A new mod enters the ring - Introducing "Close to Home"

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Alright, I'm stupid

[Ramkhamhaeng]

I created a pull request for this F5 military advisor leader names thing.
Maybe you want report it back to the version of RB59, too.


Edit: And I pushed my newest PBMod changes in a second request. This changes are just required to 'unfinish' a turn over the PBSpy page.

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Just a tiny note about a GUI-Issue: The Great-General-Bar does not refresh after a battle. It looks like it is delayed by one battle. Maybe the refresh event of the bar uses the old value but not the new one.

I've tested this some. Is this delayed for every battle for you? Because for me it was only delayed for the very first battle in a session?

No, it is not just the first. If I open the F5-Advisor (or maybe an other) the bar is updated.
Then, the bar stops after the next battle again.

I currently see no better option as saying the interface to redraw this part by setting a DIRTY_BIT flag.

Python variant:

Code:

    def onCombatResult(self, argsList):
        'Combat Result'
        pWinner,pLoser = argsList
        playerX = PyPlayer(pWinner.getOwner())
        unitX = PyInfo.UnitInfo(pWinner.getUnitType())
        playerY = PyPlayer(pLoser.getOwner())
        unitY = PyInfo.UnitInfo(pLoser.getUnitType())

# NEW PART
        if playerX.getID() == gc.getGame().getActivePlayer():
            CyInterface().setDirty(InterfaceDirtyBits.GameData_DIRTY_BIT, False)

# NEW PART END
        if (not self.__LOG_COMBAT):
            return

OR

SDK variant:

Code:

void CvPlayer::setCombatExperience(int iExperience)
{
    FAssert(iExperience >= 0);

    if (iExperience != getCombatExperience())
    {
        m_iCombatExperience = iExperience;

        // Trigger redrawing of GG Bar
        if (getID() == GC.getGameINLINE().getActivePlayer()){
            gDLL->getInterfaceIFace()->setDirty(GameData_DIRTY_BIT, true);
        }
       […]

[Tarkeel]

Serfs and Mills
One of the larger changes in CtH (atleast prior to FIN-lighthouses in 2.0) is serfdom boosting windmills, watermills and (to a lesser degree) farms. The farm bonus alone is negligible in normal play, so I'm ignoring it for now.

The main cost of running serfdom is usually the loss of slavery and whipping, which have two main effects: You can't whip out infrastructure in marginal cities (usually fishing villages), and you can't emergency whip defenders. The latter problem can be dealt with by running nationalism and pre-drafting defenders, but that's a late game solution. The first issue is a lot harder to deal with, and the solution is often a mixture of whipping out critical infrastructure before the swap and finding alternative means of production. Some alternatives are AP-boosted religious buildings, running production specialists, borrow production tiles from other cities (if possible), or simply just live with lesser developed fishing villages. The SPIritual trait offers another option, as it allows you to run 5-turn stints of slavery for key whips or defense.

Watermills have often been regarded as one of the best tile improvements, mainly limited by late availability and the need to build on river straights. It took me longer than it should to realize that watermills and windmills actually have the exact same foodhammers given the same base terrain (excluding state property), and windmills actually have better commerce (equalized at Electricity). The main difference is what other tile improvements they compete against. Watermills would mainly be competing with cottages, and windmills against mines (*).

Watermills vs cottages is mainly a question of the empire-wide balance between commerce and production. If you have enough commerce from other sources, you're usually better off building watermills. The extra commerce from being riverside doesn't make a difference as long as you're working the tile regardless. The exception here is FINancial leaders who would hit the bonus threshold 20 turns earlier for a riverside cottage, making cottages much more attractive on rivers than elsewhere.

Windmills vs mines is a different equation which I frame as food-balance. I like to evaluate tiles based on their foodcost, the food-yield of the tile modified by the cost of the citizen working it. Example: a grasshill (w/mine) is -1, while a plainshill is -2. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine how much working a tile eats into the growth, or which tiles can the city afford to work in an equilibrium (no further growth). This is most important in a low-food setting, and one where you can't turn excess food into  useful stuff such as specialists or whipping. In this context, windmills in BTS are mainly about making tiles affordable to work. Serfdom in CtH changes that slightly by offseting the hammerloss, and with ReplaceableParts windmills actually equal mines in hammers until railroads.

The effect of this becomes most noticeable in very marginal land, such as desert and tundra hills. These are tiles that would yield 0/3/0 with mines (before railroads), but 1/2/1 with serfdom-enhanced windmills (upgraded to 1/3/1 post ReplaceableParts). The opportunity cost of converting mines to windmills is also a lot less than converting matured cottages to watermills, making the evaluation to run serfdom mainly dependant on the hills available. As an extra bonus they make very good tiles for a growing city, as you get the hammers needed for infrastructure while not gimping food growth.

Golden Ages is a good place for serfdom as you don't want to be whipping, but mainly this is where the farm bonus comes into it's own: Due to how golden ages only amplifies commerce that exists, the bonus is effectively doubled for any non-riverside farms. However, serfdom is mainly competing with caste system during a golden age, so again it comes down to how much food is available, in this instance to run specialists.

Personally I think that serfdom is in a very good spot right now. It can be very powerful in a late game economy (from T150 or so), but it won't be the right choice for every game, or even every player in the same game. It does force some long-term planning, and you have to commit to it pretty early with watermills for maximum effect. It also pairs very well with monk wonders both to offset the commerce lost from cottages vs watermills and for steady base production in fishing villages.

*: In the rare circumstances where you would actually cottage hills, you would also have enough food surplus to not really bother with serfdom and windmills.

TL/DR: The value of serfdom is inversely correlated with the terrain's food-quality. It also pushes you to prioritize the upper half of the renaissance techtree, especially ReplaceableParts and (to a lesser degree) Nationalism. SPIritual reduces the cost of running serfdom, while FINancial will often have less watermills to benefit.

[Jowy]

I found a bug, Organized Religion bonus applied to an axeman (version is whatever PB59 is using). Curiously in another city in the same game it does not. Maybe Barracks is the difference, or overflow?

NVM, it was actually from a Forge I'm dumb.

[Jowy]

EDIT: NVM

[Ramkhamhaeng]

We should add the combat odds to the log message, didn't we?

[Charriu]

I think I did, but it can only write them when you are logged in. Or I at least expected that behaviour.

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Ah sorry, my post can be misunderstood. I was talking about the log messages in the game.
Currently you can screenshot the green/red results and then picking the odds from the 'combat details' tab.

It would be nice to summarize all results in one screenshot.

[Charriu]

Ah now I know what you mean. Never did that, but it's certainly possible. On the Todo list with it