posted 12-19-09 03:36 ET (US)
I haven't done one of my voluminous essays for a while, so here goes...
I recently posted, in another thread, some details regarding religion and gods' moods. I have now made a number of quantifications based on data stored in the game file. Much of what follows has been known for a long time, but is repeated here for completeness. As always, there may be errors - I'll rely on you to find them
Like many other game parameters, gods' moods are reported descriptively through the interface, those descriptions being based on underlying raw numbers which are not conveyed to the player. The following equates raw number ranges to descriptions:
Moods are calculated and adjusted 16 times every month (i.e. every 50 game 'ticks' or two 'entertainment days'. I'll call this period a 'cycle'). Firstly, the game computes what level of mood current conditions would allow (the 'target' mood) and secondly it updates the god's actual mood to move towards that value by one point at a time. For example, if a god's mood is currently 50 and the game computes that conditions merit 62, mood will improve by one point for each of the next 12 cycles (3 weeks). In a new scenario, both values (target and current) are initially set at 50.
An individual god's target mood has up to three elements - coverage, the 'jealousy effect' and festivals. In addition, god's moods are underpinned in a small city (<500 population).
Coverage
Coverage points depend on the number of places of worship relative to the current population. First, calculate coverage as follows: count 750 points for each small temple dedicated to that god, 1500 points for each large temple and 500 points for each oracle (all 5 gods get 500 points from an oracle). Divide the result by your current population and truncate to two decimal places. If the result is more than 1, count it as 1. Finally, multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage.
Example - Neptune has two small temples in a city of 2048 population. There is also one oracle. Coverage is (2x750)+500 = 2000 divided by 2048 = 0.97. Points are 0.97x100 = 97
Note - temples need at least 1 employee to count for coverage points.
Jealousy effect
I so call this effect because it often depends more on what other gods have than what the god in question has. A god who has at least one temple more than any other god receives a bonus of 50 points. A god who has at least one temple less than any other god will be 25 points grumpier.
It makes no difference whether temples are large or small (so it's possible that the god has less coverage but still benefits from having more temples) and no account is taken of whether temples are staffed or not.
Festivals
A festival bestows an immediate but brief 40-point bonus. This reduces by one point for each month that passes since the festival was held, and so the effect is fully dissipated in a little over 3 years. In a new scenario a festival for all gods is deemed to have occurred in the December preceding the start date.
Having added together the points for each of the three elements, deduct 28. Seems odd, but that's what the game does.
Full example - Neptune has 2 small temples in a city of 2450. No other god has 2 temples, and 32 months have elapsed since his last festival. Score as follows:
Coverage = (750x2)/2450 = 0.61x100 = 61%
Jealousy = 50
Festival = 40-32 = 8
Total = 119 less 28 = 91
Of course, if no other god has more than one temple they're going to get a bit miffed, but that's not the point of the illustration.
Small City Underpin
As previously mentioned, in a new city all gods' moods are fixed at 50. They will not fall below this level until population reaches 100. Thereafter, mood cannot fall below the following levels (though it is free to rise at any time if conditions are favorable):
Blessings
Blessings can only be bestowed in certain months each year. Which months those are is determined by an algorithm (which, AFAIK, is not understood) which appears to depend upon a 'random' seed stored in the specific game file. Thus different 'opportunity' months will be encountered in different scenarios, but the same months will experienced in multiple copies of the same scenario.
Furthermore, blessings can only be bestowed in those months by a god who is exalted (100 points) and who is not flagged by the game as having already given one. That flag can be removed by arranging for the god's mood to fall to 49 or less in order to achieve multiple blessings.
It is perhaps fortuitous that at month rollover the mood calculation, although done in the same 'tick', is performed before the 'months since festival' update. Many of those January Year 2 Neptune blessings would otherwise be lost.
Curses
Curses cannot be reliably predicted. Probably, they can only occur in certain months (like blessings) but in any case the level of pseudo-random elements is too great to make any accurate forecast.
Firstly, gods whose mood turns sour accumulate 'temper points'. These appear to work similar to fire risk - in any game cycle there is a chance that a god's temper points will be incremented. The worse the god's mood, the higher the increment will be (and possibly the greater the chance of an increment occuring at all). Accumulated temper points reflect in the interface as 1 thunderbolt for each 10 points (so you can have up to 9 points without seeing a thunderbolt) and the maximum is 50.
Secondly, it is unclear what triggers the curse. I have sat waiting for gods with 50 points to curse only to see another with just 30 points let fly. Possibly the opportunity was not available for the 50-point god (if indeed availability is limited to certain months) or possibly there is another 'chance' element - maybe there was more chance of the 50-point god triggering but the longer odds fell out anyway. I frankly just don't know.
The first curse will always be a minor one. All accumulated temper points are eliminated. The game sets a flag to record that a curse has been inflicted. This flag will remain set until mood is raised to at least 51. If the same god wants to curse again (and the flag is still set) it will be a major one this time. Having let off steam, a god's mood improves somewhat (12 points after a minor, 30 points following a major).
Many players have observed that curses tend to alternate between minor and major. What they are seeing is that oftentimes the 30-point improvement following a major curse is enough to clear the curse flag so the next curse is minor. However, if mood is low enough to begin with (20 or less) the flag is not cleared and consecutive major curses can ensue.
I'll discuss some implications in a later post (maybe tomorrow) though some of you may have already identified some. Meantime, I'll just share one result with you which may surprise you. I picked a save at random. I don't know if he's reading, but it happened to be Darkgreen's 100 Luxury Palaces (from the downloads). The city has a population of 34000-odd, most coverage being from 68 oracles. There hasn't been a festival in 11 years and there is just one set of temples with Neptune and Mercury each having a second. All gods are stable at 'pleased' and probably have been for some time. I delete a Mercury temple. You might expect this to peeve Mercury, but not a bit of it. He doesn't care at all and stays pleased indefinitely. Neptune, on the other hand (and I haven't touched him or anything to do with him), starts getting all smug, goes all the way to exalted and delivers a blessing in April 444.
Finally, for those interested in digging around in game files, you'll find the relevant data in Section 21 of an uncompressed save as follows:
I recently posted, in another thread, some details regarding religion and gods' moods. I have now made a number of quantifications based on data stored in the game file. Much of what follows has been known for a long time, but is repeated here for completeness. As always, there may be errors - I'll rely on you to find them
Like many other game parameters, gods' moods are reported descriptively through the interface, those descriptions being based on underlying raw numbers which are not conveyed to the player. The following equates raw number ranges to descriptions:
100 Exalted
90-99 Delighted
80-89 Charmed
70-79 Happy
60-69 Pleased
50-59 Indifferent
40-49 Displeased
30-39 Irritated
20-29 Angry
10-19 Very Angry
0-9 Wrathful
Moods are calculated and adjusted 16 times every month (i.e. every 50 game 'ticks' or two 'entertainment days'. I'll call this period a 'cycle'). Firstly, the game computes what level of mood current conditions would allow (the 'target' mood) and secondly it updates the god's actual mood to move towards that value by one point at a time. For example, if a god's mood is currently 50 and the game computes that conditions merit 62, mood will improve by one point for each of the next 12 cycles (3 weeks). In a new scenario, both values (target and current) are initially set at 50.
An individual god's target mood has up to three elements - coverage, the 'jealousy effect' and festivals. In addition, god's moods are underpinned in a small city (<
Coverage points depend on the number of places of worship relative to the current population. First, calculate coverage as follows: count 750 points for each small temple dedicated to that god, 1500 points for each large temple and 500 points for each oracle (all 5 gods get 500 points from an oracle). Divide the result by your current population and truncate to two decimal places. If the result is more than 1, count it as 1. Finally, multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage.
Example - Neptune has two small temples in a city of 2048 population. There is also one oracle. Coverage is (2x750)+500 = 2000 divided by 2048 = 0.97. Points are 0.97x100 = 97
Note - temples need at least 1 employee to count for coverage points.
I so call this effect because it often depends more on what other gods have than what the god in question has. A god who has at least one temple more than any other god receives a bonus of 50 points. A god who has at least one temple less than any other god will be 25 points grumpier.
It makes no difference whether temples are large or small (so it's possible that the god has less coverage but still benefits from having more temples) and no account is taken of whether temples are staffed or not.
A festival bestows an immediate but brief 40-point bonus. This reduces by one point for each month that passes since the festival was held, and so the effect is fully dissipated in a little over 3 years. In a new scenario a festival for all gods is deemed to have occurred in the December preceding the start date.
Having added together the points for each of the three elements, deduct 28. Seems odd, but that's what the game does.
Full example - Neptune has 2 small temples in a city of 2450. No other god has 2 temples, and 32 months have elapsed since his last festival. Score as follows:
Coverage = (750x2)/2450 = 0.61x100 = 61%
Jealousy = 50
Festival = 40-32 = 8
Total = 119 less 28 = 91
Of course, if no other god has more than one temple they're going to get a bit miffed, but that's not the point of the illustration.
As previously mentioned, in a new city all gods' moods are fixed at 50. They will not fall below this level until population reaches 100. Thereafter, mood cannot fall below the following levels (though it is free to rise at any time if conditions are favorable):
100-199 40
200-299 30
300-399 20
400-499 10
Blessings can only be bestowed in certain months each year. Which months those are is determined by an algorithm (which, AFAIK, is not understood) which appears to depend upon a 'random' seed stored in the specific game file. Thus different 'opportunity' months will be encountered in different scenarios, but the same months will experienced in multiple copies of the same scenario.
Furthermore, blessings can only be bestowed in those months by a god who is exalted (100 points) and who is not flagged by the game as having already given one. That flag can be removed by arranging for the god's mood to fall to 49 or less in order to achieve multiple blessings.
It is perhaps fortuitous that at month rollover the mood calculation, although done in the same 'tick', is performed before the 'months since festival' update. Many of those January Year 2 Neptune blessings would otherwise be lost.
Curses cannot be reliably predicted. Probably, they can only occur in certain months (like blessings) but in any case the level of pseudo-random elements is too great to make any accurate forecast.
Firstly, gods whose mood turns sour accumulate 'temper points'. These appear to work similar to fire risk - in any game cycle there is a chance that a god's temper points will be incremented. The worse the god's mood, the higher the increment will be (and possibly the greater the chance of an increment occuring at all). Accumulated temper points reflect in the interface as 1 thunderbolt for each 10 points (so you can have up to 9 points without seeing a thunderbolt) and the maximum is 50.
Secondly, it is unclear what triggers the curse. I have sat waiting for gods with 50 points to curse only to see another with just 30 points let fly. Possibly the opportunity was not available for the 50-point god (if indeed availability is limited to certain months) or possibly there is another 'chance' element - maybe there was more chance of the 50-point god triggering but the longer odds fell out anyway. I frankly just don't know.
The first curse will always be a minor one. All accumulated temper points are eliminated. The game sets a flag to record that a curse has been inflicted. This flag will remain set until mood is raised to at least 51. If the same god wants to curse again (and the flag is still set) it will be a major one this time. Having let off steam, a god's mood improves somewhat (12 points after a minor, 30 points following a major).
Many players have observed that curses tend to alternate between minor and major. What they are seeing is that oftentimes the 30-point improvement following a major curse is enough to clear the curse flag so the next curse is minor. However, if mood is low enough to begin with (20 or less) the flag is not cleared and consecutive major curses can ensue.
I'll discuss some implications in a later post (maybe tomorrow) though some of you may have already identified some. Meantime, I'll just share one result with you which may surprise you. I picked a save at random. I don't know if he's reading, but it happened to be Darkgreen's 100 Luxury Palaces (from the downloads). The city has a population of 34000-odd, most coverage being from 68 oracles. There hasn't been a festival in 11 years and there is just one set of temples with Neptune and Mercury each having a second. All gods are stable at 'pleased' and probably have been for some time. I delete a Mercury temple. You might expect this to peeve Mercury, but not a bit of it. He doesn't care at all and stays pleased indefinitely. Neptune, on the other hand (and I haven't touched him or anything to do with him), starts getting all smug, goes all the way to exalted and delivers a blessing in April 444.
Finally, for those interested in digging around in game files, you'll find the relevant data in Section 21 of an uncompressed save as follows:
Offset Type Purpose
943056 INT Months since festival (any god)
943060 5xBYTE Target mood (Ceres, Neptune, Mercury, Mars, Venus)
943065 5xBYTE Current mood (ditto)
943070 5xBYTE Temper points
943075 5xBYTE Blessings flags (1=blessing given)
943080 5xBYTE Curse flags
943100 5xINT Months since festival (individual gods)
)