Some proposals

[Silverkiss]

Even with Altar Victory disabled, it can still be built, only that the builder of the last version will not win the game (same with the Tower of Mastery.)

About the how much people they can feast upon, remenber one turn is a year... I think if a vampire really wished, he could easily empty a city in a year....

 

[Red Boxer]

About the how much people they can feast upon, remenber one turn is a year... I think if a vampire really wished, he could easily empty a city in a year....

That is why I listed the alternate suggestion about severe side effects (more unhappiness, revolt), if the city wasn't a real calabim city. Like I said, I can't imagine an Bannor populace just rolling over for a marauding vampire. It is more about balance and gameplay, than perceived 'realism.'

I suppose what it comes down to, is exploits. If there is something to be exploited (Calabim vampires, Dwarven vaults), expect the human to do it.

 

[Silverkiss]

Well, you could argue that it isn't a Bannor city anymore. If you follow your logioc, a Bannor (for example) city captured by the Khazad shouldn't benefit from the Vaults, they aren't dwarves and don't like gold like that. Or a Bannor city captured by elves shouldn't be able to use forests, etc.

 

[Red Boxer]

It has more to do with it not being a native Calabim city. People don't take kindly to being eaten. Negative aspects are harder to force on people than positive ones.

However, we drift from my point.
Level 20 (and up) units are not a problem with the Calabim. Units with every promotion they could want, are not a problem. This can be/is something a player will exploit, to an extent much greater than the computer ever will.

I think limiting the number of feasts a vampire has per turn makes the most sense. Perhaps by its movement. 1 move = 1 feast. It isn't really a matter of how many people can a vampire eat in a year. That is just silly. We don't conceive of mages only being able to cast 1 spell a year. It is just a game mechanic to balance the game. This would at least keep newly taken cities from being drained to their depths, netting 3 or 4 hundred XP.

 

[Silverkiss]

Heh, a mage could spend a year preparing the spell =p

But, changing subject again.

Vampires. Yeah, they are pretty powerfull, but a human player can kill them just as easily... It's just that the AI is too dumb (The Team has alredy made huge progress fine-tunning it, though) to compete with a smart human. If you fight with the Calabim against another human, he can use many things to beat your tons-of-level units to the ground.

 

[Zuul]

Maybe not random traits for a city but it would be nice if it could specialize (gaining some bonuses, and losing others, like the castle/city in medieval 2).

 

[daladinn]

i am still mildly confused , these bonuses are like the ones you get from buildings or national wonders correct?

 

[[NWO]_Valis]

I think limiting the number of feasts a vampire has per turn makes the most sense.

I have to agree here. When the first vampire pops up then it is downhill for the Calabim. A human player can exploit it much better than AI and cause of the exploit it makes it unbalanced. In perspective human vs. human it is also unbalanced. I mean 1 turn = 20 lvl unit? WTH?

 

[Senethro]

[*]Cities traits
A mechanism to differentiate cities: Each cities has a certain chance upon founding to get a trait this would give it some advantages but also disadvantages like

• Metropolis: +10% food; -30% gold
• Trading city: +1 trade route; +10% gold; +2 unhappiness
• Astral gateway: +20% science; +2 unhealthiness
• Wilderness Outpost: +30% unit production; at a X% chance per turn forest or jungle grows in the city radius (if there is an improvement it gets destroyed).

Perhaps one could even make buildings that are specific to these town types.
[/LIST]

I don't like random things, preferring to choose what my cities do.

Would it work better as tile features? A natural harbour on the coast makes it a Trading City, magical activity marks where an Astral Gateway city can be built etc. The player could then choose to settle these sites or not, and they don't change the resource yield of the tile. Maybe goodie huts could turn into these features after visitation, to avoid cluttering the landscape too much.

 

[c.fe]

Would it work better as tile features? A natural harbour on the coast makes it a Trading City, magical activity marks where an Astral Gateway city can be built etc. The player could then choose to settle these sites or not, and they don't change the resource yield of the tile. Maybe goodie huts could turn into these features after visitation, to avoid cluttering the landscape too much.

That's an interesting idea. Could make for some really painful decisions when you get an interesting feature at a place where you don't want to settle a city.

 

[Senethro]

Decisions are fun!

 

[attackdrone]

This would probably have to wait until an arbitrary number of resources can exist on the map, no?