What the you really want in CTP 2?

[Stratesford]

Damn! I don't know what I want

[PRoy]

There is one think I would love to see that has yet to be represented in such a game. I would like to continue to have some influence on the ethnic group I start with, even if they are completely conquered. I suggested in similar forums that they could develop a game where a city's population has an ethnic make-up.

This would allow a more realistic determinant for how nations form, are destabilized, conquered and get reborn. It never made sense to me that the game should end when you are conquered. History is full of examples of peoples who have been conquered, only to regain their independence.

I had an idea that you could "design" your group at the start, by applying a set amount of characteristic points to a number of different factors. You may have to decide between things like inventiveness, cultural cohesiveness, work ethic, patriotism, spirituality and stability. These factors would effect things like advancement rate, military unit strength, productivity, effectiveness of different government types, and how your people get along with other peoples (e.g., do your people assimilate quickly with other cultures?)

My ideal would be able to play my group from start to finish, even if they are conquered and no longer have a nation of their own.

[Stratesford]

That's a good idea, but how would you play with your conquered people? would you get to control a couple of guerrillas once in a while? or just wait for a civil war to regain your empire? or both?

[Stratesford]

Now I know what I want!!
As you know there are very powerful people(Bill Gates) and corporations(Activision) in our world and I would like to see that in ctp2. I think it would have to depend in the type of government, like in a theocarcy or fundamentalism it would be the archbishops or the high priests; in a republic it would be the senators, land owners, the people and the consuls; in a capitalist democracy it would be the major corporations, the people, congress and so on; some governments wouldn't have influence at all like tyrrany and facsism. In others like communism, egelitarianism and socialism only the people would have an influence.

What do I mean by influence? What I mean is that these factors can change the players decisions, like lets say that in a game one player(ai) controlled all or most of the oil resources, then some oil company would ask you to conquer that city in exchange for a bribe

[PRoy]

A conquered people would still have diplomatic contacts of a sort, they could move their population around (to become the majority group in certain cities/regions of the host nation), could cause revolts in cities where they are present, and they could convert population points to form units such as settlers, diplomats and warriors. Their weak military units could pillage, if not conduct an effective insurgency.

The most likely route to regaining independence would come from revolts, or as part of a peace settlement between warring nations. That is, a nation that sues for peace may offer to grant cities with majority alien populations their independence (or rather to rejoin their parent country if still present in the game).

By the way, under this plan you would exert the same limitted control over any part of your population, whether you currently have an independent nation or not. In other words, say you have a country, but an enemy takes one of your cities. You would still have this limitted control over your ethnic group in the conquered city. If you attack that power elsewhere, and he decides to sue for peace, he may offer cities that have a large population of your people, such as the one he managed to conquer.

One route to conquest would be to have a population boom, followed by resettling some of your population in neighboring foreign cities, where they could effectively act as spies, saboteurs and potentially fall into your hands after generations, as a result of peace settlements.

I envision a game where populations of various ethnicities have to be managed, and where you don't have absolute control over certain things such as immigration and emigration (unless you decide to forcibly expel aliens, with diplomatic ramifications). Spontaneous migration of peoples, ethnic-based revolts, spontaneous granting of independence and forced resettlement/genocide would add an unprecedented realism. At some point in the game, as for example after the discovery of Age of Reason, harsh treatment of ethnic groups could have serious consequences to your foreign relations.

The game would certainly take a lot longer, but I think one would get more attached to a population that sometimes seems to have a mind of its own.

[PRoy]

Another issue I wanted addressed was the strategic value of certain resources, such as timber, metal ores, coal, oil and agricultural products. Your varying access to critical materials should be able to effect things like the efficiency of factories, the number of certain unit types you can field, and the movement rates of certain modern units.

The differences might be almost imperceptible in the ancient and medieval world, but could become absolutely critical for someone hoping to be a modern military superpower. It would be possible to increase your access to materials by trade, but you might be at the mercy of nations that have monopolies on certain materials. You could also stockpile strategic materials if you mine or buy more than you require currently.

The availability of strategic materials may induce or prevent nations from going to war, and would effect your strategy in wars, as you have to decide between political, industrial and strategic resource objectives.

[Stratesford]

You have really good Ideas I just wished activision would put them in ctp 2 :P