Colonel Kraken said:
To extend upon that idea, I would also like to see tiles that are worked are automatically improved. Why wouldn't citizens living in a specific area not plant farms, etc.? I know this means a bit of a loss of control to the player, but I just think it makes more sense and adds to the epic feel of the game. As the government, you could "sponsor" certain projects.
Yes, I didn't mention it, but that's the plan. Certain kinds of improvements would still be in the hands of the player though such as Castles/Forts. And probably roads since decent paved roads tended to be created by the government and not just the locals... BUT those roads would increase the desirability of a tile and thus increase the number of immigrants to it and thus increase speed with which farms, camps, etc. develop on the land.
Of course, we could use different Civics to decide if the government has more or less control over how tiles are improved. I think it makes incredible sense that where tiles are worked, little cottages will automatically spring up.
Over time, with technological and civic progress, these cottages will grow and automatically produce mills, smiths, merchants, etc. Why should any of these things be government controlled? How awesome would it be to have your choice of CIVICS determine how independent (and prosperous) your citizens are! Of course, the government would still decide to build National and World Wonders. The government would still build military and other governmental buildings. To me, that would simply be awesome!
Colonel we are of one mind
I'm in the process of building a website that outlines the details of what I want to see in my mod The Age of Man. And in it, I lay out about how the new economy works... basically, much of the processes of society and economics have been removed from the player's control depending on civics.
For example, if you have National Production (i.e. Communism) most of this stuff will be under the control of the player, but if you are playing with Free Trade, Free Market, Unregulated Production, etc. the cities will basically run themselves. The only improvements not constructed by the citizens would be military and government buildings as well as some of the utilities.
The "downside" to this form of civics would be that the leader has access to a very small portion of a city's "hammers". In other words, Banks, Factories, etc. will be popping up on their own, but whatever the player happens to have in the build queue will take longer to build than it would under a command economy where all of the city's resources could be dedicated to that one task at the expense of everything else.
But I digress
Suffice it to say, I think the system I proposed would be a good way to help "stake claims" to certain areas.
I do like the idea of Castles and Forts to extend a civilization's claim to a region, and perhaps it would require that some population be already occupying a tile... and that also a Castle or Fort would in fact increase the speed of expansion to said region as it would make citizens feel safer.
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