Okay, quick preface here. I ask two things of potential posters coming into this thread...
A: That you only post with Constructive Criticism's about the game or the ideas herewithin, meaning if you are going to shoot down someone elses idea, provide reasoning, and couch it in REAL, UNDERSTANDABLE, LOGIC.
B: If you feel like shooting down someone's idea but CANNOT provide constructive criticism, admit it, and try to put some effort into coming up with a better idea when you get the time.
Dynasties: Too often I see posts about how dry the Dynastic System is. And it's true, it is dry. Myself and others have posed ideas like being able to have Bastard Children, or the ability to disown children in other threads, but what else can we do?
Well, with Dynasties, we gotta look at this from a realistic perspective. Dynastic Events are really just political machinations. Looking at the Politics in Civ 5, and some of you may disagree with me, but it doesn't feel organic enough. Neither does it feel this way in Elemental, but with the inclusion of a Dynasty System, the guys at Stardock have the opportunity to do something really really REALLY special in regards to political gameplay.
As it stands right now, there's really no reason to ever marry off your daughters. You lose a Channeler, and they gain one. Sure, you get some standing, and Grand-kids, but they're the ones who get the Strength from that trade. This is why I never marry off my Daughters when I play. Well, that, and it's really really really irksome for me. But what if you actually had a good reason, other than needing to not be crushed by a vastly superior opponent, to wed off Daughters?
Now, let's be realistic here... What I'm about to propose probably can't be done... If it can, probably not without a lot of effort... If it doesn't require much effort, well... Then Stardock should use the idea until I'm dead or they find someone-... I mean, something better.
Let us train our daughters to be Spy's. Spy-Daughters would feed small bits of tactically and strategically relevant information to their Origin-Realm every so often, like say, every 8 turns on normal pacing. More for higher pacing. (Obviously it doesn't -HAVE- to be that number.) But how do we define which daughters are spy's and which ones are not?
Let's start by assuming that you don't just happen to train a daughter from the day she's born to be a spy. Instead, let's put a timer on weddings... Yes, you heard me. Let's put a timer on weddings. So you set up an Arranged marriage with your bitter rival, Emperor Krax. You are giving him your first daughter, and in exchange, he's giving you a fat dowry and some standing. (On an unrelated note, Groom-side should have to give Dowry's. At least I think it's Groom-side....) Now, both sides have to make a choice. "Where will the wedding be?" This should be a diplomatic negotiation, but it should have no real impact other than where the wedding will be. (I'm totally kidding on that part btw.) What should matter, is once it's decided, both sides have 10 turns to make the necessary preparations. Now, the wedding preparations themselves should be abstracted methinks. In my mind, it should just take some GPT and Materials out of both players treasuries. But the Bride-Side will get an extra option... They should get the option to spend more GPT, and some Specialists, (Since we're going into 1.1 soon,) to give the Daughter Espionage training.
This of course poses the problem of, "Okay, but now that Daughter's finally have an advantage for being married away, there has to be a way to break that advantage." This is very very true of course... And it's one major detail I've been unable to figure out a good solution for. My first idea was to have it be a Challenged INT check every turn, Spouse vs Spouse, but that wouldn't work... The Daughter is providing important, strategically relevant information... The solution, therefore, needs to also be strategically relevant, even if it's only to that single problem. It can't be hit-or-miss, blind-luck type stuff. Whatever it is, it needs to be difficult enough to warrant not wanting to use it, saving up resources for it (Whatever kind of resources those may be, and no, I don't just mean the kind you can spend,) something along those lines...
Got a ton more to add to this section, but I'll save it for other posts.
Heroes: I have some serious gripes with how bland and weak the current Champs are... Again, I've plied my ideas in other threads, like letting the Farmer/Researcher/Merchant heroes level up slowly over time just for providing their bonuses, and giving us skills to choose from for combat-capable Champs, and even dividing the types of more, Heroes, Champions and Adventurers, giving each 'Type' a specific forte, or archetype if you will.
But the more and more I think about it... The more and more I come to the same conclusion... It's not their blandness that's the problem. It's THEM that are the problem. Heroes are supposed to be Heroic. And these ones aren't... Now, before I shoot my idea out there, let's look at the definition of a 'Hero' in relation to the world of video games.
Hero: A strong unit, potentially with special abilities pertaining to their realm of choice.
Let's look at two examples. Warcraft III has Heroes, and actually defines its gameplay around them. These heroes are COMPLETELY unique, there is nothing about them that any other unit within the same game shares. They have their own models, their own weapons, their own abilities. Heroic.
Civilization. They technically have Heroes too. Great People. Great General, Artist, Scientist, Engineer, and Merchant. Civ 5 also happens to be Elementals main competition. Each of these 'Heroes' does something useful in their own right. As a matter of fact, each of these 'Heroes' are capable of doing many useful things. All five of them may start a Golden Age for their associated Realm. General's passively improve the Combat abilities of troops within two tiles of themselves, or are capable of erecting a Citadel, which provides an amazing defense bonus for the unit stationed within, and hurts any enemy within two tiles of it at the end of the players turn. Artists may 'Culture Bomb' an opposing Civ, or open land, to instantly expand the cultural borders, or they can build a Landmark for a per-turn culture bonus. I could go on, but suffice it to say, they all have both Tactical and Strategic value. These Heroes are earned, not bought.
Which brings me to the point of this... Heroes are EARNED... Heroes... Are Earned. Heroes.... Are.... Earned.... I'm proposing we do away with the current Hero system entirely. People in other threads have suggested having our Mundane units, upon reaching a certain level or accomplishing a particularly noteworthy task, be promoted to Heroes. YES. Let's do that. Particularly the part about noteworthy tasks. Now we just need to define what noteworthy tasks are, and get those implemented into the game somehow... No good ideas there...
"Well, what will we do about Spouses then? And what happens to all the non-combat Heroes?" Well, spouses are easy. Wouldn't be hard for them to add a "Finding Love" quest out there in the world for ya, or even make it so you just happen to marry an especially pretty girl from your Realm, or hell, why not just start with a Spouse? I know this thread is discussing both Dynasties and Heroes, so the idea of getting rid of Heroes is counter-intuitive... But I'm discussing them as separate issues, so nyah. Yes, I know, it doesn't make it any less of a problem... I've already given some ideas, your turn. And the non-combat Heroes? NOT NECESSARY. They're non-combat heroes... That's not heroic at all, that's just mundane. How is Janusk, the Emperor's Attorney, somehow a Hero? That's really what all of those guys are, in the end, are glorified Attorney's and Bureaucrats... Both of which are mundane, pointless, and hated globally, so why keep 'em?
I now open the floor to you, the Readers and Posters.
