For me much of the game flows fairly nicely. However the way units are upgraded seems a bit for me. The system can be abused fairly easily, such as building up a lot of money, and waiting until you reasearch/trade some technonlogy and do a mass unit upgrade. Or if you have enough money, build a warrior and upgrade it to the unit of your choice when you don't have Universial Suffrage.
I would perfer a system like MOO (Masters of Orion) where a city would build the unit's upgrade. The main abuse of a system like this is building a cheap unit in a city with a an exp bonus and upgrading it another city.
My solution to this would be that units are all build with 0 exp and gain 1 exp per turn when they spend a full turn in a city with an exp bonus (up to the max of the city). Civics that grant exp would instead lower the amount of exp required to promote a unit. So a +2 exp civic would mean a free promotion when the unit is first build, and 3 exp for the next promotion.
Other ideas:
Units cost recruitment points, a larger city has more recruitment point maximum and regains it quicker. Depending on your transportation network, a city may borrow a limited amount of recruits from other cities. Some civics allow more or less recuritment growth/maximum.
If you don't have the neccessary resource to build a unit you can pay gold as a replacement for that resource. The cost would be reduced if you have trade routes with civs that do have such resource. The idea being that even if you don't have access to a resource, there are still trace amounts around, and some can come via the black market. If you are rich enough you should be able to buy materials for your elite troops.
I would perfer a system like MOO (Masters of Orion) where a city would build the unit's upgrade. The main abuse of a system like this is building a cheap unit in a city with a an exp bonus and upgrading it another city.
My solution to this would be that units are all build with 0 exp and gain 1 exp per turn when they spend a full turn in a city with an exp bonus (up to the max of the city). Civics that grant exp would instead lower the amount of exp required to promote a unit. So a +2 exp civic would mean a free promotion when the unit is first build, and 3 exp for the next promotion.
Other ideas:
Units cost recruitment points, a larger city has more recruitment point maximum and regains it quicker. Depending on your transportation network, a city may borrow a limited amount of recruits from other cities. Some civics allow more or less recuritment growth/maximum.
If you don't have the neccessary resource to build a unit you can pay gold as a replacement for that resource. The cost would be reduced if you have trade routes with civs that do have such resource. The idea being that even if you don't have access to a resource, there are still trace amounts around, and some can come via the black market. If you are rich enough you should be able to buy materials for your elite troops.
