09-09-2000 07:46									#1
	Introducing a Role-Playing Element Full PM-box? Change here!

It would be great if you could start the game by "customizing" your people. You could put various points into characteristics similar to the classic attributes of a role-playing game:

Strength - determines the combat effectiveness of your military units, how many units you can build vs your population, and war unhappiness levels

Dexterity - determines your productivity levels

Constitution - determines how easily your people is assimilated when conquered

Intelligence - determines inventiveness, and hence the research rate

Wisdom - determines how easily the people fall into civil strife

Charisma - determines the how well your people like and are liked by other ethnic groups

As the game progresses, you would come to know the exact characteristics of peoples you have direct contact with, and have "approximate" knowledge of peoples you know of second or third hand.

This would effect gameplay in a number of ways. You might want to make greater effort to spy on countries with higher intelligence, and you might want to prepare extra defenses on the border of countries with higher strength. You might want to strike up alliances with countries with higher charisma, to improve your standing with other peoples. You might want to conquer peoples of higher strength, dexterity, intelligence or wisdom, provided they don't also have a high constitution (making them an unruly minority group).

The game difficulty would be determined by how many points you start with. You could choose to be assigned more or less points that the opponents, and that would effect your final score. For a real challenge, you could be a wimpy, lazy, easily assimilated, backward, unruly and ornery people! But to start you could be a battle-ready, industrious, cohesive, smart, easily managed and loveable people . .

	09-09-2000 08:15									#2
	Full PM-box? Change here!

I couldn't help stopping to consider how from a philosophical view nations have an organic nature. They have various institutions that serve functions analogous to a living organism. They can be old, young, strong, weak, healthy, sick, etc.

It also makes me wonder what the world will look like in another 50 years. My guess is that there will be regional "cliques", such as North America, Latin America, Africa, the Islamic Nations, Western Europe, Russia-dominated north Asia, China-dominated east Asia, and India-dominated south Asia. The contenders for the top spot will probably be North America and Western Europe, with the top spot ultimately going to the one that is less socialist. Although there are many sources of regional tension, I don't envision any "clique" seeking war with another.

Food for thought . .

	09-09-2000 11:48									#3
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Thats what sid did in civ 1, the greeks for example were very intelligent and had lots of armies, and crappy civs like the americans could only grow in to an empire if they were left alone