Temple rebalancing
Ave, creators of Roma Surrectum!
First of all, thanks for the invitation to join you. I don't intend this thread to show off as a kind of smart alec. My observations are purely subjective and don't aim at goofing on all the work you've put into this truly great mod which I can hardly cease to play....
After playing it for a while, the temple system attracted my attention. I had the distinct impression that temple bonuses were somewhat unbalanced. Although a fan of different kinds of bonuses for different deities, I think the effects should be distributed more evenly across the board.
So here we go: This thread may serve as a kind of brain-storming medium for all those interested in an improvement in the temple system in order to further improve the mod.
My approach was to find a way to equal different bonuses so they can be summed up and compared (much like the general medium of equivalence does with different commodities...okay, no Marx in here). I guess that's also the main weakness of the entire model: The imperfect formula of equation. So that's why comments are more than appreciated!
Up to now, the formula is this:
10% of happiness or law (equivalent) =
1% pop growth (with 0 turn recruitment) =
5% of public health =
+1 farm production =
+1 morale to troops trained
+1 weapon OR armour.
+1 exp equals 20% of happiness/law because it raises all stats AND provides a morale bonus, so strictly speaking it's still too strong.
All these bonuses were counted and summed up (in happiness/law%), providing a 'total bonus'. Upon applying the scheme I noticed some severe differences between the temples. Among the temples which went up to lvl 5, the total bonus ranged from a mere 50 (Dionysos: 10 law 35 happiness and +0.5% pop growth, and Apollo: 30 happiness, +2 morale) up to 140 (Zeus: +2 exp +2 farm +2 weapon, 25 law / 35 happiness) and even 155 (Demeter: +2 exp +5 food +2 pop growth, 10 law, 35 happiness). Among temples reaching only lvl 3 or 4 the differences were similar. Difference in total bonus sometimes, but not neccessarily implied a difference in cost: A pantheon of Zeus costs 12,8k whereas a pantheon of Dionysos comes at 8,8k - the same as a pantheon of Demeter.
So what I did was cut away or add bonuses, depending on the excess/shortage. A span was allowed: Lvl5 temples between 90 and 110 total bonus, lvl 4 between 75 and 85, and lvl 3 between 55 and 65. It seems pretty clear that the average bonus/temple level should be around 20 --- at least that was more or less the average of all respective temples BEFORE altering their bonuses. In line with bonus adjustments, I'd suggest to level out the costs of the temples, so that all pantheons stands at 10,000. Remaining differences in bonus may be tolerated, after all some gods are mightier and more important than others
All redistributed bonuses can be found in the .txt file. They're valid for the highest temple level respectively, and may be distributed on the lower levels at leisure (or by mathematical calculation). Some temples have the same bonuses as others; I changed some of them, too (e.g. Merkur would be a better analogy to Hermes than Saturn). Overall law/happiness bonuses were left untouched or increased, while exp bonuses were reduced. No temple/pantheon now provides more than +2, and even then they're comparatively specialized. Concerning the weapon bonus, I suggest that those are given to one type of weapon respectively. E.g. Artemis already gives +3 on missile weapons; similarly, Hephaestus should provide either +2 light or +2 heavy weapons. +1 each would render the bonus pretty much useless IMHO given the overall rather high stats. Maybe this is something which will have to be reworked....
In the best case the alterations in the temples are complemented by some alterations in other buildings. So the exp bonus should either be entirely removed from academy buildings or be restricted to +1 on the highest level. Similarly, I recommend that sewers start at 10% health (and traders at 1% pop growth) in order to leave some effect to the temples. Public order generally is quite high in RS, so lowering the effects of sanitary buildings shouldn't hurt, especially since some temples received a boost on order bonuses.
That's all I have for now. I might come up with a detailed listing of all temple levels in the next couple of days.....if my thesis in progress permits, that is. Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated.
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Originally Posted by Deus ret.
