Titles

[Publicola]

Perhaps 'Conquistador' should be a special unit, rather than a unique unit for Spain. That is, the first players to discover the Aztecs and Inca should receive several Conquistador units in the starting stack with the conquerors event. That might open a slot for Spain to receive a second UU -- if the 'tercio' is already covered, perhaps a 'treasure galleon' or some other naval unit.

 

[Enyavar]

As a source of fun, this is one of my favourite things about Civ IV. The Liberalism race that tends to happen around the same time, or the races to found religions. Rhye's UHV mechanic is the same sort of concept. They all reward play actions where you are optimising for short-range narrative goals, in a game which is mainly about optimising for long-range open-ended goals, which often are not even very fun by the end - e.g., Conquest or the Space Race. I'm sure I have copied many of these ideas from Jimmy Maher's blog, but they seem very relevant here.

So I guess they should reward actions that a player may tend to defer in normal play. I really don't understand the non-European game very well so most of my ideas are local to there. Some nice firsts:
Settle a European city in America; build a Cathedral; build a Factory; build a rail station or a railroad; build 3? 4? wonders in a city; research Firearms (is it just me who defers this tech for ages?).

Firearms aren't top of my prio list, either. But also not at the bottom - that would be Scientific Method. Seriously. Or, when I have an ancient empire, it's Gunpowder+Companies: Have to keep the Parthenon+Collosseum non-obsolete as long as possible!

We need to remember that rewards only for "being first" unbalances the game. For example, when I'm ahead enough in the tech race, I tend to rush for technologies that come with a bonus for being first, but severely delay techs that are going to obsolete important buildings and give the same benefit (building options) for latecomers as well. To describe the extreme I have pursued more often than not (in v1.15): I am ruling multi-religious empires with three or more wide-spread religions. Building as many monasteries as possible (for optimized science and culture output, not to mention the per-monastery bonus from Hagia Sophia, Sistine Chapel, Spiral Minaret, SankoreU) is like a compulsive action then. I delay Scientific Method (screw the extra Gscientist for being first) and go for Journalism instead, build Westminster and then use my humongous empire and the espionage points that I racked up to steal all the techs that my opponents have researched in the meantime. After that gambit, I'm so far ahead of everyone else that I get to have EVERY important development first, including the wonders I want.

Which means, if there are new rewards for "building first factory", it favors (again) the tech leader. The most important lesson from my experience is that tech leadership shouldn't be rewarded by enlarging or perpetuating the tech leadership. From what I have gleaned, tech leadership is going to be harder in the next release, but wonder-hogging is still going to be a major concern.
So, wide distribution of titles and/or "first" awards seems like a good idea. Give an award for not the first colony in America, but for the first colony that turns up a profit. Or for the first empire that has settled X continents and thus underwent lots of risks. The more difficult it is to get ALL the awards or bonuses with one single civilization, the better the gameplay balance.

 

[Leoreth]

That's true. The circumnavigation thing is a bit different because it actually requires you to do things on the map.

 

[Publicola]

Could we add a bonus for being the first player to circumnavigate Africa? We know from Herodotus that a Phoenician ship made the voyage at the request of the Egyptian pharaoh. Given that Phoenicians were traders, Egypt had a booming trade relationship with the 'Land of Punt', and the next modern contender for the prize would be Portugal thanks to Vasco de Gama, it'd be pretty easy to tie a "+1 trade route" reward to the quest.

 

[ozqar]

Sounds cool - but aren't there some capes near Mozambique preventing this for ancient ships?

 

[Panopticon]

Of course thematically, the idea that it's good to be "first" is a very Enlightenment idea based on human progress toward a universal good through knowledge and experience, and that era covers a minority of the time frame of the game. Civ IV may well be the game in the Civ series with the most Enlightenment Weltanschauung so it's not such a problem (going rapidly off-topic!).

 

[Leoreth]

Yeah, the civ series has moved on to Browser Games as the main conceptual approach to world history.

 

[Ani Taneen]

Personally I'd like to see some rewards for fundamentally changing the course of history.

Babylon survives the Persians.
Greece holds its empire after its "fall date"
China colonizes Africa in the pre Industrial world
Mongolia builds the first factory.

And maybe we should speak of the "first to do x achievements" as things accomplished by those who normally wouldn't achieve them.

 

[need my speed]

That could even be a thing on its own; 'as Persia, ensure Babylon survives past whenever', and so on. Probably not a very good idea (can this fit for all civilisations?), but just throwing it out there.

 

[Panopticon]

Sounds like UHVs ne.

 

[MechatronicJazz]

For the title ideas, could they have relative powerful effects if those effects were temporary? That way a civ can get a boost for accomplishing something, but doesn't get a permanent advantage. The effects could also end early if the conditions are lost, and perhaps be a once per civ bonus or else have a cool down period before it can be gained again.

 

[spydama]

(Google translation)
It's amazing that someone has already had similar thoughts as me. And it's a shame that it wasn't reflected in the RFCD in the end.

I had only four titles in mind: Roman Emperor, Persian Emperor (Shahanshah), Indian Emperor, and Chinese Emperor.

It's a bit long, but I'll write all my thoughts here.

- Roman emperor
1. If Rome is spawned and Rome adopts one of the following Civics: Monarchy, Despotism, or Elective, the title will be activated and given to Rome.
2. One of the following Civics is being adopted: Monarchy, Despotism, and Elective.
3. Either Rome (3000) or Byzantium (600), or the previous owner must be made a vassal or destroyed.
4. Must be ruling Rome (3000) or Constantinople (600).

Perhaps a division of the title of Roman emperor between East and West might be necessary, or additional conditions might be needed. In particular, the transfer of titles from Rome to Byzantine is unclear.
If divided, it would be better for the title of Western Roman Emperor to be transferred to German (if Rome falls) and changed to the title of Holy Roman Empire.

Effect of the title of Roman Emperor: Stability bonus. Diplomatic relations bonuses for the UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Diplomatic relations penalty for Germany (Holy Roman Empire).

- Persian Shahanshah
1. When Persia spawns, it is given to Persia.
2. One of the following Civics is being adopted: Monarchy, Despotism, and Elective.
3. It must be Persia, or the previous owner must be made a vassal or destroyed.
4. It completely dominates Persia, and its capital must be in Persia.

In general, there will be opportunities for the Persians, Turks and Iranians. I think it would be a good idea to include a system that changes the Turk's core in this system.

Effect of Shahanshah of Persia title: Instead of losing the existing core, the Persian region becomes the core region, and the historical expansion of Persia becomes the historical region.

- Indian Emperor
1. It is given to the civilization that satisfies the other conditions first.
2. One of the following Civics is being adopted: Monarchy, Despotism, and Elective.
3. It controls more than 75% of cities in India.
4. If the previous owner exists, the owner must be destroyed or made a vassal.

In general, it would be India, the Tamils, the Mughals, and the British, but it would also be fun to imagine an alternate history in which a Great Power other than the British took control of India. The effect of Delhi becoming the core would be to replace the existing Mughal system.

Effect of the title of Emperor of India: Delhi becomes the core, and all of India becomes the historical domain.

- Emperor of China
1. If China is spawned, it is given to China.
2. One of the following Civics is being adopted: Monarchy, Despotism, and Elective.
3. It controls all cities in North China, and its capital must be in China.
4. If the previous owner exists, the owner must be destroyed or made a vassal.

In the Korean community, it is often expressed as ‘taking the Mandate of Heaven’. It will be easier to understand by referring to the corresponding system in Europa Universalis 4, but the motif is RFCA's system of the same name. A system with the Chinese capital as its core could include Mongolia's existing system.

Effect of the title of Emperor of China: The capital within China becomes the core, and the entire China becomes the historical territory.

I don't know what kind of creative play this system will allow for, but I think it's an attractive system both historically and alternatively.

You may also consider losing the effect of the title after researching the nationalism technology.

 

[TwoF]

The conditions for completing many tasks to obtain a title are indirectly similar to the tasks for a historical or religious victory. If the option of providing bonuses for completing objectives for a historical or religious victory is not suitable, and we want to gain additional experience, then the objectives should be more universal, like titles.

 

[Dracosolon]

There should be a way for your civ's leader to get the title of Cool Dude.

 

[Matara]

Flavored civic should be considered first. For example:
*Rome: Citizenship
*Persia: Priesthood / Caste System (for Zoroastrian)
*India: Monasticism / Caste System
*China: Meritocracy / Tributaries

 

[Temüjin VIII]

For the Mandate of Heaven title, I think there should be a more stringent requirement so that China can still lose it from time to time. And it must work hard in order to get it back.