What should NOT be in the next XP?

[Rhothaerill]

What I'd like to "not see" is so much MPP induced world wars in the Industrial Age. I still have not experienced a satisfying nail-biting end game in almost a year and a half of on-and-off playing. Granted I've never played Deity or any of the AU games, but still not one satisfying conclusion.
In my recent Monarch game with Carthage I tweaked the editor a bit to hopefully induce more naval and air combat, and then played the game to a draw beginning the Industrial Age. But then Nationalism was discovered and the whole world (except me) devolved into fighting each other. I researched and built my forces and took down the 2nd largest civ (Babylon with 130 infantry) in about 10 turns with a combined arms strategy. The world has continued in war and now all the AI civs are half an age behind me in tech research. No nailbiting finish here.
If only they could tweak the code (instead of just giving the AI some more cheats) to provide more satisfying end games and some better naval and air combat that's worth my money right there.

[statusperfect]

Rhothaerill> it is a known issue the games becomes easy after the ancient age on difficulty levels up to emperor (and on diety too if you get a good start)

you should mail you concerns to breakaway games/firaxis

here is a form to use:

http://www.firaxis.com/contact_gamefeedback.cfm

cheers

[Rhothaerill]

Thanks StatusPerfect. I might just do that. I know it's a known issue (even though I'm a newbie poster I've lurked on this site for most of the time I've been playing), but it's still something that would be nice to see changed. The ancient age is my favorite because the journey hasn't been taken yet, but I'd like to experience a nail-biter straight up to the finish without having to give the AI more cheats and limit my own growth.
Maybe I will play the new AU208 course since it appears to be almost "unwinnable" from what I've read.

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill
The ancient age is my favorite because the journey hasn't been taken yet, but I'd like to experience a nail-biter straight up to the finish without having to give the AI more cheats and limit my own growth.

What you are asking Firaxis to do is to spend a lot more time with the AI to make it as close to human as possible. We all would like that, but Firaxis is running a business. They have an idea of what is the minimum effort required to create a product that will sell and they will make that effort and not go beyond. If you could somehow prove to Firaxis that a tougher AI will translate to more sales and not compromise other projects they are working on, then they might make that effort. But they realize that the public will except a certain degree of imperfection and still buy the product in huge quantities. Don't be mad at them for that -- it is sound business strategy.

[Rhothaerill]

Reasonable expectation on my part. They do listen to us, and they do want to make as good a game as possible. Yes, it's a business, but in a business you have to produce results or you get passed over by the next "best thing". Anyone remember the dotcom business of a few years ago? Are there any left?

By the way, I wasn't trying to give the impression I was mad at them. Far from it, because I enjoy their game. I was just putting my two cents in on how I think they could go about making it an even better game.

[Boracks]

What I would NOT want to see is a limit of 8 players in multiplayer. A friend and I are playing by email (as much as we can before glitches kick in) and having only 6 opponents is not enough.

(And I apologise for attempting to correct thread drift and bring this back on topic. )