With all the new faces and fresh energy for Civ V I just wanted to resurrect an idea I suggested not so long ago in the Civ IV forum. With most mods planting themselves firmly into one specific genre (Contemporary, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steampunk, etc) it still strikes me that there's scope for something which makes a coherent story out of pitting them against each other. A game where the winner seeks not only to dominate the game map, but ultimately determine which theme shapes the world over which they're victorious.
The sympathetic/unsympathetic stuff is a secondary idea which I've tried to tie into that in an interesting way.
And for the record: Anyone is free to take from this anything they might like. I'm no mod maker, so I'm just throwing it out there in the hopes that someone takes some part of it on board.
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Lately I've been having some random thoughts about tech trees in mods and I'm wondering if anyone's ever considered having radically divergent trees that either sympathetically or unsympathetically influence each other?
FFH2 does something like it with its integration of techs, magic and religion but it doesn't become radicalised. i.e. Even if you're mostly bee-lining a magical tech tree you still have the same development costs for mechanical techs as everyone else and the trees themselves aren't independent, you often need to diversify a little.
So what I'm talking about is more 'alternate history' development where once you start down a tree it's much more difficult to develop alternate trees (costs go up) while at the same time culture spread is replaced with a kind of tech influence that has a similar effect. Imagine the following:
[edit] A better two-genre example of what I mean is probably Arcanum, where as you progress towards one extreme or the other (technology or magic) it increasingly effects how you interact with the opposite extreme.
Gaia Tree
Develops techs based on flora and fauna manipulation of increasing sophistication, and earth sciences. Sympathetic toward Magic and Unsympathetic toward Steam.
Steam Tree
Typical steampunk development from pre-industrial mechanics through neo-victorian and eventually alternate future tech. Sympathetic toward Physics and Unsympathetic toward Biotech.
Magical Tree
Arcane mastery and alchemical manipulation. Sympathetic toward Steam and Unsympathetic toward Physics.
Physics Tree
Idealised western technology. From early Tesla and Edison inspired techs to modern communications and information techs and eventually future high-energy stuff. Sympathetic toward Biotech and Unsympathetic toward Gaia.
Biotech Tree
Biological solutions to traditional engineering and manufacturing problems. Technology is lab-grown and living organisms are designed according to need. Sympathetic toward Gaia and Unsympathetic toward Magic.
Sympathetic vs Unsympathetic influence
This is basically how I think the different trees could be balanced against each other. In the beginning everyone starts out the same, and like in most mods the first level techs are neutral.
From the second level onward your development along a particular tree makes -all- the other trees techs more costly to develop, Sympathetic to a lesser degree (75% of that) and Unsympathetic to a greater one (125% of it). It's a radical separation though, so on average it should cost as much to develop the first level of a new tree as it does the next level in your own, no matter what stage you're at.
Instead of culture, players influence each other's tech development. Your sympathy either positively or negatively effects the cost of their development, and in combat units which are Sympathetic to you will tend to be captured and transformed instead of being defeated while those which are Unsympathetic toward you will cause you more damage.
That pretty much covers it. Your tech tree choice could be opened up by civics which become available from level 2 techs, and the anarchy cost would need to be extreme enough to make regular switching unviable. Tech trees themselves would need to be pretty much self-sufficient, with their own upgrades, improvements and units of various types. Resources in that instance wouldn't all be universally useful and the overall strategy of the game would revolve largely around balancing your own tree against your neighbours trees and resource availability.
The sympathetic/unsympathetic stuff is a secondary idea which I've tried to tie into that in an interesting way.
And for the record: Anyone is free to take from this anything they might like. I'm no mod maker, so I'm just throwing it out there in the hopes that someone takes some part of it on board.
-----
Lately I've been having some random thoughts about tech trees in mods and I'm wondering if anyone's ever considered having radically divergent trees that either sympathetically or unsympathetically influence each other?
FFH2 does something like it with its integration of techs, magic and religion but it doesn't become radicalised. i.e. Even if you're mostly bee-lining a magical tech tree you still have the same development costs for mechanical techs as everyone else and the trees themselves aren't independent, you often need to diversify a little.
So what I'm talking about is more 'alternate history' development where once you start down a tree it's much more difficult to develop alternate trees (costs go up) while at the same time culture spread is replaced with a kind of tech influence that has a similar effect. Imagine the following:
[edit] A better two-genre example of what I mean is probably Arcanum, where as you progress towards one extreme or the other (technology or magic) it increasingly effects how you interact with the opposite extreme.
Gaia Tree
Develops techs based on flora and fauna manipulation of increasing sophistication, and earth sciences. Sympathetic toward Magic and Unsympathetic toward Steam.
Steam Tree
Typical steampunk development from pre-industrial mechanics through neo-victorian and eventually alternate future tech. Sympathetic toward Physics and Unsympathetic toward Biotech.
Magical Tree
Arcane mastery and alchemical manipulation. Sympathetic toward Steam and Unsympathetic toward Physics.
Physics Tree
Idealised western technology. From early Tesla and Edison inspired techs to modern communications and information techs and eventually future high-energy stuff. Sympathetic toward Biotech and Unsympathetic toward Gaia.
Biotech Tree
Biological solutions to traditional engineering and manufacturing problems. Technology is lab-grown and living organisms are designed according to need. Sympathetic toward Gaia and Unsympathetic toward Magic.
Sympathetic vs Unsympathetic influence
This is basically how I think the different trees could be balanced against each other. In the beginning everyone starts out the same, and like in most mods the first level techs are neutral.
From the second level onward your development along a particular tree makes -all- the other trees techs more costly to develop, Sympathetic to a lesser degree (75% of that) and Unsympathetic to a greater one (125% of it). It's a radical separation though, so on average it should cost as much to develop the first level of a new tree as it does the next level in your own, no matter what stage you're at.
Instead of culture, players influence each other's tech development. Your sympathy either positively or negatively effects the cost of their development, and in combat units which are Sympathetic to you will tend to be captured and transformed instead of being defeated while those which are Unsympathetic toward you will cause you more damage.
That pretty much covers it. Your tech tree choice could be opened up by civics which become available from level 2 techs, and the anarchy cost would need to be extreme enough to make regular switching unviable. Tech trees themselves would need to be pretty much self-sufficient, with their own upgrades, improvements and units of various types. Resources in that instance wouldn't all be universally useful and the overall strategy of the game would revolve largely around balancing your own tree against your neighbours trees and resource availability.
