<p>Using Edge just in case that matters.&nbsp; I don't see the "Mark all Posts as Read" button at the bottom of the page anymore, has it gone hiding somewhere else?</p>

I am looking for a reliable longterm opponent for Twilight Struggle. Interested please apply here. I got about 70-80 games under my belt and have a regular partner but would love to have a second regular game.

1-2 turns per day is aplenty.

You can download the mod here: Close to Home 1.6

CtH on Github

Note that all the changes here are additions to what you already find in BtS unless otherwise stated as NEW

Changelog version 1.6

Tile Yields and Improvements

• Lumbermills: Available at Metal Casting, +1 commerce with Machinery, +1 commerce with Electricity, Lumber mills get their +1 commerce bonus next to a river on all river tiles, not only on straight river tiles
  
• Forest preserves: +1 commerce, now +1 commerce on the corner of rivers like above
  

• Drafting: Rifles now cost 2 pop to draft.
  
• AP Resolutions: Declare War (on a non-member), Force Peace (between two members), Religious victory, and Assign City are no longer eligible resolution actions.
  
• Fail-gold: You never get fail-gold if you also completed the wonder somewhere else (so no National Wonder fail-gold, or doubling up on a wonder to guarantee yourself a paycheck. The game still informs you that you received "0 gold" from your hammers).
  
• Toroidal Maintenance: Now return city maintenance as if the map were Cylindrical.
  
• War Weariness: War weariness declines faster after the war ended
  
• Religion spread: Spreading religions via missionaries to your own cities never fails
  
• Global warming: Removed
  
• Espionage: Active missions removed
  
• Espionage: 'No espionage' option fixed, see bugfix section for more details
  

• Agriculture: Cost 40 instead of 60
  
• Mysticism: Cost 60 instead of 50
  
• Fishing: Cost 50 instead of 40
  
• Metal Casting: Cost 300 instead of  450
  
• Alphabet: Cost 250 instead of 300
  
• Refrigeration: lose +1 sea movement
  

• Castle: Obsoletes at Corporation instead of Economics
  
• Customs House: Cost 120 instead of 180, also applies to all UBs based on Customs House (Feitoria)
  
• Colosseum: -25% war weariness
  

• Red Cross: Cost 200 instead of 600
  
• West Point: Cost 550 instead of 800, +5 XP instead of 4, Requires a level 5 unit instead of 6
  

• Resource modifiers: All wonders that had +100% production with a specific resource now only have +50% production with that resource.
  
• Great Lighthouse: +1 trade route in coastal cities instead of +2
  
• Statue of Zeus: Obsolete at Gunpowder
  

• Flanking: Flanking strength (used to calculate damage from flanking strikes) of all units reduced by 50%.
  
• Circumnavigation: Unlocked by Optics, +1 trade route in all coastal cities instead of +1 movement and can be achieved by everybody
  
• Coastal blockade: only blocks sea trade routes and resources provided by sea trade, blockaded cities can still work blocked tiles.
  
• Barbs now never attack your unit stack if the stack includes a settler and a unit that is giving military happiness
  
• Barbs never raze a city even autoraze. On recapturing such a city you too do not autoraze it.
  

• Scout: +100% vs Animals gained with Hunting, no tech required, that way everybody starts with a scout
  
• Swordsman: +25% city attack instead of +10%, also applies to UUs Jaguar Warrior and Gallic Swordsman
  
• War elephant: Strength 7 instead of 8, does not apply to Khmer UUs, requires Ivory or Iron, does apply to Khmer UUs
  
• Explorer: Gains Flanking
  
• Airship: Cannot see submarines
  
• ICBM: Cost 1500 instead of 500
  
• Tactical Nuke: Cost 750 instead of 250
  
• Nukes: Nukes never create fallout on tiles containing strategic resources.
  

• Work Boat: no longer require any tech (still require Fishing to work water tiles).
  
• Galleon: Requires Paper and Astronomy, Dutch UU still only requires Astronomy
  
• Privateer: Required techs are Gunpowder and Astronomy instead of Chemistry and Astronomy, removed hidden nationality
  

• Tech: Discovering the corresponding tech for a corporation earns you an executive of that corporation. To settle the HQ you still need a great person.
  
• Sid's Sushi Co.: Food bonus per resource 0.25 instead of 0.5 and culture bonus per resource 1 instead of 2, maintenance costs halfed
  
• Mining Inc.: Hammer bonus per resource 0.75 instead of 1, maintenance costs 3/4 of original
  

• Serfdom: +1 commerce on Farms, +1 hammer on Watermills and Windmills, available on Monarchy instead of Feudalism
  
• Emancipation: lose unhappiness bonus, gain +10% Hammer in all cities
  
• State Property: Lose +10% Hammer in all cities
  
• Environmentalism: Available at Biology instead of Medicine, remove Corporation costs
  

• Financial: +1 commerce on land tiles that have 3+ commerce, +1 commerce on water tiles that have 2+ commerce, +100% production of bank
  
• Expansive: Remove Worker bonus, add +100% production of Aqueduct
  
• Creative: Reduce Library bonus from 100% to 50%, Remove production bonus for Colosseum
  
• Charismatic: +100% production of Monument, +100% production of Colosseum
  
• Imperialistic: +100% production of Stable
  
• Aggressive: -25% unit maintenance cost and +100% production of Jails,
  
• Philosophical: +150% GPP instead of +100%
  
• Protective: +75% domestic trade route yield (works like a harbor mechanically, just only for domestic trade)
  

• UBs no longer obsolete at any time. Affected civs are Celts, Egypt, Ethiopia, Native America, Spain
  
• America UB: NEW Immigration Station - Harbor replacement, +3 Great People Points, +1 happy from Hit Musical, Singles and Movies
  
• America UU: NEW Minuteman - Musket replacement, Starts with Guerrilla 1 and Woodsman 1.
  
• Arabia UU: Camel Archer starts with March
  
• Byzantium UB: add +2 artist slots
  
• Celts UB: +1 culture
  
• China UU: max 40% collateral damage instead of max 60%
  
• Germany UB: Assembly Plant available at Steam Power instead of Assembly line, +2 hammer
  
• Germany UU: NEW Riesengarde - replace Grenadier, available at Chemistry, starts with Pinch
  
• Inca UB: Makes city act as a source of fresh water instead of +2 culture, Cost 45
  
• India UU: movement 2 instead of 3, start with Mobility promotion
  
• Japan UB: NEW Tatara, Forge replacement - +2 XP to Melee, +10% hammer bonus with coals
  
• Maya UU: Starts with Woodsman 1
  
• Native America Tech: Hunting/Agriculture instead of Fishing/Agriculture
  
• Native America UB: Available at Archery instead of Mysticism, additional +1 XP for gunpowder units, never obsoletes
  
• Russia UB: Replace University instead of Laboratory, only +1 free scientist
  
• Spain UB: Never obsoletes, +2 XP for naval units, does not require Walls
  
• Zulu UU: Remove Mobility promotion
  

• LieuYe (ORG/PRO)
  
• San Martin (CHM/CRE) and
  
• Nebuchadnezzar (IND/PHI)
  

Pulling the technical coding discussion out of the pitboss etiquette thread:

(December 8th, 2020, 14:54)Charriu Wrote:

(December 8th, 2020, 11:23)Cornflakes Wrote: @Charriu, is it possible to tie the resource-check for each player to their "end turn" event rather than the turn roll? In this way, the production can all be processed simultaneously at the turn roll, but players have the ability to actually use resources that are connected when they actually play their turn.

The way the code is structured would make this very hard and I would have to change a lot of stuff to get it work. I would not want to dare that if it isn't absolutely necessary.

It's been over a year since the last Erebus in the Balance game, is there any interest out there for a new one?

players:
Mr. Cairo
Miguelito
Aurorarcher
DaveV
mackoti

NOTE:  Some details about the game mechanics in the early posts are incorrect.  I wrote this while playing through the game, and Romancing Saga 2 doesn't explain much to its players.  Sword should really read Sword/Greatsword, for example, since both weapon types use the same stats but have different active abilities.  Defensive Traits are modified by armor. 


Potential heir stats are listed in the game as what they'd be BEFORE the "inheritance magic" kicks in.  So you can have a Saigo Clansman candidate that has a misleading 0 MP stat until you pick him, and then he receives the spells and MP from the previous ruler.  Once I realized this oversight from the developers, I made the later ruler posts reflect the post-inheritance stats.



Emperor Leon, Year 1000

 

Emperor Leon had already reigned long enough to have two sons old enough to fight, but the story begins in the Sealed Cave in 1000.  This was an optional dungeon that I could have ignored by walking out the entrance, but fighting a few battles was worth it for the Kris Knife and 100,000 crowns treasure chests.
 

Combat in Romancing Saga 2 is typical for a turn based Japanese RPG.  Parties have up to 5 members, and can enter battle in different formations.  The one you start with is Imperial Cross, which has 1 character in front, 1 in the middle, 1 in the back, and 1 for each “flank” on the top and bottom.  This is meant to allow sturdier characters to take hits instead of your mages and archers, but enemies often seem to ignore the front unit and hit the flanks. 
 

The starting party was Bear the Heavy Infantry in front, Leon in the middle,  James the Light Infantry and Therese the Ranger on the flanks, and Gerard the Second Prince in the back.  Gerard had minimal combat capabilities, which was justified by the plot.  Many citizens of Avalon said he was more suited to administration than battle.
 

If you dash into an enemy or are ambushed from behind, you’ll enter battle in the Free For All formation, which is a simple vertical line that doesn’t protect any particular unit.  There are times when you’ll want to be in Free For All to avoid attacks that hit rows or columns.
 

Like in Final Fantasy 2, character levels don’t exist.  Instead you’ll be increasing skills and HP after fighting battles and using the correct actions in combat.  For the early portions of the game, I had Leon and Gerard cast spells to boost both their skill levels and “global levels” for future characters.  In Sealed Cave and other areas, Leon used Light Ball, an all-target Divine Magic spell that deals damage and inflicts Blind.
 

In Avalon, Gerard learned Fireball after talking to Emerald the Court Mage.  He had to talk to other NPCs in town while Leon was talking to a seer.  The next dungeon was Watchman Nest, another simple tutorial cave.
 

Enemies in Romancing Saga 2 have weaknesses and resistances like in many other RPGs.  Don’t expect to win by auto-attacking, as the encounters are based around the fact that you recover HP after every fight and can save anywhere.  Sidhe, for example, seems to be immune to Light Ball, but Fireball works well.  Light Ball eliminates Gels who resist physical attacks.
 

The somewhat random turn order and targeting mechanics meant Therese was taking more damage than a flank character should have.  She lost several Life Points (LP) in Watchman Nest when she died to Hellcrows and a Bone Head.  Life Points can also be deducted when a character is attacked after being KOd.  Leon’s Double Cut sword technique was the best method of taking out Hellcrows, and his ATK increased further after finding a Bastard Sword in a treasure chest. 
 

Equipment also works differently in Romancing Saga 2 from other RPGs.  Instead of equipping one weapon, you can have up to 4 in the slots.  If you want to use a Bastard Sword on the 1st turn and a Longbow on the 2nd, you can do that.  The catch is that healing items also take up weapon slots.
 

The 1st boss fight in the game was against 3 Beastmen and 2 Watchmen.  They were all cartoon rabbits, and the Watchmen had a clock in their chest.  The initial round took out 1 Beastman with a salvo of Light Ball, Fireball, and 3 Attacks.  Light Ball blinded all opponents.  The same moves were chosen for the 2nd round, though Hypnosis put Bear, James, and Gerard to sleep.  Sleep works like in Final Fantasy since attacks awaken the victim.  Bear woke up on the 3rd turn, and a Double Cut killed one Watchman.  The last Leon Double Cut hunted the final Watchman.  All enemies disappeared in the dungeon as the party walked out to the tune of the victory music.
 

The celebration was short-lived.  Gerard’s older brother Victor battled Kzinssie of the evil Seven Heroes until Soulsteal drained all his Life Points.  Leon and Gerard’s next task was to avenge Victor by invading the town of Somon.  Vultures and Hellcrows in Somon hated Therese and killed her more than once.  Adepts were irritating when they used Wrack to Stun party members.  Stun is like flinching in Pokemon, where the victim loses their current turn.  A Shade’s Moonfall Slash cut down Gerard, so he was the obvious choice for the Budo Gi armor.  Sidhes were dangerous if they bothered to cast Blades of Wind.
 

RPG designers are obsessed with the concept of fake treasure chests.  Romancing Saga 2 was no exception since there were 4 Doppelgangers in Somon!  Fortunately Leon and friends could Flee by walking backwards out of the arena.  Some of the chests were worth opening:  Somon Ring, Lion Helm, and a total of 370,000 crowns.
 

Kzinssie’s battle only lasted 3 rounds.  The party struck him with Leon’s Double Cut, Gerard’s Fireball, James’s Sunder, and Therese’s Id Break.  Bear was there to take hits, not to deal much damage.  Sunder was a cheap 1 SP sword attack, and Id Break was a bow skill with a Confuse chance.  Kzinssie started with an ineffectual Double Cut and got serious with a Cyclone that hit the middle row and nearly killed Therese.  Kzinssie cast Soulsteal on the 3rd round to annihilate Leon and end the battle.

How many people record their Caster of Magic playthroughs? I know Hadriex used to and Sapher also does it, but I don't see many Caster of Magic playthroughs on Youtube(or even Master of Magic playthroughs for that matter).

I have started streaming some Caster of Magic myself, I usually do it on Thursday mornings in EST time. Here's my latest playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuyXdHsjxo

The map is (finally) attached.

If anyone can give it a look over I'd appreciate it.

I still have some concerns about each of the 4 team positions, but I figure that's always going to be the case with an asymmetric map. So it's probably time for me to let it go and see what fresh eyes think.

Attached Files

  PBEM20.zip (Size: 90.99 KB / Downloads: 3)

I've been racking my brain, dear lurkers.  Racking it, I say, over the most difficult choice that we have at the start of a game.  A choice even more difficult than figuring out your build for the new Mayhemleague in Path of Exile (starting this Friday: the masochist in me wants to do Inquisitor Righteous Fire, but I might chicken out and go Blade Blast assassin instead, or something else entirely- I'm still looking for ideas).  This is a choice that will have implications for the entirety of this game.

No, it's not which civ I want to play, or which leader.  Haven't given that a thought, but I'm guaranteed to mix up some CtH and RtR mechanic change and base a combo off of flawed reasoning.

I'm talking about the city naming convention, naturally.



For this game, I will go with college football mascots.  Because I keep forgetting that they're really playing college football this year.  And that my school is actually half-decent.

I probably should think about which civ I want to play, too...