That's because you and the others have incredibly stupid and boring minds and only think one diminsional. I think in 5th diminsions I should have known better to even discuss the issue with morons. As you can see from earlier posts of mine and what Brad has told us I'm pretty much in sync with him now and you'll be SURPRISED at some of the SURPRISES in the game. Some of you ain't gonna like them but oh well I will.

In the game M.U.L.E. there were random events, some good and some bad. The better you were doing, the more likely a bad event would happen to you and the less likely a good event would happen to you. And the wose you were doing, the opposite would be true. However, the random events rarely turned the tide.

There could be something here. Help the player that needs it the most, but not so much so that it is actually a bad thing to be in first place.

Yeah ok Yarlen I'm sorry. But, some of these F.... grrrrrr just don't have a clue. I hate one diminsional thinking in people. I'm sure you know a great developer thinks in more than one diminsion so I'm not too worried really about how the game is going to turn out in the challenge department. Just had to cool off from reading these Ch..... posts.

YOU have to cool off after reading posts psycho ??!?

When you first showed up I thought you were the biggest asshole on the interwebs, then you posted some really quite good posts, I gave you a couple of karma to encourage you, and now I am starting to remember the phrase "trust your first impression."

I am with you as far as wanting a challenge, in fact there should be virtually impossible difficulty settings and if something like what you are saying were implemented at Impossible difficulty - that's nifty neato and great.

However to propose that this is how the typical game should play out?

For you to act like just because you made the call on families (good call btw) that you are now sharing some kind of intergalactic mind meld with Brad and that every assinine concept that you can pull out of your ass is destined to be in the game and that you know because you are "dialed in"? Get back on your meds.

You claim to be this 5th dimensional thinker, but so far I have not heard you make a cogent argument about anything other than just making a blanket claim that "you know what makes good gameplay" and name calling anyone who disagrees with you... sorry that is more like a   year old than th dimensional thinking, pal.

Half the time I am torn believe thinking that you really believe what you are typing and are seriously mentally ill, or if you just get a kick out of pushing people's buttons and make retarded posts just to get a laugh out of the responses.

I didn't like the deus-ex-machina approach of Total War either. I have no problem with uprisings but what they brought on was simply ridiculus. Some barbarian hordes coming from off the board - OK. Treason where a part of my forces turn against me - OK. But a massive army out of nowhere? That looks too much of a cover-up of a bad AI. But then again I'm sure Elemental won't have bad AI...

Or maybe it's just a grain of truth in his nickname.

1 dimensional thinking.

Psycho, be a good boy and play nice and you are welcome here. Or maybe you like surprises so much you are hoping for a surprise ban to fall from the sky and knock some sense into you.

I am however shocked he has more karma than me...

True true... Maybe if I am more insistent and obnoxious while having some borderline decent ideas I'll get some pity karma like him...

I am positive he was aware who Yarlen's comment was directed at. The fact that you took him seriously will probably just lower his opinion of your IQ...Psycho does post some decently good ideas, but his desire to be superior and treat others like shit definitely lowers his value to the community.

The two karma that I gave him were not pity karma, I was actually pleasantly surprised at some of the good things he posted and actual discussion instead of name calling. I am thinking he must have been taking his meds at the time, because he definitely is reminding me of a manic depressive that I once associated with (in his manic phase). Sadly he is institutionalized now because he decided one day he didn't need his meds any more.

It is possible that he is literally delusional...

I agree with you here.  Allow someone who has built up his resources to put them to use instead of having them sucked out.

I disagree with you there. Maintenance costs of cities in Civ IV are less of an end-game issue. It works pretty good against the land-grab at the beginning, I think. Building a stable economy before expanding is not mundane.