Throne Room

[Gori the Grey]

Ok, this idea started as I was mulling over a response to this post in a thread on how leaders look in 7 vs 6 and 5:

I actually like leaders in Civ7. Civ5 tried too hard on realism, Civ6 leaned too far into cartoonish, while Civ7 looks like a perfect balance to me. And the animations are top notch.

The 2-side diplomacy screen is a weird thing, but I totally understand the reason behind it. Civ7 needed stronger association between player and leader due to weaker association with civilization, so showing the character you play as is logical.

All I was going to do was make a post asking whether one does associate more strongly if one is seeing "oneself" in the third person than if one is viewing just the other leader, as from first person perspective.

I was dozing off for a nap (one of the best times for thinking), when I went off on the following tangent.

For purposes of this idea, the series does go back to first person. You are viewing just the other leader. But where?

That person is in your throne room, or audience chamber.

The throne room works a little the way the palace worked in Civ III. There, on occasion, you got the opportunity to upgrade your palace. It was a purely visual thing, and the opportunity to do it happened pretty much at random, as near as I could tell.

Here, your throne room updates, but it updates based on your civ. If your capital is on a river, the walls of the throne room are mud brick. If you have access to woods, then the walls are of wood. If stone is one of your resources (I play in Civ V; I don't know if stone continues in 6 and 7, but for these purposes, say that it returns), then your walls are of stone. If you have marble, they are of marble.

There are draperies on the wall. If one of your luxes is dyes, then they are colored.

You can turn your head to the left and right. Near you is your crown. If your civ has gold, it is made of gold. If your civ has gems, then it is bejeweled. If you have pearls, then pearls are worked into it.

In the walls are niches. In the niches are busts of all the great people you've had so far in the game. The paintings of your Great Artists are hanging on the walls. In a bookshelf are books with the names of your Great Writers' works on the spine.

In other words, the throne room shows such opulence as your civ does have and that your leader would want to show off when entertaining/negotiating with other leaders.

Maybe there's a kind of Praetorian guard standing near you. The number is based on your military strength.

If you have a religion, then the insignia for that religion is worked into some of the tapestries.

There can be architectural and design features appropriate to the civ in question.

Whadda ya think?

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Takes me back to Civ II's Palace/Throne Room you could build up as the game progressed.

The initial design of the room, I should think, would be based on the architecture of your Civ: stone for Greek/Roman/Mauryan, brick for Han/Assyrian/Persian, timber for Mississippian/Khmer, et al.

And perhaps the design elements available to you should vary with the Techs, Age and attributes you've accumulated and even successes you've had on the Legacy Paths.

As in, military paraphenalia displayed on the wall if you've completed a military Legacy,
Codexes or Relics on display from those Legacy Paths.
A painting or sculpture commemorating a Wonder completed or battle won.

By the time the game ends, the Throne/Audience Room should be almost an architectural AAR of the game . . .

 

[Patine]

Takes me back to Civ II's Palace/Throne Room you could build up as the game progressed.

I was about to say. Though Civ1 had the Palace, and Civ2 had the Throne Room. I had thought Civ3 had a monument or something. My memory's fuzzy. Or did CtP have the monument?

 

[stealth_nsk]

If we look at other game genres, like RPG, both 1st-person and 3rd-person views work well, but for 1st person it's important to show the character occasionally, i.e. in cutscenes or just in the mirror.

Showing leader is diplomacy screen is ok, because it's occasional and doesn't break gameplay. Throne room building, like in Civ2, with leader inside could work as well, but this part was quite detached from the rest of the game, that's why it was eventually removed from the series.

I was about to say. Though Civ1 had the Palace, and Civ2 had the Throne Room. I had thought Civ3 had a monument or something. My memory's fuzzy. Or did CtP have the monument?

If I remember correctly, Civ3 had palace as well.

 

[Gori the Grey]

but this part was quite detached from the rest of the game

But see, in this case, it wouldn't be detached. It would be where all of your diplomatic negotiations took place.

By the time the game ends, the Throne/Audience Room should be almost an architectural AAR of the game . . .

Oh yeah, one of my other ideas. On one wall or on one of the tables next to the throne that you can see by turning your head is a map of your kingdom--basically the game's mini-map, but rendered more in sketch form, and showing only your own kingdom.

Additional idea: You can visit other leaders in their throne room. It's still first person, but you are seeing them surrounded by all of the trappings of their civilization. Maybe there's an in-game difference in diplomacy between who is visiting who. (Being visited is presumably the power position.)

 

[GeneralZift]

Please Firaxis hear my plea. Thrones, castles and palaces please!!
All I want is to look swag, looking at the other leaders who look swag, denounce them, have them get up and look angry, put on the dramatic music. I'm a simple man.

I'm very much pro anything which showcases the journey of the game. Like you say, Great people portraits, architecture of your choice (or Civ), decorations if you want. I like the whole idea.