New Steampunk Advance Thread

board 3659

@rogercooper I made a mod of it but it's unfinished. I think you meant to pin cameron since he made his mod

cameron

i think the main reason i added a bunch of factories to usa, especially washington dc, probably was that they fell too easily. mainly b/c the bot would almost never reinforce washington dc. although i feel like over the years as the AI has improved the bots do actually build factories now. the AI really has come a long way from when i started playing triplea!

sounds like you do to st petersburg what i do to london.

board 3659

@cameron yeah though you do need to send a cruiser to block a British attack on transports and send the fleet to wreak Russian in turn 1. It's not too hard though and once you do it's pretty easy to take turn 2 or 3

board 3659

I think the difficulty in having 4 players to do a playtest is hurting the ability to balance the game

While there are obvious things we can fix, I think it would be helpful if we can somehow be able to get a playtest going

board 3659

Guys would a play by forum style game work?
Who's up to playing

cameron

@board-3659

i've not actually played tripleA against humans in many many years...
although play-by-forum would prob fit my playstyle of doing little bits at a time inbetween the rest of life...

now that i'm more or less finished my steampunk mod i'm kinda focused on playing that a bit. keep on finding things i missed...

cameron

if anyone is interested in my mod here it is:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14_SlLRB_PrJOzgdd64bsXoz32eMJSYzt/view?usp=sharing

hopefully it's not too much of a mess. i think that it's playable at least. although i need to learn about the new isAI feature to make the bots less daft.

edit: bah. more things not working...

edit 2: updated link

edit 3: updated link again

edit 4: updated link again

edit 5: updated link again

RogerCooper

@cameron I am receiving the message "File is in the owner's Trash"

cameron

@rogercooper

thanks for the heads up. i replaced it with an updated one and blanked on the link still being attached to the old one...

board 3659

@rogercooper Have you succeeded in downloading the map? I can't seem to for some reason

cameron

did you try clicking on the download icon? top right? i failed entirely to notice it for a while when downloading someone elses map...

board 3659

@cameron I can download the files but the engine can't detect them for some reason

cameron

unzip and put the contents in your downloadedMaps folder. i added the date to the zip file because i kept making little fixes...

board 3659

Some initial impressions. So it's cool seeing the Martians, and Nemo Pirates get more units (especially the scout, the Martians lacked a cannon fodder unit that they really need). I also find the idea of the minor powers be united to a single faction.

The unit redesigns are cool and the shift in places like North America which didn't felt right in the OG.

The addition of more weird neutrals was also cool and gave the game more flavor.

The tech system is better with capitals giving tech tokens each turn making it feel not just paths that only the wealthier powers can invest in

board 3659

SO played a game of Central and Wierd. Will try Entente later so my thoughts

Nemo Pirate AI even if not building ships is a lot more aggressive and can grow to be a bit of a threat with just their flying units and existing naval ones (this is due to the range the Nautulis have)
Martian AI is usually strong enough to take Cairo and Damascus but they seem to not be too aggressive besides from that. (They do take most of Central and South America as well but never advance further when I built up an Austrian force)
US AI sucks and doesn't defend D.C from a turn 3 attack from Havanna against Germany
Germany can kind of Turn 1 London Lmao. Even Turn 3-4 Russia since they can't build up enough to ignore the buff against the Graf Zepplins
Austria having Conscripts is a good change and makes me not die to Alliance like I used to
Commies are a good threat to for Germany not just to loot Russia and leave west. Same with Turkey in the North
Tokoyo is a bit too weak against Turn 1 Nemo Pirate. Need a few trenches or a maginot
Nautulis kind of needs a cost nerf to 16-18. A bit too good IMO with their 4 movement. Maybe make Battlecruisers move 4 and Battleships and cruisers move 3 as well.
The Special neutrals are a cool mechanic and do help add flavour and encourages neutral farming a lot more.

cameron

yeah, it's very much a work in progress - i'm still constantly tinkering.

the AI struggles in general; especially with the more unusual troops. i don't think that it ever uses paratroopers. it doesn't understand the canNotTarget tag and so thinks dabbaba are the best unit ever - i only put the build cap on them to stop the AI building nothing else... it also ignores the special islands - even when i had it play itself for 30 rounds the entente had taken every TT but the special islands.
i've always found that the AI has trouble dealing with water; both defending from and attacking across.
really gonna have to learn about the knew isAI feature i saw referenced somewhere.

as far as round one capital capture goes: germany could actually take london and st petersburg on turn one. they can't really hold london and so will lose valuable grafs. i tried to harden them a bit by giving them a maginot and AA. (same with tokyo.) the problem is that germany goes first so the targets can't prepare. this is a human only problem as the AI is incapable of making such attacks as far as i can tell. tokyo is easier to deal with as yo ucan screen the tokyo SZ with the starting destroyers. maybe i should start them in that position to help the AI; although it will most likely just move them anyway...

i listened to an audio dramatization of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas while working on this mod and the nautilus's top speed is 50 knots or 50 mph (43 knots) depending on the source and that was the prototype built half a century before this game's setting so these ones are probably even faster. either way it's hella faster than any regular ship. and nerfing jules verne is sacrilege and you should wash your mouth out with soap for suggesting such a thing!
the regular ships get to 4 Move with the MarinePropulsion anyway. i always disliked BBs and battlecruisers starting with 4 Move; speed like that needs crazy mad scientist steampunk tech!

board 3659

@cameron said in New Steampunk Advance Thread:

i don't think that it ever uses paratroopers.

I've seen Nemo Pirate use paratroopers a lot. Idk if it uses them for actual air attacks. It probably sees it as more cost-efficient. Tbf it is a decent early-game strategy to use them for just naval invasions when you want cheap land units to spam even with the shittier stats (mostly for the extra hitpoints and costs)

it doesn't understand the canNotTarget tag and so thinks dabbaba are the best unit ever - i only put the build cap on them to stop the AI building nothing else...

I was curious on that restriction. I have seen multiple times it wastes Dabbaba's attacks with conscripts in weird places like France

it also ignores the special islands - even when i had it play itself for 30 rounds the entente had taken every TT but the special islands.

What's weirder is that Nemo Pirates takes them but not Entente. (I've seen Nemo Pirates get special units)

as far as round one capital capture goes: germany could actually take london and st petersburg on turn one. they can't really hold london and so will lose valuable grafs.

I mean you only need really one or two grafs to take. Even with the lose of those two, you still basically steal 60 PU and kill the units already in London (So basically around 70 PU lose for Britain while you lose around 20 PU's of units). From what I gathered, St.Petersburg is easier to hold. Especially with Transports you can buy for Germany in Round 1.

i tried to harden them a bit by giving them a maginot and AA. (same with tokyo.) the problem is that germany goes first so the targets can't prepare. this is a human only problem as the AI is incapable of making such attacks as far as i can tell. tokyo is easier to deal with as yo u can screen the tokyo SZ with the starting destroyers. maybe i should start them in that position to help the AI; although it will most likely just move them anyway...

Yeah, Tokyo can be defended with a screen force of destroyers. I feel like putting the Zeppelins further would help not do a turn-one move. Gives more prep time for Russia and Britain

i listened to an audio dramatization of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas while working on this mod and the nautilus's top speed is 50 knots or 50 mph (43 knots) depending on the source and that was the prototype built half a century before this game's setting so these ones are probably even faster. either way it's hella faster than any regular ship. and nerfing jules verne is sacrilege and you should wash your mouth out with soap for suggesting such a thing!
the regular ships get to 4 Move with the MarinePropulsion anyway. i always disliked BBs and battlecruisers starting with 4 Move; speed like that needs crazy mad scientist steampunk tech!

lmao. True, I just think that given the steampunk tech, maybe Battle Cruisers could be 3 movements at least? Cruisers are faster than BB's. MarinePropulsion does balance it though (Especially since you can select that tech for Britain early on. It should help them a lot)

I am kind of surprised you made the Graf Zepplins be a 4/4 given how much of a buff that is but it does make more sense. I am thinking of maybe adding more Zepplin types. I mean idk if it's possible to have air-units that are immune to AA-Guns but it would be cool of such an Airship exist for either side.

I do think the restriction of placement is a bit harsh. Mainly not being buildable in Mexico City

RogerCooper

@board-3659 You easily make units immume from AA fire, in fact you need to specify the targets for aa units. However, it seems you are going a little overboard on Zeppelins. They should not be super-weapons.

board 3659

@rogercooper I just wanted another variant to make them not the same as just high-hitting units with air-transporting capabilities. (I also argued how I thought the GrafZepplin buff was a bit much)

cameron

@rogercooper said in New Steampunk Advance Thread:

@board-3659 You easily make units immume from AA fire, in fact you need to specify the targets for aa units. However, it seems you are going a little overboard on Zeppelins. They should not be super-weapons.

i think maybe you missed the "STEAMPUNK" bit...