advisors and magistrates.

[skycommando]

this may have been covered elsewhere, but i couldn't find direct references to it. i like the idea of 'leaders' similar to mooii, but instead of appearing randomly and asking to be hired, they must be trained (perhaps in your palace). you'd start with these bottom-rung advisors for all the major categories, but you could train new ones, as well. the new advisors can provide bonuses to the field in which they are advising, and can be appointed as 'governors' if you so desire. so you send general johnson, a military advisor, to new york to run the city while you concetrate of fighting a war abroad. he provides a defensive bonus to the units defending new york, and, in addition, sets the city on a path in correlation with your orders ('defend this city at all costs!' he builds civil defense, flak, mobile infantry, etc.) i know everyone here loves the micromanagement aspect of the game, but one of the things that excites me about history and government are the skills of talented advisors. empires are rarely built by a single leader, but rather a network of talented magistrates, generals and bureaucrats. assembling a dedicated and talented staff should help you.

[ZargonX]

I also like the idea of having "improved subordinates" that would provide certain bonuses to different portions of your empire. The idea that your empire could foster more capable ministers and advisors as time goes on could easily accentuate different aspects of play. Dedicated warmonger? You'll probably produce better "generals" as time goes on. Lots of cultural improvements? You'll probably have brilliant artists pop up over time...

[ZargonX]

*bump*

[Lord_Davinator]

could we have the advisor videos from civ2 again? I just loved them....

[Brent]

good stuff.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by ZargonX
I also like the idea of having "improved subordinates" that would provide certain bonuses to different portions of your empire. The idea that your empire could foster more capable ministers and advisors as time goes on could easily accentuate different aspects of play. Dedicated warmonger? You'll probably produce better "generals" as time goes on. Lots of cultural improvements? You'll probably have brilliant artists pop up over time...

Good concept.

Not played MOO so not sure how it was implemented but it sounds interesting.

[Vince278]

Pax Imperia II had leaders like that.

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Lord_Davinator
could we have the advisor videos from civ2 again? I just loved them....

I too definately concur....BRING BACK THE ANIMATED ADVISORS!!!

After years of playing Civ2, I never got tired of them.

[Vince278]

Who didn't love the Elvis?

[Master Zen]

Build more Granaries!!!

[Vince278]

I also thought the lady advisor was hot. Anyone know who she was?

[DarkCloud]

Check the Civ II General Forums- they're always talking about her- in fact, I forget who, but I think that My Wife Hates Civ actually emailed her once she's an actress...

[Vince278]

Bring her back! Elvis too!

[patcon]

Originally posted by Lord_Davinator
could we have the advisor videos from civ2 again? I just loved them....

Thank you, thank you very much. Uh-huh! (done in my best Elvis, which admittedly isn't very good) I also liked the drunken military advisor when you were kicking but in a war.

Also bring back the foreign emissaries instead of leader heads for negotiations. Aren't many of these deals really handled by the in-country ambassador? Save the leader heads for peace treaties and other big deals.
OK, my real reason is I miss the Egyptian ambassador.

[Enigma_Nova]

*cough *
So what about advisors who could be trained and give specific bonuses to a city?
I like that idea. Implement it.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by patcon
I also liked the drunken military advisor when you were kicking but in a war.

I'd forgotten all about him.

[Enigma_Nova]

If you can give them believable personalities, then it might work.
That drunken military guy is definately believable.

[La Diva]

Civ has always had Advisors on various screens. A logical evolution would be the ability to appoint a Cabinet from a list of candidates with randomly generated attributes.

After a few turns, the effectiveness of these Advisors would start modifying the success of ventures in each Advisor's field (Econ, Mil, Culture, Dipl, etc.). The better the Advisor, the more that field benefits (faster production, more powerful, etc.)

You'd be asked if you wanted to hold a Cabinet meeting every 5 turns, where the Advisors would report progress, or you could call a meeting any time you want. You'd then have a chance to replace crummy Advisors or give more support to the geniuses and benefit from them, like initiating conquests while you have an Eisenhower on the job.

Even the great Advisors would have a limited term of service, say 20-30 turns in later ages, and then you'd have to start over. But watch out, because an occasional appointee could be an embezzler or a power-crazed rat who wants to overthrow you! This would be especially true for Advisors in fields different from your special civ traits - they can balance you out or take advantage of you.

This is a perfect place for AI to learn your style of play and micromanage certain elements of the game for you, with a random probability factor for the success or failure (or treason) of each Advisor.

Any form of government after Despotism could make use of as many Cabinet members as you like, with the proviso that if you pick the two in charge of your civ's specialized traits, you must pick at least one more. This increases the risk factor.


This idea would let you foster Advisors who could help strengthen the weaker facets of your chosen civ traits.

For those who despise meetings and micromanaging, even at this middle-management level, Game Setup should allow you to disable the feature.

I think the random elements of the concept add another layer of intrigue to gameplay.


Another twist: any Advisor can develop popularity with your citizens. If you replace one before the term of service is up, you could create unhappiness, either randomly or throughout your civ. The reverse could also be true, that they'd declare a national holiday in your honor.

* * *

An adjunct to this:

As sophisticated as this game is becoming, it should seem simple enough to let players import personal graphic images for certain uses - how cool to see my own mug at the top of the Diplomacy screen! Or choose a lizard, a Romulan, a werewolf, Marilyn Monroe, and the Blob for my Cabinet members.

[Dominae]

I hope you animated advisors supporters also voted 'yes' for Wonder movies...otherwise all your negative arguments are bunk.

[La Diva]

Dominae:

I didn't vote at all, because I figured the "polls" had closed before I found this website.

I think I did post a reply there, which says I liked the Wonder movies and would be happy to see them again, but only if it doesn't take away from the programmers producing some of the marvelous new ideas in these many threads.

I support the person who said this needs to have some bold new thinking rather than being Civ 3.1. I'm anxious to see what Firaxis comes up with.

[sykodude]

I registered just to say that this idea rules.

The way I'd want to see it is a big list of characters with random attributes - including both skills and a unique personality. You pick your cabinet and officials from among them. A good official gives bonuses, but an incompetant one - or possibly one with motives of his own - can cause problems. The bigger the potential problems, the happier it'll make me. I know not everyone will like the idea of yet another thing to go wrong, but I've often amused myself thinking about what would happen to my civ if half of my army suddenly turned against me.