There are alot of cool ideas in this thread and many others on this topic, but if you want to get somthing coded your going to have to take a step back from the grand brainstorming and get down to brass tacks. As Chef Pablo said a few posts back, you need to gather together your basic, specific, ideas and put together a proposal and post it in a new thread. Until that point, I don't think your going to get any coders wanting to take on the task.
That said, I must say that I am, and have been, very intriqued by the ideas posted in this thread and would like to offer my advise on a few things.
The "economic mod" that has developed so far is way to complex and interwoven. It needs to be broken down in several individual, standalone mod components. Lets start with the first and most neccecary one...
Economic Mod Component #1
Name: Quanified Resourses Mod
Idea: Resourses are no longer infinite, but instead have a set quanity when created and are depleted as they are worked.
Implimentation:
When a game is started resourses are given a set amount. Every turn that a resourse is worked an amount is removed from the resourse, most likely based on the number of hammers gotten from the square. When a resourse has all of its supply depleted the resourse will vanish from the map.
Each turn that the resourse is worked a portion or the resourse worked will be added to the city's supply pool for that resourse.
In-Game Effect:
Not much ingame effect other then the removing of depleted resourses, all the rest is just data being stored behind the scenes.
Economic Mod Component #2
Name: Quantified Unit Bonus PreReq
Idea: Instead of a unit just needing iron, it needs X iron.
Implimentation:
Useing the resourse supply pool from ModComp #1 you can control the building of units. The hard part is deciding how much each unit needs of a given resourse.
There is always the option of new XML tags through use of sdk, but imo this should be a last resort. There will always be more python modders then sdkers and a mod as fundemental as this should be as easy to crossmod as we can make it. So I would add a little python that extends a builtin vanilla systems.
Use the built in bonus prereq tags to declare the required bonus. Then base the amount of the resourse needed off of the units strength or some combination of unit attributes.
From the players persective there will be no new interfaces or any options that the AI has to learn, but all units will have a smilarity to National Units in that you will only be able to build so many of them, but it will be a dynamic number based on your supply or the need resourse.
Economic Mod Component #3
Name: Quanty Resourse Trading
Idea: Trading of bonuses between Civs is a little more detailed.
Implimentation:
Again for this I would stick with the built in system and enhance it with some python. I would use civ4's Trade Network code and have some amount of the traded Resourse Supply Pool from citys move to the other empire. I wouldn't give any control over the amount traded or the cities traded to/from. While those options might be nice from a pure player perspective, they increase the codeing work exponitially and not to mention that they really arn't that realistic.
Anything more then this goes beyound an enhanced economic mod and becomes its own full fledged International Trade Mod, which while very cool doesn't seem to be the core of what your going for.
Economic Mod Component #4
Name: Reasourse boosting buildings
Idea: Based on the buildings in a city, you get a plus(or maybe negative?) to the amount of resourse X the city harvests each turn.
Implimentation:
This one would be pretty easy on the python side. Each turn, if the building is there and resourse X is being harvested then bump up the amount harvested by Y amount. Each building that had this effect would have to be in the python code, but if you exposed it in an ini file you could keep it accesable to the majority of non coding modders.
The hard part would be xmling up the buildings and getting the graphics(well, to a graphicly chalanged person such as myselt its hard).
This one would require some playing with the favor ratings for the buildings so the AI would use them right, but again, that system is already in place.
Economic Mod Component #5
Name: Resourse boosting techs
Idea: When you get certain techs, either your harvest rate for resourse X is boosted or you get a one time chunk of resourse X.
Implimentation:
This one is mainly like ModComp #4, but your harvest rate is increased in all cities for as long as you have the tech.
For the other option, when you get said tech, an amount of the resourse is added to your capital/random cities/certain cities.
This needs no AI modding at all as it is atomatic and for all players.
Economic Mod Component #6
Name: Resourse Transport Units
Idea: Units that transport quanities of resourses from one city to another.
Implimentation:
Certain units will take part of a city A's Supply Pool of Resourse X. They can then add that to another city's Supply Pool.
This would take some sdking of the AI if you want the aI to use the units right.
Umm, well that burnt my brain,
Anyway, my point is if you really want something to come from this brainstorming (and I know you do Chef Pablo, I can see that glint in your eye that says your serious) you need to break the grand scheme down into managable bites.
And please take note of the fact that I didn't even mention the refined resourses being made from raw materials. This is a great idea (and the crusial step for any real Civ4 Sid Meyer's Colonization Mod) and our end goal, but we have to build the foundation and the first floor before we can worry about the second floor.
Lastly, please don't take any of this as critisism, I mean only to help as this is somthing I would like to see get past the "I dream of this feature" stage.
