Having played four different versions of the Civ product prior to Civ World, this is by far the most unbalanced effort put forth so far. A few general thoughts to rebalance the game are below.
*Weaken Great Persons
*Revamp the market to commodities / mercenaries only
*Make commodities something that can be worked / collected / traded
*"Trickle income" should only apply to citizens that are working in that field
*Harvests need to go away
*Techs and buildings should provide early, mid and late-game bonuses to change the pace of gameplay
*Bonus resources are an early game-breaker
For complete details on each topic....
Great Persons
Great Persons need to be weakened dramatically. They should only be used to build wonders -OR- provide a one-time boost to a particular resource (+500 resources per era of food/production/science/etc..). This would greatly contribute to players using them to create Wonders rather than stockpiling them.
Marketplace
Markets should only be available for trading resources, commodities and mercenaries - not Great People. By mercenaries that means that you can only buy up troops that other Civs are putting up for sale. Realistic gameplay dictates that at no time are there 50 barbarian natives waiting to get paid incrementally higher amounts just to have the privilage of fighting for you or being sold later down the road as some form of long-term retirement plan.
Commodities
There are currently four commodities available in the market, and none of these have any requisite or tangible value. Rather than making these four available throughout the entire game, consider making "commodity resources" in cities that can be worked in order to harvest them. Commodities should have a secondary benefit (+1% food/happiness/gold/production) that encourages trade rather than an artificial market that has no intrinsic value.
Trickle Income
Trickle Income (that little bit you get every 5 minutes or so) needs to be changed so that the "trickle" is directly proportionate to the productivity of various citizens of the city. This provides a reward for those who implement good city design and encourages a more balanced (and realistic) civilization and provides a secondary benefit of balancing the marketplace more completely.
Harvests
Get rid of these obtrusive things unless you have a Slavery-type civic that imposes a penalty. Harvests are horrid mechanism that just detract from the game experience that Civ has generally been.
Tech Bonuses
Like other versions of Civ, this implementation should provide bonuses not just for wonders, but also for various tech levels. At various key tech achievements, Civ-wide bonuses should apply to all players in that Civ. As an example, Bronze Working +5% Production or Pottery +5% food. Later techs would provide greater cumulative bonuses such as Irrigation +10% food (15% cumulative bonus).
Building Bonuses and Function
Buildings should also provide a modest, cumulative benefit (+5%/+10%/+15%/+20%) to all citizens working in that field rather than a proximity effect for the citizens working nearest to the building. This would provide benefit to builder-type players and potentially provide for more than the sparse number of buildings that exist in the game now. This would also contribute greatly to the late-game experience not bogging down.
Bonus Resources
Bonus resources need to be done away with. There are bonuses available in the mini-games already and adding a couple more mini games for farmers and workers certainly offer a better alternative to waving your mouse across the screen for four hours in order to be 600-800 resources greater than everyone else.
*Weaken Great Persons
*Revamp the market to commodities / mercenaries only
*Make commodities something that can be worked / collected / traded
*"Trickle income" should only apply to citizens that are working in that field
*Harvests need to go away
*Techs and buildings should provide early, mid and late-game bonuses to change the pace of gameplay
*Bonus resources are an early game-breaker
For complete details on each topic....
Spoiler :
Great Persons
Great Persons need to be weakened dramatically. They should only be used to build wonders -OR- provide a one-time boost to a particular resource (+500 resources per era of food/production/science/etc..). This would greatly contribute to players using them to create Wonders rather than stockpiling them.
Marketplace
Markets should only be available for trading resources, commodities and mercenaries - not Great People. By mercenaries that means that you can only buy up troops that other Civs are putting up for sale. Realistic gameplay dictates that at no time are there 50 barbarian natives waiting to get paid incrementally higher amounts just to have the privilage of fighting for you or being sold later down the road as some form of long-term retirement plan.
Commodities
There are currently four commodities available in the market, and none of these have any requisite or tangible value. Rather than making these four available throughout the entire game, consider making "commodity resources" in cities that can be worked in order to harvest them. Commodities should have a secondary benefit (+1% food/happiness/gold/production) that encourages trade rather than an artificial market that has no intrinsic value.
Trickle Income
Trickle Income (that little bit you get every 5 minutes or so) needs to be changed so that the "trickle" is directly proportionate to the productivity of various citizens of the city. This provides a reward for those who implement good city design and encourages a more balanced (and realistic) civilization and provides a secondary benefit of balancing the marketplace more completely.
Harvests
Get rid of these obtrusive things unless you have a Slavery-type civic that imposes a penalty. Harvests are horrid mechanism that just detract from the game experience that Civ has generally been.
Tech Bonuses
Like other versions of Civ, this implementation should provide bonuses not just for wonders, but also for various tech levels. At various key tech achievements, Civ-wide bonuses should apply to all players in that Civ. As an example, Bronze Working +5% Production or Pottery +5% food. Later techs would provide greater cumulative bonuses such as Irrigation +10% food (15% cumulative bonus).
Building Bonuses and Function
Buildings should also provide a modest, cumulative benefit (+5%/+10%/+15%/+20%) to all citizens working in that field rather than a proximity effect for the citizens working nearest to the building. This would provide benefit to builder-type players and potentially provide for more than the sparse number of buildings that exist in the game now. This would also contribute greatly to the late-game experience not bogging down.
Bonus Resources
Bonus resources need to be done away with. There are bonuses available in the mini-games already and adding a couple more mini games for farmers and workers certainly offer a better alternative to waving your mouse across the screen for four hours in order to be 600-800 resources greater than everyone else.