The end game will suck-err- stagnate until…..

That title is not meant as derrogitory towards the game, as I will state, the game build correctly but then stops.

I am not sure where this thread should go because it is a mix of several threads…. And it is long but I think really cool model.

Looking at human civilizations in very broad a sense specific to help game play there is a serious flaw in game mechanics that will forever stagnate the endgame, the roll of social interaction (politics and diplomacy) and economics (trade). War has never been about war, its been about politics and resources. The difference in the beginning of the game is twofold, lack of much interaction with an international community (that is nationalism domestically, they are mutually dependent), and undeveloped political thought. Setting up your empire is exploration and possible a small war with barbarians or another civ to gain a resource or space. Yet at the end game this is not the case and the game should become a radically different beast requiring a different sort of skill set to navigate.

As civilizations advanced into the middle ages, it became more and more that war took a back set as a last resort and the un’Civ’ilized way to do things (generally speaking). The conquering Roman or Persians began to fad as real national borders began to solidify. The face of politics changed with this as the people become more involved, human rights appeared, suffrage. New forms of warfare developed and were refined; economic, espionage, diplomatic, embargoes. All new lower level intensity conflicts, not all out war. A civil may not have had as much land but could have been a economic powerhouse, like Britain, that allowed to dominate many parts of the world. Yet how can we express that in game play. It was apparently introduced in Civ3 (I never played civ2) in a limited way but it is far from complete and the ultimate real victory is still the un’civ’ilized face of the military conquest.

Three things are really needed to change this.
1. Realizing that the real game is the last third and not the first third. Everything should be developing towards that, where as now because the military is dominant, the game has developed and then stops. The thing is, it does it right and in about the right time which speaks volumes. But after, somewhere between 0 and 1500 depending on your gaming conditions is where the real meat should be. And for that…
2. Aussies incredible economic and resurce system. This guy is spot on. And reading that thread, people seem to be concerned with micromanagement but I don’t see this happening, most of it would be happening on the background. The point of this is that the economic system is developing quiet naturally so that when people start to finally interact at the international stage, there is something to interact with and to determine position and so forth. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85846 http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86172
3. Provinces. Again this brings about a more natural evolution of countries and how they interact increasing diplomatic options and latitude.http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=87761
4. The new tech tree (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=89900) )

These things together would bring about a true diplomatic game that would revolutionize the endgame, making me anxious to get there, making it the point of the game to get there instead of dreading it. Together these things could allow a model for the following:

Each civ has a point status of one to a hundred. All you see is a general term; 0-9 pathetic, 10-24 weak, 25-40 harmless, 41-60 aveage, 61-75 strong, 76-90 powerful, 91-100 mighty. The score will be combination of many things (economic strength, military strength, relation to neighbor, etc) and each is relative to the civ. So say one civ has a 83 and another 22. You would minus the weak civ and that number would determine the civs position of strength in relation to you. 50-60- would be respectful. He would honor all deals, and try to make them. 61-75 would be he will actual asks your opinion (on whether to take a deal with someone, etc), will look to appease you, and will do many thigns you ask as long as it does not break any deep traditions. Above 75. This is basically a puppet that you can make do as you please. Attack this person, give me this resource. Yet even they will only take too much especially if it involves going against deep traditions or attacking someone they like. This would cause a revolution and the civ would actually start under a new civ name.

Have a lot more to add (about why provinces are important and the role of the economy and so forth) but will let some feed back come in and am afraid cause it is long no one will read it….