In line with the idea of a comparison tool for buildings, I've come to think such a tool would also be great for civics and overall as a balancing tool that should allow mathematical precision to ensure that decisions matter more. For instance, by assessing the current excess of gold in an ideal situation it would be possible to tone it down more accurately, so as to not have millions of excess gold piling up.
So essentially this would be... A civ 4 simulation tool to import current values, make adjustments in the matrix, and fix the game balance on the fly.
I reckon it can surely be made in some programming language, but is also doable in excel, if one's willing to accept the sterile UI and whatnot. The game is, after all, a bunch of math operations.
So let's say one wanted to make a stub of such a concept - maybe with civics, for fast comparison.
Can I just find an XML file to read from, since the game is so finicky when it comes to running windowed? Should one use Excel or a license free tool like Google sheets or an open source tool like libre office, so that the highest number of people can work on it in case it turns out to be a good tool?
I know
this exists btw, but it doesn't list properties and bonuses etc.
Also, there's far less civics than buildings, so it'd be an easier starting point, though I know Joseph's working on civs so maybe he's got something like this already?