Something I was thinking about in my previous post but didn't type out was something a little deeper with the mount system, but since a few people liked what I said here it is. I think all the creature lairs you can capture and all the horse and worg resources on the map should all be removed. Instead give a "creature" resource that changes depending on the faction looking at it. IE maybe Gilden would see horses while Kraxis sees spiders. Then take this resource and expand on it, so Kraxis could use their spider resource to train spider mounted troops, or spider units by themselves (with varying spider power levels costing more or less of the resource). Gilden on the other hand could maybe have different kinds of horses to equip troops with, like fast scout horses and heavy warhorses. Then most factions could have their own mounts/creatures (a few could share horses if it's difficult to come up with something else), maybe even a faction without mounts but can train more powerful creatures.

So rather than having all these somewhat boring and useless creatures anyone can train we limit each faction to one easily identifiable creature. You see an army with a bunch of spiders you know that's Kraxis without looking at their ownership, a bunch of worgs some other faction and so on.

I think with the number of factions we have we really need to give each one a strong identity of some sort, even if that makes them "one dimensional." They really need to stand out and be exciting, and being "romanesque" isn't really (no offense). I'm not saying spread spider worship and idolization to every aspect of Kraxis culture, but being the only faction with a lot of spiders and poison abilities would make it stand out. Ditto for Magnar and lots of fire.

True. I also stick with custom faction and hand-made leader.

And I think having "Random Personalities" option would be useful. I use it in my every Civ or Civlike game.

I just prefer to have "me" and play with/against all the unique factions + added mods... so there can be great interplay among them, if they were truly unique.

Second this!  If there was no way to make custom factions, I would lose 75% of my interest in the game!

I really don't see what the big deal is, besides possibly copyright infringement

I too play a Sith among other things. And the Jedi need to die....

I like this. Will these options be avaliable to chose when creating a custome faction?

You could have a 3rd American Democrat where they say they want to tax the rich, but for some reason they are all rich and all have their money in Kraxis Banks. They would rely on the illusion of class warfare to sustain power, while their real goals are a status quo with a greener energy policy and a socialist system funded by anyone that is not rich enough to avoid taxation. 

Go Team!

Yea, my post was meant to be 100% joke.  If Brad was a well know Democrat, I would have found a way to make a democrat joke...I don't actually care much for politics, I just like teasing and making jokes.

I too play a Sith among other things. And the Jedi need to die....

 

I am a pro sith too, Long live emperor Palpatine

For me its about true difference betrween factions. Sure tweak the edges: stats, equipment blah de blah, but pick 2 or 3 major things, almost unbalancing things and stick them in - so if you are magic loving faction, pick some really nice big stuff to go down that path. In every other game (edit: actually fall from heaven 2 and master of mana came close) i've ever played there is so much concern over balance that really yuo can play all factions almost the same as any other... if you are willing to push the boundaries it could make each position a completely different playing experience.

To me balance means that I can do a lot of things in different ways and still be successful.  Build mages or build warriors, use champions or monsters or soldiers, have a lot of cities or few cities, be diplomatic or warmongering. etc.  But, it should be "balanced" in a way that one strategy isn't far superior over another.  Right now deciding to stick with the civics path over the other two, will get you killed.  you have created a beautiful nation easily taken by others. 

I would get rid of global research bonuses to sovereigns (e.g. default Pariden gets a research bonus to whatever it researches) and ONLY give research bonuses to particular research trees or parts of trees (e.g. all research in "Civilization" is +20%); this would make a noticable difference in factions.