Building an empire is about keeping people happy, forging agreements and keeping your own "friends" on your side. That's why I'm hoping Brad and the team comes up with a revolutionary intrigue system based off of something like from the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I want to, in the moments when I'm not stressed about winning a war on the outside, be stressed about losing a war on the inside. I want to have to be wary of that lord who I thought I could trust, but have found out he may be working as an inside man for the Empire of Kraxis.. To be wary of keeping around that battle hardened hero who the people adore... almost more than me...
This is from something I said in another thread, but it got me thinking about something else that I think would be cool for Elemental. What if rumors could spread around by way of trade routes. Almost the same sort of thing that happens in games like sid meiers alpha centauri or GalCiv when another faction says something like "I've just mastered [insert technology]" or "I am now producing [insert powerful unit name]". However, this time you can only figure these things out by word of mouth (or a good spy of course). And as we all should know, people fib, people embellish. Things that may be small turn out to be huge or things that are suppose to be a big deal aren't talked about.
But in context with the game, let's say a caravan arrives from The Kingdom of Altar. Perhaps that merchant knows something and offers his information at a price or maybe he's just talking and you pick something up. It could be about another faction's newly acquired hero and how powerful they are. Or maybe it's about how beautiful the Channeler of Altar's daughter is. Or the city of Ulthu in the Empire of Kraxis is being attacked by a fledgling dragon. Some things would be pointless to know, while others could help you in your intrigue or tactics. Maybe technology would sometimes slip across the border? It goes along with an idea I read about on these forums not too long ago that I really liked about how technology would be hard to keep contained.
I think it would be a neat way of acquiring information without another leader being an idiot and telling you all their evil plans. It'd be like a drengin leader saying, "hey we researched lasers, and we're gonna keep researching those" so you would immediately go research shields. Well if the leader is smart, he wouldn't say a thing... But how can he stop what his DPS (Drengin Parcel Service) men say while they unload their cargo at Earth??
Maybe I'm getting crazy here, but just like you could get false information from other nations, maybe you could plant false information amongst your people and spread it. So that when the Empire of Kraxis comes across your border to attack your "helpless and pathetic nation", you ride out with your elite knights and crush them 
Of course, now they know it's lie... But they should have been a little more skeptical from the beginning. Don't believe everything you hear Kraxis...
Thoughts? Additions? Let me know what you think
