Tasunke

I like the Empires the way they are As in, I'd like for the *functional* lore to be adhered to as close as possible when it comes to making massive game mechanics like (how the empires function).

[quote who="scratchthepitch" reply="315" id="2617759"]If it's true as I read here that only 20% of customers download games while the rest still buy the disk, that means only a small fraction of t2/firaxis customers will be downloading civ5 in the first place. Giving steam a monopoly, if that is in fact what is going to happen by default because of steam's business practices, means the civ people will even be missing out on some of those download sales because of customers preferring other do

Yea, I would have to agree with you that Darken Rahl's Dhara probably holds the most similarity with the Empires. The only real difference here is the fact that soldiers were encouraged to become better, gain rank, gain battle experience, etc. With the Dragon Core and the Quads being reserved for those that proved themselves through battle, not birth (IIRC). I think the one interesting parallel among Imperial Order and the Elemental Empires, however, is that both contain the vast majo

@ Kellen Dunk ... I like Magnate, although I think Vizier might be better. I am hazy on the specific definition of magnate, although it seems to imply a certain amount of social mobility*? *Tycoon as well

Well, the "Special" units are genetically trained super soldiers ... while the majority of the HOARD are stronger than your average human mook. One way to look at this is that all Empire units "raw recruits" are actually veterans in disguise. Another way to look at it is that the Empire are like the Orcs, and the Kingdoms are like regular humans (think Imperial Guard without the Dictatorship) just trying to eek an existence and learn how to fight. Orc talks to level 1

I'm not sure that Emperor Jagangs Sorcerors would agree with you ... The Empire seems to instill a lack of compassion for the weak, as well as a right to rule by birth (how good you are) ... this doesn't mean a noble lineage, per se, but outright genetic discrimination based upon empirical evidence of utility. Emperor Jagang: the dreamwalker, recieves much of his powers by birth, as do the sorcerors and other various magic users that work for him. Meanwhile, everyone e

For now ... [e digicons]:meow:[/e] Although you have to admit that between the vast majority of Video Game market share lies within the United States and Japan. Therefore, saying that an International (Video Game based) Company should not be considered International because the majority of transactions are in either United States, Japan, or both would be an unfair statement. That would be like saying that World War I and II are not world wars because the "major

Well ... technically its *possible* that it could still be added into the core game, but unlikely. I would like to see this modified into Elemental:Expanded Edition

Incidentally, holy crap this is an amazing analysis and synthesis of Nietzsche's Overman http://greatliteraryworks.blogspot.com/2009/11/nietzsches-idea-of-overman-ubermensch.html

Aye, there are the people that fall in line (most), and the people that naturally excel (Ubermensch) Unwritten are the people that fall through the cracks or die ... which is the "mediocrity" of the Kingdoms that is naturally weeded out among the empires due to a lack of compassion for the weak. The Empire motto is utility, and in their philosophy your overall utility is determined at birth.

Actually I think it would be funnier if Military Intelligence was selling (AI) contracts to "big time" Video Game developers (role reversal) xD

Okay. Hopefully we can all agree that it would be awesome for unit interaction to necessitate Diplomacy. What I mean by this, is that if any one of your Champions/Sov is within unit-LOS of their SOV, or one of your Champions/SOV is in one of their cities, or vice versa ... free form diplomacy can take place. If neither of these two presumptions are met, then diplomacy is not possible (or extremely limited). Perhaps this "limited" nature could be that, if neither of the

I think that it is primarily a balance issue. This seems like a more quantitative issue ... however ... you DO have a good qualitative point that most Auto-Upgrades seen thus far have both proto and contemporary forms cost the same amount of resources (Hut, House, Villa). It is an interesting Qualitative discussion to see how Auto-Upgrades will be handled when the prices of the proto and contemporary forms are significantly different. For instance, say Markets -> Fo

Well, I suppose we could have a slider for a give take system where the Sovereign is literally ripping the experience directly from his subordinates ... however I would prefer a surplus approach, akin to the one I have mapped out. (with perhaps lower percentages of surplus experience as a matter of balance ... as in not 20% Sov and 10% Champs but something lower, yet this is a balance thing not a qualitative thing; my preferred qualitative is the one I mapped out, I have no preferred

Sure! I could see experience from a Champion led army ... perhaps 10-20% of that experience to be fed to the Sovereign. Not as taking experience away from the Champion, but as extra experience created because the Sovereign was not present. In fact, it would probably be cool for the Sovereign to gain 20% experience of all battles fought by the player, a Champion would get 10% of the experience of any battle they are a part of. Then beyond that, each unit (including Champs and S

I especially like the skewed data on winnable odds. That one makes me smile. Things like resource mal-data, and relations mal-data, feels less necessary yet for me is still welcomed. Certainly a weaker AI should play with more "character", "personality", "flavor" and less so optimal play exploiting hidden strategies (like the high level AI)

I was able to get a size 2 city with both Shard and Mine in most of my games. I didn't focus as much on maximizing the lesser buildings. You choose what your city does ... either it maxes econ buildings and only harvests one resource, or it harvests both (or more) resources and chooses which econ to build. My first game it was my second city, and as such I ended up building some gardens in it. In many of my previous games I have not needed to build gardens, but now I will gene

I think it would be better for the setting to use more aged terminology. As an example ... the research aspect should probably replace "Technology" with "Knowledge" and replace "Research" with something like seek. What knowledge do you wish to seek? We have found/uncovered another piece of knowledge! Or Which source of Knowledge do you wish to expand on? We have gained more knowledge!

Well, just as a bit of terminology ... the research aspect should probably replace "Technology" with "Knowledge" and replace "Research" with something like seek. What knowledge do you wish to seek? We have found/uncovered another piece of knowledge! Or Which source of Knowledge do you wish to expand on? We have gained more knowledge!

Exactly. Valve is an international company. Its only based in the US (headquarters).

Actually, destroying a lumberyard after it completes also clears the forest. The act of building a lumberyard somehow destroys the forest irrevocably. Heh, would be the ultimate punishment to an opponent by taking over his city and destroying all the lumberyards = no more lumberyards or TREES even if he takes it back. Amazingness.

There are no classes, thus there could be no multi-classing. There WILL, however, be points to spend on stats (and hopefully skill points too!) This game, as far as classes go, is closer to Elder Scrolls than Dungeons and Dragons, however instead of Major and Minor skills we have EQUIPMENT. So yea, pretty awesome, not too complicated ... and I too hope that level ups will be super-customizable.

Huzzah!

I have a feeling that Fallen Sovereigns and Champions will still level, just not units, special units, or monsters. I wonder if this means that Dragons don't level. Could a baby dragon still grow over time and gain new stats? (like in a post I made earlier)

Yep, I still prefer Vizier