Hi there! 

Getting used to the patch now, have played multiple games and winning consistently on "serious". My feedback is almost all positive, but I do have one change suggestion:

One thing I have noticed is that the AI are very easy to bully on water given that retreat hits for 60%. They will often put a fleet with 8 transported land units in the sea without really having a clear plan for them, and I can simply use a 2 ship fleet, split it, attack with one, they retreat, attack with the other, they've lost 8 land units.

Is there any behavioral change that could make them behave more sensibly with transport ships? EG escort transport ships with proper navel units reinforcing? Or actively take paths that avoid my fleets. Or maybe embarked units just need a small buff so that I can't wipe out whole fleets so easily. When a player thinks about moving land units across water, they have to think about the risks of being killed easily by enemy ships, but the AI doesn't bat an eyelid before sending it's units to a watery grave. 

I don't presume to know what's possible with modding but if it's an easy change perhaps it's one that could be considered? 

I have read a lot of your changes and am interested in the philosophy behind your approach.  I apologize if this is vague: I want the game to be more challenging and fun without sacrificing that for exacting and elusive goals of balance.

I am also curious if there is a database of customs maps that work with your mod?  Or should generic custom maps work with your mod?  

Selein wrote:

I have read a lot of your changes and am interested in the philosophy behind your approach.  I apologize if this is vague: I want the game to be more challenging and fun without sacrificing that for exacting and elusive goals of balance.

I am also curious if there is a database of customs maps that work with your mod?  Or should generic custom maps work with your mod?  

The general philosophy is "keep the spirit of vanilla alive, but change some of the more egregious outliers" (like vanilla kapaku and mykara, both for different reasons). Most balance changes are buffs, and some are simply design changes. If I find myself to never use a certain mechanic or only use that mechanic, its a potential candidate.  EL - as any complex 4x - will never achieve starcraft-like balance and I dont strive to achieve that. I just want that everything has its place in the game, even if it is a niche. There is also the vanilla balance mod in the workshop that undoes most of the balance changes, so you can always use that.

Most custom maps should work with the mod (infact more should work than in vanilla). There is also a project that revived and modernized the map editor for creating new custom maps. 

How does this mod change defense/attack stats?

I have noticed that there are sometimes cases when my units inflict literality zero damage on heavy armored enemy units.  

And is it this mod or the game itself? An AI player don't want to sign peace treaties. 

The mod doesnt change anything about the defense/attack calculations. AI'ss are actually more likely to accept (or offer) peace treatis with ELCP. But if you feel you are weak and not useful to them, they wont necessarily want poeace without you giving them something for it. This can change over the course of a game though. A good way to make peace/friendships is for example to have a common enemy (be at war with the same player). Also: If you have common borders AI typically wont like you without some bribing.

Hello! I think I noticed a weird problem with True Random setting in faction randomization.

It seems that there can only be up to 2 variants of the same race. Is there a possibility to stretch out the faction selection randomization? Or perhaps make a new function that does the same without rules and restrictions?

Thanks!

Guvenoren wrote:

Hello! I think I noticed a weird problem with True Random setting in faction randomization.

It seems that there can only be up to 2 variants of the same race. Is there a possibility to stretch out the faction selection randomization? Or perhaps make a new function that does the same without rules and restrictions?

Thanks!

As far as I know its weighted randomization as in the more a faction appear the less likely a second one will appear. No I will not touch it as I dont have a lot of time atm.

LeaderEnemyBoss wrote:

Guvenoren wrote:

Hello! I think I noticed a weird problem with True Random setting in faction randomization.

It seems that there can only be up to 2 variants of the same race. Is there a possibility to stretch out the faction selection randomization? Or perhaps make a new function that does the same without rules and restrictions?

Thanks!

As far as I know its weighted randomization as in the more a faction appear the less likely a second one will appear. No I will not touch it as I dont have a lot of time atm.

Understood! Not trying to rob you of time, you should mod whenever you feel like it.

Another thing I have a weird gripe with is the re-balance of commercial and research agreements. That you get essentially free trade routes with factions you are at peace with makes trade routes, in my opinion, just stronger than they already were.

Maybe make an alternate rule set for this, like you have with the "World Balance" settings.

Trade routes can be easily modded with xml mods, ELCP isnt necessary for this. Also its not a good idea to introduce tons of new rulesets for every petpeeve one player might have.

Hi.

Is the current version of the Community Patch compatible with the changes from the recent patch (1.8.52), or should I rather wait for an update to try it out?

You can just reinstall ELCP 2.7.0 after the update is complete, the core changes it brings are already all part of ELCP and so it remains compatible with 1.8.52 aswell. The only "new thing" for ELCP users are the fixes made to the Auriga map (more watch towers and villages, less graphic glitches etc.).

Great, thanks for the quick response (and the awesome patch)!

I'm having a problem with ELCP where I had to move my Endless Legend game from my SSD to my HDD. Even after completely removing the steamlibrary folder on my SSD, ELCP installs to the SSD. How can I stop it from doing that, and have it install to my HDD instead?

Coolv1bes wrote:

I'm having a problem with ELCP where I had to move my Endless Legend game from my SSD to my HDD. Even after completely removing the steamlibrary folder on my SSD, ELCP installs to the SSD. How can I stop it from doing that, and have it install to my HDD instead?

Two possibilites. You either deinstall ELCP the proper way (windows uninstall menu), then, when reinstalling, you will be prompted to choose a folder again and you can choose the correct one. Or you can simply ignore the installer and manually copy the files into the folder via the zip.

Will playing the game on Easy difficulty breaks the mod balance?

Adnan wrote:

Will playing the game on Easy difficulty breaks the mod balance?

No, why should it?

I'm not done yet! Remember to join my [Discord Channel], if you want to have a chat. Further information for newcomers on [Page 1]. You can also leave a [Paypal tip].

Once more it is time for a new version of ELCP! This version adresses some long standing grievances of mine. Pillars now always project their effect correctly beyond region borders. Several skill trees got a balance pass, with the stated goals to make these governors (or the specific skills) at least situationally desirable. There were also some long standing issues with the AI that made it less agressive than it was supposed to be. Expect more agression from now on - especially on higher difficulties.

Mappers and Modders (and Mod-Users!) also have reason to rejoice. Additional features for ELCMT have been added, factions specific spawn points and advanced randomization logic allow for more interesting maps. Extratypes of runtime modules will also no longer be overriden by mods (there is really no reason they should be). This improves compatibility with certain kind of Vanilla Mods (Quest-Mods specifically).

Download:

Win64-Installer || Win64-Zip || Mac-Zip

Changelog for v2.7.4:

General:

• Ardent Mages Pillars now correctly project their effect beyond region borders. They also affect Fungal Blooms and Converted Villages.
  • Note that Cities/Blooms/Villages of other empires also benefit from Pillars
• Fixed an old bug that caused abilities that a unit aquires while being embarked (for example by changing its equipment) to provide double the intended effect
• Urkans can now spawn at a later turn if they miss their initial shot (due to all regions being settled) -It may take a few turns before an Urkan notices a free region
• Fixed owned Urkans breaking the tile output preview for Volcanoformers
• Land units can no longer embark through unstoppable tiles (Ruins and Villages) -This prevents rare cases where units could get stuck in small lakes
• Hovering over an unpathable tile while holding the right mouse cursor should no longer tank performance
• Made some adjustements to AI ticks that should improve lategame performance a bit
• Adressed a rare issue were cultist AIs would attempt to convert overgrown villages, leading to all kinds of shenanigans
• Fixed a rare issue where an AI being defeated by Cultists caused endless turns
• The Military Screen can no longer be used to circumvent ELCP's army sale restrictions
• Mercenary ships can no longer be hired into Fortresses that are currently engaged in combat
• Fixed certain Quests (Morgawr Main Quest Chapter 8, Celebrating the Solstice) only being solvable by the host player
• Magtay and Gauran villages are now correctly counted for Roving Clans Main Quest Chapter 7 (thanks marharth)
• Fixed Drakken Faction Quest Chapter 5 only working on districts in the same City
• The "Forged in the Melting Pot" pacification quest now properly locks the "parley" action for other villages in the region

Worldgenerator:

• Random anomalies in custom maps now take the terrain they are placed on into account (so no more ice terrain anomalies on Volcanic Terrain)
• Added support for imported tilesets to the worldgenerator
  • This means the world generator can now read custom tmx map files that require external tsx tilesets
• Added support for custom randomization restrictions to the worldgenerator
  • This feature allows mappers to group random Points of Interest together (for example if all strategic ressource deposits in a region should roll the same value)
  • The list of possible randomization results can be restricted aswell (for example if a random luxury ressource from the first era should be rolled)
  • This feature needs the latest version of ELCMT to work
• Added support for faction specific spawn points to the worldgenerator (programmed by Xephi-Zero)
  • Allows restricting factions to specific regions on custom maps
  • If no suitable spawn is found, the player will spawn on another spawn point that is not yet taken

UI:

• Quest equipment no longer hides other equipment as "obsolete" in the equipment screen
• The bonus FISDI of the "No More Ties" quest technology (Morgawr) is now correctly displayed in terrain tooltips
• Improved display of the score screen when more than 8 empires are in play
• The game will no longer notify the player about pending empire plans when loading a save game where the plan was already assigned

Balance [XML]:

• Increased the passive income of Diplomatic Points gained from Alliances from 7 to 8
• The "Forged in the Melting Pot" pacification quest now only requires 4 cities with population from pacified villages
• Emeralds now also grant +50% Fortification Recovery
• The Vaulter governing skill "Subterranean Networker" now has additional effects
  • Level 2: +0.5 Science per unused Fortification Recovery on Terrain with Strategic Resources
  • Level 3: +1 Industry per unused Fortification Recovery on Terrain with Strategic Resources
  • Works on Fungal Blooms and Converted Villages in the Capital region aswell
• The Drakken governing skill "Cultural Ambassador" now has additional effects
  • Level 2: +1 Food per Approval above 100 on Terrain with Villages
  • Level 3: +0.5 Influence per Approval above 100 on Terrain with Villages
    • Works on Fungal Blooms and Converted Villages in the Capital region aswell
• The Drakken governing skill tree has been rearranged
  • Friendly Banner is available earlier (when it is actually useful)
  • Raptors Eye now connects to Narrative Master and Defender in order to provide a better path towards Inspirational Leader
  • Cultural Ambassador now directly connects to Narrative Master, Cold Operator and Battlesaur, offering alternative skill paths for generals and governors
• The Morgawr governing skill "Cult of the Tides" now has an additional effect
  • Level 3: +0.2 Influence per Approval above 100 on Terrain with Sea or Lake
  • Works on Fungal Blooms and Converted Villages in the Capital region aswell
• Switched the Level 1 and Level 2 effect of the Morgawr governing skill "Ship Builder"; Level 2 now also adds +5% Industry
• The Morgawr skill "Spy Glass" now also adds +5 Infiltration for spies and +15 security for governors
• The Kapaku governing skill "Heat of the Hearth" now also grants +2 Food for districts on Volcanic Terrain
  • This Food boost works for all factions, even those who normally cant gather food from Volcanic Terrain
• The Forgotten governing skill "Arboreal Dust Dowser" now connects to "Sang Froid"
  • While Forgotten Heroes will never make for premium governors, this change makes at least "Inspirational Leader" easier to reach
• Incantation of Deluge now also deals 10% of a units max hp as damage at Level 5 (doubled on the center target)
• Incantation of Restoration now also heals 7.5% of a units max hp at Level 5 (doubled on the center target)
• Reworked Era 1 strategic equipment
  • These techs were highly undesirable, as the era didnt last long enough, the equipment was too expensive for its stats, and the tech cost progression generally meant more impactful techs were preferred
  • The following changes attempt to make Era 1 strategic gear a cost effective alternative to Era2 Iron gear (for early warfare)
  • "Advanced Alloys" now unlocks tier 1 Titanium and Glassteel Weapons, Armors, Accesories, and grants 20% cost reduction
  • "Advanced Armor" has accordingly been removed from the game (technically only hidden away, it is still in the files for backwards compatibility reasons)
  • The Brokenlords now have "Advanced Alloys" as a starting tech instead of "Advanced Armor"
  • The stats of all Era 1 strategic armor parts have been improved so that they can roughly rival Era 2 iron armor
  • The strategic and industry cost of all Era 1 strategic gear has been halved (except for Tomes and Insignias)

AI:

• Single City empires should be more likely to leave some defending armies at home
• Reworked the hero fitness calculation as the vanilla one has some glaring issues that could lead to nonsensical hero shuffling -For example governors aquiring new governing skills could actual lower their "governor fitness score" in the AI's eyes
• Necrophages will no longer sacrifice ALL their population when approval is low
• Embarked AI armies will now consider grabbing undefended Fortresses
• AIs are less likely to trade away cities with wonders in them
• AIs are less likely to trade resources away, when they fight a losing war
• Fixed an issue where regions settled by Urkans didnt count towards living space tension, making AIs more pacifistic than it should be
• AIs should no longer send their armies around the word to catch an Urkan instead of preparing for the war they are currently planning
• Reworked the Broken Lords population buyout AI, as the old one was buggy and could lead to underdeveloped cities
• Fixed AIs reapplying (worse) empire plans after loading a save where a plan was already applied
• Fixed AIs not to searching ruins if other empires have quest running on them

Modding:

• Extratypes of runtime modules can no longer be overriden by older (incomplete) lists
  • In practice this should improve backwards compatibility, specifically for Quest- and AI-Mods (although the latter shouldnt be used with ELCP in most instances anyway)
  • This also means modders no longer need to copy new types introduced by ELCP into their plugin file, ELCP will just keep the ones of its base module
  • Seperate mod versions for ELCP and Vanilla are not needed anymore (at least not for this specific reason) - the Vanilla version should work just fine under ELCP
  • ELCP specific types are marked in ELCP's base module file (Public\ELCP\Endless Legend.xml), look for comments starting with "ELCP" to find them