Yeah, you're right.
Okay, I guess we should first decide on traits. I'd prefer to have two new traits, although I could be convinced to add three. I think an obvious one should be a Seafaring trait. It is not only missing in the game, but I think now with the Trafalgar Square wonder it makes naval power a bit more important. You may say "well Capo, only one civ gets the benefits from that so it isn't a major change" which may be true, but keep in mind if that civ isn't yours, you are going to have to compete with it. Not to mention the fact that there will be increased Pirate activity (and a Pirate Brotherhood "super barbarian" civ to contend with). So Seafaring is definitely going to be one of the traits.
Here are a few other suggestions I have been given, or a few other ideas I have seen. I won't go into detail, but just a general concept:
- An Espionage-related trait: Espionage can be a very important aspect of the game that is often overlooked by a casual player. Not to mention the fact that I am adding spy promotions to the mod, so these two facts combined make espionage important in Diplomacy II, perhaps a trait should be made to exemplify this?
- Agriculture: A lot of great mods have an "agrarian" trait, and it makes sense from an historic perspective. In fact a peoples' agricultural system often lays the foundation of its social system. Personally I think a trait like this could be misused or unbalanced, so if we were to go in this direction we'd have to be careful.
- Strategic: this is another one I have seen a lot of, it usually pertains to upgrade costs and construction of seige units. I'd say combined with Leonardo's Workshop this could be a pretty sweet trait to have, although with Charismatic, Protective and Aggressive that might mean too many military traits.
- Scientific: This is another area of the game that is basically untouched by any traits. Similarly to agricultural though, this could be manipulated.
- Diplomatic: It is difficult to really adress the diplomatic side of things in Civ, even if certain leaders love you they'll still declare war on you or refuse to trade with you. I have seen this trait before, but perhaps the espionage trait could cover this.
I'm sure there are plenty of other possible ideas, and honestly I didn't really give bonuses, just descriptions of traits. But now would be a good time to start discussing this more in-depth.
My suggestions:
Espionage based trait. We have so many leaders that really need this. However, I'd call it maybe "Securitive" or something.
On top of the espionage bonus, give it maybe a reduction of
caused by whipping/war weariness/drafting. To represent how some leaders were great at holding back negative public opinion (Mao, Stalin. I'm looking at you two. You need this trait. At least Mao.)
Agrarian, I agree that it could be overpowered, but we can just make it smaller than most mods make it.
Maybe just +1 food per tile with +2 food, and that's all. That alone would make it high tier still, but not as overpowered as the usual "+1 with every 2, cheaper granary, cheaper lighthouse, cheaper workers."
Then for the third trait... I'd strongly suggest something like Explorative. A combination of the normal seafaring trait, but with cheaper Explorers and Scouts as well.
That'd make it a great trait for the colony-based leaders.
So to sum up:
"Secretive" - %bonus to espionage, cheaper espionage related buildings, and maybe -1
deducted from war weariness/whipping.
"Agrarian" - +1 food per tile with +2
"Explorative" - Drill 1 for all naval units, +1 speed for naval units. Cheaper drydock, lighthouse, harbor. Cheaper explorer, scout.
The only trait you suggested that I'm against is Scientific. I don't think there's a way to make a -balanced- Scientific trait, sadly.
Also yeah, I really. really suck at names. So feel free to, in your head, turn Explorative into a better adjective. Or just call it seafaring anyway, but keep the cheaper scouts and explorers, since if you're seafaring you're probably still colonizing.