Houman- my first game I played as the English. I have Played a second game till about 800BC so far as Roman on Noble. I am playing Noble as this I believe should be where the Balance of the game should Rest with no one having an advantage. Once you got up or even down in difficulty then things will probably change accordingly.
Here are my findings and suggestions.......
Playing as Roman I have just reach Literature so the timing is not too far of. My conclusion is that the Financial Trait is too powerful. It Needs to be adjusted to maybe give a extra commerce if there is 3 or maybe 4 already. Financial on Coast = WIN right now. We also need to do something about the Praetorians. They just Murder anything close to them in the time line and they should be coming later anyways. As Rome I bee line to iron working and then just mop up everything around me. The AI doesn't do this but for players they are to powerful. Not sure what the Fix is but one is called for. I would like to mention that the Barbs are great. In my first game they took out the Chinese with the help of the Mongols I believe and in this second one they have eliminated both the Egyptians and Arabs. They are the Only ones giving me any trouble as Roman is starting to spread to the Middle East.
As for Religion, Isabella founded only 2 religions this time with Hinduism and Judaism. I suggest that Monotheism give Judaism like Vanilla and that Meditation and Polytheism be switched or Better yet moved to the same level so once you have Mysticism you will have three choices to go for religion. Meditation and Zoroastrian Should be the cheapest, then Monotheism and then Polytheism as the most expensive as the few resources I looked up put Hinduism at 2000-1800 BC but it should have a higher spread rate whereas Zoroastrianism and Judaism should have a low spread rate as they were very localized. The other issue I have always had is Christianity coming during the Middle ages ie after Feudalism instead of before it near the end of the classical age. It should be moved up in front of feudalism, not as a requirement but just that it should be researched before it in the time line.
Couple Ideas I have for helping the Time line is to either a start off all civs with NO techs or maybe starting at 3500-3000BC. If they have no Techs then That makes the playing field even as for who founds what religion as anyone can research any path making it maybe not as realistic in terms of who founds the religion but does make it much more balanced. Besides there is some point we have to say balance is more important than realism as it is not realistic that the Persian, the English, the Americans, the Aztec, etc were in existence at the same time.
I see that you are including the Industrious Trait Mod. Is this where it changes it to being like the financial but with production. If it is then That is another suggestion I have as the Industrious Trait = Most Wonders. Changing that and Financial a little will help balance out the game. I also believe the Aggressive trait should apply to all units made by that CIV and not just the Melee ones. You also said you were going to include the Open Tech Mod but I would suggest using a modified version of his first one. I don't like the Science Rep thing and don't think the AI will use it effectively. It should be Based on Trade Routes and not just particularly with open borders. As when your people are trading with another CIV they are bound to learn of some of their Techs and will bring that knowledge back with them. It was with the Merchants that most Technologies spread in our world.
Lumber Mills should be moved to Machinery to help with the Clear cutting mentality. Now knowing what Jeff said about Caravels I tend to agree with that so they should be able to carry whatever and not go into other CIV territory. Make Privateers able to carry one Special unit and Able to go into other CIV's Borders. Be Nice if they could not have a CIV designator and be able to attack units with out starting a war but I don't know how you could pull that off. One Last thing and this is a iffy..... does anyone else think that writing coming before the Alphabet is a little strange? Especially since it allows libraries. Now I know there we early forms of writing that the Sumer, Egyptians and others used that isn't considered letters but at least we should move Libraries to the Alphabet.
Ok this post is long enough now so I will stop talking......
- too many resources there.
)
Sorry - I played Noble.
I wait for every next release to try it.
