Conceptual Balance Mod 1.41

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by DonCorazon

I like that idea. It would be cool and maybe help balance things if it specified a region of provinces where it might be found.

"A merchant arrives with tales that a mystical portal called the Ultimate Gateway has been found. His tales indicate it could lie in X, Y. or Z province."

That would be nice. But it cannot be done (nor can anything like that, actually) with the current modding tools. One can always dream..

But since we are talking about MP here, you could just devise a new rule on the games one hosts.

"If a player finds a magical site [X, Y, Z] he must immediately send a message (using the in-game messaging system) to all other players about the finding and the province number where the site lies."

It's pretty easy to cheat out of this, but it can be pretty easily checked after the game if the guy actually had left a "I win!" site unannounced.

[Illuminated One]

Hmm, I like the idea, really.
Maybe when I have time (and it can be added to llamaserver) I could make an external tool that does this.

[llamabeast]

Sounds like a good idea to me Burn.

[chrispedersen]

Hrm. p3e or pyg could actually probably code this; the guy that did the msg checker.

All you would have to do is check compile a list of unique sites and search the turn file for them. If found modify the turn file to include a message to everyone saying "Player Y has found Site X yada yada yada".

.*all*.

[Burnsaber]

OK, yesterday I did a list of problematic sites. There's 19 of them, and most of them are rare + unique. Steel ovens and Mount Chining are uncommon, thought. I used the following criteria (thanks to archaeo in the dom3 IrC channel)

alt and const: max 0%
conj and blood: max 20%
others: 30%

id#	name	era	frq	mask	lvl	type	F	A	W	E	S	D	N	B	gold	res	sup	unr	exp	lab	fort	runit1		conj	alter	evo	const	ench	thau	blood
474	Ancient Forge		2	735	1	Earth				1										EPÄTOSI							20%			
481	Banefire Forge		2	735	1	Death	1					1								EPÄTOSI							20%			
475	Chamber of Changes		2	735	1	Earth				1										EPÄTOSI					20%					
477	Conjurer's Cave		2	516	3	Earth				1										EPÄTOSI				30%						
482	Crown of Darkness		2	16388	4	Death						3								EPÄTOSI									40%	
466	Gorge of Mystery		2	256	2	Astral					1									EPÄTOSI					20%					
397	Mount Chaining		1	16607	1	Blood														EPÄTOSI										40%
520	Oak of Ages		2	16607	3	Nature														EPÄTOSI								50%		
637	Pool of Unhealthy Rites		2	223	2	Blood			1			1													20%					
395	Summoning Circle		2	223	3	Blood														EPÄTOSI										60%
471	Temple of the Turning Tide		2	223	1	Water			1											EPÄTOSI		529	Sea Father		20%					
696	The Basalt Forge		2	16640	2	Earth				1																	20%			
495	The Blood Rock		2	16388	3	Blood														EPÄTOSI										30%
401	The Ebony Circle		2	16607	2	Blood					1	3								TOSI		339	Sorcerer	30%						
313	The Ultimate Gateway		2	17119	3	Astral														EPÄTOSI				50%						
173	The Steel Ovens		1	17119	0	Fire										75				EPÄTOSI							20%			
455	The Water Solstice		2	16416	2	Astral			4		2									EPÄTOSI								50%		
484	Twisting Woods		2	2	1	Nature							1							EPÄTOSI					20%					
305	Village of Strange Men		2	223	1	Astral					1									EPÄTOSI					20%

I admit, it's pretty hard to read. But anyone out there is doing such a program, he can pick the names from there.

[lch]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

Hrm. p3e or pyg could actually probably code this; the guy that did the msg checker.

That was Illuminated One, who already posted above.

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

If found modify the turn file to include a message to everyone saying "Player Y has found Site X yada yada yada"

That's nothing else than hacking the turn files. It would require breaking through the game's safety measures. A program that just reads the turn files and finds out if a nation found a new site that hasn't been uncovered before, then allows to prepare a MOTD on a website or an email to all, would be quite a feat.

[Wrana]

An idea of such sites being announced to all players is good. Of course, it will require cooperation from those who find them. In this case, it's a pity that the current patch doesn't allow sites to be seen by scouts/scrying. Of course, this also goes beyond the mod scope...
As for unique recruits idea, I don't think it has any feasibility. By the time such sites are found and become useful, one more SC just isn't going to cut it. He will be much more useful if site is found at early game, but it probably won't be found at this time. "Lots of gold and resources" probably fall into the same category - they are useful at start, but not so much at lategame, while discount sites are other way around.

[llamabeast]

With lch's help, it looks possible that such a feature could be included in the llamaserver. That won't be for a couple of months though.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

With lch's help, it looks possible that such a feature could be included in the llamaserver. That won't be for a couple of months though.

Sweeet.

That's pretty much the best fix. It takes away the most problematic aspect of these sites, the secrecy. Now their power has price.

You found Sacrificial Circle? Congratulations, you can use it to attain great power. Just be prepared to defend it. At least the player who finds the site has two turns to reinforce his defenses.

May I also suggest to make the post to other players pretty epic. I was thinking something along the line of the Dire Portent messages when someone casts a global. Different one for each site would be perfect, me thinks, but could be a lot of work. If there's need for it, I could take a shot at writing these messages (there probably are better writers out there, thought).

In the mean time, I made a mod to eliminate the 19 problematic sites (DBS = Disable Bonus Sites). I've set them to rarity = 5, so that they cannot be randomly generated, only placed by map and mod commands.

[Wrana]

Agree - that would be the best way.