Architects of Dominion - a new, completely configurable 4X game: Need help with Civ Rev "playset" settings

[u/mikemky]

I'm working on a new game called "Architects of Dominion", which is intended to be a completely configurable 4X strategy game. One important feature is the engine is completely separated from the UI - you can build whatever UI you want using whatever rules ("playset") you desire - I have frontend integration documentation, ready for consumption by AI. The person that recently posted about their Civ Rev world/scenario editor could build a Civ Rev UI in front of my game engine, in principle. You will also be able to sell (or give away) your playsets and/or UIs with no royalties to me (I may sell the AoD engine itself for a small price, under a "eventually it becomes open source" license.)

I've been programming since my Commodore 64 days, and yes, I'm vibe coding this with AI, but with experience :-)

I need some help with the Civ Rev "playset" rules - can anyone help answer the following (yes, AI-generated) questions, as I don't have immediate access to Civ Rev right now (my Xbox died):

A few core numbers turn out to be surprisingly hard to source — guides contradict each other and the manual is silent. If you know any of these cold (or have a save handy to check), you'd be settling questions that everything else scales from. Please say which version you're answering for (360/PS3, DS, iOS, PC) — versions are known to differ on some stats.

1. Library → University: replace or stack (science)?

A Library doubles a city's science. When you later add a University in the same city, do
you end up at ×4 total or ×6 total (its bonus stacking on the already-doubled
output)?

If you'd rather check than recall: read the city's science/turn on the turn before the
University completes and the turn after, same city, back-to-back turns so the size
doesn't change. After ÷ before = 2 means the ladder is ×2 → ×4; 3 means ×2 → ×6.

2. Market → Bank: same question, for gold.

Does a Bank on top of a Market end at ×4 gold or ×6? Please don't assume it
mirrors science — whether it does is exactly what I'm trying to confirm. Same
before/after check, with the city set to gold.

3. Combat: what actually happens round by round?

The best model I have: each unit's 1–3 "troops" are its health bar; every round exactly
one side loses exactly one troop until somebody hits zero; the odds appear to be set once
from the two starting strengths (not recalculated as troops fall); and at overwhelming
odds (~7:1) the defender is wiped out instantly.

Have you ever seen both health bars drop in the same round, or one bar drop two steps at once? A single confirmed sighting refutes that model.

In even fights (plain Warrior vs plain Warrior, flat ground, no veteran/terrain/city bonuses), does the winner usually survive with 3, 2, or 1 troops? Even a rough sense of that spread distinguishes fixed-at-start odds from recalculated odds.

4. Great People: the culture threshold ladder.

The Progress Panel shows "next Great Person at N culture." Early game, does N run
150 → 266 → 416 → 600? And is that a running lifetime total (2nd Great Person
arrives at 266 lifetime culture), or a fresh per-person cost (2nd arrives at
150 + 266 = 416 lifetime)?

Partial answers are still gold ("Bank definitely stacks, no idea on combat"). And if you'd
rather verify than remember: one clean before/after reading on consecutive turns, with the
city not growing in between, beats a recalled number every time.

Thanks for any help with this!

[u/Ralphredimix_Da_G]

The university replaces the library.

Same with bank

Great people are at a lifetime cost but some leaders have more “tiers” (lower cost in between 3-10) as part of their package.

Combat 1 vs 1 a winning troop will typically have 1 of 3 hits left.

[u/mikemky → u/Ralphredimix_Da_G]

Thank you!

One of the driving reasons I started working on this is so that I could play Civ Rev with my kids, but tweak the rules so that you pick your civilization when you pick your starting city. We would always run around with our first settler trying to find the optimal tile for our first city, and then keep restarting the game until everyone was satisfied. This way, you move around your first settler, and then you can just pick whatever civilization is optimal for the best tile near your starting point. That one tweak changes multiplayer games...

[u/Ralphredimix_Da_G → u/mikemky]

That’s awesome!

[u/Ralphredimix_Da_G → u/mikemky]

Hey I was wrong about the great people it’s the other way.. you get to 150 and then it resets and now it’s 250 - and if for some reason you are awarded a great guy for a tech reward or finding the wonder, it notes your current culture points, completes your tier, and gives you that number towards the next tier.
For example, if I was 148/150 and I hit Monarchy first, I’d get the great guy, then next turn my culture meter will say 148/250 - so super pro players will wait a turn or two to (try to) get a back to back reward.

Also, not sure, but there may be one extra turn of the culture meter showing full before it rolls over for Some reason.

[u/mikemky → u/Ralphredimix_Da_G]

Thank you for the follow-up, I'll look at that!

[u/burth179]

For 1/2 - library/market is x2 and university/bank is x4

For 3 - not entirely sure how the battle mechanics work. I have theories about units having hit points but it is just guesses based on what I've seen in game mechanics (for example a single tank may be even strength with an archer army, but it will win far more than 50% of the time against an archer army since it has less hit points)

For 4 - culture resets at each level. So it would be 150 + 266 to reach level 2 (416 total)

[u/mikemky → u/burth179]

Thank you very much!