The game still feels empty (not a rant + using new update)

[Garethw87]

Hello.

Very excited to see the new update.

I just loaded the game with South Africa, using 2020 Global Crisis and all default options apart from 'Random events on medium' and 'Approval Ratings on medium'. However I was disappointed to see that the game is still a big alliance fest. The first few came on the news. The Baltic countries started making friends - ok not bad. Sweden and Poland - ok not bad. Lithuania and Georgia - Not bad. Then we get Poland and Bhutan and the rest of the world is holding hands within about 20 minutes of gameplay.

So after seeing that I'm going to be the only nation (as it seems it's always been) doing anything I decided to go mad. I bought some Challenger 2 tank designs off the UK, built 5 or so of them, built some supply lines near my neighbours and attacked. I took out Botswana. Basically hoping from Captial to capital (I don't play fixed) with barely any resistances. They fell. Next was Zimbabwe - same result. City hoping til they ran out of cities and I took it. Next was Namibia - same again, then Soweto and Lesotho and then onto Mozambique and I got bored.

No penalties for randomly turning mad man of Africa and seen as nearly every country was allied with somebody else - no body came to help anyone. I did see a ship from the DPR Congo arrive during my Mozambique invasion... But it was only a merchant ship having a look at the battle then carrying on.

So my question is what is still wrong? What do I need to do to make the game feel alive and active? I also don't think I should be able to dominate 2,3, 4 countries with barely any resistance or penalties for having zero justification.

[way2co0l]

Well, I agree that the game can be like that with normal settings. There are a few things you can do though.

World Volatility- This is the first setting most will point you to. It amplifies the effects in game the higher it's set. This applies to positive and negative effects though, so it could potentially increase the hand holding that you're seeing without adjusting the other settings below. My advice, normal at the lowest, higher if you want more dramatic results from the other settings I'm going to mention.

Military Difficulty- Put this on very hard... always. It makes your opposing AI's smarter with their resources and I believe it makes them more aggressive as well.

Diplomatic Difficulty- Generally on easy or very easy. I know this likely sounds weird, but it's the way the diplomatic difficulty is configured which matters here. On harder difficulties, it's scaled to be tougher for the player so the enemies will try to form blocs to present opposition to your actions. This would be good if it didn't result in a worldwide alliance where opposing nations never try to break it or turn on each other. On lower difficulty settings, nations are in much less of a hurry to oppose you, which means blocs are much slower to form. When a nation wants to be aggressive, it's far less likely that its target will be in an alliance which would discourage the attack.

Try messing with these settings to see what effect it has on your games and then where the balance you are looking for is.

[Fistalis]

the AI hasn't been as keen to declare war since 2020. For whatever reason starting with CW and moving onward the AI simply is far less likely to declare war than it was it 2020. This can be frustrating for those looking for that 2020 experience. One expects especially with alliances popping up everywhere to see some international repercussions for going mad man world domination mode. Yet those repercussions never come.

In 2020 doing this quickly led to the whole world dog piling you.. in any release after the world ignores it for the most part. Since it started in CW the blame goes to the sphere system.. but we don't know for a fact that's what caused it. (seems likely though) The newest update (beta) has the option to turn off the sphere system so I guess we will see if the sphere system is the culprit or not.

[George Geczy]

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

I'm starting a new thread to discuss some of these issues and get feedback on where to take the AI in the next updates.

[Garethw87]

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

I'm starting a new thread to discuss some of these issues and get feedback on where to take the AI in the next updates.

Just noticed this, very nice!

[Garethw87]

Well, I agree that the game can be like that with normal settings. There are a few things you can do though.

World Volatility- This is the first setting most will point you to. It amplifies the effects in game the higher it's set. This applies to positive and negative effects though, so it could potentially increase the hand holding that you're seeing without adjusting the other settings below. My advice, normal at the lowest, higher if you want more dramatic results from the other settings I'm going to mention.

Military Difficulty- Put this on very hard... always. It makes your opposing AI's smarter with their resources and I believe it makes them more aggressive as well.

Diplomatic Difficulty- Generally on easy or very easy. I know this likely sounds weird, but it's the way the diplomatic difficulty is configured which matters here. On harder difficulties, it's scaled to be tougher for the player so the enemies will try to form blocs to present opposition to your actions. This would be good if it didn't result in a worldwide alliance where opposing nations never try to break it or turn on each other. On lower difficulty settings, nations are in much less of a hurry to oppose you, which means blocs are much slower to form. When a nation wants to be aggressive, it's far less likely that its target will be in an alliance which would discourage the attack.

Try messing with these settings to see what effect it has on your games and then where the balance you are looking for is.

Thanks. I know there were a certain way to set up the game on SR 2020 to make it more 'real' and alive so I will have a mess with the settings and see if it changes anything.