[Suggestion] Make Sov/Offspring ages non-numeric or remove them

another instance of calendars not working well yet in TBS games

from Elemental Forums

I'm looking at turn 124 of a game with standard Procipinee as my sovereign. She took a champion to wed fairly early and has three offspring, but the UI describes her as just 24 while her firstborn is already 15. I'm pretty sure she was '21' when the first kid arrived. Not a big deal, but definitely odd for anyone who looks at and thinks about numbers in the UI.

Unless the sov age has game value, it doesn't really seem necessary to display. And unless a numerical age for offspring is significant, it doesn't really seem necessary either and could easily be replaced by terms like infant, child, marriageable youth, marriageable adult...

6,528 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Yeah, it's a subset of the larger issue of representing any distance or time in a strategy game - there's just no way to reconcile it all in a way that's still fun for gameplay. So it's best to leave actual units out of it, use abstractions like "turns" and "tiles" and hope players don't think too hard about Procipinee watching 4 consecutive generations grow up and still having kids. Actually showing numerical ages is just going to make the discrepancy painfully obvious.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I think it's painful in any case.

 

I'd like the dynasty spawning to take a lot longer to play out, and be a lot more useful than bread and butter champions in return.  Would fit the rest of the environment better.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

If chilrden are kind of rare, then it makes child-based diplomacy more vital ... and having your child die more aggravating

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I wouldnt mind having fewer kids, that take longer to grow up, if that means they have a good chance to not be a complete wimp - its so rare to get them with any good stats at all so far.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Malloreon, reply 4
I wouldnt mind having fewer kids, that take longer to grow up, if that means they have a good chance to not be a complete wimp - its so rare to get them with any good stats at all so far.
End of Malloreon's quote

 

That quote's totally going in your baby-shower card...

 

-tid242

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

It should be possible for one out of 8 children to be extremely high with one attribute.

It should be possible for one out of 64 children to be extremely high with two attributes.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Austinvn, reply 1
Yeah, it's a subset of the larger issue of representing any distance or time in a strategy game - there's just no way to reconcile it all in a way that's still fun for gameplay. So it's best to leave actual units out of it, use abstractions like "turns" and "tiles" and hope players don't think too hard about Procipinee watching 4 consecutive generations grow up and still having kids. Actually showing numerical ages is just going to make the discrepancy painfully obvious.
End of Austinvn's quote

Yea, time is messy in this genre and Elemental is no exception. I finally got enough time with some offspring to see that they don't hit the market until their 20-something. Very odd for a 'medieval' setting. Royal heirs should be available for treaties pretty much immediately and viable for a wedding and subsequent reproduction around 16 or so.

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I wonder if there is a way to mod a game so that soverigns die (and leave a new soverign heir). The game end would be the last heir dies....

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Or a quick explanation along the lines of.

SoV's, due to their Magical channeling ability, grow to maturity quickly but then age gracefully. Their offspring tend to show the same symptoms due to genetics, and while females mature faster than males (true even today), all offspring mature quickly and then age just like their parents. Plausible if nothing else.

Embuing Essence does not cause, or assist with this phenomena. ;)

 

 

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

how about calling it "biologic age" instead of (chronologic) age?