Hello! I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself- I'm a long time follower of the forums, but I've generally just lurked for a variety of reasons. What follows is both an idea for a mod (although some changes would certainly not be to everyone's tastes) and my humble submission of some constructive feedback to Stardock on what I think would add some depth to the game. The standard disclaimer: these are very bare ideas- while I very much appreciate everyone's ideas, general rudeness really doesn't help and just takes up space.
But first...
The Empire of Resoln has grown strong and the balance of power has shifted uncomfortably in their favor. Imperial Envoys have arrived in my capital city of Ruathym and at several refugee camps in my nation's area of influence, swaying the minds of my citizens away from the values I have worked hard to instill in them. The Empire of Resoln is the future of The Ruined Lands, the only light against the darkness, they say. Some have even abandoned my Kingdom. I direct two of my finest assassins to correct this situation; We find it unacceptable to us. One has eliminated his target, but has been caught and killed by the envoy's bodyguard. The other has been successful and has managed to frame the Kingdom of Pariden, our neighbors to the South. The Empire of Resoln has declared war, and our two kingdoms will now stand together; having a common enemy, Pariden sends word that the alliance we have been pushing is now acceptable to them.
We march on Resoln's cities and take three, our kingdom takes one and Pariden two others. The Oracle sends word that she desires peace. Our Kingdom negotiates peace in return for a regular tribute of wargs and an oath that Resoln will not aggress against us for 60 turns. These wargs will make a fine addition to our forces, they will serve as valuable shock troops. Pariden has decided to pursue their war. This is unacceptable to us, and we send word that we will help supply the materials needed for Resoln to resist as they are able in return for an additional contribution to our kennels.
Our kingdom now has more pressing concerns, with our southern and eastern borders secured with the alliance to Pariden and oath from Resoln, we are able to pursue the Ether Shard held by Yithril to our north. With the completion of our binding circle in our capital, the control of the this shard will finally allow for the summoning of allies from beyond the veil that separates this world from the realms beyond. The Kingdom of Ruathym will finally take its place to the forefront of the Kingdoms of Men.
Now, to the mechanics...
1) Growing your Kingdom/Empire should be hard and be rewarding. I should say first that this is an idea shamelessly lifted from another poster on these forums (good thinking, whoever you are!). I don't think that the population should just trickle in at a steady pace, but should be recruited from other factions' cities (maybe), the refugee camps that are scattered throughout the lands (based on your envoys' skills and your national reputation- see #5), the occasional small group of stragglers from the wasteland (I'm thinking a probability of getting a 1d6ish roll based on your national prestige), rescued through quests, etc. Unsure how to assign these to specific cities... maybe a settler unit as the originator of this idea had suggested, but anyone with a better idea is welcome to share!
2) Shards and the magic system. I have to say that the changes I would like to make probably won't be to everyone's tastes. My preferences probably bear a strong resemblance to another system of magic which I won't name here. I would like to collapse elemental magic into two shard types. Madness, you say? Well, hear me out. Fire and Air get bound into Destruction shards. Earth and Water get bound into Creation shards. Before I get shouted down about this, yes, I do know all about erosion, but water seems a better fit here than having opposing elements bound to the same shard (e.g., Fire and Water in Destruction and Earth and Air in Creation). I'd also like to create (at least) two additional shard types- Spirit shards, whose mana is required for mind-control and necromancy type spells (and other thematically appropriate spells). The second new shard is the Ether Shard, whose mana is required to summon and maintain control of powerful summoned creatures. Also, summoning circles and variable mana costs controlling probability of binding vs. rampaging whatever both seem like pretty sweet ideas. Variable mana costs for other spells would be most excellent if we could get some support to mod this kind of thing from Stardock.
2b) The "I-have-definite-preconceptions-of-what-type-of-caster-I-want-my-sovereign-to-be" problem. Just kidding, I actually have no idea how to fix this. A series of (possibly mutually exclusive) city-level buildings generating 1 mana of a given type per turn is possible here, but I think that this might contribute of the overall city-spam quality of most of the games I've played. A building that allows the sacrifice of members of your population for spirit mana seems like a good idea, but I have no ideas for equivalent buildings of other types.
3) I dislike city spam. I prefer a few big cities with wide swaths of wild lands. Improved clustering of resources during the map generation phase might help improve this when coupled with the increased difficulty of recruiting population, but I need to think about this further. Ideas are more than welcome here.
4) Some treaties should not necessarily be two-way. If, as in the vignette above, a faction aggresses against me and I do some damage to them, I should be able to demand non-aggression from them in return a truce. I should also be able to manage one-way research and/or economic "treaties" with a faction if negotiating from a position of great strength. Also, if possible, perpetual and variable length treaties, for different "costs" would add a lot of flexibility.
5) Heroes. Different kinds, more specifically. I've felt strange putting my researchers with their carved midnight stone pocket protectors on the front lines. (As a scientist, myself, I can say this without unneccesary hating.) Different, more differentiated classes, for a start. Warriors, of course. Envoys to bring the survivors of the Cataclysm under your banner when placed at refugee camps and in other factions' cities. Researchers that level up by doing their jobs. Sites inside and outside of cities where researchers generate research. Assassins as a skilled-warrior hybrid are a must. Success means no tactical combat and no negative consequences. Framing other factions a la Alpha Centauri (reducing likelihood of success) would add some strategic depth. Failure means non-escapable tactical combat with the rest of the stack with the skilled champion (i.e., envoys, tech and arcane researchers, etc.) and dire diplomatic consequences.
6) Morality. People are occasionally motivated by altruism. They are more often motivated by self-interest. Sane people are hardly ever motivated by mutually assured destruction, when it's preventable. It's the reason the Cold War never got hot, in a thermonuclear sense, and the reason Sauron and Saruman never had human allies (or more accurately, probably wouldn't have, had the balance of power not been so uneven, in the Lord of the Rings). I like shades of grey. I would like to conceptualize the Empires as offering an alternative solution to life post Cataclysm. "Strength and sacrifice for the Empire is the only way that civilization will take root in these ruined lands..." You know, that kind of thing. I don't want to feel dirty inside for playing half the factions in the game. Minor diplomatic text revisions and even messing with the look of Fallen-controlled land would do the trick adequately. Any other ideas are welcome!
7) Cavalry. Both factions get horses for their cavalry. Splitting horses and wargs as mounts by allegiance doesn't really add anything to the game. However, war dogs would be very cool. High combat speed, with the ability to bite some arms and hold units in place (incidentally, holding themselves in place) for some duration would be useful. For cavalry- increased movement, along with charge bonuses, would actually make a mounted force useful.
8) Tactical Combat. No 1dN rolls, please. This has been discussed elsewhere and I'll save my fingers some exercise here. Flanking bonuses (such as they are in Sid Meier's Pirates) would add depth. Actual city walls for seiges seems like a no-brainer. I have quite a few ideas here, and very little sense of what can be changed on the user end of things, so... we'll just see how this goes.
9) Weapons. I'd like to make them a little different. Axes that halve opposing defense values, but add a small dodge bonus to opponent, generating less frequently hitting but high-damage attacks as well as spears that have substantial bonuses against cavalry. High quality swords that occasionally do double damage. Bows that do increased damage ontiles tagged as "high ground".
Wow, I apologize for the length, this post is kind of a complete brain-dump. I really would appreciate feedback, especially of the variety of "this specifically is not moddable with the files we have access to currently." Collaborative fleshing out of ideas would thrill me to death, as I know for a fact there are lots of bright, creative people in the community. Will post additional ideas as they come. Thanks for taking the time to actually read all this!
