This is what my ideal second civ vi exansion looks like:
It's mostly focused on reworking diplomacy
1- AGENDAS
when I first heard of the agenda system I was excited. I thought this will make espionage really interesting, finding out other civ's strategies and thwarting them. Also the gossip system will bring immersion to diplomacy and espionage; but sadly it's not that way. First of all, some agendas are fine like Pericles; but most of them are just stupid and instead of them beeing geared towards the civ's strategy it's more about what the other civ would like you to do (not what they would like to do themselves); it's very shallow and lacks the cut-throat aspect of real world politics. In the expansion, we would now have four agendas, three of which are hidden without enough visibility:
- Historical Agenda - this is the same as the base game, just tweaked in some cases (Harald shouldn't care about your navy if you're landlocked, for example)
- Strategic Agenda - this tells the civ which victory type they want, and how to achieve it. At the start of the game, and maybe depending on the settings of the game/map, each Civ would have a victory condition chosed at random, out of a list of 3; so Gorgo/Pericles has a 33% to get domination; 33% to get culture; and 33% to get diplomatic (but neither science nor religion since these aren't greece's strengths); after that is set then the strategy is set, which depending on the type of victory chosen there are also 3 possible strategies. The strategy chosen influences the next 2 agendas.
- Domestic Agenda - this agenda gives the civ goals to do within their empire to achieve their victory type and it changes throughout the game: each time the agenda is fullfilled, a new domestic agenda is set, on the same strategy path, but for a new tier; if after 100 turns on standard speed and agenda hasn't been fullfiled then it is swapped for another agenda that on the same strategy path, but for the same tier.
- Foreign Agenda - this agenda gives the civ goals to do with other civs and city states and it works the same as the domestic agenda.
Example: The aztecs were rolled with a domination victory; after that the strategy is set to "Total War"
- their first domestic agenda might be train 5 jaguar warriors; after that is achieved, they get a domestic agenda of build and encampment with a barracks, after that they get an agenda discover iron working; etc.
- their foreign agendas might start with conquer 2 city states, after that they get the agenda conquer x player's capital; let's say after three wars, the aztecs can't seem to conquer the capital and 100 turns have passed. the domestic agenda might re-roll to conquer y player's capital (a weaker empire) or destroy 3 barbarian outposts, etc.
2 - GOSSIP
yeah get rid of messages like x player is trading with y player; and just tell us about failing/completing/changing agendas, progress on wonders (0%, 25%, 50% and 75% marks); war/peace declarations; great people recruitments; alliances and war preparation/mobilization.
3 - DIPLOMAT UNIT
works as the spy; using the same mechanics; the difference being that spy missions are tailored towards helping the player in the expense of another civ. diplomat's missions would be geared towards both civs benefiting. Most missions when succesful would yield better relations with the other civs (so you can get better alliances or trade deals), and relations with other civs will tend to go to 0 (neutral) faster to make diplomats a necessary component of the game. So if you play without paying much attention to diplomacy, most of your relations would naturally oscilate between denounced/unfriendly and friendly; but to get delegations, embassies, declared friendship, pacts and alliances you need diplomats.
4 - MIGRATION
self explanatory; linked to loyalty, domestic economy vs. foreign economy and domestic culture vs. foreign culture. Migration can help you grow, but it can also bring domestic problems (see next)
5 - DEMOGRAPHICS
I remember civ iii having a mechanic where population unhappiness was linked to their nationality; this time it can be linked to loyalty and productivity; so having massive migrtion waves might give more population, but if they are from very different cultures, then you'll have problems.
6 - EMERGING CIVILIZATIONS
Let's say that China has founded Taoism and their neighbor, Spain has founded Catholicism; China has a strong culture in 4 of their 7 cities, which are grouped to the north. The southern 3 cities have low culture and loyalty. Spain spreads their religion to these three cities; and shortly after China falls into a dark age. As loyalty eats up the country and different demographics (in this case religions) clash; eventually China is split into two: Catholic China and Taoist China. Eventually one of the two might get the foreign agenda of reconquer China.
7 - DIPLOMATIC VICTORY
very much needed
8 - HEALTH SYSTEM AND DISASTERS
I find it hard to believe this was missing from rise and fall. Aren't plagues part of the ebb and flow of civilization? So of course unhealthiness is spread through trade, certain terrain features, big populations without proper infrastructuree; and random events include natural disasters, migration waves due to wars, etc.
