Subscribe to download
Progressive Difficulty

A majority of 4x have the same problem: the snowball effect.
One of the causes is because the difficulty is simulated by permanent bonuses for AI opponents.
The players' feeling is always the same: at high difficulty, the game is very difficult at first, then past a certain point, the player starts snowballing, and the rest of the game is no longer interesting because victory is certain.
This breaking point is about the 125th turn on Endless Legend, according to a survey of a few players.
This problem is ruining all the games on the 4x! This mod tries to solve this, by offering the player a permanent challenge, from the beginning to the end of the game.

==VERSION 2.1.1 RELEASE== :
In this version of 19/07/2019, the Adaptative Balance has been balanced towards more anti-Snowball.
The technological cost penalty is increased according to the number of technologies, rather than increasing the one according to the number of cities, in order not to give too much advantage to players with few cities.
The purchase penalties calculated according to the Districts and the Population have been replaced by a calculation based on the number of techs.
Quite simply, it was illogical, and caused the player to buy units in new cities to get a discount.
For the time being, the purchase penalty is not too high, considering that the price is already pre-calculated according to the production price. But that is likely to change.

==VERSION 2.1 RELEASE== :
I fixed a very important problem, which caused the construction queue to be limited to an improvment/turn.
An exceptionally difficult problem, which I was able to solve by a lot of luck, by deporting the xml code from the adaptive balance into the TechnologyEra1, and changing a priority. In short, I had to test a lot of combinations to make it work well in the end!
Add to that the fact that calculating the increase in the cost of production from the number of Improvments does not work, only the parameter according to the number of technologies works.
I intend to modify the adaptive balance soon, because I have noticed during whole games that the parameters were not severe enough.

==PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY== :
- An AI opponent receives half the benefits at the beginning of the game.
- For example, in Endless difficulty, the AI receives a bonus of 1 instead of 2, in BaseFoodPerPop, which corresponds to an Impossible difficulty.
- You have the feeling that the AI cheats a little less at the beginning of the game, and does not present an insurmountable danger.
- Then, the AI opponents gain in power, and reach their full potential on the 125th turn.
- Beyond the 125 round, AI opponents continue to increase in difficulty.
- For example, on turn 250, an Endless opponent will reach 3 as a BaseFoodPerPerPop bonus, and a 4 bonus on turn 375.

==NEW DIFFICULTYS== :
- You will have noticed that the lowest difficulty is Hard. This is a bit normal, this mod will interest especially experienced players, who are the first to suffer from the Snowball effect.
- New difficulties have been added, including one between Impossible and Endless. The gap is indeed so wide in the Vanilla game, that it deserved an intermediate difficulty, for players who always win in Impossible and never in Endless.
- Adding difficulties greater than Endless was necessary, because it should not be forgotten that in reality, at the beginning of the game, the difficulty is divided by two.
- For example, the difficulty Endless is actually Impossible x2! Which means that from the beginning of the game, the real difficulty is Impossible, but it will increase afterwards!
- Moreover, some players are so experienced that they win every time, even in Endless!
- Regarding the penalties or benefits imposed on the player depending on the difficulty, this has been removed, except for the evolution of the Kaiju spawn. Penalties apply to all players and are created in the Adaptive Balance.
- You will need time to adapt and choose the difficulty that suits you best, because the judgment is distorted, compared to the Vanilla game.

==ADAPTATIVE BALANCE== :
- The adaptive balance is another mechanism that helps to counteract the Snowball effect, and in addition, tries to prevent any player from completely overtaking the others.
- The mechanism acts through a progressive series of malus and additional costs as we gain momentum, much like the costs in science, which increase with each new technology sought.
- So, the more a player is ahead of the others, the more he is slowed down by this mechanism, which gives others a chance to catch up.
- The values have been adjusted more finely, although this still requires long-term testing.

==MINOR FACTIONS== :
- Minor factions also have new difficulties, however, they are not progressive.
- However, the progressive aspect of the difficulty is simulated by adding new Steps.
- A Step is the way a minor faction interacts with the world. That being said, for example, how many units are deployed, if they have the right to go to other regions, to besiege cities, etc.
- There are many more Steps thanks to this mod, giving the illusion that minor factions act randomly.
- And above all, where the Step of the Vanilla game stopped quite quickly, this mod provides new Step, up to very late turns, making minor factions major dangers in the middle and end of the game.
- The Steps mechanism is independent of the choice of difficulty for minor factions.

==TRAIT POINTS EQUIVALENCE== :
- There is a number in brackets concerning the difficulties, it is the equivalence in trait points.
- This means, for example, that when you face an opponent of Impossible difficulty, it is as if that opponent had 240 trait points.
- If with a mod that allows you to increase the available trait points as you wish, you create a faction with 240 trait points, and you play in Impossible difficulty, then it is as if in reality, you were in normal difficulty.

==GAME SPEEDS== :
- Game speeds other than Normal have not been implemented.
- However, it is possible to play at Fast Speed or Slow Speed, if you still wish. But in this case, there will be a consequence....
- The progressive difficulty remains the same as in normal. This means that at Slow Speed, for example, the 125th turn will always be the reference turn. It may be necessary to choose a lower difficulty.
- The progressive difficulty cannot be adjusted depending of game speed. To do this, it would be necessary to make a Mod per game speed.

==COMPATIBILITY== :
- The Mod is not compatible with a Mod that changes the difficulty options, or the Steps of minor factions.
- A file in the Mod Improved AI changes the difficulty options, but it is compatible, provided it is loaded BEFORE Progressive Difficulty. I recommend, of course, the Improved AI Mod !
- Since no other Mod to my knowledge focuses on the files used by Progressive Difficulty, this Mod should be very broadly compatible with everything!

==ISSUES== :
- Inaccurate Popup Information: You may be able to see malus when you look at the details of the malus you have, and it displays a difficulty that is not the one you have chosen. There is no bug at this level. To create the new difficulties, I had to completely overwhelm the existing ones. But since their technical name has been kept, it may sometimes be displayed, but no original value has been kept.
- The Mod does not contain a bug and works perfectly, but it will probably be necessary to improve it, balance it, and add new Adaptative Balance factors.

==FULL FRENCH LOCALIZATION== : All others localisations are copys of the English one.