25-05-2003 21:57									#1
	How I learned to love ships: Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

I am one of those AoK players who loved the ships but HATED how the AI would build TONS of them and clutter up the map and make ship tactics nearly impossible- it all came down to economics. I thought a better ratio would be about 1 ship to every 5 or so units on land.

It's an easy fix in RoN.

1) I upped the pop ships take up to 3 for small warships and 6 for the BB ships. The Aircraft carrier takes up only 2. The reason Carriers didn't get changed is because the airplanes they carry all cost 1 pop anyway, so they end up costing 12 pop points anyway.

2) All ship costs I upped by about x2.5.

3) All ship armor got x1.5

4) All ship HP's +10%

5) All ship attacks x1.5

6) I left fishing vessels alone.

After about 5 games playing this way the AI seems to use them just fine, building about a third as many as it did and in a pretty good ratio. They show up and cause all sorts of havoc still, and it is still possible to dominate the sea if you choose to. The benefit is less ships on the map, easier to think about and counter in tactical terms, not as overwhelming to land forces as they once were (unrealistically), and a better dilemma about land vs. air vs. navy power, IMO.

Just thought I'd let you all know. And to all you designers concerned with AI behavior and ships (WWII pacific island comes to mind). becoming ridiculous in numbers and being too cheap.

	25-05-2003 22:59									#2
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

post the mod so others can try it

	26-05-2003 02:21									#3
	Support Apolyton

Ships changed .XML

Just unzip it and replace the old unitrules.xml in your Ron DATA folder. BACKUP YOUR ORIGINALS. Obviously.

Looks like you need to left click on it, right clicking wants a redirect from apolyton. Sigh I dunno it works if you just left click and get the apolyton pop-up add, even though it's hosted at MY site.

	26-05-2003 21:19									#4
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Thank you very much. I enjoy sea combat, but it's insane in this game, especially with the fireships. I hate having to target them every time they come near my fleet

	26-05-2003 22:17									#5
	Increase Your PM Length

If you guys have feedback or I somehow screwed things up in a way I didn't encounter, let me know.