Tasunke

The trick will be how to implement the bonuses of 1) an expensive Diplomatic Team & 2) Family Member bonus

Wasn't Into the Looking Glass one of the Alice in Wonderland novels? Or was that Through the Looking Glass ? Into the Looking Glass sounds amazing! you gotta love da Mree [e digicons]*_*[/e]

Other than shops, yes it would be cool to create equipment (like you do for units) for your Champions and Sovereigns. Likely, however, items from Questing and Shops will be often better than whatever you can forge at the time. Still, forging items yourself (mundane items that any soldier could use) should be a viable (probably cheaper) alternative ;)

Adventuring ... and NPC interactions. War game be saved for end game ;)

My favorites are still Profiteer and Vizier

[quote who="Wintersong" reply="4" id="2623258"] Quoting Tasunke, reply 2Do your previous versions of hive-minds include mass-breeding bug-reptile like races? I think that the green tide of the bugs will quickly surpass the green tide of the orcs in popularity ... in part because it is more believable that these bug-aliens can easily outnumber you, while Orcs are just too human. Senseless violence and funny talk are OrK domain (Orcs gets evilness and wanton destruction). And they hav

So then, when was the first combination of the tropes used? Again ... I personally think that the first "real combination" of the tropes wasn't in effect until the MOVIE Starship Troopers because the book left it up to interpretation. Hive mind humans are boring and don't fill the quota at all :p Still, I felt that the "buggy" part of the trope-combo (and really Alien-Bugs are a trope unto themselves) was crafted to become 80% of what we see in Tyranids and Zerg today

Hmm? o.O So I REALLY want to be a half-dragon samurai, leader of my own brood, and the most brave and violent knight in the Draconian Armada?

Hmm .... if you select your whole army you get these glowing tabards over each unit ... lv 1 units glow a bright shade of green (as well as weak units) while higher level/ more powerful units have yellow-green, orange, and then red tabards ... with red and brilliant dark red being the most powerful. Therefore, you know your units roughly by what color their tabard glows. If its red you know they are important/super-powerful/ worth keeping alive ... and if they are green you know they

Or RobberBaron

I wasn't speaking of the Hive Mind per-se, but the Reptilian, Egg laying, Spore infesting, skin crawling, Super-fast breeding ... biological nightmare. I suppose I meant, something that encompasses every similarity that the Zerg and Tyranid share ... which is QUITE ALOT. All I was saying, is that I believe in Sci-Fi there will be many near-exact replica's to come. As in, it will become a Space Adventures staple if it isn't already. Do your previous versions of hive-min

Aye, profiteers was one of my favorites. As well as Viziers.

I think I see how you are thinking, but no, essence is not that expendable. You can gain essence from other things b/c you are a vampyre? xD But really, NATURAL Wizards died out long ago, because customary Magics have dissapeared from (the air? midochlorians?) Now, the only way to access magic is through shards, or the earth. The canon source of acquiring new essence will determine how my next statement is framed. :)

USING Essence is done by Spending mana ... but if you spend essence, its a permanent dip in your life-force ... therefore it is a permanent decrease. Spending Essence to give other things life (like reviving the land) kills your own chackra-> Drains your own life Sure, by years of flowing mana through your body, casting spells, you can slowly build up your essence ... to the point where you are a God-Emperor super Shaman. But yes, creating

Tyranids and Zerg Eldar and Protoss Space Marines and Terrans I mean ... I guess its just like how all fantasy games (usually) include humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and demons ... but still! xD I mean ... sure Starcraft is a bit more original (not based directly from fantasy/ Warhammer), so it doesn't have orcs and demons ... and sure fantasy games don't have Hive Mind Bug Species (although they do have Zombies/Necrons) And really, I thin

I don't think that using essence should lead to gaining essence. Using spells, maybe. Researching spells, maybe. But not using essence. Essence Hoarding not being a viable strategy would seem ... like a loss of options.

[quote who="cephalo" reply="34" id="2622441"]Forced updates will destroy the Civ 5 modding community. There's gotta be some workaround there.[/quote] Yea, hopefully there won't be forced updates ... additionally there should "hopefully" be some way to maintain several separate versions of Civ 5 (with XML, PYTHON, and even C++ changes)

While Quests and Combat are certainly primary (definite) sources of experience ... I should also think that Leading an Army well (say, less casualties) should reward the designated general with extra experience. Additionally, Random Kingdom Events could also increase experience (although not as important as previous three)

Heh, reminds me of Morrowind ... maybe we could simply get better at certain stats by doing activities tied to those stats? ^_^ (like casting spells could slowly increase either Wisdom or Intelligence, while hacking at enemies could slowly increase strength (and Dexterity) ... and being hacked at (attacked) could increase Constitution and Dexterity. Meanwhile, sucessful diplomatic maneuvers (or wielding diplomatic pressure) could increase your Charisma (as well as Successful r

I am ... FAIRLY confident in saying that Civ IV AI is not programmed to treat the human AI any differently, it is actually human psychology that makes it seem the case. If you learn to copy the behaviors of the AI, as opposed to acting as you have previously ... you will generally make good AI friends who might even gift you techs, etc. Once an AI even offered to be my vassal during an MP game. While this has happened many times in single player games, it came in quite handy this part

Retain 90% of the battle rating (huge bonus) Retain 67% of the battle rating (moderate bonus) Retain 50% of the battle rating (small bonus) less than 50% (no bonus) The amount of experience a Huge, Moderate, or Small bonus receives should be based upon how important the battle is. This could be determined by the size and strength of your army, as well as the size and strength of your opponents army. For instance, 3 soldiers killing 10 spi

I think that Combat, Quests, Random Events (choosing correctly), and Leading and Army should all gain exp. By leading an army, I mean that, other than the experience you gain from your own combat/kills, you gain experience from how well your army did over-all during the battle. // Perhaps you could even *magically* lead a battle from some tower somewhere, without having to be nearby.

Well, first of all, it avoids breaking the game because ... even with all the essence in the world, if he doesn't have any cities he will be dead forever. Secondly, the more powerful he is, the longer it will take for him to regenerate (giving you more time to destroy/ take over his cities) ... and the weaker he is, the more likely he will run out of essence soon Thirdly, if he runs out of essence, he dies permanently, and each AI death makes that AI sovereign weaker. Its not

Ya know, THE EMPIRES is beginning to remind me more and more of the Imperium of Man. You have the Imperial Guardsmen (grunts without any experience gain) ... you have the Space Marines (SuperSoldiers bred for the part) and then you have the Psychers, Adeptus Mechanicus, and other such people *specially born* for such roles, or in other ways fit for their duties due to ancestry. Then there are the Champions/Family members (or Primarchs) which can grow much more powerful

What to build and how to deploy forces should have an economical and militaristic benefit respectively, not in experience. Of course, running a consistently successful Nation (in terms of Military Campaigns) might lead you to gain levels ... if you concede that each battle should imbue the Sovereign with ... say 5-10% of total experience gained by your forces. However, completing QUESTS and choosing which troublemaker to assassinate ... those are interesting decisions with no