Microcivilization News

[p]Hello everyone,[/p][p][/p][p]let's do our first 'proper' update in the post-1.0 world. [/p][p]In the last few days and weeks I have been struggling with various annoying illnesses (which is why this update also comes late) so sadly this was one of the weaker months so far. [/p][p]But nevertheless some progress was made - and like I promised I managed to put together enough to show something from the new game mode. So here we go.[/p][p][/p][h2]More Patching of 1.0[/h2][p]Before I plunge into the details of the new Game mode (now officially renamed Adventure mode), let me do a brief situational report on 1.0.[/p][p][/p][h3]Balancing[/h3][p]I have been monitoring the situation after the last balancing patch and while it still is not optimal, the ratio of players struggling with early game challenges seems to have dropped to a fraction. The major difference was in seen in Nemeses and hostile civilizations but also with various era bosses or new shielded enemies.[/p][p]I do still have another patch planned to address war risk calculation and other things but due to limited time capacity I chose to prioritize Adventure mode (at least until the 'big ideas' are put to code)[/p][p][/p][h3]Tutorials & User Experience[/h3][p]Meanwhile I am also working on a new update for 'early game User Experience' which will be partly based on the existing objective system. The old tutorial UI will receive an update, but I need also to experiment with this new guidance feature within the new Game Mode (where it will have slightly more demanding requirements). [/p][p]I do not yet have a concrete plan for the upcoming patch but sometimes during next two weeks would be nice.[/p][p][/p][p]Let's take a little dive into the new game mode - note that this game mode will be available both as a new save as well as continuation of the game once you finish the old 'Campaign'.[/p][p]In the Adventure mode you will be alternating between two world types: World of Order (single permanent world) and Worlds of Chaos (randomized with limited lifetime). [/p][p]Each world consists of its Tile Map (i.e. the actual physical hex-grid world) and its ascension map (i.e. the upgrades tree). [/p][p]Note: As you may have noticed before, I sometimes use ARPGs as a design inspiration and reference. So in RPG terminology The Order World represents the 'town' where you can chill, resupply and plan strategy, while Chaos worlds represent the 'dungeons' where you fight and gain new stuff.[/p][p][/p][h2]Chaos Worlds[/h2][p]Chaos worlds are very similar to the current Campaign mode and will be the core gameplay in the Adventure mode. In a Chaos world, you run each civilization as usual - from its roots, through eras up to ascension to earn Lotus score. For earned lotus you can buy upgrades on its Ascension map. [/p][p]After that you run another and another, until you unlock the entire Ascension tree of that World. So far this is business as usual.[/p][h3]Flavour[/h3][p]What is different is that each 'Chaos World' will have different Lotus Score objectives - sometimes you will be needed to destroy civilizations, sometimes to grow a 'tall empire' with tiny territory, sometimes to focus on specific economy, trade, building or wonder. You will no longer be rewarded Gold Lotus 'for everything' like in Campaign.[/p][p]I internally call this world specialization a Flavour. The Flavour system should motivate players to use different strategies and explore the game features fully.[/p][p][/p][p]Work-in-progress Ascension Tree of an early Chaos world - this one is 'flavoured' with 'Expansionist'. So in here Gold lotus is gained for Tiles owned and civilizations defeated. There are mini scenarios with 'expansionist' challenges and in later Tiers there will be Flavoured White lotus challenges and Judgements. Note that in Adventure mode you can also buy economical upgrades multiple times.[/p][p][/p][h3]Collapse[/h3][p]A key feature of Chaos Ascension Trees is that they collapse when completed - similar to what happens after Tier 2 in Campaign. Like in the Campaign your upgrade tree vanishes and all Lotuses invested in upgrades will be refunded back to you (this time with some interest rate) You will also usually leave with some extra 'meta-game' advantage or upgrade...[/p][p][/p][h2]Order World[/h2][p]Every time you complete and collapse a chaos world you will return to your Homeworld.[/p][p]Homeworld is a new concept - It is a parallel civilization which never ends or ascends. It will keep existing even while you visit a Chaos world waiting til you get back. In your homeworld you can experiment with whatever build you want with little consequences as there are no growing threats. It is your own little 'sandbox' world.[/p][p][/p][p]Homeworld will be a peaceful place. Besides using it for experimenting, you can also build some unique Wonders called Atlases here which will have special effect even while you're out in a Chaos World. A lot is still in design phase here though.[/p][p][/p][h3]Main Ascension Tree[/h3][p]It is in the Homeworld where you will have access to a truly persistent Ascension upgrade tree. Because unlike Chaos World ascension upgrade tree:[/p]

1. [p]Homeworld ascension tree is always the same and it never collapses.[/p]
2. [p]Homeworld tree bonuses will apply also for ALL chaos worlds you visit.[/p]
3. [p]You can increase/decrease the 'Tier' difficulty and level handicaps here (similar mechanism to Campaign Tiers but in smaller steps and up to a higher maximum for very-late-game)[/p]
4. [p]Most fun stuff is available very soon and it is up to the player what they choose to unlock first (this mode recommends playing the Campaign first to learn the concepts)[/p]

[p][/p][p]Homeworld has a star-structure. So mechanisms like Magnitude are available much sooner in Adventure mode if the player chooses to obtain them, allowing an advanced meta-game strategizing sooner. [/p][h2][/h2][h3]Chaos world spawning[/h3][p]While in Home world, you will periodically get opportunities to visit a new Chaos world. Whether you do or not will be entirely up to you. There will not be any penalty, however you wont progress in the game without eventually exploring them (in other words, you will not gain any Gold Lotus while sitting in your Home world)[/p][p][/p][h2]Persistent Maps[/h2][p]Unlike campaign mode Adventure mode will have same persistent world map for each World. You will have a map for your Homeworld and a map generated per each Chaos world. [/p][p]Instead of spamming re-roll to find optimal structure and strategic resources all maps will be generated with no strategic resources and become 'upgradable' by the player. Something like in-game map editor (though there will be a limit to how much you can change). This also includes terraforming hills and landfilling sea to a degree.[/p][p][/p][h2]Rare-Unique hero merging[/h2][p]For late game here I intend to introduce a new significant recipe. One that will replace all Unique hero's non-unique traits with traits from a selected Rare hero.[/p][p]I also intend to look into Rare hero customization recipes so that players have a more non-RNG-spam method of getting the combo they need. [/p][p][/p][h2]When can I play this?![/h2][p]At this point I have two plans in mind. It depends solely on how much time capacity I am granted (basically how many migraines I get and how many microbes our kid brings home from kindergarten). Optimistic plan is starting Adventure mode beta in April. If this turns unrealistic I'll probably target early June instead.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for today. [/p][p][/p][p]Have a nice day,[/p][p][/p][p]Ondrej[/p]

[p]Hello,[/p][p][/p][p]i've released a small patch. Main reason was the button hotkey regression fix caused by previous update. But I've added a bunch of other bugfixes next to that.[/p][p][/p][h2]1.0.12[/h2]

• [p]Hotkeys on units and workshops now working again[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug in controls menu which prevented saving of changes when a key conflict dialog was confirmed.[/p]
• [p]Social crisis now spawns with either Massive or Furious perk instead of always Furious.[/p]
• [p]Leonidas and Saladin unit icons now represent currently researched units.[/p]
• [p]Cost efficiency traits now correctly get mutated towards other units when other civilizations are taken. (e.g. -20% Fort cost becomes -20% Archer cost for Crescent civilization)[/p]
• [p]Smallpox heavy attack now dealing correct damage instead of 1[/p]
• [p]Oracle magnification cost now same as for other wonders[/p]
• [p]Collecting Beastly recipe via merge should no longer crash the game.[/p]
• [p]Fixed wording of the Devotion pledge[/p]
• [p]Reduced Scenario 2 time trigger delays in the second half[/p]
• [p]Fixed music start after loading game[/p]

[p][/p][p]Have a nice day,[/p][p][/p][p]Ondrej[/p]

[p]Hello,[/p][p][/p][p]I know its not Monday yet everywhere, but I wanted to give a little heads-up how things are going and what is planned next. Also I have just released the Demo version of the game, so might as well do it in one update - more on that below.[/p][p][/p][p]First of all I want to send my Thanks to all of you for helping me make it to through to 1.0. That's all the Beta testers, community contributors, streamers and of course all the players who bought and played the game.[/p][p]More than four years ago I decided to make a game as a hobby project next to work and family to prove myself it can be done. And thanks to all your support it turned out it can! [/p][p]After 6,000 hours on the project we made it through seven major release beta tests, each with its specific quirks and problems. We twisted and turned mechanisms, we made stuff work for various play styles. We added tens of new features based on your feedback each update - extending this early access period to more than twice the expected length! So massive thanks to all of you. [/p][p][/p][p]And because my wife is also part of the player community I want to express special huge thanks to her for everything (especially for two wonderful kids she gave us during these four years). And actually you should all know ... the mammoths were her idea.[/p][p][/p][h2]Upcoming updates & patches[/h2][p]As you may have noticed there are some usual bugfixes and balancing updates coming every couple of days now - I am estimating most of the problems will be stabilized within next two weeks via patches (guessing based on how previous updates went, though this one has undeniably higher influx of new players and thus more ideas for improvement). [/p][h3]Civilization recovery[/h3][p]One particularly hot area is that of rebuilding a fallen civilization. As you may of may not have figured out, collapsing (at least partially) is almost inevitable part of the game. My take here on the story of human civilization is that it is a story of rising, falling and about cultural persistence that beats individual nations falls, death, wars and famine. And so the Collapse has a big role in the game as well. [/p][p]While a collapse may also be a source of major frustration when challenges are too frequent and too unfairly difficult, the core of the game is the ability to find strength to stand up again. This is an ambitious goal since it is a common practice if players can magically make all problems go away and reload the game after a mistake, or sell all progress for prestige points instantly an start anew. So deliberately taking away this option from players creates a more 'hardcore' feature than may appear on paper. [/p][p]One of the old teaser screenshots of the game. Turned out we're not this hardcore after all (yet). Notice the old concept included a time-travel technology (with the flux-capacitor icon)[/p][p][/p][p]At this point the civilization recovery mechanism has been updated with the redesign of worker vacancy and small adjustments to the grace period advantages. But more updates in this area are in the making process. Specifically I am looking into a kind of a revenge system (I would like to take an inspiration from the Orc Vendetta system from the Mordor games and twist it to our little world of crises). But we'll see if the concept is feasible.[/p][p]Nemeses are also long due for an update but more on this another time.[/p][p][/p][h2]Demo is up[/h2][p]Based on feedback I decided to do a tiny change in plans and release the demo version of the game today. My original plan was to do it prior to the endless mode to have a fully stable version as a basis. So this will likely make things a little more complicated...[/p][p]But I think it will be a big advantage for people to test the game before deciding if they want to buy it. The game blends several genres together so it is easy to mis-communicate the entire game experience through a few screenshots and videos. There are people expecting a cozy idle experience, some expect a traditional prestige system, some are looking for a city builder....etc. Which are all understandable expectations when the game is seen only from a single perspective. So a demo should hopefully help manage that better than my own words or store screenshots.[/p][p]The demo currently contains main game content up to Classical era (including all its ascensions) and allows seamless transition to main game with the existing save. It doesnt have any limitations on drops or any other in-game features, so players can farm as much as they want and bring it to the main game.[/p][p]Achievements are disabled for demo, but some of them will be automatically unlocked in Main game later. [/p][p][/p][h2]Endless[/h2][p]Not much has been said about endless mode yet. So let's fix that today. Honestly there is near nothing 'put to code' and very little 'on paper' but some concepts are already clear.[/p][h3]Endless mode or Adventure mode? [/h3][p]The endless mode is an alternate mode of the game that will exist next to the current 'campaign' let's say. The name 'Endless' is a placeholder now because in my mind this is mostly something like Adventure mode. But we're not an Action RPG (or are we?) so the name doesn't fit. I'll have to come with some new name that buzzes with both vagueness and coolness.[/p][p]Endless/Adventure mode will be a more intensified version of the campaign experience (and obviously with no fixed ending). While campaign is played on technically two big Ascension trees (if you consider the fall from Tier 2 to be end of first tree) Endless mode will be be played on semi-randomly generated small Ascension trees.[/p][p][/p][p]Size of Tier 4 tree is in my mind roughly 3-times bigger than the intended 'Endless-Adventure mode' Trees. They should fit a single screen.[/p][p][/p][h3]How does endless differ from the campaign?[/h3][p]The main difference is that endless mode will not offer one set of rules but each Ascension tree will have different score for Lotus gain, different scenarios, limitations on play-style and focus on particular feature subset of the game. [/p][p]My vision is to encourage players to try Heroes and Wonder combinations they did not have a reason to try in 'campaign' and create more 'simple life' by not having to 'farm everything at all times'. In other words, each ascension tree should motivate players to change and develop a new hero/wonder/perk/map-layout build.[/p][p]That said I would like to also continue level progression of things to higher numbers as far as the math persists and my excel files do not explode. [/p][p][/p][h3]Can you continue the main game after Final Confrontation?[/h3][p]Probably the most frequent question is - is the Final Confrontation the end? No - one of the reason endless mode will be created is so you can continue the game afterwards. [/p][p]If you choose so, your game will be converted to endless mode and you will carry your meta-progress stuff over there. This means your culture, heroes and all Lotus so far earned. [/p][p]I have not yet made decision if this meta progress would be somehow modified, capped or converted to another type of resource or fully migrated with no change. It depends highly on how progress will be handled in the new mode.[/p][h3]Can we start endless mode instead of main game[/h3][p]Yes. The endless mode will be possible to start separately even if you havent finished the campaign fully and players will start from complete scratch similar to how they started in campaign. [/p][p][/p][p]That's all for this update. Next time I hope I'll have some pictures of the new mode as promised.[/p][p]Have a nice day,[/p][p][/p][p]Ondrej[/p]

[p]Hello,[/p][p]it's time for another patch. This time I made a few invasive changes mostly for balancing purposes (and usual bug fixing). There are a few tiny changes in information flow / tutorials as well but those are only some quick patch changes. A bigger update of tutorial and information system is planned for a future (probably major) update.[/p][h3]Civilization Recovery update[/h3][p]After some discussion on the forum, discord and individual email exchanges (and save analyses) I revisited the recovery flow of decimated civilization and decided to do some changes in fundamental mechanics to remove some unnecessary micromanagement. [/p][p]The idea was to not add economical advantages to normal gameplay or make actual combat less difficult (lot of nerfing has already happened so let's let that settle for a bit). The following changes aim to simplify some complexity and increase the speed/safety of recovery when a complete or partial collapse of civilization happens. [/p][p]Note: This but first slightly more invasive step. Another step in the future will be an incentive system for the actual recovery process. I have tried a very simplistic solution for this locally but testing has proven it will need proper user interface integration on several places and reasonable scaling and variation. So I decided to descope it from this patch and build it properly for another targeted update. I'm already playing too much of a cowboy with the changes below.[/p][p]So here's what changes now:[/p]

• [p]Losing workers no longer abandons tiles completely. Tiles with insufficient workers will be still yours but shown as inactive (no traits from these) and will automatically reactivate when workers are regained. This eliminates the need for reclaiming territory on each fall or worker drop.[/p]
• [p]Tile attack from certain crises will now only destroy improvement on that tile and will not unclaim (I will reintroduce actual territory loss as a separate ultimate attack for some boss crises at some later time but will need to make it more interesting).[/p]
• [p]Auto-explore ability's improve option will now automatically re-improve any owned tile which no longer has improvement created by the player (e.g. destroyed by crisis). The preview button will show the intention on each tile - bear in mind please that existing saves will not automatically pick this information up. You either re-improve the tiles or test it in new ascension.[/p]
• [p]Nemesis locks are now generated after the milestone lock on each rare technology. These milestone locks are now all population based for a more reasonable population level to withstand the nemesis.[/p]
• [p]Nemesis lock now includes crisis difficulty estimate for its initial level.[/p]
• [p]Nemesis warning dialog now appears every time a player attempts to unleash it.[/p]
• [p]Standard four Rare-tech Nemeses attack sets has been slightly nerfed, plus they no longer deal Disaster attacks.[/p]
• [p]Unique crises now have a smaller rate of Ultra-attacks[/p]
• [p]Reduced stone cottage cost and increased its housing capacity[/p]
• [p]Fall Grace period increased to 7 minutes on normal difficulty and 3 on hard difficulty from original 5 and 2.[/p]
• [p]Falling now also creates a short 3m boost for double housing construction efficiency and growth rate.[/p]

[h3]Bugfixes & Changes[/h3]

• [p]IMPORTANT CHANGE: Unit button right-click now selects it for construction instead of a left-click. This now therefore works even during crisis when a Unit would otherwise be used or when it is ready to be used outside crisis.[/p]
• [p]Unit usage allowed by Rare technologies is now only possible 7 seconds after crisis instead of original 3 seconds (this is to minimize accidental usages). This is a temporary mitigation of the issue. This feature is due for an upgrade eventually in a later update so the User experience will be changed as well.[/p]
• [p]Unique heroes should now drop more from under-levelled crises. In other words, anti-trash mechanism which automatically replaces low-level heroes to culture drop will not apply if the rolled hero would be unique. This should not only make unique farming easier in late game but also give a more steady income of unique in the normal playthrough.[/p]
• [p]Hero rewards containing Unique heroes will now display confirmation dialog if Right-clicked to salvage them to prevent accidental dismantle.[/p]
• [p]Destroying civilization via Siege invalidates all existing dilemmas for that civilization preventing various problems and crashes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug in unit discharge causing the first discharged unit to be removed immediatelly. This was also leading to units instantly removed after finishing a quest.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug causing a crash when trying to spawn more than 8 civilizations via flag locks.[/p]
• [p]Unit discharge is now proportional to their number correctly, so it is faster the more units you have above the limit[/p]
• [p]Tier 2 white lotus pledge Valor now using the same Tech as a limit as in Tie4 - Nanotechnology (instead of Genetic engineering)[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug allowing Space elevator to be destroyed by some Crisis attacks.[/p]
• [p]Autoexpansion service will no longer attack unique critters on map[/p]
• [p]Increased Tutorial Messages contrast and fixed z levelling on Research screen to prevent unreadable text. Highlighted tutorial messages to be more visible in Message log. [/p]
• [p]Added hint how to extract idol from an infused hero in the hover detailed text. [/p]
• [p]Black lotus penalty references now indicate it is an actual penalty, not a benefit.[/p]
• [p]Reduced Tier 3 enemy civilization initial and max size slightly.[/p]
• [p]Reduced Tier 3 enemy civilization initial level from 15/25 (normal/hard) to 6/9. This was causing weird situation with Raids slowly decreasing in levels as the tiles downgraded to match your low tech level.[/p]
• [p]Added Level number to quest buttons with Crisis[/p]
• [p]Increased Spirit points from salvaging Idols to match Hero yield.[/p]
• [p]Hard Difficulty now yields double Culture from all sources (except from certain fixed rewards like Ascension locks). Note that this is applied to base reward vale so it doesnt show those extra green 'Bonuse culture' notifications like other culture bonuses do.[/p]
• [p]Devoted grounds pledge wording changed a bit to indicate Devoted grounds are done on map.[/p]
• [p]Click heat indicator is now visible when 'Showing details' is on (left Alt) even if below 300 heat.[/p]
• [p]Correct popup should appear at the end of Final Scenario (seriously how more stupid bug can you make in a 1.0 release?)[/p]
• [p]Napoleon should correctly boost metal instead of wood.[/p]
• [p]Cleopatra no longer affects damage perseverance reward trait[/p]
• [p]Siege quest is now slightly faster[/p]
• [p]Unique Critters can no longer spawn on Devoted Grounds (and thus should no longer ruin your day)[/p]
• [p]Autoexplore preview no longer shows preview when the button is invisible (due to autoexplore not being unlocked)[/p]

[p][/p]

[p]Hello,[/p][p][/p][p]another small patch is here. More balancing issues including some of those chunky bits that required more testing... Hopefully this removes all known annoying obstructions to progressing. [/p][p]Thanks to everyone sharing their saves in relation to shields struggle. As I mentioned in discussions the problems are quite fragmented. While the common issue is that players are hitting unexpected resistance from shields the root-causes vary. Based on the cases I have seen I decided to separate the general experience with shields between Hard an non-hard difficulties - with normal/easy being more tolerant to unit usage diversity (see details below)[/p][p]As for so called Crises Death Spirals I believe a Horn of Resolve change (mentioned below) will provide a sufficient mechanism to recover from any mistakes player makes in regards to warfare or other risky business. Together with last patch grace card we should have a decent safety net for normal difficulty gameplay.[/p][p]Still I will be keeping an eye on these in case there are any more corner cases ending in hard to recover state. An adviser system is something I have in mind to assist with situational tips ingame - to complement tutorials in the future...[/p][p]This patch is relatively invasive (in terms of code changes) so please do not hesitate to report any new defects or weird behaviour.[/p][p][/p][h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• [p]Hot-Fixed Tech tree structure and resulting tech cost calculation in Tier 4 Classical era (it was using an obsolete cost model and was badly connected to the correct model resulting in a mish-mash of both). Besides throwing away the old model I've also reduced Tier 4 research costs overall after Classical to soften the current pace and added a Population lock to help steer the player towards minimum expected population count.[/p][p]Note: The resulting state is not perfect and would deserve a full balancing retest, but because the old values were ridiculously wrong I decided to do a quick-fix for this first and fine tune this later. The Full balancing tests of the correct model are by this time invalidated by population/autonomy-affecting changes in prior patches - so the test has to be redone. I now ran two smaller tests through the Classical using very naive build and the timing seems playable (with 'absolutely naive' build they need to fit under 10 mintues per tech). Obviously using midgame features (magnitude, unique heroes, wonders or Idols) and doing a synergic map layout with strategic resources can turn this into under-a-minute matter easily.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with older save containing a shield boost crashing the game.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue causing rare crashes when selecting construction projects[/p]
• [p]Fixed Perk and Hero randomness on Civilizations spawned by Flag locks[/p]

[h3]Balancing adjustments[/h3]

• [p]On Normal/easy difficulty, Ottomans, Redcoats and Prussians crises will not spawn with cross-resisting Massive/Furious perk. They will always have the perk more advantageous for the player. Other war crises still spawn with random perk. This is done mostly to prevent first encounters with blue and black shield to carry this extra resistance (it can be effectively a 3x-4x powerup for the crisis depending on level). Hard difficulty is unchanged[/p]
• [p]On Normal/easy difficulty Black shield absorption maximum is lowered by about 1/3. This enables buffed light units to potentially destroy the shields under normal circumstances up to later stages of the game. Hard difficulty is unchanged[/p]
• [p]On Normal/easy difficulty Blue shield absorption is 90% instead of 95%. As above this allows players to use traditional builds (like light unit spam) early on to somehow beat through the initial bosses. Hard difficulty is unchanged[/p]
• [p]Unit and ability preferences are now highlighted with additional green/red chevron icons when the relevant crisis perk or shield is on. This should give a quicker indication which unit to use. This also shows up on Damage Hero abilities when Blue shield is on.[/p]
• [p]Four basic Nemeses (smallpox, inquisition, huns and locusts) levels are now capped to your tech level +10. Other nemeses will still grow beyond without limit. This will kick in retrospectivelly on the next time you face the nemesis but you need to force it to level up at least once (by surviving it). It will cap on the max level.[/p]
• [p]Horn of resolve will now make peace with red hostile civilizations (besides it existing grace period effect).[/p]
• [p]Crises now have a chance to drop Horn of Resolve on normal and easy difficulty if you have none.[/p]
• [p]Added a tutorial for Horn of Resolve in case you are overwhelmed with crises.[/p]
• [p]Added a visual indicator on the Horn of Resolve button during crisis (to not forget you have it when in trouble)[/p]

[h3]Other changes[/h3]

• [p]Added a Show details toggle button on main screen (below Use 10/100) which toggles additional UI details which could otherwise cause a screen clutter. Currently it only displays Unit caps and makes all popups appear instantly without delay. Can be hot-keyed with left Alt key. I plan to add more effects to this button eventually and also distribute it to other screens as needed.[/p]
• [p]Units over capacity now discharge slowly. They also eat less food. Note: There is a plan to actually make over-cap units play a bigger role in a future update - so this is just a 'temporary solution'.[/p]
• [p]Nemesis locks on tech tree now display correct initial nemesis level, mortal condition and cooldown length. This takes effect after new run since the tech tree needs to fully respawn.[/p]
• [p]Rare technology ascension was pushed later after Industrial era which should make players more prepared for first encounter with a Nemesis. It was swapped with one of the worker ascensions.[/p]
• [p]Flipped Rare technology and Strategic resources in Tier 4 tech tree so that Strategic Resorouces are available right after emerging from T3 (i.e. without beating first artist lock). This also helps with research cost problem above (more than it would seem)[/p]
• [p]Strategic resources II in Tier1 was pushed to right after Medieval era and made cheaper. This should make an important upgrade such as this less likely to miss and be available sooner.[/p]
• [p]War locks should no longer be opened by Auto research unless the 'Nemeses option' is turned on[/p]
• [p]Game speed changes now done by 100%s and the indicator is visible while game is paused so that game speed can be easier to change while paused[/p]

[p][/p][p]Cheers,[/p][p][/p][p]Ondrej[/p]