Realism Invictus

[JDCP]

Challenge is a nice seasoning for a game, but as with food, overwhelming amounts of it can ruin the dish.

haha I can feel very identified with this analogy and I tend to use it a lot for this kind of topics where "no more, no less, just the enough" applies, you don't know how many times this has happened to me, both in the game and cooking "What the hell was I thinking???" And yes, proper balance is certainly the pinnacle of everything. You can do without it and have fun, but in the long run everything crumbles.

Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all — everyone looks for something different in games, that’s pretty obvious It was just a thought of mine, I definitely didn’t mean to start a poll

Yes indeed, but still difficulty is something we all look forward to. Of course, not always as the main scope of our games, but something that must be there otherwise it happens what you said: The game gets boring, it stales.

I've been playing many CIV4 games in high difficulties for the past months, but decided to switch back to lower difficulties (Prince, to be precise) after feeling a bit exhausted. It's pretty nice, specially because I'm pretty bad lol, but I can see why someone wouldn't want to play this way as it might feel a bit too easy, rather forgettable. It's not the sense of accomplishment at all but rather, the struggle to get there... makes it memorable. Still, it's not what interests me the most, specilly when talking about old games, I prefer diversity (hehe there's a CIV4 mod called like that) and content. You could put me alone in a map just fighting barbarians and I'd still have fun, for an hour at least

If there is a reason for me to play games this old, hell some even older than me, it's simply because there is no present equivalent to them. Some nearly 30 year old games somehow manage to give me more freedom to play than 2025 games. Besides, trying out a new game and mastering it takes a hell lot of time, and if it turns out to be a disappointment then it feels like I wasted all my time. I'm already comfortable and enjoying CIV4, or to name something else: HOI2, so I prefer that to say CIV7 or HOI4, they're probably good games that can be enjoyed if given the effort... But I already have a nice crib, why buy another?

 

[[Y]]

When viewing the civics/finance advisers, the civic maintenance costs there already reflect the savings from Legislator, yeah? Is there any chance of showing the exact savings, or making a note on those pages that Legislator (or Populist) is affecting the civic costs?

I've been playing Phillip II a lot lately to test out Legislator (and see how it compares to Seafarer for scalability). Some thoughts on France:

• Cultivating grapes feels like it comes pretty late relative to what it allows. It's a very similar feature to Carthage cultivating Dye, but Carthage can cultivate Dye as soon as it researches Water Pump in late classical, whereas France (and Ethiopia with Coffee) has to wait until Pharmacy and Botany in the late Medieval. Carthage's and France's unique improvements are almost identical: both can cultivate a resource and build a unique improvement on that resource that gives extra commerce and +1 happiness in nearby cities. Dye is actually better than wine (+1 happiness with no building requirement, additional +1 with theater, an early classical building, while wine requires an early classical building for any benefit, and requires two wine to produce alcohol for a second happiness, starting in the late medieval). Is this difference intentional? Should France and Ethiopia be allowed to cultivate at the same time as Carthage? Should Carthage similarly be delayed until Pharmacy and Botany?
• The Carolingian Paladin national unit also feels pretty late for its use (targeting cavalry when attacking). I like the unit, but it arrives at a time when cavalry are at a low point, so the utility is somewhat wasted. Cataphracts dominate the field in the mid classical when they first arrive, but by medieval era we start seeing 7-strength swordsman, crossbowmen, pikemen, and longbowman, which largely reduce the cataphract to an aid-granting unit, since the (non-civic locked) upgrade doesn't come until much, much later. It might be handy against the Feudal cavalry unit, but I don't see them often in games. Paladins would be much more impactful if they unlocked earlier, or maybe had 9 strength, allowing them to be a powerhouse throughout the early medieval.