Patch 1.0.10

[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]