GroundedSausage
Lord of the Fireflies
The game would obviously be a turn-based strategy game based on the idea of Civilization and how the player tends to expand. Instead of picking an already-present faction from human history, you'd literally make your own history.
Starting in the Ancient Times, you'd start of as nothing but a TRIBE. Not a city, but a small collection of huts. The customization for the Ancient Era would allow you to pick a Leader Head (your player), a name for your tribe (let's say, The Latins), and you'd pick a language group (Italic).
By picking that language group, the beginning of the game would start you off in a position where everyone spoke relatively the same language. The trade would be given a very small bonus for this very trait, but then again, you really wouldn't wanna be trading at that period more than collecting resources and getting a secure foothold in your nation. (Other language grouped tribes you'd try to trade with will be near-impossible unless you'd give them units such as workers or warriors). When the game starts, you'll already have a decent perception of at least 2 other tribes in close proximity to you. You'll also start of with one scout and a warrior defending your town. These elements are necessary, because even early on in easy mode you'll still be battered with barbarians until the Medieval Era.
When you have constructed the necessary things (such as a Granary, Walls, and a trading post) and you have constructed the proper resource gathering buildings (such as farms, ranches and roads connecting them), a notification would pop up bring you into the Classical Era. Now, you'd have an actual city with control of what you collect and be given a board of advisers. You'd have one for your Economy, Military, Technological [which will branch out into an Education Board later on] and a Foreign Affairs).
Your nation's language will become more distinct, and trade will become more of a necessary goal to achieve. In order to achieve this, you'll need to increase your influence amongst your region by culture, economy, or warfare.
CULTURE
Culture can be achieved by a healthy balance of population and culture buildings (Theaters, Libraries and Amphitheaters). As you begin to trade with a nation, trade routes become more distinct in roads and seaways and are imprinted between both the trading posts of your towns and theirs. If your culture is significant enough, it'll show your nation's color scheme (culture) seep into their inner cities and your language will become prominent throughout their nation. If your culture exceeds 70% in any of their towns, the ability to annex their town will sprawl. If you do annex it, other nations will gain an interest in your nation and start to trade with you. Nations who befriended that nation, however, will start to become unfriendly or even hostile.
If another nation's culture exceeds your nation's culture, you can follow their culture and your nation's customs will adhere to their culture. You may gain benefits (such as writing, theology, monotheism, polytheism, animism, etc..) but your trade will lower a bit and the potential for that nation to annex your regions becomes prominent. You can accept all of this and expect defeat, or you can take over that nation by force...
MILITARY
As soon as you actually become a nation, you gain a random special unit (such as a horseman, axeman, swordsman, archer, spearman, or a specially suited galley if your regions are island or coastal based). You can name this special unit (let's say, the Paetorian), and even give it a certain ability (let's say, to attack cities 10% better). If you spread your culture influence into another nation, that nation is likely to obtain the ability to produce that unit. At the other side of the coin, you can go ahead and take over that nation if your culture is so influential over there because other factions will find the both of you guy's names synonymous and won't really give a damn.
MAP INTERFACE
The interface of the map would be a little more complex than your standard Civ 4 Archipelago. It would look a lot like Empire: Total War, where units can move 360 degrees, but are limited to a given amount of track per turn. This game would also introduce something called regions. The game engine would randomly carve out little regions from the area that you've conquered. For example: If you chose a Helenic language to start off as and your borders expanded to a plateau and some mountains, the game engine could separate the two "counties" and label them Μικρό Βουνό (Small Mountains, for the plateau) and Μεγάλο Βουνό (Big Mountains, for the group of Mountains adjacent to it). Those two lots would have their own resources and potential (for instance, the plateau region could be a ranching area, and in modern times become a commercial area for housing; while in the mountain area, you could mine for stone at that era, and find a resource such as uranium or aluminium there in the industrial era). Cities would start out as one region all together, but when the city gets really big, it can split up into a center district and then outlying communities.
GOVERNMENT
Your government will be all about your Cabinet of advisers. In your Military figure, you'll have sort of a "tech-tree" that you'll have points to unlock through winning battles with foreign nations. Take note to this, because if you focus too much on trading and rapid expansion early in the game, you'll have no advanced military (if any) and an attack could mean the end to your nation. Throughout all of these advisers, you'll have a center, main tree to respond to your system of government. It'll start out autocratic, meaning that no bonuses will occur and a growing population will result in decreased happiness. The first thing you could unlock could be a legislature branch. Within this mini-tree, you can unlock new seats (so your legislature can expand from 50-100-200-400, etc..). You can also unlock a Senate and a House of Representatives. You can go down another lane and also unlock a Parliament to excuse some orders from your Executive Branch.
Your policy branch will in the end, determine what type of government you'll have. Every policy in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches will have a left side and right side corresponding to left and right winged politics. The more left-wing or the further right-wing you get, the scheme of your advisors changes. The dialogue of your advisers might even change, and the out-brink of rebellion may occur if you don't appease a percentage of the folk in your nation. Staying centered in your policies and balancing out rules to appease citizens of every political spectrum will be the key to making them happy.
For example: When you look at your nation's statistics and see that your inner-city folk are far more right winged than your socialist workers of the outlying communes, you might want to rearrange your policies so your workers can live peacefully will public healthcare and housing, while your rich, city folk can buy out private property within your city's boundaries.
As I explained the system of counties and regions in the INTERFACE article, you'll have a little policy branch within every separate region. You'll have the option to automate this, but micromanaging is possible too. For instance, you may select a group of regions that are full of farmers. If all they do is live off of selling their goods to a huge city right by them (let's say, Pompeii) then you can minimize the distribution tax on them to make them happier. If you don't mind sparing a little happiness for increased production, you can adopt a policy that'll make standard rules for planting and fertilizing their seeds (kind of like a state almanac).
With every city that you establish, a policy branch (that can be automated) is formed for that city and its outlying regions, which means no region doesn't belong to a state. States aren't necessarily declared more than regions are, but states are just another way for saying that city and its outlying regions. So, for example, you'd have an inner district for Rome, a ring of regions around it that are it's suburbs, and a bunch of regions around that that become it's farms, ranches, mines, quarries, etc..
Onto the Executive Branch, you'll start out with a militia (starting warrior unit) brought to you from your tribal stage. They'll protect your capital's walls, and comprise of every military unit you have. The upkeep for them will be low, but their efficiency is reduced when fighting other factions in battle. This can be upgraded to a form military branch and a separate police branch. Adding upgrades like standardizing barracks and police stations in every city will cost a decent amount of your people's capital, but military efficiency and police efficiency are greatly expanded. This results in the safety of your people ensured, but decreased liberty.
Lastly, you'll have a Judicial Branch. The second you build a courthouse in your capital city is when your Judicial Branch becomes active. All this branch does is make your due process a bunch more ethical than burning witches to a plank. Each culture and their people are different, so a structured Judicial Branch might not even come into effect until well into the Industrial Era at the most.
You always start off with a city courthouse and nothing more. Adopting policies that make courts mandatory in every city (and later, every region) will increase your respect with other ethical nations and increase your liberty, at the cost of your tax money.
TAX MONEH!!!!!!
This starts as soon as you fabricate your government. Your taxes will start off at a low rate, but any policy you adopt will increase the amount of taxes each citizen has to pay. Later on in the game, inflation will role out, and so will your ability to issue more policies.
I'll add any suggestions if you'd like. Thanks for reading
Starting in the Ancient Times, you'd start of as nothing but a TRIBE. Not a city, but a small collection of huts. The customization for the Ancient Era would allow you to pick a Leader Head (your player), a name for your tribe (let's say, The Latins), and you'd pick a language group (Italic).
By picking that language group, the beginning of the game would start you off in a position where everyone spoke relatively the same language. The trade would be given a very small bonus for this very trait, but then again, you really wouldn't wanna be trading at that period more than collecting resources and getting a secure foothold in your nation. (Other language grouped tribes you'd try to trade with will be near-impossible unless you'd give them units such as workers or warriors). When the game starts, you'll already have a decent perception of at least 2 other tribes in close proximity to you. You'll also start of with one scout and a warrior defending your town. These elements are necessary, because even early on in easy mode you'll still be battered with barbarians until the Medieval Era.
When you have constructed the necessary things (such as a Granary, Walls, and a trading post) and you have constructed the proper resource gathering buildings (such as farms, ranches and roads connecting them), a notification would pop up bring you into the Classical Era. Now, you'd have an actual city with control of what you collect and be given a board of advisers. You'd have one for your Economy, Military, Technological [which will branch out into an Education Board later on] and a Foreign Affairs).
Your nation's language will become more distinct, and trade will become more of a necessary goal to achieve. In order to achieve this, you'll need to increase your influence amongst your region by culture, economy, or warfare.
CULTURE
Culture can be achieved by a healthy balance of population and culture buildings (Theaters, Libraries and Amphitheaters). As you begin to trade with a nation, trade routes become more distinct in roads and seaways and are imprinted between both the trading posts of your towns and theirs. If your culture is significant enough, it'll show your nation's color scheme (culture) seep into their inner cities and your language will become prominent throughout their nation. If your culture exceeds 70% in any of their towns, the ability to annex their town will sprawl. If you do annex it, other nations will gain an interest in your nation and start to trade with you. Nations who befriended that nation, however, will start to become unfriendly or even hostile.
If another nation's culture exceeds your nation's culture, you can follow their culture and your nation's customs will adhere to their culture. You may gain benefits (such as writing, theology, monotheism, polytheism, animism, etc..) but your trade will lower a bit and the potential for that nation to annex your regions becomes prominent. You can accept all of this and expect defeat, or you can take over that nation by force...
MILITARY
As soon as you actually become a nation, you gain a random special unit (such as a horseman, axeman, swordsman, archer, spearman, or a specially suited galley if your regions are island or coastal based). You can name this special unit (let's say, the Paetorian), and even give it a certain ability (let's say, to attack cities 10% better). If you spread your culture influence into another nation, that nation is likely to obtain the ability to produce that unit. At the other side of the coin, you can go ahead and take over that nation if your culture is so influential over there because other factions will find the both of you guy's names synonymous and won't really give a damn.
MAP INTERFACE
The interface of the map would be a little more complex than your standard Civ 4 Archipelago. It would look a lot like Empire: Total War, where units can move 360 degrees, but are limited to a given amount of track per turn. This game would also introduce something called regions. The game engine would randomly carve out little regions from the area that you've conquered. For example: If you chose a Helenic language to start off as and your borders expanded to a plateau and some mountains, the game engine could separate the two "counties" and label them Μικρό Βουνό (Small Mountains, for the plateau) and Μεγάλο Βουνό (Big Mountains, for the group of Mountains adjacent to it). Those two lots would have their own resources and potential (for instance, the plateau region could be a ranching area, and in modern times become a commercial area for housing; while in the mountain area, you could mine for stone at that era, and find a resource such as uranium or aluminium there in the industrial era). Cities would start out as one region all together, but when the city gets really big, it can split up into a center district and then outlying communities.
GOVERNMENT
Your government will be all about your Cabinet of advisers. In your Military figure, you'll have sort of a "tech-tree" that you'll have points to unlock through winning battles with foreign nations. Take note to this, because if you focus too much on trading and rapid expansion early in the game, you'll have no advanced military (if any) and an attack could mean the end to your nation. Throughout all of these advisers, you'll have a center, main tree to respond to your system of government. It'll start out autocratic, meaning that no bonuses will occur and a growing population will result in decreased happiness. The first thing you could unlock could be a legislature branch. Within this mini-tree, you can unlock new seats (so your legislature can expand from 50-100-200-400, etc..). You can also unlock a Senate and a House of Representatives. You can go down another lane and also unlock a Parliament to excuse some orders from your Executive Branch.
Your policy branch will in the end, determine what type of government you'll have. Every policy in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches will have a left side and right side corresponding to left and right winged politics. The more left-wing or the further right-wing you get, the scheme of your advisors changes. The dialogue of your advisers might even change, and the out-brink of rebellion may occur if you don't appease a percentage of the folk in your nation. Staying centered in your policies and balancing out rules to appease citizens of every political spectrum will be the key to making them happy.
For example: When you look at your nation's statistics and see that your inner-city folk are far more right winged than your socialist workers of the outlying communes, you might want to rearrange your policies so your workers can live peacefully will public healthcare and housing, while your rich, city folk can buy out private property within your city's boundaries.
As I explained the system of counties and regions in the INTERFACE article, you'll have a little policy branch within every separate region. You'll have the option to automate this, but micromanaging is possible too. For instance, you may select a group of regions that are full of farmers. If all they do is live off of selling their goods to a huge city right by them (let's say, Pompeii) then you can minimize the distribution tax on them to make them happier. If you don't mind sparing a little happiness for increased production, you can adopt a policy that'll make standard rules for planting and fertilizing their seeds (kind of like a state almanac).
With every city that you establish, a policy branch (that can be automated) is formed for that city and its outlying regions, which means no region doesn't belong to a state. States aren't necessarily declared more than regions are, but states are just another way for saying that city and its outlying regions. So, for example, you'd have an inner district for Rome, a ring of regions around it that are it's suburbs, and a bunch of regions around that that become it's farms, ranches, mines, quarries, etc..
Onto the Executive Branch, you'll start out with a militia (starting warrior unit) brought to you from your tribal stage. They'll protect your capital's walls, and comprise of every military unit you have. The upkeep for them will be low, but their efficiency is reduced when fighting other factions in battle. This can be upgraded to a form military branch and a separate police branch. Adding upgrades like standardizing barracks and police stations in every city will cost a decent amount of your people's capital, but military efficiency and police efficiency are greatly expanded. This results in the safety of your people ensured, but decreased liberty.
Lastly, you'll have a Judicial Branch. The second you build a courthouse in your capital city is when your Judicial Branch becomes active. All this branch does is make your due process a bunch more ethical than burning witches to a plank. Each culture and their people are different, so a structured Judicial Branch might not even come into effect until well into the Industrial Era at the most.
You always start off with a city courthouse and nothing more. Adopting policies that make courts mandatory in every city (and later, every region) will increase your respect with other ethical nations and increase your liberty, at the cost of your tax money.
TAX MONEH!!!!!!
This starts as soon as you fabricate your government. Your taxes will start off at a low rate, but any policy you adopt will increase the amount of taxes each citizen has to pay. Later on in the game, inflation will role out, and so will your ability to issue more policies.
I'll add any suggestions if you'd like. Thanks for reading
