Largest city size? / New AI findings

[Heckin' computer]

Well I just completed my first play-thru with the new AI. Not tried the new DLC yet, wanted a vanilla play to get a feel for new AI behavior first.

It was quite satisfactory. I did need to reinstall the game to get it to behave on one machine, but that did seem to let me finish it with zero crashes (it works fine on my Wintel box.) I'm happy to report decent performance with Wubuntu even on an Nvidia card. Unexpected. Pleased.

The diplomacy improvements helped. And "worked." As in, there was some diplomacy. There was some warfare and conquest too. Rather a lot of that in fact. But there WAS some diplomacy and I enjoyed it! The conquest was pretty fun too, but a little too short. I'll be upping the difficulty next time around.

Trading worked. It worked rather well. Now I'll be honest, I went into this thinking, 100% serious: Wouldn't it be funny if the diplomacy screen indicator for opponent mood was a simple glyph/emoji. Well, tickle me pink, that's exactly what it is! No guess-work involved. It's a frickin slide-rule. Now if only I can get a widget like that for the Earth plane, but I digress. Trading was a breeze and more nuanced. Actual figurin' was detectable in the AI's willingness to barter. Boy howdy, what an upgrade.

Mapgen. Did the mapgen get tweaked? Because I liked this map better. Connected more, had more sensible ocean areas. Maybe I just got lucky, but I got the best spot on the whole map halfway between me and my nearest continental opponent. Only two on our continent and the expansion rate/city spam seemed to be a little reined in. Good show.

What is your largest ever city size? Open question, please add yours if you know offhand. My pop limit was 56k after Gaia's Blessing, I think it was 30 something before that. Two rivers, lake/ocean-front. I got up to 47k before the last AI decided I had to end them. That's a record for me I think.

City pic:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3158375561

Also, I picked up a really nice wand about mid-game:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3158374668

In conclusion: I really like the new music tracks and the one new building even included in the free patch, the Fishing Hut. Good addition. The main points are strong in this patch's favor. The continued support is appreciated.

On that note, I believe I'll be keeping my appointment with Captain Morgan and be breaking into this newfangled pirate business that's found its way into the Master of Magic universe. If piracy wasn't magical enough on its own, now I can play as an actual Pirate Wizard!!

[shygamer]

From what I read the AI rarely if ever casts global spells, even when it has advanced research capability. I’ve been holding off playing the game since I purchased at launch to see if they ever fix that.

[Heckin' computer]

Originally posted by shygamer:

From what I read the AI rarely if ever casts global spells, even when it has advanced research capability. I’ve been holding off playing the game since I purchased at launch to see if they ever fix that.

It presents a decent challenge enough without that. You're missing out on a great 4X realistically if you're just holding off for that reason. I do miss it though.

[Brumm]

My largest ever city was a 64k Goblin city.

[Heckin' computer]

Originally posted by Phantom Lord:

My largest ever city was a 64k Goblin city.

How'd you get there?

[Brumm]

Gaia + Stream of Life + Terraforming.

[Brumm]

Unfortunately I cannot load the save after the update.

[Heckin' computer]

Originally posted by Phantom Lord:

Unfortunately I cannot load the save after the update.

Yeah I can relate. Unfortunately my save games are broken from my first ~20 minutes in where I got a Critical error. You know I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this game but this is frustrating stuff.

[Brumm]

Ahh, there's the beta branch workaround.

Here it is:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198022031807/screenshot/2376280775174522883/

[Thewizardlord]

Originally posted by shygamer:

From what I read the AI rarely if ever casts global spells, even when it has advanced research capability. I’ve been holding off playing the game since I purchased at launch to see if they ever fix that.

a lot is moddable.

[Brusix1984]

Originally posted by Phantom Lord:

Ahh, there's the beta branch workaround.

Here it is:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198022031807/screenshot/2376280775174522883/

Wow, impressive!!!

[Narf the Mouse]

Originally posted by Thewizardlord:

Originally posted by shygamer:

From what I read the AI rarely if ever casts global spells, even when it has advanced research capability. I’ve been holding off playing the game since I purchased at launch to see if they ever fix that.

a lot is moddable.

Including the scripts for how the AI weights spells.

[Thewizardlord]

I have to second the comment on AI diplomacy.

I accidentally wandered my spirit into their capital city boundary and the AI just complained but didn't instantly declare war.

I then prepared a small force of Lizardmen Halberdiers just outside range to prepare to attack but one turn before I was going to, the AI declared war!

Wow not bad

[Heckin' computer]

Originally posted by Dorian Gray:

Originally posted by Thewizardlord:

a lot is moddable.

Only if we knew what we were doing.... I will be the first to say I don't.

I don't mind the shop talk in my thread but I would prefer it to be consolidated in a more fitting one. As for my opinion, I think you know how to read and dump logs and XML and it is more fun to read it here and chat about it than reading it solo in a text editor. Three Cheers for Valve, for it lets players JIRA it up casually!

Now I'll be frank, it isn't MuHa's fault. What I'm about to point to - Unity is an engine with issues. No less than three PERSONALLY-assigned Triple-A titles, because I like them that much, WHEN I can play them, this, Deep Rock and Colossal Cave have all had reliable crashbox-generating errors. I know it isn't a MuHa issue because multiple titles, multiple OSes, and the only commonality is Windows libraries (WINE, native,) and of course, bloody Unity. I haven't had glitches this bad since before the new millennium! Except for that mess that was Media Center Edition. That was pretty bad. Millennium Edition was hot garbage too. Nasty, nasty dreck.

So I have to say I think MuHa pulled a rabbit out of the hat with Unity to do this style of game it in. I am not happy about the Critical Save errors, but my problems with the crashes on Unity engine games are basically ruled out of being their deal.

But that said, until I can get a new Wintel main (I think I know where the issue lay) .... and one JUST became available in my household (mid box) I'm little disappointed that I can't like, DIVE RIGHT IN and have the stability I expect from a game that is NOT DARKSEED. Because anyone that played DARKSEED knows how stable THAT WAS.

Alright, the mid-tower is mine for the magic-weaving. I'm pouring a much-overdue triple-shot of rum, wish me luck

[Dorian Gray]

Your thread? Good luck with that in the future.

[Heckin' computer]

Originally posted by Dorian Gray:

Your thread? Good luck with that in the future.

Thread originators are regarded as thread owners for the purposes of starting discussions. I like your analyses by the way. Thank you for the well wishes. It's been a swashbuckling good time so far!