[1.01] Insta building the long road

I find that quite a potential exploit... That roads are instantly created between 2 cities. Case in point, a new settlement separated by no less than 27 tiles of wilderness and monsters lairs is now connected to my capital. That will prove quite handy to send through this highway my hero party for some good whack-a-ogre game...

 

I would suggest that the road is built one tile per turn from the new settlement and the other one toward each other.

31,635 views 29 replies
Reply #4 Top

I'm no a fan of the instant roads in any case.  I'd love a way to disable this.  I do enjoy following distant enemy outposts/cities back to the main empire though.  Saves on scouting.

Reply #5 Top

Quoting mttriglav, reply 2
Or actual physical building by pioneers, like in Civ.
End of mttriglav's quote

 

Capitar (you'll have to make their leader yourself) has this ability by default on all pioneers, and for free on any designed unit you want to give it to.

Reply #6 Top

Agree. It is annoying to have instant roads everywhere. Would prefer if they got slowly built when you get the appropriate tech, or you get an appropriate unit when the tech is researched.

Reply #7 Top

I guess I'm in the minority here. I like insta-roads.

It's far less tedious than manual rood building ala Civilization, and the fact that you have to try and visualize the potential road network is a further strategic consideration to city (and later outpost) placement. Yes this leads to less than ideal road networks, but this is part of the charm, IMO. 

My only wish is that it were just a bit easier to craft connecting roads. Ie, if you place a city/outpost exactly between two cities, you'll get two roads, one to each.

Reply #8 Top

+1 per turn and little ants working it...and they can be killable, and road building can be built anew...

Reply #9 Top

i want to build roads. Don't really want to monkey with workers everyturn since FE has no other worker terraform actions. For roads though, i'd be fine with managing their orders. But with FE, i think one would need just layout the road path one-time, then set them lose. Modify as needed. Would be nice if workers could continue to build while within an army of protectors. 

Currently the roads often go the wrong bleeping ways. Roads have major impact. When they fail, tough luck. As needed i'll go to the extra lengths to spam fortresses to get at least some of the roads where they need to go. BS workaround that robs more time than a worker unit would... i think.

 

Reply #10 Top

One insta-build I would like to see- Gov.sovereign with road building should be able to use it on the strategic map as a toggle to build roads everywhere they go, but it would be a lot more useful if roads weren't instant but instead worked 1 square per turn.

 

Certain techs might up the road building rate to 2 or 3.

 

I'd suggest that governor road building opportunity require troops to lay the road though.

 

Another possibility for road building is that a governor with road building in a city doubles the road building rate

Reply #11 Top

If i had my druthers i'd add a worker unit who could build roads, fortresses and upgrades. The worker stops by a town to purchase the desired building kit. For example, worker buys a Fortress kit (gildar and perhaps other resources, but not time in the city queue) and head out followed by a wagon train. They spend the requisite turns building, then the worker remains but the kit has been consumed. Multiple workers stack. i think it would be fun for those times where you need an emplacement fast!! Becomes a race to get that fortification in before the enemy troops make it through the pass. And more. 

Reply #12 Top

Quoting Alstein, reply 11

Another possibility for road building is that a governor with road building in a city doubles the road building rate
End of Alstein's quote
i like this very much. Modifiers to faction wide roadbuilding. Governor doesn't build the roads. Workers do under Governors leadership. Have perks which add to road building rate. Perhaps capping the road line with some "+n Movement on Roads". The infrastructure minded governor, along with some teching and leveling up, decreases time it takes to build roads. Eventually gaining experience to craft superior roads for faster travel and increased commerce. ?

Reply #13 Top

I like the insta-roads a lot. I like not having to manage workers because the game plays faster that way and it also feels special when you get a Governor hero with Road Building. If you have a problem with the flavor of it, choose to believe that the technologies that unlock roads are actually unlocking free spells that require a building at each end of the spell to function. I suppose you could even mod it into the Magic tech tree.

Reply #14 Top

I don't see a problem.  The insta roads are magically built;  it's not a set of bulldozers and paving equipment.  In a game where people accept that we can raise and lower land itself, why is an instant road a further stretch of the magical imagination?  I even like the strange road shapes that get formed.  They are interesting base patterns that I can fine tune for efficiency with a road building unit, if I really need.

 

As for the OP who created a 27 tile road, it is my analysis that you traded off a lot of other opportunities in creating a unique strategical situaltion.  There will be both advantages and disadvantages.  They will be a unique combinaton of factors that create a unique play for this one game.  To me, this is the height of good game design.  You can do interesting things, things the devs never thought of, and they still work in the game and have wonderfully unpredictged results that don't break the game.  This is an opportunity for developer praise rather than some subjective annoyance.  I understand there are lots of subjective things we each look for, but being bothered by magic roads confuses me.

Reply #15 Top

I have no prob. with the insta-road building. I´m happy that i don´t have to manage the building.

@OP - PocusFr

Do you have anything to do with "Pride of Nations"? I remember there was a Developer with this name on the paradox forum and i know that Pride of Nations was developed by a french developer team (Ageod). So... Pocus + Fr (france) would fit. Thats why i ask. :) 

 

Reply #16 Top

Give my vote to the road gradually coming into existence itself. It's kind of silly you have to micro manage that in Civ. I mean, even in today's day and age, loggers make their own roads, miners make their own roads, so do oil and natural gas companies. If they are used enough they might be paved but are more often just chip sealed.

Increased tech, just in a general sense should improve the rate, but instant just shouldn't happen.

Reply #17 Top

I think PocusFr is THE Pocus, hi Pocus !

+1 for auto-roads building gradually. I dislike manual building of road (too much mm) and don't like the insta-roads.

 

Reply #18 Top

Yes I'm this Pocus :)

Hi Pascal, long time no see.

Reply #19 Top

i don't mind assigning roads to workers, but envisioned being able to do so along way points. Is time to build some roads, select worker, click road command, draw out the path. Then let em go. Players all done with that road unless something comes up during the construction. 

Mostly i don't like the error of roads. Neighbor blocks road with fort. Terraforming destroys road. Road been wrong from day it was built etc. A whole lot of erroneous roads. i'm in favor of player choosing route. And building roads as they wish (for fee) i understand that many players don't want to be dealing with workers every turn, nor do i. i'm for waypointing the road. Auto-built but human planned. Push the button and off they go following the course you laid out for them.


 

Reply #20 Top

Not a fan of peon units.   That's one thing I like about Stardock games, no workers, just settlers.

 

 

Reply #21 Top

Hehe roads is other ambivalent aspect of the game. We cannot do them (except a faction, and a hero with POTG + road building trait, that is at least level 5 with a lot a lot of luck), but they "magically" appear between cities, between outposts, and between capital cities.

PRevious posts have staten reasons pro and vs.

Since we cannot usually build them, I find the "insta-build" a must. If any faction had the possibility of a road-builder unit easy to get (just the same trade tech), then I might think different.

Another idea is that the insta-built road should not give so much movement (bad quality road), and a later tech would increase it.

Anyway, instant or not instant, we need a road-building unit!!!

Reply #22 Top

i wonder that we could have instant or progressively built roads, planned by the player, but not using any units. Various ways to go about it. If caravans are somehow a limiting factor, then ditch them! These AI routed roads are insufficient, immersion breaking and outright silly. It remains one of the few areas of the game that feel half-assed to me. Perhaps it is on the "to-improve" queue. So much other has been improved. There is only time for so much each cycle. So maybe, roads are on a list to be improved.

Reply #23 Top


I'm with the people that like the insta-roads. It seems to me that this game got roads just right.

They insta-build, but you have to deal with the path they give you, and you can build them yourself, quite quickly, but you have to plan ahead by picking the right champ path or faction. You can build or insta-build roads across the land, but the AI gets to use them too, and if you've been ignoring the civ tech tree, you need to go back and get the trading tech.  It just all balances really well, I think.

Add the touch of not dealing with worker units or road maintenance, and you have just the right brew.

Someone said you need a lot of luck to get your champ the road-building trait. That hasn't been my experience, but maybe I've just been lucky. If it's right that POTG champs sometimes have a hard time getting road-building, then that might be the one thing I would change. They should all get a shot at it by level 7 at the latest. I feel like road-building is something you should have to plan ahead for, but not require much luck to get.

As far as the roads building themselves over time, it wouldn't bother me, but I really don't think it would change the way I play very much at all. one tile per turn is pretty fast, anyway.

Oh, I also liked the idea of a toggle to make road-builders do it every where they go automatically. I've been wanting that as I've been playing. I think all the other suggestions I read just sounded borderline horrific. :hrmph:

Reply #24 Top

Instaroads == less micromanagement == win.

Reply #25 Top


I like instant roads. I don't like that roads never, ever, ever, ever, ever seem to be deleted. Build outpost, outpost smashed, build city, gets razed, do this over and over....road spaghetti. Place looks ridiculous. The game should have defined routes between cities and outposts, and a road which suddenly isn't a part of any known route should decay.