Modding building times for siege equipment

[afrit]

Afrit, you beat me to the idea, although I hadn't read your post. I did exactly that tonight, and was most pleased with the results. After only 10 turns, every faction but Seleucid and Scythia took at least one rebel province, and several had taken multiples. In those ten turns there was only 1 siege, of a fort. Cities were assaulted every time, and the AI wasn't shy about doing it either. I don't think Seleucid will last another 10 turns. I think I'll be playing this way unitl a patch comes

I finally got the chance to try a no walls mod. I played as SPQR and did nothing other than watch the other factions. They do expand faster and provinces change hands quicker.Egypt, Spain, Britannia, Greek Cities and Scipii did the best after 50 years of play.

The limit on the AI expansion at that point seemed to be rebellions: Egypt could not hold onto Armenia well, and Spain had trouble keeping its German provinces. I will re-test with law/happiness bonuses.

Problem is that without walls the human player will expand even faster. By the time the better AI factions reach a good size (around 240 BC), a good human player will have about 30+ provinces.

@Pode,
you seem to be tinkering with the game on similar lines to what I am interested in doing (i.e gameplay mod geared towards making the AI more challenging by tinkering with certain values). Maybe we should dedicate a thread to all the experiments/ideas done in that regard, and collaborate on a "Rome: Total Gameplay" mod.

[Pode]

I'm not sure that the absence of walls really makes things dramatically faster for the human. This human, at least, is a bloodthirsty sort who doesn't believe his army is earning their salt unless they are killing someone, so I almost always build only as much siege equipment as I can the first turn and assault as soon as I'm able.
My restrictions on recruiting may help slow the human also. The AI tends to garrison with locally built units, so the large cities often have quality troops present, which makes assaults bloodier. Since the player's expendable units have to come from his least populated cities also, he's less able to afford the losses. I'll see how that plays out in my new Parthian campaign.
Afrit, I'm flattered by your offer, but honestly I'm reaching my burnout point with trying to hammer this game into the shape it should have been in when I opened the box. It's been an education, I couldn't spell mod before RTW, but there are other things I should be learning (blasted grad school cutting into my free time again). I'm hooked enough by the game and enough of a perfectionist / tinkerer that I'll probably end up doing 70% of the things I would do if I formally committed to helping on a mod anyway. It's just not what I SHOULD be doing, so I don't need to legitimize it to myself with a promise. Make any sense? Cheers, and good luck with that mod.

[afrit]

Pode,
totally understand. I have a big problem with time management as well (my typical work week is about 65 hours). So I really should not be modding RTW either.

In any case, keep us posted on any progress with your mod.

cheers ,
Afrit