PoN 1.3 gripes

[Ex Mudder]

Been playing PoN over the past week as I was moving and had no internet. Some observations / questions / complaints:

I am not getting decisions when the tooltip says they should be available. This includes the mil reducing / contentment raising decision in F1 and F6 screens, and the boost your military on F3 screen. The only decisions that seem to refresh are the industrial (F4) ones - which is odd, as I can still drain wetlands and build roads, why do I need to choose it again? The net result of this is that I am getting strikes and riots, because no matter how low my taxes go, people just get more and more unhappy. I am playing the USA from 1850, it is now late 1856. I am actually considering attacking China, Columbia, and Venezuela for their silks and gems to get contentment up.
I would also like to have the decisions have a set price in prestige / VPs, instead of heads you win, tails you're screwed.

I am also seeing massive overproduction of goods in the 1850s. I shut down my steel and machine parts factories, for example. Can we cut production of such goods in 1850 and reintroduce it as techs improve? I'm also having to import coal, despite having built all the coal mines I can And we really need to cut down Cotton production at game start, I have loads of the stuff rotting in my warehouses.

Can we remove the negative prestige from many colonies? A prestige boost for historical locations is fine, but why should I be penalized for grabbing some random pacific island no one else wants?

I like the game, but I think it has some balance issues, and AI turns should really be processed while I am poking around the map, not while I am taking a smoke waiting for the turn to resolve.

[Kensai]

You are probably overexpanding your industry. Slow down. One-two actions at a turn, process turn, rinse, repeat. Human players ALWAYS find themselves in such problems: overproduction where they can't sell their products and coal lacking from many factories and railroads early on.

Also, what's this war mongering? You need silk? Why conquer to get it when you can simply "win it" in peaceful trade transactions as your relations go up with target nations? If you don't seem to win a trade transaction try to (1) improve relations, (2) sign a commercial agreement, (3) pay the 25% premium.

And just to go back to the first advice: this game is a marathon, not a sprint! Good luck!
(btw, your title is misleading... v1.03 has nothing to do with this, players have been complaining for these things since release... you're doing it wrong! )

[Pocus]

SOI can be set to 0 instead of being negative, this is an option in the main menu.

[Jim-NC]

Also, what's this war mongering? You need silk? Why conquer to get it when you can simply "win it" in peaceful trade transactions as your relations go up with target nations? If you don't seem to win a trade transaction try to (1) improve relations, (2) sign a commercial agreement, (3) pay the 25% premium.

It's not that simple, a lot of times the AI never offers gems or gold as they are converting them into state funds. The same with silks, the AI tends to not build enough structures, and there is always a severe shortage. The AI overbuilds coal for example, but not enough silk plantations, or any other luxury good. In a normal SP game, there is never much gold for sale in the market (may 15-20 per turn). In our MP game, we have humans playing the gold producers, and they are selling it all, not converting.

On another note, 1.3 upped the amount craftsmen produce. You will note that a lot of minors aren't buying anymore (especially mechancal parts). This will sort itself out as demand increases. Even if you don't build a single factory, as the USA you will have way too many mechanical parts, and will have to shut down 2 of your 3 starting factories (or is it 1 of 2).

As to the running out of coal after building every coal mine, that does indicate that you have overzelous in building structures.

As to getting resources to make your population happy, may I suggest a colonial adventure to the Dubai area? And you might want to visit Yemen with traders (for opium). Both will make your population happier. Troops with a high police value can help you with the strikes/riots (it does take them time).

I think America is hard coded to have extrememly low contentment (until the Civil War).

[Kensai]

Major nations (playable by humans in SP, industrializing...) need raw resources mainly. Even if the above doesn't work, a player can always have a commercial agreement in a developing country with a needed resource and invest there structures. Yes, our game is much more realistic in this aspect as such warmongering would have gone down in flames a couple turns later. But in SP the player is alone and most of times (reading from the comments) I see that he simply overexpands and overbuilds, not taking into account that other nations do not follow suit.

[Ex Mudder]

It's not that simple, a lot of times the AI never offers gems or gold as they are converting them into state funds. The same with silks, the AI tends to not build enough structures, and there is always a severe shortage. The AI overbuilds coal for example, but not enough silk plantations, or any other luxury good. In a normal SP game, there is never much gold for sale in the market (may 15-20 per turn). In our MP game, we have humans playing the gold producers, and they are selling it all, not converting.

On another note, 1.3 upped the amount craftsmen produce. You will note that a lot of minors aren't buying anymore (especially mechancal parts). This will sort itself out as demand increases. Even if you don't build a single factory, as the USA you will have way too many mechanical parts, and will have to shut down 2 of your 3 starting factories (or is it 1 of 2).

As to the running out of coal after building every coal mine, that does indicate that you have overzelous in building structures.

As to getting resources to make your population happy, may I suggest a colonial adventure to the Dubai area? And you might want to visit Yemen with traders (for opium). Both will make your population happier. Troops with a high police value can help you with the strikes/riots (it does take them time).

I think America is hard coded to have extrememly low contentment (until the Civil War).

Yeah, the main problem is that silks and Gems come and go, I figured if I grabbed Shanghai and a few neighboring provinces I would have enough silks for domestic use and export. Kinda annoying to click in silks and gems every turn to see if they are back on the market.

I didn't build any steel mills or mechanical parts, and I turned off the ones I started with. I did build Luxuries, Textiles, Manufactured goods, and now ammo / supply. I am getting all the steel I need from gun manufactures. Build golt and tobacco, but not Cotton. Maxed out luxury and gold production, selling a bunch every turn on the market.

And the bloody civil war started when my army was in Hawaii preparing to attack China.

I'm not running out of coal from domestic demand or industry, I am spending 30-40 coal a turn on railroads and ships. I though I wanted a lot of railroads for the rail transport, supply, and production boost?

Ok, I can use MP brigades to help with strikes? I have a few of those. Are labor brigades any good?

True, low contentment makes sense given the problems of the time, I am just wondering why it takes 5 years for the "can only be once a year" decisions to become available again. They sometimes appear when I quit and restart though.

Are screw battleships worth it for the USA? I mostly have frigates and corvettes.

[Jim-NC]

The steel mills and mechanical parts are from the craftsman production. It will be less of a problem as time goes on.

I suggest colonial ventures for gems/opium. Attempt to get good relationships with China (it's a bit of a punching bag, but watch out for it's large army - they have huge reserves of men). With good relationships and a commerical agreement, you can build silk plantations there (and don't have to worry about keeping a large army there).

That's bad about the civil war

Ah, too many railroads. You do want rails as they almost double the production in the region that has them, however, each territory of railroads costs 0.5 coal (IIRC) per turn, and thus can get quite costly. You can't destroy them now that you have built them, but you can look at shutting down some of your factories (look for those that use coal as an input). You will probably have to wait for level 2 mines to be built before you can get enough coal.

I personally don't think labor brigades are good for anything (but that's just me).

Don't know about the yearly reset.

As to the battleships, are you planning on fighting anyone's navy? I don't count the CSA's. If not, then no, battleships aren't worth it. If you plan on bombarding land troops, or engaging in naval battles, then yes they're worth it.

[Egg Bub]

I have found mech parts and steel a problem in my British GC too. I may have asked this before but will leaving my steel mills/mech parts factories inactive for a long time have serious negative consequences (my contentment is about 91% average at the moment but in some regions it's 99/100%).

Ah, too many railroads. You do want rails as they almost double theou can't destroy them now that you have built them, but you can look at shutting down some of your factories (look for those that use coal as an input). You will probably have to wait for level 2 mines to be built before you can get enough coal.

Can you not tell your troops to destroy railways if they are in the same region? I have never done it to my own railways , but the button to do so has been illuminated when I have selected troops on national soil.

[Ex Mudder]

I suggest colonial ventures for gems/opium. Attempt to get good relationships with China (it's a bit of a punching bag, but watch out for it's large army - they have huge reserves of men). With good relationships and a commerical agreement, you can build silk plantations there (and don't have to worry about keeping a large army there).

Ah, too many railroads. You do want rails as they almost double the production in the region that has them, however, each territory of railroads costs 0.5 coal (IIRC) per turn, and thus can get quite costly. You can't destroy them now that you have built them, but you can look at shutting down some of your factories (look for those that use coal as an input). You will probably have to wait for level 2 mines to be built before you can get enough coal.

I personally don't think labor brigades are good for anything (but that's just me).

Don't know about the yearly reset.

As to the battleships, are you planning on fighting anyone's navy? I don't count the CSA's. If not, then no, battleships aren't worth it. If you plan on bombarding land troops, or engaging in naval battles, then yes they're worth it.

I have a commercial agreement with China. How do I build silk plantations with it? Also have one with Siam and Japan.

Coal is cheap, I'm not worried. It was just odd to have to import coal from Japan lol. Dyes, tea, and rice as well.

Nah, no desire to beat up on anyone but the Spanish. Do they have a navy?

I built a engineer brigade to go along with my signal corps and ballons in DC.

Are fortress regiments worth it? And if I add a 3 star/anchor to a fortress reqiment in DC will I still get the CinC bonuses?

[Jim-NC]

With the commercial agreement, you should be allowed to build structures. Use the normal build interface when you are over China. You should see that the regions are yellow or green (depending on costs). You would build it the same as a normal building in your country. You need to keep your relations above 25 with China while it is building, or they will seize it. They still might seize it after it is built (it appears to me that most buildings get seized during construction).

The Spanish start the game with a navy, I have no idea what size it is now in your game. They probably have at least 1 wooden battleship, or maybe 1 wooden screw battleship.

Fortress units depend on your playing style. They are good in fortresses, and they can be used to hold down an area. I don't usually build very many of them.