Syphilisation v0.52 - Conversation Upgrade

The major change of this update is a restructure of the conversation options in the game. I've been working on getting the number of campaigns in an average game to the right number for a while. In Syphilisation, you used to be able to start a campaign against another player by completing a build action. This was the only way to start a campaign that was completely under the player's control and not the result of an in-game event.

This was also the best way to build a relationship with another player. You could choose to learn about someone else or compliment them or try to dominate them in this way. However, this ended up being more campaigns than was fun to play. You would often find yourself with expression to burn, but not in the mood for a full-fledged campaign against another player.

So, with this update, I've put in conversations. When you complete a conversation build action, you get to choose a player and an approach. The other player then chooses an approach to respond to you with and depending on whether they match or not, the results will differ. So, you can choose a riskier approach that is more likely to erupt into a campaign or a safer approach with a smaller bonus and either way you will get something that matches your assessment of your game state. I've had a lot of fun with this feature and I would love to hear what you think.

Try it out and tell me how you feel about the new changes or the state of the game as a whole. My next update is going to be entirely small fixes, but the sprint after that will most likely be a complete AI overhaul. The AI in place now is pretty placeholder and I look forward to seeing how the game plays with something more sophisticated instead.