In playing DoC there are a few things that I thought deserved looks at, and instead of clogging the suggestions thread I figured I would just start a new one. These aren't particularly game-changing ideas, just ways to make the game more historical and fun. So here it goes:
Change 1: Redo Age-Appropriate Civic Changes
Civics such as Mercantilism, Theocracy, Environmentalism, Fanaticism, etc. are usually not used by players. Why? It isn't that they aren't useful, just that they are generally conditional. And switching to one of these civics for a brief time is not worth the stability hit and turn loss that comes with Anarchy. Even the age-appropriate stability boost is not worth the permanent stability hit. I propose that when that little bubble pops up asking if you would like to 'embrace the revolution' or say that 'the old ways are best', you should be able to accept the new civic without any Anarchy. That is, when you discover a tech that allows a new civic you can adopt that civic for free. As it is, players generally use two civic sets: the one they start with, usually Dynasticism/Forced Labor; and the one they switch to and end with, usually Free Market/Capitalism/Free Religion. Other than switching religious civics away from Pantheon, these don't change too much for a majority of civs.
Change 2: Changing Religious Civic Changes State Religion
Pretty simple: changing out of Pantheon or Free Religion should allow you to adopt a religion in the same turn. This could probably be done with a little options box. It allows you to avoid a turn of unnecessary Anarchy.
Change 3: Running Fanaticism and Pantheon Reduces Non-State Religion Spread
It is very frustrating that new cities will quickly gain unwanted religions. The Pantheonic rulers were usually hostile to the religions represented in game. It would also encourage players to found Confucianism as China and not wait for it to spread. An alternative would be to have civs running Pantheon not have Pagan Temples convert to religious buildings until the civ adopts a religion.
Change 4: Rework Phoenicia
With the addition of the Moors and the conqueror events for Greece and Rome, Phoenicia (aka Carthage) faces some significant problems. Huge armies now roam
mischief the ancient world, and Phoenicia has nothing to counter these with. The Phoenician UP does not seem to work, and if it does it is not particularly effective. The UU is not as useful as having Triremes would be (I can't seem to build them, at least), and the UB (which I didn't get before I won) gives 2 commerce at the cost of losing an Engineer slot. The Moors flip Carthage and other North African cities, which are not in Phoenicia's Core.
Change 5: Organized Religion Only Allows State-Religion Missionaries To Be Built Without a Monastery
Probably a bug, but in case it isn't, this one makes sense because an organized religious state wouldn't encourage the spread of other religions.
Change 6: Rework Flipping Mechanics
Currently, when a new civ spawns the player can deny the flip and lose units to the new civ. However, this is most devastating during the early stages of the game when your entirely military could conceivably go over to the enemy. I propose changing it to make it a percentage of military units that defect, increasing with each age, so that opposing later civs is more of a struggle. This is historically more accurate, as British militias in America were more likely to support the revolution than Byzantines were to support the Arabs, for example. I also propose changing flipping units to only include military forces. I don't think GP's and workers should flip.
Also, two quick possible bugs: Trading Company's gold is not based on the number of cities with it that you control, but by the general number of cities with it; and two, Parthenon's obsolescence forces the controlling civ to switch back to civics they have available through tech.
EDIT: Also, founding a city on a plantation resource counts as a slave plantation for commerce purposes, and all cities leave Roman Roads when razed.
Change 1: Redo Age-Appropriate Civic Changes
Civics such as Mercantilism, Theocracy, Environmentalism, Fanaticism, etc. are usually not used by players. Why? It isn't that they aren't useful, just that they are generally conditional. And switching to one of these civics for a brief time is not worth the stability hit and turn loss that comes with Anarchy. Even the age-appropriate stability boost is not worth the permanent stability hit. I propose that when that little bubble pops up asking if you would like to 'embrace the revolution' or say that 'the old ways are best', you should be able to accept the new civic without any Anarchy. That is, when you discover a tech that allows a new civic you can adopt that civic for free. As it is, players generally use two civic sets: the one they start with, usually Dynasticism/Forced Labor; and the one they switch to and end with, usually Free Market/Capitalism/Free Religion. Other than switching religious civics away from Pantheon, these don't change too much for a majority of civs.
Change 2: Changing Religious Civic Changes State Religion
Pretty simple: changing out of Pantheon or Free Religion should allow you to adopt a religion in the same turn. This could probably be done with a little options box. It allows you to avoid a turn of unnecessary Anarchy.
Change 3: Running Fanaticism and Pantheon Reduces Non-State Religion Spread
It is very frustrating that new cities will quickly gain unwanted religions. The Pantheonic rulers were usually hostile to the religions represented in game. It would also encourage players to found Confucianism as China and not wait for it to spread. An alternative would be to have civs running Pantheon not have Pagan Temples convert to religious buildings until the civ adopts a religion.
Change 4: Rework Phoenicia
With the addition of the Moors and the conqueror events for Greece and Rome, Phoenicia (aka Carthage) faces some significant problems. Huge armies now roam
mischief the ancient world, and Phoenicia has nothing to counter these with. The Phoenician UP does not seem to work, and if it does it is not particularly effective. The UU is not as useful as having Triremes would be (I can't seem to build them, at least), and the UB (which I didn't get before I won) gives 2 commerce at the cost of losing an Engineer slot. The Moors flip Carthage and other North African cities, which are not in Phoenicia's Core.Change 5: Organized Religion Only Allows State-Religion Missionaries To Be Built Without a Monastery
Probably a bug, but in case it isn't, this one makes sense because an organized religious state wouldn't encourage the spread of other religions.
Change 6: Rework Flipping Mechanics
Currently, when a new civ spawns the player can deny the flip and lose units to the new civ. However, this is most devastating during the early stages of the game when your entirely military could conceivably go over to the enemy. I propose changing it to make it a percentage of military units that defect, increasing with each age, so that opposing later civs is more of a struggle. This is historically more accurate, as British militias in America were more likely to support the revolution than Byzantines were to support the Arabs, for example. I also propose changing flipping units to only include military forces. I don't think GP's and workers should flip.
Also, two quick possible bugs: Trading Company's gold is not based on the number of cities with it that you control, but by the general number of cities with it; and two, Parthenon's obsolescence forces the controlling civ to switch back to civics they have available through tech.
EDIT: Also, founding a city on a plantation resource counts as a slave plantation for commerce purposes, and all cities leave Roman Roads when razed.
That's sort of scary. What difficulty and game-speed?
