Balancing versus Variety
Civ III - each civ starts with 2 of 6 civ-specific traits, that endure throughout the whole game. Adds somewhat to replayability. Makes balancing somewhat of a challenge.
Master of Orion 2 - each race starts with a handful of unique factors (I forget how many possible, it's been a while). Player may customize race at beginning. Correct me if wrong, but I think the factors stay the same throughout the game for everybody. Adds a bit more replayability, I suppose, for about the same challenge in balancing.
My ideal CivIV - each civ starts as a generic tribe, and gains various bonusses and penalties based on WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE GAME SO FAR. This includes the units it builds, so no pre-canned civ-specific units at the beginning. I expect that would be the pinnacle of replayability, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to program (most likely very difficult... but one can hope). Since the number of possible trait combinations will be astronomically higher, balancing will have to be taken to another level (meta-balancing?) One requirement would be a really good AI. I don't realistically expect this anytime soon.![Smile](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/smile.gif)
So, regardless of how well the nations in CivIII are balanced, I guess I'd be more impressed with the designers if they made an unbalanced (but thoroughly modifyable) CivIV.
Civ III - each civ starts with 2 of 6 civ-specific traits, that endure throughout the whole game. Adds somewhat to replayability. Makes balancing somewhat of a challenge.
Master of Orion 2 - each race starts with a handful of unique factors (I forget how many possible, it's been a while). Player may customize race at beginning. Correct me if wrong, but I think the factors stay the same throughout the game for everybody. Adds a bit more replayability, I suppose, for about the same challenge in balancing.
My ideal CivIV - each civ starts as a generic tribe, and gains various bonusses and penalties based on WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE GAME SO FAR. This includes the units it builds, so no pre-canned civ-specific units at the beginning. I expect that would be the pinnacle of replayability, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to program (most likely very difficult... but one can hope). Since the number of possible trait combinations will be astronomically higher, balancing will have to be taken to another level (meta-balancing?) One requirement would be a really good AI. I don't realistically expect this anytime soon.
![Smile](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/smile.gif)
So, regardless of how well the nations in CivIII are balanced, I guess I'd be more impressed with the designers if they made an unbalanced (but thoroughly modifyable) CivIV.
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