It seems we have a team of
Word Smiths ...
have I perchance hit a nail headon with that ??
With regards to responsibilities of the Ministers ... I too agree that each person elected has the role of coordinating that position. I would only add that the Minister has a right to ultimately decide.
eg. I recall that virtually everyone in MIA saw that war was the only option when we had a breakdown in negotiations with KISS, however instead of going with this I managed to hammer out a treaty
eek: 3 Freakin Hours !!!). This was done only because we had a longterm plan and were totally unready for war BUT I also had the power to do so as it was MY Department ... technically I went against the team's wishes. But Foreign is unique in that it is out of game and requires interaction with players from rival teams.
Another example was that I wanted to have a bit of map unblacked (I had paid for an upgrade in return to having this unit given to me to explore by a previous Minister). But Defense at the time vetoed and took back control. That was cool cos I didn't vote for him
I mentioned that Foreign paid for an upgrade, this was a deal I made with a previous Domestic Minister, who gave me an allowance per turn and a percentage of gold raised through trade ... it allowed a fund to accumulate which I could dip into (if we had enough cash in the coffers and it wouldn't break the bank) to spend on getting things done on the foreign front ... eg. establish embassies, spy cities, etc. It was never exploited and always discussion occured. The
Black Purse just made it fun
Strangely I only seemed to vote for a candidate for Domestic Minister who would continue funding the
Black Purse
There are other cases when things have to be decided from two equally well put logical arguments eg. on what to build in a city, military unit or a domestic improvement ... who decides on things when the save comes unexpectedly early and due to time factors a decision has to be made before consultation or concensus can be reached?
But most of these scenarios are not the norm and most decisions were reached by concensus or following a longterm plan ... or in some cases a majority vote.
I only bring these up as examples of how we played the game in the past, other teams had different methods ... and I'm easy either way
Giving Ministers the right of veto in their department will also make elections fun,
Peter Grimes is a past and proven master in the art of political puppetry. In one election he even used the
poor little sick sister angle in his nefarious grab for power.
We had a bit of fun in our elections and each person was often forced to outline their plan for the comming term, to create a platform so to speak.
The only difference that I would propose in the team makeup is that the TurnTaker was also the President and therefore was given the ultimate freedom since he was reacting to the game first hand.
eg. We get the save and spy a settler heading towards a Luxury and although we decided to plant a city in position A which is 1 turn away, he decides to settle then and there lest the other team secure the Lux.
I would prefer to have a minimum of positions also (due to stages in the game when there is a deficit of active players)
1.
Representative to the UN, who would also organise the internal election polls and PM game queries to the administrators.
2.
TurnTaker, who would act as the head of our clan (he/she would have the better room in the palace) and would have descretion to act on ALL elements of the game if he has received no orders from the other departments. This position would have the flexibility to react to unforseen ingame occurances.
He would also decide what is the better build in a city (between Domestic and Military) or even in some circumstances change a build.
3.
Domestic, who sets research, settlement plan, worker tasks, suggests non-military builds for a city, etc.
4.
Military, battle actions and moves, can request military builds.
3.
Foreign, trades and rival interaction, can requset loan of a military unit to explore with, keeps track of rivals.
* Each Minister can assign tasks to other citizens eg. ambassadors, keeping a log or whatever else.
* Each Minister can create a poll for the bigger decisions, eg. do we build a wonder, do we go to war.
We can choose our own titles for these positions as well, it doesn't have to follow the traditional lines of the head being the President, head of Australia is the PM (Prime Minister) which appeals to the mathematition in me.
We also had a thread dedicated to posting orders to the TurnTaker, this made it easy to read the wishes of that turn from the postings of the ministers. Good idea if RL interferes with tha ability of TurnTaker to play the save.
Nomenclature could be handled in the following manner.
Workers were named after the team members in order of joining.
Military units were named via Military Minister from suggestions by team.
Cities, each citizen was asked to submit a name and then that list was used and added to.
* In the early game we found all units named made it easier to give orders to the turn taker.
We also had fun within the team by having polls on first contact, what will the next goody hut reveal, etc. A newspaper was printed once contact with ALL civs was made ... I'd encourage this type of activity to also happen here.
skills to make sure we get to choose first. 
Wow, you guys have been busy!
!
