NerfCothons
Warlord
Looks good so far I think. Might be a bit weak, but it seems preferable to Guilds when it becomes available. Production for Custom House is at Naval Dominance right now, but it doesn't need to be. Maybe the Plantation commerce idea to round it off?
Yeah, I was thinking five effects are too many but one is a drawback so it makes sense.
That doesn't completely answer the question which effects these civics should have. I think thematically Egalitarianism somewhat exists in the intersection between Representation and Public Welfare, so effects could be moved between those. Some additional ideas for currently unused effects:
- double Statesman slots (most appropriately Representation I think)
- reduced corporation unhappiness (suits Public Welfare in my opinion)
However things are assigned I feel that the free specialist is so strong that it should probably come with some sort of drawback in the same civic.
Perhaps in the organization tree the buff should be +1 free statesman rather than +1 free specialist. This both limits the universal utility of a free specialist of any kind, and it addresses this issue that there are very few places to get statesmen once your castle becomes obsolete (about the same time representation becomes available in fact). It makes sense that both representation and egalitarianism should have methods of increasing the number of statesmen in your empire. What about moving the happiness in largest cities buff to representation combined with double statesmen slots, then add +1 free statesman to egalitarianism. This makes egalitarianism a clear step up from representation, worth the sacrifice of slavery, and competes with a very powerful totalitarianism. To jazz up vassalage and prevent too many statesman slots being available if constitution is researched before economics, make the statesmen slot in castles dependent on running vassalage (not sure if this is even possible). If such an effect is possible, direct rule could also add a statesman slot to the palace. With these changes, totalitarianism also forces you to forgo much of your access to statesmen and great statesmen to reap the large stabilizing benefits, which makes sense as totalitarianism suppresses political participation. You could also pull the statesman slot off jails, which seems downright strange but I understand you were trying to create more ways for people to get access to statesmen.
This change makes your organizational civic a governmental narrative about what part of your population participates in government. Under direct rule only a small cadre in the capital do. Under vassalage political participation becomes decentralized but is restricted to lords. Under representation the potential for participation is there doubling the courthouse bonus while under egalitarianism it becomes universal. Totalitarianism on the other hand restricts political participation as much as possible.
Reducing corporation unhappiness might fit better in the economic tree. How about environmentalism, which needs additional ways to combat unhappiness before it can be useful? The opposite effect could be added to Free Market as a penalty.
I think historically Planned Economy has been pretty good at heavy industry, and it also includes stuff like modern China so I wouldn't be so generalizing with that statement.
I like that the production comes from specialists, but 1 is already the lowest possible value so there isn't much wriggling room for a nerf.
Perhaps the civic should have another drawback instead? Reduced corporation yield/spread? City maintenance?
I agree that planned economy needs a drawback to bring it in line with the other economic civics. How about -1 commerce from windmill and town in addition to the watermill? This does not create too much clutter in the civic and further commits the player to choosing planned economy because of what it does well (building hammer producing improvements). Decreased corporation spread also seems appropriate but alone is probably not a sufficient drawback. Maybe bar all corporations except the steel industry (those communists are always obsessed with steel production at the expense of everything else, see great leap forward). Decreased corporation yield is awkward because corporate yields are already such low whole numbers to begin with that they are difficult to chop up.
Capitalism - One potential replacement for +10% commerce is +% to trade route value to synergize with both mercantilism and free market but not central planning. This is still kind of boring but it does make capitalism appealing for civilizations with good trade routes and international relationships that facilitate trade which makes sense.
Industrialism - Maybe Central Planning's factory/coal plant production buff would be more appropriate over here. Perhaps replacing the +10% production bonus with +1 hammer for watermill and windmill is comparable and encourages the player to build industrial improvements and forgo the advantages of towns.
Military- My first reaction to pacifism was meh, but it makes sense that the late game is more than just the simple choice between armies and navies. It's kind of strange to have so much of the game limited to so few civics (especially since mercenaries is not useful to many civs). I'm also not sure I like such a large single buff as +1 specialist there though and I don't see how the bonus is logically connected (I guess if you don't have an army those people are doing something else, but was Gomer Pile really going to be a scientist if only he didn't join the army?). Perhaps a diplomatic bonus combined with a small trade modifier (that's apparently my solution to everything).
I also think that naval domination should have a slight economic bonus, or should be a greater experience buff than standing army because a naval combat is just less important in the game than an land combat. I suggested a while ago and still like +1 hammer on fishing and whaling boats. This helps cities dominated by ocean tiles with little access to hammers keep up with everyone else if they commit to a naval military plan.