Disasters - Wrath of the Gods DLC

[harken23]

I'm noticing a pattern in all of these: There' a warning a year or two before they happen, and if you don't spend the resources to protect yourself, a bunch of stuff gets damaged, but less than if you hadn't been prepared. Rinse, repeat. Not sure I've seen a beneficial natural event, but there aren't a lot of those in history. I mean, earthquakes are impossible to predict 2500 years later by more than like 20 minutes. Just seems like after installing the DLC, I'm doing a lot of waiting for a disaster to end, then restoring what it broke.

Don't get me wrong, I love variety, and I've missed natural disasters since the original Civilization board game. I guess I was looking for more than "1. Things might get bad! Do you want to prepare? 2. Things go bad (every time), and bad things happen, depending on whether or not you spent resources. 3. Wait for the bad thing to end. 4. Send in the workers to fix it all".

[krabdr]

It would be nice to have an event with a bumper crop or golden year mechanic. I like the disaster mechanics but I don't care for the dust storm obscuring vision and the sound effects of several events.

I play on the semester setting with high event logging, and now I'm wondering if there's a way to have the disaster events have a separate switch for their frequencies.

[Siontific]

They're basically order and econ sinks - and that's a fair assessment. But I'm not sure what alternatives there could be.

I do find floods and wildfires a but more engaging since they come with the impassable terrain. I had a settler get trapped between a river and woods and get stuck there for a sec that's kind of fun when the terrain shifts like that. Floods are probably my favorite one because so much of the empire usually springs up around a river network, and rivers are a primary form of movement for your nation so having that disrupted is the most interesting dynamic to me so far.

[DeWitt]

In the special scenario I have seen beneficial side effects of desasters - for example a new vein of ore or a new source of game - and as a minor effect the sometimes beneficial shift of terrain types.

Have not played the "normal" game with the dlc yet - do these happen there as well?

[Siontific]

Originally posted by DeWitt:

In the special scenario I have seen beneficial side effects of desasters - for example a new vein of ore or a new source of game - and as a minor effect the sometimes beneficial shift of terrain types.

Have not played the "normal" game with the dlc yet - do these happen there as well?

There are definitely events that exclusive to the scenario, but yes, things like game showing up after a wildfire and such will occur in the base game.

To the previous poster, there is a separate calamity setting which is independent from event frequency so you can make calamities more or less common.

I don't know it it's specifically possible to lower the calamity based events. Though; mechanically they're disconnected: calamities would occur even in no events mode, for example.

My understanding is that for the most part, calamities act as event triggers, and not the other way around.

[eliollie]

To piggyback off of this, I don't get how there are hurricanes in inland waters, some are only a few tiles across. I should get the "make the right choice" warning, but it seems like if some kind of hurricane were to develop over 4-5 tiles of inland water, it shouldn't be that destructive.

[Twelvefield]

Originally posted by eliollie:

I don't get how there are hurricanes in inland waters

You've never lived in Winnipeg.

[Salty Biscuit]

As an addition to the base game I like it, and you can choose an occurence rate anywhere from "never" to "wipe my nation off the map, please." The scenario version I find punishingly hard; I've abandoned 2 games in frustration.

Overall I like this DLC a lot for the additions to the base game and recommend it on that basis. Scenario, on the other hand, is not my cup of sacramental wine.

[Hendricus]

There are positive effects, some recources like game appeared.

[Flickmann]

I feared this DLC would be just another way to add roadblocks to the player and frustrate them. Behind the Throne was heading in the same direction with its Grand Viziers and Rising Stars. I wish the developers would focus on more meaningful mechanics and expand on what's already in the game rather than bolting on frustrations. I'd love to see more vassal families, an expanded trade system (don't give me the BS about being a non-omnipotent ruler who can't control the minutia of trade deals, but I can buy individual pieces of stone and wood from the magical global market), an expansion into the early middle ages... I'm afraid hurricanes and volcanoes just don't do it.

[IceMatrix]

Originally posted by krabdr:

It would be nice to have an event with a bumper crop or golden year mechanic. I like the disaster mechanics but I don't care for the dust storm obscuring vision and the sound effects of several events.

I play on the semester setting with high event logging, and now I'm wondering if there's a way to have the disaster events have a separate switch for their frequencies.

I like this thought. I second Bumper Crop or Golden Year/era and dark year/era stuff. But not sure if I want it pegged to my families happiness, cause at high difficulties you would just always be almost always be in a dark era as you can't get them to happiness until late game.
Could use some theory crafting, but I like the idea.

[krabdr]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

Originally posted by eliollie:

I don't get how there are hurricanes in inland waters

You've never lived in Winnipeg.

Reference the huge flooding event brought on by a hurricane that hit the mountainous areas of North Carolina this last fall, with many dead and entire towns submerged.

[IceMatrix]

I do think the natural disasters element could be improved. I agree with the OP, it seems very simple. Orders and resource drain to protect yourself from worse. I don't know how to improve upon it as a suggestion though. I think maybe tying it into the religious elements someone might have mentioned above is also a good idea. Or if your leader is an initiate giving more options etc. Some kind of variation in the options.

My main reason for purchasing the DLC was Aksum. The natural disasters are just icing on that cake, so it doesn't take away from my satisfaction, but I do see areas of opportunity to evolve it.

[Siontific]

I'm in a minority here but once you get really good at the game, I see disruptions as welcome shakeups to the gameplay that increase the demand on the player.

I'd actually be interested settings that ramp up the intensity of the calamities, and even make them bias toward the player specifically, as well as reducing the "reward" events that come with them.

For example, plague is a pretty intense event and it hits the entire map. Yet as far as I know, due to the way the event system works out, only the human player will get the "goody bag" as a result of the calamity.

For my preference, I would be interested in options that do one or both of these things;

- Make a plague occur where the human doesn't get an event bonus with it.

- Make a plague occur that only impacts the human player.

Stuff like that.