The critique of Humankind's basic economic and city building system: the root of balance issues

[Atlas627]

I think 2 things are needed

1. Specialization each thing can be used for its own but it grows (Have money be the only way to get units... until some industrial era civic gives you the option to build them with industry)/ Let pop grow a little bit faster... maybe excess food supports military units as well as allowing population growth
So Standard units are bought with money and supported with food....Some later Civics/LTs let you support units with money, and other Civics/LTs let you build units with industry

This stops one yield from being the "yield that does everything"

Yes, actual differences in the eras due to some more interesting rules changes during a game will help this a lot. I like the idea that you must spend Money to recruit early units, so Industry is good for building new infrastructure but not also for conquest.

I want expansion to be slower so you aren't just carpeting the map in cities and quarters asap, but actually trying to use the land you've selectively claimed. This reins in snowball while keeping early decisions potent. A way to do this would be to limit how many tiles away from the City you can build (and perhaps a more restrictive limit for Admin Centers), and then allow building from Hamlets/Harbors/Luxuries/Trains as the game goes on.

I liked the civic that enabled player elimination in beta. Other such large rule changes, rather than just number tweaks, would be good to implement in civics.

2. A strong Time dependent Empire Size Stability Penalty.

There should be a "Cap" on Empire size(ie total attached territories), but it should get worse based on the amount of time above the cap. So you can build a large empire, get some fame bonuses before it collapses after an era or two. (and then work on rebuilding if your Golden Age Was Ancient-Medieval)

Getting fame before collapsing is exactly what I was hoping for out of this game. The current balance of the era stars (which all check for lifetime yields) won't work with this, but it isn't hard for them to change the era stars to only check for yields during the current era and retune the numbers.

 

[Taefin]

Getting fame before collapsing is exactly what I was hoping for out of this game. The current balance of the era stars (which all check for lifetime yields) won't work with this, but it isn't hard for them to change the era stars to only check for yields during the current era and retune the numbers.

But what would they name the expansion…?

 

[NombreyApellido]

the empire limit could be a combination of distance to capital and meanigful stability impact, ie cities going independent faster the further away from the capital they are. a couple modifiers should be apply to captured cities, both from main and minor factions

this could have diminishing importance as eras move by to reflect changes in communications that made the british empire viable compared to say the macedonian

 

[Atlas627]

But what would they name the expansion…?

One that retools stability and fame so that you're struggling against collapse to gain fame, but can build up again once stable? Golden Age? Time of Troubles? Fading Glory?