[EDIT 2]Obviously, those ideas are freely, partially or extensively usable by Firaxis by the present declaration with nothing else to do than just use them[/EDIT 2]
[EDIT]I have had the confirmation this is an impossible mod for Civ6, so let's say instead it's for Civ[EDIT 3]8[/EDIT 3]/x or a new project[/EDIT]
Here is the format all civs would tie in :
Population sparsed on the map : no more cities by default, here every pop point is more or less independant and can be fixed anywhere on the map, although you can form up to 5 pop points stacks in Antiquity. (more with buildings)
1. How do we earn new pop points ?
Population grows with excedent food, representing favourable conditions in order to maintain a bigger tribe. However, while your first excedent food goes to your first pop point, creating a pool that will reinitiate after a while and increase your population (provided you work a tile with 3 food or more (each pop point costs 2 food)), you couldn't go beyond size 2 and producing things in the same time, (you don't have a city center that gives you free food) unless you find very favourable spots. [Actually no, you could still grow and produce at size 2, for example by working a 3 food farm and a 2 food+1 production plain.]By the way, your population will be limited even with very good spots, which you could however look for in order to play a tribe rather than a civ, for a while or after a collapse.
2. If there is first no city, to which pop point goes the excedent food ?
The excedent food goes first to the pop producing the excedent, making another pop point popping near or on top of it after a while if you get actual excedent. When you have multiple pop points, the excedent goes to whatever pop point produces less than 2 food first, in a range of three tiles in Antiquity. Then, it goes to the nearest pop point in a range of three tiles in Antiquity, beginning by itself (stacking or popping near if maximum stack and no other pop point three tiles away).
3. What if [forgot]
4. Here is how pop points allocation works :
Pop points usually produce things working the land, like food, production, gold or other things. (culture ? Tourism ? Faith ? Science ?)
Each tile has a capacity of working pop of 3. It is to say, you can put 5 pop points in a single tile in Antiquity, but you can make the land worked in that single tile only by 3. The 2 left could work other places or build things.
The 2 left could be instantaneously dispatched in lands around 3 tiles away, provided there is more than 1 pop point in that tile. Indeed, you can dispatch pop point around 3 tiles away a given center as long as they are at least 2, like in a city center. Note : you cannot merge pop points the same way, to avoid an "infinite jump travel" exploit.
So, a tile can be worked 3 times at the same time. It can be 3 times of food, or 2 times of food and a time of gold, or 1 time of food, 1 time of production and 1 time of gold for example. But it can be also 3 times of production, or 3 times of gold, provided the tile has the resources for that. (3 levels of abundance for special resources) [No, stop me here. This is bullsh*t. The output system works as always, with for example 2food 1prod, but multiplicated by the number of pop points up to 3 in the same tile]
5. Further developments.
* Like this, you can control population but out of a state, it is to say barbarians or tribes. Indeed, first you have no state, you have to discover Agriculture AND find some cereals.
* You can sell (rent ?) pop points (military units ?) for a good lump of gold to other civizations, tribes or barbarians, although the two last might not do / be able to do it. (lack of gold/need)
* States formed little by little even before Antiquity, and by jolts, meaning they formed & collapsed for many reasons. Those reasons were apparently hard to identify, understand and prevent, but occasionnally people ruling learned to play with them. That's why I propose the introduction of a new currency : Coercion points.
Coercion points will represent a challenge, or more precisely an "effort", for or from the player in order to maintain his state, or a collapse will happen. Because this way, the player would have the choice to make this effort (like allocating pop point(s) to them, losing other opportunities early), in order to play a state, or give it up in order to play a tribe, barbarians, hunters-gatherers or pastoralists. It's kind of an encouragement to play differently, or an incentive more exactly, because not all players are attracted by easyness, which by the way would be all relative as it may not be that obvious how to play barbarians first for example. Not sure as of now if you need Coercion points in order to create a state on top of agriculture and cereals, but you need it for sure to maintain one. As I see it, it would work like era points in civ6 GS, with maybe "eras" way shorter. (the first "era" would occur on turn 10 after you create a state for example) We could make so a certain number of Coercion points are needed each turns and that's all, but it would be very tricky especially if this number changes from a turn to another. Could be interresting though. Please keep in mind that a collapse is not the end of times, and may even be wanted by the player in some circumstances.
* Collapses are represented by the loss of solidness of your frontiers, the burst of your population in many directions, some loss of population, your cities abandonned (that can be re-inhabited later, depending on your plans and the environment or possible new opportunities), etc. and many much more. Here is the basic idea to make the duality barbarians/states work : as a state, you can make a lot of gold and buy slaves to barbarians, hunter-gatherers, tribes and other pastoralists. You can also generate a lot of science. As a barbarians, you are more flexible but can still steal technologies by pillaging science districts, steal dogmas by pillaging theater squares, gold with market places on top of selling population out of your slaves farms for a very good price (states have plenty gold) or hire your soldiers for gold too. Meanwhile, you can explore more efficiently, more rapidly, secure territory of all kinds, until the times all Earth is filled with states and there is no room for barbarians left.
* Etc. etc.
Note : "5. Further developments" is just a vague and possible consequence of the system I tried to figure above. I'm conscious there's many more to add, especially regarding balance and other consequences like micromanaging or even about the system itself, what it can allow. Feel free to discuss and add / substract anything you see fit. Thank you !
