Feedback on AAR for Civilization V, Gods & Kings

[bayonetbrant]

in case you missed it, part 16 is up.  Yes, 16.

[Martok]

Enemy at the gates! 

[bayonetbrant]

Next episode is out there today.  Yes, we're up to #17.  Hell, it's been running since December!

[Windigo]

running out of metaphors I can see

[TheCommandTent]

Manged to fit in an Aquaman dig, well done. :)

[Martok]

And extra points for working in "pootling".  8) 

[bayonetbrant]

stay tuned for another episode soon ;)

[Windigo]

Eager to read it Brant   8)

[bayonetbrant]

clearly Windi's asleep at the keyboard

[Windigo]

clearly Windi's asleep at the keyboard

thanks for the quicklink,. In my defense I have the forums on desktop shortcut.

Back to the newest AAR
So turn 150, about a third of the way through the game (500 turns isn't it?) and your country's doing fine... holding on to veteran units and keeping the populace happy and wealthy... nice.

You pointed out one of my erks about Civ... the auto explore option.... definitely needs a tweek.

You mention that your scout is not made for fighting... thats one of the things I like about the Shoshone civ, they have pathfinder units which are speced like warriors, but are still scouts. That and when you find ruins they allow you to pick your ruin finding reward.... nice advantage during the early game.

Keep on groging Brant!

[bayonetbrant]

so here's my thought about scouts (that, quite frankly, could also apply to workers).

They're designed to scout not fight.  They should level up based on discovering wonders, barbarian camps, other civs, etc.  They should get their experience based on the scouting they do, not the fighting they do.  Think about it - swordsman gets in a fight, wins, gains exp, and eventually gets an ability promotion that makes him a better fighter.  Totally makes sense, right?  Scout gets in a fight, wins, gains exp, and eventually gets an ability promotion that lets him see farther?  :o

Why not give the scout 2 exp / 'discovery' + 2 for actually investigating the ruins, and maybe only 1 exp / discovery if its in enemy territory.  Discovery bonuses would be LOS to ruins, city-states (not c/s units, but the actual c/s territory), other civs, barbarian camps.  Now, I think scouts can/should pick up exp from surviving a fight, but I would subtract exp if the scout attacks.  So barbarian jumps the scout, he survives and runs away, then +2 exp for surviving.  But the scout sneaks up on the barbarian and attacks?  -2 exp for misusing him and forcing them into a role they're not suited for, and undercutting their scouting skills in the process.  Now, it may be that the scout needs to attack as the killing blow on the warrior that about to gank one of your settlers.  Fine.  Sometimes you have to do that.  -2 exp for attacking, save the settler, and +5 exp for killing the enemy for a net of +3 exp.  Probably fair.
But in the meantime, your scout is leveling up by scouting - finding things out there for your civ to expand towards, pacify, trade with, or exploit.

Same thing with workers.  Your workers could do things faster based on policies, or the Pyramids - got it.  But shouldn't a worker who has built a shit-ton of roads be better at building roads than one that just spawned last turn?  Maybe every road tile you build, you get 2% better at it, so by the time you build 50 road tiles, you're 100% faster than a newborn worker.

[bayonetbrant]

definitely needs a tweek.

I'd like to see the auto-explore come with some options.
In every case, when you something that blocks you (water, another civ, mountains), try to bypass, but if you're not back on course withing, say 2 turns, then cancel and ask for new orders.
"Go West!" - travel in a roughly straight line until you come back around.  (pick any compass direction)
"Hug the Coast" - will follow the coastline around until it comes back to where it started
"Find Ruins" - will meander about, but whenever ruins appear, will immediately go to the closest one to exploit it
"Find Others" - meander about and make a bee-line for c/s or civs they find
"Find Borders" - once a border is found, will hug like a coastline to find the extent of it.

[Windigo]

Good thoughts on the autoexplore. Agree with them.

Same with your thoughts on workers. By upgrading workers  would enable several different strategies around them and make them a valuable mid/late game asset. Worker kidnapping would be all the more valuable and fun.

Not sure that scouts should be penalized for fighting though... maybe just not rewarded.

What kind of equipment upgrade would a typical scout get then when they hit a ruin that gives them that equipment upgrade bonus?

I love my Shoshone Pathfinders... a very awesome early game unit

[bayonetbrant]

What kind of equipment upgrade would a typical scout get then when they hit a ruin that gives them that equipment upgrade bonus?

Maybe if it's a coastal village they pick up the ability to embark before the discovery of optics?
I'm not so sure an eqpt bonus needs to change, tho.  If you upgrade based on found eqpt, there's no reason you can't be better at fighting.  But I still think the exp should continue to be awarded based on your actual purpose, which was looking around, and not getting into fights.

[Windigo]

I wonder if there is a possibility of coding in a way to reduce scout unit visibility? Like a permanent adjacent view only, by other units. Stealth could be an upgrade?