PON- analyzing AI and flow of game - high loss rate, game balance and recovery

[Christophe.Barot]

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?23647-Pride-of-Nations-Age-of-Revolution-Mod&p=257561&highlight=#post257561

does anybody is knowledgable in Mac Naughton mod - was (seems his last activity was in 2011 ) a great modder and PON beta team teampartner - history knowledgerable - pointed out utmost accurately 1905-1907 causal relation - much appreciated - and I come to many of his conclusions

anyway, his mod was aimed at reducing losses (it can have a TREMENDOUS effect on game flow, well beyond powers balance, so to test thoroughly, but deserves a try) and I believe additionally provided a few missing links to icons (military units, british russian other - cavalry artillery minors images punctually images missing)

to your attention especially, Fer, Kensai, Loki - anyway, to all - does anybody practised this mod, knows it well, feedback ?

[Kensai]

It was a lot of good work, together with his other additions (historical biographies and leader quotas for all nations). I have personally cherry-picked some of the changes he did, but never installed his mod completely. Many people were very happy with the reduced losses, but I was worried to change casualties so drastically. In the end, I opted for (1) 2x supply consumption and (2) historical attrition for all nations, including AI. Of course, battle losses (what McNaughton really made) is another issue, but I was afraid to decrease that in case it had long-term unforeseen consequences in the balance. A silly worry, given that any long enough game (500+ turns), eventually will have some issues that will need handling.

Wish McNaughton could come back...

[Christophe.Barot]

will perhaps be time to unearth it soon, and perhaps test it, battler losses reduction COULD - I say COULD perhaps solve the bleeding white effects of wars - had france kept most of her troops, she would have been in better shape for fighting for Risorgimento, and Russia in 1877

that is of course only half of the problem, recruit rate of Austria and france (troops, officers) has to be checked and compared, and we must find why Austria can mobilize (that early) and france not !

[Kensai]

I think there are serious issues of balancing because of the huge force quotas. I had complained of a similar thing in the old PBEM. Austria, already in the 60s, can reach astonishing number of troops. I believe the structure, force, and action pools should be severely decreased in a future iteration of the game. When I had asked why this had escaped beta testers scrutinity, I had been told that the testers thought it might have been boring with little opportunities for the early game.

I beg to differ. The game could be realistic even with fewer assets that grow together with the map. Otherwise a human (especially!) player can max all its assets by mid game.