An idea I've been toying with for a while is the concept of a research system in a game that more closely mimicks technological progress in the real world (realism isn't a huge concern for some people, but I've got my reasons). What this would basically do is take most research decisions out of the player's direct control, and instead use a slight amount of randomness directed by overall events to suddenly unlock "breakthroughs." For instance, if a city is repeatedly flooded year after year, it may unlock the levy technology, or if your civilization happens to be in a particuarly arid region, you might get irrigation. It would change depending on the circumstances surrounding you.

There would, of course, be exceptions to this, mainly in the area of military hardware. Even there, however, there would be a random factor: your soldiers, tired of being turned into cavalry fodder, have decided to stick an extension onto their lances, and now you can build pikes. Still, in war it always pays to plan ahead, and rulers have a long history of spending money on ways to make their troops fight better. Unlike other areas, you would have a much greater deal of traditional strategy game control here, to reflect that.

Furthermore, if a problem persists long enough and no solution appears, you would have the option of dedicating funding towards fixing the problem. This would function more like a traditional tech tree, but you wouldn't have a guaranteed best result; an example is how government funding spent towards curing polio ended up making a vaccine (still well and good, mind you), and stopped there. Bully for everyone without the disease, but it really sucks to be you if you have it. Most (some) government funded programs would end like this, with an expedient (rather than ideal) solution.

Why do I care about realism in a fantasy game? I'll tell you: WORLDBUILDING. I firmly believe that once you've created a world, made the rules and guidelines for how it operates, you should stick to them. Just because you have magic doesn't mean that every single rule of reality has to change, and it really seems to hurt a game/movie/book's immersiveness when the creators seem to be making stuff up as they go.

Suggestions? Comments? Karma? Want to call me a raging lunatic with his head up his ? Post! (And yes, I did mention this idea in another thread)