Nightguard
Warlord
- Joined
- May 11, 2008
- Messages
- 131
In Rom and AND, right now the major source of unhappiness is 'crowding', that is, increased population in a city. While this is a good mechanic in regards to gameplay, I feel that historically there is another factor that could easily be replicated in game. My suggestion is that, as the level of technology in a civilization increases, the demand for luxury by the citizens also increases.
The easiest way to represent this would be to have specific technologies apply an unhappiness penalty to all of your cities, just like some technologies now apply a health bonus to each city. This would reflect the tendency of your people to want more as more becomes available, and also reflect the poor conditions of work seen in early industrialized nations. For example, the industrialization tech could apply a +1 unhappiness penalty in all cities, representing the poor working conditions seen in early factories.
Secondly, a number of production buildings could have an unhappiness penalty paired with them. I'm not thinking so much of the early game buildings like forges and guild halls. I'm thinking more the later game, high powered buildings, things like factories and assembly plants. This would also give the option of adding later tech upgrades of these buildings, ones that don't carry the unhappiness penalty, or at least have a reduced penalty. As an example, perhaps a Factory can carry +1 or +2 unhappiness, while a Modernized Factory duplicates the same production bonuses while having no penalty to unhappiness, as modern machinery and improved work environment reduce the unpleasantness of the work performed there.
The last thing I'd want to look at is some of the later tech buildings that give large, static value bonuses to cities, in particular the Skyscraper. This building in particular gives bonuses to food, production, and commerce, as it increases the population density in your cities. While the building already carries a massive production cost that can be seen as it's penalty, it would also be appropriate to apply an unhealth penalty and an unhappiness penalty. Higher population density adds to the impact of disease throughout the city, while the smaller living space and increased traffic density could certainly lead to unhappiness (how much do you like your rush hour commute, after all?).
I'll admit that I don't have the experience to code mods for Civ, and while I'm willing to learn, just looking through the component files hasn't really taught me enough to feel comfortable modding something like this. Also, I'm curious if this is something that other players would be interested in seeing added to AND. Opinions, everyone?
The easiest way to represent this would be to have specific technologies apply an unhappiness penalty to all of your cities, just like some technologies now apply a health bonus to each city. This would reflect the tendency of your people to want more as more becomes available, and also reflect the poor conditions of work seen in early industrialized nations. For example, the industrialization tech could apply a +1 unhappiness penalty in all cities, representing the poor working conditions seen in early factories.
Secondly, a number of production buildings could have an unhappiness penalty paired with them. I'm not thinking so much of the early game buildings like forges and guild halls. I'm thinking more the later game, high powered buildings, things like factories and assembly plants. This would also give the option of adding later tech upgrades of these buildings, ones that don't carry the unhappiness penalty, or at least have a reduced penalty. As an example, perhaps a Factory can carry +1 or +2 unhappiness, while a Modernized Factory duplicates the same production bonuses while having no penalty to unhappiness, as modern machinery and improved work environment reduce the unpleasantness of the work performed there.
The last thing I'd want to look at is some of the later tech buildings that give large, static value bonuses to cities, in particular the Skyscraper. This building in particular gives bonuses to food, production, and commerce, as it increases the population density in your cities. While the building already carries a massive production cost that can be seen as it's penalty, it would also be appropriate to apply an unhealth penalty and an unhappiness penalty. Higher population density adds to the impact of disease throughout the city, while the smaller living space and increased traffic density could certainly lead to unhappiness (how much do you like your rush hour commute, after all?).
I'll admit that I don't have the experience to code mods for Civ, and while I'm willing to learn, just looking through the component files hasn't really taught me enough to feel comfortable modding something like this. Also, I'm curious if this is something that other players would be interested in seeing added to AND. Opinions, everyone?