Nuke interception probably can't be made deterministic as it's a single dice roll (D100) against the interception value.
I'm really struggling in coming up with good easy rules to make these aspects deterministic and this is why I'm turning to the community in hopes that somebody comes up with a good idea.
The basic proposal is to play a highly random game: random leaders and civs on a random (but checked) map along the lines of PB64 and PB69 using the same settings but possibly a different map script, there has been mention of the use of Totestra. I am apathetic about the map script.
Not aiming for a huge game, but if there are a decent number of signups I would hope it would be possible to start both sequential and a simulateous turn games.
I believe the following individuals have mentioned an interest in signing up: Commodore, Pindicator, superdeath, Thoth (if sequential?)
== Server Information ==
Mod: RB71 This mod is currently similar to RtR_6.0.0.5. If the mod needs to be updated I will always link to the current version on the PBSpy page.
PBServer: pb.zulan.net:3071
PBSpy: https://civ.zulan.net/pbspy/game/144/ (Log)
I've added Superdeath whip as game admin. Feel free to add more if needed.)
If, like me, you like to scout aggressively in all directions, then take advantage of that all-important period where the other wizards have contact with no one but you, while you know everyone... perhaps this little table will come in handy.
ResearchCost and AITradeValue have been pulled from data\spells.ini.
Thanks given to SevenSpirits in absentia, and to Charriu.
After a long hiatus, there is an update available for the RtR mod (version RtR 6.0.0.1) is a mod for Civ IV:BtS. Its goal is to fill a possible niche regarding hyper random games played on low yield, unchecked, maps with random leaders and civs (as exemplified by PB64 and PB69). Most changes are already included in RtR 5.1.1.0 (which lends the entirety of the trait system and the majority of civ balance) and CtH 4.0 (which this mod has been built on top of). There are additional changes which originate within ToW (the workboat change which is now integral to all FB mods and the tech scaling cost).
The maps that this mod is considered for use with are:
Fractal
Highlands
Global Highlands
Lakes
Terra
Tilted Axis
Big and Small
Hemispheres
Tectonics
RtR 6.0.0.1 does not make any changes to the map generation process, so whilst the goal is for the mod to function without map checking, the reality is that maps will need to be generated by a map checker and the starts balanced (as the map generator remains happy to give a player 18 forests and a plain cow, and another three seafood and a wet corn).
Whilst I am happy to answer any questions, I hoipe that the below will function as an initial FAQ.
FAQ
Why are you doing this when CtH exists?
Answer: In a word, choice. If RB wishes to continue pursuing hyper random games, this mod is offered as a tool to smooth out some of the janky, tall poppy elements, and to remove some of the potential T0 unwinnable positions from occuring. That said, I do intend to open signups for a new hyper random game with the same or similar settings to PB69 ASAP.
What changes beyond CtH are you proposing?
Answer: From RtR (and originally from ToW):
Traits and civs,
The additional changes to the game which are part of trait civ balancing (barracks culture, drydock and colosseum XP), which I believe have always been acknowledged as well implemented.
Sword/archer and mace/crossbow city attack/unit defence (which are, IMO, part of the above).
Deterministic barbarian combat (no player should lose a unit on defence to a barb, removing a large element of bad luck and anger from the game).
A few extra tweaks to resolve issues around turn splits and very late game (fort and town access to resources, but cannot be air bombed. They can be pillaged by land units as normal, Internet affecting space race, removal of some oil dependency).
Renaissasnce era naval changes
Tech cost scaling from ToW, the Known Tech bonus changes from PB18 (which resolves the old Hunting/AH pasture complaint, and removes all of the changes to tech costs).
The Writing/Alphabet/Paper Map trading/OB/Tech trading swap (but this can easily be reverted and the no map trading option exists).
Folding Communism and Democracy from leaf techs to main line techs for SS (which brings Emancipation into play and hence resolves the cottage pillage problem which exacerbates the tech pace problem in low yield random maps)).
Late era changes to shrines and tech costs (which have no effect in ancient era games).
Wait, really? How is this different from previous versions of RtR then?
Answer: This is esswentially a roll back from previous RtR versions which included a significant number of experimental changes. There is no slavery nerf slowing the game down, no weird civic changes, no changes to peace treaties or tile improvements or resource availability different to CtH, no unexpected "Pastures at Hunting", no changes to bulb pathing by changes due to tech prerequisite changes, Corps are still present. RtR 6.0.0.1 should play far closer to CtH than to RtR with the exception that the ancient era tech will play out quicker due to tech cost scaling reducing beaker costs (Standard/Emperor ancient era tech costs would be 1155 in RtR 6.0.0.1 and 1336 in CtH, Huge/Emperor would be 1199 in RtR 6.0.0.1, 1548 in CtH 4.0 but everything else will match. For context, HBR is ~265 on Standard/Emperor, ~300 beakers on Huge/Emperor maps.
Regarding the "pastures at Hunting" removal, regardless of map size, on difficulties of Emperor and below it is possible for all civs to research one of Hunting or Agri and AH by eot11 so it is not needed.
Did you just randomly put this together with no input from anyone else.
Answer: Charriu was approached and gave his blessing to ths use of the CtH in this manner, and he was the first person (other than myself) to see the proposed change log. The deterministic barb combat implementation was done by Charriu (and I suspect may be the majority of work needed for a completely deterministic combat mod which has been talked about for over a decade).
Have you snuck in any new changes somewhere?
Answer: Yes, there are a few changes which have not been implmented elsewhere. They are labelled in the full change log as new, but I will list them again here. All challenges as to why accepted and open for discussion:
Forts, Villages and Towns cannot be air bombed. They can still be pillaged and improved over. This is a reduced change from some of the extremes that RtR went to, but this change resolves the issues of strategic resources being disconnected at the end of every turn in a late game war and removes a potentially uncounterable situation where the first player to flight can wreck an opponents tech rate with impunity. The fort already provided access to the resource underneath it, and the village/town accessing resources is not new.
Babylon: slight change around the UB, does benefit from trait production bonus and more health given the changes to ancient era tech costs.
Byzantium: Return to a strength 11 knight but with a city attack malus.
Inca: (please forgive me for this) removed the culture because it has always been difficult to balance and reimplemented as city maintenance bonus and fresh water source.
India: Nerfed UU to strength 7 pike.
Drydock: Increased XP from +5 to +6: removes the balance issue around CHM accessing triple promo boats, now everyone can access them at cost of using Vassalage and Theocracy, whereas CHM only needs one (and hence gains access to drafting or Bureau). See PB37 for the challenge around defending at the promotion disadvantage).
Deterministic barb combat. Self explanatory, and is a game option.
War Elephants now gain +25% against knights (in addition to +50% against Mounted). When we were nerfed to strength 7, which has been in place for a long time in evey version of RtR, ToW and CtH, we forgot that this buffed knights. This buff essentially puts WE back to where they were against knights at strength 8 without the imbalanace against ancient and classical era units.
Privateer: Requires Optics, Gunpowder and Paper. Short reasoning is that Mil Trad is too deep, and Optics and Gunpowder alone is too cheap but there are alternatives worth discussing: Optics and Printing Press (weird but no one pushes to PP so it does not stress the tech tree), or Optics and Nationalism (but places a lot onto Nationalism and distorts the tech path). Personally I would suggest Optics and PP is the smarter choice though.
Ship of the Line: back at 3 move from 5 (honestly I thought the 5 was a typo/holdover from the experimental changes previously in place? 5 move collateral which is faster than all other boats is a one right choice).
Democracy and Communism mandatory prerequisites for Radio. Folds Emancipation back into the tech tree from a leaf to a trunk tech which is necessary given the problems around cottages.
Engineering requires Metal Casting, not Machinery. Opens up pikes and castles by reducing the total cost of the path by around 900 beakers but forces the divergent tech path from knights at an earlier point.
I acknowledge that the changes regarding Engineering, Democracy and Communism are new, but I think should be considered in the context that low yield maps may not have the option for planting cottages in the early game due to lack of food so there needs to be the opportunity to grow them mid to late game, and that for the same reason tech differences may make the knight rush extremely challenging to manage.
The civ changes are just minor rebalancing, which I think are not drastic. Likewise the drydock change is relatively minor.
Note that all the changes here are additions to what you already find in BtS unless otherwise stated as NEW
RtR Change log 6.0.0.1
Tile yields and improvements: (same as CtH 4.0)
Jungle: does not grow on resources
Lumbermill:
Available at Metal Casting instead of Replacable Parts
+1 commerce with Machinery
+1 commerce with Electricity
Buildtime decreased to 5 turns from 8
Always gets +1 commerce next to a river no matter which river tile
Workshop:
+1 base hammer
remove +1 hammer from chemistry
Fort:
Cannot be destroyed by air bomb (New - resolve turn splits with air power problem)
Village, Town:
Cannot be destroyed by air bomb (New - resolve turn splits with air power problem)
Provide access and tile yields to copper, horse, iron, coal, oil, aluminium, uranium (New - resolve turn splits with air power problem)
Game mechanics: (same as CtH 4.0 unless stated)
Toroidal maps: City maintenance is the same as cylindrical maps.
Fail-gold: No fail-gold awarded if you complete the wonder somewhere else yourself.
Spreading religions: Spreading never fails in your own cities.
Apostolic Palace Resolutions: Removed the following resolutions:
Declare War
Force Peace
Religious victory
Assign City
Circumnavigation:
Can be achieved by everybody
Optics is additionally required, but code will only trigger the turn after Optics is researched
Harbor receives +50% additional trade yield instead of +1 movement
Drafting: Rifleman cost 2 pop instead of 1.
Global warming: Removed
Espionage: Active missions removed
Culture required to achieve legendary border pop on Quick Speed changed from 25000 to 33000. (as per RtR 5.1.1.0)
Traits: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0)
Financial: +1 commerce on all non-river tiles that have 2+ commerce. +100% production of Bank. +35% production of Library, Market.
Expansive: +2 health per city. +35% production of Worker, Work Boat. +100% production of Market, Aqueduct, Grocer, Harbor.
Creative: +2 culture per city. +100% production of Theatre. +35% production of Library, Observatory.
Charismatic: +2 happiness. +1 happiness from Broadcast Tower. -25% XP needed for promotions. +100% production of Colosseum, +35% production of Library.
Protective: Free Drill 1, Drill 3 promotion for archery and gunpowder units. +100 production of Granary, Walls.
Imperialistic: +50% production of Settlers. +100% Great General points. +100% production of Custom Houses. -10% city maintenance [Numerical bonus not shown in interface. Bonus is multiplicative with other maintenance modifiers. Final displayed city maintenance value is correct and includes this bonus.]
Aggressive: Free C1 promo for melee and gunpowder units. -25% city maintenance [Numerical Bonus not shown in interface. Bonus is multiplicative with other maintenance modifiers. Final displayed city maintenance value is correct and includes this bonus.] +100% production of Barracks, Stable, Drydock.
Philosophical: +150% Great Person production, +100% production of University.
Industrious: +50% wonder production. Does not apply to Pyramids. +100% production of Forge. +35% production of Bank, University. -15% civic maintenance.
Organized, Spiritual: No change from BtS
Civs: (same as RtR 5.1.1.0 unless otherwise stated)
Civ: start tech 1/start tech 2. UB: building replacement: name. Effects changed from standard building (in RtR). UU: unit replacement. Name. Effects changed from standard unit (compared to BTS 3.19).
America: Agriculture/Fishing. UB: Barracks replacement: Armoury. +1XP to Gunpowder, +1XP to Mounted, +1XP to Armour, +2XP to Melee. UU: Musket replacement. Minuteman. Starts with Guerrilla 1 and Woodsman 1.
Arabia: Mysticism/Agriculture. UB: Library replacement: Madrassa. 2 Priest slots, 4 culture, cost 70. UU: Knight replacement: Camel Archer. starts with March. Does not require Horse.
Celts: Hunting/Mysticism. UB: Wall replacement: Dun. Free Guerrilla 2 promotion to units built in this city, no trait production modifier. UU: Sword replacement. Gallic Warrior. Starts with Guerilla 2.
China: Agriculture/Mining. UB: Theatre replacement: Pavilion. Available at Aesthetics. UU: Crossbow replacement. Chokonu. Causes Collateral Damage (max 60%), +2 free strikes. Requires Machinery (Does not require Construction)
Dutch: Fishing/Agriculture. UB: Customs House replacement: Dike. +1 commerce from river tiles, +1 trade route. Cost 120. UU: Galleon replacement. East Indiaman. Strength 6.
Egypt: The Wheel/Agriculture. UB: Monument replacement: Obelisk. +2 Priest slots. UU: Chariot replacement. War Chariot. Strength 5. -25% against archers. Flank attack against Catapults (3 units, max 100%).
England: Fishing/Mining. UB: Bank replacement: Stock Exchange. +15% science. UU: Rifle replacement. Redcoat. +25% against gunpowder units, starts with Amphibious.
Ethiopia: Hunting/Mining. UB: Monument replacement. 1 Merchant slot; gives sentry to units built in this city. UU: Musket replacement. Oromo warrior. Starts with Drill 2 and Drill 4.
Greece: Hunting/Fishing. UB: Colosseum replacement: Odeon. +1XP to all land units in addition to base Colosseum XP. UU: Axe replacement. Phalanx. +100% defence against chariots.
Holy Roman Empire: Hunting/Mysticism. UB: Courthouse replacement: Rathaus. -75% city maintenance. UU: Longbow replacement. Landskneckt. +50% against Mounted units.
Inca: Agriculture/Mysticism. UB: Granary replacement: Terrace, city acts as source of fresh water, -15% city maintenance. UU: Warrior replacement: Quechua. +100% against archery units. (New)
Japan: Fishing/The Wheel. UB: Harbour replacement. Nanban Harbour. +2XP for land units. UU: Maceman replacement. Samurai. Requires only Machinery (Does not require Civil Service) Starts with Drill 2.
Khmer: Mining/Hunting. UB: Aqueduct replacement: Baray. +1 food, +1 culture, +1 Artist slot. Cost 80. UU: War Elephant replacement. Ballistaphant (I don't know the actual name). Targets mounted first outside of cities. Can construct baray.
Korea: Agriculture/Mining. UB: University replacement. Seowan: +40% research, cost 150. UU: Catapult replacement. Hwacha. +50% against Melee units. Can kill.
Mali: The Wheel/Mining. UB: Forge replacement: Mint. +10% gold, +10% beakers. UU: Archer replacement. Skirmisher. Strength 4, -40% against archers.
Mongolia: Hunting/The Wheel. UB: Stables replacement: Ger. +1 culture, +4XP to mounted units, requires Archery, +100% production with horse, no trait production modifier. UU: Horse Archer replacement. Keshik. +1 free strike. Ignores terrain movement costs.
Native America: Hunting/Agriculture. UB: Monument replacement: Totem Pole. +3XP to Archery units, +1XP to Gunpowder units. Requires Archery, Obsoletes at Assembly Line. UU: scout replacement. Tracker. Starts with Woodsman 3, can create Totem Pole. Upgrades to Explorer and Musketman
Russia: Hunting/Mining. UB: University replacement: Research Institute. Cost 120 hammers. Free Scientist. UU: Cavalry replacement. Cossack. +50% against Mounted units.
Spain: Mysticism/Fishing. UB: Castle Replacement. Citadel. -20% city maintenance. +2 culture. No espionage bonus. +2XP to siege units. Does not obsolete. Does not require Walls. UU: Cuirassier replacement. Conquestador. +50% against melee units. Can build Citadel.
Sumeria: The Wheel/Agriculture. UB: Courthouse replacement: Ziggarut. Available at Writing. Cost 90. UU: axe replacement. Vulture. Strength 6. 25% bonus against melee. 5% bonus against axemen.
Vikings: Hunting/Fishing. UB: Lighthouse replacement: Trading Post. +25% production of naval units. UU: Maceman replacement: Berserker. Starts with Amphibious.
Zulu: Agriculture/Hunting. UB: Barracks replacement: Ikhanda: -20% city maintenance. +100% production with iron. No production modifier from trait. UU: Spear replacement: Impi: -40% against archers, 2 moves (New)
Leaders: (Same as CtH 4.0/RtR 5.1.1.0)
New leader LieuYe - ORG/PRO
New leader San Martin - CHM/CRE
New leader Nebuchadnezzar - IND/PHI
Civics: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0 unless stated)
Government civics
Hereditary Rule: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Low cost
Representation: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium cost.
Police State: Available at Military Science. +25% production of Military Units. -50% War Weariness. Medium cost
Universal Suffrage: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium cost
Legal Civics:
Vassalage: Provides free support for military units (only affects Pacifism unit cost). Requires Feudalism. Medium cost.
Bureaucracy: Effect unchanged from base BtS. High cost.
Nationhood: Effect unchanged from base BtS. No cost.
Free Speech: +1 commerce from villages, +3 commerce from towns, +100% Culture, Low cost, requires Liberalism.
Labor Civics:
Slavery: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium cost.
Serfdom: Requires Monarchy instead of Feudalism. +50% worker speed. +1 commerce on Farms, +1 hammer on Watermills and Windmills. Low cost.
Caste System: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium upkeep.
Emancipation: +100% Improvement Upgrade Rate Modifier. +2 hammers from specialists. iAnarchyLength = 0 (does not cause anarchy to revolt to this civic). Requires Democracy. (Unhappiness effect removed). Low cost.
Economy Civics:
Mercantilism: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium cost.
Free Market: No longer provides -25% Corporate Costs. Now provides +25% Trade Route Yield. Medium Cost.
State Property: Effect unchanged from base BtS. Medium cost.
Environmentalism: +6 health, +2 health from public transport. +2 gold per specialist, +1 hammer from lumber mill. +3 hammers, +2 commerce from forest preserves. No effect on corporations. Requires Chemistry. Medium cost.
Religious Civics: unchanged.
Buildings: (Same as CtH 4.0 unless stated)
Aqueduct: Cost decreased to 80 from 100
Barracks: +1 culture, +3XP to land units. Cost 60 hammers. (RtR 5.1.1.0)
Castle: Obsoletes at Corporation instead of Economics
Colosseum: +1 happy, +1 happy per 20% culture slider, +1XP to melee, archery, mounted and siege units. Requires Construction. Cost 80 hammers, Bonus XP applies to all Colosseum UB. -25% war weariness. (New)
Customs House: Cost decreased to 120 from 180.
Dry dock: +6XP to naval units. (nw)
Jails: now -50% War Weariness. (RtR 5.1.1.0)
National Wonders, Projects: (Same as CtH 4.0)
Wonder Resource Modifiers: All wonders that had +100% production with a specific resource now only have +50% production with that resource.
Rushmore: Now -50% WW, (from -25%).
Red Cross: 200h.
West Point: 550h, +5XP. Now requires a lvl 5 unit (17XP/13XP for Charismatic).
World Wonders, Projects: (Same as CtH 4.0 unless stated)
Wonder Resource Modifiers: All wonders that had +100% production with a specific resource now only have +50% production with that resource.
Great Lighthouse: Now +1 trade route instead of +2 trade routes, enabled at Masonry, but needs lighthouse and Sailing (no functional change in the tech requirements but makes F6 look less cluttered). Obsoletes at Paper.
Mausoleum of Maussollos: Obsoletes at Nationalism
Pyramids: Industrious: No trait production bonus whilst building Pyramids.
SoZ: Obsolete at Gunpowder.
The Internet: No longer a project. Now a wonder. 2k cost, +15% beakers in every city, +2 scientist gpp, double production speed with copper. (RtR 5.1.1.0)
Religious Shrines: Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish Shrines can only be built in Ancient start games. Confucian shrine can only be built in Classical and Ancient start games. Taoist, Muslim and Christian shrines can only be built in Medieval, Classical, and Ancient start games. (RtR 5.1.1.0)
Barbarians: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0 unless stated)
Never attack your stack if it includes a settler and a unit that is giving military happiness.
Never raze a city even on autoraze. On recapturing such a city you too do not trigger an autoraze.
All difficulty levels adjusted: Human barbarian units are created from turn 40, barb cities can be created beginning from turn 50
Barbs now never attack your unit stack if the stack includes a settler and a unit that is giving military happiness (CtH 4.0)
Barbs never raze a city even autoraze. On recapturing a city you too do not autoraze it. (CtH 4.0)
Barbarians: Barbarian Animals: Wolf: unchanged.
Lion: Strength 1, 1 move. +100% against Melee.
Panther: Strength 1, 2 move, starts with woodsman 2 promotion.
Bear: Strength 1, 1 move, +200% against Melee.
Scout: +200% against barbarian animals. Require no tech. Every player starts with a scout instead of a warrior.
All difficulty levels adjusted: Human barbarian units are created from turn 40, barb cities can be created beginning from turn 50
New Game option: Barbarian deterministic combat: Combat initiated by barbarian units attacking player units is now deterministic: the most likely outcome will always occur. eg if a barbarian warrior attacks an unpromoted player archer which is on flat land, the highest odds outcome is the barb warrior hits twice (for 16hp per hit), and the archer lives at 68hp. If the attacking and defending units are identical (ie barb warrior attacks player warrior on flatland, defending unit lives with minimum hp (in this case, 20hp). (New)
Base unit changes: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0 unless stated)
Scouts: Require no tech. Every player starts with a scout instead of a warrior. +200% against barbarian animals.
Swordsman (and all replacements): +50% city attack
Archer (and all replacements): +30% defense against Swordsmen.
War Elephants: Strength 7, +50% against mounted units. Requires Ivory or iron. (New)
Trebuchet: Now requires Machinery, instead of Engineering.
Crossbowman: +25% defense against macemen.
Maceman: +25% attack against cities.
Explorer: Gains Flanking. (CtH 4.0)
Airship: Cannot see submarines
SAM Infantry: 75% interception chance (up form 40%)
Marine: Requires Assembly Line, Fascism, Rifling.
Paratrooper: Requires Assembly Line, Fascism, Flight. Can attack tiles without combat units after paradrop.
Mobile Artillery: Can now load guided Missiles and Tac Nukes (as Submarines and Missile Cruisers do). No longer require oil.
ICBM: Cost increased to 1500, does not create fallout on strategic resources. (CtH 4.0)
Tactical Nukes: Cost increased to 750 from 250. Blast radius reduced to impact tile. Does not create fallout on strategic resources. (CtH 4.0)
Guided Missiles: Can bombard units, tiles and cultural defence, cause collateral damage to 2 units, cannot be intercepted. Full list of changes (underline means original stat, for comparison):
Flanking: Flanking strength (used to calculate damage from flanking strikes) or all units reduced by 50%.
Upgrade: Units do not lose XP when upgrading
Coastal blockade: blockaded cities can still work blocked tiles
Air units Can bombard road networks
Naval mechanic changes: (Same as CtH 4.0)
Circumnavigation: Can be achieved by everybody
Optics is additionally required, but code will only trigger the turn after Optics is researched
Harbor receives +50% additional trade yield instead of +1 movement
Coastal Blockade now has a range of 1 square around the blockader, instead of 3 squares.
Naval unit changes: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0) unless stated.
Refrigeration: Remove +1 sea movement (CtH 4.0)
Work Boat: No tech requirement (still require Fishing to work water tiles).
Caravel: Base movement 3. Strength 4, -30% against galleys and triremes, 1 capacity (can transport any units). Cost 60 hammers, requires Optics. Remove ability to enter cultural borders.
Carrack: Base movement 3. Strength 4, -30% against galleys and triremes, 2 capacity. Remove ability to enter cultural borders. Cost 60 hammers, requires Optics.
Galleon: Requires Paper and Astronomy (CtH 4.0)
East Indiaman: Base movement 4. Lower to 3 capacity, remove ability to enter culture without OB.
Privateer: Base movement 4. Sentry. +65% attack against Ships of the Line. Requires Optics, Paper and Gunpowder, Upgrades to Transport (not Destroyer). (Removed ability [to attack without war declaration] and [hidden nationality].)
Ship of the Line: Base movement 3. iCollateraldamage = 75, iCollateraldamagelimit = 70 (ie 30% hp max damage from collateral), iCollateralDamageLimit = 5. Cost 120 hammers. (New)
Technology: (Same as RtR 5.1.1.0 unless stated)
Adjusted tech cost is now calculated by ((log(cost of tech) / log (40) - 1) * (1.2X + 0.3), where X=iResearchPercent in CIV4WorldInfo.XML, and then modified by difficulty level. For further information, please see thespreadsheet for a saveable version of tech cost calculator (Thanks to Sevenspirits for the initial version of this spreadsheet and this mechanic, spreadsheet included in mod folder for reference)
Known tech bonus no longer scales with total player number. Scales depending on the tech era of the most advanced player in the game:
Ancient: No bonus
Classical: +2% per met player with tech, max +60% (no further bonus after 30 players)
Medieval: +4% per met player with tech, max +60% (no further bonus after 15 players)
Renaissance: +6% per met player with tech, max +60% (no further bonus after 10 players)
Industrial: +8% per met player with tech, max +80% (no further bonus after 10 players)
Modern: +8% per met player with tech, max +80% (no further bonus after 10 players)
Future: +8% per met player with tech, max +80% (no further bonus after 10 players)
Techs: Fishing, Agriculture, The Wheel, Hunting, Mysticism and Mining: base cost changed to 45.
Writing: Enables Map trading, no longer enables OB.
Alphabet: No longer enables tech trading, allows Open Borders, cost 250 (cost reduction CtH 4.0)
Engineering: Mandatory prerequisite: Metal Casting. Does not require Machinery. (New)
Paper: Enables Tech trading.
Democracy: Base tech cost reduced from 2800 to 2100. (New)
Utopia (Communism): Base tech cost reduced from 2800 to 2100. (New)
Toroidal maps: Now return city maintenance as if the map were Cylindrical.
Circumnavigation requires 55% water on the map, otherwise it is disabled. (Might be CtH 4.0, definitiely in RtR 5.1.1.0)
Workboats no longer count as military units for upkeep. They're also no longer considered a military unit so a War Academy will not speed their production.
Maximum player number increased to 52
BUG integration: (Same as CtH 4.0) Link to further details here
BUG fully integrated
New BUG feature "Grid for graphs"
New BUG feature improved Active advisor screen
New BUG feature show last tick beakers in tooltip
New BUG feature show KTB on tech
Combat log is generated outside the game
Included additional bug fixes: (Same as CtH 4.0)
Combat log now only writes combats in which you participate
City names can no longer include % in their name. This caused a crash
Fix decay not being reset when decaying to 0 production
Fix decay not counting up, if something is finished this turn
Fix war declaration by third party triggers teleportation of players already in a war
The No Espionage game option now works properly:
GSpy points are converted into Great Merchant points.
Espionage no longer gets converted into culture.
Cultural expansion now happens at normal values.
Spies cannot be built.
Graphs are always visible on contact.
Trade route turn order bug.
Foreign trade route cities lost permanently when your city using those routes is destroyed (fix is taken from BTS unofficial patch).
Build culture double production.
Build wealth/research/culture + production automation double production.
Proposed trades including cities, where the cities no longer exist to be trades, are not cancelled (note: I consider this a bug because proposed trades are already cancelled if a player lacks the requisite e.g. resources/gold. could be considered not a bug).
Production decay counter on a type of build (e.g. axeman) is not reset after completing one if the next item in the queue is of the same type (fix is taken from BTS unofficial patch).
Feature growth/disappearance rates, and bonus discovery (mine pop) rates, do not scale with game speed.
Diplomacy Pausing: Diplomacy windows do not occur on game login whilst the game is paused.
Production decay now happens before production in turn order preventing exploit to never decay something
Fix teleporation on first war party caused by war declaration of third party
Autosaves: Autosaves are generated at login and log out; log out saves are saved to a folder specified within the global defines XML file. Default location is C:\temp.
Additional alterations have been made to enable hosting of games on the pitboss server belonging to Zulan. These changes are detailed here
CvCity::init - Building a city on floodplains no longer removes floodplains, they'll still be there if city is destroyed (from Mongoose SDK)
CvCity::getProductionModifier (three versions of this function) - Changed to allow mods to create negative production modifiers (thanks NotSoGood)
CvCity::setBuildingHealthChange - Fixed several copy/paste and logic bugs affecting bonus building health from events, especially after city conquest (thanks Emperor Fool)
CvCity::setBuildingHappyChange - Fixed several logic bugs affecting bonus building health from events, especially after city conquest
CvCity - Added function getNumActiveWorldWonders()
CvCity::PopOrder - Fixed issue introduced by prior attempt to fix handling of buildings with player limits. Building classes which set iMaxPlayerInstances should now work correctly regardless of what iExtraPlayerInstances is set to. (thanks ztjal)
CvCityAI::AI_yieldValue - Fixed issue causing city governor and AI to heavily weight food when building gold or any other form of commerce. Produced unexpected and poor results for human player, did not help AI either.
CvCityAI::AI_doHurry - Fixed several bugs where AI would incorrectly think it was getting a great deal on a pop/gold rush when it was actually doing the other kind of rush. (thanks Pep)
CvPlayerAI::AI_isFinancialTrouble, CvCityAI::AI_updateBestBuild, and CvPlayerAI::AI_getMinFoundValue - Fixed bug in calculating expenses when AI has negative gold per turn
CvCityAI::AI_cityThreat - Fixed bug when AI is running crush strategy, wrong int was divided
CvCityAI::AI_neededDefenders - Improved efficiency and minor tweaks
CvCityAI::AI_chooseProduction - Fixed bug reducing AI production of workers, and a similar issue for barb players producing too many
CvDLLButtonPopup::launchFreeColonyPopup - Removed cities whose liberation player you are at war with from popup.
CvPlayer and CvDLLWidgetData - Fixed bug where you could acquire unlimited free techs from Oracle or Liberalism (thanks Emperor Fool)
isPotentialEnemy in CvGameCoreUtils - Fixed bug leading to AI launching invasions when unable to declare war, troops eventually got bounced when war was declared
CvGameTextMgr::setBuildingHelp - Fixed issue in mods with display of exposing spies text for buildings which lower espionage defense (thanks Afforess)
CvGameTextMgr (many places) - Fixed issues where unhappiness and unhealthiness from civics or buildings would incorrectly show up as -(unhappy face) instead of +(unhappy face) in several circumstances. (Thanks EmporerFool, Grave, Afforess)
CvGameTextMgr - Game will now properly display info for buildings which generate unhappiness in an area or globally, or produce state religion unhappiness (should these ever come up in mods)
CvPlayer::canFound - Changed handling of founding on water tiles so that Python callback has final say if it is turned on
CvPlayer::removeBuildingClass - Fixed issue with removing buildings when building class was maxed out for some mods (thanks EF)
CvPlayer::canTradeItem - You can now ask AI members of your own team to change religion or civics (thanks denev)
CvPlayerAI::AI_civicValue - Fixed crash bug in multi-player simultaneous turns games created by necessary re-timing of AI_doSplit (thanks to TheOnlyDJCat for debugging help)
CvPlayerAI::AI_conquerCity - Fixed bug where cityAcquiredAndKept event reported wrong player in some circumstances (thanks Maniac)
CvPlayerAI::AI_targetGold - Fixed bug causing AI to not bother with budgeting for expenses for first 40 turns of scenarios and advanced start games
CvPlayerAI::AI_foundValue - Added missing division for iClaimThrehsold (thanks denev)
CvPlayerAI::AI_unitValue - Stealth boats do not make good escorts since they often don't defend, so AI is now very unlikely to use them as escorts for transports.
CvPlayerAI::AI_getHealthWeight - Fixed bug for mods where civics with negative iExtraHealth were evaluated incorrectly (thanks phungus420)
CvPlayerAI::AI_getHappinessWeight - Fixed bug for mods where civics with negative happiness effects from troops, largest cities, or war weariness were evaluated incorrectly
CvPlayerAI::AI_bestPlotEspionage - relevant weights are 0, +- 50, +- 100, so comparison for Agg AI should be < 51 instead of < 50
CvPlayerAI::AI_changePeacetimeTradeValue and CvPlayerAI::AI_changePeacetimeGrantValue - AIs you haven't met yet will no longer get angry at you for trading with their worst enemy (thanks Sephi)
CvPlayerAI::AI_doDiplo - Fixed issue where team is sneak attack ready but hasn't declared war, AI would still demand tribute. If other team accepted, it blocked war declaration for 10 turns but AI still launched invasion and was then bounced when it could eventually declare.
CvPlayerAI::AI_getStrategyHash - Fixed incorrect counting of destroyers as mobile anti-air
CvPlayerAI::AI_getTotalFloatingDefendersNeeded - Fixed poor decision by AI if it has captured one or two cities on someone else's continent, it would minimally defend its new cities
CvPlayerAI::AI_getStrategyHash - Fixed several bugs where player ID was used where team ID was intended
CvPlayerAI::AI_targetCityValue - Fixed issues with valuation of cities with inactive world wonders, multi-holy-cities
CvPlayerAI::AI_commerceWeight - Improved valuation of generating culture in human player cities when culture bar is > 50% (ie, player probably going for cultural victory)
CvPlayerAI::AI_bestTech - Fixed potential rare crash bug in mods where units with no transport capacity can upgrade to units with transport capacity (thanks Afforess)
CvPlayerAI::AI_missionaryValue - Fixed copy and past bug causing overvaluation of missionaries for AIs going for cultural victory early in the game.
CvPlayerAI::AI_unitValue - Fixed potential crash bug in looking up AI_unitValue for UNITAI_MISSIONARY units without passing a valid CvArea*
CvSelectionGroup::continueMission - Fixed issue causing units with multiple orders to forget their later orders under certain circumstances. (thanks Pep)
CvTeam::doTurn - Added barbarian passive tech fix from Mongoose SDK
CvTeam::shareCounters - Fixed bug causing inappropriate overflow research and effectively free techs when forming a Permanent Alliance
CvTeam::addTeam - Fixed bug where, if civs A and B join in a permanent alliance, they get the max of A and B's espionage points against C but C just keeps its point against A and loses its points to B if that's higher
CvTeam::shareCounters - Fixed bug in permanent alliances when No Tech Brokering is turned on, where a civ would often become unable to trade a tech they had researched after entering a permanent alliance.
CvTeamAI::AI_doWar - use bFinancesProLimitedWar for limited war calc instead of max war version
CvTeamAI::AI_calculateAreaAIType - Fixed incorrect index usage (thanks cephalo)
CvUnit::convert - Fixed potential issue in mods where units with transport capacity might upgrade to units without (from Mongoose SDK)
CvUnit::shouldLoadOnMove - Fixed issue with all terrain land units moving onto water tiles with transports in them (from Mongoose SDK)
CvUnit::canMoveInto - Removed strange behavior where setting a unit to be unable to enter a terrain type would be overridden by features (forrest, fallout) (thanks TC01)
CvUnit::isIntruding - Kept 3.17 unofficial patch feature that vassal spies are never caught in master's territory
CvUnit::canAirDefend - Land units which are on transports can no longer defend against air attacks (from Mongoose SDK)
CvUnit::collateralCombat - Kept 3.17 unofficial patch feature which allows mods to enables barrage promotions for collateral damage units
CvUnit::canSpread - Moved Python cannot spread callback to end of function where it belongs, will speed up those mods which use this callback a little
CvUnit::canRangeStrikeAt - Added check for whether target plot is visible (thanks God-Emperor)
CvUnitAI::AI_spreadReligionAirlift and CvUnitAI::AI_spreadCorporationAirlift - AI will no longer airlift multiple of the same kind of missionary or executive to the same target spread city on the same turn
CvUnitAI::AI_paradrop - fixed bug with valuation of terrain bonuses causing paradrops to avoid bonuses in some circumstances when intention is clearly to encourage landing on bonuses and pillaging
CvUnitAI::AI_settleMove - fixed bug when settler cannot reach a city site in an area (blocked by mountains, other player). Caused settler to wait infinitely in city instead of loading into transport.
CvUnitAI::AI_assaultSeaMove - Fixed bug where unit type was used when unit AI type was intended
CvUnitAI::AI_specialSeaTransportMissionary - Fixed minor bug in valuation for executives
Knowledgebase For Modders
All of these are additions for balancing the game
GlobalDefines.xml
CIRCUMNAVIGATE_MIN_WATER_PERCENT = The Circumnavigation bonus is only active if the map has more then X per cent of water tiles
TECH_COST_CIV_COUNT_HARD_CAP = Upper limit civs giving known tech bonus. 0 is disabled
TECH_COST_CIV_COUNT_HARD_CAP_LOWER = Lower limit civs giving known tech bonus. 0 is disabled
TECH_COST_MODIFIER_PER_ERA_MULTIPLIER = Use highest era (possibly capped) and multiply with the fraction of contacts knowing the tech, TECH_COST_TOTAL_KNOWN_TEAM_MODIFIER, and TECH_COST_MODIFIER_PER_ERA_MULTIPLIER
TECH_COST_MAXIMUM_ERA_CAP = Use highest era (possibly capped) and multiply with the fraction of contacts knowing the tech, TECH_COST_TOTAL_KNOWN_TEAM_MODIFIER, and TECH_COST_MODIFIER_PER_ERA_MULTIPLIER
TECH_COST_TOTAL_MODIFIER_EARLY_CAP = Use highest era (possibly capped) and multiply with the fraction of contacts knowing the tech, TECH_COST_TOTAL_KNOWN_TEAM_MODIFIER, and TECH_COST_MODIFIER_PER_ERA_MULTIPLIER
TECH_COST_TOTAL_MODIFIER_ADVANCED_CAP = Use highest era (possibly capped) and multiply with the fraction of contacts knowing the tech, TECH_COST_TOTAL_KNOWN_TEAM_MODIFIER, and TECH_COST_MODIFIER_PER_ERA_MULTIPLIER
SLAVERY_NERF_ENABLED = Whips generate now 30/20/20/.. hammers for the 1/2/3/.. whip
CIRCUM_FOR_EVERYBODY = Every player receives the circumnavigation bonus
ENABLE_EXECUTIVE_SPAWNS_FOR_STRAGGLERS = An corp executive is spawn for players discovering this late after the HQ was settled, might be broken
ENABLE_FINANCIAL_RIVERSIDE_PENALTY = Financial bonus does not apply on river tiles
ENABLE_TREAT_TOROIDAL_MAINTENANCE_AS_CYLINDRICAL = Toroidal maps have the same maintenance cost as cylindrical
ENABLE_NO_ESPIONAGE_FIX = Does what it says
OWN_CITY_FAIL_GOLD_MULTIPLIER = You no longer generate fail gold for multiple same national wonders etc.
ENABLE_PITBOSS_PAUSE_FIX = Does what it says
PEACE_TREATY_NEGOTIATIONS = Works with the disabled "Immediate peace treaty negotiations" game option. Defines when peace treaty negotiations can start
TECH_COST_SCALING_ALGORITHM = Enable the tech cost scaling from SevenSpirits Tides of War mod
ENABLE_ALWAYS_SUCCESSFUL_DOMESTIC_RELIGION_SPREAD = Missionaries always succed spreading religions to your own cities
ENABLE_RIVER_SIDE_YIELD_ALSO_ON_CORNER = River bonus (Lumbermill and Forest Preserve) also applies to the corner tiles
ENABLE_NON_WORKABLE_TILES_DUE_TO_COASTAL_BLOCKADE = If a tile is blocked by a coastal blockade the adjacent cities can no longer work this tile
CIRCUMNAVIGATE_FREE_TRADE_ROUTE = Gives +X Trade routes on circumnavigation
ENABLE_INFLATION_TECH_ALTERNATIVE = Inflation still occurs with increasing turn numbers, but in addition if (All techs you discovered / All available techs) * Maximum turn numbers is higher then the current turn, inflation takes the calculated turn from techs as a base for the calculation.
CIV4BuildingInfos.xml
DirectProductionTraits = This gives a straight hammer reduction to the building. e.G. a Granary with value 10 would cost 10 hammers less.
CIV4TraitInfos.xml
iCityUpkeepModifier = The upkeep per city is reduced by a per cent value
ExtraYieldLandThresholds = works just like ExtraYieldThresholds, but only on land tiles
ExtraYieldWaterThresholds = works just like ExtraYieldThresholds, but only on water tiles
iTradeRouteModifiers = gives a per cent bonus to trade route income similar to the harbor
CIV4TechInfos.xml
FreeUnitEverybodyClass = Gives everybody, who discovers the tech a free unit
CIV4ImprovementInfos.xml
bPermanent = was changed so that it no longer controls if an improvement can be pillaged, everything else still applies
bNotPillage = now this controls if an improvement can be pillaged
CIV4BonusInfos.xml
bNukeImmune = makes the tile on which this bonus resides immune to fallout, so improvements on it won't be destroyed by nukes
CIV4UnitInfos.xml
DirectProductionTraits = This gives a straight hammer reduction to the unit. e.G. a Worker with value 10 would cost 10 hammers less.
Observer mode
Observer mode is functional but disabled due to bandwidth issues. Requires pitboss logging enabled, and for the host to run the observer program. Observer mode is then accessible at a preset web address. Only available in Pitboss, additional server side applications required for functionality, available from the following links.
After a hiatus of more than a year (coinciding with the birth of our first child), the calendar has turned to 2023 and it's time to launch another season of Civ4 AI Survivor! This will be the seenth time in all that we're embarked on this venture. Back in Season One, I was still figuring out the format and running everything via forums posts at Realms Beyond. It was a bit of a rough process even if it was still fun. For Season Two, I switched over to Livestreaming the matches in real time, and that made things infinintely more fun for everyone with the viewers getting to comment on the action in real time. It's not an exaggeration to say that the running commentary on the Livestream was often much more entertaining than whatever the AI leaders happened to be doing at the moment. Season Three saw more refinements to the process, with maps selected ahead of time and blindly assigned to the leaders for purposes of fairness, and online straw polls/predictions recorded before the matches and included in a series of written previews. Season Four initiated the adoption of the correct starting techs for each civilization along with the implementation of a second AI-controlled observer civ so that we could watch the voting in the Apostolic Palace without fear of a religious victory taking place. Season Five ditched the Apostolic Palace and saw the largest turnout yet in terms of the community. Aided no doubt by the COVID-19 pandemic that left many people working from home, Season Five of AI Survivor exploded in popularity to reach an average of 250 contest submissions and hundreds of viewers tuning into the Livestream. At its height, I was averaging 150+ viewers across the length of a seven hour stream and topping 250 viewers at its peak. Season Six added a fantasy sports contest with auction bidding of the AI leaders running in parallel with the normal scoring competition for each individual game. Let's hope that we can keep things going strong with an entirely new competition here for Season Seven.
The basic tournament structure will remain the same from past seasons. The 52 AI leaders in Civilization 4 get randomly sorted into eight opening round games, half of them with 6 leaders and half of them with 7 leaders. Two leaders will advance to the playoff round from each match, the winning leader and the non-winner with the highest in-game score. AIs who survive the match but do not advance will get one final opportunity to make the playoffs in a Wildcard game played after the opening round matches. The Wildcard game has had as many as a dozen leaders and as few as six leaders in past years and it can get a little bit weird as a result. (The Wildcard game is also the only one that we run with Raging Barbarians turned on, and yes, we have seen an AI leader lose their capital city to the barbs!) This creates our field of 18 leaders sorted into three playoff games of 6 AIs apiece. Finally, we feed the top two leaders from each playoff game, the winner and the highest scoring non-winner, into a championship game and crown an overall winner of the competition.
For Season Four, we tried out a seeding system akin to what the World Cup uses when drawing teams into its groups. This proved to be a big success and we'll be continuing it for Season Seven. The top eight AI leaders based on past performance will be placed in Pool 1, and the next eight AI leaders based on past performance will be placed in Pool 2. Each of the opening round games will have one leader drawn from Pool 1 and one leader drawn from Pool 2. The remaining 36 AI leaders in Civ4 will be unseeded and can be randomly drawn into any opening round game. Here's a list of which leaders fall into which category:
AI leader rankings are based on our customized scoring system of past performances; click here for a link to the full ranking as of the end of Season Six. AI leaders score 5 points for a first place finish, 2 points for a second place finish, and 1 point for each elimination of another leader. While this is a purely arbitrary system, it seems to provide an effective metric for evaluating prior seasons of the competition. The idea behind the seeding system is to stop the top AI leaders from hitting one another in an opening round "group of death" match while still preserving the random draw element that makes this event so much fun. Choosing to pick pools of leaders ranked 1-8 and 9-16 is of course another arbitrary decision but there's some logic to having one top leader and another secondary leader in each of the eight opening round games. Going into Season Seven, there were no ties for any of the leaders right on the cusp of being in Pool 1 or Pool 2, making it easy to sort everyone into their respective categories. Nice and neat this time around.
The game settings will continue over from the last Civ4 AI Survivor competition. We use Deity AIs to speed up the overall pace of the game and reach victory results sooner. The map script is the default Pangaea, designed to keep all of the AI leaders in close contact with one another. Prior to the Season Three competition, I went ahead and tested out some games with Continents or Archipelago setups, and they just didn't work that well. The Civ4 AI doesn't really know how to run naval invasions, and there were lots of wars that just did nothing because the AIs couldn't reach one another. They need to be on the same continent from what I've found, and Pangaea works well enough for that. We use Normal game speed and Standard sized maps, with the one exception of dropping the sea level to "Low" setting for the games with 7 AIs to create a little more room for the extra competitior.
For the game options, the biggest effect on the gameplay is turning off Tech Trading. I'll repeat here what I wrote in the setup phase from past years: "When tech trading is left on, the AIs tend to stay bunched together with no one ever getting too far ahead or falling too far behind. With everyone fielding the same units, it becomes difficult for the AIs to attack one another successfully, and generally makes for less interesting games. But when tech trading gets switched off, all of the AIs have to sink or swim based on their own research efforts. This spreads them out much more widely on the tech tree, and once the laggards fall a full generation behind in military tech, they tend to get swallowed up by their more advanced rivals." With tech trading removed, we frequently see some AIs fall an entire era or more behind in technology, which prevents would-be conquerers from ignoring their economies and trading their way to tech parity. A balanced approach tends to work the best in these games, with alternating periods of warring to expand followed by peaceful consolidation. Woe to those who fall behind in military tech in this competition - it nearly always ends badly. We've also increasingly noticed the different research preferences of the various AI leaders in recent years, with the warmongers overly obsessing on military techs and some of the peacenik AIs refusing to pick up Rifling even as they're dying to foreign invaders. Turning on tech trading would remove this important aspect of the competition and make the overall setup a lot less interesting.
Otherwise, we turn off Vassal States to prevent the AIs from surrendering to one another. If they can vassal when losing wars, hardly any of the AIs ever get eliminated, and that's boring. We want to see bloodthirsty games! No escape, no mercy. We also turn off Events because they're kind of a Single Player thing, and the AI doesn't understand what they do. Similarly, we turn off the goody huts to prevent unwanted prizes from getting handed out to the AIs. We've been moving towards a less random and more standardized setup for the past few years and this seemed like an obvious next step. No more cases of someone getting lucky and popping a critical tech out of a hut on the first turn of the game - now they need to research their own stuff like everyone else. We also use Aggressive AI to spice things up and increase the number of wars. The big thing that Aggressive AI does is remove a flag that will stop the AIs from declaring certain wars. Normally they will not attack someone who has more than double their military power. Turning on Aggressive AI removes that check in their coding logic. This leads to occasionally suicidal war declarations based on diplomatic relations, and that's exactly the kind of thing we want to see!
The biggest change for Season Five was the removal of the Apostolic Palace (quite literally; I deleted the wonder from the XML files on my local computer). The Apostolic Palace had been the most controversial aspect of prior seasons from a gameplay perspective, with the AI civ that controls the Apostolic Palace often using it to shut down literally every invasion launched against them, or forcing everyone in the game to declare war on some hapless target. The argument in favor of the AP was that it introduces a wild and unpredictable element of chaos into each game which could be a lot of fun to watch. The argument against the AP was that a single wonder shouldn't have such a massively disproportionate effect on the rest of the gameplay, and in particular, it shouldn't become a magical shield that could shut down all aggression for hundreds of turns on end. I decided to run a poll question asking the community whether they wanted to see the inclusion of the Apostolic Palace for Season Five and the community voted decisively to remove it by a greater than 2:1 margin. The general consensus following the end of the season was that the gameplay had improved noticeably by leaving it out of the competition. We will not be bringing it back anytime soon.
New Changes for Civ4 AI Survivor Season Seven
Since we've run six full seasons in the past, we already have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't work for this format, and further changes to the AI Survivor setup should be minimal moving forward. We're changing the climate setting back to the default "Temperate" option after experimenting with some of the other climates in recent years. This should create more balanced maps with fewer huge patches of desert or ice or jungle. We'll also continue to use the "Choose Religions" options so that we can avoid getting Buddhism and Hinduism as the dominant religions in every game.
I've also learned over the years about the best ways to run the AI Survivor event from an organizational standpoint. Following the pattern that began in Season Six, I'm planning to hold the draw for all of the opening round games at the same time, on Livestream several weeks before the first match begins (currently planned for 17 March 2023 at the usual noon Livestream time). I'll pick out all of the maps for the games ahead of time and then we'll fill in the leaders from the initial draw. This is largely being done to help save time during the season; by drawing the leaders and prepping the maps before the season starts, I won't have quite as much work to do on a week-by-week basis. I'll also be able to post the previews for all eight opening round games immediately following the draw to again save time and let the community get an early look at the upcoming matchups. Aside from helping to cut down on some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into AI Survivor, doing the early draw also allows us to implement one of the more popular community features:
Fantasy Civ4 AI Survivor
A number of people previously asked about instituting some kind of fantasy feature in past seasons and we were finally able to test it out for the first time in Season Six. We'll follow the same setup as before: the leader draw will take place several weeks before the first match of the season. I will then post all of the opening round previews so that everyone has time to study the upcoming games. One week before the start of the season, I plan to hold an auction draft on Livestream with a group of other community members as we bid on which leaders we want to fill out our fantasy AI Survivor teams. I think that this would work with as few as four or five other individuals but my preference would be to get eight volunteers for a league of eight fantasy teams. I entered the fantasy contest (and won it!) in Season Six but my preference would be to find eight participants for Season Seven so that I can remain in an impartial moderator role when conducting the auction draft. We'll run through the AI leaders and see who can put the best team together for the rest of the season.
If you're interested in taking part in the auction draft, here's a bit more information:
* Scoring will be based on our standard AI Survivor points system: 5 points for a first place finish, 2 points for a second place finish, and 1 point for each elimination of another leader. The further that the leaders on your team make it, the more chances they'll have to score points.
* Unlike the normal AI Survivor points system, players will also score 2 points for having a "First to Die" leader on their team. This should make the bidding much more interesting!
* There are no "positions" to worry about or a limit to the number of AI leaders that can fit on a team. Whether to have a small handful of favorites or a large group of underdogs is a choice that fantasy participants will have to make.
* To take part in the auction draft, participants will need to be available for 2-3 hours starting around noon (EST) on Friday, 31 March 2023. You will also need to join the Sullla Discord channel and a microphone is strongly preferred for voice communication.
* This is open to anyone interested who can be there for the live draft. I will feel free to give preference to longtime AI Survivor community members though; for example, noted superfan LinkMarioSamus has a spot if he wants it.
* Current signups: nabaxo, Myth, Slashin, cutHrAXys, Amicalola, jmie6, sunyujie, Henrik. Alternates: Kjotleik, Burninator1729
To get a better feel for what this looks like, here's the video recording for the auction draft that took place before the beginning of Season Six. I also put together a lengthy written analysis looking back at the fantasy results for Season Six after the full competition was over. I'll keep track of the fantasy teams and we'll see who winds up having the best season once the games start! We will also still be running our normal picking contest each week; see the details below for those who are unfamiliar with the process. The fantasy draft is more intended for the serious fans of AI Survivor (which we absolutely do have!) as opposed to the picking contest which requires minimal time investment.
Watching and Following Season Seven
Games will be Livestreamed on my Twitch channel linked below, with most games starting at noon local time (east coast of North America) on Fridays. I will archive the recordings on Twitch and post them on YouTube for those who have trouble accessing the Twitch videos. I'm also soliciting help once again in putting together the written reports on the games that took place, in the same fashion that we've done for the games from past seasons. Several folks pitched and submitted written reports for Season Six and it was a blast getting to see different spins on how the games played out. It will be a huge help if the community can continue to help shoulder the burden of doing the written reports and allow me to concentrate on streaming and administering the games. This is even more true now that we have our little baby at home requiring lots of love and care - anyone interested in volunteering to help out again?
For those who are new to our event, we run a picking contest for each game that serves as the biggest driver of interest in AI Survivor. We ask contest entrants to pick:
* The winning AI leader
* The second place AI leader
* The "First to Die" AI leader
* The victory type of the winner
* The victory date of the winner
* The total number of wars in the game
The closer that the pick gets to the correct answers, the more points that it scores. We track scores for both individual games and the overall competition so there's always a chance to win an individual round even for those who missed earlier matches. The picking contest system will continue to use a Google Forms submission, which was a massive timesaver in recent seasons as compared to originally compiling forum posts. The current bracket will always be visible online, and I'll do my best to update it here on my website, on my Twitch page, on the Sullla Discord channel, and at Realms Beyond. We'll have a forum discussion thread there, of course, which I'll link on this page once the competition has started. Most of the discussion has migrated over time to the Discord though which has its own dedicated channel for AI Survivor (and which remained highly active even during the long drought between seasons). Scoring remains the same from past years, with points for first place, second place, first to die, victory date/type, and total number of wars. With points for the top two AI spots along with victory date and number of wars, we had scoring drama right up to the end of most every game, even when the winner had long since been determined. Check out the links below for more information on the scoring contest and how to submit your entries.
With all that said, here's a big list of the relevant links that follows below. Enjoy the new season of AI Survivor!
Schedule: Season Seven Leader Draw, 17 March 2023 at Noon EST
Schedule: Season Seven Fantasy Auction Draft, 31 March 2023 at Noon EST
Schedule: Season Seven Game One, Starts 07 April 2023 at Noon EST
![[Image: 48df3e9a550e2964904e7813e4663e6d_d7a9d5f....jpg?raw=1]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/n18hzd0qmfe4dek/48df3e9a550e2964904e7813e4663e6d_d7a9d5f85a29d6278ec1c7adc2c8d242fl0_640x873.jpg?raw=1)
![[Image: Froggercover.png]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Froggercover.png)
![[Image: survivor7logo.png]](http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/Survivor/S7/survivor7logo.png)
![[Image: survivor7-0-1.jpg]](http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/Survivor/S7/survivor7-0-1.jpg)
![[Image: survivor7-0-2.jpg]](http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/Survivor/S7/survivor7-0-2.jpg)
![[Image: survivor7-0-3.jpg]](http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/Survivor/S7/survivor7-0-3.jpg)
![[Image: survivor6-15-1.png]](http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/Survivor/S6/survivor6-15-1.png)
