Hi,
i'm only in the first game of 1.9.6 but I just feel like i need to comment some things:
#polar cities:
they've prooven to be VERY valuable. despite the additional water in my other cities.
they are built exactly the right distance apart, in order not to interfere (AI built them, I just conquerd). because every tile gives water and the Polar-Ice gives additional water, and the non sink tiles are all improoved with solar panels they have good water and production. maybe the amount of sink-tiles could be reduced a little... think this would give enough boost to make them from "very worthy" to "extremly worthy" even without improvements on the sinks. I just like the look of it now: deep desert and deep polar is unsetteled, all cities are in a small valuable stripe in between.
#promotions:
I boosted most promotions, but tryied to keep the balance... just personal I feel that promotions should ALL be worth more.
#lasguns vs. shields
I know this discussion is dead... but I still feel that this should be reflected in the game as in the books.
maybe when lasgun and shield fight each other, there could be done some collateral damage to ALL (including the fighting ones, or just reduce both HP by 50% on the first fighting round) units within reach (like one tile radius)? Shouldn't AI be able to handle it, when it is done with the collateral damage thing?
#fremen culture vs. outsiders
with the water bonuses from shai hulud and fremen usually having shai hulud as religion and the water-debt promotions it is represented quite well. But still I feel the difference should be more (the difference, not the balance). the fremen don't waste any water, so maybe they could use by default less water for population. (e.g. 1water/person, other civs 2water/person) but on the other hand they might not be able (or don't want) to drill such deep wells or aquabores (because they "damage" the planet)???
#gameplay, look and feel:
all in all: just incredibly great!!!
really good job! One can really taste the dry sand on it's lips while playing!
P.S.: installed 1.9.1, patched it with 1.9.6, and added music package, all on acer aspire with ATI graphic+omega drivers, with old winXP service pack 3... and all is working fine on marathon with second biggest map and 9 players (including me).