Alright then...
Since the other stickied thread of Fan Patch 1.0 is pretty much dead, and no-one reads it, I'm going to make my own!
Here it is!
As I see the updates, I'll post them into here.
Feel free to use this thread to discus anything to do with Fan Patch 1.1 such as what you would like to see regarding civ balance, map balances, new maps, release dates and more!
A huge thanks goes to all the guys over at AgeSanctuary who are working together to make this second FanPatch, and of course to Viper who made it all happen.
Enjoy!
Since the other stickied thread of Fan Patch 1.0 is pretty much dead, and no-one reads it, I'm going to make my own!
Here it is!
Alrighty everyone.Quoted from AgeSanctuary:
Hello everyone. The purpose of this topic is to keep the community apprised of progress on the fan patch. I'll be updating this as more news come to hand, so look out for those updates!
--------------------------[14th December 2008]
Discussions begun on possible balance changes for Fan Patch 1.1 (hereafter FP 1.1), focusing primarily upon which civilization to use as the baseline for balance. That means all other civilizations will be balanced against this particular civilization.
The size of our play-tester team has been increased dramatically (from 8 to 22). We decided some time ago that we would be balancing for team gameplay alongside 1v1 gameplay in FP 1.1, so as a result we have recruited many top team players (we obviously need that many people to play-test in 3v3 games). These people are mostly from the Japanese community, who have the strongest grounding in team games.
We have begun noting any bugs that have arisen from FP 1.0. We invite the community to report any bugs they find.
First build created for FP 1.1. Testing begins. [19th December 2008]
We have received an impressive donation from matsujun to host tournaments promoting the release of FP 1.0, as well as FP 1.1 later on. The staff at AgeSanctuary would like to thank matsujun very much for his gracious donation. More details to follow shortly.
Testing has begun on the second iteration of FP 1.1 (i.e. 1.1.1). Each iteration represents tweaks and modifications from the previous iteration. Once everyone agrees that an iteration is complete and requires no more changes it becomes the final patch. FP 1.0 required 15 iterations until we achieved a build suitable for release.
We believe we have solved the map CRC/OOS problem which will allow us to include modified maps in FP 1.1. Testing continues to prove that our solution is working. [27th December 2008]
Our solution for changing maps has proven to work, so we are changing many of the existing maps to make them better balanced.
Most veteran units are being changed so that their stats are colonial-based.
In our first patch iteration, we tried to balance the Germans, Dutch, French, and Spanish so that they could become our baseline civs. We tried to nerf the first, and boost the latter 3 to be as close in strength as possible.
In our second iteration, we added the Portuguese into the mix, and made some minor adjustments to the first four civilizations.
Now we are on our third iteration, and are gradually trying to work on the more unique civilizations - starting with the British, Iroquois, and Russians.
Here is an example of some of the changes being tested for the Portuguese.
None of the balance changes listed below are final.
o Free hunting dogs at start.
o Cassadore colonial stats set to 5 hand damage and 15 ranged damage.
o Cards swapped so that attack and hitpoint cards are available in age 2 and the combat card is available in age 3. Card swapping has to be done in a very particular way so that we don't break online decks. We can't just change the age. Instead unique cards are swapped with other unique cards from different ages. The biggest side effect of this method is that cards will be found in unexpected categories when building decks. For example, TEAM Gunpowder Infantry Hitpoints will be found in the Cathedral instead of the Academy.
+ HCCheapOutpostsTeam: Moved to age 4 slot belonging to HCRangedInfantryDamagePortuguese.
+ HCImprovedWallsTeam: Moved to age 4 slot belonging to HCRangedInfantryHitpointsPortugueseTeam.
+ HCNavigationSchool: Moved to age 1 slot belonging to HCCheapOutpostsTeam.
+ HCXPHouseofBraganca: Moved to age 4 slot belonging to HCRangedInfantryCombatPortuguese.
+ HCRangedInfantryHitpointsPortugueseTeam: Moved to age 2 slot belonging to HCImprovedWallsTeam.
+ HCRangedInfantryDamagePortuguese: Moved to age 2 slot belonging to HCNavigationSchool
+ HCRangedInfantryCombatPortuguese: Moved to age 3 slot belonging to HCXPHouseofBraganca[2nd January 2009]
Testing begins on the 4th interation of the 1.1 patch which includes balance changes for British, Dutch, French, Germans, Iroquois, Portuguese and Spanish.
Some general balance changes include 90 wood fishing boats and changes to both European and Asian Schooners as well as 0 LOS walls.
Map Changes
o California replaced with new map.
o Great Lakes replaced with new map.
o Hispaniola replaced with new map.
o New England replaced with new map.
o Ozarks replaced with new map.
o Pampas replaced with new map.
o Patagonia replaced with new map.
o Rockies replaced with new map.
o Sonora replaced with new map.
o New Map = Dakota Badlands
o New Map = New Unknown
Map Set Changes
o Pampas added to Random Land Maps.
o All Maps Set changed so that all of the maps have an equal chance of being selected.
o Standard Maps Set changed so that all the maps have an equal chance of being selected.
Bug Fixes
o Rifling tech affects Renegados and Thuggees.
o Caracole tech affects Comancheros.
o Bayonet tech affects Pistoleros and Dacoits.
o YPHCGurkhaAid card now affects Mansabdar Gurkhas.
o UpgradeTech flag added to ImperialRabaulds and Paper Cartridge. Removed from Star Fort.
o XPRevolutionOHiggins upgrade order changed, so Imperial Hussars displays correctly.
o NatXPKlamathHuckleberryFeast changed to -0.67, making 10 crates of food possible.
o Indian and Sioux Surgeons can now construct Field Hospitals.
o HCMusketeerGrenadierHitPoints now correctly affects Janissaries.
o NatMercHuronMantlet are now AbstractInfantry.
o ypConsulateBashkirPony now have 20% ranged resistance.
o OutpostWagons can now build War Huts.
o xpAztecWarchief: Damage flag added to hand attack; he should not hurt allied units with the Smoking Mirror card anymore.
o ypConsulateCarabineer: Stats brought in line with regular Ruyters.
o xpBuilderStart changed to startingunit, so it will interfere less with early settler pathing.
o xpMedicineManAztec changed to startingunit, so it will interfere less with early settler pathing.
o xpBuilderStart changed to startingunit, so it will interfere less with early settler pathing.
o Tried moving the War Chiefs to the top of the Proto to see if that'll help with the issue where Warchiefs in a group won't pick up a treasure.[9th January 2009]
We are still on the 4th iteration of the FP 1.1 beta. With changes to several civs being play-tested, it will take us progressively longer to finalise balance changes at this point.
Balance discussions are of course still ongoing. The 'Portuguese Changes' topic in our FP private forum has passed 250 replies.
Work continues on re-balancing maps, with RF_Gandalf doing a good job of not only re-balancing, but in the case of Rockies doing a complete re-design.
Below are some preview images for the 'New Rockies' map. What we had to do was a complete re-design. The old Rockies had a limited number of approaches to players' bases - you could either camp in your base, or alternatively prevent your opponent from leaving their base. That made things very difficult if you didn't have a civilization suited to the map's gameplay. We have worked to address such concerns, with several openings in the cliffs, a re-designed trade route to encourage people to take more trade posts, and a widened valley in the middle to reward more aggressive map control. Screenshot previews (click thumbnails to enlarge): Map previews: [17th January 2009]
This week, we have almost finalized our changes with the French, Germans and Spanish. We are also coming close to finishing our testing with the Portuguese, which we have had to give small nerfs to during this iteration, in order to make up for our last set of boosts. Below are some changes that we have finalized. Additional changes are being discussed and tested for these civilizations as well, with so far positive results. These other changes will be posted soon.
o British
- Longbows given -1 attack, +.25x multiplier against heavy infantry.
o French
- Shipments are obtained at .95 of the original shipment time (~5% faster).
o Germans
- HCShipCrossbowmen3German: 9 crossbowmen decreased to 8.
- HCShipUhlans4: 9 uhlans decreased to 8.
- Settler wagons deplete .75 coin for every 1.00 coin they gather.
o Spanish
- HCShipRodeleros1: 5 rodeleros increased to 6.
- HCHandCavalryCombatSpanish: now effects Dragoons too.
In addition to finalizing these changes, the patch team has started its 5th iteration of the patch, now including changes for Aztecs, Ottomans, and Sioux. There has been lengthy debate on what extent that these civilizations should be changed, and what exactly should be done with them. We plan to test and build multiple iterations in order to come to sound solutions for the problems facing these civilizations. [28th January 2009]
During our testing with the last iteration of our beta, we were quite surprised with the outcome of some of our newest changes. We have only just started testing changes for our 6th and newest beta based on our latest findings with the Aztecs, Sioux, and Ottomans. We are also trying out small adjustments to China with hopes for success.
For the Aztecs, we have applied mostly nerfs to their firepit bonus, as well as modifications for their colonial units. We planned to see whether they would have new weaknesses due to these changes, and see if we could address them. Luckily, the Aztecs have so far have been surprisingly competitive.
With the Ottomans, we have tried applying boosts to their economy based on their mosque technologies, as well as minor adjustments to janissaries and abus guns. Their economy turned out fairly competitive, but we quickly found them to be overwhelmingly powerful. We now plan to test further adjustments to abus guns and janissaries.
We have also decided to address the imbalances associated with some of the unit conversion cards. We hope to make each card convert units to only the same and similar costing unit type. Since Russia only has one ranged infantry unit, we are considering making Suvorov Reforms convert strelets into a weak proto skirmisher type unit. Han Reforms will also be changed to have a lower effect on the old han banner army, as we believe the current effect is much too strong.
As I see the updates, I'll post them into here.
Feel free to use this thread to discus anything to do with Fan Patch 1.1 such as what you would like to see regarding civ balance, map balances, new maps, release dates and more!
A huge thanks goes to all the guys over at AgeSanctuary who are working together to make this second FanPatch, and of course to Viper who made it all happen.
Enjoy!