We got four eras now, basically built upon three Technological Revolutions (Agraric, Industrial and Informational) and the Middle Ages. My criticism on the actual system is that in general the resource based Techs especially bring clear military benefits, and much less civil benefits. I find this slightly unrealistic, and maybe a small limitation of strategic play.
What I would like to see is a more elaborated use of the civil benefits coming with them. And consequently I would suggest a different concept of using your resources, basically in three or five (or even on a finer scale) possible gradations: practically civil only dedicated (C1), more civil dedicated (C2), balanced (B), more military dedicated (M2), practically military only dedicated (M1 or War Economy). Your strategic use of the resources and the quest for them as you move on and population grows will be critical then. The idea has been born in an attempt to add slightly more strategic flavor, more dynamism and to try and tackle somewhat the runaway effect. Growing leeds to an ever increasing demand for more and more resources, eventually stopping growth, or leading to a too small or too expensive army protecting the large empire (overextension). You'll need more balance, or at least, that's the idea behind it.
Example 1: The Wheel (Ancient Era); resources : Horses.
The Wheel made faster transportation possible, apart from Chariots. A suggested trade-off could be: an extra empire-wise tax income versus building (shield) cost of units requiring horses. C1 would give you highest extra tax income, but Chariots and later Horsemen could cost 25% more shields or so. M1 virtually stops extra tax income from trade and only adds maintenance costs of the larger army, but Horse-requiring units are cheeper to build.
Example 2: Iron Working (Ancient Era); resource : Iron.
Better farming and fishing tools. Somewhere a larger food production must be visible. This can be direct (extra 1F per turn in a city in C1 case, but 0 in M1 case) or indirect, i.e. food store in C1 case is filled 10% earlier, or worker actions are done faster or a combination or whatever. Agricultural trait might start to benefit most of this development in C1, but again military units are built slower possibly leaving them somewhat more vulnerable.
Demand for resources and presence for civil use could/should be then:
- proportional to population. Largest cities consume largest part. Pressure on environment increases as well, of course particularly in the Industrial and Modern Ages. Basic resource consumption of a human being has grown by more then an order of magnitude compared with hunter-fisher societies;
- having resources in excess is still possible as there is a maximum need (dependent of pop and of which strategy you use (C1-M1)). Excess can be traded, but population growth might make you look for more resources. Loss of might bring you even into trouble (population loss);
- depending on where you are on the tech three. I.e. Engineering might slightly increase the chance of a new Iron source popping up, and an existing one being depleted less easily (as also suggested by others in another thread).
This was somewhat detailed to give you a better view of what I was thinking. Mainly just to explore the field of the idea, so don't go into much detail please. A version of these is also fine for me, and it's the basic ideas that I want your comments on.
So the four basic questions I wanted to ask you were:
1. Do you agree resource related techs should have a clearer civil impact? So a more strategic balance/temporary unbalance is possible.
2. If yes on Q1 (if no Q2-Q4 are NA), do you agree the resources should/could be used weigthed according to civil and military use, strategically determined by the player?
3. Do you think there should be more resources on the map, possibly affected by the discovery of a new tech? We're not talking ten times more, but in the order of two to maximum three times more.
4. Do you think the basic human resource consumption is enough reflected in the actual game?
For modders: more or less options (small or large amount of resources etc...) is something what could be taken care of...
Looking forward to your responses
Jaca
What I would like to see is a more elaborated use of the civil benefits coming with them. And consequently I would suggest a different concept of using your resources, basically in three or five (or even on a finer scale) possible gradations: practically civil only dedicated (C1), more civil dedicated (C2), balanced (B), more military dedicated (M2), practically military only dedicated (M1 or War Economy). Your strategic use of the resources and the quest for them as you move on and population grows will be critical then. The idea has been born in an attempt to add slightly more strategic flavor, more dynamism and to try and tackle somewhat the runaway effect. Growing leeds to an ever increasing demand for more and more resources, eventually stopping growth, or leading to a too small or too expensive army protecting the large empire (overextension). You'll need more balance, or at least, that's the idea behind it.
Example 1: The Wheel (Ancient Era); resources : Horses.
The Wheel made faster transportation possible, apart from Chariots. A suggested trade-off could be: an extra empire-wise tax income versus building (shield) cost of units requiring horses. C1 would give you highest extra tax income, but Chariots and later Horsemen could cost 25% more shields or so. M1 virtually stops extra tax income from trade and only adds maintenance costs of the larger army, but Horse-requiring units are cheeper to build.
Example 2: Iron Working (Ancient Era); resource : Iron.
Better farming and fishing tools. Somewhere a larger food production must be visible. This can be direct (extra 1F per turn in a city in C1 case, but 0 in M1 case) or indirect, i.e. food store in C1 case is filled 10% earlier, or worker actions are done faster or a combination or whatever. Agricultural trait might start to benefit most of this development in C1, but again military units are built slower possibly leaving them somewhat more vulnerable.
Demand for resources and presence for civil use could/should be then:
- proportional to population. Largest cities consume largest part. Pressure on environment increases as well, of course particularly in the Industrial and Modern Ages. Basic resource consumption of a human being has grown by more then an order of magnitude compared with hunter-fisher societies;
- having resources in excess is still possible as there is a maximum need (dependent of pop and of which strategy you use (C1-M1)). Excess can be traded, but population growth might make you look for more resources. Loss of might bring you even into trouble (population loss);
- depending on where you are on the tech three. I.e. Engineering might slightly increase the chance of a new Iron source popping up, and an existing one being depleted less easily (as also suggested by others in another thread).
This was somewhat detailed to give you a better view of what I was thinking. Mainly just to explore the field of the idea, so don't go into much detail please. A version of these is also fine for me, and it's the basic ideas that I want your comments on.
So the four basic questions I wanted to ask you were:
1. Do you agree resource related techs should have a clearer civil impact? So a more strategic balance/temporary unbalance is possible.
2. If yes on Q1 (if no Q2-Q4 are NA), do you agree the resources should/could be used weigthed according to civil and military use, strategically determined by the player?
3. Do you think there should be more resources on the map, possibly affected by the discovery of a new tech? We're not talking ten times more, but in the order of two to maximum three times more.
4. Do you think the basic human resource consumption is enough reflected in the actual game?
For modders: more or less options (small or large amount of resources etc...) is something what could be taken care of...
Looking forward to your responses
Jaca
! I introduced a LOT of improvements in the ancient and middle ages, and made them dependant on resources. I could go through an entire list, but don't see the point. I'll instead mention two that I came up with. There was the 'Smithy' improvement, which required iron and, later in the ancient era, there was the 'Foundry' Improvement-again, with iron as a prerequisite!
!
